Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

"'
to the great ^°So Alexander marched with them until he came
sea.
224 THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
rest of the army and the heavy baggage went
by land. And he sailed on the sea for four months
Sails over and twelvc days,' after which he arrived at the
four months. ..... . , , .
..
country which is beyond the twelve great seas; and
he disembarked there, and sent to the governors
of the country, and when they had arrived and
come into his presence they gave him gifts.
Alexander said unto them, "How many guides^
"have ye here.''" And they answered, "We have
"thirty and seven," and the governors set them
He goes before him, and commanded them to go with him.
to a great sea, and he [ordered his soldiers] to
go with them as long as they were able to go
on, and that when they were unable "t to go any
[further] they were to stand still there and to drive
into the seashore very large iron stakes, in order
that they might fasten ships to them [p. 128] in
that place.' And it came to pass when the men
' In the Syriac version (pp. 147, 168) he sails for four
months only.
^ In the Syriac, "eleven bright seas".
5 In the Syriac, "Are there any men here guilty of death?"
4 Read run-^n • K^Yi/i- '
5 When the thirty-seven evil-doers were brought to Alex-
ander he said to them, "Go ye to the shore of the foetid
sea, and hammer in stakes that ships may be tied thereto,
and prepare everything needful for a force about to cross
the sea." And the men went, and came to the shore of the
sea; and when they had gone, and had arrived at the shore
of the sea, they died instantly. And Alexander and his troops
were looking at them when they died, for he and his nobles