“Look,” she commanded, and the emperor raised his eyes and saw. The heavens opened before his eyes and he looked away to the far east. And he saw a miserable stable by a steep cliff, and in the open door some kneeling shepherds. Within the stable he saw a young mother on her knees before a little child, who lay on a bundle of straw on the floor. And the sibyl’s big, bony fingers pointed towards that poor child. “Hail, Cæsar!” said the sibyl, with a scornful laugh. “There is the god who shall be worshipped on the heights of the Capitol.” Augustus shrank back from her as if from a maniac. But upon the sibyl fell the mighty spirit of the prophetess. Her dim eyes began to burn, her hands were stretched towards heaven, her voice did not seem to be her own, but rang with such strength that it could have been heard over the whole world. And she spoke words which she seemed to have read in the stars:-- “On the heights of the Capitol the redeemer of the world shall be worshipped, Christ or Antichrist, but no frail mortal.” When she had spoken she moved away between the terrified men, went slowly down the mountain, and disappeared. Augustus, the next day, strictly forbade his people to raise him any temple on the Capitol. In its place he built a sanctuary to the new-born godchild and called it “Heaven’s Altar,” Aracoeli. II ROME’S HOLY CHILD On the summit of the Capitol stood a monastery occupied by Franciscan monks. It was, however, less a monastery than a fortress. It was like a watch-tower by the seashore, where watch was kept for an approaching foe. Near the monastery stood the magnificent basilica “Santa Maria in Aracoeli.” The basilica was built because the sibyl had caused Augustus to see Christ. But the monastery was built because they feared the fulfilment of the sibyl’s prophecy; that Antichrist should come to be worshipped on the Capitol. And the monks felt like warriors. When they went to church to sing and pray, they thought that they were walking on ramparts, and sending showers of arrows down on the assaulting Antichrist. They lived always in terror of Antichrist, and all their service was a struggle to keep him away from the Capitolium. They drew their hats down over their eyes and sat and gazed out into the world. Their eyes grew feverish with watching, and they continually thought they discovered Antichrist. “He is here, he is there!” they cried. And they fluttered up in their brown robes and braced themselves for the struggle, as crows gather on a crag when they catch a glimpse of an eagle. But some said: “What is the use of prayers and penitence? The sibyl has said it. Antichrist must come.” Then others said, “God can work a miracle. If it was of no avail to struggle, He would not have let the sibyl warn us.” Year after year the Franciscans defended the Capitol by penitences, and works of charity, and the promulgation of God’s word.