he hope and strength of man." My
companions were torn down. I was forced back to the veil of the Holy of
Holies. I longed to die! I fought, I taunted, covered from head to foot
in gore. I remained without a wound.

Then came a new enemy--fire. I heard its roar round the sanctuary. The
Romans fled to the portal. A wall of fire stood before them. They rushed
back, tore down the veil, and the Holy of Holies stood open.

The blaze melted the plates of the roof in a golden shower above me. It
calcined the marble floor; it dissipated in vapour the inestimable gems
that studded the walls. All who entered lay turned to ashes. But on the
sacred Ark the flame had no power. It whirled and swept in a red orb
round the untouched symbol of the throne of thrones. Still I lived; but
I felt my strength giving way--the heat withered my sinews, the flame
extinguished my sight. I sank upon the threshold, rejoicing that death
was inevitable. Then, once again, I heard the words of terror. "Tarry
thou till I come!" The world disappeared before me.

_V.--The Pilgrim of Time_

Here I pause. I had undergone that portion of my career which was to be
passed among my people. My life as father, husband, citizen, was at an
end. Thenceforth I was to be a solitary man. I was to make my couch with
the savage, the outcast, and the slave. I was to see the ruin of the
mighty and the overthrow of empires. Yet, in the tumult that changed the
face of the world, I was still to live and be unchanged.

In revenge for the fall of Jerusalem, I traversed the globe to seek out
an enemy of Rome. I found in the northern snows a man of blood; I
stirred up the soul of Alaric, and led him to the sack of Rome. In
revenge for the insults heaped upon the Jew by the dotards and dastards
of the city of Constantine, I sought out an instrument of compendious
ruin. I found him in the Arabian sands, and poured ambition into the
soul of Mecca. In revenge for the pollution of the ruins of the Temple,
I roused the iron tribes of the West, and at the head of the Crusaders
expelled the Saracens. I fed full on revenge, and fed the misery of
revenge.

A passion for human fame seized me. I drew my sword for Italy;
triumphed, was a king, and learned to curse the hour when I first
dreamed of fame. A passion for gold seized me. Wealth came to my wish,
and to my torment. Days and nights of misery were the gift of avarice.
In my passion I longed for regions where the hand of man had