SALATHIEL TO TITUS.

Son of Vespasian, I am at this hour a poor man, as I may in the next be an
exile or a slave: I have ties to life as strong as ever were bound round
the heart of man. I stand here a suppliant for the life of one whose loss
would embitter mine! Yet, not for wealth unlimited, for the safety of my
family, for the life of the noble victim that is now standing at the place
of torture, dare I abandon, dare I think the impious thought of abandoning
the cause of the City of Holiness.

Titus! in the name of that Being, to whom the wisdom of the earth is folly,
I adjure you to beware. Jerusalem is sacred. Her crimes have often wrought
her misery; often has she been trampled by the armies of the stranger. But
she is still the City of the Omnipotent; and never was blow inflicted on
her by man, that was not terribly repaid.

The Assyrian came, the mightiest power of the world; he plundered her
temple, and led her people into captivity. How long was it before his
empire was a dream, his dynasty extinguished in blood, and an enemy on his
throne? The Persian came; from her protector he turned into her oppressor;
and his empire was swept away like the dust of the desert! The Syrian smote
her; the smiter died in agonies of remorse; and where is his kingdom now?
The Egyptian smote her; and who now sits on the throne of the Ptolemies?

Pompey came: the invincible, the conqueror of a thousand cities, the light
of Rome; the lord of Asia, riding on the very wings of victory. But he
profaned her temple; and from that hour he went down,--down, like a
millstone plunged into the ocean! Blind counsel, rash ambition, womanish
fears were upon the great statesman and warrior of Rome. Where does he