-Epiphanes! "I
told you," he said, "that this day would come. One grand hope was given
to your countrymen; they cast it from them! Ages on ages shall pass
before they learn the loftiness of that hope, or fulfill the punishment
of that rejection. Yet, in the fullness of time, light shall break upon
their darkness. They shall ask: Why are barbarians and civilised alike
our oppressors? Why do contending faiths join in crushing us alone? Why
do realms, distant as the ends of the earth, unite in scorn of us?"

"Man of terrible knowledge," I demanded, "tell me for what crime this
judgment comes?"

"There is no name for it," he said, with solemn fear.

"Is there no hope?" said I, trembling.

"Look to that mountain," was the answer, as he pointed to Moriah. "It is
now covered with war and slaughter. But upon that mountain shall yet be
enthroned a Sovereign, before whom the sun shall hide his head. From
that mountain shall light flow to the ends of the universe, and the
government shall be of the everlasting."

In a few minutes he had carried me to the city, placed me on a
battlement, and had disappeared.

Below me war raged in its boundless fury. The Romans had forced their
way; the Jews were fighting like wild beasts. When the lance was broke,
the knife was the weapon; when the knife failed, they tore with their
hands and teeth. But the Romans advanced against all. They advanced till
they were near the inner temple. A scream of wrath and agony at the
possible profanation of the Holy of Holies rose from the multitude. I
leaped from the battlement, called upon Israel to follow me, and drove
the Romans back.

But Jerusalem was marked for ruin. A madman, prophesying the succour of
heaven, prevented Israel from surrendering, and thus saving the Temple.
Infuriated by his words, the populace kept up the strife, and the Temple
burst into flames. The fire sprang through the roof, and the whole of
its defenders, to the number of thousands, sank into the conflagration.
In another minute the inner temple was on fire. I rushed forward, and
took my post before the veil of the portico, to guard the entrance with
my blood.

But the legions rushed onward, crying that "they were led by the Fates,"
and that "the God of the Jews had given his people and city into their
hands." The torrent was irresistible. Titus rushed in at its head,
exclaiming that "the Divinity alone could have given the stronghold into
his power, for it was beyond t