Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

A CHRISTIAN ROMANCE. 5O3
"lest Satan should attack me, and I would come
"unto Thee pure and undefiled both in soul and Alexander
"in body. But tell me the sign of my death, for,^^^,^;^'^^;
"the g^oingf forth of the soul from the body is hard,'''^ "J^^*
° ='
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shall be.
"and let not my soul go out [from my body] be-
"fore I have consoled my mother, who loveth me
"most dearly, lest she kill herself [and she die]
"before her time hath come." And the Spirit
which was upon him answered and said unto him,
"When the heavens become brass above thy head,
"and when the stars therein become to thee [as]
"gold [p. 311] and silver, then shalt thou die; these
"things shall be a sign unto thee." Then Alexander
gave thanks unto God Almighty, and bowed down
to the ground and prayed.
CHAPTER XXI.
Then Alexander went into his city, and having
come into his treasure-house he opened it, and
went away from it [leaving it open]. Then he
called the strangers, and the poor, and the needy,
and made them to come and take everything which Alexander
was therein, the gold, and the silver, and the |o7dVto the
cosdy apparel, and everything which was there, ''°°''-
even to the precious stones which were [set] in
the walls of the house, and the lamps and all the
possessions of the royal palace. Now it needed
three months for him to make an end [of these
things], for he was very rich. And every one who
saw how these people made an end of everything
marvelled exceedingly, for those poor folk upon