" Whereupon he frowned until the
court became sevenfold darker than before.
Next him, Moloch one of the infernal potentates, stood up, and after
making due obeisance to his king, spake thus:- "Oh Emperor of the Sky,
great ruler of the darkness, none ever doubted my desire to practice
utmost bale and cruelty, for that has always been my pleasure; no sound
was more delightful to mine years than the shrieks of children perishing
in the flames outside Jerusalem, where in former days they were
sacrificed to me. And also after our crucified foe had returned to his
celestial home, I, during the reigns of ten emperors, continued as long
as it availed me, slaying and burning his followers in my attempt to
sweep the Christians off the face of the earth. And afterwards in Paris,
in England, and in several other places, did I cause many a massacre of
them; but what have we gained? The tree whose branches are lopped off
grows but the quicker; we snarl without the power of biting."
"Pshaw!" exclaimed Lucifer, "shame! cowardly hosts that ye are! Never
more will I place my trust in you. This work I myself will perform, this
enterprise none shall partake with me.
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