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'HE WHO SAW THE APOCALYPSE' 447
silver, in which he lolled on purple cushions. He was
discinctured and clad in a light Coan synthesis, looking the
picture of cruel and dissolute effeminacy. A youug Greek
slave shared his litter, and some of his worst associates
laughed and jested by his side. The sight of the Antichrist
had stirred the heart of John to uttermost indignation, and
as he now rose in the assembly, the mystic golden petalon
of priesthood upon his forehead flashing under the light of
the lamps in the far recess of the sand-pit, his whole figure
seemed to burn and dilate with inspired passion. He spoke
at times with something of the holy frenzy of a Hebrew prophet,
in language purposely couched in Eastern metaphors.
To those who were unfamiliar with the style of Jewish Apocalypses,
much of what he said might have seemed wholly
unintelligible but most of those who heard him had a clue
;
to his utterances, either from their Jewish birth or from
familiarity with sacred books of the Hebrews. Among these
was Aliturus. Knowing the high authority of the speaker,
the whole assembly listened with beating hearts to the tones of
a voice which throbbed with fire and life, and sometimes rose
to awful power.
In imagery afterwards embodied in his Apocalypse he
spoke of a wild beast, rising out of the sea with a name of
blasphemy on his forehead. And men worshipped the
' '
beast, and said, Who is like the wild beast ? and Who '
can
him?' Those who had heard of Nero in his
fight against
disguise at the infamous banquet on the Lake of Agrippa
knew that by the wild beast he meant the Emperor, and by
the sea the sea of nations, and by the name of blasphemy
the divine title Augustus, and by his superhuman exaltation
the adoring flattery of his votaries. He described the misery
of the people as of men gnawing their tongues for pain and
;
he spoke of a war of the wild beast against the saints, and of
blood rolling in a great river ;
and of the vengeance which
should follow, and of the vain rage of the nations against Him
which is, and was, and is to come.
His voice ceased. He sat down, and an awful hush fell
over the listeners. And then the whole assembly knelt
down as with one great sob, and Aliturus sobbed with them.
Pitying their emotion, the Beloved arose once more, and
said: 'Nay, brethren, you must not return thus with broken