circumcising her son, ἀκρότομος. The ἀργοῖς of the LXX signifies also the rough natural condition of the stones. Thus Pausanias speaks of gold and silver in unfused, rough lumps as ἄργυρος καὶ χρυσὸς ȧpyós. Apparently, then, the LXX, in saying that the temple was erected of ἀκροτόμοις ἀργοῖς, express their meaning that the stones were unhewn and in their natural condition, so that the skill of Solomon was exhibited in putting together stones which had never been subjected to the tool. This is also the opinion of Josephus, who says, "The whole edifice of the temple is, with great art, compacted of rough stones, ἐκ λίθων ἀκροτόμων, which have been fitted into one another quite harmoniously, without the work of hammer or any other builder's tool being observable, but the whole fits together without the use of these, and the fitting seems to be rather one of free will than of force through mechanical means.” And therein lay the skill of the king, for the unshapen blocks were pieced together as though they had been carefully wrought to their positions. And Procopius says that the temple was erected of unhewn stones, as it was forbidden of God to lift iron upon them, but that, nevertheless, they all fitted into one another. We see in these passages tokens of the marvellous having been supposed to

attach to a work which was free from any miraculous interposition. But at this point fable did not stop. Upon the carrying away of the Jews to Babylon, they were brought into contact with a flood of Iranian as well as Chaldæan myths, and adopted them without hesitation.

Around Solomon accumulated the fables which were related of Dschemschid and other Persian heroes, and were adopted by the Jews as legends of native production. It was not sufficient that Solomon should have skilfully pieced together the rough stones: he was supposed to have hewn them by supernatural means, without the tool of iron.

As Solomon, thus ran the tale, was about to build the temple without the use of iron, his wise men drew his attention to the stones of the high priest's breastplate, which had been cut and polished by something harder than themselves. This was schamir, which was able to cut where iron would not bite. Thereupon Solomon summoned the spirits to inform him of the whereabouts of this substance. They told him schamir was a worm of the size of a barley corn, but so powerful that the hardest flint could not resist him. The spirits advised Solomon to seek Asmodeus, king of the

devils, who could give him further information. When Solomon inquired where Asmodeus was to be met with, they replied that, on a distant mountain, he had dug a huge cistern, out of which he daily drank. Solomon then sent Benaiah with a chain, on which was written the magic word "schem hammphorasch," a fleece of wool and a skin of wine. Benaiah, having arrived at the cistern of Asmodeus, undermined it, and let the water off by a little hole, which he then plugged up with the wool; after which he filled the pit with wine. The evil spirit came, as was his wont, to the cistern, and scented the wine. Suspecting treachery, he refused to drink, and retired; but at length, impelled by thirst, he drank, and, becoming intoxicated, was chained by Benaiah and carried away. Benaiah had no willing prisoner to conduct: Asmodeus plunged and kicked, upsetting trees and houses. In this manner he came near a hut in which lived a widow, and when she besought him not to injure her poor little cot, he turned aside, and, in so doing, broke his leg. "Rightly," said the devil, “is it written a soft tongue breaketh the bone !"" (Prov. xxv. 15). And a diable boiteux he has ever remained. When in the presence of Solomon,

Asmodeus was constrained to behave with greater decorum. Schamir, he told Solomon, was the property of the Prince of the Sea, and that prince entrusted none with the mysterious worm except the moor-hen, which had taken an oath of fidelity to him. The moor-hen takes the schamir with her to the tops of the mountains, splits them, and injects seeds, which grow and cover the naked rocks. Wherefore the bird is called Naggar Tura, the mountain-carver. If Solomon desired to possess himself of the worm, he must find the nest of the moor-hen, and cover it with a plate of glass, so that the mother bird could not get at her young without breaking the glass. She would seek schamir for the purpose, and the worm must be obtained from her.

Accordingly, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, sought the nest of the bird, and laid over it a piece of glass. When the moor-hen came, and could not reach her young, she flew away and fetched schamir, and placed it on the glass. Then Benaiah shouted, and so terrified the bird, that she dropped the worm and flew away. Benaiah by this means obtained possession of the coveted schamir, and bore it to Solomon. But the moor-hen was so distressed at having broken her oath to the Prince

of the Sea that she slew herself'.

According to

another version, Solomon went to his fountain, where he found the dæmon Sackar, whom he captured by a ruse, and chained down. Solomon pressed his ring to the chains, and Sackar uttered a cry so shrill that the earth quaked.

Quoth Solomon, "Fear not; I shall restore you to liberty if you will tell me how to burrow noiselessly after minerals and metals."

"I know not how to do so," answered the Jin; "but the raven can tell you: place over her eggs a sheet of crystal, and you shall see how the mother will break it."

Solomon did so, and the mother brought a stone and shattered the crystal. "Whence got you that stone?" asked Solomon.

"It is the stone Samur," answered the raven; "it comes from a desert in the uttermost east." So the monarch sent some giants to follow the raven, and bring him a suitable number of stones"." According to a third version, the bird is an eagle, and schamir is the Stone of Wisdom.

1

1 Gittin, lxviii. Eisenmenger: Neu-entdecktes Judenthum. Königsberg, 1711, i. p. 351.

*Collin de Plancy: Légendes de l'Ancien Test. Paris,

1861,

p.

280.