Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

452
THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
sea, both things clean and things unclean. And
some have faces which are like unto those of
elephants and buffaloes, and they devour the roots
of trees, and everything which they find, both wet
and dry. And some have faces which resemble
those of parrots and eagles, and they eat the leaves
of trees and drink fire like water. Each of them
hath his own peculiar form and group, and each
hath his own peculiar appearance, and God Almighty
hath hidden and concealed them until He
wisheth to bring them forth to consume everything
which is in the earth, both beings of body
and beings of soul. None of them feareth either
fire or iron, and none of them hideth himself in
the earth, either in the mountains or in a cavern
under the ground.
Alexander And praying to God—now Alexander prayed
""^that these nations might not gain the mastery
their coun-
"^-
over the children of men except at the appointed
time—and crying out to Him, he made his way
to them that he might see their country, and if
by his faith, he was able to make war upon it
and to command the army therein. And it came
to pass that when he had seen the strength of
their country, and its fortresses in the rocks, [he
found that it reached] to the Land of Darkness,
and that there was there a place of going forth
about twenty-two cubits [wide] through which these
nations were wont to go out to war with the
children of men; and for this reason, they told
Alexander and made known unto him that every