“He who has ears to hear, let him hear! For the woman whom ye see is the great city, which reignest over the kings of the earth. Come forth, my people, out of her, that he have no fellowship with her sins! For her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities!
“Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour is thy judgment come! In one hour shalt thou be made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles; for God will judge your judgment on her. And a strong angel takes up a stone and casts it into the sea, saying: ‘Thus with a mighty fall, shall Babylon the great city be cast down, and shall be found no more at all!'
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
“The woman who is called Babylon, the Mother of the Abominations of the Earth, wanders as a blazing brand through Metropolis. No wall and no gate bids her halt. No tie is sacred. An oath turns to mockery before her. Her smile is the last seduction. Blasphemy is her dance. She is the flame which says: ‘God is very wrath! Woe unto the city in which she shall appear!’”
Freder bent across to Jan.
“Of whom is he speaking?” he asked, with strangely cold lips. “Is he speaking of a person? ... of a woman?...”
He saw that the brow of his friend was covered with sweat.
“He is speaking of her,” said Jan, as though he were speaking with paralysed tongue.
“Of whom?”
“Of her ... don’t you know her?”