Whatsoever the eyes of the king might desire, he kept not from them;
and withheld not his heart from any joy. Seven hundred wives had the
king, and three hundred concubines, without counting slaves and
dancers. And all of them did Solomon charm with his love, for God had
endowed him with such an inexhaustible strength of passion as was not
given to ordinary men. He loved the white-faced, black-eyed, red-lipped
Hittites for their vivid but momentary beauty, that bursts into blossom
just as early and enchantingly, and fades just as rapidly as the flower
of the narcissus; the swarthy, tall, vehement Philistines, with wiry,
curly locks, who wore golden, tinkling armlets upon their wrists,
golden hoops upon their shoulders, and broad anklets, joined by a thin
little chain, upon both ankles; gentle, diminutive, lithe Ammorites
formed without a blemish, whose faithfulness and submissiveness in love
had passed into a proverb; women out of Assyria, who put their eyes in
painting to make them seem more elongated, and who ate out with acid
blue stars upon their foreheads and cheeks; well-schooled, gay and
witty daughters of Sidon, who knew well how to sing and dance, as well
as to play upon harps, lutes and flutes, to the accompaniment of
tabours; xanthochroöus women of Ægypt, indefatigable in love and insane
in jealousy; voluputous Babylonians, whose entire body underneath their
raiment was as smooth as marble, because they eradicated the hair upon
it with a special paste; virgins of Baktria, who stained their nails
and hair a fiery-red colour, and wore wide, loose trowsers; silent,
bashful Moabites, whose magnificent breasts were cool on the sultriest
nights of summer; care-free and profligate Ammonites, with fiery hair,
and flesh of such whiteness that it glowed in the dark; frail,
blue-eyed women with flaxen hair, and skin of a delicate fragrance, who
were brought from the north, through Baalbec, and whose tongue was
incomprehensible to all the dwellers in Palestine. The king loved many
daughters of Judæa and Israel besides.
Also shared he his couch with Balkis-Mâkkedah, the Queen of Sheba, who
had surpassed all women on earth in beauty, wisdom, riches, and her
diversified art in passion; and with Abishag the Shunamite, who had
warmed the old age of David,--a kindly, quiet beauty, for whose sake
Solomon had put to death his elder brother Adonijah, at the hands of
Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada.
And also with the poor maiden of the vineyard, by the name of Sulamith,
whom alone among all women the king had loved with all his heart.
Solomon made himself a litter of the best cedar wood, with pillars of
silver, with arm-rests of gold in the form of recumbent lions, with a
covering of purple Tyrian stuff, while the entire inner side of the
covering was ornamented with gold embroidery and with precious
stones,--the love-gifts of the women and virgins of Jerusalem. And when
well-built black slaves bore Solomon among his people on grand festal
days, truly was the king glorious, like the lilies that are in the
Valley of Sharon!
Pale was his face; his lips like unto a vivid thread of scarlet; his
wavy locks a bluish black, and in them--the adornment of wisdom--gleamed
gray hairs, like to the silver threads of mountain streams, falling down
from the dark crags of Hermon; gray hairs glistened in his dark beard
also, curled, after the custom of the kings of Assyria, in regular,
small rows.
As for the eyes of the king, they were dark, like the darkest agate, like
the heavens on a moonless night in summer; while his eye-lashes, that
spread upward and downward like arrows, resembled dark rays around dark
stars. And there was no man in all the universe who could bear the gaze
of Solomon without casting down his eyes. And the lightnings of wrath in
the eyes of the king would prostrate people to the earth.
But there were moments of heartfelt merriment, when the king would grow
intoxicated with love, or wine, or the delight of power, or when he
rejoiced over words of wisdom or beauty, fitly spoken. Then his lashes
would be softly half-lowered, casting blue shadows upon his radiant
face, and in the king’s eyes would kindle the warm flames of a kindly,
tender laughter, just like the play of black diamonds; and whosoever
might behold this smile was ready to yield up body and soul for it--so
indescribably beautiful was it. The mere name of King Solomon, uttered
aloud, stirred the hearts of women, like the fragrance of spilt myrrh
that recalls nights of love.
The king’s hands were soft, white, warm and beautiful, like a woman’s;
but they held such an excess of life energy that, by the laying on
of his palms upon the temples of the sick, the king cured headaches,
convulsions, black melancholy, and demoniacal possession. Upon the index
finger of his left hand the king wore a gem of blood-red asteria that
emitted six pearl-coloured rays. Many centuries did this ring number,
and upon the reverse side of its stone was graven an inscription, in the
tongue of an ancient, vanished people: “All things pass away.”
And so great was the sway of Solomon’s soul that even beasts submitted
to it; lions and tigers crawled at the feet of the king, rubbing their
muzzles against his knees, and licking his hands with their rough
tongues, whenever he entered their quarters. And he, whose heart found
joy in the dazzling play of precious stones, in the fragrance of
sweet-smelling Ægyptian resins, in the soft touch of light stuffs, in
sweet music, in the exquisite taste of red, sparkling wine playing in
a chased Ninuanian chalice,--he also loved to stroke the coarse manes
of lions, the velvety backs of black panthers, and the tender paws
of young, speckled leopards; loved to hear the roar of wild beasts, to
see their powerful and superb movements, and to feel the hot feral odour
of their breath.
Thus did Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, the historian of his days,
depict King Solomon.