Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

ALEXANDER'S EPISTLE TO ARISTOTLE. 1 43
food and weapons of war, and I wished to sail
therein to that island, but certain of my friends'
rose up and said, "As God Almighty liveth, we
"will not allow thee to go to this island until we
o
"ourselves have first been there and seen what is
"therein". And again, one"" of my councillors rose
up and said to me, "O king, send us to this Alexander's
"island, and if there be therein anything which to sll
"can alarm thee, we will come and tell thee con-
"cerning it; after [we have done] this then thou
"canst do as thou pleasest". And it came to pass
when he had said this to me that I sat down,
and commanded that they should go in the ship;
and I placed therein a large supply of weapons
for fighting both upon sea and upon land, and I
sent with them eight hundred of the nobles of
my kingdom.^ And it came to pass that when a monster
they drew nigh unto [the island] they looked, t^^shi^.^
and behold a beast of the monsters of the sea
swallowed up the ship and whatsoever was therein.
And when I heard this I grieved sorely both for
myself and for my councillors, because they were
the noblest and best beloved of my men. And I
commanded my army to mount their horses, and
to gird on their armour, and to ride about and
to ravage and lay waste all their country, and
' /. e., Philon, Kraterus, and Hephaestion.
" I. e., Philon.
'• 3 Read h9"'in^'l' • ot^ll/^i:
culiar to the Ethiopic version.
The
numbers are pe