The Wars Of The Jews
Or
The History Of The
Destruction Of Jerusalem
Book V
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF NEAR SIX MONTHS.
FROM THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM, TO THE GREAT
EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WERE REDUCED.
CHAPTER 1.
CONCERNING THE SEDITIONS AT JERUSALEM AND WHAT TERRIBLE MISERIES
AFFLICTED THE CITY BY THEIR MEANS.
1. WHEN therefore Titus had marched over that desert which lies between
Egypt and Syria, in the manner forementioned, he came to Cesarea, having
resolved to set his forces in order at that place, before he began the
war. Nay, indeed, while he was assisting his father at Alexandria, in settling
that government which had been newly conferred upon them by God, it so
happened that the sedition at Jerusalem was revived, and parted into three
factions, and that one faction fought against the other; which partition
in such evil cases may be said to be a good thing, and the effect of Divine
justice. Now as to the attack the zealots made upon the people, and which
I esteem the beginning of the city's destruction, it hath been already
explained after an accurate manner; as also whence it arose, and to how
great a mischief it was increased. But for the present sedition, one should
not mistake if he called it a sedition begotten by another sedition, and
to be like a wild beast grown mad, which, for want of food from abroad,
fell now upon eating its own flesh.
2. For Eleazar, the son of Simon, who made the first separation of the
zealots from the people, and made them retire into the temple, appeared
very angry at John's insolent attempts, which he made everyday upon the
people; for this man never left off murdering; but the truth was, that
he could not bear to submit to a tyrant who set up after him. So he being
desirous of gaining the entire power and dominion to himself, revolted
from John, and took to his assistance Judas the son of Chelcias, and Simon
the son of Ezron, who were among the men of greatest power. There was also
with him Hezekiah, the son of Chobar, a person of eminence. Each of these
were followed by a great many of the zealots; these seized upon the inner
court of the temple (1)
and laid their arms upon the holy gates, and over the holy fronts of that
court. And because they had plenty of provisions, they were of good courage,
for there was a great abundance of what was consecrated to sacred uses,
and they scrupled not the making use of them; yet were they afraid, on
account of their small number; and when they had laid up their arms there,
they did not stir from the place they were in. Now as to John, what advantage
he had above Eleazar in the multitude of his followers, the like disadvantage
he had in the situation he was in, since he had his enemies over his head;
and as he could not make any assault upon them without some terror, so
was his anger too great to let them be at rest; nay, although he suffered
more mischief from Eleazar and his party than he could inflict upon them,
yet would he not leave off assaulting them, insomuch that there were continual
sallies made one against another, as well as darts thrown at one another,
and the temple was defiled every where with murders.
3. But now the tyrant Simon, the son of Gioras, whom the people had
invited in, out of the hopes they had of his assistance in the great distresses
they were in, having in his power the upper city, and a great part of the
lower, did now make more vehement assaults upon John and his party, because
they were fought against from above also; yet was he beneath their situation
when he attacked them, as they were beneath the attacks of the others above
them. Whereby it came to pass that John did both receive and inflict great
damage, and that easily, as he was fought against on both sides; and the
same advantage that Eleazar and his party had over him, since he was beneath
them, the same advantage had he, by his higher situation, over Simon. On
which account he easily repelled the attacks that were made from beneath,
by the weapons thrown from their hands only; but was obliged to repel those
that threw their darts from the temple above him, by his engines of war;
for he had such engines as threw darts, and javelins, and stones, and that
in no small number, by which he did not only defend himself from such as
fought against him, but slew moreover many of the priests, as they were
about their sacred ministrations. For notwithstanding these men were mad
with all sorts of impiety, yet did they still admit those that desired
to offer their sacrifices, although they took care to search the people
of their own country beforehand, and both suspected and watched them; while
they were not so much afraid of strangers, who, although they had gotten
leave of them, how cruel soever they were, to come into that court, were
yet often destroyed by this sedition; for those darts that were thrown
by the engines came with that force, that they went over all the buildings,
and reached as far as the altar, and the temple itself, and fell upon the
priests, and those (2)
that were about the sacred offices; insomuch that many persons who came
thither with great zeal from the ends of the earth, to offer sacrifices
at this celebrated place, which was esteemed holy by all mankind, fell
down before their own sacrifices themselves, and sprinkled that altar which
was venerable among all men, both Greeks and Barbarians, with their own
blood; till the dead bodies of strangers were mingled together with those
of their own country, and those of profane persons with those of the priests,
and the blood of all sorts of dead carcasses stood in lakes in the holy
courts themselves. And now, "O must wretched city, what misery so
great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans, when they came to purify
thee from thy intestine hatred! 'For thou couldst be no longer a place
fit for God, nor couldst thou long continue in being, after thou hadst
been a sepulcher for the bodies of thy own people, and hadst made the holy
house itself a burying-place in this civil war of thine. Yet mayst thou
again grow better, if perchance thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of
that God who is the author of thy destruction." But I must restrain
myself from these passions by the rules of history, since this is not a
proper time for domestical lamentations, but for historical narrations;
I therefore return to the operations that follow in this sedition. (3)
4. And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one
parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits,
came against John in their cups. Those that were with John plundered the
populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. This Simon had his supply
of provisions from the city, in opposition to the seditious. When, therefore,
John was assaulted on both sides, he made his men turn about, throwing
his darts upon those citizens that came up against him, from the cloisters
he had in his possession, while he opposed those that attacked him from
the temple by his engines of war. And if at any time he was freed from
those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being
drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his
party; and this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come
at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all
other provisions. (4)
The same thing was done by Simon, when, upon the other's retreat, he attacked
the city also; as if they had, on purpose, done it to serve the Romans,
by destroying what the city had laid up against the siege, and by thus
cutting off the nerves of their own power. Accordingly, it so came to pass,
that all the places that were about the temple were burnt down, and were
become an intermediate desert space, ready for fighting on both sides of
it; and that almost all that corn was burnt, which would have been sufficient
for a siege of many years. So they were taken by the means of the famine,
which it was impossible they should have been, unless they had thus prepared
the way for it by this procedure.
5. And now, as the city was engaged in a war on all sides, from these
treacherous crowds of wicked men, the people of the city, between them,
were like a great body torn in pieces. The aged men and the women were
in such distress by their internal calamities, that they wished for the
Romans, and earnestly hoped for an external war, in order to their delivery
from their domestical miseries. The citizens themselves were under a terrible
consternation and fear; nor had they any opportunity of taking counsel,
and of changing their conduct; nor were there any hopes of coming to an
agreement with their enemies; nor could such as had a mind flee away; for
guards were set at all places, and the heads of the robbers, although they
were seditious one against another in other respects, yet did they agree
in killing those that were for peace with the Romans, or were suspected
of an inclination to desert them, as their common enemies. They agreed
in nothing but this, to kill those that were innocent. The noise also of
those that were fighting was incessant, both by day and by night; but the
lamentations of those that mourned exceeded the other; nor was there ever
any occasion for them to leave off their lamentations, because their calamities
came perpetually one upon another, although the deep consternation they
were in prevented their outward wailing; but being constrained by their
fear to conceal their inward passions, they were inwardly tormented, without
daring to open their lips in groans. :Nor was any regard paid to those
that were still alive, by their relations; nor was there any care taken
of burial for those that were dead; the occasion of both which was this,
that every one despaired of himself; for those that were not among the
seditious had no great desires of any thing, as expecting for certain that
they should very soon be destroyed; but for the seditious themselves, they
fought against each other, while they trod upon the dead bodies as they
lay heaped one upon another, and taking up a mad rage from those dead bodies
that were under their feet, became the fiercer thereupon. They, moreover,
were still inventing somewhat or other that was pernicious against themselves;
and when they had resolved upon any thing, they executed it without mercy,
and omitted no method of torment or of barbarity. Nay, John abused the
sacred materials, (5)
and employed them in the construction of his engines of war; for the people
and the priests had formerly determined to support the temple, and raise
the holy house twenty cubits higher; for king Agrippa had at a very great
expense, and with very great pains, brought thither such materials as were
proper for that purpose, being pieces of timber very well worth seeing,
both for their straightness and their largeness; but the war coming on,
and interrupting the work, John had them cut, and prepared for the building
him towers, he finding them long enough to oppose from them those his adversaries
that thought him from the temple that was above him. He also had them brought
and erected behind the inner court over against the west end of the cloisters,
where alone he could erect them ; whereas the other sides of that court
had so many steps as would not let them come nigh enough the cloisters.
6. Thus did John hope to be too hard for his enemies by these engines
constructed by his impiety; but God himself demonstrated that his pains
would prove of no use to him, by bringing the Romans upon him, before he
had reared any of his towers; for Titus, when he had gotten together part
of his forces about him, and had ordered the rest to meet him at Jerusalem,
marched out of Cesarea. He had with him those three legions that had accompanied
his father when he laid Judea waste, together with that twelfth legion
which had been formerly beaten with Cestius; which legion, as it was otherwise
remarkable for its valor, so did it march on now with greater alacrity
to avenge themselves on the Jews, as remembering what they had formerly
suffered from them. Of these legions he ordered the fifth to meet him,
by going through Emmaus, and the tenth to go up by Jericho; he also moved
himself, together with the rest; besides whom, marched those auxiliaries
that came from the kings, being now more in number than before, together
with a considerable number that came to his assistance from Syria. Those
also that had been selected out of these four legions, and sent with Mucianus
to Italy, had their places filled up out of these soldiers that came out
of Egypt with Titus; who were two thousand men, chosen out of the armies
at Alexandria. There followed him also three thousand drawn from those
that guarded the river Euphrates; as also there came Tiberius Alexander,
who was a friend of his, most valuable, both for his good-will to him,
and for his prudence. He had formerly been governor of Alexandria, but
was now thought worthy to be general of the army [under Titus]. The reason
of this was, that he had been the first who encouraged Vespasian very lately
to accept this his new dominion, and joined himself to him with great fidelity,
when things were uncertain, and fortune had not yet declared for him. He
also followed Titus as a counselor, very useful to him in this war, both
by his age and skill in such affairs.
CHAPTER 2.
HOW TITUS MARCHED TO JERUSALEM, AND HOW HE WAS IN DANGER
AS HE WAS TAKING A VIEW O THE CITY OF THE PLACE ALSO WHERE HE PITCHED HIS
CAMP
1. NOW, as Titus was upon his march into the enemy's country, the auxiliaries
that were sent by the kings marched first, having all the other auxiliaries
with them; after whom followed those that were to prepare the roads and
measure out the camp; then came the commander's baggage, and after that
the other soldiers, who were completely armed to support them; then came
Titus himself, having with him another select body; and then came the pikemen;
after whom came the horse belonging to that legion. All these came before
the engines; and after these engines came the tribunes and the leaders
of the cohorts, with their select bodies; after these came the ensigns,
with the eagle; and before those ensigns came the trumpeters belonging
to them; next these came the main body of the army in their ranks, every
rank being six deep; the servants belonging to every legion came after
these; and before these last their baggage; the mercenaries came last,
and those that guarded them brought up the rear. Now Titus, according to
the Roman usage, went in the front of the army after a decent manner, and
marched through Samaria to Gophna, a city that had been formerly taken
by his father, and was then garrisoned by Roman soldiers; and when he had
lodged there one night, he marched on in the morning; and when he had gone
as far as a day's march, he pitched his camp at that valley which the Jews,
in their own tongue, call "the Valley of Thorns," near a certain
village called Gabaothsath, which signifies "the Hill of Saul,"
being distant from Jerusalem about thirty furlongs. (6)
There it was that he chose out six hundred select horsemen, and went to
take a view of the city, to observe what strength it was of, and how courageous
the Jews were; whether, when they saw him, and before they came to a direct
battle, they would be affrighted and submit; for he had been informed what
was really true, that the people who were fallen under the power of the
seditious and the robbers were greatly desirous of peace; but being too
weak to rise up against the rest, they lay still.
2. Now, so long as he rode along the straight road which led to the
wall of the city, nobody appeared out of the gates; but when he went out
of that road, and declined towards the tower Psephinus, and led the band
of horsemen obliquely, an immense number of the Jews leaped out suddenly
at the towers called the "Women's Towers," through that gate
which was over against the monuments of queen Helena, and intercepted his
horse; and standing directly opposite to those that still ran along the
road, hindered them from joining those that had declined out of it. They
intercepted Titus also, with a few other. Now it was here impossible for
him to go forward, because all the places had trenches dug in them from
the wall, to preserve the gardens round about, and were full of gardens
obliquely situated, and of many hedges; and to return back to his own men,
he saw it was also impossible, by reason of the multitude of the enemies
that lay between them; many of whom did not so much as know that the king
was in any danger, but supposed him still among them. So he perceived that
his preservation must be wholly owing to his own courage, and turned his
horse about, and cried out aloud to those that were about him to follow
him, and ran with violence into the midst of his enemies, in order to force
his way through them to his own men. And hence we may principally learn,
that both the success of wars, and the dangers that kings (7)
are in, are under the providence of God; for while such a number of darts
were thrown at Titus, when he had neither his head-piece on, nor his breastplate,
(for, as I told you, he went out not to fight, but to view the city,) none
of them touched his body, but went aside without hurting him; as if all
of them missed him on purpose, and only made a noise as they passed by
him. So he diverted those perpetually with his sword that came on his side,
and overturned many of those that directly met him, and made his horse
ride over those that were overthrown. The enemy indeed made a shout at
the boldness of Caesar, and exhorted one another to rush upon him. Yet
did these against whom he marched fly away, and go off from him in great
numbers; while those that were in the same danger with him kept up close
to him, though they were wounded both on their backs and on their sides;
for they had each of them but this one hope of escaping, if they could
assist Titus in opening himself a way, that he might not be encompassed
round by his enemies before he got away from them. Now there were two of
those that were with him, but at some distance; the one of which the enemy
compassed round, and slew him with their darts, and his horse also; but
the other they slew as he leaped down from his horse, and carried off his
horse with them. But Titus escaped with the rest, and came safe to the
camp. So this success of the Jews' first attack raised their minds, and
gave them an ill-grounded hope; and this short inclination of fortune,
on their side, made them very courageous for the future.
3. But now, as soon as that legion that had been at Emmaus was joined
to Caesar at night, he removed thence, when it was day, and came to a place
called Seopus; from whence the city began already to be seen, and a plain
view might be taken of the great temple. Accordingly, this place, on the
north quarter of the city, and joining thereto, was a plain, and very properly
named Scopus, [the prospect,] and was no more than seven furlongs distant
from it. And here it was that Titus ordered a camp to be fortified for
two legions that were to be together; but ordered another camp to be fortified,
at three furlongs farther distance behind them, for the fifth legion; for
he thought that, by marching in the night, they might be tired, and might
deserve to be covered from the enemy, and with less fear might fortify
themselves; and as these were now beginning to build, the tenth legion,
who came through Jericho, was already come to the place, where a certain
party of armed men had formerly lain, to guard that pass into the city,
and had been taken before by Vespasian. These legions had orders to encamp
at the distance of six furlongs from Jerusalem, at the mount called the
Mount of Olives (8)
which lies over against the city on the east side, and is parted from it
by a deep valley, interposed between them, which is named Cedron.
4. Now when hitherto the several parties in the city had been dashing
one against another perpetually, this foreign war, now suddenly come upon
them after a violent manner, put the first stop to their contentions one
against another; and as the seditious now saw with astonishment the Romans
pitching three several camps, they began to think of an awkward sort of
concord, and said one to another, "What do we here, and what do we
mean, when we suffer three fortified walls to be built to coop us in, that
we shall not be able to breathe freely? while the enemy is securely building
a kind of city in opposition to us, and while we sit still within our own
walls, and become spectators only of what they are doing, with our hands
idle, and our armor laid by, as if they were about somewhat that was for
our good and advantage. We are, it seems, (so did they cry out,) only courageous
against ourselves, while the Romans are likely to gain the city without
bloodshed by our sedition." Thus did they encourage one another when
they were gotten together, and took their armor immediately, and ran out
upon the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with great eagerness, and
with a prodigious shout, as they were fortifying their camp. These Romans
were caught in different parties, and this in order to perform their several
works, and on that account had in great measure laid aside their arms;
for they thought the Jews would not have ventured to make a sally upon
them; and had they been disposed so to do, they supposed their sedition
would have distracted them. So they were put into disorder unexpectedly;
when some of hem left their works they were about, and immediately marched
off, while many ran to their arms, but were smitten and slain before they
could turn back upon the enemy. The Jews became still more and more in
number, as encouraged by the good success of those that first made the
attack; and while they had such good fortune, they seemed both to themselves
and to the enemy to be many more than they really were. The disorderly
way of their fighting at first put the Romans also to a stand, who had
been constantly used to fight skillfully in good order, and with keeping
their ranks, and obeying the orders that were given them; for which reason
the Romans were caught unexpectedly, and were obliged to give way to the
assaults that were made upon them. Now when these Romans were overtaken,
and turned back upon the Jews, they put a stop to their career; yet when
they did not take care enough of themselves through the vehemency of their
pursuit, they were wounded by them; but as still more and more Jews sallied
out of the city, the Romans were at length brought into confusion, and
put to fight, and ran away from their camp. Nay, things looked as though
the entire legion would have been in danger, unless Titus had been informed
of the case they were in, and had sent them succors immediately. So he
reproached them for their cowardice, and brought those back that were running
away, and fell himself upon the Jews on their flank, with those select
troops that were with him, and slew a considerable number, and wounded
more of them, and put them all to flight, and made them run away hastily
down the valley. Now as these Jews suffered greatly in the declivity of
the valley, so when they were gotten over it, they turned about, and stood
over against the Romans, having the valley between them, and there fought
with them. Thus did they continue the fight till noon; but when it was
already a little after noon, Titus set those that came to the assistance
of the Romans with him, and those that belonged to the cohorts, to prevent
the Jews from making any more sallies, and then sent the rest of the legion
to the upper part of the mountain, to fortify their camp.
5. This march of the Romans seemed to the Jews to be a flight; and as
the watchman who was placed upon the wall gave a signal by shaking his
garment, there came out a fresh multitude of Jews, and that with such mighty
violence, that one might compare it to the running of the most terrible
wild beasts. To say the truth, none of those that opposed them could sustain
the fury with which they made their attacks; but, as if they had been cast
out of an engine, they brake the enemies' ranks to pieces, who were put
to flight, and ran away to the mountain; none but Titus himself, and a
few others with him, being left in the midst of the acclivity. Now these
others, who were his friends, despised the danger they were in, and were
ashamed to leave their general, earnestly exhorting him to give way to
these Jews that are fond of dying, and not to run into such dangers before
those that ought to stay before him; to consider what his fortune was,
and not, by supplying the place of a common soldier, to venture to turn
back upon the enemy so suddenly; and this because he was general in the
war, and lord of the habitable earth, on whose preservation the public
affairs do all depend. These persuasions Titus seemed not so much as to
hear, but opposed those that ran upon him, and smote them on the face;
and when he had forced them to go back, he slew them: he also fell upon
great numbers as they marched down the hill, and thrust them forward; while
those men were so amazed at his courage and his strength, that they could
not fly directly to the city, but declined from him on both sides, and
pressed after those that fled up the hill; yet did he still fall upon their
flank, and put a stop to their fury. In the mean time, a disorder and a
terror fell again upon those that were fortifying their camp at the top
of the hill, upon their seeing those beneath them running away; insomuch
that the whole legion was dispersed, while they thought that the sallies
of the Jews upon them were plainly insupportable, and that Titus was himself
put to flight; because they took it for granted, that, if he had staid,
the rest would never have fled for it. Thus were they encompassed on every
side by a kind of panic fear, and some dispersed themselves one way, and
some another, till certain of them saw their general in the very midst
of an action, and being under great concern for him, they loudly proclaimed
the danger he was in to the entire legion; and now shame made them turn
back, and they reproached one another that they did worse than run away,
by deserting Caesar. So they used their utmost force against the Jews,
and declining from the straight declivity, they drove them on heaps into
the bottom of the valley. Then did the Jews turn about and fight them;
but as they were themselves retiring, and now, because the Romans had the
advantage of the ground, and were above the Jews, they drove them all into
the valley. Titus also pressed upon those that were near him, and sent
the legion again to fortify their camp; while he, and those that were with
him before, opposed the enemy, and kept them from doing further mischief;
insomuch that, if I may be allowed neither to add any thing out of flattery,
nor to diminish any thing out of envy, but to speak the plain truth, Caesar
did twice deliver that entire legion when it was in jeopardy, and gave
them a quiet opportunity of fortifying their camp.
CHAPTER 3.
HOW THE SEDITION WAS AGAIN REVIVED WITHIN JERUSALEM AND YET
THE JEWS CONTRIVED SNARES FOR THE ROMANS. HOW TITUS ALSO THREATENED HIS
SOLDIERS FOR THEIR UNGOVERNABLE RASHNESS.
1. AS now the war abroad ceased for a while, the sedition within was
revived; and on the feast of unleavened bread, which was now come, it being
the fourteenth day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan,] when it is believed
the Jews were first freed from the Egyptians, Eleazar and his party opened
the gates of this [inmost court of the] temple, and admitted such of the
people as were desirous to worship God into it. (9)
But John made use of this festival as a cloak for his treacherous designs,
and armed the most inconsiderable of his own party, the greater part of
whom were not purified, with weapons concealed under their garments, and
sent them with great zeal into the temple, in order to seize upon it; which
armed men, when they were gotten in, threw their garments away, and presently
appeared in their armor. Upon which there was a very great disorder and
disturbance about the holy house; while the people, who had no concern
in the sedition, supposed that this assault was made against all without
distinction, as the zealots thought it was made against themselves only.
So these left off guarding the gates any longer, and leaped down from their
battlements before they came to an engagement, and fled away into the subterranean
caverns of the temple; while the people that stood trembling at the altar,
and about the holy house, were rolled on heaps together, and trampled upon,
and were beaten both with wooden and with iron weapons without mercy. Such
also as had differences with others slew many persons that were quiet,
out of their own private enmity and hatred, as if they were opposite to
the seditious; and all those that had formerly offended any of these plotters
were now known, and were now led away to the slaughter; and when they had
done abundance of horrid mischief to the guiltless, they granted a truce
to the guilty, and let those go off that came cut of the caverns. These
followers of John also did now seize upon this inner temple, and upon all
the warlike engines therein, and then ventured to oppose Simon. And thus
that sedition, which had been divided into three factions, was now reduced
to two.
2. But Titus, intending to pitch his camp nearer to the city than Scopus,
placed as many of his choice horsemen and footmen as he thought sufficient
opposite to the Jews, to prevent their sallying out upon them, while he
gave orders for the whole army to level the distance, as far as the wall
of the city. So they threw down all the hedges and walls which the inhabitants
had made about their gardens and groves of trees, and cut down all the
fruit trees that lay between them and the wall of the city, and filled
up all the hollow places and the chasms, and demolished the rocky precipices
with iron instruments; and thereby made all the place level from Scopus
to Herod's monuments, which adjoined to the pool called the Serpent's Pool.
3. Now at this very time the Jews contrived the following stratagem
against the Romans. The bolder sort of the seditious went out at the towers,
called the Women's Towers, as if they had been ejected out of the city
by those who were for peace, and rambled about as if they were afraid of
being assaulted by the Romans, and were in fear of one another; while those
that stood upon the wall, and seemed to be of the people's side, cried
out aloud for peace, and entreated they might have security for their lives
given them, and called for the Romans, promising to open the gates to them;
and as they cried out after that manner, they threw stones at their own
people, as though they would drive them away from the gates. These also
pretended that they were excluded by force, and that they petitioned those
that were within to let them in; and rushing upon the Romans perpetually,
with violence, they then came back, and seemed to be in great disorder.
Now the Roman soldiers thought this cunning stratagem of theirs was to
be believed real, and thinking they had the one party under their power,
and could punish them as they pleased, and hoping that the other party
would open their gates to them, set to the execution of their designs accordingly.
But for Titus himself, he had this surprising conduct of the Jews in suspicion;
for whereas he had invited them to come to terms of accommodation, by Josephus,
but one day before, he could then receive no civil answer from them; so
he ordered the soldiers to stay where they were. However, some of them
that were set in the front of the works prevented him, and catching up
their arms ran to the gates; whereupon those that seemed to have been ejected
at the first retired; but as soon as the soldiers were gotten between the
towers on each side of the gate, the Jews ran out and encompassed them
round, and fell upon them behind, while that multitude which stood upon
the wall threw a heap of stones and darts of all kinds at them, insomuch
that they slew a considerable number, and wounded many more; for it was
not easy for the Romans to escape, by reason those behind them pressed
them forward; besides which, the shame they were under for being mistaken,
and the fear they were in of their commanders, engaged them to persevere
in their mistake; wherefore they fought with their spears a great while,
and received many blows from the Jews, though indeed they gave them as
many blows again, and at last repelled those that had encompassed them
about, while the Jews pursued them as they retired, and followed them,
and threw darts at them as far as the monuments of queen Helena.
4. After this these Jews, without keeping any decorum, grew insolent
upon their good fortune, and jested upon the Romans for being deluded by
the trick they bad put upon them, and making a noise with beating their
shields, leaped for gladness, and made joyful exclamations; while these
soldiers were received with threatenings by their officers, and with indignation
by Caesar himself, [who spake to them thus]: These Jews, who are only conducted
by their madness, do every thing with care and circumspection; they contrive
stratagems, and lay ambushes, and fortune gives success to their stratagems,
because they are obedient, and preserve their goodwill and fidelity to
one another; while the Romans, to whom fortune uses to be ever subservient,
by reason of their good order, and ready submission to their commanders,
have now had ill success by their contrary behavior, and by not being able
to restrain their hands from action, they have been caught; and that which
is the most to their reproach, they have gone on without their commanders,
in the very presence of Caesar. "Truly," says Titus, "the
laws of war cannot but groan heavily, as will my father also himself, when
he shall be informed of this wound that hath been given us, since he who
is grown old in wars did never make so great a mistake. Our laws of war
do also ever inflict capital punishment on those that in the least break
into good order, while at this time they have seen an entire army run into
disorder. However, those that have been so insolent shall be made immediately
sensible, that even they who conquer among the Romans without orders for
fighting are to be under disgrace." When Titus had enlarged upon this
matter before the commanders, it appeared evident that he would execute
the law against all those that were concerned; so these soldiers' minds
sunk down in despair, as expecting to be put to death, and that justly
and quickly. However, the other legions came round about Titus, and entreated
his favor to these their fellow soldiers, and made supplication to him,
that he would pardon the rashness of a few, on account of the better obedience
of all the rest; and promised for them that they should make amends for
their present fault, by their more virtuous behavior for the time to come.
5. So Caesar complied with their desires, and with what prudence dictated
to him also; for he esteemed it fit to punish single persons by real executions,
but that the punishment of great multitudes should proceed no further than
reproofs; so he was reconciled to the soldiers, but gave them a special
charge to act more wisely for the future; and he considered with himself
how he might be even with the Jews for their stratagem. And now when the
space between the Romans and the wall had been leveled, which was done
in four days, and as he was desirous to bring the baggage of the army,
with the rest of the multitude that followed him, safely to the camp, he
set the strongest part of his army over against that wall which lay on
the north quarter of the city, and over against the western part of it,
and made his army seven deep, with the foot-men placed before them, and
the horsemen behind them, each of the last in three ranks, whilst the archers
stood in the midst in seven ranks. And now as the Jews were prohibited,
by so great a body of men, from making sallies upon the Romans, both the
beasts that bare the burdens, and belonged to the three legions, and the
rest of the multitude, marched on without any fear. But as for Titus himself,
he was but about two furlongs distant from the wall, at that part of it
where was the corner (10)
and over against that tower which was called Psephinus, at which tower
the compass of the wall belonging to the north bended, and extended itself
over against the west; but the other part of the army fortified itself
at the tower called Hippicus, and was distant, in like manner, by two furlongs
from the city. However, the tenth legion continued in its own place, upon
the Mount of Olives.
CHAPTER 4.
THE DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM.
1. THE city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts
as were not encompassed with unpassable valleys; for in such places it
had but one wall. The city was built upon two hills, which are opposite
to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder; at which valley
the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that
which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length more direct.
Accordingly, it was called the "Citadel," by king David; he was
the father of that Solomon who built this temple at the first; but it is
by us called the "Upper Market-place." But the other hill, which
was called "Acra," and sustains the lower city, is of the shape
of a moon when she is horned; over against this there was a third hill,
but naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly from the other by a
broad valley. However, in those times when the Asamoneans reigned, they
filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the
temple. They then took off part of the height of Acra, and reduced it to
be of less elevation than it was before, that the temple might be superior
to it. Now the Valley of the Cheesemongers, as it was called, and was that
which we told you before distinguished the hill of the upper city from
that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the name of a
fountain which hath sweet water in it, and this in great plenty also. But
on the outsides, these hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and by reason
of the precipices to them belonging on both sides they are every where
unpassable.
2. Now, of these three walls, the old one was hard to be taken, both
by reason of the valleys, and of that hill on which it was built, and which
was above them. But besides that great advantage, as to the place where
they were situated, it was also built very strong; because David and Solomon,
and the following kings, were very zealous about this work. Now that wall
began on the north, at the tower called "Hippicus," and extended
as far as the "Xistus," a place so called, and then, joining
to the council-house, ended at the west cloister of the temple. But if
we go the other way westward, it began at the same place, and extended
through a place called "Bethso," to the gate of the Essens; and
after that it went southward, having its bending above the fountain Siloam,
where it also bends again towards the east at Solomon's pool, and reaches
as far as a certain place which they called "Ophlas," where it
was joined to the eastern cloister of the temple. The second wall took
its beginning from that gate which they called "Gennath," which
belonged to the first wall; it only encompassed the northern quarter of
the city, and reached as far as the tower Antonia. The beginning of the
third wall was at the tower Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north
quarter of the city, and the tower Psephinus, and then was so far extended
till it came over against the monuments of Helena, which Helena was queen
of Adiabene, the daughter of Izates; it then extended further to a great
length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns of the kings, and bent again
at the tower of the corner, at the monument which is called the "Monument
of the Fuller," and joined to the old wall at the valley called the
"Valley of Cedron." It was Agrippa who encompassed the parts
added to the old city with this wall, which had been all naked before;
for as the city grew more populous, it gradually crept beyond its old limits,
and those parts of it that stood northward of the temple, and joined that
hill to the city, made it considerably larger, and occasioned that hill,
which is in number the fourth, and is called "Bezetha," to be
inhabited also. It lies over against the tower Antonia, but is divided
from it by a deep valley, which was dug on purpose, and that in order to
hinder the foundations of the tower of Antonia from joining to this hill,
and thereby affording an opportunity for getting to it with ease, and hindering
the security that arose from its superior elevation; for which reason also
that depth of the ditch made the elevation of the towers more remarkable.
This new-built part of the city was called "Bezetha," in our
language, which, if interpreted in the Grecian language, may be called
"the New City." Since, therefore, its inhabitants stood in need
of a covering, the father of the present king, and of the same name with
him, Agrippa, began that wall we spoke of; but he left off building it
when he had only laid the foundations, out of the fear he was in of Claudius
Caesar, lest he should suspect that so strong a wall was built in order
to make some innovation in public affairs; for the city could no way have
been taken if that wall had been finished in the manner it was begun; as
its parts were connected together by stones twenty cubits long, and ten
cubits broad, which could never have been either easily undermined by any
iron tools, or shaken by any engines. The wall was, however, ten cubits
wide, and it would probably have had a height greater than that, had not
his zeal who began it been hindered from exerting itself. After this, it
was erected with great diligence by the Jews, as high as twenty cubits,
above which it had battlements of two cubits, and turrets of three cubits
altitude, insomuch that the entire altitude extended as far as twenty-five
cubits.
3. Now the towers that were upon it were twenty cubits in breadth, and
twenty cubits in height; they were square and solid, as was the wall itself,
wherein the niceness of the joints, and the beauty of the stones, were
no way inferior to those of the holy house itself. Above this solid altitude
of the towers, which was twenty cubits, there were rooms of great magnificence,
and over them upper rooms, and cisterns to receive rain-water. They were
many in number, and the steps by which you ascended up to them were every
one broad: of these towers then the third wall had ninety, and the spaces
between them were each two hundred cubits; but in the middle wall were
forty towers, and the old wall was parted into sixty, while the whole compass
of the city was thirty-three furlongs. Now the third wall was all of it
wonderful; yet was the tower Psephinus elevated above it at the north-west
corner, and there Titus pitched his own tent; for being seventy cubits
high it both afforded a prospect of Arabia at sun-rising, as well as it
did of the utmost limits of the Hebrew possessions at the sea westward.
Moreover, it was an octagon, and over against it was the tower Hipplicus,
and hard by two others were erected by king Herod, in the old wall. These
were for largeness, beauty, and strength beyond all that were in the habitable
earth; for besides the magnanimity of his nature, and his magnificence
towards the city on other occasions, he built these after such an extraordinary
manner, to gratify his own private affections, and dedicated these towers
to the memory of those three persons who had been the dearest to him, and
from whom he named them. They were his brother, his friend, and his wife.
This wife he had slain, out of his love [and jealousy], as we have already
related; the other two he lost in war, as they were courageously fighting.
Hippicus, so named from his friend, was square; its length and breadth
were each twenty-five cubits, and its height thirty, and it had no vacuity
in it. Over this solid building, which was composed of great stones united
together, there was a reservoir twenty cubits deep, over which there was
a house of two stories, whose height was twenty-five cubits, and divided
into several parts; over which were battlements of two cubits, and turrets
all round of three cubits high, insomuch that the entire height added together
amounted to fourscore cubits. The second tower, which he named from his
brother Phasaelus, had its breadth and its height equal, each of them forty
cubits; over which was its solid height of forty cubits; over which a cloister
went round about, whose height was ten cubits, and it was covered from
enemies by breast-works and bulwarks. There was also built over that cloister
another tower, parted into magnificent rooms, and a place for bathing;
so that this tower wanted nothing that might make it appear to be a royal
palace. It was also adorned with battlements and turrets, more than was
the foregoing, and the entire altitude was about ninety cubits; the appearance
of it resembled the tower of Pharus, which exhibited a fire to such as
sailed to Alexandria, but was much larger than it in compass. This was
now converted to a house, wherein Simon exercised his tyrannical authority.
The third tower was Mariamne, for that was his queen's name; it was solid
as high as twenty cubits; its breadth and its length were twenty cubits,
and were equal to each other; its upper buildings were more magnificent,
and had greater variety, than the other towers had; for the king thought
it most proper for him to adorn that which was denominated from his wife,
better than those denominated from men, as those were built stronger than
this that bore his wife's name. The entire height of this tower was fifty
cubits.
4. Now as these towers were so very tall, they appeared much taller
by the place on which they stood; for that very old wall wherein they were
was built on a high hill, and was itself a kind of elevation that was still
thirty cubits taller; over which were the towers situated, and thereby
were made much higher to appearance. The largeness also of the stones was
wonderful; for they were not made of common small stones, nor of such large
ones only as men could carry, but they were of white marble, cut out of
the rock; each stone was twenty cubits in length, and ten in breadth, and
five in depth. They were so exactly united to one another, that each tower
looked like one entire rock of stone, so growing naturally, and afterward
cut by the hand of the artificers into their present shape and corners;
so little, or not at all, did their joints or connexion appear. low as
these towers were themselves on the north side of the wall, the king had
a palace inwardly thereto adjoined, which exceeds all my ability to describe
it; for it was so very curious as to want no cost nor skill in its construction,
but was entirely walled about to the height of thirty cubits, and was adorned
with towers at equal distances, and with large bed-chambers, that would
contain beds for a hundred guests a-piece, in which the variety of the
stones is not to be expressed; for a large quantity of those that were
rare of that kind was collected together. Their roofs were also wonderful,
both for the length of the beams, and the splendor of their ornaments.
The number of the rooms was also very great, and the variety of the figures
that were about them was prodigious; their furniture was complete, and
the greatest part of the vessels that were put in them was of silver and
gold. There were besides many porticoes, one beyond another, round about,
and in each of those porticoes curious pillars; yet were all the courts
that were exposed to the air every where green. There were, moreover, several
groves of trees, and long walks through them, with deep canals, and cisterns,
that in several parts were filled with brazen statues, through which the
water ran out. There were withal many dove-courts (11)
of tame pigeons about the canals. But indeed it is not possible to give
a complete description of these palaces; and the very remembrance of them
is a torment to one, as putting one in mind what vastly rich buildings
that fire which was kindled by the robbers hath consumed; for these were
not burnt by the Romans, but by these internal plotters, as we have already
related, in the beginning of their rebellion. That fire began at the tower
of Antonia, and went on to the palaces, and consumed the upper parts of
the three towers themselves.
CHAPTER 5.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE.
1. NOW this temple, as I have already said, was built upon a strong
hill. At first the plain at the top was hardly sufficient for the holy
house and the altar, for the ground about it was very uneven, and like
a precipice; but when king Solomon, who was the person that built the temple,
had built a wall to it on its east side, there was then added one cloister
founded on a bank cast up for it, and on the other parts the holy house
stood naked. But in future ages the people added new banks, (12)
and the hill became a larger plain. They then broke down the wall on the
north side, and took in as much as sufficed afterward for the compass of
the entire temple. And when they had built walls on three sides of the
temple round about, from the bottom of the hill, and had performed a work
that was greater than could be hoped for, (in which work long ages were
spent by them, as well as all their sacred treasures were exhausted, which
were still replenished by those tributes which were sent to God from the
whole habitable earth,) they then encompassed their upper courts with cloisters,
as well as they [afterward] did the lowest [court of the] temple. The lowest
part of this was erected to the height of three hundred cubits, and in
some places more; yet did not the entire depth of the foundations appear,
for they brought earth, and filled up the valleys, as being desirous to
make them on a level with the narrow streets of the city; wherein they
made use of stones of forty cubits in magnitude; for the great plenty of
money they then had, and the liberality of the people, made this attempt
of theirs to succeed to an incredible degree; and what could not be so
much as hoped for as ever to be accomplished, was, by perseverance and
length of time, brought to perfection.
2. Now for the works that were above these foundations, these were not
unworthy of such foundations; for all the cloisters were double, and the
pillars to them belonging were twenty-five cubits in height, and supported
the cloisters. These pillars were of one entire stone each of them, and
that stone was white marble; and the roofs were adorned with cedar, curiously
graven. The natural magnificence, and excellent polish, and the harmony
of the joints in these cloisters, afforded a prospect that was very remarkable;
nor was it on the outside adorned with any work of the painter or engraver.
The cloisters [of the outmost court] were in breadth thirty cubits, while
the entire compass of it was by measure six furlongs, including the tower
of Antonia; those entire courts that were exposed to the air were laid
with stones of all sorts. When you go through these [first] cloisters,
unto the second [court of the] temple, there was a partition made of stone
all round, whose height was three cubits: its construction was very elegant;
upon it stood pillars, at equal distances from one another, declaring the
law of purity, some in Greek, and some in Roman letters, that "no
foreigner should go within that sanctuary" for that second [court
of the] temple was called "the Sanctuary," and was ascended to
by fourteen steps from the first court. This court was four-square, and
had a wall about it peculiar to itself; the height of its buildings, although
it were on the outside forty cubits, (13)
was hidden by the steps, and on the inside that height was but twenty-five
cubits; for it being built over against a higher part of the hill with
steps, it was no further to be entirely discerned within, being covered
by the hill itself. Beyond these thirteen steps there was the distance
of ten cubits; this was all plain; whence there were other steps, each
of five cubits a-piece, that led to the gates, which gates on the north
and south sides were eight, on each of those sides four, and of necessity
two on the east. For since there was a partition built for the women on
that side, as the proper place wherein they were to worship, there was
a necessity for a second gate for them: this gate was cut out of its wall,
over against the first gate. There was also on the other sides one southern
and one northern gate, through which was a passage into the court of the
women; for as to the other gates, the women were not allowed to pass through
them; nor when they went through their own gate could they go beyond their
own wall. This place was allotted to the women of our own country, and
of other countries, provided they were of the same nation, and that equally.
The western part of this court had no gate at all, but the wall was built
entire on that side. But then the cloisters which were betwixt the gates
extended from the wall inward, before the chambers; for they were supported
by very fine and large pillars. These cloisters were single, and, excepting
their magnitude, were no way inferior to those of the lower court.
3. Now nine of these gates were on every side covered over with gold
and silver, as were the jambs of their doors and their lintels; but there
was one gate that was without the [inward court of the] holy house, which
was of Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those that were only covered
over with silver and gold. Each gate had two doors, whose height was severally
thirty cubits, and their breadth fifteen. However, they had large spaces
within of thirty cubits, and had on each side rooms, and those, both in
breadth and in length, built like towers, and their height was above forty
cubits. Two pillars did also support these rooms, and were in circumference
twelve cubits. Now the magnitudes of the other gates were equal one to
another; but that over the Corinthian gate, which opened on the east over
against the gate of the holy house itself, was much larger; for its height
was fifty cubits; and its doors were forty cubits; and it was adorned after
a most costly manner, as having much richer and thicker plates of silver
and gold upon them than the other. These nine gates had that silver and
gold poured upon them by Alexander, the father of Tiberius. Now there were
fifteen steps, which led away from the wall of the court of the women to
this greater gate; whereas those that led thither from the other gates
were five steps shorter.
4. As to the holy house itself, which was placed in the midst [of the
inmost court], that most sacred part of the temple, it was ascended to
by twelve steps; and in front its height and its breadth were equal, and
each a hundred cubits, though it was behind forty cubits narrower; for
on its front it had what may be styled shoulders on each side, that passed
twenty cubits further. Its first gate was seventy cubits high, and twenty-five
cubits broad; but this gate had no doors; for it represented the universal
visibility of heaven, and that it cannot be excluded from any place. Its
front was covered with gold all over, and through it the first part of
the house, that was more inward, did all of it appear; which, as it was
very large, so did all the parts about the more inward gate appear to shine
to those that saw them; but then, as the entire house was divided into
two parts within, it was only the first part of it that was open to our
view. Its height extended all along to ninety cubits in height, and its
length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty. But that gate which was
at this end of the first part of the house was, as we have already observed,
all over covered with gold, as was its whole wall about it; it had also
golden vines above it, from which clusters of grapes hung as tall as a
man's height. But then this house, as it was divided into two parts, the
inner part was lower than the appearance of the outer, and had golden doors
of fifty-five cubits altitude, and sixteen in breadth; but before these
doors there was a veil of equal largeness with the doors. It was a Babylonian
curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple,
and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor was this mixture of colors
without its mystical interpretation, but was a kind of image of the universe;
for by the scarlet there seemed to be enigmatically signified fire, by
the fine flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by the purple the sea;
two of them having their colors the foundation of this resemblance; but
the fine flax and the purple have their own origin for that foundation,
the earth producing the one, and the sea the other. This curtain had also
embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens, excepting that
of the [twelve] signs, representing living creatures.
5. When any persons entered into the temple, its floor received them.
This part of the temple therefore was in height sixty cubits, and its length
the same; whereas its breadth was but twenty cubits: but still that sixty
cubits in length was divided again, and the first part of it was cut off
at forty cubits, and had in it three things that were very wonderful and
famous among all mankind, the candlestick, the table [of shew-bread], and
the altar of incense. Now the seven lamps signified the seven planets;
for so many there were springing out of the candlestick. Now the twelve
loaves that were upon the table signified the circle of the zodiac and
the year; but the altar of incense, by its thirteen kinds of sweet-smelling
spices with which the sea replenished it, signified that God is the possessor
of all things that are both in the uninhabitable and habitable parts of
the earth, and that they are all to be dedicated to his use. But the inmost
part of the temple of all was of twenty cubits. This was also separated
from the outer part by a veil. In this there was nothing at all. It was
inaccessible and inviolable, and not to be seen by any; and was called
the Holy of Holies. Now, about the sides of the lower part of the temple,
there were little houses, with passages out of one into another; there
were a great many of them, and they were of three stories high; there were
also entrances on each side into them from the gate of the temple. But
the superior part of the temple had no such little houses any further,
because the temple was there narrower, and forty cubits higher, and of
a smaller body than the lower parts of it. Thus we collect that the whole
height, including the sixty cubits from the floor, amounted to a hundred
cubits.
6. Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that
was likely to surprise either men's minds or their eyes; for it was covered
all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising
of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced
themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would
have done at the sun's own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers,
when they were coming to it at a distance, like a mountain covered with
snow; for as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding
white. On its top it had spikes with sharp points, to prevent any pollution
of it by birds sitting upon it. Of its stones, some of them were forty-five
cubits in length, five in height, and six in breadth. Before this temple
stood the altar, fifteen cubits high, and equal both in length and breadth;
each of which dimensions was fifty cubits. The figure it was built in was
a square, and it had corners like horns; and the passage up to it was by
an insensible acclivity. It was formed without any iron tool, nor did any
such iron tool so much as touch it at any time. There was also a wall of
partition, about a cubit in height, made of fine stones, and so as to be
grateful to the sight; this encompassed the holy house and the altar, and
kept the people that were on the outside off from the priests. Moreover,
those that had the gonorrhea and the leprosy were excluded out of the city
entirely; women also, when their courses were upon them, were shut out
of the temple; nor when they were free from that impurity, were they allowed
to go beyond the limit before-mentioned; men also, that were not thoroughly
pure, were prohibited to come into the inner [court of the] temple; nay,
the priests themselves that were not pure were prohibited to come into
it also.
7. Now all those of the stock of the priests that could not minister
by reason of some defect in their bodies, came within the partition, together
with those that had no such imperfection, and had their share with them
by reason of their stock, but still made use of none except their own private
garments; for nobody but he that officiated had on his sacred garments;
but then those priests that were without any blemish upon them went up
to the altar clothed in fine linen. They abstained chiefly from wine, out
of this fear, lest otherwise they should transgress some rules of their
ministration. The high priest did also go up with them; not always indeed,
but on the seventh days and new moons, and if any festivals belonging to
our nation, which we celebrate every year, happened. When he officiated,
he had on a pair of breeches that reached beneath his privy parts to his
thighs, and had on an inner garment of linen, together with a blue garment,
round, without seam, with fringe work, and reaching to the feet. There
were also golden bells that hung upon the fringes, and pomegranates intermixed
among them. The bells signified thunder, and the pomegranates lightning.
But that girdle that tied the garment to the breast was embroidered with
five rows of various colors, of gold, and purple, and scarlet, as also
of fine linen and blue, with which colors we told you before the veils
of the temple were embroidered also. The like embroidery was upon the ephod;
but the quantity of gold therein was greater. Its figure was that of a
stomacher for the breast. There were upon it two golden buttons like small
shields, which buttoned the ephod to the garment; in these buttons were
enclosed two very large and very excellent sardonyxes, having the names
of the tribes of that nation engraved upon them: on the other part there
hung twelve stones, three in a row one way, and four in the other; a sardius,
a topaz, and an emerald; a carbuncle, a jasper, and a sapphire; an agate,
an amethyst, and a ligure; an onyx, a beryl, and a chrysolite; upon every
one of which was again engraved one of the forementioned names of the tribes.
A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue
ribbon, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraven
the sacred name [of God]: it consists of four vowels. However, the high
priest did not wear these garments at other times, but a more plain habit;
he only did it when he went into the most sacred part of the temple, which
he did but once in a year, on that day when our custom is for all of us
to keep a fast to God. And thus much concerning the city and the temple;
but for the customs and laws hereto relating, we shall speak more accurately
another time; for there remain a great many things thereto relating which
have not been here touched upon.
8. Now as to the tower of Antonia, it was situated at the corner of
two cloisters of the court of the temple; of that on the west, and that
on the north; it was erected upon a rock of fifty cubits in height, and
was on a great precipice; it was the work of king Herod, wherein he demonstrated
his natural magnanimity. In the first place, the rock itself was covered
over with smooth pieces of stone, from its foundation, both for ornament,
and that any one who would either try to get up or to go down it might
not be able to hold his feet upon it. Next to this, and before you come
to the edifice of the tower itself, there was a wall three cubits high;
but within that wall all the space of the tower of Antonia itself was built
upon, to the height of forty cubits. The inward parts had the largeness
and form of a palace, it being parted into all kinds of rooms and other
conveniences, such as courts, and places for bathing, and broad spaces
for camps; insomuch that, by having all conveniences that cities wanted,
it might seem to be composed of several cities, but by its magnificence
it seemed a palace. And as the entire structure resembled that of a tower,
it contained also four other distinct towers at its four corners; whereof
the others were but fifty cubits high; whereas that which lay upon the
southeast corner was seventy cubits high, that from thence the whole temple
might be viewed; but on the corner where it joined to the two cloisters
of the temple, it had passages down to them both, through which the guard
(for there always lay in this tower a Roman legion) went several ways among
the cloisters, with their arms, on the Jewish festivals, in order to watch
the people, that they might not there attempt to make any innovations;
for the temple was a fortress that guarded the city, as was the tower of
Antonia a guard to the temple; and in that tower were the guards of those
three (14). There
was also a peculiar fortress belonging to the upper city, which was Herod's
palace; but for the hill Bezetha, it was divided from the tower Antonia,
as we have already told you; and as that hill on which the tower of Antonia
stood was the highest of these three, so did it adjoin to the new city,
and was the only place that hindered the sight of the temple on the north.
And this shall suffice at present to have spoken about the city and the
walls about it, because I have proposed to myself to make a more accurate
description of it elsewhere.
CHAPTER 6.
CONCERNING THE TYRANTS SIMON AND JOHN. HOW ALSO AS TITUS
WAS GOING ROUND THE WALL OF THIS CITY NICANOR WAS WOUNDED BY A DART; WHICH
ACCIDENT PROVOKED TITUS TO PRESS ON THE SIEGE.
1. NOW the warlike men that were in the city, and the multitude of the
seditious that were with Simon, were ten thousand, besides the Idumeans.
Those ten thousand had fifty commanders, over whom this Simon was supreme.
The Idumeans that paid him homage were five thousand, and had eight commanders,
among whom those of greatest fame were Jacob the son of Sosas, and Simon
the son of Cathlas. Jotre, who had seized upon the temple, had six thousand
armed men under twenty commanders; the zealots also that had come over
to him, and left off their opposition, were two thousand four hundred,
and had the same commander that they had formerly, Eleazar, together with
Simon the son of Arinus. Now, while these factions fought one against another,
the people were their prey on both sides, as we have said already; and
that part of the people who would not join with them in their wicked practices
were plundered by both factions. Simon held the upper city, and the great
wall as far as Cedron, and as much of the old wall as bent from Siloam
to the east, and which went down to the palace of Monobazus, who was king
of the Adiabeni, beyond Euphrates; he also held that fountain, and the
Acra, which was no other than the lower city; he also held all that reached
to the palace of queen Helena, the mother of Monobazus. But John held the
temple, and the parts thereto adjoining, for a great way, as also Ophla,
and the valley called "the Valley of Cedron;" and when the parts
that were interposed between their possessions were burnt by them, they
left a space wherein they might fight with each other; for this internal
sedition did not cease even when the Romans were encamped near their very
wall. But although they had grown wiser at the first onset the Romans made
upon them, this lasted but a while; for they returned to their former madness,
and separated one from another, and fought it out, and did everything that
the besiegers could desire them to do; for they never suffered any thing
that was worse from the Romans than they made each other suffer; nor was
there any misery endured by the city after these men's actions that could
be esteemed new. But it was most of all unhappy before it was overthrown,
while those that took it did it a greater kindness for I venture to affirm
that the sedition destroyed the city, and the Romans destroyed the sedition,
which it was a much harder thing to do than to destroy the walls; so that
we may justly ascribe our misfortunes to our own people, and the just vengeance
taken on them to the Romans; as to which matter let every one determine
by the actions on both sides.
2. Now when affairs within the city were in this posture, Titus went
round the city on the outside with some chosen horsemen, and looked about
for a proper place where he might make an impression upon the walls; but
as he was in doubt where he could possibly make an attack on any side,
(for the place was no way accessible where the valleys were, and on the
other side the first wall appeared too strong to be shaken by the engines,)
he thereupon thought it best to make his assault upon the monument of John
the high priest; for there it was that the first fortification was lower,
and the second was not joined to it, the builders neglecting to build strong
where the new city was not much inhabited; here also was an easy passage
to the third wall, through which he thought to take the upper city, and,
through the tower of Antonia, the temple itself But at this time, as he
was going round about the city, one of his friends, whose name was Nicanor,
was wounded with a dart on his left shoulder, as he approached, together
with Josephus, too near the wall, and attempted to discourse to those that
were upon the wall, about terms of peace; for he was a person known by
them. On this account it was that Caesar, as soon as he knew their vehemence,
that they would not hear even such as approached them to persuade them
to what tended to their own preservation, was provoked to press on the
siege. He also at the same time gave his soldiers leave to set the suburbs
on fire, and ordered that they should bring timber together, and raise
banks against the city; and when he had parted his army into three parts,
in order to set about those works, he placed those that shot darts and
the archers in the midst of the banks that were then raising; before whom
he placed those engines that threw javelins, and darts, and stones, that
he might prevent the enemy from sallying out upon their works, and might
hinder those that were upon the wall from being able to obstruct them.
So the trees were now cut down immediately, and the suburbs left naked.
But now while the timber was carrying to raise the banks, and the whole
army was earnestly engaged in their works, the Jews were not, however,
quiet; and it happened that the people of Jerusalem, who had been hitherto
plundered and murdered, were now of good courage, and supposed they should
have a breathing time, while the others were very busy in opposing their
enemies without the city, and that they should now be avenged on those
that had been the authors of their miseries, in case the Romans did but
get the victory.
3. However, John staid behind, out of his fear of Simon, even while
his own men were earnest in making a sally upon their enemies without.
Yet did not Simon lie still, for he lay near the place of the siege; he
brought his engines of war, and disposed of them at due distances upon
the wall, both those which they took from Cestius formerly, and those which
they got when they seized the garrison that lay in the tower Antonia. But
though they had these engines in their possession, they had so little skill
in using them, that they were in great measure useless to them; but a few
there were who had been taught by deserters how to use them, which they
did use, though after an awkward manner. So they cast stones and arrows
at those that were making the banks; they also ran out upon them by companies,
and fought with them. Now those that were at work covered themselves with
hurdles spread over their banks, and their engines were opposed to them
when they made their excursions. The engines, that all the legions had
ready prepared for them, were admirably contrived; but still more extraordinary
ones belonged to the tenth legion: those that threw darts and those that
threw stones were more forcible and larger than the rest, by which they
not only repelled the excursions of the Jews, but drove those away that
were upon the walls also. Now the stones that were cast were of the weight
of a talent, and were carried two furlongs and further. The blow they gave
was no way to be sustained, not only by those that stood first in the way,
but by those that were beyond them for a great space. As for the Jews,
they at first watched the coming of the stone, for it was of a white color,
and could therefore not only be perceived by the great noise it made, but
could be seen also before it came by its brightness; accordingly the watchmen
that sat upon the towers gave them notice when the engine was let go, and
the stone came from it, and cried out aloud, in their own country language,
THE STONE COMETH (15)
so those that were in its way stood off, and threw themselves down upon
the ground; by which means, and by their thus guarding themselves, the
stone fell down and did them no harm. But the Romans contrived how to prevent
that by blacking the stone, who then could aim at them with success, when
the stone was not discerned beforehand, as it had been till then; and so
they destroyed many of them at one blow. Yet did not the Jews, under all
this distress, permit the Romans to raise their banks in quiet; but they
shrewdly and boldly exerted themselves, and repelled them both by night
and by day.
4. And now, upon the finishing the Roman works, the workmen measured
the distance there was from the wall, and this by lead and a line, which
they threw to it from their banks; for they could not measure it any otherwise,
because the Jews would shoot at them, if they came to measure it themselves;
and when they found that the engines could reach the wall, they brought
them thither. Then did Titus set his engines at proper distances, so much
nearer to the wall, that the Jews might not be able to repel them, and
gave orders they should go to work; and when thereupon a prodigious noise
echoed round about from three places, and that on the sudden there was
a great noise made by the citizens that were within the city, and no less
a terror fell upon the seditious themselves; whereupon both sorts, seeing
the common danger they were in, contrived to make a like defense. So those
of different factions cried out one to another, that they acted entirely
as in concert with their enemies; whereas they ought however, notwithstanding
God did not grant them a lasting concord, in their present circumstances,
to lay aside their enmities one against another, and to unite together
against the Romans. Accordingly, Simon gave those that came from the temple
leave, by proclamation, to go upon the wall; John also himself, though
he could not believe Simon was in earnest, gave them the same leave. So
on both sides they laid aside their hatred and their peculiar quarrels,
and formed themselves into one body; they then ran round the walls, and
having a vast number of torches with them, they threw them at the machines,
and shot darts perpetually upon those that impelled those engines which
battered the wall; nay, the bolder sort leaped out by troops upon the hurdles
that covered the machines, and pulled them to pieces, and fell upon those
that belonged to them, and beat them, not so much by any skill they had,
as principally by the boldness of their attacks. However, Titus himself
still sent assistance to those that were the hardest set, and placed both
horsemen and archers on the several sides of the engines, and thereby beat
off those that brought the fire to them; he also thereby repelled those
that shot stones or darts from the towers, and then set the engines to
work in good earnest; yet did not the wall yield to these blows, excepting
where the battering ram of the fifteenth legion moved the corner of a tower,
while the wall itself continued unhurt; for the wall was not presently
in the same danger with the tower, which was extant far above it; nor could
the fall of that part of the tower easily break down any part of the wall
itself together with it.
5. And now the Jews intermitted their sallies for a while; but when
they observed the Romans dispersed all abroad at their works, and in their
several camps, (for they thought the Jews had retired out of weariness
and fear,) they all at once made a sally at the tower Hippicus, through
an obscure gate, and at the same time brought fire to burn the works, and
went boldly up to the Romans, and to their very fortifications themselves,
where, at the cry they made, those that were near them came presently to
their assistance, and those farther off came running after them; and here
the boldness of the Jews was too hard for the good order of the Romans;
and as they beat those whom they first fell upon, so they pressed upon
those that were now gotten together. So this fight about the machines was
very hot, while the one side tried hard to set them on fire, and the other
side to prevent it; on both sides there was a confused cry made, and many
of those in the forefront of the battle were slain. However, the Jews were
now too hard for the Romans, by the furious assaults they made like madmen;
and the fire caught hold of the works, and both all those works, and the
engines themselves, had been in danger of being burnt, had not many of
these select soldiers that came from Alexandria opposed themselves to prevent
it, and had they not behaved themselves with greater courage than they
themselves supposed they could have done; for they outdid those in this
fight that had greater reputation than themselves before. This was the
state of things till Caesar took the stoutest of his horsemen, and attacked
the enemy, while he himself slew twelve of those that were in the forefront
of the Jews; which death of these men, when the rest of the multitude saw,
they gave way, and he pursued them, and drove them all into the city, and
saved the works from the fire. Now it happened at this fight that a certain
Jew was taken alive, who, by Titus's order, was crucified before the wall,
to see whether the rest of them would be aftrighted, and abate of their
obstinacy. But after the Jews were retired, John, who was commander of
the Idumeans, and was talking to a certain soldier of his acquaintance
before the wall, was wounded by a dart shot at him by an Arabian, and died
immediately, leaving the greatest lamentation to the Jews, and sorrow to
the seditious. For he was a man of great eminence, both for his actions
and his conduct also.
CHAPTER 7.
HOW ONE OF THE TOWERS ERECTED BY THE ROMANS FELL DOWN OF
ITS OWN ACCORD; AND HOW THE ROMANS AFTER GREAT SLAUGHTER HAD BEEN MADE
GOT POSSESSION OF THE FIRST WALL. HOW ALSO TITUS MADE HIS ASSAULTS UPON
THE SECOND WALL; AS ALSO CONCERNING LONGINUS THE ROMAN, AND CASTOR THE
JEW.
1. NOW, on the next night, a surprising disturbance fell upon the Romans;
for whereas Titus had given orders for the erection of three towers of
fifty cubits high, that by setting men upon them at every bank, he might
from thence drive those away who were upon the wall, it so happened that
one of these towers fell down about midnight; and as its fall made a very
great noise, fear fell upon the army, and they, supposing that the enemy
was coming to attack them, ran all to their arms. Whereupon a disturbance
and a tumult arose among the legions, and as nobody could tell what had
happened, they went on after a disconsolate manner; and seeing no enemy
appear, they were afraid one of another, and every one demanded of his
neighbor the watchword with great earnestness, as though the Jews had invaded
their camp. And now were they like people under a panic fear, till Titus
was informed of what had happened, and gave orders that all should be acquainted
with it; and then, though with some difficulty, they got clear of the disturbance
they had been under.
2. Now these towers were very troublesome to the Jews, who otherwise
opposed the Romans very courageously; for they shot at them out of their
lighter engines from those towers, as they did also by those that threw
darts, and the archers, and those that flung stones. For neither could
the Jews reach those that were over them, by reason of their height; and
it was not practicable to take them, nor to overturn them, they were so
heavy, nor to set them on fire, because they were covered with plates of
iron. So they retired out of the reach of the darts, and did no longer
endeavor to hinder the impression of their rams, which, by continually
beating upon the wall, did gradually prevail against it; so that the wall
already gave way to the Nico, for by that name did the Jews themselves
call the greatest of their engines, because it conquered all things. And
now they were for a long while grown weary of fighting, and of keeping
guards, and were retired to lodge in the night time at a distance from
the wall. It was on other accounts also thought by them to be superfluous
to guard the wall, there being besides that two other fortifications still
remaining, and they being slothful, and their counsels having been ill
concerted on all occasions; so a great many grew lazy and retired. Then
the Romans mounted the breach, where Nico had made one, and all the Jews
left the guarding that wall, and retreated to the second wall; so those
that had gotten over that wall opened the gates, and received all the army
within it. And thus did the Romans get possession of this first wall, on
the fifteenth day of the siege, which was the seventh day of the month
Artemisius, [Jyar,] when they demolished a great part of it, as well as
they did of the northern parts of the city, which had been demolished also
by Cestius formerly.
3. And now Titus pitched his camp within the city, at that place which
was called "the Camp of the Assyrians," having seized upon all
that lay as far as Cedron, but took care to be out of the reach of the
Jews' darts. He then presently began his attacks, upon which the Jews divided
themselves into several bodies, and courageously defended that wall; while
John and his faction did it from the tower of Antonia, and from the northern
cloister of the temple, and fought the Romans before the monuments of king
Alexander; and Sireoh's army also took for their share the spot of ground
that was near John's monument, and fortified it as far as to that gate
where water was brought in to the tower Hippicus. However, the Jews made
violent sallies, and that frequently also, and in bodies together out of
the gates, and there fought the Romans; and when they were pursued all
together to the wall, they were beaten in those fights, as wanting the
skill of the Romans. But when they fought them from the walls, they were
too hard for them; the Romans being encouraged by their power, joined to
their skill, as were the Jews by their boldness, which was nourished by
the fear they were in, and that hardiness which is natural to our nation
under calamities; they were also encouraged still by the hope of deliverance,
as were the Romans by their hopes of subduing them in a little time. Nor
did either side grow weary; but attacks and rightings upon the wall, and
perpetual sallies out in bodies, were there all the day long; nor were
there any sort of warlike engagements that were not then put in use. And
the night itself had much ado to part them, when they began to fight in
the morning; nay, the night itself was passed without sleep on both sides,
and was more uneasy than the day to them, while the one was afraid lest
the wall should be taken, and the other lest the Jews should make sallies
upon their camps; both sides also lay in their armor during the night time,
and thereby were ready at the first appearance of light to go to the battle.
Now among the Jews the ambition was who should undergo the first dangers,
and thereby gratify their commanders. Above all, they had a great veneration
and dread of Simon; and to that degree was he regarded by every one of
those that were under him, that at his command they were very ready to
kill themselves with their own hands. What made the Romans so courageous
was their usual custom of conquering and disuse of being defeated, their
constant wars, and perpetual warlike exercises, and the grandeur of their
dominion; and what was now their chief encouragement -Titus who was present
every where with them all; for it appeared a terrible thing to grow weary
while Caesar was there, and fought bravely as well as they did, and was
himself at once an eye-witness of such as behaved themselves valiantly,
and he who was to reward them also. It was, besides, esteemed an advantage
at present to have any one's valor known by Caesar; on which account many
of them appeared to have more alacrity than strength to answer it. And
now, as the Jews were about this time standing in array before the wall,
and that in a strong body, and while both parties were throwing their darts
at each other, Longinus, one of the equestrian order, leaped out of the
army of the Romans, and leaped into the very midst of the army of the Jews;
and as they dispersed themselves upon the attack, he slew two of their
men of the greatest courage; one of them he struck in his mouth as he was
coming to meet him, the other was slain by him by that very dart which
he drew out of the body of the other, with which he ran this man through
his side as he was running away from him; and when he had done this, he
first of all ran out of the midst of his enemies to his own side. So this
man signalized himself for his valor, and many there were who were ambitious
of gaining the like reputation. And now the Jews were unconcerned at what
they suffered themselves from the Romans, and were only solicitous about
what mischief they could do them; and death itself seemed a small matter
to them, if at the same time they could but kill any one of their enemies.
But Titus took care to secure his own soldiers from harm, as well as to
have them overcome their enemies. He also said that inconsiderate violence
was madness, and that this alone was the true courage that was joined with
good conduct. He therefore commanded his men to take care, when they fought
their enemies, that they received no harm from them at the same time, and
thereby show themselves to be truly valiant men.
4. And now Titus brought one of his engines to the middle tower of the
north part of the wall, in which a certain crafty Jew, whose name was Castor,
lay in ambush, with ten others like himself, the rest being fled away by
reason of the archers. These men lay still for a while, as in great fear,
under their breastplates; but when the tower was shaken, they arose, and
Castor did then stretch out his hand, as a petitioner, and called for Caesar,
and by his voice moved his compassion, and begged of him to have mercy
upon them; and Titus, in the innocency of his heart, believing him to be
in earnest, and hoping that the Jews did now repent, stopped the working
of the battering ram, and forbade them to shoot at the petitioners, and
bid Castor say what he had a mind to say to him. He said that he would
come down, if he would give him his right hand for his security. To which
Titus replied, that he was well pleased with such his agreeable conduct,
and would be well pleased if all the Jews would be of his mind, and that
he was ready to give the like security to the city. Now five of the ten
dissembled with him, and pretended to beg for mercy, while the rest cried
out aloud that they would never be slaves to the Romans, while it was in
their power to die in a state of freedom. Now while these men were quarrelling
for a long while, the attack was delayed; Castor also sent to Simon, and
told him that they might take some time for consultation about what was
to be done, because he would elude the power of the Romans for a considerable
time. And at the same time that he sent thus to him, he appeared openly
to exhort those that were obstinate to accept of Titus's hand for their
security; but they seemed very angry at it, and brandished their naked
swords upon the breast-works, and struck themselves upon their breast,
and fell down as if they had been slain. Hereupon Titus, and those with
him, were amazed at the courage of the men; and as they were not able to
see exactly what was done, they admired at their great fortitude, and pitied
their calamity. During this interval, a certain person shot a dart at Castor,
and wounded him in his nose; whereupon he presently pulled out the dart,
and showed it to Titus, and complained that this was unfair treatment;
so Caesar reproved him that shot the dart, and sent Josephus, who then
stood by him, to give his right hand to Castor. But Josephus said that
he would not go to him, because these pretended petitioners meant nothing
that was good; he also restrained those friends of his who were zealous
to go to him. But still there was one Eneas, a deserter, who said he would
go to him. Castor also called to them, that somebody should come and receive
the money which he had with him; this made Eneas the more earnestly to
run to him with his bosom open. Then did Castor take up a great stone,
and threw it at him, which missed him, because he guarded himself against
it; but still it wounded another soldier that was coining to him. When
Caesar understood that this was a delusion, he perceived that mercy in
war is a pernicious thing, because such cunning tricks have less place
under the exercise of greater severity. So he caused the engine to work
more strongly than before, on account of his anger at the deceit put upon
him. But Castor and his companions set the tower on fire when it began
to give way, and leaped through the flame into a hidden vault that was
under it, which made the Romans further suppose that they were men of great
courage, as having cast themselves into the fire.
CHAPTER 8.
HOW THE ROMANS TOOK THE SECOND WALL TWICE, AND GOT
ALL READY FOR TAKING THE THIRD WALL.
1. NOW Caesar took this wall there on the fifth day after he had taken
the first; and when the Jews had fled from him, he entered into it with
a thousand armed men, and those of his choice troops, and this at a place
where were the merchants of wool, the braziers, and the market for cloth,
and where the narrow streets led obliquely to the wall. Wherefore, if Titus
had either demolished a larger part of the wall immediately, or had come
in, and, according to the law of war, had laid waste what was left, his
victory would not, I suppose, have been mixed with any loss to himself.
But now, out of the hope he had that he should make the Jews ashamed of
their obstinacy, by not being willing, when he was able, to afflict them
more than he needed to do, he did not widen the breach of the wall, in
order to make a safer retreat upon occasion; for he did not think they
would lay snares for him that did them such a kindness. When therefore
he came in, he did not permit his soldiers to kill any of those they caught,
nor to set fire to their houses neither; nay, he gave leave to the seditious,
if they had a mind, to fight without any harm to the people, and promised
to restore the people's effects to them; for he was very desirous to preserve
the city for his own sake, and the temple for the sake of the city. As
to the people, he had them of a long time ready to comply with his proposals;
but as to the fighting men, this humanity of his seemed a mark of his weakness,
and they imagined that he made these proposals because he was not able
to take the rest of the city. They also threatened death to the people,
if they should any one of them say a word about a surrender. They moreover
cut the throats of such as talked of a peace, and then attacked those Romans
that were come within the wall. Some of them they met in the narrow streets,
and some they fought against from their houses, while they made a sudden
sally out at the upper gates, and assaulted such Romans as were beyond
the wall, till those that guarded the wall were so aftrighted, that they
leaped down from their towers, and retired to their several camps: upon
which a great noise was made by the Romans that were within, because they
were encompassed round on every side by their enemies; as also by them
that were without, because they were in fear for those that were left in
the city. Thus did the Jews grow more numerous perpetually, and had great
advantages over the Romans, by their full knowledge of those narrow lanes;
and they wounded a great many of them, and fell upon them, and drove them
out of the city. Now these Romans were at present forced to make the best
resistance they could; for they were not able, in great numbers, to get
out at the breach in the wall, it was so narrow. It is also probable that
all those that were gotten within had been cut to pieces, if Titus had
not sent them succors; for he ordered the archers to stand at the upper
ends of these narrow lakes, and he stood himself where was the greatest
multitude of his enemies, and with his darts he put a stop to them; as
with him did Domitius Sabinus also, a valiant man, and one that in this
battle appeared so to be. Thus did Caesar continue to shoot darts at the
Jews continually, and to hinder them from coming upon his men, and this
until all his soldiers had retreated out of the city.
2. And thus were the Romans driven out, after they had possessed themselves
of the second wall. Whereupon the fighting men that were in the city were
lifted up in their minds, and were elevated upon this their good success,
and began to think that the Romans would never venture to come into the
city any more; and that if they kept within it themselves, they should
not be any more conquered. For God had blinded their minds for the transgressions
they had been guilty of, nor could they see how much greater forces the
Romans had than those that were now expelled, no more than they could discern
how a famine was creeping upon them; for hitherto they had fed themselves
out of the public miseries, and drank the blood of the city. But now poverty
had for a long time seized upon the better part, and a great many had died
already for want of necessaries; although the seditious indeed supposed
the destruction of the people to be an easement to themselves; for they
desired that none others might be preserved but such as were against a
peace with the Romans, and were resolved to live in opposition to them,
and they were pleased when the multitude of those of a contrary opinion
were consumed, as being then freed from a heavy burden. And this was their
disposition of mind with regard to those that were within the city, while
they covered themselves with their armor, and prevented the Romans, when
they were trying to get into the city again, and made a wall of their own
bodies over against that part of the wall that was cast down. Thus did
they valiantly defend themselves for three days; but on the fourth day
they could not support themselves against the vehement assaults of Titus
but were compelled by force to fly whither they had fled before; so he
quietly possessed himself again of that wall, and demolished it entirely.
And when he had put a garrison into the towers that were on the south parts
of the city, he contrived how he might assault the third wall.
CHAPTER 9.
TITUS WHEN THE JEWS WERE NOT AT ALL MOLLIFIED BY HIS LEAVING
OFF THE SIEGE FOR A WHILE, SET HIMSELF AGAIN TO PROSECUTE THE SAME; BUT
SOON SENT JOSEPHUS TO DISCOURSE WITH HIS OWN COUNTRYMEN ABOUT PEACE.
1. A RESOLUTION was now taken by Titus to relax the siege for a little
while, and to afford the seditious an interval for consideration, and to
see whether the demolishing of their second wall would not make them a
little more compliant, or whether they were not somewhat afraid of a famine,
because the spoils they had gotten by rapine would not be sufficient for
them long; so he made use of this relaxation in order to compass his own
designs. Accordingly, as the usual appointed time when he must distribute
subsistence money to the soldiers was now come, he gave orders that the
commanders should put the army into battle-array, in the face of the enemy,
and then give every one of the soldiers their pay. So the soldiers, according
to custom, opened the cases wherein their arms before lay covered, and
marched with their breastplates on, as did the horsemen lead their horses
in their fine trappings. Then did the places that were before the city
shine very splendidly for a great way; nor was there any thing so grateful
to Titus's own men, or so terrible to the enemy, as that sight. For the
whole old wall, and the north side of the temple, were full of spectators,
and one might see the houses full of such as looked at them; nor was there
any part of the city which was not covered over with their multitudes;
nay, a very great consternation seized upon the hardiest of the Jews themselves,
when they saw all the army in the same place, together with the fineness
of their arms, and the good order of their men. And I cannot but think
that the seditious would have changed their minds at that sight, unless
the crimes they had committed against the people had been so horrid, that
they despaired of forgiveness from the Romans; but as they believed death
with torments must be their punishment, if they did not go on in the defense
of the city, they thought it much better to die in war. Fate also prevailed
so far over them, that the innocent were to perish with the guilty, and
the city was to be destroyed with the seditious that were in it.
2. Thus did the Romans spend four days in bringing this subsistence-money
to the several legions. But on the fifth day, when no signs of peace appeared
to come from the Jews, Titus divided his legions, and began to raise banks,
both at the tower of Antonia and at John's monument. Now his designs were
to take the upper city at that monument, and the temple at the tower of
Antonia; for if the temple were not taken, it would be dangerous to keep
the city itself; so at each of these parts he raised him banks, each legion
raising one. As for those that wrought at John's monument, the Idumeans,
and those that were in arms with Simon, made sallies upon them, and put
some stop to them; while John's party, and the multitude of zealots with
them, did the like to those that were before the tower of Antonia. These
Jews were now too hard for the Romans, not only in direct fighting, because
they stood upon the higher ground, but because they had now learned to
use their own engines; for their continual use of them one day after another
did by degrees improve their skill about them; for of one sort of engines
for darts they had three hundred, and forty for stones; by the means of
which they made it more tedious for the Romans to raise their banks. But
then Titus, knowing that the city would be either saved or destroyed for
himself, did not only proceed earnestly in the siege, but did not omit
to have the Jews exhorted to repentance; so he mixed good counsel with
his works for the siege. And being sensible that exhortations are frequently
more effectual than arms, he persuaded them to surrender the city, now
in a manner already taken, and thereby to save themselves, and sent Josephus
to speak to them in their own language; for he imagined they might yield
to the persuasion of a countryman of their own.
3. So Josephus went round about the wall, and tried to find a place
that was out of the reach of their darts, and yet within their hearing,
and besought them, in many words, to spare themselves, to spare their country
and their temple, and not to be more obdurate in these cases than foreigners
themselves; for that the Romans, who had no relation to those things, had
a reverence for their sacred rites and places, although they belonged to
their enemies, and had till now kept their hands off from meddling with
them; while such as were brought up under them, and, if they be preserved,
will be the only people that will reap the benefit of them, hurry on to
have them destroyed. That certainly they have seen their strongest walls
demolished, and that the wall still remaining was weaker than those that
were already taken. That they must know the Roman power was invincible,
and that they had been used to serve them; for, that in case it be allowed
a right thing to fight for liberty, that ought to have been done at first;
but for them that have once fallen under the power of the Romans, and have
now submitted to them for so many long years, to pretend to shake off that
yoke afterward, was the work of such as had a mind to die miserably, not
of such as were lovers of liberty. Besides, men may well enough grudge
at the dishonor of owning ignoble masters over them, but ought not to do
so to those who have all things under their command; for what part of the
world is there that hath escaped the Romans, unless it be such as are of
no use for violent heat, or for violent cold? And evident it is that fortune
is on all hands gone over to them; and that God, when he had gone round
the nations with this dominion, is now settled in Italy. That, moreover,
it is a strong and fixed law, even among brute beasts, as well as among
men, to yield to those that are too strong for them; and to stiffer those
to have the dominion who are too hard for the rest in war; for which reason
it was that their forefathers, who were far superior to them, both in their
souls and bodies, and other advantages, did yet submit to the Romans, which
they would not have suffered, had they not known that God was with them.
As for themselves, what can they depend on in this their opposition, when
the greatest part of their city is already taken? and when those that are
within it are under greater miseries than if they were taken, although
their walls be still standing? For that the Romans are not unacquainted
with that famine which is in the city, whereby the people are already consumed,
and the fighting men will in a little time be so too; for although the
Romans should leave off the siege, and not fall upon the city with their
swords in their hands, yet was there an insuperable war that beset them
within, and was augmented every hour, unless they were able to wage war
with famine, and fight against it, or could alone conquer their natural
appetites. He added this further, how right a thing it was to change their
conduct before their calamities were become incurable, and to have recourse
to such advice as might preserve them, while opportunity was offered them
for so doing; for that the Romans would not be mindful of their past actions
to their disadvantage, unless they persevered in their insolent behavior
to the end; because they were naturally mild in their conquests, and preferred
what was profitable, before what their passions dictated to them; which
profit of theirs lay not in leaving the city empty of inhabitants, nor
the country a desert; on which account Caesar did now offer them his right
hand for their security. Whereas, if he took the city by force, he would
not save any of them, and this especially, if they rejected his offers
in these their utmost distresses; for the walls that were already taken
could not but assure them that the third wall would quickly be taken also.
And though their fortifications should prove too strong for the Romans
to break through them, yet would the famine fight for the Romans against
them.
4. While Josephus was making this exhortation to the Jews, many of them
jested upon him from the wall, and many reproached him; nay, some threw
their darts at him: but when he could not himself persuade them by such
open good advice, he betook himself to the histories belonging to their
own nation, and cried out aloud, "O miserable creatures! are you so
unmindful of those that used to assist you, that you will fight by your
weapons and by your hands against the Romans? When did we ever conquer
any other nation by such means? and when was it that God, who is the Creator
of the Jewish people, did not avenge them when they had been injured? Will
not you turn again, and look back, and consider whence it is that you fight
with such violence, and how great a Supporter you have profanely abused?
Will not you recall to mind the prodigious things done for your forefathers
and this holy place, and how great enemies of yours were by him subdued
under you? I even tremble myself in declaring the works of God before your
ears, that are unworthy to hear them; however, hearken to me, that you
may be informed how you fight not only against the Romans, but against
God himself. In old times there was one Necao, king of Egypt, who was also
called Pharaoh; he came with a prodigious army of soldiers, and seized
queen Sarah, the mother of our nation. What did Abraham our progenitor
then do? Did he defend himself from this injurious person by war, although
he had three hundred and eighteen captains under him, and an immense army
under each of them? Indeed he deemed them to be no number at all without
God's assistance, and only spread out his hands towards this holy place,
(16) which you
have now polluted, and reckoned upon him as upon his invincible supporter,
instead of his own army. Was not our queen sent back, without any defilement,
to her husband, the very next evening? - while the king of Egypt fled away,
adoring this place which you have defiled by shedding thereon the blood
of your own countrymen; and he also trembled at those visions which he
saw in the night season, and bestowed both silver and gold on the Hebrews,
as on a people beloved by God. Shall I say nothing, or shall I mention
the removal of our fathers into Egypt, who, (17)
when they were used tyrannically, and were fallen under the power of foreign
kings for four hundred ears together, and might have defended themselves
by war and by fighting, did yet do nothing but commit themselves to God!
Who is there that does not know that Egypt was overrun with all sorts of
wild beasts, and consumed by all sorts of distempers? how their land did
not bring forth its fruit? how the Nile failed of water? how the ten plagues
of Egypt followed one upon another? and how by those means our fathers
were sent away under a guard, without any bloodshed, and without running
any dangers, because God conducted them as his peculiar servants? Moreover,
did not Palestine groan under the ravage the Assyrians made, when they
carried away our sacred ark? as did their idol Dagon, and as also did that
entire nation of those that carried it away, how they were smitten with
a loathsome distemper in the secret parts of their bodies, when their very
bowels came down together with what they had eaten, till those hands that
stole it away were obliged to bring it back again, and that with the sound
of cymbals and timbrels, and other oblations, in order to appease the anger
of God for their violation of his holy ark. It was God who then became
our General, and accomplished these great things for our fathers, and this
because they did not meddle with war and fighting, but committed it to
him to judge about their affairs. When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, brought
along with him all Asia, and encompassed this city round with his army,
did he fall by the hands of men? were not those hands lifted up to God
in prayers, without meddling with their arms, when an angel of God destroyed
that prodigious army in one night? when the Assyrian king, as he rose the
next day, found a hundred fourscore and five thousand dead bodies, and
when he, with the remainder of his army, fled away from the Hebrews, though
they were unarmed, and did not pursue them. You are also acquainted with
the slavery we were under at Babylon, where the people were captives for
seventy years; yet were they not delivered into freedom again before God
made Cyrus his gracious instrument in bringing it about; accordingly they
were set free by him, and did again restore the worship of their Deliverer
at his temple. And, to speak in general, we can produce no example wherein
our fathers got any success by war, or failed of success when without war
they committed themselves to God. When they staid at home, they conquered,
as pleased their Judge; but when they went out to fight, they were always
disappointed: for example, when the king of Babylon besieged this very
city, and our king Zedekiah fought against him, contrary to what predictions
were made to him by Jeremiah the prophet, he was at once taken prisoner,
and saw the city and the temple demolished. Yet how much greater was the
moderation of that king, than is that of your present governors, and that
of the people then under him, than is that of you at this time! for when
Jeremiah cried out aloud, how very angry God was at them, because of their
transgressions, and told them they should be taken prisoners, unless they
would surrender up their city, neither did the king nor the people put
him to death; but for you, (to pass over what you have done within the
city, which I am not able to describe as your wickedness deserves,) you
abuse me, and throw darts at me, who only exhort you to save yourselves,
as being provoked when you are put in mind of your sins, and cannot bear
the very mention of those crimes which you every day perpetrate. For another
example, when Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, lay before this city,
and had been guilty of many indignities against God, and our forefathers
met him in arms, they then were slain in the battle, this city was plundered
by our enemies, and our sanctuary made desolate for three years and six
months. And what need I bring any more examples? Indeed what can it be
that hath stirred up an army of the Romans against our nation? Is it not
the impiety of the inhabitants? Whence did our servitude commence? Was
it not derived from the seditions that were among our forefathers, when
the madness of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, and our mutual quarrels, brought
Pompey upon this city, and when God reduced those under subjection to the
Romans who were unworthy of the liberty they had enjoyed? After a siege,
therefore, of three months, they were forced to surrender themselves, although
they had not been guilty of such offenses, with regard to our sanctuary
and our laws, as you have; and this while they had much greater advantages
to go to war than you have. Do not we know what end Antigonus, the son
of Aristobulus, came to, under whose reign God provided that this city
should be taken again upon account of the people's offenses? When Herod,
the son of Antipater, brought upon us Sosius, and Sosius brought upon us
the Roman army, they were then encompassed and besieged for six months,
till, as a punishment for their sins, they were taken, and the city was
plundered by the enemy. Thus it appears that arms were never given to our
nation, but that we are always given up to be fought against, and to be
taken; for I suppose that such as inhabit this holy place ought to commit
the disposal of all things to God, and then only to disregard the assistance
of men when they resign themselves up to their Arbitrator, who is above.
As for you, what have you done of those things that are recommended by
our legislator? and what have you not done of those things that he hath
condemned? How much more impious are you than those who were so quickly
taken! You have not avoided so much as those sins that are usually done
in secret; I mean thefts, and treacherous plots against men, and adulteries.
You are quarrelling about rapines and murders, and invent strange ways
of wickedness. Nay, the temple itself is become the receptacle of all,
and this Divine place is polluted by the hands of those of our own country;
which place hath yet been reverenced by the Romans when it was at a distance
from them, when they have suffered many of their own customs to give place
to our law. And, after all this, do you expect Him whom you have so impiously
abused to be your supporter? To be sure then you have a right to be petitioners,
and to call upon Him to assist you, so pure are your hands! Did your king
[Hezekiah] lift up such hands in prayer to God against the king of Assyria,
when he destroyed that great army in one night? And do the Romans commit
such wickedness as did the king of Assyria, that you may have reason to
hope for the like vengeance upon them? Did not that king accept of money
from our king on this condition, that he should not destroy the city, and
yet, contrary to the oath he had taken, he came down to burn the temple?
while the Romans do demand no more than that accustomed tribute which our
fathers paid to their fathers; and if they may but once obtain that, they
neither aim to destroy this city, nor to touch this sanctuary; nay, they
will grant you besides, that your posterity shall be free, and your possessions
secured to you, and will preserve our holy laws inviolate to you. And it
is plain madness to expect that God should appear as well disposed towards
the wicked as towards the righteous, since he knows when it is proper to
punish men for their sins immediately; accordingly he brake the power of
the Assyrians the very first night that they pitched their camp. Wherefore,
had he judged that our nation was worthy of freedom, or the Romans of punishment,
he had immediately inflicted punishment upon those Romans, as he did upon
the Assyrians, when Pompey began to meddle with our nation, or when after
him Sosius came up against us, or when Vespasian laid waste Galilee, or,
lastly, when Titus came first of all near to this city; although Magnus
and Sosius did not only suffer nothing, but took the city by force; as
did Vespasian go from the war he made against you to receive the empire;
and as for Titus, those springs that were formerly almost dried up when
they were under your power (18)
since he is come, run more plentifully than they did before; accordingly,
you know that Siloam, as well as all the other springs that were without
the city, did so far fail, that water was sold by distinct measures; whereas
they now have such a great quantity of water for your enemies, as is sufficient
not only for drink both for themselves and their cattle, but for watering
their gardens also. The same wonderful sign you had also experience of
formerly, when the forementioned king of Babylon made war against us, and
when he took the city, and burnt the temple; while yet I believe the Jews
of that age were not so impious as you are. Wherefore I cannot but suppose
that God is fled out of his sanctuary, and stands on the side of those
against whom you fight. Now even a man, if he be but a good man, will fly
from an impure house, and will hate those that are in it; and do you persuade
yourselves that God will abide with you in your iniquities, who sees all
secret things, and hears what is kept most private? Now what crime is there,
I pray you, that is so much as kept secret among you, or is concealed by
you? nay, what is there that is not open to your very enemies? for you
show your transgressions after a pompous manner, and contend one with another
which of you shall be more wicked than another; and you make a public demonstration
of your injustice, as if it were virtue. However, there is a place left
for your preservation, if you be willing to accept of it; and God is easily
reconciled to those that confess their faults, and repent of them. O hard-hearted
wretches as you are! cast away all your arms, and take pity of your country
already going to ruin; return from your wicked ways, and have regard to
the excellency of that city which you are going to betray, to that excellent
temple with the donations of so many countries in it. Who could bear to
be the first that should set that temple on fire? who could be willing
that these things should be no more? and what is there that can better
deserve to be preserved? O insensible creatures, and more stupid than are
the stones themselves! And if you cannot look at these things with discerning
eyes, yet, however, have pity upon your families, and set before every
one of your eyes your children, and wives, and parents, who will be gradually
consumed either by famine or by war. I am sensible that this danger will
extend to my mother, and wife, and to that family of mine who have been
by no means ignoble, and indeed to one that hath been very eminent in old
time; and perhaps you may imagine that it is on their account only that
I give you this advice; if that be all, kill them; nay, take my own blood
as a reward, if it may but procure your preservation; for I am ready to
die, in case you will but return to a sound mind after my death."
CHAPTER 10.
HOW A GREAT MANY OF THE PEOPLE EARNESTLY ENDEAVORED TO DESERT
TO THE ROMANS; AS ALSO WHAT INTOLERABLE THINGS THOSE THAT STAID BEHIND
SUFFERED BY FAMINE, AND THE SAD CONSEQUENCES THEREOF.
1. AS Josephus was speaking thus with a loud voice, the seditious would
neither yield to what he said, nor did they deem it safe for them to alter
their conduct; but as for the people, they had a great inclination to desert
to the Romans; accordingly, some of them sold what they had, and even the
most precious things that had been laid up as treasures by them, for every
small matter, and swallowed down pieces of gold, that they might not be
found out by the robbers; and when they had escaped to the Romans, went
to stool, and had wherewithal to provide plentifully for themselves; for
Titus let a great number of them go away into the country, whither they
pleased. And the main reasons why they were so ready to desert were these:
That now they should be freed from those miseries which they had endured
in that city, and yet should not be in slavery to the Romans: however,
John and Simon, with their factions, did more carefully watch these men's
going out than they did the coming in of the Romans; and if any one did
but afford the least shadow of suspicion of such an intention, his throat
was cut immediately.
2. But as for the richer sort, it proved all one to them whether they
staid in the city, or attempted to get out of it; for they were equally
destroyed in both cases; for every such person was put to death under this
pretense, that they were going to desert, but in reality that the robbers
might get what they had. The madness of the seditious did also increase
together with their famine, and both those miseries were every day inflamed
more and more; for there was no corn which any where appeared publicly,
but the robbers came running into, and searched men's private houses; and
then, if they found any, they tormented them, because they had denied they
had any; and if they found none, they tormented them worse, because they
supposed they had more carefully concealed it. The indication they made
use of whether they had any or not was taken from the bodies of these miserable
wretches; which, if they were in good case, they supposed they were in
no want at all of food; but if they were wasted away, they walked off without
searching any further; nor did they think it proper to kill such as these,
because they saw they would very soon die of themselves for want of food.
Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it was of
wheat, if they were of the richer sort; but of barley, if they were poorer.
When these had so done, they shut themselves up in the inmost rooms of
their houses, and ate the corn they had gotten; some did it without grinding
it, by reason of the extremity of the want they were in, and others baked
bread of it, according as necessity and fear dictated to them: a table
was no where laid for a distinct meal, but they snatched the bread out
of the fire, half-baked, and ate it very hastily.
3. It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring
tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful
had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting [for want of it.] But
the famine was too hard for all other passions, and it is destructive to
nothing so much as to modesty; for what was otherwise worthy of reverence
was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels
that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths, and what was still
more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants; and when
those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not
ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their
lives: and while they ate after this manner, yet were they not concealed
in so doing; but the seditious every where came upon them immediately,
and snatched away from them what they had gotten from others; for when
they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within
had gotten some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in,
and took pieces of what they were eating almost up out of their very throats,
and this by force: the old men, who held their food fast, were beaten;
and if the women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn
for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged
or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the ground as they
hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the floor.
But still they were more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented
their coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to
seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right. They
also invented terrible methods of torments to discover where any food was,
and they were these to stop up the passages of the privy parts of the miserable
wretches, and to drive sharp stakes up their fundaments; and a man was
forced to bear what it is terrible even to hear, in order to make him confess
that he had but one loaf of bread, or that he might discover a handful
of barley-meal that was concealed; and this was done when these tormentors
were not themselves hungry; for the thing had been less barbarous had necessity
forced them to it; but this was done to keep their madness in exercise,
and as making preparation of provisions for themselves for the following
days. These men went also to meet those that had crept out of the city
by night, as far as the Roman guards, to gather some plants and herbs that
grew wild; and when those people thought they had got clear of the enemy,
they snatched from them what they had brought with them, even while they
had frequently entreated them, and that by calling upon the tremendous
name of God, to give them back some part of what they had brought; though
these would not give them the least crumb, and they were to be well contented
that they were only spoiled, and not slain at the same time.
4. These were the afflictions which the lower sort of people suffered
from these tyrants' guards; but for the men that were in dignity, and withal
were rich, they were carried before the tyrants themselves; some of whom
were falsely accused of laying treacherous plots, and so were destroyed;
others of them were charged with designs of betraying the city to the Romans;
but the readiest way of all was this, to suborn somebody to affirm that
they were resolved to desert to the enemy. And he who was utterly despoiled
of what he had by Simon was sent back again to John, as of those who had
been already plundered by Jotre, Simon got what remained; insomuch that
they drank the blood of the populace to one another, and divided the dead
bodies of the poor creatures between them; so that although, on account
of their ambition after dominion, they contended with each other, yet did
they very well agree in their wicked practices; for he that did not communicate
what he got by the miseries of others to the other tyrant seemed to be
too little guilty, and in one respect only; and he that did not partake
of what was so communicated to him grieved at this, as at the loss of what
was a valuable thing, that he had no share in such barbarity.
5. It is therefore impossible to go distinctly over every instance of
these men's iniquity. I shall therefore speak my mind here at once briefly:
- That neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any
age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was,
from the beginning of the world. Finally, they brought the Hebrew nation
into contempt, that they might themselves appear comparatively less impious
with regard to strangers. They confessed what was true, that they were
the slaves, the scum, and the spurious and abortive offspring of our nation,
while they overthrew the city themselves, and forced the Romans, whether
they would or no, to gain a melancholy reputation, by acting gloriously
against them, and did almost draw that fire upon the temple, which they
seemed to think came too slowly; and indeed when they saw that temple burning
from the upper city, they were neither troubled at it, nor did they shed
any tears on that account, while yet these passions were discovered among
the Romans themselves; which circumstances we shall speak of hereafter
in their proper place, when we come to treat of such matters.
CHAPTER 11.
HOW THE JEWS WERE CRUCIFIED BEFORE THE WALLS OF THE CITY
CONCERNING ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES; AND HOW THE JEWS OVERTHREW THE BANKS THAT
HAD BEEN RAISED BY THE ROMANS,
1. SO now Titus's banks were advanced a great way, notwithstanding his
soldiers had been very much distressed from the wall. He then sent a party
of horsemen, and ordered they should lay ambushes for those that went out
into the valleys to gather food. Some of these were indeed fighting men,
who were not contented with what they got by rapine; but the greater part
of them were poor people, who were deterred from deserting by the concern
they were under for their own relations; for they could not hope to escape
away, together with their wives and children, without the knowledge of
the seditious; nor could they think of leaving these relations to be slain
by the robbers on their account; nay, the severity of the famine made them
bold in thus going out; so nothing remained but that, when they were concealed
from the robbers, they should be taken by the enemy; and when they were
going to be taken, they were forced to defend themselves for fear of being
punished; as after they had fought, they thought it too late to make any
supplications for mercy; so they were first whipped, and then tormented
with all sorts of tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before
the wall of the city. This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity
them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews; nay, some days they
caught more: yet it did not appear to be safe for him to let those that
were taken by force go their way, and to set a guard over so many he saw
would be to make such as great deal them useless to him. The main reason
why he did not forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might
perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards
be liable to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers, out of the wrath
and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one
way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their
multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses
wanting for the bodies. (19)
2. But so far were the seditious from repenting at this sad sight, that,
on the contrary, they made the rest of the multitude believe otherwise;
for they brought the relations of those that had deserted upon the wall,
with such of the populace as were very eager to go over upon the security
offered them, and showed them what miseries those underwent who fled to
the Romans; and told them that those who were caught were supplicants to
them, and not such as were taken prisoners. This sight kept many of those
within the city who were so eager to desert, till the truth was known;
yet did some of them run away immediately as unto certain punishment, esteeming
death from their enemies to be a quiet departure, if compared with that
by famine. So Titus commanded that the hands of many of those that were
caught should be cut off, that they might not be thought deserters, and
might be credited on account of the calamity they were under, and sent
them in to John and Simon, with this exhortation, that they would now at
length leave off [their madness], and not force him to destroy the city,
whereby they would have those advantages of repentance, even in their utmost
distress, that they would preserve their own lives, and so find a city
of their own, and that temple which was their peculiar. He then went round
about the banks that were cast up, and hastened them, in order to show
that his words should in no long time be followed by his deeds. In answer
to which the seditious cast reproaches upon Caesar himself, and upon his
father also, and cried out, with a loud voice, that they contemned death,
and did well in preferring it before slavery; that they would do all the
mischief to the Romans they could while they had breath in them; and that
for their own city, since they were, as he said, to be destroyed, they
had no concern about it, and that the world itself was a better temple
to God than this. That yet this temple would be preserved by him that inhabited
therein, whom they still had for their assistant in this war, and did therefore
laugh at all his threatenings, which would come to nothing, because the
conclusion of the whole depended upon God only. These words were mixed
with reproaches, and with them they made a mighty clamor.
3. In the mean time Antiochus Epiphanes came to the city, having with
him a considerable number of other armed men, and a band called the Macedonian
band about him, all of the same age, tall, and just past their childhood,
armed, and instructed after the Macedonian manner, whence it was that they
took that name. Yet were many of them unworthy of so famous a nation; for
it had so happened, that the king of Commagene had flourished more than
any other kings that were under the power of the Romans, till a change
happened in his condition; and when he was become an old man, he declared
plainly that we ought not to call any man happy before he is dead. But
this son of his, who was then come thither before his father was decaying,
said that he could not but wonder what made the Romans so tardy in making
their attacks upon the wall. Now he was a warlike man, and naturally bold
in exposing himself to dangers; he was also so strong a man, that his boldness
seldom failed of having success. Upon this Titus smiled, and said he would
share the pains of an attack with him. However, Antiochus went as he then
was, and with his Macedonians made a sudden assault upon the wall; and,
indeed, for his own part, his strength and skill were so great, that he
guarded himself from the Jewish darts, and yet shot his darts at them,
while yet the young men with him were almost all sorely galled; for they
had so great a regard to the promises that had been made of their courage,
that they would needs persevere in their fighting, and at length many of
them retired, but not till they were wounded; and then they perceived that
true Macedonians, if they were to be conquerors, must have Alexander's
good fortune also.
4. Now as the Romans began to raise their banks on the twelfth day of
the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] so had they much ado to finish them by the
twenty-ninth day of the same month, after they had labored hard for seventeen
days continually. For there were now four great banks raised, one of which
was at the tower Antonia; this was raised by the fifth legion, over against
the middle of that pool which was called Struthius. Another was cast up
by the twelfth legion, at the distance of about twenty cubits from the
other. But the labors of the tenth legion, which lay a great way off these,
were on the north quarter, and at the pool called Amygdalon; as was that
of the fifteenth legion about thirty cubits from it, and at the high priest's
monument. And now, when the engines were brought, John had from within
undermined the space that was over against the tower of Antonia, as far
as the banks themselves, and had supported the ground over the mine with
beams laid across one another, whereby the Roman works stood upon an uncertain
foundation. Then did he order such materials to be brought in as were daubed
over with pitch and bitumen, and set them on fire; and as the cross beams
that supported the banks were burning, the ditch yielded on the sudden,
and the banks were shaken down, and fell into the ditch with a prodigious
noise. Now at the first there arose a very thick smoke and dust, as the
fire was choked with the fall of the bank; but as the suffocated materials
were now gradually consumed, a plain flame brake out; on which sudden appearance
of the flame a consternation fell upon the Romans, and the shrewdness of
the contrivance discouraged them; and indeed this accident coming upon
them at a time when they thought they had already gained their point, cooled
their hopes for the time to come. They also thought it would be to no purpose
to take the pains to extinguish the fire, since if it were extinguished,
the banks were swallowed up already [and become useless to them].
5. Two days after this, Simon and his party made an attempt to destroy
the other banks; for the Romans had brought their engines to bear there,
and began already to make the wall shake. And here one Tephtheus, of Garsis,
a city of Galilee, and Megassarus, one who was derived from some of queen
Mariamne's servants, and with them one from Adiabene, he was the son of
Nabateus, and called by the name of Chagiras, from the ill fortune he had,
the word signifying "a lame man," snatched some torches, and
ran suddenly upon the engines. Nor were there during this war any men that
ever sallied out of the city who were their superiors, either in their
boldness, or in the terror they struck into their enemies. For they ran
out upon the Romans, not as if they were enemies, but friends, without
fear or delay; nor did they leave their enemies till they had rushed violently
through the midst of them, and set their machines on fire. And though they
had darts thrown at them on every side, and were on every side assaulted
with their enemies' swords, yet did they not withdraw themselves out of
the dangers they were in, till the fire had caught hold of the instruments;
but when the flame went up, the Romans came running from their camp to
save their engines. Then did the Jews hinder their succors from the wall,
and fought with those that endeavored to quench the fire, without any regard
to the danger their bodies were in. So the Romans pulled the engines out
of the fire, while the hurdles that covered them were on fire; but the
Jews caught hold of the battering rams through the flame itself, and held
them fast, although the iron upon them was become red hot; and now the
fire spread itself from the engines to the banks, and prevented those that
came to defend them; and all this while the Romans were encompassed round
about with the flame; and, despairing of saying their works from it, they
retired to their camp. Then did the Jews become still more and more in
number by the coming of those that were within the city to their assistance;
and as they were very bold upon the good success they had had, their violent
assaults were almost irresistible; nay, they proceeded as far as the fortifications
of the enemies' camp, and fought with their guards. Now there stood a body
of soldiers in array before that camp, which succeeded one another by turns
in their armor; and as to those, the law of the Romans was terrible, that
he who left his post there, let the occasion be whatsoever it might be,
he was to die for it; so that body of soldiers, preferring rather to die
in fighting courageously, than as a punishment for their cowardice, stood
firm; and at the necessity these men were in of standing to it, many of
the others that had run away, out of shame, turned back again; and when
they had set the engines against the wall, they put the multitude from
coming more of them out of the city, [which they could the more easily
do] because they had made no provision for preserving or guarding their
bodies at this time; for the Jews fought now hand to hand with all that
came in their way, and, without any caution, fell against the points of
their enemies' spears, and attacked them bodies against bodies; for they
were now too hard for the Romans, not so much by their other warlike actions,
as by these courageous assaults they made upon them; and the Romans gave
way more to their boldness than they did to the sense of the harm they
had received from them.
6. And now Titus was come from the tower of Antonia, whither he was
gone to look out for a place for raising other banks, and reproached the
soldiers greatly for permitting their own walls to be in danger, when they
had taken the wails of their enemies, and sustained the fortune of men
besieged, while the Jews were allowed to sally out against them, though
they were already in a sort of prison. He then went round about the enemy
with some chosen troops, and fell upon their flank himself; so the Jews,
who had been before assaulted in their faces, wheeled about to Titus, and
continued the fight. The armies also were now mixed one among another,
and the dust that was raised so far hindered them from seeing one another,
and the noise that was made so far hindered them from hearing one another,
that neither side could discern an enemy from a friend. However, the Jews
did not flinch, though not so much from their real strength, as from their
despair of deliverance. The Romans also would not yield, by reason of the
regard they had to glory, and to their reputation in war, and because Caesar
himself went into the danger before them; insomuch that I cannot but think
the Romans would in the conclusion have now taken even the whole multitude
of the Jews, so very angry were they at them, had these not prevented the
upshot of the battle, and retired into the city. However, seeing the banks
of the Romans were demolished, these Romans were very much east down upon
the loss of what had cost them so long pains, and this in one hour's time.
And many indeed despaired of taking the city with their usual engines of
war only.
CHAPTER 12.
TITUS THOUGHT FIT TO ENCOMPASS THE CITY ROUND WITH A WALL;
AFTER WHICH THE FAMINE CONSUMED THE PEOPLE BY WHOLE HOUSES AND FAMILIES
TOGETHER.
1. AND now did Titus consult with his commanders what was to be done.
Those that were of the warmest tempers thought he should bring the whole
army against the city and storm the wall; for that hitherto no more than
a part of their army had fought with the Jews; but that in case the entire
army was to come at once, they would not be able to sustain their attacks,
but would be overwhelmed by their darts. But of those that were for a more
cautious management, some were for raising their banks again; and others
advised to let the banks alone, but to lie still before the city, to guard
against the coming out of the Jews, and against their carrying provisions
into the city, and so to leave the enemy to the famine, and this without
direct fighting with them; for that despair was not to be conquered, especially
as to those who are desirous to die by the sword, while a more terrible
misery than that is reserved for them. However, Titus did not think it
fit for so great an army to lie entirely idle, and that yet it was in vain
to fight with those that would be destroyed one by another; he also showed
them how impracticable it was to cast up any more banks, for want of materials,
and to guard against the Jews coming out still more impracticable; as also,
that to encompass the whole city round with his army was not very easy,
by reason of its magnitude, and the difficulty of the situation, and on
other accounts dangerous, upon the sallies the Jews might make out of the
city. For although they might guard the known passages out of the place,
yet would they, when they found themselves under the greatest distress,
contrive secret passages out, as being well acquainted with all such places;
and if any provisions were carried in by stealth, the siege would thereby
be longer delayed. He also owned that he was afraid that the length of
time thus to be spent would diminish the glory of his success; for though
it be true that length of time will perfect every thing, yet that to do
what we do in a little time is still necessary to the gaining reputation.
That therefore his opinion was, that if they aimed at quickness joined
with security, they must build a wall round about the whole city; which
was, he thought, the only way to prevent the Jews from coming out any way,
and that then they would either entirely despair of saving the city, and
so would surrender it up to him, or be still the more easily conquered
when the famine had further weakened them; for that besides this wall,
he would not lie entirely at rest afterward, but would take care then to
have banks raised again, when those that would oppose them were become
weaker. But that if any one should think such a work to be too great, and
not to be finished without much difficulty, he ought to consider that it
is not fit for Romans to undertake any small work, and that none but God
himself could with ease accomplish any great thing whatsoever.
2. These arguments prevailed with the commanders. So Titus gave orders
that the army should be distributed to their several shares of this work;
and indeed there now came upon the soldiers a certain divine fury, so that
they did not only part the whole wall that was to be built among them,
nor did only one legion strive with another, but the lesser divisions of
the army did the same; insomuch that each soldier was ambitious to please
his decurion, each decurion his centurion, each centurion his tribune,
and the ambition of the tribunes was to please their superior commanders,
while Caesar himself took notice of and rewarded the like contention in
those commanders; for he went round about the works many times every day,
and took a view of what was done. Titus began the wall from the camp of
the Assyrians, where his own camp was pitched, and drew it down to the
lower parts of Cenopolis; thence it went along the valley of Cedron, to
the Mount of Olives; it then bent towards the south, and encompassed the
mountain as far as the rock called Peristereon, and that other hill which
lies next it, and is over the valley which reaches to Siloam; whence it
bended again to the west, and went down to the valley of the Fountain,
beyond which it went up again at the monument of Ananus the high priest,
and encompassing that mountain where Pompey had formerly pitched his camp,
it returned back to the north side of the city, and was carried on as far
as a certain village called "The House of the Erebinthi;" after
which it encompassed Herod's monument, and there, on the east, was joined
to Titus's own camp, where it began. Now the length of this wall was forty
furlongs, one only abated. Now at this wall without were erected thirteen
places to keep garrison in, whose circumferences, put together, amounted
to ten furlongs; the whole was completed in three days; so that what would
naturally have required some months was done in so short an interval as
is incredible. When Titus had therefore encompassed the city with this
wall, and put garrisons into proper places, be went round the wall, at
the first watch of the night, and observed how the guard was kept; the
second watch he allotted to Alexander; the commanders of legions took the
third watch. They also cast lots among themselves who should be upon the
watch in the night time, and who should go all night long round the spaces
that were interposed between the garrisons.
3. So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with
their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress,
and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were
full of women and children that were dying by famine, and the lanes of
the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and
the young men wandered about the market-places like shadows, all swelled
with the famine, and fell down dead, wheresoever their misery seized them.
As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do
it; and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by
the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there
was how soon they should die themselves; for many died as they were burying
others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come.
Nor was there any lamentations made under these calamities, nor were heard
any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions;
for those who were just going to die looked upon those that were gone to
rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence also, and
a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers
were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they
brake open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies,
and plundered them of what they had; and carrying off the coverings of
their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the points of their swords in
their dead bodies; and, in order to prove what metal they were made of
they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground;
but for those that entreated them to lend them their right hand and their
sword to despatch them, they were too proud to grant their requests, and
left them to be consumed by the famine. Now every one of these died with
their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the seditious alive behind them.
Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out
of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies.
But afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from
the walls into the valleys beneath.
4. However, when Titus, in going his rounds along those valleys, saw
them full of dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction running about them,
he gave a groan; and, spreading out his hands to heaven, called God to
witness that this was not his doing; and such was the sad case of the city
itself. But the Romans were very joyful, since none of the seditious could
now make sallies out of the city, because they were themselves disconsolate,
and the famine already touched them also. These Romans besides had great
plenty of corn and other necessaries out of Syria, and out of the neighboring
provinces; many of whom would stand near to the wall of the city, and show
the people what great quantities of provisions they had, and so make the
enemy more sensible of their famine, by the great plenty, even to satiety,
which they had themselves. However, when the seditious still showed no
inclinations of yielding, Titus, out of his commiseration of the people
that remained, and out of his earnest desire of rescuing what was still
left out of these miseries, began to raise his banks again, although materials
for them were hard to he come at; for all the trees that were about the
city had been already cut down for the making of the former banks. Yet
did the soldiers bring with them other materials from the distance of ninety
furlongs, and thereby raised banks in four parts, much greater than the
former, though this was done only at the tower of Antonia. So Caesar went
his rounds through the legions, and hastened on the works, and showed the
robbers that they were now in his hands. But these men, and these only,
were incapable of repenting of the wickednesses they had been guilty of;
and separating their souls from their bodies, they used them both as if
they belonged to other folks, and not to themselves. For no gentle affection
could touch their souls, nor could any pain affect their bodies, since
they could still tear the dead bodies of the people as dogs do, and fill
the prisons with those that were sick.
CHAPTER 13.
THE GREAT SLAUGHTERS AND SACRILEGE THAT WERE IN JERUSALEM.
1. ACCORDINGLY Simon would not suffer Matthias, by whose means he got
possession of the city, to go off without torment. This Matthias was the
son of Boethus, and was one of the high priests, one that had been very
faithful to the people, and in great esteem with them; he, when the multitude
were distressed by the zealots, among whom John was numbered, persuaded
the people to admit this Simon to come in to assist them, while he had
made no terms with him, nor expected any thing that was evil from him.
But when Simon was come in, and had gotten the city under his power, he
esteemed him that had advised them to admit him as his enemy equally with
the rest, as looking upon that advice as a piece of his simplicity only;
so he had him then brought before him, and condemned to die for being on
the side of the Romans, without giving him leave to make his defense. He
condemned also his three sons to die with him; for as to the fourth, he
prevented him by running away to Titus before. And when he begged for this,
that he might be slain before his sons, and that as a favor, on account
that he had procured the gates of the city to be opened to him, he gave
order that he should be slain the last of them all; so he was not slain
till he had seen his sons slain before his eyes, and that by being produced
over against the Romans; for such a charge had Simon given to Artanus,
the son of Bamadus, who was the most barbarous of all his guards. He also
jested upon him, and told him that he might now see whether those to whom
he intended to go over would send him any succors or not; but still he
forbade their dead bodies should be buried. After the slaughter of these,
a certain priest, Ananias, the son of Masambalus, a person of eminency,
as also Aristens, the scribe of the sanhedrim, and born at Emmaus, and
with them fifteen men of figure among the people, were slain. They also
kept Josephus's father in prison, and made public proclamation, that no
citizen whosoever should either speak to him himself, or go into his company
among others, for fear he should betray them. They also slew such as joined
in lamenting these men, without any further examination.
2. Now when Judas, the son of Judas, who was one of Simon's under officers,
and a person intrusted by him to keep one of the towers, saw this procedure
of Simon, he called together ten of those under him, that were most faithful
to him, (perhaps this was done partly out of pity to those that had so
barbarously been put to death, but principally in order to provide for
his own safety,) and spoke thus to them: "How long shall we bear these
miseries? or what hopes have we of deliverance by thus continuing faithful
to such wicked wretches? Is not the famine already come against us? Are
not the Romans in a manner gotten within the city? Is not Simon become
unfaithful to his benefactors? and is there not reason to fear he will
very soon bring us to the like punishment, while the security the Romans
offer us is sure? Come on, let us surrender up this wall, and save ourselves
and the city. Nor will Simon be very much hurt, if, now he despairs of
deliverance, he be brought to justice a little sooner than he thinks on."
Now these ten were prevailed upon by those arguments; so he sent the rest
of those that were under him, some one way, and some another, that no discovery
might be made of what they had resolved upon. Accordingly, he called to
the Romans from the tower about the third hour; but they, some of them
out of pride, despised what he said, and others of them did not believe
him to be in earnest, though the greatest number delayed the matter, as
believing they should get possession of the city in a little time, without
any hazard. But when Titus was just coming thither with his armed men,
Simon was acquainted with the matter before he came, and presently took
the tower into his own custody, before it was surrendered, and seized upon
these men, and put them to death in the sight of the Romans themselves;
and when he had mangled their dead bodies, he threw them down before the
wall of the city.
3. In the mean time, Josephus, as he was going round the city, had his
head wounded by a stone that was thrown at him; upon which he fell down
as giddy. Upon which fall of his the Jews made a sally, and he had been
hurried away into the city, if Caesar had not sent men to protect him immediately;
and as these men were fighting, Josephus was taken up, though he heard
little of what was done. So the seditious supposed they had now slain that
man whom they were the most desirous of killing, and made thereupon a great
noise, in way of rejoicing. This accident was told in the city, and the
multitude that remained became very disconsolate at the news, as being
persuaded that he was really dead, on whose account alone they could venture
to desert to the Romans. But when Josephus's mother heard in prison that
her son was dead, she said to those that watched about her, That she had
always been of opinion, since the siege of Jotapata, [that he would be
slain,] and she should never enjoy him alive any more. She also made great
lamentation privately to the maid-servants that were about her, and said,
That this was all the advantage she had of bringing so extraordinary a
person as this son into the world; that she should not be able even to
bury that son of hers, by whom she expected to have been buried herself.
However, this false report did not put his mother to pain, nor afford merriment
to the robbers, long; for Josephus soon recovered of his wound, and came
out, and cried out aloud, That it would not be long ere they should be
punished for this wound they had given him. He also made a fresh exhortation
to the people to come out upon the security that would be given them. This
sight of Josephus encouraged the people greatly, and brought a great consternation
upon the seditious.
4. Hereupon some of the deserters, having no other way, leaped down
from the wall immediately, while others of them went out of the city with
stones, as if they would fight them; but thereupon they fled away to the
Romans. But here a worse fate accompanied these than what they had found
within the city; and they met with a quicker despatch from the too great
abundance they had among the Romans, than they could have done from the
famine among the Jews; for when they came first to the Romans, they were
puffed up by the famine, and swelled like men in a dropsy; after which
they all on the sudden overfilled those bodies that were before empty,
and so burst asunder, excepting such only as were skillful enough to restrain
their appetites, and by degrees took in their food into bodies unaccustomed
thereto. Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved;
for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was
caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrements of the Jews' bellies;
for the deserters used to swallow such pieces of gold, as we told you before,
when they came out, and for these did the seditious search them all; for
there was a great quantity of gold in the city, insomuch that as much was
now sold [in the Roman camp] for twelve Attic [drams], as was sold before
for twenty-five. But when this contrivance was discovered in one instance,
the fame of it filled their several camps, that the deserters came to them
full of gold. So the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up
those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor does it
seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than
this, since in one night's time about two thousand of these deserters were
thus dissected.
5. When Titus came to the knowledge of this wicked practice, he had
like to have surrounded those that had been guilty of it with his horse,
and have shot them dead; and he had done it, had not their number been
so very great, and those that were liable to this punishment would have
been manifold more than those whom they had slain. However, he called together
the commanders of the auxiliary troops he had with him, as well as the
commanders of the Roman legions, (for some of his own soldiers had been
also guilty herein, as he had been informed,) and had great indignation
against both sorts of them, and said to them, "What! have any of my
own soldiers done such things as this out of the uncertain hope of gain,
without regarding their own weapons, which are made of silver and gold?
Moreover, do the Arabians and Syrians now first of all begin to govern
themselves as they please, and to indulge their appetites in a foreign
war, and then, out of their barbarity in murdering men, and out of their
hatred to the Jews, get it ascribed to the Romans?" for this infamous
practice was said to be spread among some of his own soldiers also. Titus
then threatened that he would put such men to death, if any of them were
discovered to be so insolent as to do so again; moreover, he gave it in
charge to the legions, that they should make a search after such as were
suspected, and should bring them to him. But it appeared that the love
of money was too hard for all their dread of punishment, and a vehement
desire of gain is natural to men, and no passion is so venturesome as covetousness;
otherwise such passions have certain bounds, and are subordinate to fear.
But in reality it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every
course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction. This,
therefore, which was forbidden by Caesar under such a threatening, was
ventured upon privately against the deserters, and these barbarians would
go out still, and meet those that ran away before any saw them, and looking
about them to see that no Roman spied them, they dissected them, and pulled
this polluted money out of their bowels; which money was still found in
a few of them, while yet a great many were destroyed by the bare hope there
was of thus getting by them, which miserable treatment made many that were
deserting to return back again into the city.
6. But as for John, when he could no longer plunder the people, he betook
himself to sacrilege, and melted down many of the sacred utensils, which
had been given to the temple; as also many of those vessels which were
necessary for such as ministered about holy things, the caldrons, the dishes,
and the tables; nay, he did not abstain from those pouring vessels that
were sent them by Augustus and his wife; for the Roman emperors did ever
both honor and adorn this temple; whereas this man, who was a Jew, seized
upon what were the donations of foreigners, and said to those that were
with him, that it was proper for them to use Divine things, while they
were fighting for the Divinity, without fear, and that such whose warfare
is for the temple should live of the temple; on which account he emptied
the vessels of that sacred wine and oil, which the priests kept to be poured
on the burnt-offerings, and which lay in the inner court of the temple,
and distributed it among the multitude, who, in their anointing themselves
and drinking, used [each of them] above an hin of them. And here I cannot
but speak my mind, and what the concern I am under dictates to me, and
it is this: I suppose, that had the Romans made any longer delay in coming
against these villains, that the city would either have been swallowed
up by the ground opening upon them, or been overflowed by water, or else
been destroyed by such thunder as the country of Sodom (20)
perished by, for it had brought forth a generation of men much more atheistical
than were those that suffered such punishments; for by their madness it
was that all the people came to be destroyed.
7. And, indeed, why do I relate these particular calamities? while Manneus,
the son of Lazarus, came running to Titus at this very time, and told him
that there had been carried out through that one gate, which was intrusted
to his care, no fewer than a hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred
and eighty dead bodies, in the interval between the fourteenth day of the
month Xanthieus, [Nisan,] when the Romans pitched their camp by the city,
and the first day of the month Panemus [Tamuz]. This was itself a prodigious
multitude; and though this man was not himself set as a governor at that
gate, yet was he appointed to pay the public stipend for carrying these
bodies out, and so was obliged of necessity to number them, while the rest
were buried by their relations; though all their burial was but this, to
bring them away, and cast them out of the city. After this man there ran
away to Titus many of the eminent citizens, and told him the entire number
of the poor that were dead, and that no fewer than six hundred thousand
were thrown out at the gates, though still the number of the rest could
not be discovered; and they told him further, that when they were no longer
able to carry out the dead bodies of the poor, they laid their corpses
on heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein; as also that a
medimnus of wheat was sold for a talent; and that when, a while afterward,
it was not possible to gather herbs, by reason the city was all walled
about, some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search
the common sewers and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung which
they got there; and what they of old could not endure so much as to see
they now used for food. When the Romans barely heard all this, they commiserated
their case; while the seditious, who saw it also, did not repent, but suffered
the same distress to come upon themselves; for they were blinded by that
fate which was already coming upon the city, and upon themselves also.
ENDNOTE
(1) This appears
to be the first time that the zealots ventured to pollute this most sacred
court of the temple, which was the court of the priests, wherein the temple
itself and the altar stood. So that the conjecture of those that would
interpret that Zacharias, who was slain "between the temple and the
altar" several months before, B. IV. ch. 5. sect. 4, as if he were
slain there by these zealots, is groundless, as I have noted on that place
already.
(2) The Levites.
(3) This is an
excellent reflection of Josephus, including his hopes of the restoration
of the Jews upon their repentance, See Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 46, which
is the grand "Hope of Israel," as Manasseh-ben-Israel, the famous
Jewish Rabbi, styles it, in his small but remarkable treatise on that subject,
of which the Jewish prophets are every where full. See the principal of
those prophecies collected together at the end of the Essay on the Revelation,
p. 822, etc.
(4) This destruction
of such a vast quantity of corn and other provisions, as was sufficient
for many years. was the direct occasion of that terrible famine, which
consumed incredible numbers of Jews in Jerusalem during its siege. Nor
probably could the Romans have taken this city, after all, had not these
seditious Jews been so infatuated as thus madly to destroy, what Josephus
here justly styles, "The nerves of their power."
(5) This timber,
we see, was designed for the rebuilding those twenty additional cubits
of the holy house above the hundred, which had fallen down some years before.
See the note on Antiq. B. XV. ch. 11. sect. 3.
(6) There being
no gate on the west, and only on the west, side of the court of the priests,
and so no steps there, this was the only side that the seditious, under
this John of Gischala, could bring their engines close to the cloisters
of that court end-ways, though upon the floor of the court of Israel. See
the scheme of that temple, in the description of the temples hereto belonging.
(7) We may here
note, that Titus is here called "a king," and "Caesar,"
by Josephus, even while he was no more than the emperor's son, and general
of the Roman army, and his father Vespasian was still alive; just as the
New Testament says "Archelaus reigned," or "was king,"
Matthew 2:22, though he was properly no more than ethnarch, as Josephus
assures us, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 11. sect. 4; Of the War, B. II. ch. 6.
sect. 3. Thus also the Jews called the Roman emperors "kings,"
though they never took that title to themselves:" We have no king
but Caesar," John 19:15. "Submit to the king as supreme,"
1 Peter 2:13, 17; which is also the language of the Apostolical Constitutions,
II. II, 31; IV. 13; V. 19; VI. 2, 25; VII. 16; VIII. 2, 13; and elsewhere
in the New Testament, Matthew 10:18; 17:25; 1 Timothy 2:2; and in Josephus
also; though I suspect Josephus particularly esteemed Titus as joint king
with his father ever since his divine dreams that declared them both such,
B. III. ch. 8. sect. 9.
(8) This situation
of the Mount of Olives, on the east of Jerusalem, at about the distance
of five or six furlongs, with the valley of Cedron interposed between that
mountain and the city, are things well known both in the Old and New Testament,
in Josephus elsewhere, and in all the descriptions of Palestine.
(9) Here we see
the true occasion of those vast numbers of Jews that were in Jerusalem
during this siege by Titus, and perished therein; that the siege began
at the feast of the passover, when such prodigious multitudes of Jews and
proselytes of the gate were come from all parts of Judea, and from other
countries, in order to celebrate that great festival. See the note B. VI.
ch. 9. sect. 3. Tacitus himself informs us, that the number of men, women,
and children in Jerusalem, when it was besieged by the Romans, as he had
been informed. This information must have been taken from the Romans: for
Josephus never recounts the numbers of those that were besieged, only he
lets us know, that of the vulgar, carried dead out of the gates, and buried
at the public charges, was the like number of 600,000, ch. viii. sect.
7. However, when Cestius Gallus came first to the siege, that sum in Tacitus
is no way disagreeable to Josephus's history, though they were become much
more numerous when Titus encompassed the city at the passover. As to the
number that perished during this siege, Josephus assures us, as we shall
see hereafter, they were 1,100,000, besides 97,000 captives. But Tacitus's
history of the last part of this siege is not now extant; so we cannot
compare his parallel numbers with those of Josephus.
(10) Perhaps,
says Dr. Hudson, here was that gate, called the "Gate of the Corner,"
in 2 Chronicles 26:9. See ch. 4. sect. 2
(11) These
dove-courts in Josephus, built by Herod the Great, are, in the opinion
of Reland, the very same that are mentioned by the Talmudists, and named
by them "Herod's dove courts." Nor is there any reason to suppose
otherwise, since in both accounts they were expressly tame pigeons which
were kept in them.
(12) See the
description of the temples hereto belonging, ch. 15. But note, that what
Josephus here says of the original scantiness of this Mount Moriah, that
it was quite too little for the temple, and that at first it held only
one cloister or court of Solomon's building, and that the foundations were
forced to be added long afterwards by degrees, to render it capable of
the cloisters for the other courts, etc., is without all foundation in
the Scriptures, and not at all confirmed by his exacter account in the
Antiquities. All that is or can be true here is this, that when the court
of the Gentiles was long afterward to be encompassed with cloisters, the
southern foundation for these cloisters was found not to be large or firm
enough, and was raised, and that additional foundation supported by great
pillars and arches under ground, which Josephus speaks of elsewhere, Antiq.
B. XV. ch. 11. sect. 3, and which Mr. Maundrel saw, and describes, p. 100,
as extant under ground at this day.
(13) What Josephus
seems here to mean is this: that these pillars, supporting the cloisters
in the second court, had their foundations or lowest parts as deep as the
floor of the first or lowest court; but that so far of those lowest parts
as were equal to the elevation of the upper floor above the lowest were,
and must be, hidden on the inside by the ground or rock itself, on which
that upper court was built; so that forty cubits visible below were reduced
to twenty-five visible above, and implies the difference of their heights
to be fifteen cubits. The main difficulty lies here, how fourteen or fifteen
steps should give an ascent of fifteen cubits, half a cubit seeming sufficient
for a single step. Possibly there were fourteen or fifteen steps at the
partition wall, and fourteen or fifteen more thence into the court itself,
which would bring the whole near to the just proportion. See sect. 3, infra.
But I determine nothing.
(14) These
three guards that lay in the tower of Antonia must be those that guarded
the city, the temple, and the tower of Antonia.
(15) What should
be the meaning of this signal or watchword, when the watchmen saw a stone
coming from the engine, "The Stone Cometh," or what mistake there
is in the reading, I cannot tell. The MSS., both Greek and Latin, all agree
in this reading; and I cannot approve of any groundless conjectural alteration
of the text from ro to lop, that not the son or a stone, but that the arrow
or dart cometh; as hath been made by Dr. Hudson, and not corrected by Havercamp.
Had Josephus written even his first edition of these books of the war in
pure Hebrew, or had the Jews then used the pure Hebrew at Jerusalem, the
Hebrew word for a son is so like that for a stone, ben and eben, that such
a correction might have been more easily admitted. But Josephus wrote his
former edition for the use of the Jews beyond Euphrates, and so in the
Chaldee language, as he did this second edition in the Greek language;
and bar was the Chaldee word for son, instead of the Hebrew ben, and was
used not only in Chaldea, etc. but in Judea also, as the New Testament
informs us. Dio lets us know that the very Romans at Rome pronounced the
name of Simon the son of Giora, Bar Poras for Bar Gioras, as we learn from
Xiphiline, p. 217. Reland takes notice, "that many will here look
for a mystery, as though the meaning were, that the Son of God came now
to take vengeance on the sins of the Jewish nation;" which is indeed
the truth of the fact, but hardly what the Jews could now mean; unless
possibly by way of derision of Christ's threatening so often made, that
he would come at the head of the Roman army for their destruction. But
even this interpretation has but a very small degree of probability. If
I were to make an emendation by mere conjecture, I would read instead of,
though the likeness be not so great as in lo; because that is the word
used by Josephus just before, as has been already noted on this very occasion,
while, an arrow or dart, is only a poetical word, and never used by Josephus
elsewhere, and is indeed no way suitable to the occasion, this engine not
throwing arrows or darts, but great stones, at this time.
(16) Josephus
supposes, in this his admirable speech to the Jews, that not Abraham only,
but Pharaoh king of Egypt, prayed towards a temple at Jerusalem, or towards
Jerusalem itself, in which were Mount Sion and Mount Moriah, on which the
tabernacle and temple did afterwards stand; and this long before either
the Jewish tabernacle or temple were built. Nor is the famous command given
by God to Abraham, to go two or three days' journey, on purpose to offer
up his son Isaac there, unfavorable to such a notion.
(17) Note here,
that Josephus, in this his same admirable speech, calls the Syrians, nay,
even the Philistines, on the most south part of Syria, Assyrians; which
Reland observes as what was common among the ancient writers. Note also,
that Josephus might well put the Jews in mind, as he does here more than
once, of their wonderful and truly miraculous deliverance from Sennacherib,
king of Assyria, while the Roman army, and himself with them, were now
encamped upon and beyond that very spot of ground where the Assyrian army
lay seven hundred and eighty years before, and which retained the very
name of the Camp of the Assyrians to that very day. See chap. 7. sect.
3, and chap. 12. sect. 2.
(18) This drying
up of the Jerusalem fountain of Siloam when the Jews wanted it, and its
flowing abundantly when the enemies of the Jews wanted it, and these both
in the days of Zedekiah and of Titus, (and this last as a certain event
well known by the Jews at that time, as Josephus here tells them openly
to their faces,) are very remarkable instances of a Divine Providence for
the punishment of the Jewish nation, when they were grown very wicked,
at both those times of the destruction of Jerusalem.
(19) Reland
very properly takes notice here, how justly this judgment came upon the
Jews, when they were crucified in such multitudes together, that the Romans
wanted room for the crosses, and crosses for the bodies of these Jews,
since they had brought this judgment on themselves by the crucifixion of
their Messiah.
(20) Josephus,
both here and before, B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 4, esteems the land of Sodom,
not as part of the lake Asphaltiris, or under its waters, but near it only,
as Tacitus also took the same notion from him, Hist. V. ch. 6. 7, which
the great Reland takes to be the very truth, both in his note on this place,
and in his Palestina, tom. I. p. 254-258; though I rather suppose part
of that region of Pentapolis to be now under the waters of the south part
of that sea, but perhaps not the whole country.
Antiquities of the Jews
War of the Jews
Autobiography
Hades
Against Apion