08-CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

“Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” —Jesus at his crucifixion,Luke 23:28.

“The days shall come that thine enemies shalt cast a trench about thee, (will enclose thee with a rampart, – Campbell’s translation) and compass thee around, and keep thee in on every side.”Prediction of Messiah,Luke 19:43.

“And now did Titus consult with his commanders what was to be done. Those that were of the warmest tempers thought he should bring the whole army against the city, and storm the wall; for that hitherto no more than a part of their army had fought with the Jews, but that in case the entire army was to come at once, they would not be able to sustain their attacks, but would be overwhelmed by their darts. But of those that were for a more cautious management, some were for raising their banks again, and others advised to let the banks alone, but to lie still before the city, to guard against the coining out of the Jews, and against their carrying provisions into the city, and so to leave the enemy to the famine, and this without direct fighting with them; for that despairwas not to be conquered, especially as to those who are desirous to die by the sword, while a more terrible misery than that is reserved for them.

“However, Titus did not think it fit for so great an army to lie entirely idle, and that yet it was in vain to fight with those that would be destroyed one by another: he also showed them how impracticable it was to cast up any more banks, for want of materials, and to guard against the Jews coming out still more impracticable: as also, that to encompass the whole city around with his army, was not very easy, by reason of its magnitude, and the difficulty of the situation, and on other accounts dangerous, upon the sallies the Jews might make out of the city. For although they might guard the known passages out of the place, yet would they, when they found themselves under the greatest distress, contrive secret passages out, as being well acquainted, with all such places; and if any provisions were carried in by stealth, the siege would thereby be longer delayed.

“He also owned, that he was afraid that the length of time thus to be spent would diminish the glory of his success: for though it be true that length of time will perfect everything, yet that to do what we do in a little time, is still necessary to the gaining reputation; that, therefore, his opinion was, that if they aimed at quickness, joined with security, they must build a wall around about the whole city, which was, he thought, the only way to prevent the Jews from coming out any way, and that then they would either entirely despair of saving the city, and so would surrender it up to him, or be still the more easily conquered, when the famine had farther weakened them. For that, besides this wall, he would not lie entirely at rest afterward, but would take care then to have banks raised again, when those that would oppose them were become weaker. But that, if anyone should think such a work to be too great, and not to be finished without much difficulty, he ought to consider that it is not fit for Romans to undertake any small work; and that none but God himself could with ease accomplish any great thing whatsoever.

“These arguments prevailed with the commanders. So Titus gave orders that the army should be distributed to their several shares of this work; and indeed there now came upon the soldiers a certain divine fury, so that they did not only part the whole wall that was to be built among them, nor did only one legion strive with another, but the lesser division of the army did the same; insomuch that each soldier was ambitious to please his decurion, each decurion his centurion, each centurion his tribune, and the ambition of the tribunes was to please their superior commanders; while Caesar himself took notice of, and rewarded the like contention in those commanders; for he went around about the works many times every day, and took a view of what was done.

“Titus began the wall from the camp to the Assyrians, where his own camp was pitched, and drew it down to the lower parts of Cenopolis; thence it went along the valley of Kidron to the Mount of Olives; it then bent toward the south, and encompassed the mountain as far as the rock called Peristereon, and that other hill which lies next it, and is over the valley which reaches to Siloam; whence it bended again to the west and went down to the valley of the Fountain, beyond which it went up again at the monument of Ananus the high priest, and encompassing that mountain where Pompey had formerly pitched his camp, it returned. back to the north side of the city, and was carried on as far as a certain village called the House of the Erebinthi; after which it encompassed Herod’s monument, and there, on. the east, was joined to Titus’s own camp, where it began.

“Now, the length of this wall was forty furlongs⁸, one only abated. Now at this wall without were erected thirteen places to keep garrison in, whose circumferences put together amounted to ten furlongs: the whole was completed in three days: so that what would naturally have required some months, was done in so short an interval as is incredible. When Titus had therefore encompassed the city with this wall, and put garrisons into proper places, he went around the wall at the first watch of the night and observed how the guard was kept; the second watch he allotted to Alexander; the commanders of legions took the third watch. They also cast lots among themselves who should be upon the watch in the night time, and who should go all night long around the spaces that were interposed between the garrisons.

“So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children, also, and the young men wandered about the market places like shadows, and swelled with the famine, and fell down dead, wheresoever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it, and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves; for many died as they were burying others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come. Nor was there any lamentation made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those that were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths.

“A deep silence, also, and a kind of deadly night had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves for they broke open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies, and plundered them of what they had, and carrying off the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the points of their swords in their dead bodies; and in order to prove what metal they were made of, they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for those that entreated them to lend them their right hand, and their sword to despatch them, they were too proud to grant their request, and left them to be consumed by the famine. Now, every one of these died with their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the seditions alive behind them. Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies. But afterward, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from the walls into the valleys beneath.

“However, when Titus, in going his rounds along those valleys, saw them full of dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction running about them, he gave a groan, and spreading ont his hands to heaven, called Heaven to witness that this was not his doing; and such was the sad case of the city itself. But the Romans were very joyful, since none of the seditious could now make sallies out of the city, because they themselves were disconsolate, and the famine already touched them also. These Romans, besides, had great plenty of corn and other necessaries out of Syria, and out of the neighboring provinces; many of which would stand near to the wall of the city, and show the people what great quantities of provisions they had, and so make the enemy more sensible of their famine, by the great plenty, even to satiety, which they had themselves.

“However, when the seditious still showed no inclinations of yielding, Titus, out of his commiseration of the people that remained, and out of his earnest desire of rescuing what was still left out of these miseries, began to raise the banks again, although materials for them were hard to be come at; for all the trees that were about the city had been already cut down, for the making of the former banks. Yet did the soldiers bring with them other materials from the distance of ninety furlongs, and thereby raised banks in four parts, much greater than the former, though this was done only at the tower of Antonia. So Caesar went his rounds through the legions, and hastened on the works, and showed the robbers that they were now in his hands. But these men, and these only, were incapable of repenting of the wickedness they had been guilty of, and separating their souls from their bodies, they used them both as if they belonged to other folks, and not to themselves. For no gentle affection could touch their souls, nor could any pain affect their bodies, since they could still tear the dead bodies of the people as dogs do, and fill the prisons with those that were sick.” The cruelty of Simon continued unabated, and Matthias the high priest, who opened to him the gates, now fell a victim to it. “This Matthias was the son of Boethus, and was one of the high priests, one that had been very faithful to the people, and in great esteem with them; he, when the multitude were distressed by the zealots, among whom John was numbered, persuaded the people to admit this Simon to come in to assist them, while he had made no terms with him, nor expected any thing that was evil from him.

“But when Simon was come in, and had gotten the city under his power, he esteemed him that had advised them to admit him as his enemy equally with the rest, as looking upon that advice as a piece of his simplicity only; so he had him then brought before him, and condemned to die for being on the side of the Romans, without giving him leave to make his defense. He condemned also his three sons to die with him; for as to the fourth, he prevented him by running away to Titus before. And when he begged for this, that he might be slain before his sons, and that as a favor, on account that he had procured the gates of the city to be opened to him, he gave order that he should be slain the last of them all; so he was not slain till he had seen his sons slain before his eyes, and that by being produced over against the Romans; for such a charge had Simon given to Ananus, the son of Bamadus, who was the most barbarous of all his guards.

“He also jested upon him, and told him that he might now see whether those to whom he intended to go over would send him any succors or not: but still he forbade their dead bodies should be buried. After the slaughter of these, a certain priest, Ananias the son of Masambalus, a person of eminence, as also Arisleus, the scribe of the Sanhedrin, and born at Emmaus, and with them fifteen men of figure among the people were slain. They also kept Josephus’ father in prison, and made public proclamation that no citizen whosoever should either speak to him himself, or go into his company among others for fear he should betray them. They also slew such as joined in lamenting these men, without any farther examination.

“In the mean time, Josephus, as he was going around the city, had his head wounded by a stone that was thrown at him; upon which he fell down as giddy. Upon which fall of his the Jews made a sally, and he had been hurried away into the city, if Caesar had not sent men to protect him immediately; and, as these men were fighting, Josephus was taken up, though he heard little of what was done. So the seditious supposed they had now slain that man whom they were the most desirous of killing, and made thereupon a great noise in way of rejoicing. This accident was told in the city; and the multitude that remained became very disconsolate at the news, as being persuaded that he was really dead, on whose account alone they could venture to desert to the Romans.

“But when Josephus’ mother heard in prison that her son was dead, she said to those that watched about her that ‘she had always been of opinion since the siege at Jotapata that he would be slain, and she should never enjoy him alive any more.’ She also made great lamentation privately to the maidservants that were about her, and said, ‘that this was all the advantage she had of bringing so extraordinary a person as this son into the world, that she should not be able even to bury that son of hers, by whom she expected to have been buried herself.’ However, this false report did not put his mother to pain, nor afford merriment to the robbers long; for Josephus soon recovered of his wound, and came out, and cried aloud, ‘that it would not be long ere they should be punished for this wound they had given him.’ He also made a fresh exhortation to the people, to come out upon the security that would be given to them. The sight of Josephus encouraged the people greatly, and brought a great consternation upon the seditious.

“Hereupon some of the deserters, having no other way, leaped down from the wall immediately, while others of them went out of the city with stones, as if they would fight them; but thereupon they fled away to the Romans. But here a worse fate accompanied these than what they had found within the city; and they met with a quicker despatch from the too great abundance they had among the Romans than they could have done from the famine among the Jews: for when they came first to the Romans, they were puffed up by the famine, and swelled like men in a dropsy: but indulging their appetites occasioned sudden death to many of them, those only escaping who had prudence enough to take but little food at a time, and satisfy themselves by degrees.”

There was still another calamity awaiting many of them. A report was circulated that the deserters had swallowed gold as the means of bringing it away, whereupon the Syrians and Arabians cut them in pieces, searching their bodies for the treasures. In the course of one night not less than two thousand of these deserters were dissected.

“When Titus came to the knowledge of this wicked practice, he had like to have surrounded those that had been guilty of it with his horse, and have shot them dead: and he had done it, had not their number been so very great, and those that were liable to this punishment would have been manifold more than those whom they had slain. However, he called together the commanders of the auxiliary troops he had with him, as well as the commanders of the Roman legions, (for some of his own soldiers had been also guilty herein, as he had been informed,) and had great indignation against both sorts of them, and said to them, ‘What! have any of my own soldiers done such things as this out of the uncertain hope of gain, without regarding their own weapons, which are made of silver and gold? Moreover, do the Arabians and Syrians now first of all begin to govern themselves as they please, and to indulge their appetites in a foreign war, and then, out of their barbarity in murdering men, and out of their hatred to the Jews, get it ascribed to the Romans?’ for this infamous practice was said to be spread among some of his own soldiers also.

Titus then threatened that he would put such men to death, if any of them were discovered to be so insolent as to do so again: moreover, he gave it in charge to the legions, that they should make a search after such as were suspected, and should bring them to him. But it appeared that the love of money was too hard for all their dread of punishment, and a vehement desire of gain is natural to men, and no passion is so venturesome as covetousness; otherwise such passions have certain bounds, and are subordinate to fear. But, in reality, it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction. This, therefore, which was forbidden by Caesar under such a threatening, was ventured upon privately against the deserters, and these barbarians would go out still, and meet those that ran away before any saw them, and, looking about them to see that no Romans spied them, they dissected them, and pulled this polluted money out of their bowels; which money was still found in a few of them, while yet a great many were destroyed by the bare hope there was of thus getting by them: which miserable treatment made them that were deserting to return back again into the city.

“But, as for John, when he could no longer plunder the people, he betook himself to sacrilege, and melted down many of the sacred utensils, which had been given to the temple, as also many of those vessels which were necessary for such as ministered about holy things, the caldrons, the dishes, and the tables; nay, he did not abstain from those pouring vessels that were sent them by Augustus and his wife; for the Roman emperors did ever both honor and adorn this temple: whereas this man, who was a Jew, seized upon what were the donations of foreigners, and said to those that were with him, that it was proper for them to use divine things while they were fighting for the divinity, without fear, and that such whose warfare is for the temple should live of the temple; on which account he emptied the vessels of that sacred wine and oil which the priests kept to be poured on the burnt-offerings, and which lay in the inner court of the temple, and distributed it among the multitude, who, in their anointing themselves, and drinking, used each of them above a hin (three pints) of them. And here I cannot but speak my mind, and what the concern I am under dictates to me, and it is this: I suppose, that had the Romans made any longer delay in coming against these villains, the city would either have been swallowed up by the ground opening upon them, or been overflowed by water, or else been destroyed by such thunder as the country of Sodom⁹perished by, for it had brought forth a generation of men much more atheistical than were those that suffered such punishments; for by their madness it was that all the people came to be destroyed.

“And indeed, why do I relate these. particular calamities? while Manneus, the son of Lazarus, came running to Titus at this very time, and told him, that there had been carried out through that one gate which was intrusted to his care no fewer than one hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty dead bodies, in the interval between the, fourteenth day of the month Nisan, when the Romans pitched their camp by the city, and the first day of the month Tamuz. This was itself a prodigious multitude: and though this man was not himself set as a governor at that gate, yet was he appointed to pay the public stipend for carrying these bodies out, and so was obliged of necessity to number them, while the rest were buried by their relations: though all their burial was but this, to bring them away, and cast them out of the city.

“After this man, there ran away to Titus many of the eminent citizens and told him the entire number of the poor that were dead, and that no fewer than six hundred thousand were thrown out at the gates; though still the number of the rest could not be discovered; and they told him farther, that, when they were no longer able to carry out the dead bodies of the poor, they laid their corpses on heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein; as also that a medimnus of wheat was sold for a talent, and that when, a while afterward, it was not possible to gather herbs, by reason the city was walled about, some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search the common sewers, and dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung which they got there; and what they of old could not endure so much as to see, they now used for food. When the Romans barely heard of all this, they commiserated their case; while the seditious, who saw it also, did not repent, but suffered the same distress to come upon themselves; for they were blinded by that fate which was already coming upon the city and upon themselves also.”

Unexampled as were the Jews’ calamities, they still increased every day. The famine, which had hitherto preyed only on the people, now began to be felt by the seditious also. But this was so far from producing any penitence among them, that they seemed to rise in wickedness as the judgments of the city increased in severity. Their despair only served to increase their fury. The multitude of dead bodies which lay in heaps produced a pestilential atmosphere, and impeded the progress of those who attempted to make sallies against the Romans. Nevertheless, as their right hands were already polluted with the murders of their own countrymen, they rushed without remorse over the heaps of dead bodies, and fought, not in hope of victory, but brutally glorying even in their despair.

“And now the Romans, although they were greatly distressed in getting together their materials, raised their banks in one and twenty days, after they had cut down all the trees that were in the country that adjoined to the city, and that for ninety furlongs round about, as I have already related. And truly, the very view itself of the country was a melancholy thing; for those places which were before adorned with trees and pleasant gardens were now become a desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down; nor could any foreigner, that had formerly seen Judea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change; for the war had laid all the signs of beauty quite waste; nor, if any one, that had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again; but though he were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it notwithstanding.

“And now the banks were finished, they afforded a foundation of fear both to the Romans and to the Jews; for the Jews expected that the city would be taken, unless they could burn those banks; as did the Romans expect, that if they were once burned down they should never be able to take it; for there was a mighty scarcity of materials, and the bodies of the soldiers began to fail with such hard labors, as did their souls faint with so many instances of ill success; nay, the very calamities themselves that were in the city proved a greater discouragement to the Romans than to those within the city; for they found the fighting men of the Jews to be not at all mollified among such their sore afflictions, while they had themselves perpetually less and less hopes of success and their banks were forced to yield to the stratagems of the enemy, their engines to the firmness of their wall, and their closest fights to the boldness of their attack; and what was their greatest discouragement of all, they found the Jews’ courageous souls to be superior to the multitude of the miseries they were under by their sedition, their famine, and the war itself; insomuch that they were ready to imagine, that the violence of their attacks was invincible, and that the alacrity they showed could not be discouraged by their calamities; for what would not those be able to bear, if they should be fortunate, who turned their very misfortunes to the improvement of their valor? These considerations made the Romans to keep a stronger guard about their banks than they formerly had done.”

Before the battering engines were brought to bear upon the walls, John and his party sallied out with their torches, and attempted to burn them, but they did not succeed as they had done on former occasions; the Roman soldiers guarded them with greater care, and the sallies of the Jews began to be ill-concerted and languid, so that falling back from the attack, they returned reproaching each other for cowardice and effecting nothing.

“So when the Jews were retreated, the Romans brought their engines, although they had all the while stones thrown at them from the tower of Antonia, and were assaulted by fire and sword, and by all sorts of darts which necessity afforded the Jews to make use of; for although these had great dependance on their own wall, and a contempt of the Roman engines, yet did they endeavor to hinder the Romans from bringing them. Now these Romans struggled hard, on the contrary, to bring them, as deeming that this zeal of the Jews was in order to avoid any impression to be made on the tower of Antonia, because its wall was but weak, and its foundations rotten. However, that tower did not yield to the blows given it from the engines; yet did the Romans bear the impressions made by the enemies’ darts, which were perpetually cast at them, and did not give way to any of those dangers that came upon them. from above, and so they brought their engines to bear.

“But then, as they were beneath the other, and were sadly wounded by the stones thrown upon them, some of them threw the shields over their bodies, and partly with their hands, and partly with their bodies, and partly with crows, they undermined its foundations, and with great pains they removed four of its stones. Then night came upon both sides, and put an end to this struggle for the present: however, that night the wall was so shaken with the battering-rams in that place where John had used his stratagem before and had undermined their banks, that the ground then gave way, and the wall fell down suddenly.

“When this accident had unexpectedly happened, the minds of both parties were variously affected; for though one would expect that the Jews would be discouraged, because this fall of their wall was unexpected by them, and they had made no provision in that case, yet did they pull up their courage because the tower of Antonia itself was still standing; as was the unexpected joy of the Romans at this fall of the wall soon quenched by the sight they had of another wall, which John and his party had built within it. However, the attack of this second wall appeared to be easier than that of the former, because it seemed a thing of greater facility to get up to it through the parts of the former wall that were now thrown down. This new wall appeared also to be much weaker than the tower of Antonia, and accordingly the Romans imagined, that it had been erected so much on the sudden, that they should soon overthrow it: yet did not any body venture now to go up to this wall; for that such as first ventured to do so must certainly be killed.”

Titus was now very anxious to get possession of this new wall and the tower of Antonia, and knowing men are influenced by hopes and promises so as oftentimes to despise danger and even death itself, he called together the most courageous of his men and made them a long speech, animating them to this most dangerous but important attack.

“‘If we go up to this tower of Antonia, we gain the city; for, if there should be any more occasion for fighting against those within the city, which I do not suppose there will, since we shall then be upon the top of the hill,¹⁰and be upon our enemies before they can have taken breath, these advantages promise us no less than a certain and sudden victory. As for that person who first mounts the wall, I should blush for shame if I did not make him to be envied of others by those rewards I would bestow upon him. If such a one escape with his life, he shall have the command of others who are now but his equals; although it be true also, that the greatest rewards will accrue to such as die in the attempt.¹¹’”

“Upon this speech of Titus, the rest of the multitude were affrighted at so great a danger. But there was one whose name was Sabinus, a soldier that served among the cohorts, and a Syrian by birth, who appeared to be of very great fortitude, both in the actions he had done and the courage of his soul he had showed; although anybody would have thought, before he came to his work, that he was of such a weak constitution of body, that he was not fit to be a soldier: for his color was black, his flesh was lean and thin, and lay close together: but there was a certain heroic soul that dwelt in this small body, which body was indeed much too narrow for that peculiar courage which was in him.

“Accordingly, he was the first that rose up, when he thus spake: ‘I readily surrender up myself to thee, O Caesar! I first ascend the wall, and I heartily wish that my fortune may follow my courage and my resolution. And if some ill fortune grudge me the success of my undertaking, take notice that my ill success will not be unexpected, but that I choose death voluntarily for thy sake.’ When he had said this, and had spread out his shield over his head with his left hand, and had, with his right hand, drawn his sword, he marched up to the wall, just about the sixth hour of the day.

“There followed him eleven others, and no more, that resolved to imitate his bravery; but still this was the principal person of them all, and went first as excited by a divine fray. Now those that guarded the wall shot at them from thence, and cast innumerable darts upon them from every side; they also rolled very large stones upon them, which overthrew some of those eleven that were with him. But, as for Sabinus himself, he met the darts that were cast at him, and though he was overwhelmed with them, yet did he not leave off the violence of his attack before he had gotten up on the top of the wall, and had put the enemy to flight. For, as the Jews were astonished at his great strength, and the bravery of his soul, and as, withal, they imagined more of them had got upon the wall than really had, they were put to flight.

“And now, one cannot but complain here of fortune, as still envious at virtue, and always hindering the performance of glorious achievements: this was the case of the man before us when he had just attained his purpose; for he then stumbled at a certain large stone, and fell down upon it headlong, with a very great noise. Upon which the Jews turned back, and when they saw him to be alone, and fallen down also, they threw darts at him from every side. However, he got upon his knee, and covered himself with his shield, and at the first defended himself against them, and wounded many of those that came near him: but he was soon forced to relax his right hand, by the multitude of the wounds that had been given him, till at length he was quite covered over with darts, before he gave up the ghost. He was one who deserved a better fate, by reason of his bravery; but, as might be expected, he fell under so vast an attempt. As for the rest of his partners, the Jews dashed three of them to pieces with stones, and slew them, as they were gotten up to the top of the wall; the other eight being wounded, were pulled down, and carried back to the camp. These things were done upon the third day of the month Tamuz.

“Now two days afterward, twelve of those men that were on the forefront, and kept watch upon the banks, called to them the standard bearer of the fifth legion, and two others of a troop of horsemen, and one trumpeter; these went without noise, about the ninth hour of the night, through the ruins, to the tower of Antonia; and when they had cut the throats of the first guards of the place, as they were asleep, they got possession of the wall, and ordered the trumpeter to sound his trumpet. Upon which the rest of the guard got up on the sudden, and ran away before any body could see how many they were that were gotten up: for, partly from the fear they were in, and partly from the sound of the trumpet which they heard, they imagined a great number of the enemy were gotten up. But, as soon as Caesar heard the signal, he ordered the army to put on their armor immediately, and came thither with his commanders, and first of all ascended, as did the chosen men that were with him.

“And, as the Jews were flying away to the temple, they fell into that mine which John had dug under the Roman banks. Then did the seditious of both the bodies of the Jewish army, as well that belonging to John as that belonging to Simon, drive them away; and, indeed, were no way wanting as to the highest degree of force and alacrity: for they esteemed themselves entirely ruined, if once the Romans got into the temple, as did the Romans look upon the same thing as the beginning of their entire conquest. So a terrible battle was fought at the entrance of the temple, while the Romans were forcing their way, in order to get possession of that temple, and the Jews were driving them back to the tower of Antonia; in which battle the darts were on both sides useless as well as the spears, and both sides drew their swords, and fought it out hand to hand.

“Now, during this struggle, the positions of the men were undistinguished on both sides, and they fought at random, the men being intermixed one with another, and confounded, by reason of the narrowness of the place; while the noise that was made fell on the ear after an indistinct manner, because it was so very loud. Great slaughter was now made on both sides, and the combatants trod upon the bodies, and the armor of those that were dead, and dashed them to pieces. Accordingly, to which side soever the battle inclined, those that had the advantage exhorted one another to go on, as did those that were beaten make great lamentation. But still there was no room for flight, nor for pursuit, but disorderly revolutions and retreats, while the armies were intermixed one with another; but those that were in the first ranks were under the necessity of killing or being killed, without any way for escaping; for those on both sides that came behind forced those before them to go on without leaving any space between the armies.

“At length, the Jews’ violent zeal was too hard for the Roman skill, and the battle already inclined entirely that way; for the fight had lasted from the ninth hour of the night till the seventh hour of the day, while the Jews came on in crowds, and had the danger the temple was in for their motive; the Romans having no more here than a part of their army; for those legions on which the soldiers on that side depended had not come up to them. So it was at present thought sufficient by the Romans to take possession of the tower of Antonia.

“But there was one Julian, a centurion, that came from Bithynia, a man of great reputation, whom I had formerly seen in that war, and one of the highest fame, for his skill in war, his strength of body, and the courage of his soul. This man, seeing the Romans giving ground, as he stood by Titus at the tower of Antonia, leaped out, and of himself alone put the Jews to flight, when they were already conquerors; and made them retire as far as the inner court of the temple: from him the multitude fled away in crowds, as supposing that neither his strength nor his violent attacks could be those of a mere man. Accordingly, he rushed through the midst of the Jews, as they dispersed all abroad, and killed thole that he caught. Nor indeed was there any sight that appeared more wonderful in the eyes of Caesar, or more terrible to others than this.

“However, he was himself pursued by fate, which it was not possible that he, who was but a mortal man, should escape; for as he had shoes all full of thick and sharp nails, as had every one of the other soldiers, so when he ran on the pavement of the temple, he slipped and fell down on his back with a very great noise, which was made by his armor.¹²This made those that were running away to turn back; whereupon those Romans that were in the tower of Antonia set up a great shout, as they were in fear for the man. But the Jews got about him in crowds, and struck at him with their spears, and with their swords on all sides. Now, he received a great many of the strokes of these iron weapons upon his shield, and often attempted to get up again, but was thrown down by those that struck at him; yet did he, as he lay along, stab many of them with his sword. Nor was he soon killed, as being covered with his helmet, and his breastplate, in all those parts of his body where he might be mortally wounded; he also pulled his neck close to his body, till his limbs were shattered, and nobody dared come to defend him, and then he yielded to his fate.

“Now Caesar was deeply affected on account of this man of so great fortitude, and especially as he was killed in the sight of so many people; he was desirous himself to come to his assistance, but the place would not give him leave, while such as could have done it, were too much terrified to attempt it. Thus, when Julian had struggled with death a great while, and had let but few of those that had given him his mortal wound go off unhurt, he was slain; then the Jews caught up his dead body, and put the Romans to flight again, and shut them up in the tower of Antonia.”

“To afford a ready passage for his army, Titus now gave orders to his soldiers to dig up the foundations of the tower of Antonia: while he sent at the same time for Josephus to come and address the Jews. Now on this very day, being the seventeenth of the month Thamus, the sacrifice which had been offered to God, called thedaily sacrifice,¹³ceased,there being no person to offer it. At this the Jews were greatly distressed. Titus having learned this fact, directed Josephus to inform John and his party that ‘if he had any malicious inclination for fighting, he might come out with as many of his men as he pleased, in order to fight without the danger of destroying either his city or temple; but he desired that he would not defile the temple nor thereby offend against God. That he might, if he pleased, offer the sacrifices which were now discontinued, by any of the Jews whom he should pitch upon.’

“Upon this, Josephus stood in such a place where he might be heard, not by John only, but by many more, and then declared to them what Caesar had given him in charge, and this in the Hebrew language. So he earnestly prayed them, ‘to spare their own city, and to prevent that fire which was just ready to seize upon the temple, and to offer their usual sacrifices to God therein.’ At these words of his, a great sadness and silence was observed among the people. But the tyrant himself cast many reproaches upon Josephus, with imprecations besides; and added, ‘that he did never fear the taking of the city, because it was God’s own city.’ In answer to which, Josephus thus said with a loud voice, ‘To be sure you have kept this city wonderfully pure for God’s sake; the temple also continues entirely unpolluted ! Nor have you been guilty of any impiety against Him for whose assistance you hope! If any one should deprive thee of thy daily food, you would esteem him to be an enemy to you; but you hope to have that God for your supporter in this war whom you have deprived of his everlasting worship: and you impute those sins to the Romans, who, to this very time, take care to have our laws observed, and almost compel these sacrifices to be still offered to God, which have by thy means been intermitted. Who is there that can avoid groans and lamentations at the amazing change that is made in his city? since very foreigners and enemies do now correct that impiety which you have occasioned; while you who are a Jew, and were educated in our laws, have become a greater enemy to them than the others. But still, John, it is never dishonorable to repent, and amend what has been done amiss even at the last extremity. I dare venture to promise that the Romans shall still forgive you. And take notice that I, who make this exhortation to you, am one of your own nation; I, who am a Jew, do make this promise to you. And it will become you to consider who I am that gives you this counsel, and whence I am derived; for while I am alive I shall never be in such slavery as to forego my own kindred, or forget the laws of our forefathers. You have indignation at me again, and make a clamor at me, and reproach me; indeed I cannot deny but I am worthy of worse treatment than all this amounts to, because, in opposition to fate, I make this kind invitation to you, and endeavor to force deliverance upon those whom God has condemned. And who is there that does not know what the writings of the ancient prophets contain in them? and particularly that oracle which is just now going to be fulfilled upon this miserable city? For they foretold that this city should be taken when somebody shall begin the slaughter of his own countrymen. And are not both the city and the entire temple now full of the dead bodies of your countrymen? It is God, therefore, it is God himself who is bringing on this fire to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, and is going to pluck up this city, which is full of your pollutions.’

“As Josephus spake these words, with groans, and tears in his eyes, his voice was intercepted by sobs. However, the Romans could not but pity the affliction he was under, and wonder at his conduct. But, for John, and those that were with him, they were but the more exasperated against the Romans on this account, and were desirous to get Josephus also into their power: yet did that discourse influence a great many of the better sort; and truly some of them were so afraid of the guards set by the seditious, that they tarried where they were, but still were satisfied that both they and the city were doomed to destruction. Some also there were, who, watching a proper opportunity, when they might quietly get away, fled to the Romans, of whom, were the high priests Joseph and Jesus, and of the sons of the high priests three, whose father was Ishmael, ‘who was beheaded in Cyrene, and four sons of Matthias; many also of the other nobility went over to the Romans together with the high priests.

“Now Caesar not only received these men very kindly in other respects, but, knowing they would not willingly live after the customs of other nations, he sent them to Gophna, and desired them to remain there for the present, and told them, that when he was gotten clear of this war, he would restore them to their possessions again; so they cheer fully retired. to that small city, which them, without fear of any danger. But as they did not appear, the seditious gave out again that those deserters were slain by the Romans, which was done in order to deter the rest from running away, by fear of the like treatment. This trick of theirs succeeded now for a while, as did the like before; for the rest were hereby deterred from deserting, by fear of the like treatment.

“However, when Titus had recalled those men from Gophna, he gave orders that they should go around the wall together with Josephus, and show themselves to the people; upon which a great many fled to the Romans. These also got in a great number together, and stood before the Romans, and besought the seditious, with groans, and tears in their eyes, in the first place to receive the Romans entirely into the city, and save that their own place of residence again; but, that, if they would not agree to such a proposal, they would at least depart out of the temple, and save the holy house for their own use; for that the Romans would not venture to set the sanctuary on fire, but under the most pressing necessity. Yet did the seditious still more and more contradict them; and while they cast loud and bitter reproaches upon these deserters, they also set their engines for throwing of darts, and javelins, and stones upon the sacred gates of the temple, at due distances from one another, insomuch that all the space round about, within the temple, might be compared to a charnel house, so great was the number of the dead bodies therein; as might the holy house itself be compared to a citadel.

“Accordingly, these men rushed upon these holy places in their armor, that were otherwise unapproachable, and that while their hands were yet warm with the blood of their own people, which they hard shed; nay, they proceeded to such great transgressions that the very same indignation which Jews would naturally have against Romans, had they been guilty of such abuses against them, the Romans had now against Jews, for their impiety in regard to their own religious customs. Nay, indeed, there were none of the Roman soldiers who did not look with a sacred horror upon the holy house, and adored it, and wished that the robbers would repent before their miseries became incurable.

“Now, Titus was deeply affected with this state of things, and reproached John and his party, and said to them, ‘Have not you, vile wretches that you are, by our permission put up this partition wall before your sanctuary? Have not you been allowed to put up the pillars thereto belonging, at due distances, and on it to engrave in Greek, and in your own letters, this prohibition, “that no foreigner should go beyond that wall?“ Have we not given you leave to kill such as go beyond it, though he were a Roman? And what do you do now, you pernicious villains? Why do you trample upon dead bodies in this temple? and why do you pollute this holy house with the blood of both foreigners and Jews themselves? I appeal to the gods of my own country, and to every god that ever had any regard to this place; (for I do not suppose it to be now regarded by any of them;) I also appeal to my own army, and to those Jews that are now with me, and even to you yourselves, that I do not force you to defile this your sanctuary; and if you will but change the place whereon you will fight, no Roman shall either come near your sanctuary, or offer any affront to it; nay, I will endeavor to preserve you your holy house, whether you will or not.’

“As Josephus explained these things from the mouth of Caesar, both the robbers and the tyrant thought that these exhortations proceeded from fear, and not from his good will to them, and grew insolent upon it. But when Titus saw that these men were neither to be moved by commiseration toward themselves, nor had any concern upon them to have the holy house spared, he again proceeded unwillingly to go on with the war against them. He could not indeed bring all his army against them, the place was so narrow; but choosing thirty soldiers of the most valiant out of every hundred, and committing a thousand to each tribune, and making Cerealis their commander-in-chief, he gave orders that they should attack the guards of the temple about the ninth hour of that night.

“But as he was now in his armor and preparing to go down with them, his friends would not let him go, by reason of the greatness of the danger, and what the commanders suggested to them; for they said, that he would do more by sitting above in the tower of Antonia, as a dispenser of rewards to those soldiers that signalized themselves in the fight, than by coming down, and hazarding his own person in the forefront of them. With this advice Caesar complied. So he sent the soldiers about their work at the hour aforementioned, while he went out himself to a higher place in the tower of Antonia, whence he might see what was done, and there waited with impatience to see the result.

“However, the soldiers that were sent did not find the guards of the temple asleep, as they hoped to have done, but were obliged to fight with them immediately hand to hand, as they rushed with violence upon them with a great shout. Now, as soon as the rest within the temple heard that shout of those that were upon the watch, they ran out in troops upon them. Then did the Romans receive the onset of those that came first upon them; but those that followed them fell upon their own troops, and many of them treated their own soldiers as if they had been enemies; for the great confused noise that was made on both sides hindered them from distinguishing one another’s voices, as did the darkness of the night hinder them from the like distinction by the sight; besides that blindness which arose otherwise also from the passion and the fear they were in at the same time for which reason it was all one to the soldiers who it was they struck at.

“However, this ignorance did less harm to the Romans than to the Jews, because they were joined together under their shields, and made the sallies more regular than the others did, and each of them remembered their watch word, while the Jews were perpetually dispersed abroad, and made their attacks and retreats at random, and so did frequently seem to one another to be enemies; for every one of them received those of their own men that came back in the dark as Romans, and made an assault on them, so that more of them were wounded by their own men than by the enemy, till, upon the coming on of the day, the nature of the fight was discerned by the eye afterward.

“Then did they stand in battle array in distinct bodies, and cast their darts regularly, and regularly defended themselves. Nor did either side yield or grow weary. The Romans contended with each other who should fight the most strenuously, both single men and entire regiments, as being under the eye of Titus; and every one concluded that this day would begin his promotion, if he fought bravely. What the great encouragements of the Jews to act vigorously were, their fear for themselves and for the temple, and the presence of their tyrant, who exhorted some, and beat and threatened others, to act courageously.

“Now, it so happened that this fight was for the most part a stationary one, wherein the soldiers went on and came back in a short time and suddenly; for there was no long space of ground for either of their flights or pursuits. But still there was a tumultuous noise among the Romans from the tower of Antonia, who loudly cried out upon all occasions to their own men to press on courageously, when they were too hard for the Jews, aud to stay, when they were retiring backward; so that here was a kind of theater of war; for what was done in this fight could not be concealed either from Titus or from those that were about him. This fight, which began at the ninth hour of the night, was not over till past the fifth hour of the day, and that in the same place where the battle began neither party could say they had made the other to retire; but both the armies left the victory in uncertainty.

“In the meantime, the rest of the Roman army had in seven days removed a part of the foundations of the tower of Antonia, and had made a ready and broad way to the temple. Then did the legions come near the first court, and began to raise their banks. The one bank was over against the northwest corner of the inner temple; another was at the northen edifice which was between the two gates of the other two, one was at the western cloister of the outer court of the temple; the other against its northern cloister. However, these works were thus far advanced by the Romans, not without great difficulty, and particularly by being obliged to bring their materials from the distance of a hundred furlongs.” They also suffered from considering themselves too secure, and by growing remiss, for while their horses were foraging and had been allowed to run without their bridles, they were seized and carried off in large numbers by the Jews.

“Now, after one day had been interposed since the Romans ascended the breach, many of the seditious were so pressed by the famine upon the present failure of their ravages that they got together, and made an attack on those Roman guards that were upon the mount of Olives, and this about the eleventh hour of the day, as supposing first that they would not expect such an onset, and in the next place, that they were then taking care of their bodies, and that therefore they should easily beat them. But the Romans were apprized of their coming to attack them beforehand, and running together from the neighboring camps on the sudden, prevented them from getting over their fortification, or forcing the wall that was built about them. Upon this came on a sharp fight, and here many great actions were performed on both sides; while the Romans showed both their courage and their skill in war, as did the Jews come on them with immoderate violence, and intolerable passion. The one part were urged on by shame, and the other by necessity; for it seemed a very shameful thing to the Romans to let the Jews go, now they were taken in a kind of net; while the Jews had but one hope of saving themselves, and that was in case they could by violence break through the Roman wall.

“In the mean time, the Jews were so distressed by the fights they had been in, as the war advanced higher and higher, and creeping up to the holy bouse itself, that they, as it were, cut off those limbs of their body which were infected, in order to prevent the distemper’s spreading farther; for they set the northwest cloister, which was joined to the tower of Antonia, on fire, and after that, brake off about twenty cubits of that cloister, and thereby made a beginning in burning the sanctuary: two days after which, or on the twenty-fourth day of the aforementioned month, (Tamuz,) the Romans set fire to the cloister that joined to the other, when the fire went fifteen cubits farther.

“The Jews, in like manner, cut off its roof; nor did they entirely leave off what they were about till the tower of Antonia was parted from the temple, even when it was in their power to have stopped the fire, nay, they lay still while the temple was first set on fire, and deemed this spreading of the fire to be for their own advantage. However, the armies were still fighting one against another about the temple, and the war was managed by continual sallies of particular parties against one another.

“But now the seditious that were in the temple did every day openly endeavor to beat off the soldiers that were upon the banks, and on the twenty-seventh day of the aforementioned month (Tamuz) contrived the following stratagem: they filled that part of the western cloister (of the court of the Gentiles) which was between the beams, and the roof under them, with dry materials, as also with bitumen and pitch, and then retired from that place as though they were tired with the pains they had taken; at which procedure of theirs, many of the most inconsiderate among the Romans, who were carried away with violent passions, followed hard after them as they were retiring, and applied ladders to the cloister, and got up to it suddenly; but the more prudent part of them, when they understood this unaccountable retreat of the Jews, stood still where they were before.

“However, the cloister was full of those that were gone up the ladders; at which time the Jews set it all on fire; and as the flame burst out everywhere on the sudden, the Romans that were out of the danger were seized with a very great consternation, as were those that were in the midst of the danger in the utmost distress. So when they perceived themselves surrounded with the flames, some of them threw themselves down backward into the city, and some among their enemies in the temple, as did many leap down to their own men, and broke their limbs to pieces: but a great number of those that were going to take these violent methods were prevented by the fire; though some prevented the fire by their own swords.

“However, the fire was on the sudden carried so far as to surround those who would not have otherwise perished. As for Caesar himself, he could not, however, but commiserate those that thus perished, although they got up thither without any order for so doing, since there was no way of giving them any relief. Some there were indeed who retired into the wall of the cloister, which was broad, and were preserved out of the fire, but were then surrounded by the Jews; and although they made resistance against the Jews for a long time, yet were they wounded by them, and at length they all fell down dead.

“The Jews also cut off the rest of that cloister from the temple, after they had destroyed those that got up to it. But the next day the Romans burned down the northern cloister entirely as far as the east cloister, whose common angle joined to the valley that was called Kidron, and was built over it; on which account the depth was frightful. And this was the state of the temple at that time.”