Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

148 THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
manded them to bring to me a golden couch,
and I lay down upon it, and I made them light
a fire round about it because I was afraid of the
snakes, and of the reptiles, and of the scorpions,
and of the wild beasts of the earth; and I commanded
my soldiers to light a fire round about
At moon- themselves also. And when the night drew on
beastsbeginas I lay upon my couch—now the moon rose that
to move,
flight—behold, huge lions came forth from the
jungle round about that lake, the like of which I
had never before seen nor imagined, nor could
I describe them, to drink water. Out of the sand,
too, there sprang scorpions, each of which was a
cubit long, and [other] reptiles, and beasts with
horns, some red and some white; and they bit
Scorpions a my soldiers, and those that were bitten had no
° ^' power to speak. And I heard a great outcry and
wailing among my troops by reason of these
snakes and scorpions. And, again, I saw a huge
lion of monstrous size the like of which I had
never before seen. And, again, I saw a beast
The rhino- [p. 82] with a horn on his nose, and it was larger
than an elephant, together with a multitude of
lions which I could neither describe nor count.
And when I saw this I was greatly grieved for
my men, and I rose up and commanded a herald
to go round about through the camp and order
the men to make ready and to put on their
armour to protect them against their foes. And
when it was day I commanded that each and
every one of them should not fail to carry a load