Silently Heliobas placed it in his outstretched hand. As he undid
the clasps a faint odor like that of long dead rose-leaves came
like a breath on the air, ... he opened it, and saw that its pages
consisted of twelve moderately thick sheets of ivory, which were
covered all over with curious small characters finely engraved
thereon by some evidently sharp and well-pointed instrument. These
letters were utterly unknown to Alwyn: he had seen nothing like
them in any of the ancient tongues, and he examined them
perplexedly.

"What language is this?" he asked at last, looking up. "It is not
Hebrew--nor yet Sanskrit--nor does it resemble any of the
discovered forms of hieroglyphic writing. Can YOU understand it?"

"Perfectly!" returned Heliobas. "If I could not, then much of the
wisdom and science of past ages would be closed to my researches.
It is the language once commonly spoken by certain great nations
which existed long before the foundations of Babylon were laid.
Little by little it fell into disuse, till it was only kept up
among scholars and sages, and in time became known only as 'the
language of prophecy.' When Esdras wrote his Visions they were
originally divided into two hundred and four books,--and, as you
will see by referring to what is now called the
Apocrypha,[Footnote: Vide 2 Esdras xiv.44-48.] he was commanded to
publish them all openly to the 'worthy and unworthy' all except
the 'seventy last,' which were to be delivered solely to such as
were 'wise among the people.' Thus one hundred and thirty-four
were written in the vulgar tongue,--the remaining seventy in the
'language of prophecy,' for the use of deeply learned and
scientific men alone. The volume you hold is one of those