Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

XXXIV INTRODUCTION.
dead bodies of men and women and the carcases
of beasts and birds whicli lie in the depths thereof
whither they were brought by the waters of the
Flood. In the prayer which Alexander makes before
he sets out he speaks of the "God Who
dwelleth above the Cherubim and Seraphim", and
Whose throne is surrounded by "ten thousand times
ten thousand angels" (p. 221), and the famous gate
which he builds to shut in the wicked nations of
Gog and Magog is set up by him with God's
Paradise conscnt. The four rivers flow from Paradise "like
Xers.
' the form of the Cross, towards the East, West,
South, and North" (p. 236), and in the prophecy
which he makes after the building: of the Iron Gate
he refers to the prophet Jeremiah; similarly, with
reference to the mountain which surrounds the
world, the Book of Job is quoted (p. 242). In the
Land of Darkness Alexander meets the angel who
holds the earth in its proper place, and who refers to
the expulsion of Adam from Paradise (p. 246), and
describes heaven according to ideas which are
expressed in the Old Testament. The river of
the Water of Life floweth from beneath God's
throne, which is supported by four angels, one of
whom has an ox's face, another a lion's face, an-
other an eagle's face, and another a man's face
The Throne (p. 24/); and the angels sing hymns by day and
by night. Next comes an account of the creation
of man and of his dwelling in Paradise (p. 250),
and when Alexander returns to his troops and
they eat of the bunch of grapes which the Angel