idly. Dogs,
drawn by the scent of carrion, were already prowling about with eyes
glaring from hunger and greediness. And, even as now, the high priest,
a decrepit old man, the father of Azariah, had then asked him:

"Here lieth thy father; the dogs may rend his corpse.... What are we to
do? Honour the memory of the king and profane the Sabbath; or observe
the Sabbath but leave the corpse of thy father to be devoured of dogs?"

Thereupon Solomon made answer:

"Leave him. A living dog is better than a dead lion."

And when now, after the words of the high priest, he did recall this,
his heart did contract from sadness and fear.

Having made no answer to the high priest, he went on, into the Hall of
Judgment.

As always of mornings, two of his scribes, Elihoreph and Ahiah, were
already reclining upon mats, one on either side of the throne, holding
in readiness their inks, reeds, and rolls of papyrus. Upon the king's
entrance they arose and salaamed to the ground before him. And the king
sat down upon his throne of ivory with ornaments of gold, leant his
elbow upon the back of a golden lion, and, bowing his head upon his
palm, commanded:

"Write!

"Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a ring upon thy hand; for love is
strong as death; jealousy is cruel as hell: the arrows thereof are arrows
of fire."

And, having kept a silence so prolonged that the scribes held their
breath in alarm, he said:

"Leave me to myself."

And all day, till the first shadows of evening, did the king remain
alone with his thoughts; nor durst any enter the vast, empty Hall of
Judgment.

_Tamam Shud_

NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR

[Footnote 1: The Russian version of this passage reads: "... jealousy is
cruel as the grave: the arrows thereof are arrows of fire." In this, I
have been given to understand, it adheres more closely than does the
English Bible to the original Hebrew.]

[Footnote 2: "Which _is_ the second month..." _I KINGS; vi:1_.]

[Footnote 3: "Which _is_ the eighth month..." _I KINGS; vi:38_.]

[Footnote 4: "A word fitly spoken _is like_ apples of gold in pictures
of silver." _PROVERBS; xxv:11_.]

[Footnote 5: Abimelech; _i. e._, Father-King.]

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sulamith: A Romance of Antiquity, by
Alexandre Kuprin

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