I G^n Li // ^ <- <1 '•"■ . " 'I 1 LONG-LOST 0HRONI0LES OF SOLOMON. -AND- sPOEMS,^ -BY- JOHN GOODMAN. Dedicated to Ann Goodman, My Wife. CLEVELAND. O. J. B. SAVAGE, PRINTER, PKANKrOET STREET. 1884. f f f t I i LONG-LOST 0HRONI0LBS OF SOLOMON -AND- ^P R -BY JOHN GOODMAN. Dedicated to Ann Goodman, My Wife, CLEVELAND, O. .r. B SAVAGE, PRINTER, FRAKKPORT STREET. 1884. Ml L^ ^ INDEX. Chronicles op Solomon, ------ 4 Poems — England, - - - - - - - 38 I am Reading Shakspeare, ----- 41 An Angel's Visit, - - - - - - 45 The Beautiful Spring, - - - - ' - 47 Poverty, - - -. - - - - 48 The Bulls and the Bears' Black Monday, - - - 49 To the Lovely Poet of Macon, - - - - - 50 Sultan of Bagdad's Daughter, - - - - 53 Oltiiomclps cf tl|E fflimes cf !^clcmcn. There have lately been discovered, since the English were in possession of Egypt, in one of the ancient tombs, chronicles of the times of Solomon, king of Israel. They were bnried by a rich Israelite named Eleaser, m the tomb he had built for him- self and family, the entrance to which was fifty feet above the water mark of the Nile, and was only found out by an intrepid soldier, who, peering over the rock above, lost his balance, when he caught upon a projection, somewhat larger and about the length of a door knob of modern times. His weight pressed it down, and a cleft apj^eared in the rock into which when^ propped open by his large pistol, he easily passed his body. He immediately struck a light and lit his small wax candle; he saw steps and descended until he came to an outer chamber. As high as he could reach he saw a knob similar to the outer one. He weighed two hundred and four pounds, just sufficient to bring it down. Once more he descended with his light, and below him he saw a wheel; he took hold of it, and moved it round till a small projecting knob was immediately opposite a, small indentation a little larger than the button. He pressed it into the indent and two folding doors flew open, and to his as- tonished view was the tomb of the old Israelite, two daughters and one son, with a vacant tomb for another body, who evidently, after he had fulfilled the wishes of his parent, had by some mischance been kept from burial in his fatlier's tomb. On the breast of the embalmed old man, was a roll of papyrus, and the soldier, who was the youngest son of the Marquis of L., and had enlisted in the romantic Egyptian expedition, was a Greek,, Latin and Sanscrit scholar, and was determined the contents of CHRONICLES OF FO: OMON. the roll of papyrus should be translated. He saw jewels of great value, but only brought away a wonderful penholder, of gold, a foot long, with the twelve tribes of Israel elaborately chased and elevated on it; in the top was a sapphire, and inside, when the head was screwed off, were various pens from the quills of a goose. He, with great care, rolled up the papyrus in his hand- kerchief, and the pen in a piece of linen which he found on a stool near the tomb, and making a rope of the remainder by twisting, he closed the doors after him, and making the linen rope fast to the outside projection, let himself down to the bank of the Nile. Then, tying his knife on a thick stick, he cut the rope a few feet above his head. The door, when liberated from his weight, had sprung back to its place. Reaching the camp, he sought out Bartholomew, a Jew, a fine Hebrew scholar. Binding him to secrecy, and promising him a good reward, after several evenings he elucidated the title page: "Chronicles of the Times of Solomon, the Wise King of Israel, written by myself, Eleazer, son of Samuel." After the Jew found a good key to the very ancient Hebrew, he translated it as follows, (part of which is completed; and as they have returned to England, the remainder will be transmitted to the writer, who is on terms of great intimacy and friendship with the son of the Marquis of L.): THE FIRST CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. King Solomon, who was a man of wonderful energy and industry, sallied out of his palace with poor vestments on and common sandals, his hair uncombed and disheveled. It was late at night, for in the day time it was very warm in summer, and dusty in Jerusalem; and especially dusty at that time on account of the immense quantity of material being hauled for the temple he was building. Having gone a quarter of a mile on the street leading to the Mesopotamia gate, Salomon saw a sandal-maker hard at work, singing even at that late hour. Solomon went in and inquired the price of making CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. 7 sandals, also as to his prospects in life, and he elicited that by hard labor from day to day, incessantly, that he could earn just enough to live on, and lay by so little that he expected it would be years before he co^^ld save enough to marry the maiden he loved, old Levi's daughter. The sandal-maker's name was Ben- jamin. Solomon inquired where Levi dwelt, and deposited a small piece of folded parchment in a crevice in the wall, with strict injunction to let no one see it except old Levi; and pay- ing him for two pairs of fine finished sandals in advance, Solo- mon wished the poor man good night and went to the store of old Levi, a shrunken, long-nosed, high-browed, low-statured Israelite, about seventy years of age. He was poring over his accounts for the day, and had many pieces of slate, many tal- lies, two sticks fitting into each other, full of notches, and rolls of parchment, and some bags of gold he evidently had counted and tallied. Solomon knocked at the door, and the Israelite peered cautiously through the shutters 9,nd asked what was wanted. Levi was a dyer. Solomon told him he wanted a hundred sets of fine dyed sandal latchets, and he would pay him the gold for them. Levi rang a small bell, and from an inner apartment Rebecca, the daughter of old Levi, appeared. She knew her father wanted her to watch the new customer and to be a protection to himself; then he unchained the door and let in Solomon; then he chained it again. " What price do you wish to pay?" ''I am no haggler," said Solomon, "take my order, make me out a correct account, and receive your gold. Read it over that your daughter may certify that it is correct." The old man read it and looked at Rebecca. She said, '' Father, for the gold you can do it so much less." He looked daggers at his child, altered the figures, and said that is very cheap. '' To whom shall I send the latchets?" "To Benjamin, the sandal- maker; and look at the pai-chment stuck in a crevice in his wall. Then you will be pleased to give him your daughter, Rebecca, for his wife." Solomon departed. The old Israelite next day wanted to take inferior goods to Benjamin but his good daughter, Rebecca, insisted that he should fill the order to the letter; and the old Israelite's curiositv beins: 8 CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON". aroused, he went with his Midian slave and took the sandal trimmings to Benjamin, Old Levi spake unusually kind to him, and seeing the parchment in the crevice, where it had re- mained unread, he uttered an exclamation of surprise. The large shop and residence next to old Levi's was deeded to Ben- jamin, and a bag of gold he could get by calling on Copti, the eunuch of the black wife of Solomon the King. Old Levi became obsequious, and said he would be proud of Benjamin for- a son. '' You and I had better wait until we prove the deed and get the gold," said Benjamin. " I will hence to a scribe," said old Levi, "' and you, Benjamin, go to Copti, tlie eunuch, at the king's palace." They both went their separate ways, and Copti gave Benjamin the^old and took his acknowl- edged receipt. And old Levi found by the s<.ribe that the deed was correct and the title clear. So Benjamin located next door to old Levi, and with a hundred trimmings, the best in Jerusa- lem; a house of his own, and a large bag of gold, he commenced business on an enlarged scale, and in three months he was mar- ried to Rebecca, and Solomon, clothed in a neat gai'b, claimed the privilege of giving the bride away; and he gave her a small purse with a golden S upon it. She was not to open it until three months had passed, and she had proved a good and faith- ful wife to Benjamin. At the end of that time poor old Levi was struck with paral- ysis as he saw the diamonds, rubies, opals and carbuncles the purse contained. The poor old man died and the daughter and Benjamin sold off the old Israelite's property and inherited all his estate, and it was years before they knew that King Solo- mon had been their benefactor. Thus endeth the first chronicle of Solomon. SECOND CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. On the next night Solomon, dressed in better style — as a middle-class man — took his way to the outskirts of the city by the dim light of the hanging oil lamps at the corner of a narrow CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. 9 intersecting street. Solomon was accosted by a young Israelite of ravishing beauty. Her eye was like the mild gazelle's, yet bright as the evening star ; her nose Egyptian, the curve so slight that it added to the beauty of an oval face so perfectly moulded that Astarte could not have had a face more lovely; her teeth regular and white; her brow shone, and shewed intelli- 2:ence was seated there. She was rather slender, but below the middle height of woman, while jet itself, from Spain, would not shine, when polished, as did her hair. "For Jehovah's sake, for my mother's, and for mine, come to my poor home and abide with me, for my mother is dying of want, and I have nothing to sell but my person to obtain for her a little bread and milk to keep her from death." Solomon went to her hjljitation, her mother was reclining on a couch of boards, thin, pale, and attenuated nearly to a shadow. ■" Here is money," said Solomon, "get bread, wine, and decoc- tion of the bark of the cherry-tree, and bring them quickly."' She did, and Solomon assisted her to feed her mother, who re- vived by the aid of the bread, wine and decoction. " Now, tell me what brought you to this misery?" said Solomon. "When I was sixteen years of age," said Euth, "1 worked for Mordecai, the great vestment-maker, and earned a little regularly, to keep and clothe myself and mother. Young. Mordecai took me one evening into an inner room, gave me wine that was drugged, he took away my virtue by committing a rape upon my person, then left and sent a servant to take me home. I went to a doc- tor of the law an-d he tried to violate me also. 1 went to a priest and he nearly succeeded in ravishing me, but I broke from him, bruised and my clothing torn to shreds." "Then why not appeal to the king?" said Solomon. " He is the greatest harlot-monger in the land, and would no doubt have polluted me also. Poverty stings; I sold all my clothing but this gar- ment; all our furniture but those boards that my poor mother sleeps upon." Solomon had t"winged but recovered, and said: ^' Where is your chamber; where is your bed? " She led'him to a small offshoot, and on the unpaved Hoor was a little straw. " So you to-night had no resource but to barter your person for 10 CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. food?" " None," said Eutli; '*but now mother has food I will endeavor to obtain something by labor to-morrow." " To-mor- row," said Solomon, "go to the postern gate of the palace and ask for Copti ; he will give you employment. Now, write down the names of the doctor of the law, of the priest, of yonng Mordecai, and the residences of them." She did. Solomon left her more gold for their need . In the morning she saw Copti, and was led into a large hall where young Mordecai, the doctor of law, and the priest were in the hands of the guard. Presently King Solomon came in and Ruth trembled, for it was her friend of the night before,, and she remembered what she had said about his being the greatest harlot-monger in the land. He bade her make the statement she did unto the man who befriended her last night. She did until she came to that expression, when she said : " There are some things, most gracious king, will not bear repetition." Solomon admired her candor and her sense, " Let Mordecai marry Euth, and take her and Ruth's mother to his home, and never let me hear of one unkind word on your part to mother or daughter, and array them both in fine linen," he said to Mordecai, The doctor of the law and the priest had their heads and beards shaved, and were registered in the army of the king for twenty years without appeal. In the afternoon Ruth was summoned by Copti, and she found about three hundred of the same age and older, who were workers on vestments for the rich employers in Jerusalem, She also saw her husband, young Mordecai, and his father, and twenty-two rich manufacturers of vestments, on the opposite side of the hall, A few of the laboring girls made statements before Solomon, who was sitting in judgment, with his black Egyptian wife at his left hand, Ruth stated that she had worked three years and had only earned so much. Others that they had labored ten years and were still poor. Then Sol- omon asked the rich manufacturers for their statements, which Copti had warned them to make on pain of death. Solomon asked them if their records were correct. Then he allowed each CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. 11 to retain ten per cent, as their profit, and the balance was di- vided among the laborers according to the time they each had labored. When the judgment was ended, Cleo, the black wife of Solomon, called Ruth, and said: '' Oh, king! let this young Israelite delight thine eye, and gratify thy amorousness by being concubine. "She is^lovely as Venus," said the Egyptian, "I shall enjoy the sight of her in your embrace." The negro woman was straight as an arrow, inclined to flesh, bosom exceedingly developed; her limbs bare (for she wore but one flowing gar- ment), were like those of the Goddess of Morning; her teeth were whiter than ivory; her eyes were melting with love; her lips were like an unstrung bow above a cherry, and the corners of her mouth wore an enduring smile; her face was oval; her nose was straight as a line; her skin smooth as a plum; her arms were plump and dimpled ; her finger nails were the perfection of beauty. She was amorous, lecherous, beastly so; and she wished to see her lover, Solomon the King, enjoy the beautiful Israelite. Solomon said: ''She is sacred, and I will not violate her home." So Ruth, the beautiful, was dismissed. Thus end- eth the second chronicle of Solomon. THIRD CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. Carrying a willow basket, Solomon sought the street where the harlots generally resided. He entered many homes, gave them small sums to tell him their previous history. One Leah was a tall magnificent woman. Sheba's queen was a Scythian beside her. She was from Samaria ; a rich vineyard owner had tempted her with wine, and effected her fall by destroying her virginity. After a lapse of a few moons he deserted her for some new victim, and she in shame came to the chief city, Jeru- salem . She had been a harlot for three years, and would gladly escape, Imt knew not how. Solomon saw another, small in stat- ure, bi^k eyes, black hair in masses; she was so voluptuous that she told Solomon she would have variety, it was life to her. 12 CHROISriCLES OF SOLOxVIO]S'. *' But it will surely kill," said Solomon. " I will take a short, merry life,'' she answered. Solomon entered a third house, and a poor captive from a northern nation sat with her head upon her hand. Solomon spake kindly to her and gave her gold, and :she related to him her history. " I came from the Tin Island* beyond the pillars of Hercules. I was playing on the sea- shore when only fourteen years of age, among the woodbines which grew wild, gathering violets for a chaplet for my sister's hair, who dwelt a mile away in the woods, w^hen a boat landed, and one swift of foot took me prisoner, and in a few minutes I was aboard their boat. An arrow from the bow of my sister's husband cleft the skull of my captor, and in a few minutes we were away at sea, and I have never seen the white coast of the Tin Island, and its lovely streams and valleys, from that day to this. Four brutes of Tyrians ravished me till we landed at Tyre. I escaped and walked to Damascus, but poverty forced me eventually to Jerusalem, and I shall never see the lovely home of my childhood again." Solomon made memorandums of all these persons. The next was a girl from near the Sea of Galilee; a strong, robust Israel- ite; Mack hair, coarse as a horse's mane: heavy eyebrows; large lips. She was going to caress Solomon (much as a bear would do), when he gave her apiece of gold and left. She was a per- fect animal; lustful from head to foot. The next house which Solomon visited was one where he heard an infant prattling in an inner room. The woman, about twenty years of age, had painted, as harlots paint; her whiting covered a dark skin, and it and her paint made her, vipon close scrutiny, look pitiful. Solomon heard her story. She was the daughter of Elcazer, her name was Sarah. She had been taught all the Hebrew, Egyptian and Tyrian lore. She had fine musi- cal talent, and acquired the name of the Warbler. At sixteen she was stately and beautiful; a youth Avith the form of Apollo, with eyes like the star of the morning; teeth like flattened pearls; lips which seemed only suitable for kissing; a voice mu- sical as the nightingales. " He was false, and in two years he seduced me. Then when his lust was gratified, and I was near * England. CHEONICLES OF SOLOilOlSr. 13 to become a mother, he left me.'' Solomon pitied this woman much, and gave her gold enough to leave her calling, and furn- ish a small habitation for herself and child. At the next house Solomon heard an uproar, and going in perceived three young females wringing their hands; there were three of them, for the fourth had just hung herself. Solomon took the knife from his girdle, severed the silken cord, sent for restoratives, and saw the almost a child resuscitated; then he heard their history; each had been vain and seduced; the youngest (twelve years of age) only a month ago, by young Ja- cob, and he had married another, Solomon left, and the next day had every harlot in the city brought to the great hall. Then he ordered those who wished to leave the life they led to go to the right. Amongst them were the four young girls; the young mother ai)peared not, as she had left her harlotry; the girl from the White or Tin Islands, and the magnificent woman from Samaria, and a hundred more; while several hundred who loved their harlotry and shame-facedness, remained on the left. Then Solomon provided means for all who wished to leave their sinful life. With a recommendation from Copti, he forced the vintner of Samaria to marry the one he had seduced; the girl from the Tin Islands he sent home in a Syrian ship with an officer of his household to protect her until she landed. She prayed all lier life for Solomon, her redeemer; he asked as a favor from the king of Tyre, for the four men who had rav- ished her; he emasculated them, and then for seven years, with a brand upon their foreheads, he had them work on the high- ways. Then Solomon issued an edict that no harlot should reside or walk within one mile of the Temple, and owners should be imprisoned who rented any house or room to harlots, and pay a hundred pieces of gold into the king's treasury; and the watchmen of the city and officers of the law who saw any person from twelve years of age and upwards who visited such harlots' homes should take both him and the harlot, and they should be fined and imprisoned; and if it were proved by Copti that any watchman or officer of the law evaded the edict, they should be imprisoned, fined and dismissed from their offices. 14 CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON". All harlots shonlcl be registered and examined as to their health by two physicians; one aged, one younger, and in a manner the least offensive. The young Israelites and aged debauchees who frequently support such places, should, when caught, be regis- tered in the Band of Lechery, and copies should be hung up outside of the great hall of justice. Thus would Jerusa- lem become more free from lust, and the occupation of har- lotry unprofitable. Thus endeth the third chronicle of Sol- omon. FOURTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. Solomon, dressed as an artizan, went out earlier than usual, and visited many homes, and one grand lament met his ear. They wondered why the king allowed those of princely wealth to buy up all the olives, all the dates, all the corn from Egypt, the honey and manna from Midian, and the cattle from Dan to Beersheba, and from Lebanon to the territory of the Coshites; and Solomon was grieved. He saw that the princes in wealth in Israel combined and bought up all things in general use among the people, and sold at an excessive profit, which being resold by small dealers, cost enormous prices, and the wailing was just and it pervaded the whole of the land. And Solomon changed his raiment and sought out the grandees that fattened and feasted on the blood of Israel, and broke down the spirit of the people. He inquired into their profits and they felt offended, saying it was not any one's matter but their own, and that a tithe would cover all their profits on olives, dates, corn, honey and on cattle. Then Solomon sent out messengers on fleet horses and gathered information from all the cities and villages in the kingdom, and he found the complaint was uni- versal. Then Solomon called all the grandees to the hall and they saw that the king was the inquirer, and they trembled. Then Solomon bade them bring a correct account of all the olives, dates, corn, honey and cattle they had purchased, and the price they paid for each quality. So he found out all there CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. 15 was in the land, and he ordered ten per cent., or a tithe, to be allowed as their profit, and it was sold to the people throughout the land, and no persons were allowed to purchase any of these necessaries for speculation only sufficient to resell in their own localities; and the hearts of the people were glad, but the nobles or rich men waxed wroth and plotted to kill Solomon; but the ring-leaders were captured and put to death, and during Solo- mon's reign they never added more than a tithe on their pur- chases. Thus endeth the fourth chronicle of Solomon. FIFTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. Many complaints had been made to Copti respecting the difficulty in convicting those guilty of theft, of rape, of sod- omy and murder, in consequence of the young doctors of the law so harrassing witnesses that they in their fright sonetimes contradicted in minor points their own evidence; and how many upright men had been wrongfully im})risoned, and had their characters so blackened by the declarations of these same loose- tongued youths, that innocent men were almost afraid they must be guilty. Solomon thereupon determined to attend the same courts and judge for himself, and so he put on the dress of a chief doctor of the law and entered a court. The case was a young low-browed Israelite, who had stolen a purse. The owner testified as to the amount and number of pieces, but the only person who saw him take the purse was a young girl of fifteen, young and maidenly. The young lawyer said: " Sarah, do you know the prisoner? " "No." " Then, what are you here to testify to?" "I saw him take the purse." " Is this the purse? " ''Yes." " Will you swear this is the purse?" " I feel certain. It is the color and size." IG CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. " Can you tell that purse from this?" (producing one about the same size.) ''No." " Then you don't know which purse it was of these two that was stolen?" ''No." " Where were you when, as you pretend, you saw the pris- oner take the purse? " "In my chamber. It overlooks Samuel's room, and he had left it a moment, when the prisoner rushed in and stole the purse from the stool on which it was lying." " How old was the person who stole the purse? " "About the age of this youth." " Don't you think he was older?" "No." " Did he have the same vestments on? " " No. He wore a tunic of brown." " Can you positively swear this is the youth?" "I think he is." " But you must not think. You must be positive. You are not quite sure that this youth you want to drive to prison is the one who stole Samuel's purse? " "I think he is." " But you are not going to swear him to prison? " "No." " That will do. You evidently don't know anything about it. Solomon took the judgment seat. All were amazed. "Who is that fellow who took the judgment seat?" asked Benjamin, the young law doctor, loud enough for Solomon to hear. An old doctor wished to see Solomon's credentials, and then bowed low. "Arrest Benjamin for contempt." Solomon was obeyed. "Let him stand by the prisoner." " Jacob, are you guilty? " "No." " Maiden, come near. What is your name?" CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. 17 "Sarah." '' Wliere were you when you saw the prisoner take the purse ? " " In my chamber." "Do you feel certain that the prisoner is the person who took the purse from the stool where Samuel had left it?" "Yes. I cannot be mistaken. I saw him clearly, and I have seen him pass by Samuel's door many tmies." " That will do. Samuel, how came you to leave the purse upon the stool? " " I wanted to replenish my fire, and lest I might drop my parse as I was going, I left it for a moment on the stool. I re- turned in time to see Jacob turn onto the next street. I fol- lowed with a minister of the law, and in an hour he was a pris- oner, and I found a piece of my gold where he had paid it out." " How know you it was your piece?" " I accidentally dropped it in the embers of the fire yester- day, and before I could take it out the heat had discolored the edge of it." " Let Jacob be punished with stripes, and Benjamin be stripped of his robe, and go back to his teacher for seven years, to learn that the truth by the simplest means and evidence is what is needed to convict or set free one that is accused; and it is unwise and unjust to terrify or harrass a witness to that ex- tent it oftimes tends to counteract the evidence, and set free on society the vilest of criminals." • So Solomon had all the doctors of the law assembled in the large hall, and four prisoners brought in to be tried — a mur- derer, a robber, one who had violated a maiden, and one who had abused his neighbor. He allowed each doctor to plead for the accused ten minutes. Then for the accuser ten minutes, and so on, limiting each case to an hour. Some of the lawyers were fair in their questioning, and did not take undue advan- tage of the simplicity of a witness: others would try to intimi- date, to puzzle, to bewilder, and make their evidence not tally; others, in vehemence and declamation went on soaring, and ac- tiiallv'said nothing m their time allotted; others were so crafty 18 CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. that they tried to ensnare witnesses and make black appear white; a few had the uprightness to question fairly, and speak kindly, making endeavors to elicit the truth. These were re- tained as advisors, but all the rest which Solomon had noted for four long hours, he sent back to learn to be honest m their ques- tioning, and not to practice law again for seven years. During that time just verdicts were given; none were afraid to give cor- rect evidence, as they did not fear abuse. Thus endeth the fifth chronicle of Solomon. SIXTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. Complaints came to the king of those who manufactured chariots, utensils, and all the necessary articles for a house- hold, especially in articles of iron and tin and steel, and of those of the potter, and it was found by men of sagacity and wisdom that a duty had been laid by the oflBcials of the land upon the swords and wares of Damascus; on tools used by carpenters from Tyre, and even the cedar from Lebanon; upon the cordage for nets; upon parchment for writing; upon jewels of silver and gold; upon their lamps and candlesticks; nearly all were brought from Tyre or Petra, and the burden of paying two amounts to the few who fabricated articles of necessity, on account of the duty; which, but for (he duty, could come so much cheaper from Tyre, from Damascus, from Petra, and from Egypt. So Solomon had those who fabricated chariots and wains, pruners and swords, shears and bucklers, implements of husbandry and family uten- sils, brought from all parts of his kingdom, to state why they wished the duties to remain on what they fabricated, when their admission free would benefit so much the people of Israel. They pulled long faces, and said they could barely live, and that should the duties be taken off the country would be filled with everything at so low a price that they would be ruined. So Solomon sent them back to bring a record within one moon of all their manufactures, of their goods on hand, what means CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. 19 they had when they commenced to manufacture goods; what houses and lands; what gold and silver they had, and all they possessed. He found there were less than six hundred fabrica- tors of steel, of iron, of leather, and potteries, on a large scale; that there were over two million of Israelites who used these articles, and many were exchanged with Midianites, with Phil- istria, with Petra, Mesopotamia and Arabia. Solomon found that most of these rich fabricators had little to commence with ; that most of them were rich, many very rich; and Solomon had them divide amongst their workers all their surplus wealth over a tithe on their money in use, each year. The duties were taken off, and the country was soon full of all those things which were in use by the people, and the products of Israel were given in exchange, so that the tax on revenue soon filled the coffers of Solomon; the mass of the people were happy; general prosperity prevailed, and the country was full of gold and silver. Thus endeth the sixth chronicle of Solomon. SEVENTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. It came to the ears of the king that a great number of his people had become wine-bibbers, and that wine was sold in any quantity to suit the means of the purchaser; that much of it was adulterated; that the youths of Israel, like Noah of old, were often in a state of drunkenness, and did incest, sodomy, murder, rape, bearing false witness against their neighbors, perjury, theft, and that they dishonored their jjarents and wor- shiped strange gods; and the heart of Solomon was sad. So he rambled among the dealers and saw aged men, with one foot in the grave, gulping down the deleterious mixtures called wine, and men who labored hard for a trifling pittance spent most of their earnings in the vile trash vended unto them, while their children were barefooted and without sandals, or scarcely any vestments to cover their nakedness, and their profanity mingled with their ignorant boasts; and Solomon saw little children try to lead their drunken parents to their miserable abodes; and the 20 CHKONICLES OF SOLOMON. king saw the sons of the grandees, rich owners and vendors of goods, all in a state of mawkishness and blaspheming Jehovah as often as they opened their mouths, and they were mixed up with the skum of Jerusalem; and it grieved the heart of Solo- mon sorely, for he could not see clearly how to remedy so great and so growing an evil. So he had every dealer in and vendor of wine brought to the great hall to explain their circumstan- ces from the time they first vended the drinks to that day, and he stripped them of their ill-gotten wealth and sent them to scrub the decks of his vessels for three years with no pay but their food. Then he had licenses for new vendors of wine at one hundred pieces of gold; all those who adulterated wine were to be imprisoned and forfeit all their stock and worldly goods, and to be sent as hewers of wood for three years in the forests of Lebanon; and every one, old and young, who drank and be- came drunk, their names should be placed in the lists of drunk- ards, and exposed on all the corners of the city, and be made servitors in his armiq^ for three years. Thus was pure wine only sold; vendors were few; and drunkards were reformed by becoming industrious. Thus endeth the seventh chronicle of Solomon. EIGHTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. And lo, and behold! there was wailing in the land on ac- count of the great usury extorted from the people; they giving their goods, their furniture, their jewels and their utensils for security for small amounts of money loaned them. And Solomon obtained a list from Copti of a hundred who had borne extor- tions year after year, until they were plunged in misery, so that many took their own lives, not being able to endure the anguish and misery they had; and they Avere brought into the great hall, aud their memorandums were displayed, and he saw that all their furniture, their goods, their chatties, their implements, their gold and their silver ornaments and precious stones, even their houses, were in the hands of the usurers; and Solomon had CHKONICLES OF SOLOMON. 21 their wives and children and their dependents brought in, and their squalor and abjectness distressed the king, and he ordered them to be fed and placed on the right hand of the hall. And Solomon gathered together ever}' one who loaned, even every usurer in Jerusalem was brought in and placed on the left hand of the hall. Their garments were rich, their bellies were prom- inent, and their cheeks were rounded with fat; and Solomon ordered every one to show what he had when he became a usurer, and what he was worth that day; and Solomon found that the poor had become poorer, that the rich had become richer daily, and that some of the poor had paid many times over in usury what their goods were pledged for originally. And Solomon ordered the usurers to give back all the goods they held, and to every one all that each had charged over a half tithe for a year, and to come the next day to the hall, in their plainest garments; and the poor were comforted, and re- ceived their beds and their furniture, their implements and their ornaments; and all they had jjaid over half a tithe per annum as usury; and the next day the usurers and money-lend- ers appeared in plain apparel, and the king ordered them to be stripped and prison apparel, with stripes, put upon them, and to be branded with " usurer" on each man's brow, and to break stones on the streets of Jerusalem for three years, with a ball and chain uj^on their legs, as though they were the most de- based and guilty sinners in Jerusalem; and Solomon ordered a fund to be set apart to be loaned in small sums to the really necessitous, without usury; and Solomon made an edict that nothing in Jerusalem should be purchased on credit, but paid for at the time of the purchase, and that thereafter no debt should be collectible; that all houses and lands thus bought should be recorded, and after this no one could own any land or houses unless recorded as paid for in money; nor any one, either Israelite or Gentile, should be held as a slave from that day during the whole of his reign. Thus endeth the seventh chronicle of Solomon. ::i2 CHKONIC'LES OF SOLOMON. EIGHTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. Complaints had been made to Coj^ti about the weights and measures throughout the whole of Jerusalem. 80 Solomon, dressed as a countryman, took a basket and went to eminent dealers, who, full of suavity, seemed the essence of innocence. Solomon had one weight and bought that amount, and when he doubted the justness of the weights of the dealers they be- came irritated and abusive; but Solomon fearing not weighed with his own weight, and insisted upon having the full quan- tity for the price they sold at. Most of them were light, and yet when they bought they had weights lieavier than the trae ones; so satisfying himself of the general dishonesty of the ven- dors, he had every one's name brought to him who vended m Jerusalem; then sent his guards and had every one brought be- fore him, and all their weights and measures, and having placed one of the just judges on the bench, Solomon, dressed as a coun- tryman, pointed out those who had tried to wrong him; but they still thinking liini a rustic, swore to the accuracy of their weights, and pleaded that an unknown countryman's word should not be taken before theirs who were old inhabitants, and whose reputation was unsullied. Then Solomon passed into another room and came out again appareled as the king, and the high dignitary gave up his seat to the king. Then tlie false dealers of whom Solomon had bought besought him to pardon their unseemly language, but he answered them not, aiid of six hundred dealers in Jerusalem only forty-two had ■weights and measures correct. So the king made them give a written order to Copti for all their provisions to be brought to the great srpiare at the rear of his palace, and Solomon divided .all their ill-gotten gains amongst the poor of Jerusalem, accord- ing to the number dependent upon them. The forty-two just dealers were rewarded by Solomon. Upon the brow of the others he had branded ''false weight and measure." They were sent with their l^eards and heads shaved and prison clothing put -on to go on a cruise as laborers for three years without pay; and ;Solomon cured their unjust ways during the wliole of his reign. 'Thus endetli the eis:hth chronicle of Solomon. CHRONICLES OF SOLOMON. 33 NINTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. Whereas it came to the ears of the king that the scribes aiul expounders of the hiw eat ui) the fat of the hind, and became rich, and they were as locusts in the hind; that they bred dis- sension and strife, and suborned false witnesses, and laid traps for the guileless and unwary, and endeavored to get gold from innocent men and women under threats of misstatements re- si^ecting their dealings, their faith, and their chastity; and peo- ple dreading their al)ilities to falsify and their forensic elo- quence, and their lack of truth, submitted to be plundered by these ravenous sharks, who would plead for a murderer, know- ing tliat he was a murderer; who would plead for a robber, kiu:)wing him to be a tliief; who would plead for men avIio j^er- jured themselves, who moved their neighbor's landmarks; for those they knew- were guilty of adultery; and would plead for those who broke every one of the commandments; and would endeavor by their skill in language and by their bland manners to impose upon the judges; many of whom by their simplicity were easily im])osed upon, and ofLimes unjust judgments were, given. So Solomon had the whole of the scribes and expounders of the law examined by judges who were old, upright and learned in the law. Solomon had them examined one by one. and most of them were set aside, as neither having capacity, judgment, or moral honesty; and Solomon adjudged them to be disrobed, and for seven years they should be menders of the public roads, and at the end of that period they should enter into some iion- est avocation, and never again enter that of a scribe or expounder of tlie law. Thus during the remainder of Solomon's reign justice in the simplest manner was administered, and if any Avere dissatisfied with the judgment, Solomon made an edict that live men, if a man; live women, if a woman, should hear and pronounce by three majority, and the judge should sentence or liberate from their verdict. Thus endeth the ninth chronicle of Solomon. 24 ^ CHEONICLES OF SOLOMON. TENTH CHRONICLE OF SOLOMON. Solomon felt glad in his heart. Jerusalem and Jiidea, from Dan to Beersheba, from Tadmor and the Red Sea unto the bor- ders of Tyre, were prosperous, and the people of Israel were comparatively happy, when Copti learned that there was great dissatisfaction with husbands and fathers and young men on account of the amorousness of the Levites for their wives and their daughters, and their betrothed ones were seduced in the dwellings appertaining to the synagogues, and the evil had be- come a crying one, and children were born to the rabbis by un- married women, and by the daughters of Israel; and as Solomon was a great debauchee, a whoremonger, and had a great number of concubines, from the grandest and from the petite, from the blue-eyed of the North and from the piercing black-eyed ones of the South; from Chaldea and from Mesopotamia; from Persia and from Egypt; from Petra and Arabia, and even from the Scythians and from the Greek Islands; many came to see the grandeur and magnificence of his palaces, which were builded with ivory from Abyssinia, with gold from Sheba; of gems from the eastern lands (where the geni dwelt), and amber from the seas beyond the pillars of Hercules. The beautiful wood- work, with its elaborate carvings, was from Sidon. The jewels he and his wives and his concubines wore were fashioned in Egypt, and the fine linen also. The fruits of all islands were brought him in vessels from Tyre; spices, myrrh and frankin- cense and spikenard from Arabia, and fruits from the isles of the sea; and in the Songs of Solomon is described the love of the black EgyjDtian for him. So Solomon brought every priest and rabbi and Levite to Jerusalem, and he commanded on pain of death, and it was proclaimed by Oopti, that every married woman, and every virgin who had been seduced and debauched by the priests, the rabbis and the Levites, should state the same in the great hall ; and seven hundred and eighty wives and vir- gins who had been debauched and seduced by these soft-tongued priests, under pretense of religious duty, out of pity, others be- cause the language of the rabbis had been 'amorous and lecher- ous, and in the outhouses of the synagogues, and even in the CHEONICLES OF SOLOMON. 25 temples, when awe came over them, and opportunity offered, at the houses of tlieir husbands when away, and at the schools in after-hours where the young and innocent virgins were beguiled and their offspring were brought forth untimely and abortive, while others were strangled, and thrown from the rocks ; some were buried in the gardens in the rear of the houses of the priests, and the mass of the women and the maidens were pol- luted, as thousands had been before ; for the learning of the priests made them soft tongued, and as expounders of the Law and as teachers they had admission to the most private cham- bers of their victims ; and when persuasion availed not, they by noxious herbs would scatter the senses of their victims ; then they debauched the wives or the widows and destroyed the vir- ginity of the maidens. And Solomon assuming that although his palace was filled with harlots, yet as the king could do no wrong according to the idea of the time, he went on with his own seductions and debauchery, and he ordered the priests and the rabbis and the Levites who were guilty of seduction and violating virgins, to be made eunuchs, and for those who had be- trayed wives and widows, that for seven years they should sweep the streets of Jerusalem, and cart off the rubbish through the gates, and be branded on their brows with the word "'Lech- ery." Thus through the remainder of King Solomon's reign were maidens and widows and wives, as a general thing, free from pollution. Yet even with the stringent laws against them would many young priests brave the edicts and seduce virgins