Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

290 THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
The seventh The SEVENTH WONDER. There was at the foot
won er.
^^ [Solomon's] throne a canal filled with [p. 167]
pure water, and there were placed in that lake a
platform, and a carpet (?), and a seat for the great
king. And whenever any man had a dispute
with his fellow, the great king used to have them
brought to that place, and make them debate the
cause of their quarrel before him; when this was
done he commanded them to walk on the water
to him. And the man who was innocent used to
come walking on the water, and sank not in it, but
he who had acted wickedly and had sworn falsely
sank therein. By these means the king distinguished
the righteous man, and the sinner, and the man
of deceit.
The eighth The eighth wonder. There was by the throne [of
"" ' Solomon]
a certain laver, to which went the kinsfolk
of a man who had gone away into a far country,
or of one of whom no news had come, that they
might inform themselves from it where he was,
and of what had happened to him. Now the
enquirer used to lay his hand upon the laver and
call out the name of him that had gone away,
and the [water in the] laver used to boil and
bubble. If, when the laver had heard the words,
the bubbling therein was soft and gentle, the
enquirer's friend was alive, and in peace and safet}^-
but if, when the laver had heard his voice, the
bubbling was high and furious, his friend was
either sick, or in dangfer, or dead.
And it came to pass that when Alexander had