zed and
astonished at the splendor of his life, the magnificence of his court, and
the brilliancy of his conversation, and she burst out in the most
unbounded panegyrics. "The half was not told me." She departed leaving a
present of one hundred and twenty talents of gold, besides spices and
precious stones; and he gave, in return, all she asked. We may judge of
the wealth of Solomon from the fact that in one year six hundred and
sixty-six talents of gold flowed into his treasury, besides the spices,
and the precious stones, and ivory, and rare curiosities which were
brought to him from Arabia and India. The voyages of his ships occupied
three years, and it is supposed that they doubled the Cape of Good Hope.
All his banqueting cups and dishes were of pure gold, and "he exceeded all
the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom," who made their
contributions with royal munificence. In his army were 1,400 chariots and
12,000 horses, which it would seem were purchased in Egypt.

(M127) Intoxicated by this splendor, and enervated by luxury, Solomon
forgot his higher duties, and yielded to the fascination of oriental
courts. In his harem were 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, who
turned his heart to idolatry. In punishment for his apostasy, God declared
that his kingdom should be divided, and that his son should reign only
over the single tribe of Judah, which was spared him for the sake of his
father David. In his latter days he was disturbed in his delusions by
various adversaries who rose up against him--by Hadad, a prince of Edom,
and Rezon, king of Damascus, and Jeroboam, one of his principal officers,
who afterward became king of the ten revolted tribes. Solomon continued,
however, to reign over the united tribes for forty years, when he was
gathered to his fathers.

(M128) The apostasy of Solomon is the most mournful fall recorded in
history, thereby showing that no intellectual power can rescue a man from
the indulgence of his passions and the sins of pride and vainglory. How
immeasurably superior to him in self-control was Marcus Aurelius, who had
the whole world at his feet! It was women who had estranged him from
allegiance to God--the princesses of idolatrous nations. Although no
mention is made of his repentance, the heart of the world will not accept
his final impenitence; and we infer from the book of Ecclesiastes, written
when all his delusions were dispelled--that sad and bitter and cynical
composit