Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. XI
arrayed himself in suitable apparel, and, having
taken the rod in his hand, began to recite certain
formulae and the names of divine pow^s known
unto him, whereupon the waxen figures became
animated and straightway sank to the bottom of
the bowl; at the same moment the hosts of the
enemy were destroyed. If the foe was coming
by sea he placed the waxen soldiers in waxen
ships, and at the sound of the words of power
both ships and men sank into the waves as the
waxen models sank to the bottom of the basin.
This he was in the habit of doing for some time,
but there came a day when he appealed to the
supernatural powers in vain, and the waxen figures
moved not; then he knew that the gods had
decreed the end of his reign, and having shaved
his head and beard and disguised himself, he fled
from Egypt.
Now we know that the Egyptians employed The antiqui-
, IT ty of the use
f.
f.
gures m workmg deeds ot magic from fi.. of waxen
the earliest times, and it is clear that certain ''^"'''^'
undefined properties were attributed to the material
of which they were made. It is well known that
the Egyptians believed that the qualities, and
much else, of a living original could be trans-
ferred to an image thereof by means of the re-
petition over it of certain formulae, and it seems
as if, when the object was to do harm, wax was
the material most commonly used for making the
image. It is true that figures of the gods of the
four cardinal points, which were buried with the
b2