But this was all--the outer materials of the
perilous structure had been detached only at one point; the pile itself
still remained in its place.
The madman seized the image of Serapis in his arms, and passed blindly
onward with it through the passage in the partition into the recess
beyond. At that instant the shock of the first attack on the gates
resounded through the building. Shouting, as he heard it, 'A sally! a
sally! men of the Temple, the gods and the high priest lead you on!' and
still holding the idol before him, he rushed straight forward to the
entrance, and struck in violent collision against the backward part of
the pile.
The ill-balanced, top-heavy mass of images and furniture of many temples
swayed, parted, and fell over against the gates and the wall on either
side of them. Maimed and bleeding, struck down by the lower part of the
pile, as it was forced back against the partition when the upper part
fell, the fury of Ulpius was but increased by the crashing ruin around
him. He struggled up again into an erect position; mounted on the top
of the fallen mass--now spread out at the sides over the floor of the
building, but confined at one end by the partition, and at the other by
the opposite wall and the gates--and still clasping the image of Serapis
in his arms, called louder and louder to 'the men of the Temple' to
mount with him the highest ramparts and pour down on the besiegers the
molten lead!
The priests were again the first men to approach the gates of the
building after the shock that had been heard within it.
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