"You were right, and I have been wrong. That Messiah
of yours whom I rejected, yes, and still reject, had at least the gift
of prophecy, for the words that you read me yonder in Tyre will be
fulfilled upon this people and city, aye, to the last letter. The Romans
hold even the outer courts of the Temple; there is no food left. In the
upper town the inhabitants devour each other and die, and die till none
can bury the dead. In a day or two, or ten--what does it matter?--we
who are left must perish also by hunger and the sword. The nation of the
Jews is trodden out, the smoke of their sacrifices goes up no more, and
the Holy House that they have builded will be pulled stone from stone,
or serve as a temple for the worship of heathen gods."
"Will Titus show no mercy? Can you not surrender?" asked Miriam.
"Surrender? To be sold as slaves or dragged a spectacle at the wheels of
Caesar's triumphal car, through the shouting streets of Rome? No, girl,
best to fight it out. We will seek mercy of Jehovah and not of Titus.
Oh! I would that it were done with, for my heart is broken, and this
judgment is fallen on me--that I, who, of my own will, brought my
daughter to her death, must bring her daughter to death against my will.
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