ne on each side. The throne itself was of ivory with
gold incrustation and with elbow-rests of gold, in the form of recumbent
lions. The high back of the throne was surmounted by a golden disc.
Curtains of violet and purple stuffs hung from the ceiling down to the
floor at the entrance to the hall, dividing off the entry, where between
the columns thronged the plaintiffs, supplicants, and witnesses, as well
as the accused and the criminals under a strong guard.

The king had on a red chiton, while upon his head was a simple, narrow
crown of sixty beryls, set in gold. At his right hand stood the throne
for his mother, Bathsheba; but of late, owing to her declining years,
she rarely showed herself in the city.

The Assyrian guests, with austere, black-bearded faces, were seated
along the walls upon benches of jasper; they had on garments of a light
olive colour, broidered at the edges with designs of red and white.
While still at home, in their native Assyria, they had heard so much
of the justice of Solomon that they tried to let no single word of
his slip by, in order to tell later of the judgment of the King of the
Israelites. Among them sat the commanders of Solomon's armies, his
ministers, the governors of his provinces, and his courtiers. Here was
Benaiah, at one time executioner to the king; the slayer of Joab,
Adonijah, and Shimei,--a short, corpulent old man, with a sparse,
long, gray beard; his faded, bluish eyes, rimmed by red lids that seemed
turned inside out, had a look of senile dullness; his mouth was open
and moist, while his fleshy, red lower lip drooped down impotently, and
was slightly trembling. Here also were Azariah, the son of Nathan,--a
jaundiced, tall man, with a lean, sickly face and dark rings under his
eyes; and the good-natured, absent-minded Jehoshaphat, historiographer;
and Ahishar, who was over the court of Solomon; and Zabud, who bore the
high title of the King's Friend; and Ben-Abinadab, which had Taphath,
the eldest daughter of Solomon, to wife; and Ben-Geber, the officer over
the region of Argob, which is in Bashan: to him pertained threescore
cities, surrounded by walls, with gates of brasen bars; and Baanah, the
son of Hushai, at one time famed for his skill in casting a spear to the
distance of thirty parasangs; and many others. Sixty warriors, their
helmets and shields gleaming, stood in a rank to the left of the throne
and the right; their head officer this day was the handsome El