Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

ALEXANDER AND THE BRAHMANS. XXXI
High" (see p. 38),' he appoints Aristotle to be his
master and counsellor. This Aristotle is described Aristoue
as belonging to the philosophers who say, "ThescripLes/
"Heavens declare the glory of the Creator, Who
"killeth and Who maketh alive, Who promoteth
"to honour and Who bringeth down into the dust;"
here then we have almost word for word quotations
from books of the Bible (see p. 39). When
Alexander becomes king he makes five procla-
mations: two to his household, one to his gover-
nors, one to his soldiers, and one to the kings and
governors of the world in general (see pp. 40— 59),
The subject matter in each is practically the same^
that is, exhortations to forsake idolatry and to Alexander's
worship God Almighty; in places they remind fions.
the reader of passages in the Kur'an, but the
general tone of the compositions is against their
being of Arabic origin. In his epistles to Darius
and others Alexander always calls himself the
"Servant of God Almighty" (see p. 67), and when
he is in Jerusalem he reads the Book of Daniel,
— that Alexander knew neither Hebrew nor Chaldee
troubled not the translator—and prays towards the
east, and does homage unto the Holy Scriptures
and to the words of the prophets (see pp. 73— 75).
When Alexander joined battle with Darius he cries
out in true Muhammadan fashion, "There is no The Brah-
"strength for us save in God Almighty" (see p. 7g).TJbL(]Z-
The Brahmans are described as "fearers of God",'^*'
°"^'"-
' These numbers refer to the English translation.
"^