Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

326 THE HISTORY- OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
Bathsheba. "ccming the beauty of the creation of the wife
"of Uriah, and of how David thought about her,
"and of how he wrote by the hand of her hus-
"band to Akaaz, the son of Sareya, the captain
"of his soldiers' and horses, and of how he sent
"him purposely into the battle to slay him? And
"David took his wife, who was very beautiful
"—now in those days there was not a woman who
"could be compared unto her for beauty—for when
"he saw her he loved her exceedingly; but she
"rejected him and would not submit herself unto
"him until he had slain her husband, and then he
"took her. And this became sin,^ and he repented
David's "of his sin the rest of his days^ with sorrow and
'
"tears. And he lay on his face prostrate on the
"ground for forty days and for forty nights, and
"as he wept he lifted not up his head. And he
"mourned for the evil which he had wrought until
"his hair grew and covered his head and his body,
"while floods of his tears flowed down upon the
"face of the ground by reason of his mighty
"weeping. And he plucked out the hair of his
"head, and his eyes failed by reason of the mul-
"titude of his tears, until the angels who were
"standing by his head said unto him, 'Who made
"thee to commit this sin? But the glorious God
"is Merciful.' Thus God's mercy came to him by
' Read i^'^IJ'k
^ Some word like 'httX.h'l' • has dropped out from the
text. i Read 00