The whole overhanging mass tottered at the moment, but did not yet fall.

A few of the smaller idols, however, at the outside dropped to the ground, and with them an image of Serapis, which they happened partially to support--a heavy monstrous figure, carved life-size in wood, and studded with gold, silver, and precious stones--fell at the Pagan's feet.

But this was all--the outer materials of the perilous structure had been detached only at one point; the pile itself still remained in its place.
The madman seized the image of Serapis in his arms, and passed blindly onward with it through the passage in the partition into the recess beyond.

At that instant the shock of the first attack on the gates resounded through the building.

Shouting, as he heard it, 'A sally! a sally! men of the Temple, the gods and the high priest lead you on!' and still holding the idol before him, he rushed straight forward to the entrance, and struck in violent collision against the backward part of the pile.
The ill-balanced, top-heavy mass of images and furniture of many temples swayed, parted, and fell over against the gates and the wall on either side of them.