Paying no heed to them he walked across the court, picking his
way through the heaps of dead to a range of the southern cloisters which
were still standing, where officers might be seen coming and going.
Under one of these cloisters, seated on a stool and employed in
examining the vessels and other treasures of the Temple, which were
brought before him one by one, was Titus. Looking up he saw this strange
procession and commanded that they should be brought before him.
"Who is it that you carry in your arms, captain?" he asked.
"That girl, Caesar," he answered, "who was bound upon the gateway and
whom you have orders should not be shot at."
"Does she still live?"
"She lives--no more. Thirst and heat have withered her."
"How came she there?"
"This writing tells you, Caesar."
Titus read. "Ah!" he said, "Nazarene. An evil sect, worse even than
these Jews, or so thought the late divine Nero. Traitress also. Why, the
girl must have deserved her fate. But what is this? 'Is doomed to die as
God shall appoint before the face of her friends, the Romans.' How are
the Romans her friends, I wonder? Girl, if you can speak, tell me who
condemned you."
Miriam lifted her dark head from the shoulder of the captain on which it
lay and pointed with her finger at the Jew, Simeon.
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