allegiance, because totalitarian power was supposedly a necessary means to achieve the utopian communist society. The woman is dressed in the ostentatious garb of a prostitute (v. 4, cf. Prov. 7:16–17). She combines the lure of sexual pleasure with the lure of luxury. Sensual pleasures of all kinds are available in the city in relative anonymity. But she is deceitful. The long-term consequences are entirely unpleasant. The golden cup looks good on the outside, but it contains abominable things and