Oh! mine eyes
are open and I see," he went on, shaking his thin arms above his head
in a prophetic frenzy. "I see the sword of the true God, and it flames
above this city of idolaters and abominations. I see this place of
sacrifice, and I tell you that before the moon is young again it shall
run red with the blood of you, idol worshippers, and of you, women of
the groves. The heathen is at your gates, ye followers of demons, and my
God sends them as He sends the locusts of the north wind to devour you
like grass, to sweep you away like the dust of the desert. Cry then upon
El and Baaltis, and let El and Baaltis save you if they can. Doom is
upon you; Azrael, angel of death, writes his name upon your foreheads,
every one of you, giving your city to the owls, your bodies to the
jackals, and your souls to Satan----"
Thus far the priests and the spectators had listened to Issachar's
denunciations in bewildered amazement not unmixed with fear. Now with a
roar of wrath they awoke, and suddenly he was dragged from the platform
by a score of hands and struck down with many blows. Indeed, he would
then and there have been torn to pieces had not a guard of soldiers,
knowing that he was Sakon's guest and in the train of the prince Aziel,
snatched him from the maddened multitude, and borne him swiftly to a
place of safety without the enclosure.
While the tumult was at its height, a Phoenician, who had arrived in the
temple breathless with haste, might have been seen to pluck Metem by the
sleeve.
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