Page:Traditions of Palestine (microform) (IA traditionsofpale00martrich).pdf/68

 adversaries, they had departed; and if the hour of impious violence was indeed to come, it was not when the finger of silence hushed the multitude within the sanctuary.

When the Teacher had gone forth to the Mount of Olives to repose himself in a tabernacle of a vineyard, the people dispersed themselves through the city, and none but the priests remained in the temple.

Sadoc and Paltiel went out with Ozias, at whose habitation they abode; and Phares, the son of Ozias, was with them also. They were thoughtful and mute, till they reached the tabernacle on the roof of the dwelling of Ozias. As they entered, the women of the household met them, and invited them to sit down and eat the last repast which should be spread in the tabernacle. The feast was rich, and the tabernacle was yet fair; the citrons hanging among the leafy boughs, and the carpets being bestrewn with flowers; yet was not the company mirthful. Songs of joy, and voices of mirth, were brought to their ears by the night breeze which passed over the bowers of the city; but in the tabernacle of Ozias, these sounds found no echo. There was no sorrow,