Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

464 THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
order, and that the skill and cunning of the con-
trivance might not be destroyed he wrought a
sign, and [ordered his men] to make serpents [and
to set them] up on the road, that they might
terrify men from coming to the city. Then those
whom he Iiad sent into the courtyards and houses
The city is went round about the whole city, and there was
^''°' ^ ' no
soldier in the whole of the king's army, and
no man, and no camel, and no horse, and no mule,
and no ass, and in fact no one that was not loaded
with a burden. And they all bore loads of gold, and
silver, and jewels of the sea, that is to say, pearls and
gems, and topazes, and chalcedonies, and precious
stones, and gems, and every kind of gem which
shone like a lamp in the darkness. Now [p. 280]
no man carried off brass or iron or any object
which possessed great weight, for all their houses,
that is the doors, and the beams of their houses,
and the battlements thereof were of brass and
lead; and none of the men brought away brass
and lead, for all the soldiers of the king's army
understood that they were to load themselves with
things of great price only.
Then Alexander rose up and marched for three
days, and he brought serpents into the open places
of the city, and he tarried among his troops to
pray before going into the city. And again he
Alexander's prayed aud gave thanks unto God Almighty and
spake, saying, "I return thanks unto Thee, O Lord
"God Almighty, because Thou hast received me
"and hast given to me by Thy Will all these riches