who was marching with his armed men. So I was afraid of him, and turned
aside, and escaped by a narrow passage to the lake, and seized on a
ship, and embarked in it, and sailed over to Tarichese. So, beyond my
expectation, I escaped this danger. Whereupon I presently sent for the
chief of the Galileans, and told them after what manner, against all
faith given, I had been very near to destruction from Jonathan and his
colleagues, and the people of Tiberias. Upon which the multitude of the
Galileans were very angry, and encouraged me to delay no longer to make
war upon them, but to permit them to go against John, and utterly
to destroy him, as well as Jonathan and his colleagues. However, I
restrained them, though they were in such a rage, and desired them to
tarry a while, till we should be informed what orders those ambassadors,
that were sent by them to the city of Jerusalem, should bring thence;
for I told them that it was best for them to act according to their
determination; whereupon they were prevailed on. At which time, also,
John, when the snares he had laid did not take effect, returned back to
Gischala.
60. Now, in a few days, those ambassadors whom he had sent, came back
again and informed us, that the people were greatly provoked at Ananus,
and Simon the son of Gamaliel, and their friends; that, without any
public determination, they had sent to Galilee, and had done their
endeavors that I might be turned out of the government. The ambassadors
said further, that the people were ready to burn their houses. They
also brought letters, whereby the chief men of Jerusalem, at the earnest
petition of the people, confirmed me in the government of Galilee, and
enjoined Jonathan and his colleagues to return home quickly. When I had
gotten these letters, I came to the village Arbela, where I procured an
assembly of the Galileans to meet, and bid the ambassadors declare
to them the anger of the people of Jerusalem at what had been done
by Jonathan and his colleagues, and how much they hated their wicked
doings, and how they had confirmed me in the government of their
country, as also what related to the order they had in writing for
Jonathan and his colleagues to return home. So I immediately sent them
the letter, and bid him that carried it to inquire, as well as he could,
how they intended to act [on this occasion.]
61. Now, when they had received that letter, and were thereby greatly
disturbed, they sent for John, and for the senators of Tiberias, and for
the principal men of the Gabarens, and proposed to hold a council,
and desired them to consider what was to be done by them. However, the
governors of Tiberias were greatly disposed to keep the government to
themselves; for they said it was not fit to desert their city, now it
was committed to their trust, and that otherwise I should not delay to
fall upon them; for they pretended falsely that so I had threatened to
do. Now John was not only of their opinion, but advised them, that two
of them should go to accuse me before the multitude [at Jerusalem], that
I do not manage the affairs of Galilee as I ought to do; and that they
would easily persuade the people, because of their dignity, and because
the whole multitude are very mutable. When, therefore, it appeared that
John had suggested the wisest advice to them, they resolved that two of
them, Jonathan and Ananias, should go to the people of Jerusalem, and
the other two [Simon and Joazar] should be left behind to tarry at
Tiberins. They also took along with them a hundred soldiers for their
guard.
62. However, the governors of Tiberias took care to have their city
secured with walls, and commanded their inhabitants to take their arms.
They also sent for a great many soldiers from John, to assist them
against me, if there should be occasion for them. Now John was at
Gischala. Jonathan, therefore, and those that were with him, when they
were departed from Tiberias, and as soon as they were come to Dabaritta,
a village that lay in the utmost parts of Galilee, in the great
plain, they, about midnight, fell among the guards I had set, who both
commanded them to lay aside their weapons, and kept them in bonds upon
the place, as I had charged them to do. This news was written to me by
Levi, who had the command of that guard committed to him by me. Hereupon
I said nothing of it for two days; and, pretending to know nothing about
it, I sent a message to the people of Tiberias, and advised them to lay
their arms aside, and to dismiss their men, that they might go home.
But, supposing that Jonathan, and those that were with him, were already
arrived at Jerusalem, they made reproachful answers to me; yet was I not
terrified thereby, but contrived another stratagem against them, for I
did not think it agreeable with piety to kindle the fire of war against
the citizens. As I was desirous to draw those men away from Tiberias,
I chose out ten thousand of the best of my armed men, and divided them
into three bodies, and ordered them to go privately, and lie still as
an ambush, in the villages. I also led a thousand into another village,
which lay indeed in the mountains, as did the others, but only four
furlongs distant from Tiberias; and gave orders, that when they saw my
signal, they should come down immediately, while I myself lay with my
soldiers in the sight of every body. Hereupon the people of Tiberias, at
the sight of me, came running out of the city perpetually, and abused
me greatly. Nay, their madness was come to that height, that they made a
decent bier for me, and, standing about it, they mourned over me in the
way of jest and sport; and I could not but be myself in a pleasant humor
upon the sight of this madness of theirs.
63. And now being desirous to catch Simon by a wile, and Joazar with
him, I sent a message to them, and desired them to come a little way out
of the city, and many of their friends to guard them; for I said I
would come down to them, and make a league with them, and divide the
government of Galilee with them. Accordingly, Simon was deluded on
account of his imprudence, and out of the hopes of gain, and did not
delay to come; but Joazar, suspecting snares were laid for him, staid
behind. So when Simon was come out, and his friends with him, for his
guard, I met him, and saluted him with great civility, and professed
that I was obliged to him for his coming up to me; but a little while
afterward I walked along with him as though I would say something to him
by myself; and when I had drawn him a good way from his friends, I took
him about the middle, and gave him to my friends that were with me, to
carry him into a village; and, commanding my armed men to come down, I
with them made an assault upon Tiberias. Now, as the fight grew hot on
both sides, and the soldiers belonging to Tiberias were in a fair way to
conquer me, [for my armed men were already fled away,] I saw the posture
of my affairs; and encouraging those that were with me, I pursued those
of Tiberias, even when they were already conquerors, into the city. I
also sent another band of soldiers into the city by the lake, and gave
them orders to set on fire the first house they could seize upon. When
this was done, the people of Tiberinas thought that their city was taken
by force, and so threw down their arms for fear, and implored, they,
their wives, and children, that I would spare their city. So I was
over-persuaded by their entreaties, and restrained the soldiers from the
vehemency with which they pursued them; while I myself, upon the coming
on of the evening, returned back with my soldiers, and went to refresh
myself. I also invited Simon to sup with me, and comforted him on
occasion of what had happened; and I promised that I would send him safe
and secure to Jerusalem, and withal would give him provisions for his
journey thither.
64. But on the next day, I brought ten thousand armed men with me, and
came to Tiberias. I then sent for the principal men of the multitude
into the public place, and enjoined them to tell me who were the authors
of the revolt; and when they told me who the men were, I sent them bound
to the city Jotapata. But as to Jonathan and Ananias, I freed them from
their bonds, and gave them provisions for their journey, together with
Simon and Joazar, and five hundred armed men who should guard them;
and so I sent them to Jerusalem. The people of Tiberias also came to me
again, and desired that I would forgive them for what they had done; and
they said they would amend what they had done amiss with regard to me,
by their fidelity for the time to come; and they besought me to preserve
what spoils remained upon the plunder of the city, for those that had
lost them. Accordingly, I enjoined those that had got them, to bring
them all before us; and when they did not comply for a great while, and
I saw one of the soldiers that were about me with a garment on that was
more splendid than ordinary, I asked him whence he had it; and when
he replied that he had it out of the plunder of the city, I had him
punished with stripes; and I threatened all the rest to inflict a
severer punishment upon them, unless they produced before us whatsoever
they had plundered; and when a great many spoils were brought together,
I restored to every one of Tiberias what they claimed to be their own.
65. And now I am come to this part of my narration, I have a mind to say
a few things to Justus, who hath himself written a history concerning
these affairs, as also to others who profess to write history, but have
little regard to truth, and are not afraid, either out of ill-will or
good-will to some persons, to relate falsehoods. These men do like
those who compose forged deeds and conveyances; and because they are not
brought to the like punishment with them, they have no regard to truth.
When, therefore, Justus undertook to write about these facts, and about
the Jewish war, that he might appear to have been an industrious man,
he falsified in what he related about me, and could not speak truth
even about his own country; whence it is that, being belied by him, I
am under a necessity to make my defense; and so I shall say what I have
concealed till now. And let no one wonder that I have not told the world
these things a great while ago. For although it be necessary for an
historian to write the truth, yet is such a one not bound severely to
animadvert on the wickedness of certain men; not out of any favor to
them, but out of an author's own moderation. How then comes it to pass,
O Justus! thou most sagacious of writers, [that I may address myself to
him as if he were here present,] for so thou boastest of thyself, that
I and the Galileans have been the authors of that sedition which
thy country engaged in, both against the Romans and against the king
[Agrippa, junior] For before ever I was appointed governor of Galilee by
the community of Jerusalem, both thou and all the people of Tiberias
had not only taken up arms, but had made war with Decapolis of Syria.
Accordingly, thou hadst ordered their villages to be burnt, and a
domestic servant of thine fell in the battle. Nor is it I only who
say this; but so it is written in the Commentaries of Vespasian, the
emperor; as also how the inhabitants of Decapolis came clamoring to
Vespasian at Ptolemais, and desired that thou, who wast the author [of
that war], mightest be brought to punishment. And thou hadst certainly
been punished at the command of Vespasian, had not king Agrippa, who had
power given him to have thee put to death, at the earnest entreaty
of his sister Bernice, changed the punishment from death into a long
imprisonment. Thy political administration of affairs afterward doth
also clearly discover both thy other behavior in life, and that thou
wast the occasion of thy country's revolt from the Romans; plain signs
of which I shall produce presently. I have also a mind to say a few
things to the rest of the people of Tiberias on thy account, and to
demonstrate to those that light upon this history, that you bare no
good-will, neither to the Romans, nor to the king. To be sure, the
greatest cities of Galilee, O Justus! were Sepphoris, and thy country
Tiberias. But Sepphoris, situated in the very midst of Galilee, and
having many villages about it, and able with ease to have been bold and
troublesome to the Romans, if they had so pleased, yet did it resolve to
continue faithful to those their masters, and at the same time excluded
me out of their city, and prohibited all their citizens from joining
with the Jews in the war; and, that they might be out of danger from me,
they, by a wile, got leave of me to fortify their city with walls: they
also, of their own accord, admitted of a garrison of Roman legions, sent
them by Cestlus Gallus, who was then president of Syria, and so had
me in contempt, though I was then very powerful, and all were greatly
afraid of me; and at the same time that the greatest of our cities,
Jerusalem, was besieged, and that temple of ours, which belonged to
us all, was in danger of falling under the enemy's power, they sent no
assistance thither, as not willing to have it thought they would bear
arms against the Romans. But as for thy country, O Justus: situated upon
the lake of Gennesareth, and distance from Hippos thirty furlongs,
from Gadara sixty, and from Scythopolis, which was under the king's
jurisdiction, a hundred and twenty; when there was no Jewish city near,
it might easily have preserved its fidelity [to the Romans,] if it
had so pleased them to do, for the city and its people had plenty of
weapons. But, as thou sayest, I was then the author [of their revolts].
And pray, O Justus! who was that author afterwards? For thou knowest
that I was in the power of the Romans before Jerusalem was besieged, and
before the same time Jotapata was taker by force, as well as many other
fortresses, and a great many of the Galileans fell in the war. It was
therefore then a proper time, when you were certainly freed from any
fear on my account, to throw away your weapons, and to demonstrate to
the king and to the Romans, that it was not of choice, but as forced by
necessity, that you fell into the war against them; but you staid till
Vespasian came himself as far as your walls, with his whole army; and
then you did indeed lay aside your weapons out of fear, and your city
had for certain been taken by force, unless Vespasian had complied with
the king's supplication for you, and had excused your madness. It was
not I, therefore, who was the author of this, but your own inclinations
to war. Do not you remember how often I got you under my power, and yet
put none of you to death? Nay, you once fell into a tumult one against
another, and slew one hundred and eighty-five of your citizens, not on
account of your good-will to the king and to the Romans, but on account
of your own wickedness, and this while I was besieged by the Romans in
Jotapata. Nay, indeed, were there not reckoned up two thousand of the
people of Tiberias during the siege of Jerusalem, some of whom were
slain, and the rest caught and carried captives? But thou wilt pretend
that thou didst not engage in the war, since thou didst flee to the
king. Yes, indeed, thou didst flee to him; but I say it was out of fear
of me. Thou sayest, indeed, that it is I who am a wicked man. But then,
for what reason was it that king Agrippa, who procured thee thy life
when thou wast condemned to die by Vespian, and who bestowed so much
riches upon thee, did twice afterward put thee in bonds, and as often
obliged thee to run away from thy country, and, when he had once ordered
thee to be put to death, he granted thee a pardon at the earnest desire
of Bernice? And when [after so many of thy wicked pranks] he made thee
his secretary, he caught thee falsifying his epistles, and drove thee
away from his sight. But I shall not inquire accurately into these
matters of scandal against thee. Yet cannot I but wonder at thy
impudence, when thou hast the assurance to say, that thou hast better
related these affairs [of the war] than have all the others that have
written about them, whilst thou didst not know what was done in Galilee;
for thou wast then at Berytus with the king; nor didst thou know how
much the Romans suffered at the siege of Jotapata, or what miseries they
brought upon us; nor couldst thou learn by inquiry what I did during
that siege myself; for all those that might afford such information
were quite destroyed in that siege. But perhaps thou wilt say, thou hast
written of what was done against the people of Jerusalem exactly. But
how should that be? for neither wast thou concerned in that war, nor
hast thou read the commentaries of Caesar; of which we have evident
proof, because thou hast contradicted those commentaries of Caesar
in thy history. But if thou art so hardy as to affirm, that thou hast
written that history better than all the rest, why didst thou not
publish thy history while the emperors Vespasian and Titus, the generals
in that war, as well as king Agrippa and his family, who were men very
well skilled in the learning of the Greeks, were all alive? for thou
hast had it written these twenty years, and then mightest thou have had
the testimony of thy accuracy. But now when these men are no longer with
us, and thou thinkest thou canst not be contradicted, thou venturest to
publish it. But then I was not in like manner afraid of my own writing,
but I offered my books to the emperors themselves, when the facts were
almost under men's eyes; for I was conscious to myself, that I had
observed the truth of the facts; and as I expected to have their
attestation to them, so I was not deceived in such expectation.
Moreover, I immediately presented my history to many other persons, some
of whom were concerned in the war, as was king Agrippa and some of his
kindred. Now the emperor Titus was so desirous that the knowledge of
these affairs should be taken from these books alone, that he subscribed
his own hand to them, and ordered that they should be published; and for
king Agrippa, he wrote me sixty-two letters, and attested to the truth
of what I had therein delivered; two of which letters I have here
subjoined, and thou mayst thereby know their contents:-- "King Agrippa
to Josephus, however, when thou comest to me, I will inform thee of a
great many things which thou dost not know." So when this history was
perfected, Agrippa, neither by way of flattery, which was not agreeable
to him, nor by way of irony, as thou wilt say, [for he was entirely a
stranger to such an evil disposition of mind,] but he wrote this by way
of attestation to what was true, as all that read histories may do. And
so much shall be said concerning Justus [24] which I am obliged to add
by way of digression.
66. Now, when I had settled the affairs of Tiberias, and had assembled
my friends as a sanhedrim, I consulted what I should do as to John.
Whereupon it appeared to be the opinion of all the Galileans, that
I should arm them all, and march against John, and punish him as the
author of all the disorders that had happened. Yet was not I pleased
with their determination; as purposing to compose these troubles without
bloodshed. Upon this I exhorted them to use the utmost care to learn
the names of all that were under John; which when they had done, and I
thereby was apprized who the men were, I published an edict, wherein I
offered security and my right hand to such of John's party as had a mind
to repent; and I allowed twenty days' time to such as would take this
most advantageous course for themselves. I also threatened, that unless
they threw down their arms, I would burn their houses, and expose their
goods to public sale. When the men heard of this, they were in no small
disorder, and deserted John; and to the number of four thousand threw
down their arms, and came to me. So that no others staid with John but
his own citizens, and about fifteen hundred strangers that came from the
metropolis of Tyre; and when John saw that he had been outwitted by my
stratagem, he continued afterward in his own country, and was in great
fear of me.
67. But about this time it was that the people of Sepphoris grew
insolent, and took up arms, out of a confidence they had in the strength
of their walls, and because they saw me engaged in other affairs also.
So they sent to Cestius Gallus, who was president of Syria, and desired
that he would either come quickly to them, and take their city under his
protection, or send them a garrison. Accordingly, Gallus promised
them to come, but did not send word when he would come: and when I had
learned so much, I took the soldiers that were with me, and made an
assault upon the people of Sepphoris, and took the city by force. The
Galileans took this opportunity, as thinking they had now a proper time
for showing their hatred to them, since they bore ill-will to that city
also. They then exerted themselves, as if they would destroy them all
utterly, with those that sojourned there also. So they ran upon them,
and set their houses on fire, as finding them without inhabitants; for
the men, out of fear, ran together to the citadel. So the Galileans
carried off every thing, and omitted no kind of desolation which they
could bring upon their countrymen. When I saw this, I was exceedingly
troubled at it, and commanded them to leave off, and put them in
mind that it was not agreeable to piety to do such things to their
countrymen: but since they neither would hearken to what I exhorted, nor
to what I commanded them to do, [for the hatred they bore to the
people there was too hard for my exhortations to them,] I bade those
my friends, who were most faithful to me, and were about me, to give on
reports, as if the Romans were falling upon the other part of the city
with a great army; and this I did, that, by such a report being spread
abroad, I might restrain the violence of the Galileans, and preserve
the city of Sepphoris. And at length this stratagem had its effect; for,
upon hearing this report, they were in fear for themselves, and so they
left off plundering and ran away; and this more especially, because they
saw me, their general, do the same also; for, that I might cause this
report to be believed, I pretended to be in fear as well as they.
Thus were the inhabitants of Sepphoris unexpectedly preserved by this
contrivance of mine.
68. Nay, indeed, Tiberias had like to have been plundered by the
Galileans also upon the following occasion:-- The chief men of the
senate wrote to the king, and desired that he would come to them, and
take possession of their city. The king promised to come, and wrote a
letter in answer to theirs, and gave it to one of his bed-chamber, whose
name was Crispus, and who was by birth a Jew, to carry it to Tiberias.
When the Galileans knew that this man carried such a letter, they caught
him, and brought him to me; but as soon as the whole multitude heard of
it, they were enraged, and betook themselves to their arms. So a great
many of them together from all quarters the next day, and came to the
city Asochis, where I then lodged, and made heavy clamors, and called
the city of Tiberias a traitor to them, and a friend to the king; and
desired leave of me to go down and utterly destroy it; for they bore
the like ill-will to the people of Tiberias, as they did to those of
Sepphoris.
69. When I heard this, I was in doubt what to do, and hesitated by what
means I might deliver Tiberias from the rage of the Galileans; for
I could not deny that those of Tiborias had written to the king, and
invited him to come to them; for his letters to them, in answer thereto,
would fully prove the truth of that. So I sat a long time musing with
myself, and then said to them, "I know well enough that the people of
Tiberias have offended; nor shall I forbid you to plunder the city.
However, such things ought to be done with discretion; for they of
Tiberias have not been the only betrayers of our liberty, but many of
the most eminent patriots of the Galileans, as they pretended to be,
have done the same. Tarry therefore till I shall thoroughly find out
those authors of our danger, and then you shall have them all at once
under your power, with all such as you shall yourselves bring in also."
Upon my saying this, I pacifie the multitude, and they left off their
anger, and went their ways; and I gave orders that he who brought the
king's letters should be put into bonds; but in a few days I pretended
that I was obliged, by a necessary affair of my own, to out of the
kingdom. I then called Crispus privately, and ordered him to make
the soldier that kept him drunk, and to run away to the king. So when
Tiberias was in danger of being utterly destroyed a second time, it
escaped the danger by my skillful management, and the care that I had
for its preservation.