Order is shattered in a strange gutteral tone resounded
along the walls of the houses, which seemed dead and deserted,
while, behind the closed shutters, eyes watched the conquerers,
who, by right of war, were now masters of the city -
of the lives and fortunes of its people.

In their darkened ruins the inhabitants have given way
to the same feeling of panic which is aroused
by natural cataclysms.
Those devestating upheavals of the Earth,
against which wisdom and strength alike are of no avail.

For the same feeling is experienced wherever the established
order of things is upset, when security ceases to exist,
when all that was previously protected by the laws of man
or nature is suddenly placed at the mercy of brutal,
unreasoning force:

The earthquake, burying a whole people beneath the ruins
of their houses; the river in spate,
sweeping the bodies of drowned peasants,
together with the carcasses of cattle and rafters torn from roofs;
or the victorious army slaughtering all who resist,
making prisoners of the rest, looting by right of the sword,
and thanking their god to the sound of cannon.

All these are terrifying scourges which undermine
all our belief in eternal justice and all the trust
we have been tought to place in divine protection
and human reason.