That evening both received their sentence: Josadec was doomed to combat with wild beasts in the arena; Adonijah was condemned to fight with one of his own countrymen in the Circus Maximus. Josadec received the intelligence with sullen apathy; Adonijah, with indignation. Raising his hand towards heaven, he swore by the Almighty name of God to suffer the severest tortures rather than aim a hostile blow at a son of Israel. Dearer than life at that moment seemed the captive children of his people; dearer in their degradation and misery than when he was free and pursuing the flying legions of Cestius Galius, flushed with victory, and believing that he was fighting the battles of the Lord.
| [15] | See Appendix, [Note VIII.] |
| [16] | See Appendix, [Note IX.] |
| [17] | See Appendix, [Note X.] |
CHAPTER XVIII.
“The dying Other from the gloom she drew,
Supported on his shorten’d arm he leans,
Prone agonizing; with incumbent fate,