lleth them: as one dieth, so
dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no
preeminence above a beast. And the king understood, that in much wisdom
is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. He
also learned that even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end
of mirth is heaviness. And so one morning he dictated to Elihoreph and
Ahiah:

"'All is vanity of vanities and vexation of spirits'--thus saith
Ecclesiastes."

But at that time the king did not yet know that God would soon send him
a love so tender and ardent, so devoted and beautiful,--more precious in
itself than riches, fame, and wisdom; more precious than life itself,
for it values not even life, nor hath fear of death.

CHAPTER FOUR

IV.

The king had a vineyard at Baal-hamon, upon the southern slope of
Bath-El-Khav, to the south of the idol-temple of Moloch; thither
did the king love to withdraw in the hours of his great meditations.
Pomegranate,--olive,--and wild apple-trees, interspersed with cedars and
cypresses, bordered it on three sides upon the mountain, while on the
fourth it was fenced off from the road by a high stone wall. And other
vineyards, lying about, also belonged to Solomon; he let them out unto
keepers, each one for a thousand pieces of silver.

Only with the dawn came to an end in the palace the magnificent feast
which the King of Israel was giving in honour of the emissaries of the
King of Assyria, the good Tiglath-Pileser. Despite his fatigue, Solomon
could not fall asleep this morn. Neither wine nor hippocras had befogged
the stout heads of the Assyrians, nor loosened their canny tongues. But
the penetrating mind of the wise king had already forestalled their
plans, and was, in its turn, already weaving a fine political net,
wherein he would enmesh these proud men with supercilious eyes and of
flattering speech. Solomon would be able to preserve the necessary amity
with the potentate of Assyria, yet at the same time, for the sake of
his eternal friendship with Hiram of Tyre, would save from pillage the
latter's kingdom, which, with its countless riches, hid in subterranean
vaults underneath narrow streets, had for a long time drawn the covetous
gazes of oriental sovereigns.

And so at dawn Solomon had commanded himself to be borne to Mount
Bath-El-Khav; had left the litter far down the road, and is now seated
alone upon a simple wooden bench, above the vineyard, under