The priest stands before him naked
from the waist upwards; he heaves the libation out of the cup; the blood
flows over the altar! Up! up! tear forth with reeking hands the heart
while it is yet warm, futurity is before you in the quivering entrails,
look on them and read! read!'
While he spoke, Goisvintha had entered the temple. The street was still
desolate; no help was at hand.
Not advancing at once, she concealed herself near the door behind a
projection in the pile of idols, watching from it until Ulpius, in the
progress of his frenzy, should turn away from Antonina, whom he stood
fronting at this instant. But she had not entered unperceived; Antonina
had seen her again. And now the bitterness of death, when the young die
unprotected in their youth, came over the girl, and she cried in a low
wailing voice, as she knelt by Numerian's side: 'I must die, father, I
must die, as Hermanric died! Look up at me, and speak to me before I
die!'
Her father was still praying; he heard nothing, for his heart was
bleeding in atonement at the shrine of his boyish home, and his soul
still communed with its Maker.
Pages:
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775