Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

NECTANEBUS AND HIS MAGIC.
enemy rose up against him on the sea he made the
waxen ships to sink, and .he thereby also submerged
the ships of the enemy who wished to
come to do battle with him. And if it happened'
[that the enemy came against him] by land he was
wont to make models of the horse [men] in wax
like unto the soldiers of the army who were coming
to do battle with him, and having muttered over
them the awful and terrible names [which he knew]
the soldiers of the enemy were suddenly overcome
before his face [p. 3], and the enemy went down
before him, and submitted unto him. And these
and such like things he was" wont to do unto
whosoever wished to fight against him, and he
never went out against an enemy who was march-
ing against him with armies and fighting men, ^ waxen soi-
but he made models of the soldiers of both armies
in wax, one set [represented] his own army, and
the other the army of the enemy, and he made a
division between them; and having invoked by
their names the gods of the country to help his
army,* the two armies joined in battle, and the
enemy was suddenly overcome before them. ^
' The MS. has hV • but read lli "
= Read ffllnl : 3 Read (Dh^ttootli'^'^-iy'i :
4 MS. has 'I'd^l'l' • altered into 'td^'i't: '
5 The custom of performing acts of sorcery by means of
wax figures was a very old one among the Egyptians, and the
papyri prove that ceremonies connected with the use of figures
formed part of religious services. A certain overseer of cattle
was prosecuted in a court of law for having made figures