All Jerusalem was in the streets; all Jerusalem poured into the
immense open space where some palatial ruin stood, and melted in the
giant concourse that gathered to hear the prophetess.
Laodice and the Maccabee were unable to see the woman; only her voice,
mystic, musical, pitched at a singing monotone, intoning rather than
speaking, reached them from the distance. The long harangue, delivered
as a chant, had long ago had a mesmerizing effect on her audience.
Absolutely she controlled them; along the dead level of her preaching
they maintained a low continuous murmur, accompanied by a slight slow
swaying of the body; in the climaxes of the appeal they responded with
cries and wild gestures, flinging themselves about in attitudes
characteristic of their frenzy. In their faces was the reflection of a
peculiar light that proved that derangement had settled over
Jerusalem. It was the end of the reign of reason.
"It is the abomination of desolation. Even so, it is finished! It is
the time, it is full time, and Michael hath come. There are seventy
weeks; behold them. The transgression is finished and the end hereto
of all sins. Approacheth the hour for the reconciliation for iniquity
and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision
and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy! Prepare ye!"
Somewhere in the city a voice that was heard even by the fighting-men
on the wall in Akra cried: "The Sacrifice has failed! The Oblation is ceased! There is no
Offering for the Altar; none is left to offer it!"
The vast gathering heard it, and immediately from the high place of
the prophetess came back the words, prompt and effective: "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to
cease!"
Posthumus, buried in the midst of the crowd, was shouting, but over
him the splendid mesmerism of the prophetess' voice soared.
"The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children; they
were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people ...
The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of
Zion; ... and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate!"
Among the crowd now growing frantic, people began to cry: "A sign! A sign!"
Others shouted: "Lead us!"
"Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the Heaven of the
Lord!"
"Lead us!" they still shouted.
They were hungry; they had been abstinent; they had surrendered their
riches and their comforts. It was not independence but necessities
that they wanted now. The primal wants were at the surface.
"Come up and be filled!" she cried. "Ask and it shall be given unto
you! Eat of the grapes and the honey; drink of wine and warm milk;
sleep as kings; be housed in mansions; be rulers; command potentates!
Let kings bow at your footstools! Be replenished; be great! Suffering
hath been your portion since the earth was; but the end is come. Draw
nigh and have your recompense. Laugh, you whose eyes have trickled
down with the waters of affliction! You in the low dungeon come forth
and range all the free boundaries of the world. Whosoever hath gravel
between his teeth, let them be grapes! He who sitteth alone, gather
company and revel unto him! Feast, ye hungry; be drunken, ye thirsty;
love and be loved, ye forlorn!"