Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

A CHRISTIAN ROMANCE. 453
man whom they found they must do battle with.
And it came to pass that when Alexander had
visited their country he saw that it was precipi-
tous, and rugged, and misty, and dark, and that
hail, and clouds, and frost, and snow [were therein];
and the sight of their country grieved him, and
he wished neither to hear the sound [p. 271] of
the voices of the people, nor to see their tribes,
for the sight only of their country had troubled
his soul already overmuch. So he covered his
face and grieved, for they were a generation of
devils which had no fear in them. But God Al-
mighty, in the abundance of His mercy, put into
their hearts fear and trembling when they heard
the sound of the horn, and the drum, and the
trumpet, and the [other] instruments of music ; and
The nations
when they were all gathered together within that Mago7 shut
narrow pass Alexander prayed to God, and set'"-
there a gate that they might not go out there-
from, until God Almighty should desire to bring
them forth by His decree to make an end of the
world, after the coming of Antichrist. Now the
kings of these nations are Gog and Magog. And
Alexander gathered the nations together and shut The gate of
them in with a gate of brass which could not be '^^^'
opened, and with a threefold seal which could
never be broken, and with a covering which could
not be penetrated, and with a sheath which could
be pierced neither by tool of iron(.'') nor by [the
flame of] pitch, (?) until it be the Will of God
Almighty.