Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

II
INTRODUCTION.
inside of the boards is lined with striped bright
coloured silk. From the colophon, (see fol. 147^,)
we learn that the manuscript was written at the
expense of one Abraham, who, through the prayers
of Alexander the king and of all the saints and
martyrs, hopes to obtain mercy, and to escape
hell, and to take up his place at the right hand
[of Christ], together with the Twelve Apostles, at
His second Advent. The age of the MS. from
which this copy was made we have no means of
ascertainino-, but iudCTino- from the writinsf there
is little doubt that our manuscript is the work of
the XlXth century. Of Abraham, for whom the
MS. was copied, we know nothing, and it is not
quite clear how the volume came to be in king
Theodore's Treasury at Makdala; as it is well
known, however, that this monarch intended to
Dcicription bulld a cliurcli in honour of the Saviour of the
World in his city, it is most probable that the
"History of Alexander" was one of the many MSS.
which he seized upon to form a library for his
church when completed.
The reader will find the text faulty in many
places, and words and names are spelt differently
even in the same page; in places, too, there are
obviously omissions. Elsewhere it would seem as
if the scribe, having copied a sentence, became
dissatisfied with it, and then copied it again with
the addition of some explanatory words. An ex-
cellent idea of the general appearance of the text
will be gained from Plate I.