“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!”

Laodice leaned forward suddenly and hung on the woman’s words.

“The time for sacrifice and humiliation is paid out!  It was a long time!  Now, behold in the generosity of his repentance, ye shall ask and nothing shall be denied.  Speak!  Ask!  The whole world, Heaven and earth and the delights of all the years are yours, now and for all time!”

At Laodice’s side was Amaryllis.  The Greek’s face was pale but lighted with a certain enlightenment that was almost threatening.

Startled and frightened Laodice moved back from the Greek, who moved with her, without a glance at the Maccabee.

The voice of the prophetess swept on: 

“Ye have bowed to tyrants and bent your necks to murderers; ye have waged wars for pillagers and shared not in the spoils.  Why are ye hungry now?  Who is full-fed in these days of want, yourselves or your masters?  A sword, a sword is drawn; uphold the arm that wields it!”

“Sedition!” Amaryllis whispered, as the mob began to murmur and stir at this new doctrine.

“For behold, he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many!”

Amaryllis bent so she could whisper in Laodice’s ear.

“John hath taken him a new woman to keep him cheerful this hour.  I was not daring enough.  Philadelphus’ wife hath supplanted me.  Your place with him is vacant.  Go back and possess it!”

“Why was appetite and desire and thirst of power and the love of riches lighted in you, but to be satisfied?” The prophetess’ words swept in after Laodice’s sudden fear of returning to Philadelphus.  “We have expiated the sin of Adam, the greed of Jacob and the fault of David.  The judgment is run out; ye have come to your own!  Verily, I say unto you, if ye follow me in the name of him who hath come unto you, the world shall be yours!”

Amaryllis still continued to whisper, and Laodice, fearing that the Maccabee might hear, drew farther away.  He stood where she had left him, with his head lowered, waiting—­at last a creature dependent on another’s will.

“Listen!” Amaryllis said.  “I have been seeking you since midnight!  Philadelphus’ doubt was awakened in this woman.  He questioned her, so minutely that she betrayed ignorance of many things she should have known had she been the real daughter of Costobarus.  And when finally he taxed her with imposture, she robbed him of the dowry and fled to John.  Convinced that you are his wife, he set forth and hath since searched for you without ceasing!  See, over there!  He seeks you, now!”