the son of Agrippa, over his uncle's kingdom, while Cumanus took upon
him the office of procurator of the rest, which was a Roman province,
and therein he succeeded Alexander; under which Cumanus began the
troubles, and the Jews' ruin came on; for when the multitude were come
together to Jerusalem, to the feast of unleavened bread, and a Roman
cohort stood over the cloisters of the temple, [for they always were
armed, and kept guard at the festivals, to prevent any innovation which
the multitude thus gathered together might make,] one of the soldiers
pulled back his garment, and cowering down after an indecent manner,
turned his breech to the Jews, and spake such words as you might expect
upon such a posture. At this the whole multitude had indignation, and
made a clamor to Cumanus, that he would punish the soldier; while
the rasher part of the youth, and such as were naturally the most
tumultuous, fell to fighting, and caught up stones, and threw them at
the soldiers. Upon which Cumanus was afraid lest all the people should
make an assault upon him, and sent to call for more armed men, who, when
they came in great numbers into the cloisters, the Jews were in a very
great consternation; and being beaten out of the temple, they ran into
the city; and the violence with which they crowded to get out was so
great, that they trod upon each other, and squeezed one another, till
ten thousand of them were killed, insomuch that this feast became the
cause of mourning to the whole nation, and every family lamented their
own relations.
2. Now there followed after this another calamity, which arose from
a tumult made by robbers; for at the public road at Beth-boron, one
Stephen, a servant of Caesar, carried some furniture, which the robbers
fell upon and seized. Upon this Cumanus sent men to go round about to
the neighboring villages, and to bring their inhabitants to him bound,
as laying it to their charge that they had not pursued after the
thieves, and caught them. Now here it was that a certain soldier,
finding the sacred book of the law, tore it to pieces, and threw it into
the fire. 14 Hereupon the Jews were in great disorder, as if their whole
country were in a flame, and assembled themselves so many of them by
their zeal for their religion, as by an engine, and ran together with
united clamor to Cesarea, to Cumanus, and made supplication to him that
he would not overlook this man, who had offered such an affront to God,
and to his law; but punish him for what he had done. Accordingly, he,
perceiving that the multitude would not be quiet unless they had a
comfortable answer from him, gave order that the soldier should be
brought, and drawn through those that required to have him punished, to
execution, which being done, the Jews went their ways.
3. After this there happened a fight between the Galileans and the
Samaritans; it happened at a village called Geman, which is situate in
the great plain of Samaria; where, as a great number of Jews were going
up to Jerusalem to the feast [of tabernacles,] a certain Galilean was
slain; and besides, a vast number of people ran together out of Galilee,
in order to fight with the Samaritans. But the principal men among
them came to Cumanus, and besought him that, before the evil became
incurable, he would come into Galilee, and bring the authors of this
murder to punishment; for that there was no other way to make the
multitude separate without coming to blows. However, Cumanus postponed
their supplications to the other affairs he was then about, and sent the
petitioners away without success.
4. But when the affair of this murder came to be told at Jerusalem, it
put the multitude into disorder, and they left the feast; and without
any generals to conduct them, they marched with great violence to
Samaria; nor would they be ruled by any of the magistrates that were set
over them, but they were managed by one Eleazar, the son of Dineus, and
by Alexander, in these their thievish and seditious attempts. These
men fell upon those that were in the neighborhood of the Acrabatene
toparchy, and slew them, without sparing any age, and set the villages
on fire.
5. But Cumanus took one troop of horsemen, called the troop of Sebaste,
out of Cesarea, and came to the assistance of those that were spoiled;
he also seized upon a great number of those that followed Eleazar, and
slew more of them. And as for the rest of the multitude of those that
went so zealously to fight with the Samaritans, the rulers of Jerusalem
ran out clothed with sackcloth, and having ashes on their head, and
begged of them to go their ways, lest by their attempt to revenge
themselves upon the Samaritans they should provoke the Romans to come
against Jerusalem; to have compassion upon their country and temple,
their children and their wives, and not bring the utmost dangers of
destruction upon them, in order to avenge themselves upon one Galilean
only. The Jews complied with these persuasions of theirs, and dispersed
themselves; but still there were a great number who betook themselves
to robbing, in hopes of impunity; and rapines and insurrections of the
bolder sort happened over the whole country. And the men of power among
the Samaritans came to Tyre, to Ummidius Quadratus, 15 the president of
Syria, and desired that they that had laid waste the country might be
punished: the great men also of the Jews, and Jonathan the son of Ananus
the high priest, came thither, and said that the Samaritans were
the beginners of the disturbance, on account of that murder they had
committed; and that Cumanus had given occasion to what had happened, by
his unwillingness to punish the original authors of that murder.
6. But Quadratus put both parties off for that time, and told them, that
when he should come to those places, he would make a diligent inquiry
after every circumstance. After which he went to Cesarea, and crucified
all those whom Cumanus had taken alive; and when from thence he was come
to the city Lydda, he heard the affair of the Samaritans, and sent for
eighteen of the Jews, whom he had learned to have been concerned in that
fight, and beheaded them; but he sent two others of those that were of
the greatest power among them, and both Jonathan and Ananias, the high
priests, as also Artanus the son of this Ananias, and certain others
that were eminent among the Jews, to Caesar; as he did in like manner
by the most illustrious of the Samaritans. He also ordered that Cumanus
[the procurator] and Celer the tribune should sail to Rome, in order to
give an account of what had been done to Caesar. When he had finished
these matters, he went up from Lydda to Jerusalem, and finding the
multitude celebrating their feast of unleavened bread without any
tumult, he returned to Antioch.
7. Now when Caesar at Rome had heard what Cumanus and the Samaritans
had to say, [where it was done in the hearing of Agrippa, who zealously
espoused the cause of the Jews, as in like manner many of the great men
stood by Cumanus,] he condemned the Samaritans, and commanded that three
of the most powerful men among them should be put to death; he banished
Cumanus, and sent Celer bound to Jerusalem, to be delivered over to the
Jews to be tormented; that he should be drawn round the city, and then
beheaded.
8. After this Caesar sent Felix, 16 the brother of Pallas, to be
procurator of Galilee, and Samaria, and Perea, and removed Agrippa from
Chalcis unto a greater kingdom; for he gave him the tetrarchy which
had belonged to Philip, which contained Batanae, Trachonitis, and
Gaulonitis: he added to it the kingdom of Lysanias, and that province
[Abilene] which Varus had governed. But Claudius himself, when he had
administered the government thirteen years, eight months, and twenty
days, died, and left Nero to be his successor in the empire, whom he had
adopted by his Wife Agrippina's delusions, in order to be his successor,
although he had a son of his own, whose name was Britannicus, by
Messalina his former wife, and a daughter whose name was Octavia, whom
he had married to Nero; he had also another daughter by Petina, whose
name was Antonia.
CHAPTER 13.
Nero Adds Four Cities To Agrippas Kingdom; But The Other
Parts Of Judea Were Under Felix. The Disturbances Which Were
Raised By The Sicarii The Magicians And An Egyptian False
Prophet. The Jews And Syrians Have A Contest At Cesarea.
1. Now as to the many things in which Nero acted like a madman, out of
the extravagant degree of the felicity and riches which he enjoyed, and
by that means used his good fortune to the injury of others; and after
what manner he slew his brother, and wife, and mother, from whom his
barbarity spread itself to others that were most nearly related to him;
and how, at last, he was so distracted that he became an actor in
the scenes, and upon the theater,--I omit to say any more about them,
because there are writers enough upon those subjects every where; but
I shall turn myself to those actions of his time in which the Jews were
concerned.
2. Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom of the Lesser Armenia upon
Aristobulus, Herod's son, 17 and he added to Agrippa's kingdom four
cities, with the toparchies to them belonging; I mean Abila, and that
Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea also, and Tiberias of Galilee; but
over the rest of Judea he made Felix procurator. This Felix took Eleazar
the arch-robber, and many that were with him, alive, when they had
ravaged the country for twenty years together, and sent them to Rome;
but as to the number of the robbers whom he caused to be crucified, and
of those who were caught among them, and whom he brought to punishment,
they were a multitude not to be enumerated.
3. When the country was purged of these, there sprang up another sort of
robbers in Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii, who slew men in the
day time, and in the midst of the city; this they did chiefly at
the festivals, when they mingled themselves among the multitude, and
concealed daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those
that were their enemies; and when any fell down dead, the murderers
became a part of those that had indignation against them; by which means
they appeared persons of such reputation, that they could by no means
be discovered. The first man who was slain by them was Jonathan the high
priest, after whose death many were slain every day, while the fear men
were in of being so served was more afflicting than the calamity itself;
and while every body expected death every hour, as men do in war, so men
were obliged to look before them, and to take notice of their enemies at
a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst
they trust them any longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions and
guarding of themselves, they were slain. Such was the celerity of the
plotters against them, and so cunning was their contrivance.
4. There was also another body of wicked men gotten together, not so
impure in their actions, but more wicked in their intentions, which
laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these murderers.
These were such men as deceived and deluded the people under pretense
of Divine inspiration, but were for procuring innovations and changes
of the government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like
madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that
God would there show them the signals of liberty. But Felix thought this
procedure was to be the beginning of a revolt; so he sent some horsemen
and footmen both armed, who destroyed a great number of them.
5. But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more
mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended to be a
prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by
him; these he led round about from the wilderness to the mount which
was called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem
by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman
garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the
assistance of those guards of his that were to break into the city
with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman
soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them,
insomuch that when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away, with a
few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were
either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were
dispersed every one to their own homes, and there concealed themselves.
6. Now when these were quieted, it happened, as it does in a diseased
body, that another part was subject to an inflammation; for a company
of deceivers and robbers got together, and persuaded the Jews to revolt,
and exhorted them to assert their liberty, inflicting death on those
that continued in obedience to the Roman government, and saying, that
such as willingly chose slavery ought to be forced from such their
desired inclinations; for they parted themselves into different bodies,
and lay in wait up and down the country, and plundered the houses of the
great men, and slew the men themselves, and set the villages on fire;
and this till all Judea was filled with the effects of their madness.
And thus the flame was every day more and more blown up, till it came to
a direct war.
7. There was also another disturbance at Cesarea,--those Jews who were
mixed with the Syrians that lived there rising a tumult against them.
The Jews pretended that the city was theirs, and said that he who built
it was a Jew, meaning king Herod. The Syrians confessed also that its
builder was a Jew; but they still said, however, that the city was a
Grecian city; for that he who set up statues and temples in it could not
design it for Jews. On which account both parties had a contest with
one another; and this contest increased so much, that it came at last to
arms, and the bolder sort of them marched out to fight; for the elders
of the Jews were not able to put a stop to their own people that were
disposed to be tumultuous, and the Greeks thought it a shame for them
to be overcome by the Jews. Now these Jews exceeded the others in
riches and strength of body; but the Grecian part had the advantage
of assistance from the soldiery; for the greatest part of the Roman
garrison was raised out of Syria; and being thus related to the Syrian
part, they were ready to assist it. However, the governors of the city
were concerned to keep all quiet, and whenever they caught those that
were most for fighting on either side, they punished them with stripes
and bands. Yet did not the sufferings of those that were caught affright
the remainder, or make them desist; but they were still more and more
exasperated, and deeper engaged in the sedition. And as Felix came once
into the market-place, and commanded the Jews, when they had beaten the
Syrians, to go their ways, and threatened them if they would not, and
they would not obey him, he sent his soldiers out upon them, and slew
a great many of them, upon which it fell out that what they had was
plundered. And as the sedition still continued, he chose out the most
eminent men on both sides as ambassadors to Nero, to argue about their
several privileges.
CHAPTER 14.
Festus Succeeds Felix Who Is Succeeded By Albinus As He Is
By Florus; Who By The Barbarity Of His Government Forces The
Jews Into The War.
1. Now it was that Festus succeeded Felix as procurator, and made it his
business to correct those that made disturbances in the country. So he
caught the greatest part of the robbers, and destroyed a great many of
them. But then Albinus, who succeeded Festus, did not execute his office
as the other had done; nor was there any sort of wickedness that could
be named but he had a hand in it. Accordingly, he did not only, in his
political capacity, steal and plunder every one's substance, nor did he
only burden the whole nation with taxes, but he permitted the relations
of such as were in prison for robbery, and had been laid there, either
by the senate of every city, or by the former procurators, to redeem
them for money; and no body remained in the prisons as a malefactor but
he who gave him nothing. At this time it was that the enterprises of
the seditious at Jerusalem were very formidable; the principal men
among them purchasing leave of Albinus to go on with their seditious
practices; while that part of the people who delighted in disturbances
joined themselves to such as had fellowship with Albinus; and every one
of these wicked wretches were encompassed with his own band of robbers,
while he himself, like an arch-robber, or a tyrant, made a figure among
his company, and abused his authority over those about him, in order
to plunder those that lived quietly. The effect of which was this, that
those who lost their goods were forced to hold their peace, when they
had reason to show great indignation at what they had suffered; but
those who had escaped were forced to flatter him that deserved to be
punished, out of the fear they were in of suffering equally with the
others. Upon the Whole, nobody durst speak their minds, but tyranny
was generally tolerated; and at this time were those seeds sown which
brought the city to destruction.
2. And although such was the character of Albinus, yet did Gessius
Florus 18 who succeeded him, demonstrate him to have been a most
excellent person, upon the comparison; for the former did the greatest
part of his rogueries in private, and with a sort of dissimulation; but
Gessius did his unjust actions to the harm of the nation after a pompous
manner; and as though he had been sent as an executioner to punish
condemned malefactors, he omitted no sort of rapine, or of vexation;
where the case was really pitiable, he was most barbarous, and in things
of the greatest turpitude he was most impudent. Nor could any one outdo
him in disguising the truth; nor could any one contrive more subtle ways
of deceit than he did. He indeed thought it but a petty offense to get
money out of single persons; so he spoiled whole cities, and ruined
entire bodies of men at once, and did almost publicly proclaim it all
the country over, that they had liberty given them to turn robbers, upon
this condition, that he might go shares with them in the spoils they
got. Accordingly, this his greediness of gain was the occasion that
entire toparchies were brought to desolation, and a great many of the
people left their own country, and fled into foreign provinces.
3. And truly, while Cestius Gallus was president of the province of
Syria, nobody durst do so much as send an embassage to him against
Florus; but when he was come to Jerusalem, upon the approach of the
feast of unleavened bread, the people came about him not fewer in number
than three millions 19 these besought him to commiserate the calamities
of their nation, and cried out upon Florus as the bane of their country.
But as he was present, and stood by Cestius, he laughed at their words.
However, Cestius, when he had quieted the multitude, and had assured
them that he would take care that Florus should hereafter treat them in
a more gentle manner, returned to Antioch. Florus also conducted him
as far as Cesarea, and deluded him, though he had at that very time the
purpose of showing his anger at the nation, and procuring a war upon
them, by which means alone it was that he supposed he might conceal his
enormities; for he expected that if the peace continued, he should have
the Jews for his accusers before Caesar; but that if he could procure
them to make a revolt, he should divert their laying lesser crimes to
his charge, by a misery that was so much greater; he therefore did every
day augment their calamities, in order to induce them to a rebellion.
4. Now at this time it happened that the Grecians at Cesarea had been
too hard for the Jews, and had obtained of Nero the government of the
city, and had brought the judicial determination: at the same time began
the war, in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, and the seventeenth
of the reign of Agrippa, in the month of Artemisius [Jyar.] Now the
occasion of this war was by no means proportionable to those heavy
calamities which it brought upon us. For the Jews that dwelt at Cesarea
had a synagogue near the place, whose owner was a certain Cesarean
Greek: the Jews had endeavored frequently to have purchased the
possession of the place, and had offered many times its value for its
price; but as the owner overlooked their offers, so did he raise
other buildings upon the place, in way of affront to them, and made
working-shops of them, and left them but a narrow passage, and such as
was very troublesome for them to go along to their synagogue. Whereupon
the warmer part of the Jewish youth went hastily to the workmen, and
forbade them to build there; but as Florus would not permit them to use
force, the great men of the Jews, with John the publican, being in the
utmost distress what to do, persuaded Florus, with the offer of eight
talents, to hinder the work. He then, being intent upon nothing but
getting money, promised he would do for them all they desired of him,
and then went away from Cesarea to Sebaste, and left the sedition to
take its full course, as if he had sold a license to the Jews to fight
it out.
5. Now on the next day, which was the seventh day of the week, when the
Jews were crowding apace to their synagogue, a certain man of Cesarea,
of a seditious temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it with the bottom
upward, at the entrance of that synagogue, and sacrificed birds. This
thing provoked the Jews to an incurable degree, because their laws were
affronted, and the place was polluted. Whereupon the sober and moderate
part of the Jews thought it proper to have recourse to their governors
again, while the seditious part, and such as were in the fervor of their
youth, were vehemently inflamed to fight. The seditions also among the
Gentiles of Cesarea stood ready for the same purpose; for they had, by
agreement, sent the man to sacrifice beforehand [as ready to support
him;] so that it soon came to blows. Hereupon Jucundus, the master of
the horse, who was ordered to prevent the fight, came thither, and took
away the earthen vessel, and endeavored to put a stop to the sedition;
but when 20 he was overcome by the violence of the people of Cesarea,
the Jews caught up their books of the law, and retired to Narbata, which
was a place to them belonging, distant from Cesarea sixty furlongs.
But John, and twelve of the principal men with him, went to Florus, to
Sebaste, and made a lamentable complaint of their case, and besought
him to help them; and with all possible decency, put him in mind of the
eight talents they had given him; but he had the men seized upon, and
put in prison, and accused them for carrying the books of the law out of
Cesarea.
6. Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem, although they took this
matter very ill, yet did they restrain their passion; but Florus acted
herein as if he had been hired, and blew up the war into a flame, and
sent some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure, and
pretended that Caesar wanted them. At this the people were in confusion
immediately, and ran together to the temple, with prodigious clamors,
and called upon Caesar by name, and besought him to free them from the
tyranny of Florus. Some also of the seditious cried out upon Florus, and
cast the greatest reproaches upon him, and carried a basket about, and
begged some spills of money for him, as for one that was destitute of
possessions, and in a miserable condition. Yet was not he made ashamed
hereby of his love of money, but was more enraged, and provoked to get
still more; and instead of coming to Cesarea, as he ought to have done,
and quenching the flame of war, which was beginning thence, and so
taking away the occasion of any disturbances, on which account it was
that he had received a reward [of eight talents], he marched hastily
with an army of horsemen and footmen against Jerusalem, that he might
gain his will by the arms of the Romans, and might, by his terror, and
by his threatenings, bring the city into subjection.
7. But the people were desirous of making Florus ashamed of his attempt,
and met his soldiers with acclamations, and put themselves in order
to receive him very submissively. But he sent Capito, a centurion,
beforehand, with fifty soldiers, to bid them go back, and not now make
a show of receiving him in an obliging manner, whom they had so foully
reproached before; and said that it was incumbent on them, in case they
had generous souls, and were free speakers, to jest upon him to his
face, and appear to be lovers of liberty, not only in words, but with
their weapons also. With this message was the multitude amazed; and
upon the coming of Capito's horsemen into the midst of them, they were
dispersed before they could salute Florus, or manifest their submissive
behavior to him. Accordingly, they retired to their own houses, and
spent that night in fear and confusion of face.
8. Now at this time Florus took up his quarters at the palace; and on
the next day he had his tribunal set before it, and sat upon it, when
the high priests, and the men of power, and those of the greatest
eminence in the city, came all before that tribunal; upon which Florus
commanded them to deliver up to him those that had reproached him, and
told them that they should themselves partake of the vengeance to them
belonging, if they did not produce the criminals; but these demonstrated
that the people were peaceably disposed, and they begged forgiveness for
those that had spoken amiss; for that it was no wonder at all that in
so great a multitude there should be some more daring than they ought to
be, and, by reason of their younger age, foolish also; and that it was
impossible to distinguish those that offended from the rest, while every
one was sorry for what he had done, and denied it out of fear of what
would follow: that he ought, however, to provide for the peace of the
nation, and to take such counsels as might preserve the city for the
Romans, and rather for the sake of a great number of innocent people to
forgive a few that were guilty, than for the sake of a few of the wicked
to put so large and good a body of men into disorder.
9. Florus was more provoked at this, and called out aloud to the
soldiers to plunder that which was called the Upper Market-place, and to
slay such as they met with. So the soldiers, taking this exhortation of
their commander in a sense agreeable to their desire of gain, did not
only plunder the place they were sent to, but forcing themselves into
every house, they slew its inhabitants; so the citizens fled along
the narrow lanes, and the soldiers slew those that they caught, and
no method of plunder was omitted; they also caught many of the quiet
people, and brought them before Florus, whom he first chastised with
stripes, and then crucified. Accordingly, the whole number of those that
were destroyed that day, with their wives and children, [for they did
not spare even the infants themselves,] was about three thousand and six
hundred. And what made this calamity the heavier was this new method
of Roman barbarity; for Florus ventured then to do what no one had done
before, that is, to have men of the equestrian order whipped 21 and
nailed to the cross before his tribunal; who, although they were by
birth Jews, yet were they of Roman dignity notwithstanding.
CHAPTER 15.
Concerning Bernice's Petition To Florus, To Spare The Jews,
But In Vain; As Also How, After The Seditious Flame Was
Quenched, It Was Kindled Again By Florus.
1. About this very time king Agrippa was going to Alexandria, to
congratulate Alexander upon his having obtained the government of Egypt
from Nero; but as his sister Bernice was come to Jerusalem, and saw the
wicked practices of the soldiers, she was sorely affected at it, and
frequently sent the masters of her horse and her guards to Florus, and
begged of him to leave off these slaughters; but he would not comply
with her request, nor have any regard either to the multitude of those
already slain, or to the nobility of her that interceded, but only to
the advantage he should make by this plundering; nay, this violence of
the soldiers brake out to such a degree of madness, that it spent itself
on the queen herself; for they did not only torment and destroy those
whom they had caught under her very eyes, but indeed had killed herself
also, unless she had prevented them by flying to the palace, and had
staid there all night with her guards, which she had about her for fear
of an insult from the soldiers. Now she dwelt then at Jerusalem, in
order to perform a vow 22 which she had made to God; for it is usual
with those that had been either afflicted with a distemper, or with any
other distresses, to make vows; and for thirty days before they are to
offer their sacrifices, to abstain from wine, and to shave the hair of
their head. Which things Bernice was now performing, and stood barefoot
before Florus's tribunal, and besought him [to spare the Jews]. Yet
could she neither have any reverence paid to her, nor could she escape
without some danger of being slain herself.
2. This happened upon the sixteenth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar].
Now, on the next day, the multitude, who were in a great agony, ran
together to the Upper Market-place, and made the loudest lamentations
for those that had perished; and the greatest part of the cries were
such as reflected on Florus; at which the men of power were affrighted,
together with the high priests, and rent their garments, and fell down
before each of them, and besought them to leave off, and not to provoke
Florus to some incurable procedure, besides what they had already
suffered. Accordingly, the multitude complied immediately, out of
reverence to those that had desired it of them, and out of the hope they
had that Florus would do them no more injuries.
3. So Florus was troubled that the disturbances were over, and
endeavored to kindle that flame again, and sent for the high priests,
with the other eminent persons, and said the only demonstration that the
people would not make any other innovations should be this, that they
must go out and meet the soldiers that were ascending from Cesarea,
whence two cohorts were coming; and while these men were exhorting
the multitude so to do, he sent beforehand, and gave directions to the
centurions of the cohorts, that they should give notice to those that
were under them not to return the Jews' salutations; and that if they
made any reply to his disadvantage, they should make use of their
weapons. Now the high priests assembled the multitude in the temple, and
desired them to go and meet the Romans, and to salute the cohorts very
civilly, before their miserable case should become incurable. Now
the seditious part would not comply with these persuasions; but the
consideration of those that had been destroyed made them incline to
those that were the boldest for action.
4. At this time it was that every priest, and every servant of God,
brought out the holy vessels, and the ornamental garments wherein they
used to minister in sacred things. The harpers also, and the singers of
hymns, came out with their instruments of music, and fell down before
the multitude, and begged of them that they would preserve those holy
ornaments to them, and not provoke the Romans to carry off those sacred
treasures. You might also see then the high priests themselves, with
dust sprinkled in great plenty upon their heads, with bosoms deprived of
any covering but what was rent; these besought every one of the eminent
men by name, and the multitude in common, that they would not for a
small offense betray their country to those that were desirous to have
it laid waste; saying, "What benefit will it bring to the soldiers to
have a salutation from the Jews? or what amendment of your affairs will
it bring you, if you do not now go out to meet them? and that if they
saluted them civilly, all handle would be cut off from Florus to begin
a war; that they should thereby gain their country, and freedom from all
further sufferings; and that, besides, it would be a sign of great
want of command of themselves, if they should yield to a few seditious
persons, while it was fitter for them who were so great a people to
force the others to act soberly."
5. By these persuasions, which they used to the multitude and to the
seditious, they restrained some by threatenings, and others by the
reverence that was paid them. After this they led them out, and they met
the soldiers quietly, and after a composed manner, and when they were
come up with them, they saluted them; but when they made no answer,
the seditious exclaimed against Florus, which was the signal given for
falling upon them. The soldiers therefore encompassed them presently,
and struck them with their clubs; and as they fled away, the horsemen
trampled them down, so that a great many fell down dead by the strokes
of the Romans, and more by their own violence in crushing one another.
Now there was a terrible crowding about the gates, and while every
body was making haste to get before another, the flight of them all was
retarded, and a terrible destruction there was among those that fell
down, for they were suffocated, and broken to pieces by the multitude of
those that were uppermost; nor could any of them be distinguished by
his relations in order to the care of his funeral; the soldiers also who
beat them, fell upon those whom they overtook, without showing them any
mercy, and thrust the multitude through the place called Bezetha, 23 as
they forced their way, in order to get in and seize upon the temple, and
the tower Antonia. Florus also being desirous to get those places into
his possession, brought such as were with him out of the king's palace,
and would have compelled them to get as far as the citadel [Antonia;]
but his attempt failed, for the people immediately turned back upon him,
and stopped the violence of his attempt; and as they stood upon the tops
of their houses, they threw their darts at the Romans, who, as they were
sorely galled thereby, because those weapons came from above, and they
were not able to make a passage through the multitude, which stopped up
the narrow passages, they retired to the camp which was at the palace.
6. But for the seditious, they were afraid lest Florus should come
again, and get possession of the temple, through Antonia; so they got
immediately upon those cloisters of the temple that joined to Antonia,
and cut them down. This cooled the avarice of Florus; for whereas he
was eager to obtain the treasures of God [in the temple], and on that
account was desirous of getting into Antonia, as soon as the cloisters
were broken down, he left off his attempt; he then sent for the high
priests and the sanhedrim, and told them that he was indeed himself
going out of the city, but that he would leave them as large a garrison
as they should desire. Hereupon they promised that they would make no
innovations, in case he would leave them one band; but not that which
had fought with the Jews, because the multitude bore ill-will against
that band on account of what they had suffered from it; so he changed
the band as they desired, and, with the rest of his forces, returned to
Cesarea.
CHAPTER 16.
Cestius Sends Neopolitanus The Tribune To See In What
Condition The Affairs Of The Jews Were. Agrippa Makes A
Speech To The People Of The Jews That He May Divert Them
From Their Intentions Of Making War With The Romans.
1. However, Florus contrived another way to oblige the Jews to begin
the war, and sent to Cestius, and accused the Jews falsely of revolting
[from the Roman government], and imputed the beginning of the former
fight to them, and pretended they had been the authors of that
disturbance, wherein they were only the sufferers. Yet were not the
governors of Jerusalem silent upon this occasion, but did themselves
write to Cestius, as did Bernice also, about the illegal practices of
which Florus had been guilty against the city; who, upon reading both
accounts, consulted with his captains [what he should do]. Now some
of them thought it best for Cestius to go up with his army, either to
punish the revolt, if it was real, or to settle the Roman affairs on a
surer foundation, if the Jews continued quiet under them; but he thought
it best himself to send one of his intimate friends beforehand, to
see the state of affairs, and to give him a faithful account of the
intentions of the Jews. Accordingly, he sent one of his tribunes, whose
name was Neopolitanus, who met with king Agrippa as he was returning
from Alexandria, at Jamnia, and told him who it was that sent him, and
on what errands he was sent.
2. And here it was that the high priests, and men of power among the
Jews, as well as the sanhedrim, came to congratulate the king [upon his
safe return]; and after they had paid him their respects, they lamented
their own calamities, and related to him what barbarous treatment
they had met with from Florus. At which barbarity Agrippa had great
indignation, but transferred, after a subtle manner, his anger towards
those Jews whom he really pitied, that he might beat down their high
thoughts of themselves, and would have them believe that they had
not been so unjustly treated, in order to dissuade them from avenging
themselves. So these great men, as of better understanding than the
rest, and desirous of peace, because of the possessions they had,
understood that this rebuke which the king gave them was intended
for their good; but as to the people, they came sixty furlongs out of
Jerusalem, and congratulated both Agrippa and Neopolitanus; but the
wives of those that had been slain came running first of all and
lamenting. The people also, when they heard their mourning, fell into
lamentations also, and besought Agrippa to assist them: they also
cried out to Neopolitanus, and complained of the many miseries they had
endured under Florus; and they showed them, when they were come into the
city, how the market-place was made desolate, and the houses plundered.
They then persuaded Neopolitanus, by the means of Agrippa, that he would
walk round the city, with one only servant, as far as Siloam, that he
might inform himself that the Jews submitted to all the rest of the
Romans, and were only displeased at Florus, by reason of his exceeding
barbarity to them. So he walked round, and had sufficient experience
of the good temper the people were in, and then went up to the temple,
where he called the multitude together, and highly commended them for
their fidelity to the Romans, and earnestly exhorted them to keep the
peace; and having performed such parts of Divine worship at the temple
as he was allowed to do, he returned to Cestius.
3. But as for the multitude of the Jews, they addressed themselves to
the king, and to the high priests, and desired they might have leave to
send ambassadors to Nero against Florus, and not by their silence afford
a suspicion that they had been the occasions of such great slaughters
as had been made, and were disposed to revolt, alleging that they
should seem to have been the first beginners of the war, if they did not
prevent the report by showing who it was that began it; and it appeared
openly that they would not be quiet, if any body should hinder them
from sending such an embassage. But Agrippa, although he thought it
too dangerous a thing for them to appoint men to go as the accusers of
Florus, yet did he not think it fit for him to overlook them, as
they were in a disposition for war. He therefore called the multitude
together into a large gallery, and placed his sister Bernice in the
house of the Asamoneans, that she might be seen by them, [which house
was over the gallery, at the passage to the upper city, where the bridge
joined the temple to the gallery,] and spake to them as follows:
4.24 "Had I perceived that you were all zealously disposed to go to war
with the Romans, and that the purer and more sincere part of the people
did not propose to live in peace, I had not come out to you, nor been
so bold as to give you counsel; for all discourses that tend to persuade
men to do what they ought to do are superfluous, when the hearers are
agreed to do the contrary. But because some are earnest to go to war
because they are young, and without experience of the miseries it
brings, and because some are for it out of an unreasonable expectation
of regaining their liberty, and because others hope to get by it, and
are therefore earnestly bent upon it, that in the confusion of your
affairs they may gain what belongs to those that are too weak to resist
them, I have thought proper to get you all together, and to say to
you what I think to be for your advantage; that so the former may grow
wiser, and change their minds, and that the best men may come to no harm
by the ill conduct of some others. And let not any one be tumultuous
against me, in case what they hear me say do not please them; for as
to those that admit of no cure, but are resolved upon a revolt, it
will still be in their power to retain the same sentiments after my
exhortation is over; but still my discourse will fall to the ground,
even with a relation to those that have a mind to hear me, unless
you will all keep silence. I am well aware that many make a tragical
exclamation concerning the injuries that have been offered you by your
procurators, and concerning the glorious advantages of liberty; but
before I begin the inquiry, who you are that must go to war, and who
they are against whom you must fight, I shall first separate those
pretenses that are by some connected together; for if you aim at
avenging yourselves on those that have done you injury, why do you
pretend this to be a war for recovering your liberty? but if you think
all servitude intolerable, to what purpose serve your complaint against
your particular governors? for if they treated you with moderation, it
would still be equally an unworthy thing to be in servitude. Consider
now the several cases that may be supposed, how little occasion there is
for your going to war. Your first occasion is the accusations you have
to make against your procurators; now here you ought to be submissive
to those in authority, and not give them any provocation; but when
you reproach men greatly for small offenses, you excite those whom you
reproach to be your adversaries; for this will only make them leave off
hurting you privately, and with some degree of modesty, and to lay what
you have waste openly. Now nothing so much damps the force of strokes as
bearing them with patience; and the quietness of those who are injured
diverts the injurious persons from afflicting. But let us take it for
granted that the Roman ministers are injurious to you, and are incurably
severe; yet are they not all the Romans who thus injure you; nor hath
Caesar, against whom you are going to make war, injured you: it is not
by their command that any wicked governor is sent to you; for they who
are in the west cannot see those that are in the east; nor indeed is it
easy for them there even to hear what is done in these parts. Now it is
absurd to make war with a great many for the sake of one, to do so with
such mighty people for a small cause; and this when these people are not
able to know of what you complain: nay, such crimes as we complain of
may soon be corrected, for the same procurator will not continue
for ever; and probable it is that the successors will come with more
moderate inclinations. But as for war, if it be once begun, it is not
easily laid down again, nor borne without calamities coming therewith.
However, as to the desire of recovering your liberty, it is unseasonable
to indulge it so late; whereas you ought to have labored earnestly in
old time that you might never have lost it; for the first experience of
slavery was hard to be endured, and the struggle that you might never
have been subject to it would have been just; but that slave who hath
been once brought into subjection, and then runs away, is rather a
refractory slave than a lover of liberty; for it was then the proper
time for doing all that was possible, that you might never have admitted
the Romans [into your city], when Pompey came first into the country.
But so it was, that our ancestors and their kings, who were in much
better circumstances than we are, both as to money, and strong bodies,
and [valiant] souls, did not bear the onset of a small body of the Roman
army. And yet you, who have now accustomed yourselves to obedience from
one generation to another, and who are so much inferior to those who
first submitted, in your circumstances will venture to oppose the entire
empire of the Romans. While those Athenians, who, in order to preserve
the liberty of Greece, did once set fire to their own city; who pursued
Xerxes, that proud prince, when he sailed upon the land, and walked upon
the sea, and could not be contained by the seas, but conducted such an
army as was too broad for Europe; and made him run away like a fugitive
in a single ship, and brake so great a part of Asia at the Lesser
Salamis; are yet at this time servants to the Romans; and those
injunctions which are sent from Italy become laws to the principal
governing city of Greece. Those Lacedemonians also who got the great
victories at Thermopylae and Platea, and had Agesilaus [for their king],
and searched every corner of Asia, are contented to admit the same
lords. Those Macedonians also, who still fancy what great men their
Philip and Alexander were, and see that the latter had promised them
the empire over the world, these bear so great a change, and pay their
obedience to those whom fortune hath advanced in their stead. Moreover,
ten thousand ether nations there are who had greater reason than we to
claim their entire liberty, and yet do submit. You are the only people
who think it a disgrace to be servants to those to whom all the world
hath submitted. What sort of an army do you rely on? What are the arms
you depend on? Where is your fleet, that may seize upon the Roman
seas? and where are those treasures which may be sufficient for your
undertakings? Do you suppose, I pray you, that you are to make war with
the Egyptians, and with the Arabians? Will you not carefully reflect
upon the Roman empire? Will you not estimate your own weakness? Hath not
your army been often beaten even by your neighboring nations, while the
power of the Romans is invincible in all parts of the habitable earth?
nay, rather they seek for somewhat still beyond that; for all Euphrates
is not a sufficient boundary for them on the east side, nor the Danube
on the north; and for their southern limit, Libya hath been searched
over by them, as far as countries uninhabited, as is Cadiz their limit
on the west; nay, indeed, they have sought for another habitable earth
beyond the ocean, and have carried their arms as far as such British
islands as were never known before. What therefore do you pretend to?
Are you richer than the Gauls, stronger than the Germans, wiser than
the Greeks, more numerous than all men upon the habitable earth? What
confidence is it that elevates you to oppose the Romans? Perhaps it will
be said, It is hard to endure slavery. Yes; but how much harder is this
to the Greeks, who were esteemed the noblest of all people under the
sun! These, though they inhabit in a large country, are in subjection to
six bundles of Roman rods. It is the same case with the Macedonians,
who have juster reason to claim their liberty than you have. What is
the case of five hundred cities of Asia? Do they not submit to a single
governor, and to the consular bundle of rods? What need I speak of the
Henlochi, and Colchi and the nation of Tauri, those that inhabit the
Bosphorus, and the nations about Pontus, and Meotis, who formerly
knew not so much as a lord of their own, but are now subject to three
thousand armed men, and where forty long ships keep the sea in peace,
which before was not navigable, and very tempestuous? How strong a plea
may Bithynia, and Cappadocia, and the people of Pamphylia, the Lycians,
and Cilicians, put in for liberty! But they are made tributary without
an army. What are the circumstances of the Thracians, whose country
extends in breadth five days' journey, and in length seven, and is of a
much more harsh constitution, and much more defensible, than yours, and
by the rigor of its cold sufficient to keep off armies from attacking
them? do not they submit to two thousand men of the Roman garrisons? Are
not the Illyrlans, who inhabit the country adjoining, as far as Dalmatia
and the Danube, governed by barely two legions? by which also they put a
stop to the incursions of the Daeians. And for the Dalmatians, who have
made such frequent insurrections in order to regain their liberty, and
who could never before be so thoroughly subdued, but that they always
gathered their forces together again, revolted, yet are they now very
quiet under one Roman legion. Moreover, great advantages might provoke
any people to revolt, the Gauls might do it best of all, as being so
thoroughly walled round by nature; on the east side by the Alps, on the
north by the river Rhine, on the south by the Pyrenean mountains, and
on the west by the ocean. Now although these Gauls have such obstacles
before them to prevent any attack upon them, and have no fewer than
three hundred and five nations among them, nay have, as one may say,
the fountains of domestic happiness within themselves, and send out
plentiful streams of happiness over almost the whole world, these bear
to be tributary to the Romans, and derive their prosperous condition
from them; and they undergo this, not because they are of effeminate
minds, or because they are of an ignoble stock, as having borne a war
of eighty years in order to preserve their liberty; but by reason of
the great regard they have to the power of the Romans, and their good
fortune, which is of greater efficacy than their arms. These Gauls,
therefore, are kept in servitude by twelve hundred soldiers, which are
hardly so many as are their cities; nor hath the gold dug out of the
mines of Spain been sufficient for the support of a war to preserve
their liberty, nor could their vast distance from the Romans by land
and by sea do it; nor could the martial tribes of the Lusitanians and
Spaniards escape; no more could the ocean, with its tide, which yet was
terrible to the ancient inhabitants. Nay, the Romans have extended their
arms beyond the pillars of Hercules, and have walked among the clouds,
upon the Pyrenean mountains, and have subdued these nations. And one
legion is a sufficient guard for these people, although they were so
hard to be conquered, and at a distance so remote from Rome. Who is
there among you that hath not heard of the great number of the Germans?
You have, to be sure, yourselves seen them to be strong and tall, and
that frequently, since the Romans have them among their captives every
where; yet these Germans, who dwell in an immense country, who have
minds greater than their bodies, and a soul that despises death, and
who are in rage more fierce than wild beasts, have the Rhine for the
boundary of their enterprises, and are tamed by eight Roman legions.
Such of them as were taken captive became their servants; and the rest
of the entire nation were obliged to save themselves by flight. Do you
also, who depend on the walls of Jerusalem, consider what a wall the
Britons had; for the Romans sailed away to them, an subdued them while
they were encompassed by the ocean, and inhabited an island that is not
less than the [continent of this] habitable earth; and four legions are
a sufficient guard to so large an island And why should I speak much
more about this matter, while the Parthians, that most warlike body
of men, and lords of so many nations, and encompassed with such mighty
forces, send hostages to the Romans? whereby you may see, if you please,
even in Italy, the noblest nation of the East, under the notion of
peace, submitting to serve them. Now when almost all people under the
sun submit to the Roman arms, will you be the only people that make war
against them? and this without regarding the fate of the Carthaginians,
who, in the midst of their brags of the great Hannibal, and the nobility
of their Phoenician original, fell by the hand of Scipio. Nor indeed
have the Cyrenians, derived from the Lacedemonians, nor the Marmaridite,
a nation extended as far as the regions uninhabitable for want of
water, nor have the Syrtes, a place terrible to such as barely hear
it described, the Nasamons and Moors, and the immense multitude of the
Numidians, been able to put a stop to the Roman valor. And as for the
third part of the habitable earth, [Africa,] whose nations are so many
that it is not easy to number them, and which is bounded by the Atlantic
Sea and the pillars of Hercules, and feeds an innumerable multitude
of Ethiopians, as far as the Red Sea, these have the Romans subdued
entirely. And besides the annual fruits of the earth, which maintain
the multitude of the Romans for eight months in the year, this, over and
above, pays all sorts of tribute, and affords revenues suitable to
the necessities of the government. Nor do they, like you, esteem such
injunctions a disgrace to them, although they have but one Roman legion
that abides among them. And indeed what occasion is there for showing
you the power of the Romans over remote countries, when it is so easy to
learn it from Egypt, in your neighborhood? This country is extended as
far as the Ethiopians, and Arabia the Happy, and borders upon India; it
hath seven millions five hundred thousand men, besides the inhabitants
of Alexandria, as may be learned from the revenue of the poll tax; yet
it is not ashamed to submit to the Roman government, although it hath
Alexandria as a grand temptation to a revolt, by reason it is so full of
people and of riches, and is besides exceeding large, its length being
thirty furlongs, and its breadth no less than ten; and it pays more
tribute to the Romans in one month than you do in a year; nay, besides
what it pays in money, it sends corn to Rome that supports it for four
months [in the year]: it is also walled round on all sides, either by
almost impassable deserts, or seas that have no havens, or by rivers,
or by lakes; yet have none of these things been found too strong for
the Roman good fortune; however, two legions that lie in that city are a
bridle both for the remoter parts of Egypt, and for the parts inhabited
by the more noble Macedonians. Where then are those people whom you are
to have for your auxiliaries? Must they come from the parts of the world
that are uninhabited? for all that are in the habitable earth are [under
the] Romans. Unless any of you extend his hopes as far as beyond the
Euphrates, and suppose that those of your own nation that dwell in
Adiabene will come to your assistance; but certainly these will not
embarrass themselves with an unjustifiable war, nor, if they should
follow such ill advice, will the Parthians permit them so to do; for
it is their concern to maintain the truce that is between them and the
Romans, and they will be supposed to break the covenants between them,
if any under their government march against the Romans. What remains,
therefore, is this, that you have recourse to Divine assistance; but
this is already on the side of the Romans; for it is impossible that so
vast an empire should be settled without God's providence. Reflect upon
it, how impossible it is for your zealous observations of your religious
customs to be here preserved, which are hard to be observed even when
you fight with those whom you are able to conquer; and how can you
then most of all hope for God's assistance, when, by being forced to
transgress his law, you will make him turn his face from you? and if you
do observe the custom of the sabbath days, and will not be revealed
on to do any thing thereon, you will easily be taken, as were your
forefathers by Pompey, who was the busiest in his siege on those days on
which the besieged rested. But if in time of war you transgress the law
of your country, I cannot tell on whose account you will afterward go
to war; for your concern is but one, that you do nothing against any of
your forefathers; and how will you call upon God to assist you, when you
are voluntarily transgressing against his religion? Now all men that go
to war do it either as depending on Divine or on human assistance; but
since your going to war will cut off both those assistances, those that
are for going to war choose evident destruction. What hinders you from
slaying your children and wives with your own hands, and burning this
most excellent native city of yours? for by this mad prank you will,
however, escape the reproach of being beaten. But it were best, O
my friends, it were best, while the vessel is still in the haven, to
foresee the impending storm, and not to set sail out of the port into
the middle of the hurricanes; for we justly pity those who fall into
great misfortunes without fore-seeing them; but for him who rushes
into manifest ruin, he gains reproaches [instead of commiseration].
But certainly no one can imagine that you can enter into a war as by
agreement, or that when the Romans have got you under their power, they
will use you with moderation, or will not rather, for an example to
other nations, burn your holy city, and utterly destroy your whole
nation; for those of you who shall survive the war will not be able to
find a place whither to flee, since all men have the Romans for their
lords already, or are afraid they shall have hereafter. Nay, indeed, the
danger concerns not those Jews that dwell here only, but those of
them which dwell in other cities also; for there is no people upon the
habitable earth which have not some portion of you among them, whom your
enemies will slay, in case you go to war, and on that account also; and
so every city which hath Jews in it will be filled with slaughter for
the sake of a few men, and they who slay them will be pardoned; but if
that slaughter be not made by them, consider how wicked a thing it is to
take arms against those that are so kind to you. Have pity, therefore,
if not on your children and wives, yet upon this your metropolis, and
its sacred walls; spare the temple, and preserve the holy house, with
its holy furniture, for yourselves; for if the Romans get you under
their power, they will no longer abstain from them, when their former
abstinence shall have been so ungratefully requited. I call to witness
your sanctuary, and the holy angels of God, and this country common
to us all, that I have not kept back any thing that is for your
preservation; and if you will follow that advice which you ought to do,
you will have that peace which will be common to you and to me; but if
you indulge four passions, you will run those hazards which I shall be
free from."
5. When Agrippa had spoken thus, both he and his sister wept, and by
their tears repressed a great deal of the violence of the people; but
still they cried out, that they would not fight against the Romans, but
against Florus, on account of what they had suffered by his means. To
which Agrippa replied, that what they had already done was like such as
make war against the Romans; "for you have not paid the tribute which is
due to Caesar 25 and you have cut off the cloisters [of the temple] from
joining to the tower Antonia. You will therefore prevent any occasion
of revolt if you will but join these together again, and if you will but
pay your tribute; for the citadel does not now belong to Florus, nor are
you to pay the tribute money to Florus."
CHAPTER 17.
How The War Of The Jews With The Romans Began, And
Concerning Manahem.
1. This advice the people hearkened to, and went up into the temple with
the king and Bernice, and began to rebuild the cloisters; the rulers
also and senators divided themselves into the villages, and collected
the tributes, and soon got together forty talents, which was the sum
that was deficient. And thus did Agrippa then put a stop to that war
which was threatened. Moreover, he attempted to persuade the multitude
to obey Florus, until Caesar should send one to succeed him; but they
were hereby more provoked, and cast reproaches upon the king, and
got him excluded out of the city; nay, some of the seditious had the
impudence to throw stones at him. So when the king saw that the violence
of those that were for innovations was not to be restrained, and being
very angry at the contumelies he had received, he sent their rulers,
together with their men of power, to Florus, to Cesarea, that he might
appoint whom he thought fit to collect the tribute in the country, while
he retired into his own kingdom.
2. And at this time it was that some of those that principally excited
the people to go to war made an assault upon a certain fortress called
Masada. They took it by treachery, and slew the Romans that were there,
and put others of their own party to keep it. At the same time Eleazar,
the son of Ananias the high priest, a very bold youth, who was at that
time governor of the temple, persuaded those that officiated in the
Divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner.
And this was the true beginning of our war with the Romans; for they
rejected the sacrifice of Caesar on this account; and when many of the
high priests and principal men besought them not to omit the sacrifice,
which it was customary for them to offer for their princes, they would
not be prevailed upon. These relied much upon their multitude, for the
most flourishing part of the innovators assisted them; but they had the
chief regard to Eleazar, the governor of the temple.
3. Hereupon the men of power got together, and conferred with the high
priests, as did also the principal of the Pharisees; and thinking all
was at stake, and that their calamities were becoming incurable, took
counsel what was to be done. Accordingly, they determined to try what
they could do with the seditious by words, and assembled the people
before the brazen gate, which was that gate of the inner temple [court
of the priests] which looked toward the sun-rising. And, in the first
place, they showed the great indignation they had at this attempt for a
revolt, and for their bringing so great a war upon their country; after
which they confuted their pretense as unjustifiable, and told them that
their forefathers had adorned their temple in great part with donations
bestowed on them by foreigners, and had always received what had been
presented to them from foreign nations; and that they had been so
far from rejecting any person's sacrifice [which would be the highest
instance of impiety,] that they had themselves placed those donation
about the temple which were still visible, and had remained there so
long a time; that they did now irritate the Romans to take arms against
them, and invited them to make war upon them, and brought up novel rules
of a strange Divine worship, and determined to run the hazard of
having their city condemned for impiety, while they would not allow any
foreigner, but Jews only, either to sacrifice or to worship therein.
And if such a law should be introduced in the case of a single private
person only, he would have indignation at it, as an instance of
inhumanity determined against him; while they have no regard to the
Romans or to Caesar, and forbid even their oblations to be received
also; that however they cannot but fear, lest, by thus rejecting their
sacrifices, they shall not be allowed to offer their own; and that this
city will lose its principality, unless they grow wiser quickly, and
restore the sacrifices as formerly, and indeed amend the injury [they
have offered foreigners] before the report of it comes to the ears of
those that have been injured.
4. And as they said these things, they produced those priests that were
skillful in the customs of their country, who made the report that all
their forefathers had received the sacrifices from foreign nations. But
still not one of the innovators would hearken to what was said; nay,
those that ministered about the temple would not attend their Divine
service, but were preparing matters for beginning the war. So the men of
power perceiving that the sedition was too hard for them to subdue, and
that the danger which would arise from the Romans would come upon them
first of all, endeavored to save themselves, and sent ambassadors, some
to Florus, the chief of which was Simon the son of Ananias; and others
to Agrippa, among whom the most eminent were Saul, and Antipas, and
Costobarus, who were of the king's kindred; and they desired of them
both that they would come with an army to the city, and cut off the
seditious before it should be too hard to be subdued. Now this terrible
message was good news to Florus; and because his design was to have a
war kindled, he gave the ambassadors no answer at all. But Agrippa was
equally solicitous for those that were revolting, and for those against
whom the war was to be made, and was desirous to preserve the Jews for
the Romans, and the temple and metropolis for the Jews; he was also
sensible that it was not for his own advantage that the disturbances
should proceed; so he sent three thousand horsemen to the assistance
of the people out of Auranitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis, and these
under Darius, the master of his horse, and Philip the son of Jacimus,
the general of his army.
5. Upon this the men of power, with the high priests, as also all the
part of the multitude that were desirous of peace, took courage, and
seized upon the upper city [Mount Sion;] for the seditious part had the
lower city and the temple in their power; so they made use of stones and
slings perpetually against one another, and threw darts continually
on both sides; and sometimes it happened that they made incursions
by troops, and fought it out hand to hand, while the seditious were
superior in boldness, but the king's soldiers in skill. These last
strove chiefly to gain the temple, and to drive those out of it who
profaned it; as did the seditious, with Eleazar, besides what they
had already, labor to gain the upper city. Thus were there perpetual
slaughters on both sides for seven days' time; but neither side would
yield up the parts they had seized on.
6. Now the next day was the festival of Xylophory; upon which the custom
was for every one to bring wood for the altar [that there might never be
a want of fuel for that fire which was unquenchable and always burning].
Upon that day they excluded the opposite party from the observation of
this part of religion. And when they had joined to themselves many of
the Sicarii, who crowded in among the weaker people, [that was the name
for such robbers as had under their bosoms swords called Sicae,] they
grew bolder, and carried their undertaking further; insomuch that the
king's soldiers were overpowered by their multitude and boldness; and
so they gave way, and were driven out of the upper city by force. The
others then set fire to the house of Ananias the high priest, and to the
palaces of Agrippa and Bernice; after which they carried the fire to
the place where the archives were reposited, and made haste to burn the
contracts belonging to their creditors, and thereby to dissolve their
obligations for paying their debts; and this was done in order to
gain the multitude of those who had been debtors, and that they might
persuade the poorer sort to join in their insurrection with safety
against the more wealthy; so the keepers of the records fled away, and
the rest set fire to them. And when they had thus burnt down the nerves
of the city, they fell upon their enemies; at which time some of the men
of power, and of the high priests, went into the vaults under ground,
and concealed themselves, while others fled with the king's soldiers
to the upper palace, and shut the gates immediately; among whom were
Ananias the high priest, and the ambassadors that had been sent to
Agrippa. And now the seditious were contented with the victory they had
gotten, and the buildings they had burnt down, and proceeded no further.
7. But on the next day, which was the fifteenth of the month Lous, [Ab,]
they made an assault upon Antonia, and besieged the garrison which was
in it two days, and then took the garrison, and slew them, and set the
citadel on fire; after which they marched to the palace, whither the
king's soldiers were fled, and parted themselves into four bodies, and
made an attack upon the walls. As for those that were within it, no one
had the courage to sally out, because those that assaulted them were
so numerous; but they distributed themselves into the breast-works and
turrets, and shot at the besiegers, whereby many of the robbers fell
under the walls; nor did they cease to fight one with another either by
night or by day, while the seditious supposed that those within would
grow weary for want of food, and those without supposed the others would
do the like by the tediousness of the siege.
8. In the mean time, one Manahem, the son of Judas, that was called the
Galilean, [who was a very cunning sophister, and had formerly reproached
the Jews under Cyrenius, that after God they were subject to the
Romans,] took some of the men of note with him, and retired to Masada,
where he broke open king Herod's armory, and gave arms not only to his
own people, but to other robbers also. These he made use of for a guard,
and returned in the state of a king to Jerusalem; he became the leader
of the sedition, and gave orders for continuing the siege; but they
wanted proper instruments, and it was not practicable to undermine the
wall, because the darts came down upon them from above. But still they
dug a mine from a great distance under one of the towers, and made it
totter; and having done that, they set on fire what was combustible, and
left it; and when the foundations were burnt below, the tower fell down
suddenly. Yet did they then meet with another wall that had been built
within, for the besieged were sensible beforehand of what they were
doing, and probably the tower shook as it was undermining; so they
provided themselves of another fortification; which when the besiegers
unexpectedly saw, while they thought they had already gained the place,
they were under some consternation. However, those that were within sent
to Manahem, and to the other leaders of the sedition, and desired
they might go out upon a capitulation: this was granted to the king's
soldiers and their own countrymen only, who went out accordingly; but
the Romans that were left alone were greatly dejected, for they were not
able to force their way through such a multitude; and to desire them to
give them their right hand for their security, they thought it would be
a reproach to them; and besides, if they should give it them, they durst
not depend upon it; so they deserted their camp, as easily taken,
and ran away to the royal towers,--that called Hippicus, that called
Phasaelus, and that called Mariamne. But Manahem and his party fell upon
the place whence the soldiers were fled, and slew as many of them as
they could catch, before they got up to the towers, and plundered what
they left behind them, and set fire to their camp. This was executed on
the sixth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul].
9. But on the next day the high priest was caught where he had concealed
himself in an aqueduct; he was slain, together with Hezekiah his
brother, by the robbers: hereupon the seditious besieged the towers, and
kept them guarded, lest any one of the soldiers should escape. Now the
overthrow of the places of strength, and the death of the high priest
Ananias, so puffed up Manahem, that he became barbarously cruel; and
as he thought he had no antagonist to dispute the management of affairs
with him, he was no better than an insupportable tyrant; but Eleazar
and his party, when words had passed between them, how it was not proper
when they revolted from the Romans, out of the desire of liberty, to
betray that liberty to any of their own people, and to bear a lord,
who, though he should be guilty of no violence, was yet meaner than
themselves; as also, that in case they were obliged to set some one over
their public affairs, it was fitter they should give that privilege to
any one rather than to him; they made an assault upon him in the temple;
for he went up thither to worship in a pompous manner, and adorned
with royal garments, and had his followers with him in their armor. But
Eleazar and his party fell violently upon him, as did also the rest of
the people; and taking up stones to attack him withal, they threw them
at the sophister, and thought, that if he were once ruined, the entire
sedition would fall to the ground. Now Manahem and his party made
resistance for a while; but when they perceived that the whole multitude
were falling upon them, they fled which way every one was able; those
that were caught were slain, and those that hid themselves were searched
for. A few there were of them who privately escaped to Masada, among
whom was Eleazar, the son of Jairus, who was of kin to Manahem, and
acted the part of a tyrant at Masada afterward. As for Manahem himself,
he ran away to the place called Ophla, and there lay skulking in
private; but they took him alive, and drew him out before them all; they
then tortured him with many sorts of torments, and after all slew him,
as they did by those that were captains under him also, and particularly
by the principal instrument of his tyranny, whose name was Apsalom.
10. And, as I said, so far truly the people assisted them, while they
hoped this might afford some amendment to the seditious practices; but
the others were not in haste to put an end to the war, but hoped to
prosecute it with less danger, now they had slain Manahem. It is
true, that when the people earnestly desired that they would leave
off besieging the soldiers, they were the more earnest in pressing it
forward, and this till Metilius, who was the Roman general, sent to
Eleazar, and desired that they would give them security to spare their
lives only; but agreed to deliver up their arms, and what else they had
with them. The others readily complied with their petition, sent to them
Gorion, the son of Nicodemus, and Ananias, the son of Sadduk, and Judas,
the son of Jonathan, that they might give them the security Of their
right hands, and of their oaths; after which Metilius brought down his
soldiers; which soldiers, while they were in arms, were not meddled with
by any of the seditious, nor was there any appearance of treachery; but
as soon as, according to the articles of capitulation, they had all laid
down their shields and their swords, and were under no further suspicion
of any harm, but were going away, Eleazar's men attacked them after a
violent manner, and encompassed them round, and slew them, while they
neither defended themselves, nor entreated for mercy, but only cried out
upon the breach of their articles of capitulation and their oaths. And
thus were all these men barbarously murdered, excepting Metilius; for
when he entreated for mercy, and promised that he would turn Jew, and
be circumcised, they saved him alive, but none else. This loss to the
Romans was but light, there being no more than a few slain out of an
immense army; but still it appeared to be a prelude to the Jews' own
destruction, while men made public lamentation when they saw that such
occasions were afforded for a war as were incurable; that the city
was all over polluted with such abominations, from which it was but
reasonable to expect some vengeance, even though they should escape
revenge from the Romans; so that the city was filled with sadness, and
every one of the moderate men in it were under great disturbance,
as likely themselves to undergo punishment for the wickedness of the
seditious; for indeed it so happened that this murder was perpetrated on
the sabbath day, on which day the Jews have a respite from their works
on account of Divine worship.
CHAPTER 18.
The Calamities And Slaughters That Came Upon The Jews.
1. Now the people of Cesarea had slain the Jews that were among them
on the very same day and hour [when the soldiers were slain], which
one would think must have come to pass by the direction of Providence;
insomuch that in one hour's time above twenty thousand Jews were killed,
and all Cesarea was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants; for Florus caught
such as ran away, and sent them in bonds to the galleys. Upon which
stroke that the Jews received at Cesarea, the whole nation was greatly
enraged; so they divided themselves into several parties, and laid waste
the villages of the Syrians, and their neighboring cities, Philadelphia,
and Sebonitis, and Gerasa, and Pella, and Scythopolis, and after them
Gadara, and Hippos; and falling upon Gaulonitis, some cities they
destroyed there, and some they set on fire, and then went to Kedasa,
belonging to the Tyrians, and to Ptolemais, and to Gaba, and to Cesarea;
nor was either Sebaste [Samaria] or Askelon able to oppose the violence
with which they were attacked; and when they had burnt these to the
ground; they entirely demolished Anthedon and Gaza; many also of the
villages that were about every one of those cities were plundered, and
an immense slaughter was made of the men who were caught in them.
2. However, the Syrians were even with the Jews in the multitude of
the men whom they slew; for they killed those whom they caught in their
cities, and that not only out of the hatred they bare them, as formerly,
but to prevent the danger under which they were from them; so that the
disorders in all Syria were terrible, and every city was divided into
two armies, encamped one against another, and the preservation of the
one party was in the destruction of the other; so the day time was spent
in shedding of blood, and the night in fear, which was of the two the
more terrible; for when the Syrians thought they had ruined the Jews,
they had the Judaizers in suspicion also; and as each side did not care
to slay those whom they only suspected on the other, so did they
greatly fear them when they were mingled with the other, as if they were
certainly foreigners. Moreover, greediness of gain was a provocation to
kill the opposite party, even to such as had of old appeared very mild
and gentle towards them; for they without fear plundered the effects of
the slain, and carried off the spoils of those whom they slew to their
own houses, as if they had been gained in a set battle; and he was
esteemed a man of honor who got the greatest share, as having prevailed
over the greatest number of his enemies. It was then common to see
cities filled with dead bodies, still lying unburied, and those of old
men, mixed with infants, all dead, and scattered about together; women
also lay amongst them, without any covering for their nakedness: you
might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities,
while the dread of still more barbarous practices which were threatened
was every where greater than what had been already perpetrated.
3. And thus far the conflict had been between Jews and foreigners; but
when they made excursions to Scythopolis, they found Jew that acted as
enemies; for as they stood in battle-array with those of Scythopolis,
and preferred their own safety before their relation to us, they fought
against their own countrymen; nay, their alacrity was so very great,
that those of Scythopolis suspected them. These were afraid, therefore,
lest they should make an assault upon the city in the night time, and,
to their great misfortune, should thereby make an apology for themselves
to their own people for their revolt from them. So they commanded them,
that in case they would confirm their agreement and demonstrate their
fidelity to them, who were of a different nation, they should go out of
the city, with their families to a neighboring grove; and when they had
done as they were commanded, without suspecting any thing, the people of
Scythopolis lay still for the interval of two days, to tempt them to be
secure; but on the third night they watched their opportunity, and cut
all their throats, some as they lay unguarded, and some as they lay
asleep. The number that was slain was above thirteen thousand, and then
they plundered them of all that they had.
4. It will deserve our relation what befell Simon; he was the son of
one Saul, a man of reputation among the Jews. This man was distinguished
from the rest by the strength of his body, and the boldness of his
conduct, although he abused them both to the mischieving of his
countrymen; for he came every day and slew a great many of the Jews of
Scythopolis, and he frequently put them to flight, and became himself
alone the cause of his army's conquering. But a just punishment overtook
him for the murders he had committed upon those of the same nation with
him; for when the people of Scythopolis threw their darts at them in the
grove, he drew his sword, but did not attack any of the enemy; for he
saw that he could do nothing against such a multitude; but he cried out
after a very moving manner, and said, "O you people of Scythopolis, I
deservedly suffer for what I have done with relation to you, when I gave
you such security of my fidelity to you, by slaying so many of those
that were related to me. Wherefore we very justly experience the
perfidiousness of foreigners, while we acted after a most wicked manner
against our own nation. I will therefore die, polluted wretch as I am,
by mine own hands; for it is not fit I should die by the hand of our
enemies; and let the same action be to me both a punishment for my great
crimes, and a testimony of my courage to my commendation, that so no one
of our enemies may have it to brag of, that he it was that slew me,
and no one may insult upon me as I fall." Now when he had said this, he
looked round about him upon his family with eyes of commiseration and
of rage [that family consisted of a wife and children, and his aged
parents]; so, in the first place, he caught his father by his grey
hairs, and ran his sword through him, and after him he did the same to
his mother, who willingly received it; and after them he did the like
to his wife and children, every one almost offering themselves to his
sword, as desirous to prevent being slain by their enemies; so when he
had gone over all his family, he stood upon their bodies to be seen
by all, and stretching out his right hand, that his action might be
observed by all, he sheathed his entire sword into his own bowels. This
young man was to be pitied, on account of the strength of his body and
the courage of his soul; but since he had assured foreigners of his
fidelity [against his own countrymen], he suffered deservedly.
5. Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the other cities rose up against
the Jews that were among them; those of Askelon slew two thousand five
hundred, and those of Ptolemais two thousand, and put not a few into
bonds; those of Tyre also put a great number to death, but kept a
greater number in prison; moreover, those of Hippos, and those of
Gadara, did the like while they put to death the boldest of the Jews,
but kept those of whom they were afraid in custody; as did the rest of
the cities of Syria, according as they every one either hated them or
were afraid of them; only the Antiochtans the Sidontans, and Apamians
spared those that dwelt with them, and would not endure either to kill
any of the Jews, or to put them in bonds. And perhaps they spared them,
because their own number was so great that they despised their
attempts. But I think the greatest part of this favor was owing to their
commiseration of those whom they saw to make no innovations. As for the
Gerasans, they did no harm to those that abode with them; and for those
who had a mind to go away, they conducted them as far as their borders
reached.
6. There was also a plot laid against the Jews in Agrippa's kingdom; for
he was himself gone to Cestius Gallus, to Antioch, but had left one
of his companions, whose name was Noarus, to take care of the public
affairs; which Noarus was of kin to king Sohemus. 26 Now there came
certain men seventy in number, out of Batanea, who were the most
considerable for their families and prudence of the rest of the people;
these desired to have an army put into their hands, that if any tumult
should happen, they might have about them a guard sufficient to restrain
such as might rise up against them. This Noarus sent out some of the
king's armed men by night, and slew all those [seventy] men; which bold
action he ventured upon without the consent of Agrippa, and was such
a lover of money, that he chose to be so wicked to his own countrymen,
though he brought ruin on the kingdom thereby; and thus cruelly did he
treat that nation, and this contrary to the laws also, until Agrippa
was informed of it, who did not indeed dare to put him to death, out
of regard to Sohemus; but still he put an end to his procuratorship
immediately. But as to the seditious, they took the citadel which
was called Cypros, and was above Jericho, and cut the throats of the
garrison, and utterly demolished the fortifications. This was about
the same time that the multitude of the Jews that were at Machaerus
persuaded the Romans who were in garrison to leave the place, and
deliver it up to them. These Romans being in great fear, lest the place
should be taken by force, made an agreement with them to depart upon
certain conditions; and when they had obtained the security they
desired, they delivered up the citadel, into which the people of
Machaerus put a garrison for their own security, and held it in their
own power.
7. But for Alexandria, the sedition of the people of the place against
the Jews was perpetual, and this from that very time when Alexander [the
Great], upon finding the readiness of the Jews in assisting him against
the Egyptians, and as a reward for such their assistance, gave them
equal privileges in this city with the Grecians themselves; which
honorary reward Continued among them under his successors, who also set
apart for them a particular place, that they might live without being
polluted [by the Gentiles], and were thereby not so much intermixed with
foreigners as before; they also gave them this further privilege, that
they should be called Macedonians. Nay, when the Romans got possession
of Egypt, neither the first Caesar, nor any one that came after him,
thought of diminishing the honors which Alexander had bestowed on the
Jews. But still conflicts perpetually arose with the Grecians; and
although the governors did every day punish many of them, yet did
the sedition grow worse; but at this time especially, when there were
tumults in other places also, the disorders among them were put into a
greater flame; for when the Alexandrians had once a public assembly, to
deliberate about an embassage they were sending to Nero, a great number
of Jews came flocking to the theater; but when their adversaries saw
them, they immediately cried out, and called them their enemies, and
said they came as spies upon them; upon which they rushed out, and laid
violent hands upon them; and as for the rest, they were slain as they
ran away; but there were three men whom they caught, and hauled them
along, in order to have them burnt alive; but all the Jews came in a
body to defend them, who at first threw stones at the Grecians, but
after that they took lamps, and rushed with violence into the theater,
and threatened that they would burn the people to a man; and this they
had soon done, unless Tiberius Alexander, the governor of the city, had
restrained their passions. However, this man did not begin to teach them
wisdom by arms, but sent among them privately some of the principal men,
and thereby entreated them to be quiet, and not provoke the Roman
army against them; but the seditious made a jest of the entreaties of
Tiberius, and reproached him for so doing.
8. Now when he perceived that those who were for innovations would not
be pacified till some great calamity should overtake them, he sent out
upon them those two Roman legions that were in the city, and together
with them five thousand other soldiers, who, by chance, were come
together out of Libya, to the ruin of the Jews. They were also permitted
not only to kill them, but to plunder them of what they had, and to set
fire to their houses. These soldiers rushed violently into that part of
the city that was called Delta, where the Jewish people lived together,
and did as they were bidden, though not without bloodshed on their own
side also; for the Jews got together, and set those that were the best
armed among them in the forefront, and made a resistance for a great
while; but when once they gave back, they were destroyed unmercifully;
and this their destruction was complete, some being caught in the open
field, and others forced into their houses, which houses were first
plundered of what was in them, and then set on fire by the Romans;
wherein no mercy was shown to the infants, and no regard had to the
aged; but they went on in the slaughter of persons of every age, till
all the place was overflowed with blood, and fifty thousand of them
lay dead upon heaps; nor had the remainder been preserved, had they not
be-taken themselves to supplication. So Alexander commiserated their
condition, and gave orders to the Romans to retire; accordingly,
these being accustomed to obey orders, left off killing at the first
intimation; but the populace of Alexandria bare so very great hatred to
the Jews, that it was difficult to recall them, and it was a hard thing
to make them leave their dead bodies.
9. And this was the miserable calamity which at this time befell the
Jews at Alexandria. Hereupon Cestius thought fit no longer to lie still,
while the Jews were everywhere up in arms; so he took out of Antioch
the twelfth legion entire, and out of each of the rest he selected two
thousand, with six cohorts of footmen, and four troops of horsemen,
besides those auxiliaries which were sent by the kings; of which
Antiochus sent two thousand horsemen, and three thousand footmen, with
as many archers; and Agrippa sent the same number of footmen, and one
thousand horsemen; Sohemus also followed with four thousand, a third
part whereof were horsemen, but most part were archers, and thus did
he march to Ptolemais. There were also great numbers of auxiliaries
gathered together from the [free] cities, who indeed had not the same
skill in martial affairs, but made up in their alacrity and in their
hatred to the Jews what they wanted in skill. There came also along with
Cestius Agrippa himself, both as a guide in his march over the country,
and a director what was fit to be done; so Cestius took part of his
forces, and marched hastily to Zabulon, a strong city of Galilee, which
was called the City of Men, and divides the country of Ptolemais from
our nation; this he found deserted by its men, the multitude having fled
to the mountains, but full of all sorts of good things; those he gave
leave to the soldiers to plunder, and set fire to the city, although it
was of admirable beauty, and had its houses built like those in Tyre,
and Sidon, and Berytus. After this he overran all the country, and
seized upon whatsoever came in his way, and set fire to the villages
that were round about them, and then returned to Ptolemais. But when the
Syrians, and especially those of Berytus, were busy in plundering,
the Jews pulled up their courage again, for they knew that Cestius was
retired, and fell upon those that were left behind unexpectedly, and
destroyed about two thousand of them. 27
10. And now Cestius himself marched from Ptolemais, and came to Cesarea;
but he sent part of his army before him to Joppa, and gave order, that
if they could take that city [by surprise] they should keep it; but that
in case the citizens should perceive they were coming to attack them,
that they then should stay for him, and for the rest of the army. So
some of them made a brisk march by the sea-side, and some by land, and
so coming upon them on both sides, they took the city with ease; and as
the inhabitants had made no provision beforehand for a flight, nor had
gotten any thing ready for fighting, the soldiers fell upon them, and
slew them all, with their families, and then plundered and burnt the
city. The number of the slain was eight thousand four hundred. In
like manner, Cestius sent also a considerable body of horsemen to the
toparchy of Narbatene, that adjoined to Cesarea, who destroyed the
country, and slew a great multitude of its people; they also plundered
what they had, and burnt their villages.
11. But Cestius sent Gallus, the commander of the twelfth legion, into
Galilee, and delivered to him as many of his forces as he supposed
sufficient to subdue that nation. He was received by the strongest city
of Galilee, which was Sepphoris, with acclamations of joy; which wise
conduct of that city occasioned the rest of the cities to be in quiet;
while the seditious part and the robbers ran away to that mountain
which lies in the very middle of Galilee, and is situated over against
Sepphoris; it is called Asamon. So Gallus brought his forces against
them; but while those men were in the superior parts above the Romans,
they easily threw their darts upon the Romans, as they made their
approaches, and slew about two hundred of them. But when the Romans had
gone round the mountains, and were gotten into the parts above their
enemies, the others were soon beaten; nor could they who had only light
armor on sustain the force of them that fought them armed all over; nor
when they were beaten could they escape the enemies' horsemen; insomuch
that only some few concealed themselves in certain places hard to be
come at, among the mountains, while the rest, above two thousand in
number, were slain.
CHAPTER 19.
What Cestius Did Against The Jews; And How, Upon His
Besieging Jerusalem, He Retreated From The City Without Any
Just Occasion In The World. As Also What Severe Calamities
He Under Went From The Jews In His Retreat.
1. And now Gallus, seeing nothing more that looked towards an innovation
in Galilee, returned with his army to Cesarea: but Cestius removed with
his whole army, and marched to Antipatris; and when he was informed that
there was a great body of Jewish forces gotten together in a certain
tower called Aphek, he sent a party before to fight them; but this party
dispersed the Jews by affrighting them before it came to a battle: so
they came, and finding their camp deserted, they burnt it, as well
as the villages that lay about it. But when Cestius had marched from
Antipatris to Lydda, he found the city empty of its men, for the whole
multitude 28 were gone up to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles;
yet did he destroy fifty of those that showed themselves, and burnt the
city, and so marched forwards; and ascending by Betboron, he pitched
his camp at a certain place called Gabao, fifty furlongs distant from
Jerusalem.
2. But as for the Jews, when they saw the war approaching to their
metropolis, they left the feast, and betook themselves to their arms;
and taking courage greatly from their multitude, went in a sudden and
disorderly manner to the fight, with a great noise, and without any
consideration had of the rest of the seventh day, although the Sabbath
29 was the day to which they had the greatest regard; but that rage
which made them forget the religious observation [of the sabbath]
made them too hard for their enemies in the fight: with such violence
therefore did they fall upon the Romans, as to break into their ranks,
and to march through the midst of them, making a great slaughter as they
went, insomuch that unless the horsemen, and such part of the footmen as
were not yet tired in the action, had wheeled round, and succored that
part of the army which was not yet broken, Cestius, with his whole army,
had been in danger: however, five hundred and fifteen of the Romans were
slain, of which number four hundred were footmen, and the rest horsemen,
while the Jews lost only twenty-two, of whom the most valiant were the
kinsmen of Monobazus, king of Adiabene, and their names were Monobazus
and Kenedeus; and next to them were Niger of Perea, and Silas of
Babylon, who had deserted from king Agrippa to the Jews; for he had
formerly served in his army. When the front of the Jewish army had been
cut off, the Jews retired into the city; but still Simon, the son of
Giora, fell upon the backs of the Romans, as they were ascending up
Bethoron, and put the hindmost of the army into disorder, and carried
off many of the beasts that carried the weapons of war, and led Shem
into the city. But as Cestius tarried there three days, the Jews seized
upon the elevated parts of the city, and set watches at the entrances
into the city, and appeared openly resolved not to rest when once the
Romans should begin to march.
3. And now when Agrippa observed that even the affairs of the Romans
were likely to be in danger, while such an immense multitude of their
enemies had seized upon the mountains round about, he determined to try
what the Jews would agree to by words, as thinking that he should either
persuade them all to desist from fighting, or, however, that he should
cause the sober part of them to separate themselves from the opposite
party. So he sent Borceus and Phebus, the persons of his party that were
the best known to them, and promised them that Cestius should give them
his right hand, to secure them of the Romans' entire forgiveness of what
they had done amiss, if they would throw away their arms, and come over
to them; but the seditious, fearing lest the whole multitude, in
hopes of security to themselves, should go over to Agrippa, resolved
immediately to fall upon and kill the ambassadors; accordingly they
slew Phebus before he said a word, but Borceus was only wounded, and so
prevented his fate by flying away. And when the people were very angry
at this, they had the seditious beaten with stones and clubs, and drove
them before them into the city.
4. But now Cestius, observing that the disturbances that were begun
among the Jews afforded him a proper opportunity to attack them, took
his whole army along with him, and put the Jews to flight, and pursued
them to Jerusalem. He then pitched his camp upon the elevation called
Scopus, [or watch-tower,] which was distant seven furlongs from
the city; yet did not he assault them in three days' time, out of
expectation that those within might perhaps yield a little; and in the
mean time he sent out a great many of his soldiers into neighboring
villages, to seize upon their corn. And on the fourth day, which was the
thirtieth of the month Hyperbereteus, [Tisri,] when he had put his army
in array, he brought it into the city. Now for the people, they were
kept under by the seditious; but the seditious themselves were greatly
affrighted at the good order of the Romans, and retired from the
suburbs, and retreated into the inner part of the city, and into the
temple. But when Cestius was come into the city, he set the part called
Bezetha, which is called Cenopolis, [or the new city,] on fire; as he
did also to the timber market; after which he came into the upper city,
and pitched his camp over against the royal palace; and had he but at
this very time attempted to get within the walls by force, he had won
the city presently, and the war had been put an end to at once; but
Tyrannius Priseus, the muster-master of the army, and a great number of
the officers of the horse, had been corrupted by Florus, and diverted
him from that his attempt; and that was the occasion that this war
lasted so very long, and thereby the Jews were involved in such
incurable calamities.
5. In the mean time, many of the principal men of the city were
persuaded by Ananus, the son of Jonathan, and invited Cestius into the
city, and were about to open the gates for him; but he overlooked this
offer, partly out of his anger at the Jews, and partly because he did
not thoroughly believe they were in earnest; whence it was that he
delayed the matter so long, that the seditious perceived the treachery,
and threw Ananus and those of his party down from the wall, and,
pelting them with stones, drove them into their houses; but they stood
themselves at proper distances in the towers, and threw their darts at
those that were getting over the wall. Thus did the Romans make their
attack against the wall for five days, but to no purpose. But on the
next day Cestius took a great many of his choicest men, and with them
the archers, and attempted to break into the temple at the northern
quarter of it; but the Jews beat them off from the cloisters, and
repulsed them several times when they were gotten near to the wall, till
at length the multitude of the darts cut them off, and made them retire;
but the first rank of the Romans rested their shields upon the wall,
and so did those that were behind them, and the like did those that were
still more backward, and guarded themselves with what they call Testudo,
[the back of] a tortoise, upon which the darts that were thrown fell,
and slided off without doing them any harm; so the soldiers undermined
the wall, without being themselves hurt, and got all things ready for
setting fire to the gate of the temple.
6. And now it was that a horrible fear seized upon the seditious,
insomuch that many of them ran out of the city, as though it were to be
taken immediately; but the people upon this took courage, and where the
wicked part of the city gave ground, thither did they come, in order to
set open the gates, and to admit Cestius 30 as their benefactor, who,
had he but continued the siege a little longer, had certainly taken the
city; but it was, I suppose, owing to the aversion God had already at
the city and the sanctuary, that he was hindered from putting an end to
the war that very day.
7. It then happened that Cestius was not conscious either how the
besieged despaired of success, nor how courageous the people were for
him; and so he recalled his soldiers from the place, and by despairing
of any expectation of taking it, without having received any disgrace,
he retired from the city, without any reason in the world. But when the
robbers perceived this unexpected retreat of his, they resumed their
courage, and ran after the hinder parts of his army, and destroyed a
considerable number of both their horsemen and footmen; and now Cestius
lay all night at the camp which was at Scopus; and as he went off
farther next day, he thereby invited the enemy to follow him, who still
fell upon the hindmost, and destroyed them; they also fell upon the
flank on each side of the army, and threw darts upon them obliquely,
nor durst those that were hindmost turn back upon those who wounded them
behind, as imagining that the multitude of those that pursued them was
immense; nor did they venture to drive away those that pressed upon them
on each side, because they were heavy with their arms, and were afraid
of breaking their ranks to pieces, and because they saw the Jews were
light, and ready for making incursions upon them. And this was the
reason why the Romans suffered greatly, without being able to revenge
themselves upon their enemies; so they were galled all the way, and
their ranks were put into disorder, and those that were thus put out of
their ranks were slain; among whom were Priscus, the commander of the
sixth legion, and Longinus, the tribune, and Emilius Secundus, the
commander of a troop of horsemen. So it was not without difficulty that
they got to Gabao, their former camp, and that not without the loss of
a great part of their baggage. There it was that Cestius staid two
days, and was in great distress to know what he should do in these
circumstances; but when on the third day he saw a still much greater
number of enemies, and all the parts round about him full of Jews, he
understood that his delay was to his own detriment, and that if he staid
any longer there, he should have still more enemies upon him.
8. That therefore he might fly the faster, he gave orders to cast away
what might hinder his army's march; so they killed the mules and other
creatures, excepting those that carried their darts and machines, which
they retained for their own use, and this principally because they were
afraid lest the Jews should seize upon them. He then made his army march
on as far as Bethoron. Now the Jews did not so much press upon them when
they were in large open places; but when they were penned up in their
descent through narrow passages, then did some of them get before, and
hindered them from getting out of them; and others of them thrust the
hinder-most down into the lower places; and the whole multitude extended
themselves over against the neck of the passage, and covered the Roman
army with their darts. In which circumstances, as the footmen knew not
how to defend themselves, so the danger pressed the horsemen still more,
for they were so pelted, that they could not march along the road in
their ranks, and the ascents were so high, that the cavalry were not
able to march against the enemy; the precipices also and valleys into
which they frequently fell, and tumbled down, were such on each side of
them, that there was neither place for their flight, nor any contrivance
could be thought of for their defense; till the distress they were at
last in was so great, that they betook themselves to lamentations, and
to such mournful cries as men use in the utmost despair: the joyful
acclamations of the Jews also, as they encouraged one another, echoed
the sounds back again, these last composing a noise of those that at
once rejoiced and were in a rage. Indeed, things were come to such a
pass, that the Jews had almost taken Cestius's entire army prisoners,
had not the night come on, when the Romans fled to Bethoron, and the
Jews seized upon all the places round about them, and watched for their
coming out [in the morning].
9. And then it was that Cestius, despairing of obtaining room for a
public march, contrived how he might best run away; and when he had
selected four hundred of the most courageous of his soldiers, he placed
them at the strongest of their fortifications, and gave order, that when
they went up to the morning guard, they should erect their ensigns, that
the Jews might be made to believe that the entire army was there still,
while he himself took the rest of his forces with him, and marched,
without any noise, thirty furlongs. But when the Jews perceived, in the
morning, that the camp was empty, they ran upon those four hundred who
had deluded them, and immediately threw their darts at them, and slew
them; and then pursued after Cestius. But he had already made use of a
great part of the night in his flight, and still marched quicker when it
was day; insomuch that the soldiers, through the astonishment and
fear they were in, left behind them their engines for sieges, and for
throwing of stones, and a great part of the instruments of war. So the
Jews went on pursuing the Romans as far as Antipatris; after which,
seeing they could not overtake them, they came back, and took the
engines, and spoiled the dead bodies, and gathered the prey together
which the Romans had left behind them, and came back running and singing
to their metropolis; while they had themselves lost a few only, but had
slain of the Romans five thousand and three hundred footmen, and three
hundred and eighty horsemen. This defeat happened on the eighth day of
the month Dius, [Marchesvan,] in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero.
CHAPTER 20.
Cestius Sends Ambassadors To Nero. The People Of Damascus
Slay Those Jews That Lived With Them. The People Of
Jerusalem After They Had [Left Off] Pursuing Cestius, Return
To The City And Get Things Ready For Its Defense And Make A
Great Many Generals For Their Armies And Particularly
Josephus The Writer Of These Books. Some Account Of His
Administration.
1. After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent
of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to
sink; Costobarus, therefore, and Saul, who were brethren, together with
Philip, the son of Jacimus, who was the commander of king Agrippa's
forces, ran away from the city, and went to Cestius. But then how
Antipas, who had been besieged with them in the king's palace, but would
not fly away with them, was afterward slain by the seditious, we shall
relate hereafter. However, Cestius sent Saul and his friends, at their
own desire, to Achaia, to Nero, to inform him of the great distress they
were in, and to lay the blame of their kindling the war upon Florus, as
hoping to alleviate his own danger, by provoking his indignation against
Florus.
2. In the mean time, the people of Damascus, when they were informed
of the destruction of the Romans, set about the slaughter of those Jews
that were among them; and as they had them already cooped up together in
the place of public exercises, which they had done out of the suspicion
they had of them, they thought they should meet with no difficulty in
the attempt; yet did they distrust their own wives, which were almost
all of them addicted to the Jewish religion; on which account it was
that their greatest concern was, how they might conceal these things
from them; so they came upon the Jews, and cut their throats, as being
in a narrow place, in number ten thousand, and all of them unarmed, and
this in one hour's time, without any body to disturb them.
3. But as to those who had pursued after Cestius, when they were
returned back to Jerusalem, they overbore some of those that favored
the Romans by violence, and some them persuaded [by en-treaties] to
join with them, and got together in great numbers in the temple, and
appointed a great many generals for the war. Joseph also, the son of
Gorion, 31 and Ananus the high priest, were chosen as governors of all
affairs within the city, and with a particular charge to repair the
walls of the city; for they did not ordain Eleazar the son of Simon to
that office, although he had gotten into his possession the prey they
had taken from the Romans, and the money they had taken from Cestius,
together with a great part of the public treasures, because they saw
he was of a tyrannical temper, and that his followers were, in their
behavior, like guards about him. However, the want they were in of
Eleazar's money, and the subtle tricks used by him, brought all so
about, that the people were circumvented, and submitted themselves to
his authority in all public affairs.
4. They also chose other generals for Idumea; Jesus, the son of
Sapphias, one of the high priests; and Eleazar, the son of Ananias, the
high priest; they also enjoined Niger, the then governor of Idumea,
32 who was of a family that belonged to Perea, beyond Jordan, and
was thence called the Peraite, that he should be obedient to those
fore-named commanders. Nor did they neglect the care of other parts of
the country; but Joseph the son of Simon was sent as general to Jericho,
as was Manasseh to Perea, and John, the Esscue, to the toparchy of
Thamna; Lydda was also added to his portion, and Joppa, and Emmaus.
But John, the son of Matthias, was made governor of the toparchies of
Gophnitica and Acrabattene; as was Josephus, the son of Matthias, of
both the Galilees. Gamala also, which was the strongest city in those
parts, was put under his command.
5. So every one of the other commanders administered the affairs of his
portion with that alacrity and prudence they were masters of; but as
to Josephus, when he came into Galilee, his first care was to gain the
good-will of the people of that country, as sensible that he should
thereby have in general good success, although he should fail in other
points. And being conscious to himself that if he communicated part of
his power to the great men, he should make them his fast friends; and
that he should gain the same favor from the multitude, if he executed
his commands by persons of their own country, and with whom they were
well acquainted; he chose out seventy of the most prudent men, and those
elders in age, and appointed them to be rulers of all Galilee, as he
chose seven judges in every city to hear the lesser quarrels; for as to
the greater causes, and those wherein life and death were concerned, he
enjoined they should be brought to him and the seventy 33 elders.
6. Josephus also, when he had settled these rules for determining causes
by the law, with regard to the people's dealings one with another,
betook himself to make provisions for their safety against external
violence; and as he knew the Romans would fall upon Galilee, he built
walls in proper places about Jotapata, and Bersabee, and Selamis; and
besides these, about Caphareccho, and Japha, and Sigo, and what they
call Mount Tabor, and Taricheae, and Tiberias. Moreover, he built walls
about the caves near the lake of Gennesar, which places lay in the Lower
Galilee; the same he did to the places of Upper Galilee, as well as to
the rock called the Rock of the Achabari, and to Seph, and Jamnith, and
Meroth; and in Gaulonitis he fortified Seleucia, and Sogane, and Gamala;
but as to those of Sepphoris, they were the only people to whom he gave
leave to build their own walls, and this because he perceived they were
rich and wealthy, and ready to go to war, without standing in need of
any injunctions for that purpose. The case was the same with Gischala,
which had a wall built about it by John the son of Levi himself, but
with the consent of Josephus; but for the building of the rest of the
fortresses, he labored together with all the other builders, and was
present to give all the necessary orders for that purpose. He also got
together an army out of Galilee, of more than a hundred thousand young
men, all of which he armed with the old weapons which he had collected
together and prepared for them.
7. And when he had considered that the Roman power became invincible,
chiefly by their readiness in obeying orders, and the constant exercise
of their arms, he despaired of teaching these his men the use of their
arms, which was to be obtained by experience; but observing that
their readiness in obeying orders was owing to the multitude of their
officers, he made his partitions in his army more after the Roman
manner, and appointed a great many subalterns. He also distributed the
soldiers into various classes, whom he put under captains of tens, and
captains of hundreds, and then under captains of thousands; and besides
these, he had commanders of larger bodies of men. He also taught them to
give the signals one to another, and to call and recall the soldiers by
the trumpets, how to expand the wings of an army, and make them wheel
about; and when one wing hath had success, to turn again and assist
those that were hard set, and to join in the defense of what had most
suffered. He also continually instructed them in what concerned the
courage of the soul, and the hardiness of the body; and, above all, he
exercised them for war, by declaring to them distinctly the good order
of the Romans, and that they were to fight with men who, both by the
strength of their bodies and courage of their souls, had conquered in a
manner the whole habitable earth. He told them that he should make trial
of the good order they would observe in war, even before it came to any
battle, in case they would abstain from the crimes they used to
indulge themselves in, such as theft, and robbery, and rapine, and from
defrauding their own countrymen, and never to esteem the harm done
to those that were so near of kin to them to be any advantage to
themselves; for that wars are then managed the best when the warriors
preserve a good conscience; but that such as are ill men in private life
will not only have those for enemies which attack them, but God himself
also for their antagonist.
8. And thus did he continue to admonish them. Now he chose for the war
such an army as was sufficient, i.e. sixty thousand footmen, and two
hundred and fifty horsemen; 34 and besides these, on which he put the
greatest trust, there were about four thousand five hundred mercenaries;
he had also six hundred men as guards of his body. Now the cities easily
maintained the rest of his army, excepting the mercenaries, for every
one of the cities enumerated above sent out half their men to the army,
and retained the other half at home, in order to get provisions for
them; insomuch that the one part went to the war, and the other part to
their work, and so those that sent out their corn were paid for it by
those that were in arms, by that security which they enjoyed from them.