"This, then, is the man that I heard in the Capitol?"
"Yes. He has been all through the city, and even in the palace, uttering his cry."
"Let us go."
They took their sacks and started for the gates. After a short delay they were allowed to pass. As they went out they heard the voice of Cinna in the distance:
"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,
And is become the habitation of devils,
And the hold of every foul spirit,
And the cage of every unclean and hateful bird:
Come ye out of her, my people!"
None of them spoke until they had reached a safe distance from the Coliseum.
"I felt afraid," said Marcellus, "that we should be kept in there."
"Your fears were reasonable," said the other. "Any sudden whim of the keeper might be our doom. But this we must be prepared for. In times like this we must be ready to meet death at any moment. What says our Lord? 'Be ye also ready.' We must be able to say when the time comes, 'I am now ready to be offered.'"
"Yes," said Marcellus, "our Lord has told us what we will have: 'In this world ye shall have tribulation--"
"And he says also, 'Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Where I am, there ye shall be also.'"