ted the right to a child. Solomon, in the wild
spirit of Oriental justice, commanded the infant to be divided before
their faces: the heart of the real mother was struck with terror and
abhorrence, while the false one consented to the horrible partition, and
by this appeal to nature the cause was instantaneously decided.

[Footnote 26: I Kings, xi., 23; I Chron., viii., 3.]

The internal government of his extensive dominions next demanded the
attention of Solomon. Besides the local and municipal governors, he
divided the kingdom into twelve districts: over each of these he
appointed a purveyor for the collection of the royal tribute, which was
received in kind; and thus the growing capital and the immense
establishments of Solomon were abundantly furnished with provisions.
Each purveyor supplied the court for a month. The daily consumption of
his household was three hundred bushels of finer flour, six hundred of a
coarser sort; ten fatted, twenty other oxen; one hundred sheep; besides
poultry, and various kinds of venison. Provender was furnished for forty
thousand horses, and a great number of dromedaries. Yet the population
of the country did not, at first at least, feel these burdens: _Judah
and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude,
eating and drinking, and making merry_.

The foreign treaties of Solomon were as wisely directed to secure the
profound peace of his dominions. He entered into a matrimonial alliance
with the royal family of Egypt, whose daughter he received with great
magnificence; and he renewed the important alliance with the king of
Tyre.[27] The friendship of this monarch was of the highest value in
contributing to the great royal and national work, the building of the
Temple. The cedar timber could only be obtained from the forests of
Lebanon: the Sidonian artisans, celebrated in the Homeric poems, were
the most skilful workmen in every kind of manufacture, particularly in
the precious metals.

[Footnote 27: After inserting the correspondence between King Solomon
and King Hiram of Tyre, according to I Kings, v., Josephus asserts that
copies of these letters were not only preserved by his countrymen, but
also in the archives of Tyre. I presume that Josephus adverts to the
statement of Tyrian historians, not to an actual inspection of the
archives, which he seems to assert as existing and accessible.]

Solomon entered into a regular treaty, by which he bound himself to
s