Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

BY AL-MAKIN. 375
her,' and he spake unto her, saying, "Know thou
"that we in this world are Hke unto this fleeting
"day which succeedeth yesterday, and that the
"morrow of to-day will follow in the track of to-
"day; and the path which we must follow is the
"path of that which hath passed away, even as it
"also hath followed in the track of that which hath
"gone before. Do thou, O lady, endue thyself
"with patient resignation as with a garment of
"strong iron, and fear not, neither be dismayed,
"nor cast down utterly. And do thou make a
"great feast, and bid all men to gather together to
"thee, and when they have assembled let a herald
"go round about [among them], saying, 'Let every
"man [here] upon whom trouble hath fallen not
"[p. 220] partake of this food;' then shalt thou
"discover that there is consolation in my words
"[to thee]." And he sealed the paper and sent
[it] to his mother, and he ordered Philemon, the
captain of his host, to make all haste on the
journey and to hide his death from her. And it Death of
came to pass that Alexander died^ after a few
days and was gathered unto his fathers; glory and
praise be unto God Almighty Who dieth not!
And when the letter had come to Alexander's oiympias
mother, she made a feast according as he h^d^l^t- thl
.
^ Read ffl^^TfH =
. result.
^ According to some he died at Babylon, and according
to others at Shahrazur, a city in northern Mesopotamia, and
others say he died at Nisibis; compare J-^^y J})j^=r^ Cj^s
JjLo Yakut, torn. i. p. rov; and Mas'udi, tom. ii. p. 251.