Jews Wars 4 From The Siege Of Gamala To The Coming Of Titus To Besiege Jerusalem

Flavius Josephus

THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

From The Siege Of Gamala To The Coming Of Titus To Besiege Jerusalem.

Containing The Interval Of About One Year.

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CHAPTER 1.

The Siege And Taking Of Gamala.

1. Now all those Galileans who, after the taking of Jotapata, had revolted from
the Romans, did, upon the conquest of Taricheae, deliver themselves up to them again.
And the Romans received all the fortresses and the cities, excepting Gischala and
those that had seized upon Mount Tabor; Gamala also, which is a city ever against
Tarichem, but on the other side of the lake, conspired with them. This city lay
Upon the borders of Agrippa’s kingdom, as also did Sogana and Scleucia. And these
were both parts of Gaulanitis; for Sogana was a part of that called the Upper Gaulanitis,
as was Gamala of the Lower; while Selcucia was situated at the lake Semechouitis,
which lake is thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in length; its marshes reach
as far as the place Daphne, which in other respects is a delicious place, and hath
such fountains as supply water to what is called Little Jordan, under the temple
of the golden calf, where it is sent into Great Jordan. Now Agrippa had united Sogana
and Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the very beginning of the revolt from the
Romans; yet did not Gamala accede to them, but relied upon the difficulty of the
place, which was greater than that of Jotapata, for it was situated upon a rough
ridge of a high mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle: where it begins to
ascend, it lengthens itself, and declines as much downward before as behind, insomuch
that it is like a camel in figure, from whence it is so named, although the people
of the country do not pronounce it accurately. Both on the side and the face there
are abrupt parts divided from the rest, and ending in vast deep valleys; yet are
the parts behind, where they are joined to the mountain, somewhat easier of ascent
than the other; but then the people belonging to the place have cut an oblique ditch
there, and made that hard to be ascended also. On its acclivity, which is straight,
houses are built, and those very thick and close to one another. The city also hangs
so strangely, that it looks as if it would fall down upon itself, so sharp is it
at the top. It is exposed to the south, and its southern mount, which reaches to
an immense height, was in the nature of a citadel to the city; and above that was
a precipice, not walled about, but extending itself to an immense depth. There was
also a spring of water within the wall, at the utmost limits of the city.

2. As this city was naturally hard to be taken, so had Josephus, by building
a wall about it, made it still stronger, as also by ditches and mines under ground.
The people that were in it were made more bold by the nature of the place than the
people of Jotapata had been, but it had much fewer fighting men in it; and they
had such a confidence in the situation of the place, that they thought the enemy
could not be too many for them; for the city had been filled with those that had
fled to it for safety, on account of its strength; on which account they had been
able to resist those whom Agrippa sent to besiege it for seven months together.

3. But Vespasian removed from Emmaus, where he had last pitched his camp before
the city Tiberias, (now Emmaus, if it be interpreted, may be rendered “a warm bath,”
for therein is a spring of warm water, useful for healing,) and came to Gamala;
yet was its situation such that he was not able to encompass it all round with soldiers
to watch it; but where the places were practicable, he set men to watch it, and
seized upon the mountain which was over it. And as the legions, according to their
usual custom, were fortifying their camp upon that mountain, he began to cast up
banks at the bottom, at the part towards the east, where the highest tower of the
whole city was, and where the fifteenth legion pitched their camp; while the fifth
legion did duty over against the midst of the city, and whilst the tenth legion
filled up the ditches and the valleys. Now at this time it was that as king Agrippa
was come nigh the walls, and was endeavoring to speak to those that were on the
walls about a surrender, he was hit with a stone on his right elbow by one of the
slingers; he was then immediately surrounded with his own men. But the Romans were
excited to set about the siege, by their indignation on the king’s account, and
by their fear on their own account, as concluding that those men would omit no kinds
of barbarity against foreigners and enemies, who where so enraged against one of
their own nation, and one that advised them to nothing but what was for their own
advantage.

4. Now when the banks were finished, which was done on the sudden, both by the
multitude of hands, and by their being accustomed to such work, they brought the
machines; but Chares and Joseph, who were the most potent men in the city, set their
armed men in order, though already in a fright, because they did not suppose that
the city could hold out long, since they had not a sufficient quantity either of
water, or of other necessaries. However, these their leaders encouraged them, and
brought them out upon the wall, and for a while indeed they drove away those that
were bringing the machines; but when those machines threw darts and stones at them,
they retired into the city; then did the Romans bring battering rams to three several
places, and made the wall shake [and fall]. They then poured in over the parts of
the wall that were thrown down, with a mighty sound of trumpets and noise of armor,
and with a shout of the soldiers, and brake in by force upon those that were in
the city; but these men fell upon the Romans for some time, at their first entrance,
and prevented their going any further, and with great courage beat them back; and
the Romans were so overpowered by the greater multitude of the people, who beat
them on every side, that they were obliged to run into the upper parts of the city.
Whereupon the people turned about, and fell upon their enemies, who had attacked
them, and thrust them down to the lower parts, and as they were distressed by the
narrowness and difficulty of the place, slew them; and as these Romans could neither
beat those back that were above them, nor escape the force of their own men that
were forcing their way forward, they were compelled to fly into their enemies’ houses,
which were low; but these houses being thus full, of soldiers, whose weight they
could not bear, fell down suddenly; and when one house fell, it shook down a great
many of those that were under it, as did those do to such as were under them. By
this means a vast number of the Romans perished; for they were so terribly distressed,
that although they saw the houses subsiding, they were compelled to leap upon the
tops of them; so that a great many were ground to powder by these ruins, and a great
many of those that got from under them lost some of their limbs, but still a greater
number were suffocated by the dust that arose from those ruins. The people of Gamala
supposed this to be an assistance afforded them by God, and without regarding what
damage they suffered themselves, they pressed forward, and thrust the enemy upon
the tops of their houses; and when they stumbled in the sharp and narrow streets,
and were perpetually falling down, they threw their stones or darts at them, and
slew them. Now the very ruins afforded them stones enow; and for iron weapons, the
dead men of the enemies’ side afforded them what they wanted; for drawing the swords
of those that were dead, they made use of them to despatch such as were only half
dead; nay, there were a great number who, upon their falling down from the tops
of the houses, stabbed themselves, and died after that manner; nor indeed was it
easy for those that were beaten back to fly away; for they were so unacquainted
with the ways, and the dust was so thick, that they wandered about without knowing
one another, and fell down dead among the crowd.

5. Those therefore that were able to find the ways out of the city retired. But
now Vespasian always staid among those that were hard set; for he was deeply affected
with seeing the ruins of the city falling upon his army, and forgot to take care
of his own preservation. He went up gradually towards the highest parts of the city
before he was aware, and was left in the midst of dangers, having only a very few
with him; for even his son Titus was not with him at that time, having been then
sent into Syria to Mucianus. However, he thought it not safe to fly, nor did he
esteem it a fit thing for him to do; but calling to mind the actions he had done
from his youth, and recollecting his courage, as if he had been excited by a divine
fury, he covered himself and those that were with him with their shields, and formed
a testudo over both their bodies and their armor, and bore up against the enemy’s
attacks, who came running down from the top of the city; and without showing any
dread at the multitude of the men or of their darts, he endured all, until the enemy
took notice of that divine courage that was within him, and remitted of their attacks;
and when they pressed less zealously upon him, he retired, though without showing
his back to them till he was gotten out of the walls of the city. Now a great number
of the Romans fell in this battle, among whom was Ebutius, the decurion, a man who
appeared not only in this engagement, wherein he fell, but every where, and in former
engagements, to be of the truest courage, and one that had done very great mischief
to the Jews. But there was a centurion whose name was Gallus, who, during this disorder,
being encompassed about, he and ten other soldiers privately crept into the house
of a certain person, where he heard them talking at supper, what the people intended
to do against the Romans, or about themselves (for both the man himself and those
with him were Syrians). So he got up in the night time, and cut all their throats,
and escaped, together with his soldiers, to the Romans.

6. And now Vespasian comforted his army, which was much dejected by reflecting
on their ill success, and because they had never before fallen into such a calamity,
and besides this, because they were greatly ashamed that they had left their general
alone in great dangers. As to what concerned himself, he avoided to say any thing,
that he might by no means seem to complain of it; but he said that “we ought to
bear manfully what usually falls out in war, and this, by considering what the nature
of war is, and how it can never be that we must conquer without bloodshed on our
own side; for there stands about us that fortune which is of its own nature mutable;
that while they had killed so many ten thousands of the Jews, they had now paid
their small share of the reckoning to fate; and as it is the part of weak people
to be too much puffed up with good success, so is it the part of cowards to be too
much aftrighted at that which is ill; for the change from the one to the other is
sudden on both sides; and he is the best warrior who is of a sober mind under misfortunes,
that he may continue in that temper, and cheerfully recover what had been lost formerly;
and as for what had now happened, it was neither owing to their own effeminacy,
nor to the valor of the Jews, but the difficulty of the place was the occasion of
their advantage, and of our disappointment. Upon reflecting on which matter one
might blame your zeal as perfectly ungovernable; for when the enemy had retired
to their highest fastnesses, you ought to have restrained yourselves, and not, by
presenting yourselves at the top of the city, to be exposed to dangers; but upon
your having obtained the lower parts of the city, you ought to have provoked those
that had retired thither to a safe and settled battle; whereas, in rushing so hastily
upon victory, you took no care of your safety. But this incautiousness in war, and
this madness of zeal, is not a Roman maxim. While we perform all that we attempt
by skill and good order, that procedure is the part of barbarians, and is what the
Jews chiefly support themselves by. We ought therefore to return to our own virtue,
and to be rather angry than any longer dejected at this unlucky misfortune, and
let every one seek for his own consolation from his own hand; for by this means
he will avenge those that have been destroyed, and punish those that have killed
them. For myself, I will endeavor, as I have now done, to go first before you against
your enemies in every engagement, and to be the last that retires from it.”

7. So Vespasian encouraged his army by this speech; but for the people of Gamala,
it happened that they took courage for a little while, upon such great and unaccountable
success as they had had. But when they considered with themselves that they had
now no hopes of any terms of accommodation, and reflecting upon it that they could
not get away, and that their provisions began already to be short, they were exceedingly
cast down, and their courage failed them; yet did they not neglect what might be
for their preservation, so far as they were able, but the most courageous among
them guarded those parts of the wall that were beaten down, while the more infirm
did the same to the rest of the wall that still remained round the city. And as
the Romans raised their banks, and attempted to get into the city a second time,
a great many of them fled out of the city through impracticable valleys, where no
guards were placed, as also through subterraneous caverns; while those that were
afraid of being caught, and for that reason staid in the city, perished for want
of food; for what food they had was brought together from all quarters, and reserved
for the fighting men.

8. And these were the hard circumstances that the people of Gamala were in. But
now Vespasian went about other work by the by, during this siege, and that was to
subdue those that had seized upon Mount Tabor, a place that lies in the middle between
the great plain and Scythopolis, whose top is elevated as high as thirty furlongs
and is hardly to be ascended on its north side; its top is a plain of twenty-six
furlongs, and all encompassed with a wall. Now Josephus erected this so long a wall
in forty days’ time, and furnished it with other materials, and with water from
below, for the inhabitants only made use of rain water. As therefore there was a
great multitude of people gotten together upon this mountain, Vespasian sent Placidus
with six hundred horsemen thither. Now, as it was impossible for him to ascend the
mountain, he invited many of them to peace, by the offer of his right hand for their
security, and of his intercession for them. Accordingly they came down, but with
a treacherous design, as well as he had the like treacherous design upon them on
the other side; for Placidus spoke mildly to them, as aiming to take them, when
he got them into the plain; they also came down, as complying with his proposals,
but it was in order to fall upon him when he was not aware of it: however, Placidus’s
stratagem was too hard for theirs; for when the Jews began to fight, he pretended
to run away, and when they were in pursuit of the Romans, he enticed them a great
way along the plain, and then made his horsemen turn back; whereupon he beat them,
and slew a great number of them, and cut off the retreat of the rest of the multitude,
and hindered their return. So they left Tabor, and fled to Jerusalem, while the
people of the country came to terms with him, for their water failed them, and so
they delivered up the mountain and themselves to Placidus.

9. But of the people of Gamala, those that were of the bolder sort fled away
and hid themselves, while the more infirm perished by famine; but the men of war
sustained the siege till the two and twentieth day of the month Hyperberetmus, [Tisri,]
when three soldiers of the fifteenth legion, about the morning watch, got under
a high tower that was near them, and undermined it, without making any noise; nor
when they either came to it, which was in the night time, nor when they were under
it, did those that guarded it perceive them. These soldiers then upon their coming
avoided making a noise, and when they had rolled away five of its strongest stones,
they went away hastily; whereupon the tower fell down on a sudden, with a very great
noise, and its guard fell headlong with it; so that those that kept guard at other
places were under such disturbance, that they ran away; the Romans also slew many
of those that ventured to oppose them, among whom was Joseph, who was slain by a
dart, as he was running away over that part of the wall that was broken down: but
as those that were in the city were greatly aftrighted at the noise, they ran hither
and thither, and a great consternation fell upon them, as though all the enemy had
fallen in at once upon them. Then it was that Chares, who was ill, and under the
physician’s hands, gave up the ghost, the fear he was in greatly contributing to
make his distemper fatal to him. But the Romans so well remembered their former
ill success, that they did not enter the city till the three and twentieth day of
the forementioned month.

10. At which time Titus, who was now returned, out of the indignation he had
at the destruction the Romans had undergone while he was absent, took two hundred
chosen horsemen and some footmen with him, and entered without noise into the city.
Now as the watch perceived that he was coming, they made a noise, and betook themselves
to their arms; and as that his entrance was presently known to those that were in
the city, some of them caught hold of their children and their wives, and drew them
after them, and fled away to the citadel, with lamentations and cries, while others
of them went to meet Titus, and were killed perpetually; but so many of them as
were hindered from running up to the citadel, not knowing what in the world to do,
fell among the Roman guards, while the groans of those that were killed were prodigiously
great every where, and blood ran down over all the lower parts of the city, from
the upper. But then Vespasian himself came to his assistance against those that
had fled to the citadel, and brought his whole army with him; now this upper part
of the city was every way rocky, and difficult of ascent, and elevated to a vast
altitude, and very full of people on all sides, and encompassed with precipices,
whereby the Jews cut off those that came up to them, and did much mischief to others
by their darts, and the large stones which they rolled down upon them, while they
were themselves so high that the enemy’s darts could hardly reach them. However,
there arose such a Divine storm against them as was instrumental to their destruction;
this carried the Roman darts upon them, and made those which they threw return back,
and drove them obliquely away from them; nor could the Jews indeed stand upon their
precipices, by reason of the violence of the wind, having nothing that was stable
to stand upon, nor could they see those that were ascending up to them; so the Romans
got up and surrounded them, and some they slew before they could defend themselves,
and others as they were delivering up themselves; and the remembrance of those that
were slain at their former entrance into the city increased their rage against them
now; a great number also of those that were surrounded on every side, and despaired
of escaping, threw their children and their wives, and themselves also, down the
precipices, into the valley beneath, which, near the citadel, had been dug hollow
to a vast depth; but so it happened, that the anger of the Romans appeared not to
be so extravagant as was the madness of those that were now taken, while the Romans
slew but four thousand, whereas the number of those that had thrown themselves down
was found to be five thousand: nor did any one escape except two women, who were
the daughters of Philip, and Philip himself was the son of a certain eminent man
called Jacimus, who had been general of king Agrippa’s army; and these did therefore
escape, because they lay concealed from the rage of the Romans when the city was
taken; for otherwise they spared not so much as the infants, of which many were
flung down by them from the citadel. And thus was Gamala taken on the three and
twentieth day of the month Hyperberetens, [Tisri,] whereas the city had first revolted
on the four and twentieth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul].

CHAPTER 2.

The Surrender Of Gischala; While John Flies Away From It To Jerusalem.

1. Now no place of Galilee remained to be taken but the small city of Gischala,
whose multitude yet were desirous of peace; for they were generally husbandmen,
and always applied themselves to cultivate the fruits of the earth. However, there
were a great number that belonged to a band of robbers, that were already corrupted,
and had crept in among them, and some of the governing part of the citizens were
sick of the same distemper. It was John, the son of a certain man whose name was
Levi, that drew them into this rebellion, and encouraged them in it. He was a cunning
knave, and of a temper that could put on various shapes; very rash in expecting
great things, and very sagacious in bringing about what he hoped for. It was known
to every body that he was fond of war, in order to thrust himself into authority;
and the seditious part of the people of Gischala were under his management, by whose
means the populace, who seemed ready to send ambassadors in order to a surrender,
waited for the coming of the Romans in battle-array. Vespasian sent against them
Titus, with a thousand horsemen, but withdrew the tenth legion to Scythopolis, while
he returned to Cesarea with the two other legions, that he might allow them to refresh
themselves after their long and hard campaign, thinking withal that the plenty which
was in those cities would improve their bodies and their spirits, against the difficulties
they were to go through afterwards; for he saw there would be occasion for great
pains about Jerusalem, which was not yet taken, because it was the royal city, and
the principal city of the whole nation, and because those that had run away from
the war in other places got all together thither. It was also naturally strong,
and the walls that were built round it made him not a little concerned about it.
Moreover, he esteemed the men that were in it to be so courageous and bold, that
even without the consideration of the walls, it would be hard to subdue them; for
which reason he took care of and exercised his soldiers beforehand for the work,
as they do wrestlers before they begin their undertaking.

2. Now Titus, as he rode ut to Gischala, found it would be easy for him to take
the city upon the first onset; but knew withal, that if he took it by force, the
multitude would be destroyed by the soldiers without mercy. (Now he was already
satiated with the shedding of blood, and pitied the major part, who would then perish,
without distinction, together with the guilty.) So he was rather desirous the city
might be surrendered up to him on terms. Accordingly, when he saw the wall full
of those men that were of the corrupted party, he said to them, – That he could
not but wonder what it was they depended on, when they alone staid to fight the
Romans, after every other city was taken by them, especially when they have seen
cities much better fortified than theirs is overthrown by a single attack upon them;
while as many as have intrusted themselves to the security of the Romans’ right
hands, which he now offers to them, without regarding their former insolence, do
enjoy their own possessions in safety; for that while they had hopes of recovering
their liberty, they might be pardoned; but that their continuance still in their
opposition, when they saw that to be impossible, was inexcusable; for that if they
will not comply with such humane offers, and right hands for security, they should
have experience of such a war as would spare nobody, and should soon be made sensible
that their wall would be but a trifle, when battered by the Roman machines; in depending
on which they demonstrate themselves to be the only Galileans that were no better
than arrogant slaves and captives.

3. Now none of the populace durst not only make a reply, but durst not so much
as get upon the wall, for it was all taken up by the robbers, who were also the
guard at the gates, in order to prevent any of the rest from going out, in order
to propose terms of submission, and from receiving any of the horsemen into the
city. But John returned Titus this answer: That for himself he was content to hearken
to his proposals, and that he would either persuade or force those that refused
them. Yet he said that Titus ought to have such regard to the Jewish law, as to
grant them leave to celebrate that day, which was the seventh day of the week, on
which it was unlawful not only to remove their arms, but even to treat of peace
also; and that even the Romans were not ignorant how the period of the seventh day
was among them a cessation from all labors; and that he who should compel them to
transgress the law about that day would be equally guilty with those that were compelled
to transgress it: and that this delay could be of no disadvantage to him; for why
should any body think of doing any thing in the night, unless it was to fly away?
which he might prevent by placing his camp round about them; and that they should
think it a great point gained, if they might not be obliged to transgress the laws
of their country; and that it would be a right thing for him, who designed to grant
them peace, without their expectation of such a favor, to preserve the laws of those
they saved inviolable. Thus did this man put a trick upon Titus, not so much out
of regard to the seventh day as to his own preservation, for he was afraid lest
he should be quite deserted if the city should be taken, and had his hopes of life
in that night, and in his flight therein. Now this was the work of God, who therefore
preserved this John, that he might bring on the destruction of Jerusalem; as also
it was his work that Titus was prevailed with by this pretense for a delay, and
that he pitched his camp further off the city at Cydessa. This Cydessa was a strong
Mediterranean village of the Tyrians, which always hated and made war against the
Jews; it had also a great number of inhabitants, and was well fortified, which made
it a proper place for such as were enemies to the Jewish nation.

4. Now, in the night time, when John saw that there was no Roman guard about
the city, he seized the opportunity directly, and, taking with him not only the
armed men that where about him, but a considerable number of those that had little
to do, together with their families, he fled to Jerusalem. And indeed, though the
man was making haste to get away, and was tormented with fears of being a captive,
or of losing his life, yet did he prevail with himself to take out of the city along
with him a multitude of women and children, as far as twenty furlongs; but there
he left them as he proceeded further on his journey, where those that were left
behind made sad lamentations; for the farther every one of them was come from his
own people, the nearer they thought themselves to be to their enemies. They also
affrighted themselves with this thought, that those who would carry them into captivity
were just at hand, and still turned themselves back at the mere noise they made
themselves in this their hasty flight, as if those from whom they fled were just
upon them. Many also of them missed their ways, and the earnestness of such as aimed
to outgo the rest threw down many of them. And indeed there was a miserable destruction
made of the women and children; while some of them took courage to call their husbands
and kinsmen back, and to beseech them, with the bitterest lamentations, to stay
for them; but John’s exhortation, who cried out to them to save themselves, and
fly away, prevailed. He said also, that if the Romans should seize upon those whom
they left behind, they would be revenged on them for it. So this multitude that
run thus away was dispersed abroad, according as each of them was able to run, one
faster or slower than another.

5. Now on the next day Titus came to the wall, to make the agreement; whereupon
the people opened their gates to him, and came out to him, with their children and
wives, and made acclamations of joy to him, as to one that had been their benefactor,
and had delivered the city out of custody; they also informed him of John’s flight,
and besought him to spare them, and to come in, and bring the rest of those that
were for innovations to punishment. But Titus, not so much regarding the supplications
of the people, sent part of his horsemen to pursue after John, but they could not
overtake him, for he was gotten to Jerusalem before; they also slew six thousand
of the women and children who went out with him, but returned back, and brought
with them almost three thousand. However, Titus was greatly displeased that he had
not been able to bring this John, who had deluded him, to punishment; yet he had
captives enough, as well as the corrupted part of the city, to satisfy his anger,
when it missed of John. So he entered the city in the midst of acclamations of joy;
and when he had given orders to the soldiers to pull down a small part of the wall,
as of a city taken in war, he repressed those that had disturbed the city rather
by threatenings than by executions; for he thought that many would accuse innocent
persons, out of their own private animosities and quarrels, if he should attempt
to distinguish those that were worthy of punishment from the rest; and that it was
better to let a guilty person alone in his fears, that to destroy with him any one
that did not deserve it; for that probably such a one might be taught prudence,
by the fear of the punishment he had deserved, and have a shame upon him for his
former offenses, when he had been forgiven; but that the punishment of such as have
been once put to death could never be retrieved. However, he placed a garrison in
the city for its security, by which means he should restrain those that were for
innovations, and should leave those that were peaceably disposed in greater security.
And thus was all Galilee taken, but this not till after it had cost the Romans much
pains before it could be taken by them.

CHAPTER 3.

Concerning John Of Gischala. Concerning The Zealots And The High Priest Ananus;
As Also How The Jews Raise Seditions One Against Another [In Jerusalem].

1. Now upon John’s entry into Jerusalem, the whole body of the people were in
an uproar, and ten thousand of them crowded about every one of the fugitives that
were come to them, and inquired of them what miseries had happened abroad, when
their breath was so short, and hot, and quick, that of itself it declared the great
distress they were in; yet did they talk big under their misfortunes, and pretended
to say that they had not fled away from the Romans, but came thither in order to
fight them with less hazard; for that it would be an unreasonable and a fruitless
thing for them to expose themselves to desperate hazards about Gischala, and such
weak cities, whereas they ought to lay up their weapons and their zeal, and reserve
it for their metropolis. But when they related to them the taking of Gischala, and
their decent departure, as they pretended, from that place, many of the people understood
it to be no better than a flight; and especially when the people were told of those
that were made captives, they were in great confusion, and guessed those things
to be plain indications that they should be taken also. But for John, he was very
little concerned for those whom he had left behind him, but went about among all
the people, and persuaded them to go to war, by the hopes he gave them. He affirmed
that the affairs of the Romans were in a weak condition, and extolled his own power.
He also jested upon the ignorance of the unskillful, as if those Romans, although
they should take to themselves wings, could never fly over the wall of Jerusalem,
who found such great difficulties in taking the villages of Galilee, and had broken
their engines of war against their walls.

2. These harangues of John’s corrupted a great part of the young men, and puffed
them up for the war; but as to the more prudent part, and those in years, there
was not a man of them but foresaw what was coming, and made lamentation on that
account, as if the city was already undone; and in this confusion were the people.
But then it must be observed, that the multitude that came out of the country were
at discord before the Jerusalem sedition began; for Titus went from Gischala to
Cesates, and Vespasian from Cesarea to Jamnia and Azotus, and took them both; and
when he had put garrisons into them, he came back with a great number of the people,
who were come over to him, upon his giving them his right hand for their preservation.
There were besides disorders and civil wars in every city; and all those that were
at quiet from the Romans turned their hands one against another. There was also
a bitter contest between those that were fond of war, and those that were desirous
for peace. At the first this quarrelsome temper caught hold of private families,
who could not agree among themselves; after which those people that were the dearest
to one another brake through all restraints with regard to each other, and every
one associated with those of his own opinion, and began already to stand in opposition
one to another; so that seditions arose every where, while those that were for innovations,
and were desirous of war, by their youth and boldness, were too hard for the aged
and prudent men. And, in the first place, all the people of every place betook themselves
to rapine; after which they got together in bodies, in order to rob the people of
the country, insomuch that for barbarity and iniquity those of the same nation did
no way differ from the Romans; nay, it seemed to be a much lighter thing to be ruined
by the Romans than by themselves.

3. Now the Roman garrisons, which guarded the cities, partly out of their uneasiness
to take such trouble upon them, and partly out of the hatred they bare to the Jewish
nation, did little or nothing towards relieving the miserable, till the captains
of these troops of robbers, being satiated with rapines in the country, got all
together from all parts, and became a band of wickedness, and all together crept
into Jerusalem, which was now become a city without a governor, and, as the ancient
custom was, received without distinction all that belonged to their nation; and
these they then received, because all men supposed that those who came so fast into
the city came out of kindness, and for their assistance, although these very men,
besides the seditions they raised, were otherwise the direct cause of the city’s
destruction also; for as they were an unprofitable and a useless multitude, they
spent those provisions beforehand which might otherwise have been sufficient for
the fighting men. Moreover, besides the bringing on of the war, they were the occasions
of sedition and famine therein.

4. There were besides these other robbers that came out of the country, and came
into the city, and joining to them those that were worse than themselves, omitted
no kind of barbarity; for they did not measure their courage by their rapines and
plunderings only, but preceded as far as murdering men; and this not in the night
time or privately, or with regard to ordinary men, but did it openly in the day
time, and began with the most eminent persons in the city; for the first man they
meddled with was Antipas, one of the royal lineage, and the most potent man in the
whole city, insomuch that the public treasures were committed to his care; him they
took and confined; as they did in the next place to Levias, a person of great note,
with Sophas, the son of Raguel, both which were of royal lineage also. And besides
these, they did the same to the principal men of the country. This caused a terrible
consternation among the people, and everyone contented himself with taking care
of his own safety, as they would do if the city had been taken in war.

5. But these were not satisfied with the bonds into which they had put the men
forementioned; nor did they think it safe for them to keep them thus in custody
long, since they were men very powerful, and had numerous families of their own
that were able to avenge them. Nay, they thought the very people would perhaps be
so moved at these unjust proceedings, as to rise in a body against them; it was
therefore resolved to have them slain accordingly, they sent one John, who was the
most bloody-minded of them all, to do that execution: this man was also called “the
son of Dorcas,” in the language of our country. Ten more men went along with him
into the prison, with their swords drawn, and so they cut the throats of those that
were in custody there. The grand lying pretence these men made for so flagrant an
enormity was this, that these men had had conferences with the Romans for a surrender
of Jerusalem to them; and so they said they had slain only such as were traitors
to their common liberty. Upon the whole, they grew the more insolent upon this bold
prank of theirs, as though they had been the benefactors and saviors of the city.

6. Now the people were come to that degree of meanness and fear, and these robbers
to that degree of madness, that these last took upon them to appoint high priests.
So when they had disannulled the succession, according to those families out of
which the high priests used to be made, they ordained certain unknown and ignoble
persons for that office, that they might have their assistance in their wicked undertakings;
for such as obtained this highest of all honors, without any desert, were forced
to comply with those that bestowed it on them. They also set the principal men at
variance one with another, by several sorts of contrivances and tricks, and gained
the opportunity of doing what they pleased, by the mutual quarrels of those who
might have obstructed their measures; till at length, when they were satiated with
the unjust actions they had done towards men, they transferred their contumelious
behavior to God himself, and came into the sanctuary with polluted feet.

7. And now the multitude were going to rise against them already; for Ananus,
the ancientest of the high priests, persuaded them to it. He was a very prudent
man, and had perhaps saved the city if he could but have escaped the hands of those
that plotted against him. These men made the temple of God a strong hold for them,
and a place whither they might resort, in order to avoid the troubles they feared
from the people; the sanctuary was now become a refuge, and a shop of tyranny. They
also mixed jesting among the miseries they introduced, which was more intolerable
than what they did; for in order to try what surprise the people would be under,
and how far their own power extended, they undertook to dispose of the high priesthood
by casting lots for it, whereas, as we have said already, it was to descend by succession
in a family. The pretense they made for this strange attempt was an ancient practice,
while they said that of old it was determined by lot; but in truth, it was no better
than a dissolution of an undeniable law, and a cunning contrivance to seize upon
the government, derived from those that presumed to appoint governors as they themselves
pleased.

8. Hereupon they sent for one of the pontifical tribes, which is called Eniachim,
and cast lots which of it should be the high priest. By fortune the lot so fell
as to demonstrate their iniquity after the plainest manner, for it fell upon one
whose name was Phannias, the son of Samuel, of the village Aphtha. He was a man
not only unworthy of the high priesthood, but that did not well know what the high
priesthood was, such a mere rustic was he ! yet did they hail this man, without
his own consent, out of the country, as if they were acting a play upon the stage,
and adorned him with a counterfeit thee; they also put upon him the sacred garments,
and upon every occasion instructed him what he was to do. This horrid piece of wickedness
was sport and pastime with them, but occasioned the other priests, who at a distance
saw their law made a jest of, to shed tears, and sorely lament the dissolution of
such a sacred dignity.

9. And now the people could no longer bear the insolence of this procedure, but
did all together run zealously, in order to overthrow that tyranny; and indeed they
were Gorion the son of Josephus, and Symeon the son of Gamaliel, (6) who encouraged
them, by going up and down when they were assembled together in crowds, and as they
saw them alone, to bear no longer, but to inflict punishment upon these pests and
plagues of their freedom, and to purge the temple of these bloody polluters of it.
The best esteemed also of the high priests, Jesus the son of Gamalas, and Ananus
the son of Ananus when they were at their assemblies, bitterly reproached the people
for their sloth, and excited them against the zealots; for that was the name they
went by, as if they were zealous in good undertakings, and were not rather zealous
in the worst actions, and extravagant in them beyond the example of others.

10. And now, when the multitude were gotten together to an assembly, and every
one was in indignation at these men’s seizing upon the sanctuary, at their rapine
and murders, but had not yet begun their attacks upon them, (the reason of which
was this, that they imagined it to be a difficult thing to suppress these zealots,
as indeed the case was,) Ananus stood in the midst of them, and casting his eyes
frequently at the temple, and having a flood of tears in his eyes, he said, “Certainly
it had been good for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many
abominations, or these sacred places, that ought not to be trodden upon at random,
filled with the feet of these blood-shedding villains; yet do I, who am clothed
with the vestments of the high priesthood, and am called by that most venerable
name [of high priest], still live, and am but too fond of living, and cannot endure
to undergo a death which would be the glory of my old age; and if I were the only
person concerned, and as it were in a desert, I would give up my life, and that
alone for God’s sake; for to what purpose is it to live among a people insensible
of their calamities, and where there is no notion remaining of any remedy for the
miseries that are upon them? for when you are seized upon, you bear it! and when
you are beaten, you are silent! and when the people are murdered, nobody dare so
much as send out a groan openly! O bitter tyranny that we are under! But why do
I complain of the tyrants? Was it not you, and your sufferance of them, that have
nourished them? Was it not you that overlooked those that first of all got together,
for they were then but a few, and by your silence made them grow to be many; and
by conniving at them when they took arms, in effect armed them against yourselves?
You ought to have then prevented their first attempts, when they fell a reproaching
your relations; but by neglecting that care in time, you have encouraged these wretches
to plunder men. When houses were pillaged, nobody said a word, which was the occasion
why they carried off the owners of those houses; and when they were drawn through
the midst of the city, nobody came to their assistance. They then proceeded to put
those whom you have betrayed into their hands into bonds. I do not say how many
and of what characters those men were whom they thus served; but certainly they
were such as were accused by none, and condemned by none; and since nobody succored
them when they were put into bonds, the consequence was, that you saw the same persons
slain. We have seen this also; so that still the best of the herd of brute animals,
as it were, have been still led to be sacrificed, when yet nobody said one word,
or moved his right hand for their preservation. Will you bear, therefore, will you
bear to see your sanctuary trampled on? and will you lay steps for these profane
wretches, upon which they may mount to higher degrees of insolence? Will not you
pluck them down from their exaltation? for even by this time they had proceeded
to higher enormities, if they had been able to overthrow any thing greater than
the sanctuary. They have seized upon the strongest place of the whole city; you
may call it the temple, if you please, though it be like a citadel or fortress.
Now, while you have tyranny in so great a degree walled in, and see your enemies
over your heads, to what purpose is it to take counsel? and what have you to support
your minds withal? Perhaps you wait for the Romans, that they may protect our holy
places: are our matters then brought to that pass? and are we come to that degree
of misery, that our enemies themselves are expected to pity us? O wretched creatures!
will not you rise up and turn upon those that strike you? which you may observe
in wild beasts themselves, that they will avenge themselves on those that strike
them. Will you not call to mind, every one of you, the calamities you yourselves
have suffered? nor lay before your eyes what afflictions you yourselves have undergone?
and will not such things sharpen your souls to revenge? Is therefore that most honorable
and most natural of our passions utterly lost, I mean the desire of liberty? Truly
we are in love with slavery, and in love with those that lord it over us, as if
we had received that principle of subjection from our ancestors; yet did they undergo
many and great wars for the sake of liberty, nor were they so far overcome by the
power of the Egyptians, or the Medes, but that still they did what they thought
fit, notwithstanding their commands to the contrary. And what occasion is there
now for a war with the Romans? (I meddle not with determining whether it be an advantageous
and profitable war or not.) What pretense is there for it? Is it not that we may
enjoy our liberty? Besides, shall we not bear the lords of the habitable earth to
be lords over us, and yet bear tyrants of our own country? Although I must say that
submission to foreigners may be borne, because fortune hath already doomed us to
it, while submission to wicked people of our own nation is too unmanly, and brought
upon us by our own consent. However, since I have had occasion to mention the Romans,
I will not conceal a thing that, as I am speaking, comes into my mind, and affects
me considerably; it is this, that though we should be taken by them, (God forbid
the event should be so!) yet can we undergo nothing that will be harder to be borne
than what these men have already brought upon us. How then can we avoid shedding
of tears, when we see the Roman donations in our temple, while we withal see those
of our own nation taking our spoils, and plundering our glorious metropolis, and
slaughtering our men, from which enormities those Romans themselves would have abstained?
to see those Romans never going beyond the bounds allotted to profane persons, nor
venturing to break in upon any of our sacred customs; nay, having a horror on their
minds when they view at a distance those sacred walls; while some that have been
born in this very country, and brought up in our customs, and called Jews, do walk
about in the midst of the holy places, at the very time when their hands are still
warm with the slaughter of their own countrymen. Besides, can any one be afraid
of a war abroad, and that with such as will have comparatively much greater moderation
than our own people have? For truly, if we may suit our words to the things they
represent, it is probable one may hereafter find the Romans to be the supporters
of our laws, and those within ourselves the subverters of them. And now I am persuaded
that every one of you here comes satisfied before I speak that these overthrowers
of our liberties deserve to be destroyed, and that nobody can so much as devise
a punishment that they have not deserved by what they have done, and that you are
all provoked against them by those their wicked actions, whence you have suffered
so greatly. But perhaps many of you are aftrighted at the multitude of those zealots,
and at their audaciousness, as well as at the advantage they have over us in their
being higher in place than we are; for these circumstances, as they have been occasioned
by your negligence, so will they become still greater by being still longer neglected;
for their multitude is every day augmented, by every ill man’s running away to those
that are like to themselves, and their audaciousness is therefore inflamed, because
they meet with no obstruction to their designs. And for their higher place, they
will make use of it for engines also, if we give them time to do so; but be assured
of this, that if we go up to fight them, they will be made tamer by their own consciences,
and what advantages they have in the height of their situation they will lose by
the opposition of their reason; perhaps also God himself, who hath been affronted
by them, will make what they throw at us return against themselves, and these impious
wretches will be killed by their own darts: let us but make our appearance before
them, and they will come to nothing. However, it is a right thing, if there should
be any danger in the attempt, to die before these holy gates, and to spend our very
lives, if not for the sake of our children and wives, yet for God’s sake, and for
the sake of his sanctuary. I will assist you both with my counsel and with my hand;
nor shall any sagacity of ours be wanting for your support; nor shall you see that
I will be sparing of my body neither.”

11. By these motives Ananus encouraged the multitude to go against the zealots,
although he knew how difficult it would be to disperse them, because of their multitude,
and their youth, and the courage of their souls; but chiefly because of their consciousness
of what they had done, since they would not yield, as not so much as hoping for
pardon at the last for those their enormities. However, Ananus resolved to undergo
whatever sufferings might come upon him, rather than overlook things, now they were
in such great confusion. So the multitude cried out to him, to lead them on against
those whom he had described in his exhortation to them, and every one of them was
most readily disposed to run any hazard whatsoever on that account.

12. Now while Ananus was choosing out his men, and putting those that were proper
for his purpose in array for fighting, the zealots got information of his undertaking,
(for there were some who went to them, and told them all that the people were doing,)
and were irritated at it, and leaping out of the temple in crowds, and by parties,
spared none whom they met with. Upon this Ananus got the populace together on the
sudden, who were more numerous indeed than the zealots, but inferior to them in
arms, because they had not been regularly put into array for fighting; but the alacrity
that every body showed supplied all their defects on both sides, the citizens taking
up so great a passion as was stronger than arms, and deriving a degree of courage
from the temple more forcible than any multitude whatsoever; and indeed these citizens
thought it was not possible for them to dwell in the city, unless they could cut
off the robbers that were in it. The zealots also thought that unless they prevailed,
there would be no punishment so bad but it would be inflicted on them. So their
conflicts were conducted by their passions; and at the first they only cast stones
at each other in the city, and before the temple, and threw their javelins at a
distance; but when either of them were too hard for the other, they made use of
their swords; and great slaughter was made on both sides, and a great number were
wounded. As for the dead bodies of the people, their relations carried them out
to their own houses; but when any of the zealots were wounded, he went up into the
temple, and defiled that sacred floor with his blood, insomuch that one may say
it was their blood alone that polluted our sanctuary. Now in these conflicts the
robbers always sallied out of the temple, and were too hard for their enemies; but
the populace grew very angry, and became more and more numerous, and reproached
those that gave back, and those behind would not afford room to those that were
going off, but forced them on again, till at length they made their whole body to
turn against their adversaries, and the robbers could no longer oppose them, but
were forced gradually to retire into the temple; when Ananus and his party fell
into it at the same time together with them. This horribly affrighted the robbers,
because it deprived them of the first court; so they fled into the inner court immediately,
and shut the gates. Now Ananus did not think fit to make any attack against the
holy gates, although the other threw their stones and darts at them from above.
He also deemed it unlawful to introduce the multitude into that court before they
were purified; he therefore chose out of them all by lot six thousand armed men,
and placed them as guards in the cloisters; so there was a succession of such guards
one after another, and every one was forced to attend in his course; although many
of the chief of the city were dismissed by those that then took on them the government,
upon their hiring some of the poorer sort, and sending them to keep the guard in
their stead.

13. Now it was John who, as we told you, ran away from Gischala, and was the
occasion of all these being destroyed. He was a man of great craft, and bore about
him in his soul a strong passion after tyranny, and at a distance was the adviser
in these actions; and indeed at this time he pretended to be of the people’s opinion,
and went all about with Ananus when he consulted the great men every day, and in
the night time also when he went round the watch; but he divulged their secrets
to the zealots, and every thing that the people deliberated about was by his means
known to their enemies, even before it had been well agreed upon by themselves.
And by way of contrivance how he might not be brought into suspicion, he cultivated
the greatest friendship possible with Ananus, and with the chief of the people;
yet did this overdoing of his turn against him, for he flattered them so extravagantly,
that he was but the more suspected; and his constant attendance every where, even
when he was not invited to be present, made him strongly suspected of betraying
their secrets to the enemy; for they plainly perceived that they understood all
the resolutions taken against them at their consultations. Nor was there any one
whom they had so much reason to suspect of that discovery as this John; yet was
it not easy to get quit of him, so potent was he grown by his wicked practices.
He was also supported by many of those eminent men, who were to be consulted upon
all considerable affairs; it was therefore thought reasonable to oblige him to give
them assurance of his good-will upon oath; accordingly John took such an oath readily,
that he would be on the people’s side, and would not betray any of their counsels
or practices to their enemies, and would assist them in overthrowing those that
attacked them, and that both by his hand and his advice. So Ananus and his party
believed his oath, and did now receive him to their consultations without further
suspicion; nay, so far did they believe him, that they sent him as their ambassador
into the temple to the zealots, with proposals of accommodation; for they were very
desirous to avoid the pollution of the temple as much as they possibly could, and
that no one of their nation should be slain therein.

14. But now this John, as if his oath had been made to the zealots, and for confirmation
of his good-will to them, and not against them, went into the temple, and stood
in the midst of them, and spake as follows: That he had run many hazards o, their
accounts, and in order to let them know of every thing that was secretly contrived
against them by Ananus and his party; but that both he and they should be cast into
the most imminent danger, unless some providential assistance were afforded them;
for that Ananus made no longer delay, but had prevailed with the people to send
ambassadors to Vespasian, to invite him to come presently and take the city; and
that he had appointed a fast for the next day against them, that they might obtain
admission into the temple on a religious account, or gain it by force, and fight
with them there; that he did not see how long they could either endure a siege,
or how they could fight against so many enemies. He added further, that it was by
the providence of God he was himself sent as an ambassador to them for an accommodation;
for that Artanus did therefore offer them such proposals, that he might come upon
them when they were unarmed; that they ought to choose one of these two methods,
either to intercede with those that guarded them, to save their lives, or to provide
some foreign assistance for themselves; that if they fostered themselves with the
hopes of pardon, in case they were subdued, they had forgotten what desperate things
they had done, or could suppose, that as soon as the actors repented, those that
had suffered by them must be presently reconciled to them; while those that have
done injuries, though they pretend to repent of them, are frequently hated by the
others for that sort of repentance; and that the sufferers, when they get the power
into their hands, are usually still more severe upon the actors; that the friends
and kindred of those that had been destroyed would always be laying plots against
them; and that a large body of people were very angry on account of their gross
breaches of their laws, and [illegal] judicatures, insomuch that although some part
might commiserate them, those would be quite overborne by the majority.

CHAPTER 4.

The Idumeans Being Sent For By The Zealots, Came Immediately To Jerusalem; And
When They Were Excluded Out Of The City, They Lay All Night There. Jesus One Of
The High Priests Makes A Speech To Them; And Simon The Idumean Makes A Reply To
It.

1. Now, by this crafty speech, John made the zealots afraid; yet durst he not
directly name what foreign assistance he meant, but in a covert way only intimated
at the Idumeans. But now, that he might particularly irritate the leaders of the
zealots, he calumniated Ananus, that he was about a piece of barbarity, and did
in a special manner threaten them. These leaders were Eleazar, the son of Simon,
who seemed the most plausible man of them all, both in considering what was fit
to be done, and in the execution of what he had determined upon, and Zacharias,
the son of Phalek; both of whom derived their families from the priests. Now when
these two men had heard, not only the common threatenings which belonged to them
all, but those peculiarly leveled against themselves; and besides, how Artanus and
his party, in order to secure their own dominion, had invited the Romans to come
to them, for that also was part of John’s lie; they hesitated a great while what
they should do, considering the shortness of the time by which they were straitened;
because the people were prepared to attack them very soon, and because the suddenness
of the plot laid against them had almost cut off all their hopes of getting any
foreign assistance; for they might be under the height of their afflictions before
any of their confederates could be informed of it. However, it was resolved to call
in the Idumeans; so they wrote a short letter to this effect: That Ananus had imposed
on the people, and was betraying their metropolis to the Romans; that they themselves
had revolted from the rest, and were in custody in the temple, on account of the
preservation of their liberty; that there was but a small time left wherein they
might hope for their deliverance; and that unless they would come immediately to
their assistance, they should themselves be soon in the power of Artanus, and the
city would be in the power of the Romans. They also charged the messengers to tell
many more circumstances to the rulers of the Idumeans. Now there were two active
men proposed for the carrying this message, and such as were able to speak, and
to persuade them that things were in this posture, and, what was a qualification
still more necessary than the former, they were very swift of foot; for they knew
well enough that these would immediately comply with their desires, as being ever
a tumultuous and disorderly nation, always on the watch upon every motion, delighting
in mutations; and upon your flattering them ever so little, and petitioning them,
they soon take their arms, and put themselves into motion, and make haste to a battle,
as if it were to a feast. There was indeed occasion for quick despatch in the carrying
of this message, in which point the messengers were no way defective. Both their
names were Ananias; and they soon came to the rulers of the Idumeans.

2. Now these rulers were greatly surprised at the contents of the letter, and
at what those that came with it further told them; whereupon they ran about the
nation like madmen, and made proclamation that the people should come to war; so
a multitude was suddenly got together, sooner indeed than the time appointed in
the proclamation, and every body caught up their arms, in order to maintain the
liberty of their metropolis; and twenty thousand of them were put into battle-array,
and came to Jerusalem, under four commanders, John, and Jacob the son of Sosas;
and besides these were Simon, the son of Cathlas, and Phineas, the son of Clusothus.

3. Now this exit of the messengers was not known either to Ananus or to the guards,
but the approach of the Idumeans was known to him; for as he knew of it before they
came, he ordered the gates to be shut against them, and that the walls should be
guarded. Yet did not he by any means think of fighting against them, but, before
they came to blows, to try what persuasions would do. Accordingly, Jesus, the eldest
of the high priests next to Artanus, stood upon the tower that was over against
them, and said thus: “Many troubles indeed, and those of various kinds, have fallen
upon this city, yet in none of them have I so much wondered at her fortune as now,
when you are come to assist wicked men, and this after a manner very extraordinary;
for I see that you are come to support the vilest of men against us, and this with
so great alacrity, as you could hardly put on the like, in case our metropolis had
called you to her assistance against barbarians. And if I had perceived that your
army was composed of men like unto those who invited them, I had not deemed your
attempt so absurd; for nothing does so much cement the minds of men together as
the alliance there is between their manners. But now for these men who have invited
you, if you were to examine them one by one, every one of them would be found to
have deserved ten thousand deaths; for the very rascality and offscouring of the
whole country, who have spent in debauchery their own substance, and, by way of
trial beforehand, have madly plundered the neighboring villages and cities, in the
upshot of all, have privately run together into this holy city. They are robbers,
who by their prodigious wickedness have profaned this most sacred floor, and who
are to be now seen drinking themselves drunk in the sanctuary, and expending the
spoils of those whom they have slaughtered upon their unsatiable bellies. As for
the multitude that is with you, one may see them so decently adorned in their armor,
as it would become them to be had their metropolis called them to her assistance
against foreigners. What can a man call this procedure of yours but the sport of
fortune, when he sees a whole nation coming to protect a sink of wicked wretches?
I have for a good while been in doubt what it could possibly be that should move
you to do this so suddenly; because certainly you would not take on your armor on
the behalf of robbers, and against a people of kin to you, without some very great
cause for your so doing. But we have an item that the Romans are pretended, and
that we are supposed to be going to betray this city to them; for some of your men
have lately made a clamor about those matters, and have said they are come to set
their metropolis free. Now we cannot but admire at these wretches in their devising
such a lie as this against us; for they knew there was no other way to irritate
against us men that were naturally desirous of liberty, and on that account the
best disposed to fight against foreign enemies, but by framing a tale as if we were
going to betray that most desirable thing, liberty. But you ought to consider what
sort of people they are that raise this calumny, and against what sort of people
that calumny is raised, and to gather the truth of things, not by fictitious speeches,
but out of the actions of both parties; for what occasion is there for us to sell
ourselves to the Romans, while it was in our power not to have revolted from them
at the first, or when we had once revolted, to have returned under their dominion
again, and this while the neighboring countries were not yet laid waste? whereas
it is not an easy thing to be reconciled to the Romans, if we were desirous of it,
now they have subdued Galilee, and are thereby become proud and insolent; and to
endeavor to please them at the time when they are so near us, would bring such a
reproach upon us as were worse than death. As for myself, indeed, I should have
preferred peace with them before death; but now we have once made war upon them,
and fought with them, I prefer death, with reputation, before living in captivity
under them. But further, whether do they pretend that we, who are the rulers of
the people, have sent thus privately to the Romans, or hath it been done by the
common suffrages of the people? If it be ourselves only that have done it, let them
name those friends of ours that have been sent, as our servants, to manage this
treachery. Hath any one been caught as he went out on this errand, or seized upon
as he came back? Are they in possession of our letters? How could we be concealed
from such a vast number of our fellow citizens, among whom we are conversant every
hour, while what is done privately in the country is, it seems, known by the zealots,
who are but few in number, and under confinement also, and are not able to come
out of the temple into the city. Is this the first time that they are become sensible
how they ought to be punished for their insolent actions? For while these men were
free from the fear they are now under, there was no suspicion raised that any of
us were traitors. But if they lay this charge against the people, this must have
been done at a public consultation, and not one of the people must have dissented
from the rest of the assembly; in which case the public fame of this matter would
have come to you sooner than any particular indication. But how could that be? Must
there not then have been ambassadors sent to confirm the agreements? And let them
tell us who this ambassador was that was ordained for that purpose. But this is
no other than a pretense of such men as are loath to die, and are laboring to escape
those punishments that hang over them; for if fate had determined that this city
was to be betrayed into its enemies’ hands, no other than these men that accuse
us falsely could have the impudence to do it, there being no wickedness wanting
to complete their impudent practices but this only, that they become traitors. And
now you Idumeans are come hither already with your arms, it is your duty, in the
first place, to be assisting to your metropolis, and to join with us in cutting
off those tyrants that have infringed the rules of our regular tribunals, that have
trampled upon our laws, and made their swords the arbitrators of right and wrong;
for they have seized upon men of great eminence, and under no accusation, as they
stood in the midst of the market-place, and tortured them with putting them into
bonds, and, without bearing to hear what they had to say, or what supplications
they made, they destroyed them. You may, if you please, come into the city, though
not in the way of war, and take a view of the marks still remaining of what I now
say, and may see the houses that have been depopulated by their rapacious hands,
with those wives and families that are in black, mourning for their slaughtered
relations; as also you may hear their groans and lamentations all the city over;
for there is nobody but hath tasted of the incursions of these profane wretches,
who have proceeded to that degree of madness, as not only to have transferred their
impudent robberies out of the country, and the remote cities, into this city, the
very face and head of the whole nation, but out of the city into the temple also;
for that is now made their receptacle and refuge, and the fountain-head whence their
preparations are made against us. And this place, which is adored by the habitable
world, and honored by such as only know it by report, as far as the ends of the
earth, is trampled upon by these wild beasts born among ourselves. They now triumph
in the desperate condition they are already in, when they hear that one people is
going to fight against another people, and one city against another city, and that
your nation hath gotten an army together against its own bowels. Instead of which
procedure, it were highly fit and reasonable, as I said before, for you to join
with us in cutting off these wretches, and in particular to be revenged on them
for putting this very cheat upon you; I mean, for having the impudence to invite
you to assist them, of whom they ought to have stood in fear, as ready to punish
them. But if you have some regard to these men’s invitation of you, yet may you
lay aside your arms, and come into the city under the notion of our kindred, and
take upon you a middle name between that of auxiliaries and of enemies, and so become
judges in this case. However, consider what these men will gain by being called
into judgment before you, for such undeniable and such flagrant crimes, who would
not vouchsafe to hear such as had no accusations laid against them to speak a word
for themselves. However, let them gain this advantage by your coming. But still,
if you will neither take our part in that indignation we have at these men, nor
judge between us, the third thing I have to propose is this, that you let us both
alone, and neither insult upon our calamities, nor abide with these plotters against
their metropolis; for though you should have ever so great a suspicion that some
of us have discoursed with the Romans, it is in your power to watch the passages
into the city; and in case any thing that we have been accused of is brought to
light, then to come and defend your metropolis, and to inflict punishment on those
that are found guilty; for the enemy cannot prevent you who are so near to the city.
But if, after all, none of these proposals seem acceptable and moderate, do not
you wonder that the gates are shut against you, while you bear your arms about you.”

4. Thus spake Jesus; yet did not the multitude of the Idumeans give any attention
to what he said, but were in a rage, because they did not meet with a ready entrance
into the city. The generals also had indignation at the offer of laying down their
arms, and looked upon it as equal to a captivity, to throw them away at any man’s
injunction whomsoever. But Simon, the son of Cathlas, one of their commanders, with
much ado quieted the tumult of his own men, and stood so that the high priests might
hear him, and said as follows: “I can no longer wonder that the patrons of liberty
are under custody in the temple, since there are those that shut the gates of our
common city to their own nation, and at the same time are prepared to admit the
Romans into it; nay, perhaps are disposed to crown the gates with garlands at their
coming, while they speak to the Idumeans from their own towers, and enjoin them
to throw down their arms which they have taken up for the preservation of its liberty.
And while they will not intrust the guard of our metropolis to their kindred, profess
to make them judges of the differences that are among them; nay, while they accuse
some men of having slain others without a legal trial, they do themselves condemn
a whole nation after an ignominious manner, and have now walled up that city from
their own nation, which used to be open to even all foreigners that came to worship
there. We have indeed come in great haste to you, and to a war against our own countrymen;
and the reason why we have made such haste is this, that we may preserve that freedom
which you are so unhappy as to betray. You have probably been guilty of the like
crimes against those whom you keep in custody, and have, I suppose, collected together
the like plausible pretenses against them also that you make use of against us;
after which you have gotten the mastery of those within the temple, and keep them
in custody, while they are only taking care of the public affairs. You have also
shut the gates of the city in general against nations that are the most nearly related
to you; and while you give such injurious commands to others, you complain that
you have been tyrannized over by them, and fix the name of unjust governors upon
such as are tyrannized over by yourselves. Who can bear this your abuse of words,
while they have a regard to the contrariety of your actions, unless you mean this,
that those Idumeans do now exclude you out of your metropolis, whom you exclude
from the sacred offices of your own country? One may indeed justly complain of those
that are besieged in the temple, that when they had courage enough to punish those
tyrants whom you call eminent men, and free from any accusations, because of their
being your companions in wickedness, they did not begin with you, and thereby cut
off beforehand the most dangerous parts of this treason. But if these men have been
more merciful than the public necessity required, we that are Idumeans will preserve
this house of God, and will fight for our common country, and will oppose by war
as well those that attack them from abroad, as those that betray them from within.
Here will we abide before the walls in our armor, until either the Romans grow weary
in waiting for you, or you become friends to liberty, and repent of what you have
done against it.”

5. And now did the Idumeans make an acclamation to what Simon had said; but Jesus
went away sorrowful, as seeing that the Idumeans were against all moderate counsels,
and that the city was besieged on both sides. Nor indeed were the minds of the Idumeans
at rest; for they were in a rage at the injury that had been offered them by their
exclusion out of the city; and when they thought the zealots had been strong, but
saw nothing of theirs to support them, they were in doubt about the matter, and
many of them repented that they had come thither. But the shame that would attend
them in case they returned without doing any thing at all, so far overcame that
their repentance, that they lay all night before the wall, though in a very bad
encampment; for there broke out a prodigious storm in the night, with the utmost
violence, and very strong winds, with the largest showers of rain, with continued
lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the
earth, that was in an earthquake. These things were a manifest indication that some
destruction was coming upon men, when the system of the world was put into this
disorder; and any one would guess that these wonders foreshowed some grand calamities
that were coming.

6. Now the opinion of the Idumeans and of the citizens was one and the same.
The Idumeans thought that God was angry at their taking arms, and that they would
not escape punishment for their making war upon their metropolis. Ananus and his
party thought that they had conquered without fighting, and that God acted as a
general for them; but truly they proved both ill conjectures at what was to come,
and made those events to be ominous to their enemies, while they were themselves
to undergo the ill effects of them; for the Idumeans fenced one another by uniting
their bodies into one band, and thereby kept themselves warm, and connecting their
shields over their heads, were not so much hurt by the rain. But the zealots were
more deeply concerned for the danger these men were in than they were for themselves,
and got together, and looked about them to see whether they could devise any means
of assisting them. The hotter sort of them thought it best to force their guards
with their arms, and after that to fall into the midst of the city, and publicly
open the gates to those that came to their assistance; as supposing the guards would
be in disorder, and give way at such an unexpected attempt of theirs, especially
as the greater part of them were unarmed and unskilled in the affairs of war; and
that besides the multitude of the citizens would not be easily gathered together,
but confined to their houses by the storm: and that if there were any hazard in
their undertaking, it became them to suffer any thing whatsoever themselves, rather
than to overlook so great a multitude as were miserably perishing on their account.
But the more prudent part of them disapproved of this forcible method, because they
saw not only the guards about them very numerous, but the walls of the city itself
carefully watched, by reason of the Idumeans. They also supposed that Ananus would
be every where, and visit the guards every hour; which indeed was done upon other
nights, but was omitted that night, not by reason of any slothfulness of Ananus,
but by the overbearing appointment of fate, that so both he might himself perish,
and the multitude of the guards might perish with him; for truly, as the night was
far gone, and the storm very terrible, Ananus gave the guards in the cloisters leave
to go to sleep; while it came into the heads of the zealots to make use of the saws
belonging to the temple, and to cut the bars of the gates to pieces. The noise of
the wind, and that not inferior sound of the thunder, did here also conspire with
their designs, that the noise of the saws was not heard by the others.

7. So they secretly went out of the temple to the wall of the city, and made
use of their saws, and opened that gate which was over against the Idumeans. Now
at first there came a fear upon the Idumeans themselves, which disturbed them, as
imagining that Ananus and his party were coming to attack them, so that every one
of them had his right hand upon his sword, in order to defend himself; but they
soon came to know who they were that came to them, and were entered the city. And
had the Idumeans then fallen upon the city, nothing could have hindered them from
destroying the people every man of them, such was the rage they were in at that
time; but as they first of all made haste to get the zealots out of custody, which
those that brought them in earnestly desired them to do, and not to overlook those
for whose sakes they were come, in the midst of their distresses, nor to bring them
into a still greater danger; for that when they had once seized upon the guards,
it would be easy for them to fall upon the city; but that if the city were once
alarmed, they would not then be able to overcome those guards, because as soon as
they should perceive they were there, they would put themselves in order to fight
them, and would hinder their coming into the temple.

CHAPTER 5.

The Cruelty Of The Idumeans When They Were Gotten Into The Temple During The
Storm; And Of The Zealots. Concerning The Slaughter Of Ananus, And Jesus, And Zacharias;
And How The Idumeans Retired Home.

1. This advice pleased the Idumeans, and they ascended through the city to the
temple. The zealots were also in great expectation of their coming, and earnestly
waited for them. When therefore these were entering, they also came boldly out of
the inner temple, and mixing themselves among the Idumeans, they attacked the guards;
and some of those that were upon the watch, but were fallen asleep, they killed
as they were asleep; but as those that were now awakened made a cry, the whole multitude
arose, and in the amazement they were in caught hold of their arms immediately,
and betook themselves to their own defense; and so long as they thought they were
only the zealots who attacked them, they went on boldly, as hoping to overpower
them by their numbers; but when they saw others pressing in upon them also, they
perceived the Idumeans were got in; and the greatest part of them laid aside their
arms, together with their courage, and betook themselves to lamentations. But some
few of the younger sort covered themselves with their armor, and valiantly received
the Idumeans, and for a while protected the multitude of old men. Others, indeed,
gave a signal to those that were in the city of the calamities they were in; but
when these were also made sensible that the Idumeans were come in, none of them
durst come to their assistance, only they returned the terrible echo of wailing,
and lamented their misfortunes. A great howling of the women was excited also, and
every one of the guards were in danger of being killed. The zealots also joined
in the shouts raised by the Idumeans; and the storm itself rendered the cry more
terrible; nor did the Idumeans spare any body; for as they are naturally a most
barbarous and bloody nation, and had been distressed by the tempest, they made use
of their weapons against those that had shut the gates against them, and acted in
the same manner as to those that supplicated for their lives, and to those that
fought them, insomuch that they ran through those with their swords who desired
them to remember the relation there was between them, and begged of them to have
regard to their common temple. Now there was at present neither any place for flight,
nor any hope of preservation; but as they were driven one upon another in heaps,
so were they slain. Thus the greater part were driven together by force, as there
was now no place of retirement, and the murderers were upon them; and, having no
other way, threw themselves down headlong into the city; whereby, in my opinion,
they underwent a more miserable destruction than that which they avoided, because
that was a voluntary one. And now the outer temple was all of it overflowed with
blood; and that day, as it came on, they saw eight thousand five hundred dead bodies
there.

2. But the rage of the Idumeans was not satiated by these slaughters; but they
now betook themselves to the city, and plundered every house, and slew every one
they met; and for the other multitude, they esteemed it needless to go on with killing
them, but they sought for the high priests, and the generality went with the greatest
zeal against them; and as soon as they caught them they slew them, and then standing
upon their dead bodies, in way of jest, upbraided Ananus with his kindness to the
people, and Jesus with his speech made to them from the wall. Nay, they proceeded
to that degree of impiety, as to cast away their dead bodies without burial, although
the Jews used to take so much care of the burial of men, that they took down those
that were condemned and crucified, and buried them before the going down of the
sun. I should not mistake if I said that the death of Ananus was the beginning of
the destruction of the city, and that from this very day may be dated the overthrow
of her wall, and the ruin of her affairs, whereon they saw their high priest, and
the procurer of their preservation, slain in the midst of their city. He was on
other accounts also a venerable, and a very just man; and besides the grandeur of
that nobility, and dignity, and honor of which he was possessed, he had been a lover
of a kind of parity, even with regard to the meanest of the people; he was a prodigious
lover of liberty, and an admirer of a democracy in government; and did ever prefer
the public welfare before his own advantage, and preferred peace above all things;
for he was thoroughly sensible that the Romans were not to be conquered. He also
foresaw that of necessity a war would follow, and that unless the Jews made up matters
with them very dexterously, they would be destroyed; to say all in a word, if Ananus
had survived, they had certainly compounded matters; for he was a shrewd man in
speaking and persuading the people, and had already gotten the mastery of those
that opposed his designs, or were for the war. And the Jews had then put abundance
of delays in the way of the Romans, if they had had such a general as he was. Jesus
was also joined with him; and although he was inferior to him upon the comparison,
he was superior to the rest; and I cannot but think that it was because God had
doomed this city to destruction, as a polluted city, and was resolved to purge his
sanctuary by fire, that he cut off these their great defenders and well-wishers,
while those that a little before had worn the sacred garments, and had presided
over the public worship; and had been esteemed venerable by those that dwelt on
the whole habitable earth when they came into our city, were cast out naked, and
seen to be the food of dogs and wild beasts. And I cannot but imagine that virtue
itself groaned at these men’s case, and lamented that she was here so terribly conquered
by wickedness. And this at last was the end of Ananus and Jesus.

3. Now after these were slain, the zealots and the multitude of the Idumeans
fell upon the people as upon a flock of profane animals, and cut their throats;
and for the ordinary sort, they were destroyed in what place soever they caught
them. But for the noblemen and the youth, they first caught them and bound them,
and shut them up in prison, and put off their slaughter, in hopes that some of them
would turn over to their party; but not one of them would comply with their desires,
but all of them preferred death before being enrolled among such wicked wretches
as acted against their own country. But this refusal of theirs brought upon them
terrible torments; for they were so scourged and tortured, that their bodies were
not able to sustain their torments, till at length, and with difficulty, they had
the favor to be slain. Those whom they caught in the day time were slain in the
night, and then their bodies were carried out and thrown away, that there might
be room for other prisoners; and the terror that was upon the people was so great,
that no one had courage enough either to weep openly for the dead man that was related
to him, or to bury him; but those that were shut up in their own houses could only
shed tears in secret, and durst not even groan without great caution, lest any of
their enemies should hear them; for if they did, those that mourned for others soon
underwent the same death with those whom they mourned for. Only in the night time
they would take up a little dust, and throw it upon their bodies; and even some
that were the most ready to expose themselves to danger would do it in the day time:
and there were twelve thousand of the better sort who perished in this manner.

4. And now these zealots and Idumeans were quite weary of barely killing men,
so they had the impudence of setting up fictitious tribunals and judicatures for
that purpose; and as they intended to have Zacharias the son of Baruch, one of the
most eminent of the citizens, slain, – so what provoked them against him was, that
hatred of wickedness and love of liberty which were so eminent in him: he was also
a rich man, so that by taking him off, they did not only hope to seize his effects,
but also to get rid of a mall that had great power to destroy them. So they called
together, by a public proclamation, seventy of the principal men of the populace,
for a show, as if they were real judges, while they had no proper authority. Before
these was Zacharias accused of a design to betray their polity to the Romans, and
having traitorously sent to Vespasian for that purpose. Now there appeared no proof
or sign of what he was accused; but they affirmed themselves that they were well
persuaded that so it was, and desired that such their affirmation might he taken
for sufficient evidence. Now when Zacharias clearly saw that there was no way remaining
for his escape from them, as having been treacherously called before them, and then
put in prison, but not with any intention of a legal trial, he took great liberty
of speech in that despair of his life he was under. Accordingly he stood up, and
laughed at their pretended accusation, and in a few words confuted the crimes laid
to his charge; after which he turned his speech to his accusers, and went over distinctly
all their transgressions of the law, and made heavy lamentation upon the confusion
they had brought public affairs to: in the mean time, the zealots grew tumultuous,
and had much ado to abstain from drawing their swords, although they designed to
preserve the appearance and show of judicature to the end. They were also desirous,
on other accounts, to try the judges, whether they would be mindful of what was
just at their own peril. Now the seventy judges brought in their verdict that the
person accused was not guilty, as choosing rather to die themselves with him, than
to have his death laid at their doors; hereupon there arose a great clamor of the
zealots upon his acquittal, and they all had indignation at the judges for not understanding
that the authority that was given them was but in jest. So two of the boldest of
them fell upon Zacharias in the middle of the temple, and slew him; and as he fell
down dead, they bantered him, and said, “Thou hast also our verdict, and this will
prove a more sure acquittal to thee than the other.” They also threw him down from
the temple immediately into the valley beneath it. Moreover, they struck the judges
with the backs of their swords, by way of abuse, and thrust them out of the court
of the temple, and spared their lives with no other design than that, when they
were dispersed among the people in the city, they might become their messengers,
to let them know they were no better than slaves.

5. But by this time the Idumeans repented of their coming, and were displeased
at what had been done; and when they were assembled together by one of the zealots,
who had come privately to them, he declared to them what a number of wicked pranks
they had themselves done in conjunction with those that invited them, and gave a
particular account of what mischiefs had been done against their metropolis. – He
said that they had taken arms, as though the high priests were betraying their metropolis
to the Romans, but had found no indication of any such treachery; but that they
had succored those that had pretended to believe such a thing, while they did themselves
the works of war and tyranny, after an insolent manner. It had been indeed their
business to have hindered them from such their proceedings at the first, but seeing
they had once been partners with them in shedding the blood of their own countrymen,
it was high time to put a stop to such crimes, and not continue to afford any more
assistance to such as are subverting the laws of their forefathers; for that if
any had taken it ill that the gates had been shut against them, and they had not
been permitted to come into the city, yet that those who had excluded them have
been punished, and Ananus is dead, and that almost all those people had been destroyed
in one night’s time. That one may perceive many of themselves now repenting for
what they had done, and might see the horrid barbarity of those that had invited
them, and that they had no regard to such as had saved them; that they were so impudent
as to perpetrate the vilest things, under the eyes of those that had supported them,
and that their wicked actions would be laid to the charge of the Idumeans, and would
be so laid to their charge till somebody obstructs their proceedings, or separates
himself from the same wicked action; that they therefore ought to retire home, since
the imputation of treason appears to be a Calumny, and that there was no expectation
of the coming of the Romans at this time, and that the government of the city was
secured by such walls as cannot easily be thrown down; and, by avoiding any further
fellowship with these bad men, to make some excuse for themselves, as to what they
had been so far deluded, as to have been partners with them hitherto.

CHAPTER 6.

How The Zealots When They Were Freed From The Idumeans, Slew A Great Many More
Of The Citizens; And How Vespasian Dissuaded The Romans When They Were Very Earnest
To March Against The Jews From Proceeding In The War At That Time.

1. The Idumeans complied with these persuasions; and, in the first place, they
set those that were in the prisons at liberty, being about two thousand of the populace,
who thereupon fled away immediately to Simon, one whom we shall speak of presently.
After which these Idumeans retired from Jerusalem, and went home; which departure
of theirs was a great surprise to both parties; for the people, not knowing of their
repentance, pulled up their courage for a while, as eased of so many of their enemies,
while the zealots grew more insolent not as deserted by their confederates, but
as freed from such men as might hinder their designs, and plat some stop to their
wickedness. Accordingly, they made no longer any delay, nor took any deliberation
in their enormous practices, but made use of the shortest methods for all their
executions and what they had once resolved upon, they put in practice sooner than
any one could imagine. But their thirst was chiefly after the blood of valiant men,
and men of good families; the one sort of which they destroyed out of envy, the
other out of fear; for they thought their whole security lay in leaving no potent
men alive; on which account they slew Gorion, a person eminent in dignity, and on
account of his family also; he was also for democracy, and of as great boldness
and freedom of spirit as were any of the Jews whosoever; the principal thing that
ruined him, added to his other advantages, was his free speaking. Nor did Niger
of Peres escape their hands; he had been a man of great valor in their war with
the Romans, but was now drawn through the middle of the city, and, as he went, he
frequently cried out, and showed the scars of his wounds; and when he was drawn
out of the gates, and despaired of his preservation, he besought them to grant him
a burial; but as they had threatened him beforehand not to grant him any spot of
earth for a grave, which he chiefly desired of them, so did they slay him [without
permitting him to be buried]. Now when they were slaying him, he made this imprecation
upon them, that they might undergo both famine and pestilence in this war, and besides
all that, they might come to the mutual slaughter of one another; all which imprecations
God confirmed against these impious men, and was what came most justly upon them,
when not long afterward. they tasted of their own madness in their mutual seditions
one against another. So when this Niger was killed, their fears of being overturned
were diminished; and indeed there was no part of the people but they found out some
pretense to destroy them; for some were therefore slain, because they had had differences
with some of them; and as to those that had not opposed them in times of peace,
they watched seasonable opportunities to gain some accusation against them; and
if any one did not come near them at all, he was under their suspicion as a proud
man; if any one came with boldness, he was esteemed a contemner of them; and if
any one came as aiming to oblige them, he was supposed to have some treacherous
plot against them; while the only punishment of crimes, whether they were of the
greatest or smallest sort, was death. Nor could any one escape, unless he were very
inconsiderable, either on account of the meanness of his birth, or on account of
his fortune.

2. And now all the rest of the commanders of the Romans deemed this sedition
among their enemies to be of great advantage to them, and were very earnest to march
to the city, and they urged Vespasian, as their lord and general in all cases, to
make haste, and said to him, that “the providence of God is on our side, by setting
our enemies at variance against one another; that still the change in such cases
may be sudden, and the Jews may quickly be at one again, either because they may
be tired out with their civil miseries, or repent them of such doings.” But Vespasian
replied, that they were greatly mistaken in what they thought fit to be done, as
those that, upon the theater, love to make a show of their hands, and of their weapons,
but do it at their own hazard, without considering, what was for their advantage,
and for their security; for that if they now go and attack the city immediately,
they shall but occasion their enemies to unite together, and shall convert their
force, now it is in its height, against themselves. But if they stay a while, they
shall have fewer enemies, because they will be consumed in this sedition: that God
acts as a general of the Romans better than he can do, and is giving the Jews up
to them without any pains of their own, and granting their army a victory without
any danger; that therefore it is their best way, while their enemies are destroying
each other with their own hands, and falling into the greatest of misfortunes, which
is that of sedition, to sit still as spectators of the dangers they run into, rather
than to fight hand to hand with men that love murdering, and are mad one against
another. But if any one imagines that the glory of victory, when it is gotten without
fighting, will be more insipid, let him know this much, that a glorious success,
quietly obtained, is more profitable than the dangers of a battle; for we ought
to esteem these that do what is agreeable to temperance and prudence no less glorious
than those that have gained great reputation by their actions in war: that he shall
lead on his army with greater force when their enemies are diminished, and his own
army refreshed after the continual labors they had undergone. However, that this
is not a proper time to propose to ourselves the glory of victory; for that the
Jews are not now employed in making of armor or building of walls, nor indeed in
getting together auxiliaries, while the advantage will be on their side who give
them such opportunity of delay; but that the Jews are vexed to pieces every day
by their civil wars and dissensions, and are under greater miseries than, if they
were once taken, could be inflicted on them by us. Whether therefore any one hath
regard to what is for our safety, he ought to suffer these Jews to destroy one another;
or whether he hath regard to the greater glory of the action, we ought by no means
to meddle with those men, now they are afflicted with a distemper at home; for should
we now conquer them, it would be said the conquest was not owing to our bravery,
but to their sedition.”

3. And now the commanders joined in their approbation of what Vespasian had said,
and it was soon discovered how wise an opinion he had given. And indeed many there
were of the Jews that deserted every day, and fled away from the zealots, although
their flight was very difficult, since they had guarded every passage out of the
city, and slew every one that was caught at them, as taking it for granted they
were going over to the Romans; yet did he who gave them money get clear off, while
he only that gave them none was voted a traitor. So the upshot was this, that the
rich purchased their flight by money, while none but the poor were slain. Along
all the roads also vast numbers of dead bodies lay in heaps, and even many of those
that were so zealous in deserting at length chose rather to perish within the city;
for the hopes of burial made death in their own city appear of the two less terrible
to them. But these zealots came at last to that degree of barbarity, as not to bestow
a burial either on those slain in the city, or on those that lay along the roads;
but as if they had made an agreement to cancel both the laws of their country and
the laws of nature, and, at the same time that they defiled men with their wicked
actions, they would pollute the Divinity itself also, they left the dead bodies
to putrefy under the sun; and the same punishment was allotted to such as buried
any as to those that deserted, which was no other than death; while he that granted
the favor of a grave to another would presently stand in need of a grave himself.
To say all in a word, no other gentle passion was so entirely lost among them as
mercy; for what were the greatest objects of pity did most of all irritate these
wretches, and they transferred their rage from the living to those that had been
slain, and from the dead to the living. Nay, the terror was so very great, that
he who survived called them that were first dead happy, as being at rest already;
as did those that were under torture in the prisons, declare, that, upon this comparison,
those that lay unburied were the happiest. These men, therefore, trampled upon all
the laws of men, and laughed at the laws of God; and for the oracles of the prophets,
they ridiculed them as the tricks of jugglers; yet did these prophets foretell many
things concerning [the rewards of] virtue, and [punishments of] vice, which when
these zealots violated, they occasioned the fulfilling of those very prophecies
belonging to their own country; for there was a certain ancient oracle of those
men, that the city should then be taken and the sanctuary burnt, by right of war,
when a sedition should invade the Jews, and their own hand should pollute the temple
of God. Now while these zealots did not [quite] disbelieve these predictions, they
made themselves the instruments of their accomplishment.

CHAPTER 7.

How John Tyrannized Over The Rest; And What Mischiefs The Zealots Did At Masada.
How Also Vespasian Took Gadara; And What Actions Were Performed By Placidus.

1. By this time John was beginning to tyrannize, and thought it beneath him to
accept of barely the same honors that others had; and joining to himself by degrees
a party of the wickedest of them all, he broke off from the rest of the faction.
This was brought about by his still disagreeing with the opinions of others, and
giving out injunctions of his own, in a very imperious manner; so that it was evident
he was setting up a monarchical power. Now some submitted to him out of their fear
of him, and others out of their good-will to him; for he was a shrewd man to entice
men to him, both by deluding them and putting cheats upon them. Nay, many there
were that thought they should be safer themselves, if the causes of their past insolent
actions should now be reduced to one head, and not to a great many. His activity
was so great, and that both in action and in counsel, that he had not a few guards
about him; yet was there a great party of his antagonists that left him; among whom
envy at him weighed a great deal, while they thought it a very heavy thing to be
in subjection to one that was formerly their equal. But the main reason that moved
men against him was the dread of monarchy, for they could not hope easily to put
an end to his power, if he had once obtained it; and yet they knew that he would
have this pretense always against them, that they had opposed him when he was first
advanced; while every one chose rather to suffer any thing whatsoever in war, than
that, when they had been in a voluntary slavery for some time, they should afterward
perish. So the sedition was divided into two parts, and John reigned in opposition
to his adversaries over one of them: but for their leaders, they watched one another,
nor did they at all, or at least very little, meddle with arms in their quarrels;
but they fought earnestly against the people, and contended one with another which
of them should bring home the greatest prey. But because the city had to struggle
with three of the greatest misfortunes, war, and tyranny, and sedition, it appeared,
upon the comparison, that the war was the least troublesome to the populace of them
all. Accordingly, they ran away from their own houses to foreigners, and obtained
that preservation from the Romans which they despaired to obtain among their own
people.

2. And now a fourth misfortune arose, in order to bring our nation to destruction.
There was a fortress of very great strength not far from Jerusalem, which had been
built by our ancient kings, both as a repository for their effects in the hazards
of war, and for the preservation of their bodies at the same time. It was called
Masada. Those that were called Sicarii had taken possession of it formerly, but
at this time they overran the neighboring countries, aiming only to procure to themselves
necessaries; for the fear they were then in prevented their further ravages. But
when once they were informed that the Roman army lay still, and that the Jews were
divided between sedition and tyranny, they boldly undertook greater matters; and
at the feast of unleavened bread, which the Jews celebrate in memory of their deliverance
from the Egyptian bondage, when they were sent back into the country of their forefathers,
they came down by night, without being discovered by those that could have prevented
them, and overran a certain small city called Engaddi:–in which expedition they
prevented those citizens that could have stopped them, before they could arm themselves,
and fight them. They also dispersed them, and cast them out of the city. As for
such as could not run away, being women and children, they slew of them above seven
hundred. Afterward, when they had carried every thing out of their houses, and had
seized upon all the fruits that were in a flourishing condition, they brought them
into Masada. And indeed these men laid all the villages that were about the fortress
waste, and made the whole country desolate; while there came to them every day,
from all parts, not a few men as corrupt as themselves. At that time all the other
regions of Judea that had hitherto been at rest were in motion, by means of the
robbers. Now as it is in a human body, if the principal part be inflamed, all the
members are subject to the same distemper; so, by means of the sedition and disorder
that was in the metropolis,. had the wicked men that were in the country opportunity
to ravage the same. Accordingly, when every one of them had plundered their own
villages, they then retired into the desert; yet were these men that now got together,
and joined in the conspiracy by parties, too small for an army, and too many for
a gang of thieves: and thus did they fall upon the holy places and the cities; yet
did it now so happen that they were sometimes very ill treated by those upon whom
they fell with such violence, and were taken by them as men are taken in war: but
still they prevented any further punishment as do robbers, who, as soon as their
ravages [are discovered], run their way. Nor was there now any part of Judea that
was not in a miserable condition, as well as its most eminent city also.

3. These things were told Vespasian by deserters; for although the seditious
watched all the passages out of the city, and destroyed all, whosoever they were,
that came thither, yet were there some that had concealed themselves, and when they
had fled to the Romans, persuaded their general to come to their city’s assistance,
and save the remainder of the people; informing him withal, that it was upon account
of the people’s good-will to the Romans that many of them were already slain, and
the survivors in danger of the same treatment. Vespasian did indeed already pity
the calamities these men were in, and arose, in appearance, as though he was going
to besiege Jerusalem, but in reality to deliver them from a [worse] siege they were
already under. However, he was obliged first to overthrow what remained elsewhere,
and to leave nothing out of Jerusalem behind him that might interrupt him in that
siege. Accordingly, he marched against Gadara, the metropolis of Perea, which was
a place of strength, and entered that city on the fourth day of the month Dystrus
[Adar]; for the men of power had sent an embassage to him, without the knowledge
of the seditious, to treat about a surrender; which they did out of the desire they
had of peace, and for saving their effects, because many of the citizens of Gadara
were rich men. This embassy the opposite party knew nothing of, but discovered it
as Vespasian was approaching near the city. However, they despaired of keeping possession
of the city, as being inferior in number to their enemies who were within the city,
and seeing the Romans very near to the city; so they resolved to fly, but thought
it dishonorable to do it without shedding some blood, and revenging themselves on
the authors of this surrender; so they seized upon Dolesus, (a person not only the
first in rank and family in that city, but one that seemed the occasion of sending
such an embassy,) and slew him, and treated his dead body after a barbarous manner,
so very violent was their anger at him, and then ran out of the city. And as now
the Roman army was just upon them, the people of Gadara admitted Vespasian with
joyful acclamations, and received from him the security of his right hand, as also
a garrison of horsemen and footmen, to guard them against the excursions of the
runagates; for as to their wall, they had pulled it down before the Romans desired
them so to do, that they might thereby give them assurance that they were lovers
of peace, and that, if they had a mind, they could not now make war against them.

4. And now Vespasian sent Placidus against those that had fled from Gadara, with
five hundred horsemen, and three thousand footmen, while he returned himself to
Cesarea, with the rest of the army. But as soon as these fugitives saw the horsemen
that pursued them just upon their backs, and before they came to a close fight,
they ran together to a certain village, which was called Bethennabris, where finding
a great multitude of young men, and arming them, partly by their own consent, partly
by force, they rashly and suddenly assaulted Placidus and the troops that were with
him. These horsemen at the first onset gave way a little, as contriving to entice
them further off the wall; and when they had drawn them into a place fit for their
purpose, they made their horse encompass them round, and threw their darts at them.
So the horsemen cut off the flight of the fugitives, while the foot terribly destroyed
those that fought against them; for those Jews did no more than show their courage,
and then were destroyed; for as they fell upon the Romans when they were joined
close together, and, as it were, walled about with their entire armor, they were
not able to find any place where the darts could enter, nor were they any way able
to break their ranks, while they were themselves run through by the Roman darts,
and, like the wildest of wild beasts, rushed upon the point of others’ swords; so
some of them were destroyed, as cut with their enemies’ swords upon their faces,
and others were dispersed by the horsemen.

5. Now Placidus’s concern was to exclude them in their flight from getting into
the village; and causing his horse to march continually on that side of them, he
then turned short upon them, and at the same time his men made use of their darts,
and easily took their aim at those that were the nearest to them, as they made those
that were further off turn back by the terror they were in, till at last the most
courageous of them brake through those horsemen and fled to the wall of the village.
And now those that guarded the wall were in great doubt what to do; for they could
not bear the thoughts of excluding those that came from Gadara, because of their
own people that were among them; and yet, if they should admit them, they expected
to perish with them, which came to pass accordingly; for as they were crowding together
at the wall, the Roman horsemen were just ready to fall in with them. However, the
guards prevented them, and shut the gates, when Placidus made an assault upon them,
and fighting courageously till it was dark, he got possession of the wall, and of
the people that were in the city, when the useless multitude were destroyed; but
those that were more potent ran away, and the soldiers plundered the houses, and
set the village on fire. As for those that ran out of the village, they stirred
up such as were in the country, and exaggerating their own calamities, and telling
them that the whole army of the Romans were upon them, they put them into great
fear on every side; so they got in great numbers together, and fled to Jericho,
for they knew no other place that could afford them any hope of escaping, it being
a city that had a strong wall, and a great multitude of inhabitants. But Placidus,
relying much upon his horsemen, and his former good success, followed them, and
slew all that he overtook, as far as Jordan; and when he had driven the whole multitude
to the river-side, where they were stopped by the current, (for it had been augmented
lately by rains, and was not fordable,) he put his soldiers in array over against
them; so the necessity the others were in provoked them to hazard a battle, because
there was no place whither they could flee. They then extended themselves a very
great way along the banks of the river, and sustained the darts that were thrown
at them, as well as the attacks of the horsemen, who beat many of them, and pushed
them into the current. At which fight, hand to hand, fifteen thousand of them were
slain, while the number of those that were unwillingly forced to leap into Jordan
was prodigious. There were besides two thousand and two hundred taken prisoners.
A mighty prey was taken also, consisting of asses, and sheep, and camels, and oxen.

6. Now this destruction that fell upon the Jews, as it was not inferior to any
of the rest in itself, so did it still appear greater than it really was; and this,
because not only the whole country through which they fled was filled with slaughter,
and Jordan could not be passed over, by reason of the dead bodies that were in it,
but because the lake Asphaltiris was also full of dead bodies, that were carried
down into it by the river. And now Placidus, after this good success that he had,
fell violently upon the neighboring smaller cities and villages; when he took Abila,
and Julias, and Bezemoth, and all those that lay as far as the lake Asphaltitis,
and put such of the deserters into each of them as he thought proper. He then put
his soldiers on board the ships, and slew such as had fled to the lake, insomuch
that all Perea had either surrendered themselves, or were taken by the Romans, as
far as Macherus.

CHAPTER 8.

How Vespasian .Upon Hearing Of Some Commotions In Gall, Made Haste To Finish
The Jewish War. A Description Of. Jericho, And Of The Great Plain; With An Account
Besides Of The Lake Asphaltitis.

1. In the mean time, an account came that there were commotions in Gall, and
that Vindex, together with the men of power in that country, had revolted from Nero;
which affair is more accurately described elsewhere. This report, thus related to
Vespasian, excited him to go on briskly with the war; for he foresaw already the
civil wars which were coming upon them, nay, that the very government was in danger;
and he thought, if he could first reduce the eastern parts of the empire to peace,
he should make the fears for Italy the lighter; while therefore the winter was his
hinderance [from going into the field], he put garrisons into the villages and smaller
cities for their security; he put decurions also into the villages, and centurions
into the cities: he besides this rebuilt many of the cities that had been laid waste;
but at the beginning of the spring he took the greatest part of his army, and led
it from Cesarea to Antipatris, where he spent two days in settling the affairs of
that city, and then, on the third day, he marched on, laying waste and burning all
the neighboring villages. And when he had laid waste all the places about the toparchy
of Thamnas, he passed on to Lydda and Jamnia; and when both these cities had come
over to him, he placed a great many of those that had come over to him [from other
places] as inhabitants therein, and then came to Emmaus, where he seized upon the
passage which led thence to their metropolis, and fortified his camp, and leaving
the fifth legion therein, he came to the toparchy of Bethletephon. He then destroyed
that place, and the neighboring places, by fire, and fortified, at proper places,
the strong holds all about Idumea; and when he had seized upon two villages, which
were in the very midst of Idumea, Betaris and Caphartobas, he slew above ten thousand
of the people, and carried into captivity above a thousand, and drove away the rest
of the multitude, and placed no small part of his own forces in them, who overran
and laid waste the whole mountainous country; while he, with the rest of his forces,
returned to Emmaus, whence he came down through the country of Samaria, and hard
by the city, by others called Neapoils, (or Sichem,) but by the people of that country
Mabortha, to Corea, where he pitched his camp, on the second day of the month Desius
[Sivan]; and on the day following he came to Jericho; on which day Trajan, one of
his commanders, joined him with the forces he brought out of Perea, all the places
beyond Jordan being subdued already.

2. Hereupon a great multitude prevented their approach, and came out of Jericho,
and fled to those mountainous parts that lay over against Jerusalem, while that
part which was left behind was in a great measure destroyed; they also found the
city desolate. It is situated in a plain; but a naked and barren mountain, of a
very great length, hangs over it, which extends itself to the land about Scythopolis
northward, but as far as the country of Sodom, and the utmost limits of the lake
Asphaltiris, southward. This mountain is all of it very uneven and uninhabited,
by reason of its barrenness: there is an opposite mountain that is situated over
against it, on the other side of Jordan; this last begins at Julias, and the northern
quarters, and extends itself southward as far as Somorrhon, which is the bounds
of Petra, in Arabia. In this ridge of mountains there is one called the Iron Mountain,
that runs in length as far as Moab. Now the region that lies in the middle between
these ridges of mountains is called the Great Plain; it reaches from the village
Ginnabris, as far as the lake Asphaltitis; its length is two hundred and thirty
furlongs, and its breadth a hundred and twenty, and it is divided in the midst by
Jordan. It hath two lakes in it, that of Asphaltitis, and that of Tiberias, whose
natures are opposite to each other; for the former is salt and unfruitful, but that
of Tiberias is sweet and fruitful. This plain is much burnt up in summer time, and,
by reason of the extraordinary heat, contains a very unwholesome air; it is all
destitute of water excepting the river Jordan, which water of Jordan is the occasion
why those plantations of palm trees that are near its banks are more flourishing,
and much more fruitful, as are those that are remote from it not so flourishing,
or fruitful.

3. Notwithstanding which, there is a fountain by Jericho, that runs plentifully,
and is very fit for watering the ground; it arises near the old city, which Joshua,
the son of Naue, the general of the Hebrews, took the first of all the cities of
the land of Canaan, by right of war. The report is, that this fountain, at the beginning,
caused not only the blasting of the earth and the trees, but of the children born
of women, and that it was entirely of a sickly and corruptive nature to all things
whatsoever; but that it was made gentle, and very wholesome and fruitful, by the
prophet Elisha. This prophet was familiar with Elijah, and was his successor, who,
when he once was the guest of the people at Jericho, and the men of the place had
treated him very kindly, he both made them amends as well as the country, by a lasting
favor; for he went out of the city to this fountain, and threw into the current
an earthen vessel full of salt; after which he stretched out his righteous hand
unto heaven, and, pouring out a mild drink-offering, he made this supplication,
– That the current might be mollified, and that the veins of fresh water might be
opened; that God also would bring into the place a more temperate and fertile air
for the current, and would bestow upon the people of that country plenty of the
fruits of the earth, and a succession of children; and that this prolific water
might never fail them, while they continued to he righteous. To these prayers Elisha
joined proper operations of his hands, after a skillful manner, and changed the
fountain; and that water, which had been the occasion of barrenness and famine before,
from that time did supply a numerous posterity, and afforded great abundance to
the country. Accordingly, the power of it is so great in watering the ground, that
if it do but once touch a country, it affords a sweeter nourishment than other waters
do, when they lie so long upon them, till they are satiated with them. For which
reason, the advantage gained from other waters, when they flow in great plenty,
is but small, while that of this water is great when it flows even in little quantities.
Accordingly, it waters a larger space of ground than any other waters do, and passes
along a plain of seventy furlongs long, and twenty broad; wherein it affords nourishment
to those most excellent gardens that are thick set with trees. There are in it many
sorts of palm trees that are watered by it, different from each other in taste and
name; the better sort of them, when they are pressed, yield an excellent kind of
honey, not much inferior in sweetness to other honey. This country withal produces
honey from bees; it also bears that balsam which is the most precious of all the
fruits in that place, cypress trees also, and those that bear myrobalanum; so that
he who should pronounce this place to be divine would not be mistaken, wherein is
such plenty of trees produced as are very rare, and of the must excellent sort.
And indeed, if we speak of those other fruits, it will not be easy to light on any
climate in the habitable earth that can well be compared to it, – what is here sown
comes up in such clusters; the cause of which seems to me to be the warmth of the
air, and the fertility of the waters; the warmth calling forth the sprouts, and
making them spread, and the moisture making every one of them take root firmly,
and supplying that virtue which it stands in need of in summer time. Now this country
is then so sadly burnt up, that nobody cares to come at it; and if the water be
drawn up before sun-rising, and after that exposed to the air, it becomes exceeding
cold, and becomes of a nature quite contrary to the ambient air; as in winter again
it becomes warm; and if you go into it, it appears very gentle. The ambient air
is here also of so good a temperature, that the people of the country are clothed
in linen-only, even when snow covers the rest of Judea. This place is one hundred
and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, and sixty from Jordan. The country, as far as
Jerusalem, is desert and stony; but that as far as Jordan and the lake Asphaltitis
lies lower indeed, though it be equally desert and barren. But so much shall suffice
to have said about Jericho, and of the great happiness of its situation.

4. The nature of the lake Asphaltitis is also worth describing. It is, as I have
said already, bitter and unfruitful. It is so light [or thick] that it bears up
the heaviest things that are thrown into it; nor is it easy for any one to make
things sink therein to the bottom, if he had a mind so to do. Accordingly, when
Vespasian went to see it, he commanded that some who could not swim should have
their hands tied behind them, and be thrown into the deep, when it so happened that
they all swam as if a wind had forced them upwards. Moreover, the change of the
color of this lake is wonderful, for it changes its appearance thrice every day;
and as the rays of the sun fall differently upon it, the light is variously reflected.
However, it casts up black clods of bitumen in many parts of it; these swim at the
top of the water, and resemble both in shape and bigness headless bulls; and when
the laborers that belong to the lake come to it, and catch hold of it as it hangs
together, they draw it into their ships; but when the ship is full, it is not easy
to cut off the rest, for it is so tenacious as to make the ship hang upon its clods
till they set it loose with the menstrual blood of women, and with urine, to which
alone it yields. This bitumen is not only useful for the caulking of ships, but
for the cure of men’s bodies; accordingly, it is mixed in a great many medicines.
The length of this lake is five hundred and eighty furlongs, where it is extended
as far as Zoar in Arabia; and its breadth is a hundred and fifty. The country of
Sodom borders upon it. It was of old a most happy land, both for the fruits it bore
and the riches of its cities, although it be now all burnt up. It is related how,
for the impiety of its inhabitants, it was burnt by lightning; in consequence of
which there are still the remainders of that Divine fire, and the traces [or shadows]
of the five cities are still to be seen, as well as the ashes growing in their fruits;
which fruits have a color as if they were fit to be eaten, but if you pluck them
with your hands, they dissolve into smoke and ashes. And thus what is related of
this land of Sodom hath these marks of credibility which our very sight affords
us.

CHAPTER 9.

That Vespasian, After He Had Taken Gadara Made Preparation For The Siege Of Jerusalem;
But That, Upon His Hearing Of The Death Of Nero, He Changed His Intentions. As Also
Concerning Simon Of Geras.

1. And now Vespasian had fortified all the places round about Jerusalem, and
erected citadels at Jericho and Adida, and placed garrisons in them both, partly
out of his own Romans, and partly out of the body of his auxiliaries. He also sent
Lucius Annius to Gerasa, and delivered to him a body of horsemen, and a considerable
number of footmen. So when he had taken the city, which he did at the first onset,
he slew a thousand of those young men who had not prevented him by flying away;
but he took their families captive, and permitted his soldiers to plunder them of
their effects; after which he set fire to their houses, and went away to the adjoining
villages, while the men of power fled away, and the weaker part were destroyed,
and what was remaining was all burnt down. And now the war having gone through all
the mountainous country, and all the plain country also, those that were at Jerusalem
were deprived of the liberty of going out of the city; for as to such as had a mind
to desert, they were watched by the zealots; and as to such as were not yet on the
side of the Romans, their army kept them in, by encompassing the city round about
on all sides.

2. Now as Vespasian was returned to Cesarea, and was getting ready with all his
army to march directly to Jerusalem, he was informed that Nero was dead, after he
had reigned thirteen years and eight days. Bnt as to any narration after what manner
he abused his power in the government, and committed the management of affairs to
those vile wretches, Nymphidius and Tigellinus, his unworthy freed-men; and how
he had a plot laid against him by them, and was deserted by all his guards, and
ran away with four of his most trusty freed-men, and slew himself in the suburbs
of Rome; and how those that occasioned his death were in no long time brought themselves
to punishment; how also the war in Gall ended; and how Galba was made emperor and
returned out of Spain to Rome; and how he was accused by the soldiers as a pusillanimous
person, and slain by treachery in the middle of the market-place at Rome, and Otho
was made emperor; with his expedition against the commanders of Vitellius, and his
destruction thereupon; and besides what troubles there were under Vitellius, and
the fight that was about the capitol; as also how Antonius Primus and Mucianus slew
Vitellius, and his German legions, and thereby put an end to that civil war; – I
have omitted to give an exact account of them, because they are well known by all,
and they are described by a great number of Greek and Roman authors; yet for the
sake of the connexion of matters, and that my history may not be incoherent, I have
just touched upon every thing briefly. Wherefore Vespasian put off at first his
expedition against Jerusalem, and stood waiting whither the empire would be transferred
after the death of Nero. Moreover, when he heard that Galba was made emperor, he
attempted nothing till he also should send him some directions about the war: however,
he sent his son Titus to him, to salute him, and to receive his commands about the
Jews. Upon the very same errand did king Agrippa sail along with Titus to Galba;
but as they were sailing in their long ships by the coasts of Achaia, for it was
winter time, they heard that Galba was slain, before they could get to him, after
he had reigned seven months and as many days. After whom Otho took the government,
and undertook the management of public affairs. So Agrippa resolved to go on to
Rome without any terror; on account of the change in the government; but Titus,
by a Divine impulse, sailed back from Greece to Syria, and came in great haste to
Cesarea, to his father. And now they were both in suspense about the public affairs,
the Roman empire being then in a fluctuating condition, and did not go on with their
expedition against the Jews, but thought that to make any attack upon foreigners
was now unseasonable, on account of the solicitude they were in for their own country.

3. And now there arose another war at Jerusalem. There was a son of Giora, one
Simon, by birth of Gerasa, a young man, not so cunning indeed as John [of Gisehala],
who had already seized upon the city, but superior in strength of body and courage;
on which account, when he had been driven away from that Acrabattene toparchy, which
he once had, by Ananus the high priest, he came to those robbers who had seized
upon Masada. At the first they suspected him, and only permitted him to come with
the women he brought with him into the lower part of the fortress, while they dwelt
in the upper part of it themselves. However, his manner so well agreed with theirs,
and he seemed so trusty a man, that he went out with them, and ravaged and destroyed
the country with them about Masada; yet when he persuaded them to undertake greater
things, he could not prevail with them so to do; for as they were accustomed to
dwell in that citadel, they were afraid of going far from that which was their hiding-place;
but he affecting to tyrannize, and being fond of greatness, when he had heard of
the death of Ananus, he left them, and went into the mountainous part of the country.
So he proclaimed liberty to those in slavery, and a reward to those already free,
and got together a set of wicked men from all quarters.

4. And as he had now a strong body of men about him, he overran the villages
that lay in the mountainous country, and when there were still more and more that
came to him, he ventured to go down into the lower parts of the country, and since
he was now become formidable to the cities, many of the men of power were corrupted
by him; so that his army was no longer composed of slaves and robbers, but a great
many of the populace were obedient to him as to their king. He then overran the
Acrabattene toparchy, and the places that reached as far as the Great Idumea; for
he built a wall at a certain village called Nain, and made use of that as a fortress
for his own party’s security; and at the valley called Paran, he enlarged many of
the caves, and many others he found ready for his purpose; these he made use of
as repositories for his treasures, and receptacles for his prey, and therein he
laid up the fruits that he had got by rapine; and many of his partizans had their
dwelling in them; and he made no secret of it that he was exercising his men beforehand,
and making preparations for the assault of Jerusalem.

5. Whereupon the zealots, out of the dread they were in of his attacking them,
and being willing to prevent one that was growing up to oppose them, went out against
him with their weapons. Simon met them, and joining battle with them, slew a considerable
number of them, and drove the rest before him into the city, but durst not trust
so much upon his forces as to make an assault upon the walls; but he resolved first
to subdue Idumea, and as he had now twenty thousand armed men, he marched to the
borders of their country. Hereupon the rulers of the Idumeans got together on the
sudden the most warlike part of their people, about twenty-five thousand in number,
and permitted the rest to be a guard to their own country, by reason of the incursions
that were made by the Sicarii that were at Masada. Thus they received Simon at their
borders, where they fought him, and continued the battle all that day; and the dispute
lay whether they had conquered him, or been conquered by him. So he went back to
Nain, as did the Idumeans return home. Nor was it long ere Simon came violently
again upon their country; when he pitched his camp at a certain village called Thecoe,
and sent Eleazar, one of his companions, to those that kept garrison at Herodium,
and in order to persuade them to surrender that fortress to him. The garrison received
this man readily, while they knew nothing of what he came about; but as soon as
he talked of the surrender of the place, they fell upon him with their drawn swords,
till he found that he had no place for flight, when he threw himself down from the
wall into the valley beneath; so he died immediately: but the Idumeans, who were
already much afraid of Simon’s power, thought fit to take a view of the enemy’s
army before they hazarded a battle with them.

6. Now there was one of their commanders named Jacob, who offered to serve them
readily upon that occasion, but had it in his mind to betray them. He went therefore
from the village Alurus, wherein the army of the Idumeans were gotten together,
and came to Simon, and at the very first he agreed to betray his country to him,
and took assurances upon oath from him that he should always have him in esteem,
and then promised him that he would assist him in subduing all Idumea under him;
upon which account he was feasted after an obliging manner by Simon, and elevated
by his mighty promises; and when he was returned to his own men, he at first belied
the army of Simon, and said it was manifold more in number than what it was; after
which, he dexterously persuaded the commanders, and by degrees the whole multitude,
to receive Simon, and to surrender the whole government up to him without fighting.
And as he was doing this, he invited Simon by his messengers, and promised him to
disperse the Idumeans, which he performed also; for as soon as their army was nigh
them, he first of all got upon his horse, and fled, together with those whom he
had corrupted; hereupon a terror fell upon the whole multitude; and before it came
to a close fight, they broke their ranks, and every one retired to his own home.

7. Thus did Simon unexpectedly march into Idumea, without bloodshed, and made
a sudden attack upon the city Hebron, and took it; wherein he got possession of
a great deal of prey, and plundered it of a vast quantity of fruit. Now the people
of the country say that it is an ancienter city, not only than any in that country,
but than Memphis in Egypt, and accordingly its age is reckoned at two thousand and
three hundred years. They also relate that it had been the habitation of Abram,
the progenitor of the Jews, after he had removed out of Mesopotamia; and they say
that his posterity descended from thence into Egypt, whose monuments are to this
very time showed in that small city; the fabric of which monuments are of the most
excellent marble, and wrought after the most elegant manner. There is also there
showed, at the distance of six furlongs from the city, a very large turpentine tree
and the report goes, that this tree has continued ever since the creation of the
world. Thence did Simon make his progress over all Idumen, and did not only ravage
the cities and villages, but lay waste the whole country; for, besides those that
were completely armed, he had forty thousand men that followed him, insomuch that
he had not provisions enough to suffice such a multitude. Now, besides this want
of provisions that he was in, he was of a barbarous disposition, and bore great
anger at this nation, by which means it came to pass that Idumea was greatly depopulated;
and as one may see all the woods behind despoiled of their leaves by locusts, after
they have been there, so was there nothing left behind Simon’s army but a desert.
Some places they burnt down, some they utterly demolished, and whatsoever grew in
the country, they either trod it down or fed upon it, and by their marches they
made the ground that was cultivated harder and more untractable than that which
was barren. In short, there was no sign remaining of those places that had been
laid waste, that ever they had had a being.

8. This success of Simon excited the zealots afresh; and though they were afraid
to fight him openly in a fair battle, yet did they lay ambushes in the passes, and
seized upon his wife, with a considerable number of her attendants; whereupon they
came back to the city rejoicing, as if they had taken Simon himself captive, and
were in present expectation that he would lay down his arms, and make supplication
to them for his wife; but instead of indulging any merciful affection, he grew very
angry at them for seizing his beloved wife; so he came to the wall of Jerusalem,
and, like wild beasts when they are wounded, and cannot overtake those that wounded
them, he vented his spleen upon all persons that he met with. Accordingly, he caught
all those that were come out of the city gates, either to gather herbs or sticks,
who were unarmed and in years; he then tormented them and destroyed them, out of
the immense rage he was in, and was almost ready to taste the very flesh of their
dead bodies. He also cut off the hands of a great many, and sent them into the city
to astonish his enemies, and in order to make the people fall into a sedition, and
desert those that had been the authors of his wife’s seizure. He also enjoined them
to tell the people that Simon swore by the God of the universe, who sees all things,
that unless they will restore him his wife, he will break down their wall, and inflict
the like punishment upon all the citizens, without sparing any age, and without
making any distinction between the guilty and the innocent. These threatenings so
greatly affrighted, not the people only, but the zealots themselves also, that they
sent his wife back to him; when he became a little milder, and left off his perpetual
blood-shedding.

9. But now sedition and civil war prevailed, not only over Judea, but in Italy
also; for now Galba was slain in the midst of the Roman market-place; then was Otho
made emperor, and fought against Vitellius, who set up for emperor also; for the
legions in Germany had chosen him. But when he gave battle to Valens and Cecinna,
who were Vitellius’s generals, at Betriacum, in Gaul, Otho gained the advantage
on the first day, but on the second day Vitellius’s soldiers had the victory; and
after much slaughter Otho slew himself, when he had heard of this defeat at Brixia,
and after he had managed the public affairs three months and two days. Otho’s army
also came over to Vitellius’s generals, and he came himself down to Rome with his
army. But in the mean time Vespasian removed from Cesarea, on the fifth day of the
month Deasius, [Sivan,] and marched against those places of Judea which were not
yet overthrown. So he went up to the mountainous country, and took those two toparchies
that were called the Gophnitick and Acrabattene toparchies. After which he took
Bethel and Ephraim, two small cities; and when he had put garrisons into them, he
rode as far as Jerusalem, in which march he took many prisoners, and many captives;
but Cerealis, one of his commanders, took a body of horsemen and footmen, and laid
waste that part of Idumea which was called the Upper Idumea, and attacked Caphethra,
which pretended to be a small city, and took it at the first onset, and burnt it
down. He also attacked Caphatabira, and laid siege to it, for it had a very strong
wall; and when he expected to spend a long time in that siege, those that were within
opened their gates on the sudden, and came to beg pardon, and surrendered themselves
up to him. When Cerealis had conquered them, he went to Hebron, another very ancient
city. I have told you already that this city is situated in a mountainous country
not far off Jerusalem; and when he had broken into the city by force, what multitude
and young men were left therein he slew, and burnt down the city; so that as now
all the places were taken, excepting Herodlum, and Masada, and Macherus, which were
in the possession of the robbers, so Jerusalem was what the Romans at present aimed
at.

10. And now, as soon as Simon had set his wife free, and recovered her from the
zealots, he returned back to the remainders of Idumea, and driving the nation all
before him from all quarters, he compelled a great number of them to retire to Jerusalem;
he followed them himself also to the city, and encompassed the wall all round again;
and when he lighted upon any laborers that were coming thither out of the country,
he slew them. Now this Simon, who was without the wall, was a greater terror to
the people than the Romans themselves, as were the zealots who were within it more
heavy upon them than both of the other; and during this time did the mischievous
contrivances and courage [of John] corrupt the body of the Galileans; for these
Galileans had advanced this John, and made him very potent, who made them suitable
requital from the authority he had obtained by their means; for he permitted them
to do all things that any of them desired to do, while their inclination to plunder
was insatiable, as was their zeal in searching the houses of the rich; and for the
murdering of the men, and abusing of the women, it was sport to them. They also
devoured what spoils they had taken, together with their blood, and indulged themselves
in feminine wantonness, without any disturbance, till they were satiated therewith;
while they decked their hair, and put on women’s garments, and were besmeared over
with ointments; and that they might appear very comely, they had paints under their
eyes, and imitated not only the ornaments, but also the lusts of women, and were
guilty of such intolerable uncleanness, that they invented unlawful pleasures of
that sort. And thus did they roll themselves up and down the city, as in a brothel-house,
and defiled it entirely with their impure actions; nay, while their faces looked
like the faces of women, they killed with their right hands; and when their gait
was effeminate, they presently attacked men, and became warriors, and drew their
swords from under their finely dyed cloaks, and ran every body through whom they
alighted upon. However, Simon waited for such as ran away from John, and was the
more bloody of the two; and he who had escaped the tyrant within the wall was destroyed
by the other that lay before the gates, so that all attempts of flying and deserting
to the Romans were cut off, as to those that had a mind so to do.

11. Yet did the army that was under John raise a sedition against him, and all
the Idumeans separated themselves from the tyrant, and attempted to destroy him,
and this out of their envy at his power, and hatred of his cruelty; so they got
together, and slew many of the zealots, and drove the rest before them into that
royal palace that was built by Grapte, who was a relation of Izates, the king of
Adiabene; the Idumeans fell in with them, and drove the zealots out thence into
the temple, and betook themselves to plunder John’s effects; for both he himself
was in that palace, and therein had he laid up the spoils he had acquired by his
tyranny. In the mean time, the multitude of those zealots that were dispersed over
the city ran together to the temple unto those that fled thither, and John prepared
to bring them down against the people and the Idumeans, who were not so much afraid
of being attacked by them (because they were themselves better soldiers than they)
as at their madness, lest they should privately sally out of the temple and get
among them, and not only destroy them, but set the city on fire also. So they assembled
themselves together, and the high priests with them, and took counsel after what
manner they should avoid their assault. Now it was God who turned their opinions
to the worst advice, and thence they devised such a remedy to get themselves free
as was worse than the disease itself. Accordingly, in order to overthrow John, they
determined to admit Simon, and earnestly to desire the introduction of a second
tyrant into the city; which resolution they brought to perfection, and sent Matthias,
the high priest, to beseech this Simon to come ill to them, of whom they had so
often been afraid. Those also that had fled from the zealots in Jerusalem joined
in this request to him, out of the desire they had of preserving their houses and
their effects. Accordingly he, in an arrogant manner, granted them his lordly protection,
and came into the city, in order to deliver it from the zealots. The people also
made joyful acclamations to him, as their savior and their preserver; but when he
was come in, with his army, he took care to secure his own authority, and looked
upon those that had invited him in to be no less his enemies than those against
whom the invitation was intended.

12. And thus did Simon get possession of Jerusalem, in the third year of the
war, in the month Xanthicus [Nisan]; whereupon John, with his multitude of zealots,
as being both prohibited from coming out of the temple, and having lost their power
in the city, (for Simon and his party had plundered them of what they had,) were
in despair of deliverance. Simon also made an assault upon the temple, with the
assistance of the people, while the others stood upon the cloisters and the battlements,
and defended themselves from their assaults. However, a considerable number of Simon’s
party fell, and many were carried off wounded; for the zealots threw their darts
easily from a superior place, and seldom failed of hitting their enemies; but having
the advantage of situation, and having withal erected four very large towers aforehand,
that their darts might come from higher places, one at the north-east corner of
the court, one above the Xystus, the third at another corner over against the lower
city, and the last was erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the
priests stood of course, and gave a signal beforehand, with a trumpet at the beginning
of every seventh day, in the evening twilight, as also at the evening when that
day was finished, as giving notice to the people when they were to leave off work,
and when they were to go to work again. These men also set their engines to cast
darts and stones withal, upon those towers, with their archers and slingers. And
now Simon made his assault upon the temple more faintly, by reason that the greatest
part of his men grew weary of that work; yet did he not leave off his opposition,
because his army was superior to the others, although the darts which were thrown
by the engines were carried a great way, and slew many of those that fought for
him.

CHAPTER 10.

How The Soldiers, Both In Judea And Egypt, Proclaimed Vespasian Emperor;And How
Vespasian Released Josephus From His Bonds.

1. Now about this very time it was that heavy calamities came about Rome on all
sides; for Vitellius was come from Germany with his soldiery, and drew along with
him a great multitude of other men besides. And when the spaces allotted for soldiers
could not contain them, he made all Rome itself his camp, and filled all the houses
with his armed men; which men, when they saw the riches of Rome with those eyes
which had never seen such riches before, and found themselves shone round about
on all sides with silver and gold, they had much ado to contain their covetous desires,
and were ready to betake themselves to plunder, and to the slaughter of such as
should stand in their way. And this was the state of affairs in Italy at that time.

2. But when Vespasian had overthrown all the places that were near to Jerusalem,
he returned to Cesarea, and heard of the troubles that were at Rome, and that Vitellius
was emperor. This produced indignation in him, although he well knew how to be governed
as well as to govern, and could not, with any satisfaction, own him for his lord
who acted so madly, and seized upon the government as if it were absolutely destitute
of a governor. And as this sorrow of his was violent, he was not able to support
the torments he was under, nor to apply himself further in other wars, when his
native country was laid waste; but then, as much as his passion excited him to avenge
his country, so much was he restrained by the consideration of his distance therefrom;
because fortune might prevent him, and do a world of mischief before he could himself
sail over the sea to Italy, especially as it was still the winter season; so he
restrained his anger, how vehement soever it was at this time.

3. But now his commanders and soldiers met in several companies, and consulted
openly about changing the public affairs; – and, out of their indignation, cried
out, how “at Rome there are soldiers that live delicately, and when they have not
ventured so much as to hear the fame of war, they ordain whom they please for our
governors, and in hopes of gain make them emperors; while you, who have gone through
so many labors, and are grown into years under your helmets, give leave to others
to use such a power, when yet you have among yourselves one more worthy to rule
than any whom they have set up. Now what juster opportunity shall they ever have
of requiting their generals, if they do not make use of this that is now before
them? while there is so much juster reasons for Vespasian’s being emperor than for
Vitellius; as they are themselves more deserving than those that made the other
emperors; for that they have undergone as great wars as have the troops that come
from Germany; nor are they inferior in war to those that have brought that tyrant
to Rome, nor have they undergone smaller labors than they; for that neither will
the Roman senate, nor people, bear such a lascivious emperor as Vitellius, if he
be compared with their chaste Vespasian; nor will they endure a most barbarous tyrant,
instead of a good governor, nor choose one that hath no child to preside over them,
instead of him that is a father; because the advancement of men’s own children to
dignities is certainly the greatest security kings can have for themselves. Whether,
therefore, we estimate the capacity of governing from the skill of a person in years,
we ought to have Vespasian, – or whether from the strength of a young man, we ought
to have Titus; for by this means we shall have the advantage of both their ages,
for that they will afford strength to those that shall be made emperors, they having
already three legions, besides other auxiliaries from the neighboring kings, and
will have further all the armies in the east to support them, as also those in Europe,
so they as they are out of the distance and dread of Vitellius, besides such auxiliaries
as they may have in Italy itself; that is, Vespasian’s brother, and his other son
[Domitian]; the one of whom will bring in a great many of those young men that are
of dignity, while the other is intrusted with the government of the city, which
office of his will be no small means of Vespasian’s obtaining the government. Upon
the whole, the case may be such, that if we ourselves make further delays, the senate
may choose an emperor, whom the soldiers, who are the saviors of the empire, will
have in contempt.”

4. These were the discourses the soldiers had in their several companies; after
which they got together in a great body, and, encouraging one another, they declared
Vespasian emperor, and exhorted him to save the government, which was now in danger.
Now Vespasian’s concern had been for a considerable time about the public, yet did
he not intend to set up for governor himself, though his actions showed him to deserve
it, while he preferred that safety which is in a private life before the dangers
in a state of such dignity; but when he refused the empire, the commanders insisted
the more earnestly upon his acceptance; and the soldiers came about him, with their
drawn swords in their hands, and threatened to kill him, unless he would now live
according to his dignity. And when he had shown his reluctance a great while, and
had endeavored to thrust away this dominion from him, he at length, being not able
to persuade them, yielded to their solicitations that would salute him emperor.

5. So upon the exhortations of Mucianus, and the other commanders, that he would
accept of the empire, and upon that of the rest of the army, who cried out that
they were willing to be led against all his opposers, he was in the first place
intent upon gaining the dominion over Alexandria, as knowing that Egypt was of the
greatest consequence, in order to obtain the entire government, because of its supplying
of corn [to Rome]; which corn, if he could be master of, he hoped to dethrone Vitellius,
supposing he should aim to keep the empire by force (for he would not be able to
support himself, if the multitude at Rome should once be in want of food); and because
he was desirous to join the two legions that were at Alexandria to the other legions
that were with him. He also considered with himself, that he should then have that
country for a defense to himself against the uncertainty of fortune; for Egypt is
hard to be entered by land, and hath no good havens by sea. It hath on the west
the dry deserts of Libya; and on the south Siene, that divides it from Ethiopia,
as well as the cataracts of the Nile, that cannot be sailed over; and on the east
the Red Sea extended as far as Coptus; and it is fortified on the north by the land
that reaches to Syria, together with that called the Egyptian Sea, having no havens
in it for ships. And thus is Egypt walled about on every side. Its length between
Pelusium and Siene is two thousand furlongs, and the passage by sea from Plinthine
to Pelusium is three thousand six hundred furlongs. Its river Nile is navigable
as far as the city called Elephantine, the forenamed cataracts hindering ships from
going any farther, The haven also of Alexandria is not entered by the mariners without
difficulty, even in times of peace; for the passage inward is narrow, and full of
rocks that lie under the water, which oblige the mariners to turn from a straight
direction: its left side is blocked up by works made by men’s hands on both sides;
on its right side lies the island called Pharus, which is situated just before the
entrance, and supports a very great tower, that affords the sight of a fire to such
as sail within three hundred furlongs of it, that ships may cast anchor a great
way off in the night time, by reason of the difficulty of sailing nearer. About
this island are built very great piers, the handiwork of men, against which, when
the sea dashes itself, and its waves are broken against those boundaries, the navigation
becomes very troublesome, and the entrance through so narrow a passage is rendered
dangerous; yet is the haven itself, when you are got into it, a very safe one, and
of thirty furlongs in largeness; into which is brought what the country wants in
order to its happiness, as also what abundance the country affords more than it
wants itself is hence distributed into all the habitable earth.

6. Justly, therefore, did Vespasian desire to obtain that government, in order
to corroborate his attempts upon the whole empire; so he immediately sent to Tiberius
Alexander, who was then governor of Egypt and of Alexandria, and informed him what
the army had put upon him, and how he, being forced to accept of the burden of the
government, was desirous to have him for his confederate and supporter. Now as soon
as ever Alexander had read this letter, he readily obliged the legions and the multitude
to take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian, both which willingly complied with him,
as already acquainted with the courage of the man, from that his conduct in their
neighborhood. Accordingly Vespasian, looking upon himself as already intrusted with
the government, got all things ready for his journey [to Rome]. Now fame carried
this news abroad more suddenly than one could have thought, that he was emperor
over the east, upon which every city kept festivals, and celebrated sacrifices and
oblations for such good news; the legions also that were in Mysia and Pannonia,
who had been in commotion a little before, on account of this insolent attempt of
Vitellius, were very glad to take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian, upon his coming
to the empire. Vespasian then removed from Cesarea to Berytus, where many embassages
came to him from Syria, and many from other provinces, bringing with them from every
city crowns, and the congratulations of the people. Mucianus came also, who was
the president of the province, and told him with what alacrity the people [received
the news of his advancement], and how the people of every city had taken the oath
of fidelity to him.

7. So Vespasian’s good fortune succeeded to his wishes every where, and the public
affairs were, for the greatest part, already in his hands; upon which he considered
that he had not arrived at the government without Divine Providence, but that a
righteous kind of fate had brought the empire under his power; for as he called
to mind the other signals, which had been a great many every where, that foretold
he should obtain the government, so did he remember what Josephus had said to him
when he ventured to foretell his coming to the empire while Nero was alive; so he
was much concerned that this man was still in bonds with him. He then called for
Mucianus, together with his other commanders and friends, and, in the first place,
he informed them what a valiant man Josephus had been, and what great hardships
he had made him undergo in the siege of Jotapata. After that he related those predictions
of his which he had then suspected as fictions, suggested out of the fear he was
in, but which had by time been demonstrated to be Divine. “It is a shameful thing
(said he) that this man, who hath foretold my coming to the empire beforehand, and
been the minister of a Divine message to me, should still be retained in the condition
of a captive or prisoner.” So he called for Josephus, and commanded that he should
be set at liberty; whereupon the commanders promised themselves glorious things,
froth this requital Vespasian made to a stranger. Titus was then present with his
father, and said, “O father, it is but just that the scandal [of a prisoner] should
be taken off Josephus, together with his iron chain. For if we do not barely loose
his bonds, but cut them to pieces, he will be like a man that had never been bound
at all.” For that is the usual method as to such as have been bound without a cause.
This advice was agreed to by Vespasian also; so there came a man in, and cut the
chain to pieces; while Josephus received this testimony of his integrity for a reward,
and was moreover esteemed a person of credit as to futurities also.

CHAPTER 11.

That Upon The Conquest And Slaughter Of Vitellius Vespasian Hastened His Journey
To Rome; But Titus His Son Returned To Jerusalem.

1. And now, when Vespasian had given answers to the embassages, and had disposed
of the places of power justly, and according to every one’s deserts, he came to
Antioch, and consulting which way he had best take, he preferred to go for Rome,
rather than to march to Alexandria, because he saw that Alexandria was sure to him
already, but that the affairs at Rome were put into disorder by Vitellius; so he
sent Mucianus to Italy, and committed a considerable army both of horsemen and footmen
to him; yet was Mucianus afraid of going by sea, because it was the middle of winter,
and so he led his army on foot through Cappadocia and Phrygia.

2. In the mean time, Antonius Primus took the third of the legions that were
in Mysia, for he was president of that province, and made haste, in order to fight
Vitellius; whereupon Vitellius sent away Cecinna, with a great army, having a mighty
confidence in him, because of his having beaten Otho. This Cecinna marched out of
Rome in great haste, and found Antonius about Cremona in Gall, which city is in
the borders of Italy; but when he saw there that the enemy were numerous and in
good order, he durst not fight them; and as he thought a retreat dangerous, so he
began to think of betraying his army to Antonius. Accordingly, he assembled the
centurions and tribunes that were under his command, and persuaded them to go over
to Antonius, and this by diminishing the reputation of Vitellius, and by exaggerating
the power of Vespasian. He also told them that with the one there was no more than
the bare name of dominion, but with the other was the power of it; and that it was
better for them to prevent necessity, and gain favor, and, while they were likely
to be overcome in battle, to avoid the danger beforehand, and go over to Antonius
willingly; that Vespasian was able of himself to subdue what had not yet submitted
without their assistance, while Vitellius could not preserve what he had already
with it.

3. Cecinna said this, and much more to the same purpose, and persuaded them to
comply with him; and both he and his army deserted; but still the very same night
the soldiers repented of what they had done, and a fear seized on them, lest perhaps
Vitellius who sent them should get the better; and drawing their swords, they assaulted
Cecinna, in order to kill him; and the thing had been done by them, if the tribunes
had not fallen upon their knees, and besought them not to do it; so the soldiers
did not kill him, but put him in bonds, as a traitor, and were about to send him
to Vitellius. When [Antonius] Primus heard of this, he raised up his men immediately,
and made them put on their armor, and led them against those that had revolted;
hereupon they put themselves in order of battle, and made a resistance for a while,
but were soon beaten, and fled to Cremona; then did Primus take his horsemen, and
cut off their entrance into the city, and encompassed and destroyed a great multitude
of them before the city, and fell into the city together with the rest, and gave
leave to his soldiers to plunder it. And here it was that many strangers, who were
merchants, as well as many of the people of that country, perished, and among them
Vitellius’s whole army, being thirty thousand and two hundred, while Antonius lost
no more of those that came with him from Mysia than four thousand and five hundred:
he then loosed Cecinna, and sent him to Vespasian to tell him the good news. So
he came, and was received by him, and covered the scandal of his treachery by the
unexpected honors he received from Vespasian.

4. And now, upon the news that Antonius was approaching, Sabinus took courage
at Rome, and assembled those cohorts of soldiers that kept watch by night, and in
the night time seized upon the capitol; and, as the day came on, many men of character
came over to him, with Domitian, his brother’s son, whose encouragement was of very
great weight for the compassing the government. Now Vitellius was not much concerned
at this Primus, but was very angry with those that had revolted with Sabinus; and
thirsting, out of his own natural barbarity, after noble blood, he sent out that
part of the army which came along with him to fight against the capitol; and many
bold actions were done on this side, and on the side of those that held the temple.
But at last, the soldiers that came from Germany, being too numerous for the others,
got the hill into their possession, where Domitian, with many other of the principal
Romans, providentially escaped, while the rest of the multitude were entirely cut
to pieces, and Sabinus himself was brought to Vitellius, and then slain; the soldiers
also plundered the temple of its ornaments, and set it on fire. But now within a
day’s time came Antonius, with his army, and were met by Vitellius and his army;
and having had a battle in three several places, the last were all destroyed. Then
did Vitellius come out of the palace, in his cups, and satiated with an extravagant
and luxurious meal, as in the last extremity, and being drawn along through the
multitude, and abused with all sorts of torments, had his head cut off in the midst
of Rome, having retained the government eight months and five days and had he lived
much longer, I cannot but think the empire would not have been sufficient for his
lust. Of the others that were slain, were numbered above fifty thousand. This battle
was fought on the third day of the month Apelleus [Casleu]; on the next day Mucianus
came into the city with his army, and ordered Antonius and his men to leave off
killing; for they were still searching the houses, and killed many of Vitellius’s
soldiers, and many of the populace, as supposing them to be of his party, preventing
by their rage any accurate distinction between them and others. He then produced
Domitian, and recommended him to the multitude, until his father should come himself;
so the people being now freed from their fears, made acclamations of joy for Vespasian,
as for their emperor, and kept festival days for his confirmation, and for the destruction
of Vitellius.

5. And now, as Vespasian was come to Alexandria, this good news came from Rome,
and at the same time came embassies from all his own habitable earth, to congratulate
him upon his advancement; and though this Alexandria was the greatest of all cities
next to Rome, it proved too narrow to contain the multitude that then came to it.
So upon this confirmation of Vespasian’s entire government, which was now settled,
and upon the unexpected deliverance of the public affairs of the Romans from ruin,
Vespasian turned his thoughts to what remained unsubdued in Judea. However, he himself
made haste to go to Rome, as the winter was now almost over, and soon set the affairs
of Alexandria in order, but sent his son Titus, with a select part of his army,
to destroy Jerusalem. So Titus marched on foot as far as Nicopolis, which is distant
twenty furlongs from Alexandria; there he put his army on board some long ships,
and sailed upon the river along the Mendesian Nomus, as far as the city Tumuis;
there he got out of the ships, and walked on foot, and lodged all night at a small
city called Tanis. His second station was Heracleopolis, and his third Pelusium;
he then refreshed his army at that place for two days, and on the third passed over
the mouths of the Nile at Pelusium; he then proceeded one station over the desert,
and pitched his camp at the temple of the Casian Jupiter, and on the next day at
Ostracine. This station had no water, but the people of the country make use of
water brought from other places. After this he rested at Rhinocolura, and from thence
he went to Raphia, which was his fourth station. This city is the beginning of Syria.
For his fifth station he pitched his camp at Gaza; after which he came to Ascalon,
and thence to Jamnia, and after that to Joppa, and from Joppa to Cesarea, having
taken a resolution to gather all his other forces together at that place.