Alexander's ultimatum immediately caused the crowd of priests and priestesses to boil over into a chorus of opinions.
Shouts like 'Let us negotiate', 'At least we can save some of your temple', and 'It is harder to lower one's head than to be off with it', were thrown in favor of option one, while these were countered by impassioned cries of, 'Traitor', 'Blasphemy!', 'Eternal damnation', and 'Martyrdom is better than surrender.'
Because the time limit set by Alexander was so little, everyone spoke at the same time to get their opinion across, resulting in a hodgepodge cacophonous mixture of useless gurgles, utterly nonsensical to the human ears.
'*Sigh*, I should have planned this better,' Alexander watching the chaotic clamor and din produced by the crowd stored the lesson in his heart.
Although he couldn't understand what these priests were shouting about, he could make an educated guess.