Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

BY AL-MAKIN. 383
and to beat the drums and to blow the horns,
and straightway the wisdom of these wise men
was brought to an end, and the counsel [p. 224]
of the counsellors was made foolish, and he took
their city; even thus was it.
And Aristotle wrote in the book which hath Aristotle's
been mentioned admonitions which would instruct "°'^''^'
[a man] in the doing of justice, and he said therein
that justice is the strength of the world, that it is
the chief of all virtues, that wealth and armies
increase through it, and that nations become sub-
ject through it; he said, moreover, that justice
maketh [a man] to show himself friendly, and
that it is the strong prop of the world. Now he
likened the world unto a garden, the wall of which
is kingship, and kingship is the knowledge which
maketh the king to administer wisely his dominions.
The king is the man who should help his army,
and the king who Is helped by his army shall
gather together for it wealth and possessions;
riches shall make a nation to gather together unto
themselves benefits; uprightness shall make slaves
to submit unto a [free] people; and let integrity
be the working power in the beginning of thy
words and in the end thereof Know too that
by it the whole world standeth, and that by the
excellence thereof cities are founded, and wealth
is gathered together, and that soldiers and armies
increase thereby and serve a [free] people.
The writer of this history saith:— Aristotle trans- Anstotie's
lated the books of Hermes, an ancient sage of'""'"^'