Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

THE WONDERS OF BABYLON. 289
to pass that if any man wished to enter into the
city secretly, or with violence, without the know-
ledge of any man, these pillars from the places
where they stood cried out, and made known who
he was, when the people of the city would lay
hold upon him.
The sixth wonder. There was in the Temple The sixth
at Jerusalem a chain which knew and could discern ""^ "'
the difference between righteous men and sinners.
And it came to pass that a certain man deposited
gold with a Jew, but when he asked to have his
deposit given back the Jew denied that he had
received it; and the man called upon the Jew to
come and to swear this in the Holy House and to
take hold of the chain. Then the Jew with evil
and deceitful words, and with curses, hollowed out
a stick, and melted the gold and poured it into
the stick; then, leaning upon the stick he came to
the holy place to take an oath to the man. Then
the stick turned and departed to the owner of the
gold, and the Jew, in his iniquity, went to lay
hold of the chain, and then turned to take up the
stick; but straightway the chain lifted itself up
and placed itself high" above him in the air by
reason of what had been done by the Jew and
through his [evil] counsel.^
' Read ffl-J-A^AI- =
^ /. e., the chain knew that the Jew intended to swear
falsely, and so betook itself into the air to get out of his
reach.
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