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She saw the ascending streets of Zion and the tall fortifications

hts within the city's li afar off, spears brandished and the running hither

and thither of defenders on the wall Below she saw the rees between rows of desolate houses,with clamor There she saw combats, terrible scenes

of frenzy, deaths and unna their

nails; shadows of infants pressed to hollow bosoms; old men too weak

to walk that went on hands and knees; young s that failed to cover thee stones reat towers planted beyond the walls, out of range of the

Jewish engines and equipped with superiorthe entire quarter near which they were erected Here

two-thirds of the forces of Jerusalem were concentrated in a vain

effort to resist the dire inroads of these effective engines Here,

the Maccabee and his Gibborim stood shoulder to shoulder with the

Idumeans and fanatics of Simon and John, and here the half-mad

defenders awakened at last to the fact that only divine interference

could save the city against Rorations roared and crackled, where

burning oil had been scattered over soan its thunder so noise of deafening volume from the

charnel pits outside the walls and a black cloud of incredible depth

soared up into the skies

Laodice, du, but the woman at her side shuddered