16.10.2013 Views

Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

ALEXANDER'S GATE. 239<br />

the door in Greek characters the same inscription<br />

that he had written upon the pillar which is in<br />

Alexandria/ saying, "The nations shall gather<br />

"themselves together every year, and at every<br />

"season, and at every time, and shall seek to open<br />

"this gate, and [though] they plan with all manner<br />

"of counsel they shall never succeed in opening<br />

"it. And when they are not able to do so they<br />

"shall lick it with their tongues, which are sharp<br />

"like the tongues of serpents, but they shall not <strong>Alexander</strong>'s<br />

"be able to open it, and it shall not be opened''"''''^''''"<br />

"until the time hath arrived when God Almighty,<br />

"the Glorious and Most High, shall be pleased to<br />

"open it'; now this shall be in the eight hundred<br />

"and sixty-fourth year.^ And at the end of ten<br />

"thousand [years] which shall pass by,'' the nations<br />

"shall perish, and the marvellous things which are<br />

dq auTOKj crpevvuTai, Kai 6 CTi&ripo^ cruvrpiperai. The mea-<br />

surement, 60 cubits by 12 cubitSj agrees neither with the<br />

Syriac nor <strong>Ethiopic</strong>. Besides this gate the Greek says that<br />

<strong>Alexander</strong> built a barrier of stonework {eBelX^v eiepav oiKobo-<br />

)Lir|V bid Xi'Ouuv ireTpivaJv) 20 cubits high, n cubits wide,<br />

and 60 cubits long. Over the stone he poured tin and lead,<br />

and he smeared the whole building with some substance like<br />

asbestos (Kmaxpioaz friv TOiauTriv oiKObo|ur)V xai dcTiKUTiVLu)<br />

^ For the inscription which <strong>Alexander</strong> set up over the<br />

gate of Alexandria, see Masudi, torn. ii. p. 428.<br />

^ Read hC-VP-f<br />

3 In the Syriac "eight hundred and twenty-six years"<br />

(P- 154)-<br />

* The <strong>Ethiopic</strong> text is corrupt here. The Syriac says<br />

that the things which it describes shall happen after 940 years.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!