Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

THE GATE OF IRON AND BRASS. 279
and the boundaries thereof, and he marched
through the darkness, and through [all] seas and
lands, and attained unto the ends thereof. And
God Almighty gave him such power over kings,
and such help in the conquering of cities and
countries as was never given unto any other man
either before or after him; and he was faithful
unto [his] kings, and he dealt graciously with them
in his time, and he guarded well [his] flock, and
he neither magnified himself nor exalted himself
over men. But it becometh me not and it is
better for me not to [attempt to] record his honour
and glory.
Now the Two -horned remembered the evil
nations which dwelt in the ends of the earth, and
he spake unto his people, saying, "Help me with
"your might until P can place a wall between you
"and them"; and he received them, and they helped
him. Then he said unto them, "Bring hither to The bunding
"me iron for smelting", and they brought it unto "ate/
"^°"
him, and he set up a mighty furnace between the
two mountains, and he blew blasts upon the iron
until it melted, and he made therefrom a gate
which was very high and very wide. Then he
ordered them also to bring him pitch, that is to
say melted [p. i6i] bitumen, and he boiled it
until it became liquid in a furnace, after which he
poured it upon the iron, and the two substances
became one. Thus he shut in Yagug (Gog), and cog and
Magog.
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