To die and
pass quick to Heaven--that would be well, but to perish by inches of
starvation, heat, cold, and cramped limbs, with pains within and without
and a swimming sickness of the head, ah! it was hard to bear. She knew
that even were she free she could not hope to descend the gateway by
its staircase, since the doors were locked and barred, and if she passed
them it would be but to find herself among the Jews in the vaulted
chambers beneath. But, so she thought, perhaps she could drop from the
roof, which was not so very high, on to the paving in front of the first
stair, and then, if she was unhurt, run or crawl to the Romans, who
might give her shelter.
So Miriam tried to undo the chain, only to find that as well might she
hope to pull down the Gate Nicanor with her helpless hands. At this
discovery she wept, for now she grew weak. Well for Miriam was it that
she could not have her wish, for certainly had she attempted to
drop down from the gateway to the marble paving, or even on to the
battlements of the walls which ran up to it on either side, her bones
would have been shattered like the shell of an egg and she must have
perished miserably.
While she grieved thus, Miriam heard a stir in the Court of Israel, and
by the dim starlight saw that men were gathering, to do what she knew
not.
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