Concerning John Of Gichala. Josephus Uses Stratagems Against
The Plots John Laid Against Him And Recovers Certain Cities
Which Had Revolted From Him.
1. Now as Josephus was thus engaged in the administration of the affairs
of Galilee, there arose a treacherous person, a man of Gischala, the son
of Levi, whose name was John. His character was that of a very cunning
and very knavish person, beyond the ordinary rate of the other men
of eminence there, and for wicked practices he had not his fellow
any where. Poor he was at first, and for a long time his wants were a
hinderance to him in his wicked designs. He was a ready liar, and yet
very sharp in gaining credit to his fictions: he thought it a point of
virtue to delude people, and would delude even such as were the dearest
to him. He was a hypocritical pretender to humanity, but where he had
hopes of gain, he spared not the shedding of blood: his desires were
ever carried to great things, and he encouraged his hopes from those
mean wicked tricks which he was the author of. He had a peculiar knack
at thieving; but in some time he got certain companions in his impudent
practices; at first they were but few, but as he proceeded on in his
evil course, they became still more and more numerous. He took care that
none of his partners should be easily caught in their rogueries, but
chose such out of the rest as had the strongest constitutions of body,
and the greatest courage of soul, together with great skill in martial
affairs; as he got together a band of four hundred men, who came
principally out of the country of Tyre, and were vagabonds that had
run away from its villages; and by the means of these he laid waste
all Galilee, and irritated a considerable number, who were in great
expectation of a war then suddenly to arise among them.
2. However, John's want of money had hitherto restrained him in his
ambition after command, and in his attempts to advance himself. But when
he saw that Josephus was highly pleased with the activity of his temper,
he persuaded him, in the first place, to intrust him with the repairing
of the walls of his native city, [Gischala,] in which work he got a
great deal of money from the rich citizens. He after that contrived a
very shrewd trick, and pretending that the Jews who dwelt in Syria were
obliged to make use of oil that was made by others than those of their
own nation, he desired leave of Josephus to send oil to their borders;
so he bought four amphorae with such Tyrian money as was of the value of
four Attic drachmae, and sold every half-amphora at the same price. And
as Galilee was very fruitful in oil, and was peculiarly so at that time,
by sending away great quantities, and having the sole privilege so
to do, he gathered an immense sum of money together, which money he
immediately used to the disadvantage of him who gave him that privilege;
and, as he supposed, that if he could once overthrow Josephus, he should
himself obtain the government of Galilee; so he gave orders to the
robbers that were under his command to be more zealous in their thievish
expeditions, that by the rise of many that desired innovations in the
country, he might either catch their general in his snares, as he came
to the country's assistance, and then kill him; or if he should overlook
the robbers, he might accuse him for his negligence to the people of the
country. He also spread abroad a report far and near that Josephus was
delivering up the administration of affairs to the Romans; and many such
plots did he lay, in order to ruin him.
3. Now at the same time that certain young men of the village Dabaritta,
who kept guard in the Great Plain laid snares for Ptolemy, who was
Agrippa's and Bernice's steward, and took from him all that he had with
him; among which things there were a great many costly garments, and no
small number of silver cups, and six hundred pieces of gold; yet were
they not able to conceal what they had stolen, but brought it all to
Josephus, to Taricheae. Hereupon he blamed them for the violence they
had offered to the king and queen, and deposited what they brought to
him with Eneas, the most potent man of Taricheae, with an intention of
sending the things back to the owners at a proper time; which act of
Josephus brought him into the greatest danger; for those that had stolen
the things had an indignation at him, both because they gained no share
of it for themselves, and because they perceived beforehand what was
Josephus's intention, and that he would freely deliver up what had cost
them so much pains to the king and queen. These ran away by night to
their several villages, and declared to all men that Josephus was going
to betray them: they also raised great disorders in all the neighboring
cities, insomuch that in the morning a hundred thousand armed men came
running together; which multitude was crowded together in the hippodrome
at Taricheae, and made a very peevish clamor against him; while some
cried out, that they should depose the traitor; and others, that they
should burn him. Now John irritated a great many, as did also one Jesus,
the son of Sapphias, who was then governor of Tiberias. Then it was that
Josephus's friends, and the guards of his body, were so affrighted at
this violent assault of the multitude, that they all fled away but four;
and as he was asleep, they awaked him, as the people were going to
set fire to the house. And although those four that remained with him
persuaded him to run away, he was neither surprised at his being himself
deserted, nor at the great multitude that came against him, but leaped
out to them with his clothes rent, and ashes sprinkled on his head, with
his hands behind him, and his sword hanging at his neck. At this sight
his friends, especially those of Taricheae, commiserated his condition;
but those that came out of the country, and those in their neighborhood,
to whom his government seemed burdensome, reproached him, and bid him
produce the money which belonged to them all immediately, and to confess
the agreement he had made to betray them; for they imagined, from the
habit in which he appeared, that he would deny nothing of what they
suspected concerning him, and that it was in order to obtain pardon that
he had put himself entirely into so pitiable a posture. But this humble
appearance was only designed as preparatory to a stratagem of his, who
thereby contrived to set those that were so angry at him at variance one
with another about the things they were angry at. However, he promised
he would confess all: hereupon he was permitted to speak, when he said,
"I did neither intend to send this money back to Agrippa, nor to gain it
myself; for I did never esteem one that was your enemy to be my friend,
nor did I look upon what would tend to your disadvantage to be my
advantage. But, O you people of Tarieheae, I saw that your city stood in
more need than others of fortifications for your security, and that it
wanted money in order for the building it a wall. I was also afraid lest
the people of Tiberias and other cities should lay a plot to seize upon
these spoils, and therefore it was that I intended to retain this money
privately, that I might encompass you with a wall. But if this does not
please you, I will produce what was brought me, and leave it to you to
plunder it; but if I have conducted myself so well as to please you, you
may if you please punish your benefactor."
4. Hereupon the people of Taricheae loudly commended him; but those
of Tiberias, with the rest of the company, gave him hard names, and
threatened what they would do to him; so both sides left off quarrelling
with Josephus, and fell on quarrelling with one another. So he grew
bold upon the dependence he had on his friends, which were the people of
Taricheae, and about forty thousand in number, and spake more freely to
the whole multitude, and reproached them greatly for their rashness; and
told them, that with this money he would build walls about Taricheae,
and would put the other cities in a state of security also; for that
they should not want money, if they would but agree for whose benefit
it was to be procured, and would not suffer themselves to be irritated
against him who procured it for them.
5. Hereupon the rest of the multitude that had been deluded retired;
but yet so that they went away angry, and two thousand of them made an
assault upon him in their armor; and as he was already gone to his own
house, they stood without and threatened him. On which occasion Josephus
again used a second stratagem to escape them; for he got upon the top of
his house, and with his right hand desired them to be silent, and said
to them, "I cannot tell what you would have, nor can hear what you say,
for the confused noise you make;" but he said that he would comply with
all their demands, in case they would but send some of their number
in to him that might talk with him about it. And when the principal of
them, with their leaders, heard this, they came into the house. He then
drew them to the most retired part of the house, and shut the door of
that hall where he put them, and then had them whipped till every one of
their inward parts appeared naked. In the mean time the multitude stood
round the house, and supposed that he had a long discourse with those
that were gone in about what they claimed of him. He had then the doors
set open immediately, and sent the men out all bloody, which so terribly
affrighted those that had before threatened him, that they threw away
their arms and ran away.
6. But as for John, his envy grew greater [upon this escape of
Josephus], and he framed a new plot against him; he pretended to be
sick, and by a letter desired that Josephus would give him leave to use
the hot baths that were at Tiberias, for the recovery of his health.
Hereupon Josephus, who hitherto suspected nothing of John's plots
against him, wrote to the governors of the city, that they would provide
a lodging and necessaries for John; which favors, when he had made use
of, in two days' time he did what he came about; some he corrupted with
delusive frauds, and others with money, and so persuaded them to revolt
from Josephus. This Silas, who was appointed guardian of the city by
Josephus, wrote to him immediately, and informed him of the plot against
him; which epistle when Josephus had received, he marched with great
diligence all night, and came early in the morning to Tiberias; at which
time the rest of the multitude met him. But John, who suspected that his
coming was not for his advantage, sent however one of his friends, and
pretended that he was sick, and that being confined to his bed, he could
not come to pay him his respects. But as soon as Josephus had got the
people of Tiberias together in the stadium, and tried to discourse with
them about the letters that he had received, John privately sent some
armed men, and gave them orders to slay him. But when the people saw
that the armed men were about to draw their swords, they cried out; at
which cry Josephus turned himself about, and when he saw that the
swords were just at his throat, he marched away in great haste to the
sea-shore, and left off that speech which he was going to make to the
people, upon an elevation of six cubits high. He then seized on a ship
which lay in the haven, and leaped into it, with two of his guards, and
fled away into the midst of the lake.
7. But now the soldiers he had with him took up their arms immediately,
and marched against the plotters; but Josephus was afraid lest a civil
war should be raised by the envy of a few men, and bring the city to
ruin; so he sent some of his party to tell them, that they should do no
more than provide for their own safety; that they should not kill any
body, nor accuse any for the occasion they had afforded [of disorder].
Accordingly, these men obeyed his orders, and were quiet; but the people
of the neighboring country, when they were informed of this plot, and of
the plotter, they got together in great multitudes to oppose John. But
he prevented their attempt, and fled away to Gischala, his native
city, while the Galileans came running out of their several cities to
Josephus; and as they were now become many ten thousands of armed men,
they cried out, that they were come against John the common plotter
against their interest, and would at the same time burn him, and that
city which had received him. Hereupon Josephus told them that he took
their good-will to him kindly, but still he restrained their fury,
and intended to subdue his enemies by prudent conduct, rather than by
slaying them; so he excepted those of every city which had joined in
this revolt with John, by name, who had readily been shown him by these
that came from every city, and caused public proclamation to be made,
that he would seize upon the effects of those that did not forsake
John within five days' time, and would burn both their houses and their
families with fire. Whereupon three thousand of John's party left him
immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their arms down at his
feet. John then betook himself, together with his two thousand Syrian
runagates, from open attempts, to more secret ways of treachery.
Accordingly, he privately sent messengers to Jerusalem, to accuse
Josephus, as having to great power, and to let them know that he would
soon come as a tyrant to their metropolis, unless they prevented him.
This accusation the people were aware of beforehand, but had no regard
to it. However, some of the grandees, out of envy, and some of the
rulers also, sent money to John privately, that he might be able to get
together mercenary soldiers, in order to fight Josephus; they also made
a decree of themselves, and this for recalling him from his government,
yet did they not think that decree sufficient; so they sent withal two
thousand five hundred armed men, and four persons of the highest rank
amongst them; Joazar the son of Nomicus, and Ananias the son of Sadduk,
as also Simon and Judas the sons of Jonathan, all very able men in
speaking, that these persons might withdraw the good-will of the people
from Josephus. These had it in charge, that if he would voluntarily
come away, they should permit him to [come and] give an account of
his conduct; but if he obstinately insisted upon continuing in his
government, they should treat him as an enemy. Now Josephus's friends
had sent him word that an army was coming against him, but they gave
him no notice beforehand what the reason of their coming was, that being
only known among some secret councils of his enemies; and by this means
it was that four cities revolted from him immediately, Sepphoris, and
Gamala, and Gischala, and Tiberias. Yet did he recover these cities
without war; and when he had routed those four commanders by stratagems,
and had taken the most potent of their warriors, he sent them to
Jerusalem; and the people [of Galilee] had great indignation at them,
and were in a zealous disposition to slay, not only these forces, but
those that sent them also, had not these forces prevented it by running
away.
8. Now John was detained afterward within the walls of Gischala, by
the fear he was in of Josephus; but within a few days Tiberias revolted
again, the people within it inviting king Agrippa [to return to the
exercise of his authority there]. And when he did not come at the
time appointed, and when a few Roman horsemen appeared that day,
they expelled Josephus out of the city. Now this revolt of theirs was
presently known at Taricheae; and as Josephus had sent out all the
soldiers that were with him to gather corn, he knew not how either to
march out alone against the revolters, or to stay where he was, because
he was afraid the king's soldiers might prevent him if he tarried, and
might get into the city; for he did not intend to do any thing on
the next day, because it was the sabbath day, and would hinder his
proceeding. So he contrived to circumvent the revolters by a stratagem;
and in the first place he ordered the gates of Taricheae to be shut,
that nobody might go out and inform [those of Tiberias], for whom it
was intended, what stratagem he was about; he then got together all the
ships that were upon the lake, which were found to be two hundred and
thirty, and in each of them he put no more than four mariners. So he
sailed to Tiberias with haste, and kept at such a distance from the
city, that it was not easy for the people to see the vessels, and
ordered that the empty vessels should float up and down there, while
himself, who had but seven of his guards with him, and those unarmed
also, went so near as to be seen; but when his adversaries, who were
still reproaching him, saw him from the walls, they were so astonished
that they supposed all the ships were full of armed men, and threw down
their arms, and by signals of intercession they besought him to spare
the city.
9. Upon this Josephus threatened them terribly, and reproached them,
that when they were the first that took up arms against the Romans, they
should spend their force beforehand in civil dissensions, and do what
their enemies desired above all things; and that besides they should
endeavor so hastily to seize upon him, who took care of their safety,
and had not been ashamed to shut the gates of their city against
him that built their walls; that, however, he would admit of any
intercessors from them that might make some excuse for them, and with
whom he would make such agreements as might be for the city's security.
Hereupon ten of the most potent men of Tiberias came down to him
presently; and when he had taken them into one of his vessels, he
ordered them to be carried a great way off from the city. He then
commanded that fifty others of their senate, such as were men of the
greatest eminence, should come to him, that they also might give him
some security on their behalf. After which, under one new pretense or
another, he called forth others, one after another, to make the leagues
between them. He then gave order to the masters of those vessels which
he had thus filled to sail away immediately for Taricheae, and to
confine those men in the prison there; till at length he took all their
senate, consisting of six hundred persons, and about two thousand of the
populace, and carried them away to Taricheae. 35
10. And when the rest of the people cried out, that it was one Clitus
that was the chief author of this revolt, they desired him to spend
his anger upon him [only]; but Josephus, whose intention it was to slay
nobody, commanded one Levius, belonging to his guards, to go out of the
vessel, in order to cut off both Clitus's hands; yet was Levius afraid
to go out by himself alone to such a large body of enemies, and refused
to go. Now Clitus saw that Josephus was in a great passion in the ship,
and ready to leap out of it, in order to execute the punishment himself;
he begged therefore from the shore, that he would leave him one of his
hands; which Josephus agreed to, upon condition that he would himself
cutoff the other hand; accordingly he drew his sword, and with his
right hand cut off his left, so great was the fear he was in of
Josephus himself. And thus he took the people of Tiberias prisoners,
and recovered the city again with empty ships and seven of his guard.
Moreover, a few days afterward he retook Gischala, which had revolted
with the people of Sepphoris, and gave his soldiers leave to plunder
it; yet did he get all the plunder together, and restored it to the
inhabitants; and the like he did to the inhabitants of Sepphoris and
Tiberias. For when he had subdued those cities, he had a mind, by
letting them be plundered, to give them some good instruction, while at
the same time he regained their good-will by restoring them their money
again.
CHAPTER 22.
The Jews Make All Ready For The War; And Simon, The Son Of
Gioras, Falls To Plundering.
1. And thus were the disturbances of Galilee quieted, when, upon their
ceasing to prosecute their civil dissensions, they betook themselves to
make preparations for the war with the Romans. Now in Jerusalem the
high priest Artanus, and as many of the men of power as were not in the
interest of the Romans, both repaired the walls, and made a great many
warlike instruments, insomuch that in all parts of the city darts and
all sorts of armor were upon the anvil. Although the multitude of the
young men were engaged in exercises, without any regularity, and all
places were full of tumultuous doings; yet the moderate sort were
exceedingly sad; and a great many there were who, out of the prospect
they had of the calamities that were coming upon them, made great
lamentations. There were also such omens observed as were understood to
be forerunners of evils by such as loved peace, but were by those that
kindled the war interpreted so as to suit their own inclinations; and
the very state of the city, even before the Romans came against it, was
that of a place doomed to destruction. However, Ananus's concern was
this, to lay aside, for a while, the preparations for the war, and to
persuade the seditious to consult their own interest, and to restrain
the madness of those that had the name of zealots; but their violence
was too hard for him; and what end he came to we shall relate hereafter.
2. But as for the Acrabbene toparchy, Simon, the son of Gioras, got a
great number of those that were fond of innovations together, and betook
himself to ravage the country; nor did he only harass the rich men's
houses, but tormented their bodies, and appeared openly and beforehand
to affect tyranny in his government. And when an army was sent against
him by Artanus, and the other rulers, he and his band retired to the
robbers that were at Masada, and staid there, and plundered the country
of Idumea with them, till both Ananus and his other adversaries were
slain; and until the rulers of that country were so afflicted with the
multitude of those that were slain, and with the continual ravage of
what they had, that they raised an army, and put garrisons into the
villages, to secure them from those insults. And in this state were the
affairs of Judea at that time.
WAR BOOK 2 FOOTNOTES
1 (return) [ Hear Dean Aldrich's note on this place: "The law or Custom
of the Jews [says he] requires seven days' mourning for the dead,"
Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 8. sect. 4; whence the author of the Book of
Ecclesiasticus, ch. 22:12, assigns seven days as the proper time of
mourning for the dead, and, ch. 38:17, enjoins men to mourn for the
dead, that they may not be evil spoken of; for, as Josephus says
presently, if any one omits this mourning [funeral feast], he is not
esteemed a holy person. How it is certain that such a seven days'
mourning has been customary from times of the greatest antiquity,
Genesis 1:10. Funeral feasts are also mentioned as of considerable
antiquity, Ezekiel 24:17; Jeremiah 16:7; Prey. 31:6; Deuteronomy 26:14;
Josephus, Of the War B. III. ch. 9. sect. 5.]
2 (return) [ This holding a council in the temple of Apollo, in the
emperor's palace at Rome, by Augustus, and even the building of this
temple magnificently by himself in that palace, are exactly agreeable
to Augustus, in his elder years, as Aldrich and from Suttonius and
Propertius.]
3 (return) [ Here we have a strong confirmation that it was Xerxes, and
not Artaxerxes, under whom the main part of the Jews returned out of the
Babylonian captivity, i.e. in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The same
thing is in the Antiquities, B. XI. ch.6]
4 (return) [ This practice of the Essens, in refusing to swear,
and esteeming swearing in ordinary occasions worse than perjury, is
delivered here in general words, as are the parallel injunctions of our
Savior, Matthew 6:34; 23:16; and of St. James, 5:12; but all admit of
particular exceptions for solemn causes, and on great and necessary
occasions. Thus these very Essens, who here do so zealously avoid
swearing, are related, in the very next section, to admit none till they
take tremendous oaths to perform their several duties to God, and to
their neighbor, without supposing they thereby break this rule, Not to
swear at all. The case is the same in Christianity, as we learn from the
Apostolical Constitutions, which although they agree with Christ and St.
James, in forbidding to swear in general, ch. 5:12; 6:2, 3; yet do they
explain it elsewhere, by avoiding to swear falsely, and to swear often
and in vain, ch. 2:36; and again, by "not swearing at all," but withal
adding, that "if that cannot be avoided, to swear truly," ch. 7:3; which
abundantly explain to us the nature of the measures of this general
injunction.]
5 (return) [ This mention of the "names of angels," so particularly
preserved by the Essens, [if it means more than those "messengers" which
were employed to bring, them the peculiar books of their Sect,] looks
like a prelude to that "worshipping of angels," blamed by St. Paul, as
superstitious and unlawful, in some such sort of people as these Essens
were, Colossians 2:8; as is the prayer to or towards the sun for his
rising every morning, mentioned before, sect. 5, very like those not
much later observances made mention of in the preaching of Peter,
Authent. Rec. Part II. p. 669, and regarding a kind of worship of
angels, of the month, and of the moon, and not celebrating the new
moons, or other festivals, unless the moon appeared. Which, indeed,
seems to me the earliest mention of any regard to the phases in fixing
the Jewish calendar, of which the Talmud and later Rabbins talk so much,
and upon so very little ancient foundation.]
6 (return) [ Of these Jewish or Essene [and indeed Christian] doctrines
concerning souls, both good and bad, in Hades, see that excellent
discourse, or homily, of our Josephus concerning Hades, at the end of
the volume.]
7 (return) [ Dean Aldrich reckons up three examples of this gift of
prophecy in several of these Essens out of Josephus himself, viz. in the
History of the War, B. I. ch. 3. sect. 5, Judas foretold the death of
Antigonus at Strato's Tower; B. II. ch. 7. sect. 3, Simon foretold that
Archelaus should reign but nine or ten years; and Antiq. B. XV. ch. 10.
sect. 4, 5, Menuhem foretold that Herod should be king, and should reign
tyrannically, and that for more than twenty or even thirty years. All
which came to pass accordingly.]
8 (return) [ There is so much more here about the Essens than is cited
from Josephus in Porphyry and Eusebius, and yet so much less about
the Pharisees and Sadducees, the two other Jewish sects, than would
naturally be expected in proportion to the Essens or third sect, nay,
than seems to be referred to by himself elsewhere, that one is tempted
to suppose Josephus had at first written less of the one, and more of
the two others, than his present copies afford us; as also, that, by
some unknown accident, our present copies are here made up of the larger
edition in the first case, and of the smaller in the second. See the
note in Havercamp's edition. However, what Josephus says in the name of
the Pharisees, that only the souls of good men go out of one body into
another, although all souls be immortal, and still the souls of the
bad are liable to eternal punishment; as also what he says afterwards,
Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 1. sect. 3, that the soul's vigor is immortal, and
that under the earth they receive rewards or punishments according as
their lives have been virtuous or vicious in the present world; that to
the bad is allotted an eternal prison, but that the good are permitted
to live again in this world; are nearly agreeable to the doctrines of
Christianity. Only Josephus's rejection of the return of the wicked into
other bodies, or into this world, which he grants to the good, looks
somewhat like a contradiction to St. Paul's account of the doctrine
of the Jews, that they "themselves allowed that there should be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust," Acts 24:15. Yet
because Josephus's account is that of the Pharisees, and St. Patti's
that of the Jews in general, and of himself the contradiction is not
very certain.]
9 (return) [ We have here, in that Greek MS. which was once Alexander
Petavius's, but is now in the library at Leyden, two most remarkable
additions to the common copies, though declared worth little remark by
the editor; which, upon the mention of Tiberius's coming to the empire,
inserts first the famous testimony of Josephus concerning Jesus Christ,
as it stands verbatim in the Antiquities, B. XVIII. ch. 3. sect. 3, with
some parts of that excellent discourse or homily of Josephus concerning
Hades, annexed to the work. But what is here principally to be noted
is this, that in this homily, Josephus having just mentioned Christ,
as "God the Word, and the Judge of the world, appointed by the Father,"
etc., adds, that "he had himself elsewhere spoken about him more nicely
or particularly."]
10 (return) [ This use of corban, or oblation, as here applied to the
sacred money dedicated to God in the treasury of the temple, illustrates
our Savior's words, Mark 7:11, 12.]
11 (return) [ Tacitus owns that Caius commanded the Jews to place his
effigies in their temple, though he be mistaken when he adds that the
Jews thereupon took arms.]
12 (return) [ This account of a place near the mouth of the river Belus
in Phoenicia, whence came that sand out of which the ancients made their
glass, is a known thing in history, particularly in Tacitus and Strabo,
and more largely in Pliny.]
13 (return) [ This Memnon had several monuments, and one of them
appears, both by Strabo and Diodorus, to have been in Syria, and not
improbably in this very place.]
14 (return) [ Reland notes here, that the Talmud in recounting ten sad
accidents for which the Jews ought to rend their garments, reckons this
for one, "When they hear that the law of God is burnt."]
15 (return) [ This Ummidius, or Numidius, or, as Tacitus calls him,
Vinidius Quadratus, is mentioned in an ancient inscription, still
preserved, as Spanhelm here informs us, which calls him Urnmidius
Quadratus.]
16 (return) [ Take the character of this Felix [who is well known from
the Acts of the Apostles, particularly from his trembling when St. Paul
discoursed of "righteousness, chastity, and judgment to come,"] Acts
24:5; and no wonder, when we have elsewhere seen that he lived in
adultery with Drusilla, another man's wife, [Antiq. B. XX. ch. 7.
sect. 1: in the words of Tacitus, produced here by Dean Aldrich: "Felix
exercised," says Tacitas, "the authority of a king, with the disposition
of a slave, and relying upon the great power of his brother Pallas
at court, thought he might safely be guilty of all kinds of wicked
practices." Observe also the time when he was made procurator, A.D. 52;
that when St. Paul pleaded his cause before him, A.D. 58, he might have
been "many years a judge unto that nation," as St. Paul says he had
then been, Acts 24:10. But as to what Tacitus here says, that before the
death of Cumanus, Felix was procurator over Samaria only, does not well
agree with St. Paul's words, who would hardly have called Samaria a
Jewish nation. In short, since what Tacitus here says is about countries
very remote from Rome, where he lived; since what he says of two Roman
procurators, the one over Galilee, the other over Samaria at the same
time, is without example elsewhere; and since Josephus, who lived
at that very time in Judea, appears to have known nothing of this
procuratorship of Felix, before the death of Cumanus; I much suspect
the story itself as nothing better than a mistake of Tacitus, especially
when it seems not only omitted, but contradicted by Josephus; as any one
may find that compares their histories together. Possibly Felix might
have been a subordinate judge among the Jews some time before under
Cumanus, but that he was in earnest a procurator of Samaria before I
do not believe. Bishop Pearson, as well as Bishop Lloyd, quote this
account, but with a doubtful clause: confides Tacito, "If we may believe
Tacitus." Pears. Anhal. Paulin. p. 8; Marshall's Tables, at A.D. 49.]
17 (return) [ i.e. Herod king of Chalcis.]
18 (return) [ Not long after this beginning of Florus, the wickedest of
all the Roman procurators of Judea, and the immediate occasion of the
Jewish war, at the twelfth year of Nero, and the seventeenth of Agrippa,
or A.D. 66, the history in the twenty books of Josephus's Antiquities
ends, although Josephus did not finish these books till the thirteenth
of Domitian, or A.D. 93, twenty-seven years afterward; as he did not
finish their Appendix, containing an account of his own life, till
Agrippa was dead, which happened in the third year of Trajan, or A. D.
100, as I have several times observed before.]
19 (return) [ Here we may note, that three millions of the Jews were
present at the passover, A.D. 65; which confirms what Josephus elsewhere
informs us of, that at a passover a little later they counted two
hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred paschal lambs, which, at
twelve to each lamb, which is no immoderate calculation, come to three
millions and seventy-eight thousand. See B. VI. ch. 9. sect. 3.]
20 (return) [ Take here Dr. Hudson's very pertinent note. "By this
action," says he, "the killing of a bird over an earthen vessel, the
Jews were exposed as a leprous people; for that was to be done by the
law in the cleansing of a leper, Leviticus 14. It is also known that
the Gentiles reproached the Jews as subject to the leprosy, and believed
that they were driven out of Egypt on that account. This that eminent
person Mr. Reland suggested to me."]
21 (return) [ Here we have examples of native Jews who were of the
equestrian order among the Romans, and so ought never to have been
whipped or crucified, according to the Roman laws. See almost the like
case in St. Paul himself, Acts 22:25-29.]
22 (return) [ This vow which Bernice [here and elsewhere called queen,
not only as daughter and sister to two kings, Agrippa the Great, and
Agrippa junior, but the widow of Herod king of Chalcis] came now to
accomplish at Jerusalem was not that of a Nazarite, but such a one as
religious Jews used to make, in hopes of any deliverance from a disease,
or other danger, as Josephus here intimates. However, these thirty days'
abode at Jerusalem, for fasting and preparation against the oblation
of a proper sacrifice, seems to be too long, unless it were wholly
voluntary in this great lady. It is not required in the law of Moses
relating to Nazarites, Numbers 6., and is very different from St. Paul's
time for such preparation, which was but one day, Acts 21:26. So we want
already the continuation of the Antiquities to afford us light here, as
they have hitherto done on so many occasions elsewhere. Perhaps in this
age the traditions of the Pharisees had obliged the Jews to this degree
of rigor, not only as to these thirty days' preparation, but as to the
going barefoot all that time, which here Bernice submitted to also. For
we know that as God's and our Savior's yoke is usually easy, and his
burden comparatively light, in such positive injunctions, Matthew 11:30,
so did the scribes and Pharisees sometimes "bind upon men heavy burdens,
and grievous to be borne," even when they themselves "would not touch
them with one of their fingers," Matthew 23:4; Luke 11:46. However,
Noldius well observes, De Herod. No. 404, 414, that Juvenal, in his
sixth satire, alludes to this remarkable penance or submission of this
Bernice to Jewish discipline, and jests upon her for it; as do Tacitus,
Dio, Suetonius, and Sextus Aurelius mention her as one well known at
Rome.--Ibid.]
23 (return) [ I take this Bezetha to be that small hill adjoining to the
north side of the temple, whereon was the hospital with five porticoes
or cloisters, and beneath which was the sheep pool of Bethesda; into
which an angel or messenger, at a certain season, descended, and where
he or they who were the "first put into the pool" were cured, John 5:1
etc. This situation of Bezetha, in Josephus, on the north side of the
temple, and not far off the tower Antonia, exactly agrees to the place
of the same pool at this day; only the remaining cloisters are but
three. See Maundrel, p. 106. The entire buildings seem to have been
called the New City, and this part, where was the hospital, peculiarly
Bezetha or Bethesda. See ch. 19. sect. 4.]
24 (return) [ In this speech of king Agrippa we have an authentic
account of the extent and strength of the Roman empire when the Jewish
war began. And this speech with other circumstances in Josephus,
demonstrate how wise and how great a person Agrippa was, and why
Josephus elsewhere calls him a most wonderful or admirable man,
Contr. Ap. I. 9. He is the same Agrippa who said to Paul, "Almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian," Acts 26;28; and of whom St. Paul said,
"He was expert in all the customs and questions of the Jews," yet. 3.
See another intimation of the limits of the same Roman empire, Of the
War, B. III. ch. 5. sect. 7. But what seems to me very remarkable here
is this, that when Josephus, in imitation of the Greeks and Romans, for
whose use he wrote his Antiquities, did himself frequently he into their
they appear, by the politeness of their composition, and their flights
of oratory, to be not the real speeches of the persons concerned, who
usually were no orators, but of his own elegant composure, the speech
before us is of another nature, full of undeniable facts, and composed
in a plain and unartful, but moving way; so it appears to be king
Agrippa's own speech, and to have been given Josephus by Agrippa
himself, with whom Josephus had the greatest friendship. Nor may we omit
Agrippa's constant doctrine here, that this vast Roman empire was raised
and supported by Divine Providence, and that therefore it was in vain
for the Jews, or any others, to think of destroying it. Nor may we
neglect to take notice of Agrippa's solemn appeal to the angels here
used; the like appeals to which we have in St. Paul, 1 Timothy 5:22, and
by the apostles in general, in the form of the ordination of bishops,
Constitut. Apost. VIII. 4.]
25 (return) [ Julius Caesar had decreed that the Jews of Jerusalem
should pay an annual tribute to the Romans, excepting the city Joppa,
and for the sabbatical year; as Spanheim observes from the Antiq. B.
XIV. ch. 10. sect. 6.]
26 (return) [ Of this Sohemus we have mention made by Tacitus. We also
learn from Dio that his father was king of the Arabians of Iturea,
[which Iturea is mentioned by St. Luke, ch. 3:1.] both whose testimonies
are quoted here by Dr. Hudson. See Noldius, No. 371.]
27 (return) [ Spanheim notes on the place, that this later Antiochus,
who was called Epiphaues, is mentioned by Dio, LIX. p. 645, and that he
is mentioned by Josephus elsewhere twice also, B.V. ch. 11. sect. 3; and
Antiq. B. XIX. ch. 8. sect. I.]
28 (return) [ Here we have an eminent example of that Jewish language,
which Dr. Wail truly observes, we several times find used in the sacred
writings; I mean, where the words "all" or "whole multitude," etc. are
used for much the greatest part only; but not so as to include every
person, without exception; for when Josephus had said that "the whole
multitude" [Footnote all the males] of Lydda were gone to the feast of
tabernacles, he immediately adds, that, however, no fewer than fifty
of them appeared, and were slain by the Romans. Other examples somewhat
like this I have observed elsewhere in Josephus, but, as I think, none
so remarkable as this. See Wall's Critical Observations on the Old
Testament, p. 49, 50.]
29 (return) [ We have also, in this and the next section, two eminent
facts to be observed, viz. the first example, that I remember, in
Josephus, of the onset of the Jews' enemies upon their country when
their males were gone up to Jerusalem to one of their three sacred
festivals; which, during the theocracy, God had promised to preserve
them from, Exodus 34:24. The second fact is this, the breach of the
sabbath by the seditions Jews in an offensive fight, contrary to the
universal doctrine and practice of their nation in these ages, and even
contrary to what they themselves afterward practiced in the rest of this
war. See the note on Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 2. sect. 4.]
30 (return) [ There may another very important, and very providential,
reason be here assigned for this strange and foolish retreat of Cestius;
which, if Josephus had been now a Christian, he might probably have
taken notice of also; and that is, the affording the Jewish Christians
in the city an opportunity of calling to mind the prediction and caution
given them by Christ about thirty-three years and a half before, that
"when they should see the abomination of desolation" [the idolatrous
Roman armies, with the images of their idols in their ensigns, ready
to lay Jerusalem desolate] "stand where it ought not;" or, "in the holy
place;" or, "when they should see Jerusalem any one instance of a more
unpolitic, but more providential, compassed with armies;" they should
then "flee to the mound conduct than this retreat of Cestius visible
during this whole rains." By complying with which those Jewish
Christians fled I siege of Jerusalem; which yet was providentially such
a "great to the mountains of Perea, and escaped this destruction. See
tribulation, as had not been from the beginning of the world to that
time; no, Lit. Accompl. of Proph. p. 69, 70. Nor was there, perhaps, nor
ever should be."--Ibid. p. 70, 71.]
31 (return) [ From this name of Joseph the son of Gorion, or Gorion
the son of Joseph, as B. IV. ch. 3. sect. 9, one of the governors of
Jerusalem, who was slain at the beginning of the tumults by the zealots,
B. IV. ch. 6. sect. 1, the much later Jewish author of a history of that
nation takes his title, and yet personates our true Josephus, the son of
Matthias; but the cheat is too gross to be put upon the learned world.]
32 (return) [ We may observe here, that the Idumeans, as having been
proselytes of justice since the days of John Hyrcanus, during about one
hundred and ninety-five years, were now esteemed as part of the Jewish
nation, and these provided of a Jewish commander accordingly. See the
note upon Antiq. B. XIII.. ch. 9. sect. 1.]
33 (return) [ We see here, and in Josephus's account of his own life,
sect. 14, how exactly he imitated his legislator Moses, or perhaps only
obeyed what he took to be his perpetual law, in appointing seven lesser
judges, for smaller causes, in particular cities, and perhaps for
the first hearing of greater causes, with the liberty of an appeal to
seventy-one supreme judges, especially in those causes where life and
death were concerned; as Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 14; and of his Life,
sect. 14. See also Of the War, B. IV. ch. 5. sect. 4. Moreover, we find,
sect. 7, that he imitated Moses, as well as the Romans, in the number
and distribution of the subaltern officers of his army, as Exodus 18:25;
Deuteronomy 1:15; and in his charge against the offenses common among
soldiers, as Denteronomy 13:9; in all which he showed his great wisdom
and piety, and skillful conduct in martial affairs. Yet may we discern
in his very high character of Artanus the high priest, B. IV. ch. 5.
sect. 2, who seems to have been the same who condemned St. James, bishop
of Jerusalem, to be stoned, under Albinus the procurator, that when
he wrote these books of the War, he was not so much as an Ebionite
Christian; otherwise he would not have failed, according to his usual
custom, to have reckoned this his barbarous murder as a just punishment
upon him for that his cruelty to the chief, or rather only Christian
bishop of the circumcision. Nor, had he been then a Christian, could he
immediately have spoken so movingly of the causes of the destruction
of Jerusalem, without one word of either the condemnation of James,
or crucifixion of Christ, as he did when he was become a Christian
afterward.]
34 (return) [ I should think that an army of sixty thousand footmen
should require many more than two hundred and fifty horsemen; and we
find Josephus had more horsemen under his command than two hundred and
fifty in his future history. I suppose the number of the thousands is
dropped in our present copies.]
35 (return) [ I cannot but think this stratagem of Josephus, which is
related both here and in his Life, sect. 32, 33, to be one of the finest
that ever was invented and executed by any warrior whatsoever.]
BOOK III.
Containing The Interval Of About One Year.
From Vespasian's Coming To Subdue The Jews To The Taking Of
Gamala.
CHAPTER 1.
Vespasian Is Sent Into Syria By Nero In Order To Make War
With The Jews.
1. When Nero was informed of the Romans' ill success in Judea, a
concealed consternation and terror, as is usual in such cases, fell upon
him; although he openly looked very big, and was very angry, and
said that what had happened was rather owing to the negligence of the
commander, than to any valor of the enemy: and as he thought it fit
for him, who bare the burden of the whole empire, to despise such
misfortunes, he now pretended so to do, and to have a soul superior to
all such sad accidents whatsoever. Yet did the disturbance that was in
his soul plainly appear by the solicitude he was in [how to recover his
affairs again].
2. And as he was deliberating to whom he should commit the care of the
East, now it was in so great a commotion, and who might be best able
to punish the Jews for their rebellion, and might prevent the same
distemper from seizing upon the neighboring nations also,--he found
no one but Vespasian equal to the task, and able to undergo the great
burden of so mighty a war, seeing he was growing an old man already in
the camp, and from his youth had been exercised in warlike exploits: he
was also a man that had long ago pacified the west, and made it subject
to the Romans, when it had been put into disorder by the Germans; he had
also recovered to them Britain by his arms, which had been little known
before 1 whereby he procured to his father Claudius to have a triumph
bestowed on him without any sweat or labor of his own.
3. So Nero esteemed these circumstances as favorable omens, and saw that
Vespasian's age gave him sure experience, and great skill, and that
he had his sons as hostages for his fidelity to himself, and that the
flourishing age they were in would make them fit instruments under
their father's prudence. Perhaps also there was some interposition
of Providence, which was paving the way for Vespasian's being himself
emperor afterwards. Upon the whole, he sent this man to take upon him
the command of the armies that were in Syria; but this not without great
encomiums and flattering compellations, such as necessity required, and
such as might mollify him into complaisance. So Vespasian sent his son
Titus from Achaia, where he had been with Nero, to Alexandria, to bring
back with him from thence the fifth and the tenth legions, while he
himself, when he had passed over the Hellespont, came by land into
Syria, where he gathered together the Roman forces, with a considerable
number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighborhood.
CHAPTER 2.
A Great Slaughter About Ascalon. Vespasian Comes To
Ptolemais.
1. Now the Jews, after they had beaten Cestius, were so much elevated
with their unexpected success, that they could not govern their zeal,
but, like people blown up into a flame by their good fortune, carried
the war to remoter places. Accordingly, they presently got together a
great multitude of all their most hardy soldiers, and marched away for
Ascalon. This is an ancient city that is distant from Jerusalem five
hundred and twenty furlongs, and was always an enemy to the Jews; on
which account they determined to make their first effort against it, and
to make their approaches to it as near as possible. This excursion was
led on by three men, who were the chief of them all, both for strength
and sagacity; Niger, called the Persite, Silas of Babylon, and besides
them John the Essene. Now Ascalon was strongly walled about, but had
almost no assistance to be relied on [near them], for the garrison
consisted of one cohort of footmen, and one troop of horsemen, whose
captain was Antonius.
2. These Jews, therefore, out of their anger, marched faster than
ordinary, and, as if they had come but a little way, approached very
near the city, and were come even to it; but Antonius, who was not
unapprized of the attack they were going to make upon the city, drew out
his horsemen beforehand, and being neither daunted at the multitude,
nor at the courage of the enemy, received their first attacks with great
bravery; and when they crowded to the very walls, he beat them off. Now
the Jews were unskillful in war, but were to fight with those who were
skillful therein; they were footmen to fight with horsemen; they were
in disorder, to fight those that were united together; they were poorly
armed, to fight those that were completely so; they were to fight more
by their rage than by sober counsel, and were exposed to soldiers that
were exactly obedient; and did every thing they were bidden upon the
least intimation. So they were easily beaten; for as soon as ever
their first ranks were once in disorder, they were put to flight by the
enemy's cavalry, and those of them that came behind such as crowded to
the wall fell upon their own party's weapons, and became one another's
enemies; and this so long till they were all forced to give way to the
attacks of the horsemen, and were dispersed all the plain over, which
plain was wide, and all fit for the horsemen; which circumstance was
very commodious for the Romans, and occasioned the slaughter of the
greatest number of the Jews; for such as ran away, they could overrun
them, and make them turn back; and when they had brought them back after
their flight, and driven them together, they ran them through, and slew
a vast number of them, insomuch that others encompassed others of them,
and drove them before them whithersoever they turned themselves, and
slew them easily with their arrows; and the great number there were of
the Jews seemed a solitude to themselves, by reason of the distress they
were in, while the Romans had such good success with their small number,
that they seemed to themselves to be the greater multitude. And as the
former strove zealously under their misfortunes, out of the shame of
a sudden flight, and hopes of the change in their success, so did the
latter feel no weariness by reason of their good fortune; insomuch that
the fight lasted till the evening, till ten thousand men of the Jews'
side lay dead, with two of their generals, John and Silas, and the
greater part of the remainder were wounded, with Niger, their remaining
general, who fled away together to a small city of Idumea, called
Sallis. Some few also of the Romans were wounded in this battle.
3. Yet were not the spirits of the Jews broken by so great a calamity,
but the losses they had sustained rather quickened their resolution for
other attempts; for, overlooking the dead bodies which lay under their
feet, they were enticed by their former glorious actions to venture on
a second destruction; so when they had lain still so little a while that
their wounds were not yet thoroughly cured, they got together all their
forces, and came with greater fury, and in much greater numbers, to
Ascalon. But their former ill fortune followed them, as the consequence
of their unskilfulness, and other deficiencies in war; for Antonius laid
ambushes for them in the passages they were to go through, where they
fell into snares unexpectedly, and where they were encompassed about
with horsemen, before they could form themselves into a regular body for
fighting, and were above eight thousand of them slain; so all the rest
of them ran away, and with them Niger, who still did a great many bold
exploits in his flight. However, they were driven along together by the
enemy, who pressed hard upon them, into a certain strong tower belonging
to a village called Bezedeh However, Antonius and his party, that they
might neither spend any considerable time about this tower, which was
hard to be taken, nor suffer their commander, and the most courageous
man of them all, to escape from them, they set the wall on fire; and as
the tower was burning, the Romans went away rejoicing, as taking it for
granted that Niger was destroyed; but he leaped out of the tower into a
subterraneous cave, in the innermost part of it, and was preserved; and
on the third day afterward he spake out of the ground to those that with
great lamentation were searching for him, in order to give him a decent
funeral; and when he was come out, he filled all the Jews with an
unexpected joy, as though he were preserved by God's providence to be
their commander for the time to come.
4. And now Vespasian took along with him his army from Antioch, [which
is the metropolis of Syria, and without dispute deserves the place of
the third city in the habitable earth that was under the Roman empire,
2 both in magnitude, and other marks of prosperity,] where he found king
Agrippa, with all his forces, waiting for his coming, and marched to
Ptolemais. At this city also the inhabitants of Sepphoris of Galilee met
him, who were for peace with the Romans. These citizens had beforehand
taken care of their own safety, and being sensible of the power of the
Romans, they had been with Cestius Gallus before Vespasian came, and had
given their faith to him, and received the security of his right hand,
and had received a Roman garrison; and at this time withal they received
Vespasian, the Roman general, very kindly, and readily promised that
they would assist him against their own countrymen. Now the general
delivered them, at their desire, as many horsemen and footmen as he
thought sufficient to oppose the incursions of the Jews, if they should
come against them. And indeed the danger of losing Sepphoris would be no
small one, in this war that was now beginning, seeing it was the largest
city of Galilee, and built in a place by nature very strong, and might
be a security of the whole nation's [fidelity to the Romans].
CHAPTER 3.
A Description Of Galilee, Samaria, And Judea.
1. Now Phoenicia and Syria encompass about the Galilees, which are two,
and called the Upper Galilee and the Lower. They are bounded toward the
sun-setting, with the borders of the territory belonging to Ptolemais,
and by Carmel; which mountain had formerly belonged to the Galileans,
but now belonged to the Tyrians; to which mountain adjoins Gaba,
which is called the City of Horsemen, because those horsemen that were
dismissed by Herod the king dwelt therein; they are bounded on the south
with Samaria and Scythopolis, as far as the river Jordan; on the east
with Hippeae and Gadaris, and also with Ganlonitis, and the borders of
the kingdom of Agrippa; its northern parts are bounded by Tyre, and the
country of the Tyrians. As for that Galilee which is called the Lower,
it, extends in length from Tiberias to Zabulon, and of the maritime
places Ptolemais is its neighbor; its breadth is from the village called
Xaloth, which lies in the great plain, as far as Bersabe, from which
beginning also is taken the breadth of the Upper Galilee, as far as the
village Baca, which divides the land of the Tyrians from it; its length
is also from Meloth to Thella, a village near to Jordan.
2. These two Galilees, of so great largeness, and encompassed with
so many nations of foreigners, have been always able to make a strong
resistance on all occasions of war; for the Galileans are inured to war
from their infancy, and have been always very numerous; nor hath the
country been ever destitute of men of courage, or wanted a numerous set
of them; for their soil is universally rich and fruitful, and full of
the plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it invites the
most slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its fruitfulness;
accordingly, it is all cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it
lies idle. Moreover, the cities lie here very thick, and the very
many villages there are here are every where so full of people, by
the richness of their soil, that the very least of them contain above
fifteen thousand inhabitants.
3. In short, if any one will suppose that Galilee is inferior to Perea
in magnitude, he will be obliged to prefer it before it in its strength;
for this is all capable of cultivation, and is every where fruitful; but
for Perea, which is indeed much larger in extent, the greater part of
it is desert and rough, and much less disposed for the production of the
milder kinds of fruits; yet hath it a moist soil [in other parts], and
produces all kinds of fruits, and its plains are planted with trees of
all sorts, while yet the olive tree, the vine, and the palm tree are
chiefly cultivated there. It is also sufficiently watered with torrents,
which issue out of the mountains, and with springs that never fail to
run, even when the torrents fail them, as they do in the dog-days. Now
the length of Perea is from Machaerus to Pella, and its breadth from
Philadelphia to Jordan; its northern parts are bounded by Pella, as we
have already said, as well as its Western with Jordan; the land of Moab
is its southern border, and its eastern limits reach to Arabia, and
Silbonitis, and besides to Philadelphene and Gerasa.
4. Now as to the country of Samaria, it lies between Judea and Galilee;
it begins at a village that is in the great plain called Ginea, and
ends at the Acrabbene toparchy, and is entirely of the same nature with
Judea; for both countries are made up of hills and valleys, and are
moist enough for agriculture, and are very fruitful. They have abundance
of trees, and are full of autumnal fruit, both that which grows wild,
and that which is the effect of cultivation. They are not naturally
watered by many rivers, but derive their chief moisture from rain-water,
of which they have no want; and for those rivers which they have, all
their waters are exceeding sweet: by reason also of the excellent grass
they have, their cattle yield more milk than do those in other places;
and, what is the greatest sign of excellency and of abundance, they each
of them are very full of people.
5. In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies the village Anuath, which is
also named Borceos. This is the northern boundary of Judea. The southern
parts of Judea, if they be measured lengthways, are bounded by a Village
adjoining to the confines of Arabia; the Jews that dwell there call it
Jordan. However, its breadth is extended from the river Jordan to Joppa.
The city Jerusalem is situated in the very middle; on which account some
have, with sagacity enough, called that city the Navel of the country.
Nor indeed is Judea destitute of such delights as come from the sea,
since its maritime places extend as far as Ptolemais: it was parted into
eleven portions, of which the royal city Jerusalem was the supreme, and
presided over all the neighboring country, as the head does over the
body. As to the other cities that were inferior to it, they presided
over their several toparchies; Gophna was the second of those cities,
and next to that Acrabatta, after them Thamna, and Lydda, and Emmaus,
and Pella, and Idumea, and Engaddi, and Herodium, and Jericho; and after
them came Jamnia and Joppa, as presiding over the neighboring people;
and besides these there was the region of Gamala, and Gaulonitis,
and Batanea, and Trachonitis, which are also parts of the kingdom of
Agrippa. This [last] country begins at Mount Libanus, and the fountains
of Jordan, and reaches breadthways to the lake of Tiberias; and in
length is extended from a village called Arpha, as far as Julias. Its
inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians. And thus have I, with
all possible brevity, described the country of Judea, and those that lie
round about it.
CHAPTER 4.
Josephus Makes An Attempt Upon Sepphoris But Is Repelled.
Titus Comes With A Great Army To Ptolemais.
1. Now the auxiliaries which were sent to assist the people of
Sepphoris, being a thousand horsemen, and six thousand footmen, under
Placidus the tribune, pitched their camp in two bodies in the great
plain. The foot were put into the city to be a guard to it, but the
horse lodged abroad in the camp. These last, by marching continually one
way or other, and overrunning the parts of the adjoining country, were
very troublesome to Josephus and his men; they also plundered all the
places that were out of the city's liberty, and intercepted such as
durst go abroad. On this account it was that Josephus marched against
the city, as hoping to take what he had lately encompassed with so
strong a wall, before they revolted from the rest of the Galileans, that
the Romans would have much ado to take it; by which means he proved too
weak, and failed of his hopes, both as to the forcing the place, and as
to his prevailing with the people of Sepphoris to deliver it up to him.
By this means he provoked the Romans to treat the country according to
the law of war; nor did the Romans, out of the anger they bore at this
attempt, leave off, either by night or by day, burning the places in
the plain, and stealing away the cattle that were in the country, and
killing whatsoever appeared capable of fighting perpetually, and leading
the weaker people as slaves into captivity; so that Galilee was all over
filled with fire and blood; nor was it exempted from any kind of misery
or calamity, for the only refuge they had was this, that when they were
pursued, they could retire to the cities which had walls built them by
Josephus.
2. But as to Titus, he sailed over from Achaia to Alexandria, and that
sooner than the winter season did usually permit; so he took with him
those forces he was sent for, and marching with great expedition, he
came suddenly to Ptolemais, and there finding his father, together with
the two legions, the fifth and the tenth, which were the most eminent
legions of all, he joined them to that fifteenth legion which was with
his father; eighteen cohorts followed these legions; there came also
five cohorts from Cesarea, with one troop of horsemen, and five other
troops of horsemen from Syria. Now these ten cohorts had severally a
thousand footmen, but the other thirteen cohorts had no more than six
hundred footmen apiece, with a hundred and twenty horsemen. There were
also a considerable number of auxiliaries got together, that came from
the kings Antiochus, and Agrippa, and Sohemus, each of them contributing
one thousand footmen that were archers, and a thousand horsemen.
Malchus also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horsemen, besides five
thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that
the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well
horsemen as footmen, when all were united together, amounted to sixty
thousand, besides the servants, who, as they followed in vast numbers,
so because they had been trained up in war with the rest, ought not
to be distinguished from the fighting men; for as they were in their
masters' service in times of peace, so did they undergo the like dangers
with them in times of war, insomuch that they were inferior to none,
either in skill or in strength, only they were subject to their masters.
CHAPTER 5.
A Description Of The Roman Armies And Roman Camps And Of
Other Particulars For Which The Romans Are Commended.
1. Now here one cannot but admire at the precaution of the Romans, in
providing themselves of such household servants, as might not only serve
at other times for the common offices of life, but might also be of
advantage to them in their wars. And, indeed, if any one does but attend
to the other parts of their military discipline, he will be forced
to confess that their obtaining so large a dominion hath been the
acquisition of their valor, and not the bare gift of fortune; for they
do not begin to use their weapons first in time of war, nor do they then
put their hands first into motion, while they avoided so to do in times
of peace; but, as if their weapons did always cling to them, they have
never any truce from warlike exercises; nor do they stay till times of
war admonish them to use them; for their military exercises differ not
at all from the real use of their arms, but every soldier is every day
exercised, and that with great diligence, as if it were in time of war,
which is the reason why they bear the fatigue of battles so easily; for
neither can any disorder remove them from their usual regularity,
nor can fear affright them out of it, nor can labor tire them; which
firmness of conduct makes them always to overcome those that have not
the same firmness; nor would he be mistaken that should call those their
exercises unbloody battles, and their battles bloody exercises. Nor
can their enemies easily surprise them with the suddenness of their
incursions; for as soon as they have marched into an enemy's land, they
do not begin to fight till they have walled their camp about; nor is the
fence they raise rashly made, or uneven; nor do they all abide in it,
nor do those that are in it take their places at random; but if it
happens that the ground is uneven, it is first leveled: their camp is
also four-square by measure, and carpenters are ready, in great numbers,
with their tools, to erect their buildings for them. 3
2. As for what is within the camp, it is set apart for tents, but the
outward circumference hath the resemblance to a wall, and is adorned
with towers at equal distances, where between the towers stand the
engines for throwing arrows and darts, and for slinging stones, and
where they lay all other engines that can annoy the enemy, all ready for
their several operations. They also erect four gates, one at every side
of the circumference, and those large enough for the entrance of the
beasts, and wide enough for making excursions, if occasion should
require. They divide the camp within into streets, very conveniently,
and place the tents of the commanders in the middle; but in the very
midst of all is the general's own tent, in the nature of a temple,
insomuch, that it appears to be a city built on the sudden, with its
market-place, and place for handicraft trades, and with seats for the
officers superior and inferior, where, if any differences arise, their
causes are heard and determined. The camp, and all that is in it, is
encompassed with a wall round about, and that sooner than one would
imagine, and this by the multitude and the skill of the laborers; and,
if occasion require, a trench is drawn round the whole, whose depth is
four cubits, and its breadth equal.
3. When they have thus secured themselves, they live together by
companies, with quietness and decency, as are all their other affairs
managed with good order and security. Each company hath also their wood,
and their corn, and their water brought them, when they stand in need
of them; for they neither sup nor dine as they please themselves singly,
but all together. Their times also for sleeping, and watching, and
rising are notified beforehand by the sound of trumpets, nor is any
thing done without such a signal; and in the morning the soldiery go
every one to their centurions, and these centurions to their tribunes,
to salute them; with whom all the superior officers go to the general
of the whole army, who then gives them of course the watchword and other
orders, to be by them carried to all that are under their command; which
is also observed when they go to fight, and thereby they turn themselves
about on the sudden, when there is occasion for making sallies, as they
come back when they are recalled in crowds also.
4. Now when they are to go out of their camp, the trumpet gives a sound,
at which time nobody lies still, but at the first intimation they take
down their tents, and all is made ready for their going out; then do the
trumpets sound again, to order them to get ready for the march; then do
they lay their baggage suddenly upon their mules, and other beasts of
burden, and stand, as at the place of starting, ready to march; when
also they set fire to their camp, and this they do because it will be
easy for them to erect another camp, and that it may not ever be of use
to their enemies. Then do the trumpets give a sound the third time, that
they are to go out, in order to excite those that on any account are
a little tardy, that so no one may be out of his rank when the army
marches. Then does the crier stand at the general's right hand, and asks
them thrice, in their own tongue, whether they be now ready to go out
to war or not? To which they reply as often, with a loud and cheerful
voice, saying, "We are ready." And this they do almost before the
question is asked them: they do this as filled with a kind of martial
fury, and at the same time that they so cry out, they lift up their
right hands also.
5. When, after this, they are gone out of their camp, they all march
without noise, and in a decent manner, and every one keeps his own rank,
as if they were going to war. The footmen are armed with breastplates
and head-pieces, and have swords on each side; but the sword which is
upon their left side is much longer than the other, for that on the
right side is not longer than a span. Those foot-men also that are
chosen out from the rest to be about the general himself have a lance
and a buckler, but the rest of the foot soldiers have a spear and a long
buckler, besides a saw and a basket, a pick-axe and an axe, a thong of
leather and a hook, with provisions for three days, so that a footman
hath no great need of a mule to carry his burdens. The horsemen have
a long sword on their right sides, axed a long pole in their hand; a
shield also lies by them obliquely on one side of their horses, with
three or more darts that are borne in their quiver, having broad
points, and not smaller than spears. They have also head-pieces and
breastplates, in like manner as have all the footmen. And for those that
are chosen to be about the general, their armor no way differs from
that of the horsemen belonging to other troops; and he always leads the
legions forth to whom the lot assigns that employment.
6. This is the manner of the marching and resting of the Romans, as also
these are the several sorts of weapons they use. But when they are to
fight, they leave nothing without forecast, nor to be done off-hand, but
counsel is ever first taken before any work is begun, and what hath been
there resolved upon is put in execution presently; for which reason they
seldom commit any errors; and if they have been mistaken at any time,
they easily correct those mistakes. They also esteem any errors they
commit upon taking counsel beforehand to be better than such rash
success as is owing to fortune only; because such a fortuitous advantage
tempts them to be inconsiderate, while consultation, though it may
sometimes fail of success, hath this good in it, that it makes men more
careful hereafter; but for the advantages that arise from chance,
they are not owing to him that gains them; and as to what melancholy
accidents happen unexpectedly, there is this comfort in them, that they
had however taken the best consultations they could to prevent them.
7. Now they so manage their preparatory exercises of their weapons, that
not the bodies of the soldiers only, but their souls may also become
stronger: they are moreover hardened for war by fear; for their laws
inflict capital punishments, not only for soldiers running away from the
ranks, but for slothfulness and inactivity, though it be but in a lesser
degree; as are their generals more severe than their laws, for they
prevent any imputation of cruelty toward those under condemnation, by
the great rewards they bestow on the valiant soldiers; and the readiness
of obeying their commanders is so great, that it is very ornamental in
peace; but when they come to a battle, the whole army is but one body,
so well coupled together are their ranks, so sudden are their turnings
about, so sharp their hearing as to what orders are given them, so quick
their sight of the ensigns, and so nimble are their hands when they set
to work; whereby it comes to pass that what they do is done quickly, and
what they suffer they bear with the greatest patience. Nor can we find
any examples where they have been conquered in battle, when they came
to a close fight, either by the multitude of the enemies, or by their
stratagems, or by the difficulties in the places they were in; no, nor
by fortune neither, for their victories have been surer to them than
fortune could have granted them. In a case, therefore, where counsel
still goes before action, and where, after taking the best advice,
that advice is followed by so active an army, what wonder is it that
Euphrates on the east, the ocean on the west, the most fertile regions
of Libya on the south, and the Danube and the Rhine on the north, are
the limits of this empire? One might well say that the Roman possessions
are not inferior to the Romans themselves.
8. This account I have given the reader, not so much with the intention
of commending the Romans, as of comforting those that have been
conquered by them, and for the deterring others from attempting
innovations under their government. This discourse of the Roman military
conduct may also perhaps be of use to such of the curious as are
ignorant of it, and yet have a mind to know it. I return now from this
digression.
CHAPTER 6.
Placidus Attempts To Take Jotapata And Is Beaten Off.
Vespasian Marches Into Galilee.
1. And now Vespasian, with his son Titus, had tarried some time at
Ptolemais, and had put his army in order. But when Placidus, who had
overrun Galilee, and had besides slain a number of those whom he had
caught, [which were only the weaker part of the Galileans, and such
as were of timorous souls,] saw that the warriors ran always to those
cities whose walls had been built by Josephus, he marched furiously
against Jotapata, which was of them all the strongest, as supposing he
should easily take it by a sudden surprise, and that he should thereby
obtain great honor to himself among the commanders, and bring a great
advantage to them in their future campaign; because if this strongest
place of them all were once taken, the rest would be so affrighted as to
surrender themselves. But he was mightily mistaken in his undertaking;
for the men of Jotapata were apprized of his coming to attack them, and
came out of the city, and expected him there. So they fought the Romans
briskly when they least expected it, being both many in number, and
prepared for fighting, and of great alacrity, as esteeming their
country, their wives, and their children to be in danger, and easily put
the Romans to flight, and wounded many of them, and slew seven of them;
4 because their retreat was not made in a disorderly manner, because
the strokes only touched the surface of their bodies, which were covered
with their armor in all parts, and because the Jews did rather throw
their weapons upon them from a great distance, than venture to come hand
to hand with them, and had only light armor on, while the others were
completely armed. However, three men of the Jews' side were slain, and
a few wounded; so Placidus, finding himself unable to assault the city,
ran away.
2. But as Vespasian had a great mind to fall upon Galilee, he marched
out of Ptolemais, having put his army into that order wherein the Romans
used to march. He ordered those auxiliaries which were lightly armed,
and the archers, to march first, that they might prevent any sudden
insults from the enemy, and might search out the woods that looked
suspiciously, and were capable of ambuscades. Next to these followed
that part of the Romans which was completely armed, both footmen and
horsemen. Next to these followed ten out of every hundred, carrying
along with them their arms, and what was necessary to measure out a camp
withal; and after them, such as were to make the road even and straight,
and if it were any where rough and hard to be passed over, to plane it,
and to cut down the woods that hindered their march, that the army might
not be in distress, or tired with their march. Behind these he set
such carriages of the army as belonged both to himself and to the other
commanders, with a considerable number of their horsemen for their
security. After these he marched himself, having with him a select body
of footmen, and horsemen, and pikemen. After these came the peculiar
cavalry of his own legion, for there were a hundred and twenty horsemen
that peculiarly belonged to every legion. Next to these came the mules
that carried the engines for sieges, and the other warlike machines
of that nature. After these came the commanders of the cohorts and
tribunes, having about them soldiers chosen out of the rest. Then came
the ensigns encompassing the eagle, which is at the head of every Roman
legion, the king, and the strongest of all birds, which seems to them a
signal of dominion, and an omen that they shall conquer all against whom
they march; these sacred ensigns are followed by the trumpeters. Then
came the main army in their squadrons and battalions, with six men in
depth, which were followed at last by a centurion, who, according to
custom, observed the rest. As for the servants of every legion, they
all followed the footmen, and led the baggage of the soldiers, which
was borne by the mules and other beasts of burden. But behind all the
legions came the whole multitude of the mercenaries; and those that
brought up the rear came last of all for the security of the whole army,
being both footmen, and those in their armor also, with a great number
of horsemen.
3. And thus did Vespasian march with his army, and came to the bounds of
Galilee, where he pitched his camp and restrained his soldiers, who
were eager for war; he also showed his army to the enemy, in order
to affright them, and to afford them a season for repentance, to see
whether they would change their minds before it came to a battle, and at
the same time he got things ready for besieging their strong minds. And
indeed this sight of the general brought many to repent of their revolt,
and put them all into a consternation; for those that were in Josephus's
camp, which was at the city called Garis, not far from Sepphoris, when
they heard that the war was come near them, and that the Romans would
suddenly fight them hand to hand, dispersed themselves and fled, not
only before they came to a battle, but before the enemy ever came in
sight, while Josephus and a few others were left behind; and as he saw
that he had not an army sufficient to engage the enemy, that the spirits
of the Jews were sunk, and that the greater part would willingly come to
terms, if they might be credited, he already despaired of the success of
the whole war, and determined to get as far as he possibly could out
of danger; so he took those that staid along with him, and fled to
Tiberias.
CHAPTER 7.
Vespasian, When He Had Taken The City Gadaea Marches To
Jotapata. After A Long Siege The City Is Betrayed By A
Deserter, And Taken By Vespasian.
1. So Vespasian marched to the city Gadara, and took it upon the first
onset, because he found it destitute of any considerable number of men
grown up and fit for war. He came then into it, and slew all the youth,
the Romans having no mercy on any age whatsoever; and this was done out
of the hatred they bore the nation, and because of the iniquity they had
been guilty of in the affair of Cestius. He also set fire not only to
the city itself, but to all the villas and small cities that were round
about it; some of them were quite destitute of inhabitants, and out of
some of them he carried the inhabitants as slaves into captivity.
2. As to Josephus, his retiring to that city which he chose as the most
fit for his security, put it into great fear; for the people of Tiberias
did not imagine that he would have run away, unless he had entirely
despaired of the success of the war. And indeed, as to that point, they
were not mistaken about his opinion; for he saw whither the affairs of
the Jews would tend at last, and was sensible that they had but one way
of escaping, and that was by repentance. However, although he expected
that the Romans would forgive him, yet did he choose to die many times
over, rather than to betray his country, and to dishonor that supreme
command of the army which had been intrusted with him, or to live
happily under those against whom he was sent to fight. He determined,
therefore, to give an exact account of affairs to the principal men at
Jerusalem by a letter, that he might not, by too much aggrandizing the
power of the enemy, make them too timorous; nor, by relating that their
power beneath the truth, might encourage them to stand out when they
were perhaps disposed to repentance. He also sent them word, that if
they thought of coming to terms, they must suddenly write him an answer;
or if they resolved upon war, they must send him an army sufficient
to fight the Romans. Accordingly, he wrote these things, and sent
messengers immediately to carry his letter to Jerusalem.
3. Now Vespasian was very desirous of demolishing Jotapata, for he had
gotten intelligence that the greatest part of the enemy had retired
thither, and that it was, on other accounts, a place of great security
to them. Accordingly, he sent both foot-men and horsemen to level the
road, which was mountainous and rocky, not without difficulty to be
traveled over by footmen, but absolutely impracticable for horsemen. Now
these workmen accomplished what they were about in four days' time,
and opened a broad way for the army. On the fifth day, which was the
twenty-first of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] Josephus prevented him,
and came from Tiberias, and went into Jotapata, and raised the drooping
spirits of the Jews. And a certain deserter told this good news to
Vespasian, that Josephus had removed himself thither, which made him
make haste to the city, as supposing that with taking that he should
take all Judea, in case he could but withal get Josephus under his
power. So he took this news to be of the vastest advantage to him, and
believed it to be brought about by the providence of God, that he who
appeared to be the most prudent man of all their enemies, had, of his
own accord, shut himself up in a place of sure custody. Accordingly, he
sent Placidus with a thousand horsemen, and Ebutius a decurion, a person
that was of eminency both in council and in action, to encompass the
city round, that Josephus might not escape away privately.
4. Vespasian also, the very next day, took his whole army and followed
them, and by marching till late in the evening, arrived then at
Jotapata; and bringing his army to the northern side of the city, he
pitched his camp on a certain small hill which was seven furlongs from
the city, and still greatly endeavored to be well seen by the enemy, to
put them into a consternation; which was indeed so terrible to the Jews
immediately, that no one of them durst go out beyond the wall. Yet did
the Romans put off the attack at that time, because they had marched all
the day, although they placed a double row of battalions round the
city, with a third row beyond them round the whole, which consisted of
cavalry, in order to stop up every way for an exit; which thing making
the Jews despair of escaping, excited them to act more boldly; for
nothing makes men fight so desperately in war as necessity.
5. Now when the next day an assault was made by the Romans, the Jews at
first staid out of the walls and opposed them, and met them, as having
formed themselves a camp before the city walls. But when Vespasian had
set against them the archers and slingers, and the whole multitude that
could throw to a great distance, he permitted them to go to work, while
he himself, with the footmen, got upon an acclivity, whence the city
might easily be taken. Josephus was then in fear for the city, and
leaped out, and all the Jewish multitude with him; these fell together
upon the Romans in great numbers, and drove them away from the wall, and
performed a great many glorious and bold actions. Yet did they suffer
as much as they made the enemy suffer; for as despair of deliverance
encouraged the Jews, so did a sense of shame equally encourage the
Romans. These last had skill as well as strength; the other had only
courage, which armed them, and made them fight furiously. And when the
fight had lasted all day, it was put an end to by the coming on of the
night. They had wounded a great many of the Romans, and killed of them
thirteen men; of the Jews' side seventeen were slain, and six hundred
wounded.
6. On the next day the Jews made another attack upon the Romans, and
went out of the walls and fought a much more desperate battle with them
than before. For they were now become more courageous than formerly, and
that on account of the unexpected good opposition they had made the day
before, as they found the Romans also to fight more desperately; for a
sense of shame inflamed these into a passion, as esteeming their failure
of a sudden victory to be a kind of defeat. Thus did the Romans try to
make an impression upon the Jews till the fifth day continually, while
the people of Jotapata made sallies out, and fought at the walls most
desperately; nor were the Jews affrighted at the strength of the enemy,
nor were the Romans discouraged at the difficulties they met with in
taking the city.
7. Now Jotapata is almost all of it built on a precipice, having on
all the other sides of it every way valleys immensely deep and steep,
insomuch that those who would look down would have their sight fail them
before it reaches to the bottom. It is only to be come at on the north
side, where the utmost part of the city is built on the mountain, as it
ends obliquely at a plain. This mountain Josephus had encompassed with
a wall when he fortified the city, that its top might not be capable
of being seized upon by the enemies. The city is covered all round with
other mountains, and can no way be seen till a man comes just upon it.
And this was the strong situation of Jotapata.
8. Vespasian, therefore, in order to try how he might overcome the
natural strength of the place, as well as the bold defense of the Jews,
made a resolution to prosecute the siege with vigor. To that end he
called the commanders that were under him to a council of war, and
consulted with them which way the assault might be managed to the best
advantage. And when the resolution was there taken to raise a bank
against that part of the wall which was practicable, he sent his whole
army abroad to get the materials together. So when they had cut down
all the trees on the mountains that adjoined to the city, and had gotten
together a vast heap of stones, besides the wood they had cut down, some
of them brought hurdles, in order to avoid the effects of the darts that
were shot from above them. These hurdles they spread over their banks,
under cover whereof they formed their bank, and so were little or
nothing hurt by the darts that were thrown upon them from the wall,
while others pulled the neighboring hillocks to pieces, and perpetually
brought earth to them; so that while they were busy three sorts of ways,
nobody was idle. However, the Jews cast great stones from the walls upon
the hurdles which protected the men, with all sorts of darts also; and
the noise of what could not reach them was yet so terrible, that it was
some impediment to the workmen.
9. Vespasian then set the engines for throwing stones and darts round
about the city. The number of the engines was in all a hundred and
sixty, and bid them fall to work, and dislodge those that were upon the
wall. At the same time such engines as were intended for that purpose
threw at once lances upon them with a great noise, and stones of the
weight of a talent were thrown by the engines that were prepared for
that purpose, together with fire, and a vast multitude of arrows, which
made the wall so dangerous, that the Jews durst not only not come
upon it, but durst not come to those parts within the walls which were
reached by the engines; for the multitude of the Arabian archers, as
well also as all those that threw darts and slung stones, fell to work
at the same time with the engines. Yet did not the others lie still,
when they could not throw at the Romans from a higher place; for they
then made sallies out of the city, like private robbers, by parties, and
pulled away the hurdles that covered the workmen, and killed them when
they were thus naked; and when those workmen gave way, these cast away
the earth that composed the bank, and burnt the wooden parts of it,
together with the hurdles, till at length Vespasian perceived that the
intervals there were between the works were of disadvantage to him;
for those spaces of ground afforded the Jews a place for assaulting the
Romans. So he united the hurdles, and at the same time joined one part
of the army to the other, which prevented the private excursions of the
Jews.
10. And when the bank was now raised, and brought nearer than ever to
the battlements that belonged to the walls, Josephus thought it would be
entirely wrong in him if he could make no contrivances in opposition
to theirs, and that might be for the city's preservation; so he got
together his workmen, and ordered them to build the wall higher; and
while they said that this was impossible to be done while so many darts
were thrown at them, he invented this sort of cover for them: He bid
them fix piles, and expand before them the raw hides of oxen newly
killed, that these hides by yielding and hollowing themselves when the
stones were thrown at them might receive them, for that the other darts
would slide off them, and the fire that was thrown would be quenched by
the moisture that was in them. And these he set before the workmen, and
under them these workmen went on with their works in safety, and raised
the wall higher, and that both by day and by night, till it was twenty
cubits high. He also built a good number of towers upon the wall, and
fitted it to strong battlements. This greatly discouraged the Romans,
who in their own opinions were already gotten within the walls, while
they were now at once astonished at Josephus's contrivance, and at the
fortitude of the citizens that were in the city.
11. And now Vespasian was plainly irritated at the great subtlety of
this stratagem, and at the boldness of the citizens of Jotapata; for
taking heart again upon the building of this wall, they made fresh
sallies upon the Romans, and had every day conflicts with them by
parties, together with all such contrivances, as robbers make use of,
and with the plundering of all that came to hand, as also with the
setting fire to all the other works; and this till Vespasian made his
army leave off fighting them, and resolved to lie round the city, and
to starve them into a surrender, as supposing that either they would
be forced to petition him for mercy by want of provisions, or if they
should have the courage to hold out till the last, they should perish
by famine: and he concluded he should conquer them the more easily in
fighting, if he gave them an interval, and then fell upon them when they
were weakened by famine; but still he gave orders that they should guard
against their coming out of the city.
12. Now the besieged had plenty of corn within the city, and indeed of
all necessaries, but they wanted water, because there was no fountain in
the city, the people being there usually satisfied with rain water; yet
is it a rare thing in that country to have rain in summer, and at
this season, during the siege, they were in great distress for some
contrivance to satisfy their thirst; and they were very sad at this time
particularly, as if they were already in want of water entirely, for
Josephus seeing that the city abounded with other necessaries, and that
the men were of good courage, and being desirous to protract the siege
to the Romans longer than they expected, ordered their drink to be given
them by measure; but this scanty distribution of water by measure was
deemed by them as a thing more hard upon them than the want of it;
and their not being able to drink as much as they would made them more
desirous of drinking than they otherwise had been; nay, they were as
much disheartened hereby as if they were come to the last degree of
thirst. Nor were the Romans unacquainted with the state they were in,
for when they stood over against them, beyond the wall, they could see
them running together, and taking their water by measure, which made
them throw their javelins thither the place being within their reach,
and kill a great many of them.
13. Hereupon Vespasian hoped that their receptacles of water would in
no long time be emptied, and that they would be forced to deliver up
the city to him; but Josephus being minded to break such his hope, gave
command that they should wet a great many of their clothes, and hang
them out about the battlements, till the entire wall was of a sudden all
wet with the running down of the water. At this sight the Romans were
discouraged, and under consternation, when they saw them able to throw
away in sport so much water, when they supposed them not to have enough
to drink themselves. This made the Roman general despair of taking the
city by their want of necessaries, and to betake himself again to arms,
and to try to force them to surrender, which was what the Jews greatly
desired; for as they despaired of either themselves or their city being
able to escape, they preferred a death in battle before one by hunger
and thirst.
14. However, Josephus contrived another stratagem besides the foregoing,
to get plenty of what they wanted. There was a certain rough and uneven
place that could hardly be ascended, and on that account was not guarded
by the soldiers; so Josephus sent out certain persons along the western
parts of the valley, and by them sent letters to whom he pleased of the
Jews that were out of the city, and procured from them what necessaries
soever they wanted in the city in abundance; he enjoined them also to
creep generally along by the watch as they came into the city, and to
cover their backs with such sheep-skins as had their wool upon them,
that if any one should spy them out in the night time, they might
be believed to be dogs. This was done till the watch perceived their
contrivance, and encompassed that rough place about themselves.
15. And now it was that Josephus perceived that the city could not hold
out long, and that his own life would be in doubt if he continued in it;
so he consulted how he and the most potent men of the city might fly
out of it. When the multitude understood this, they came all round about
him, and begged of him not to overlook them while they entirely depended
on him, and him alone; for that there was still hope of the city's
deliverance, if he would stay with them, because every body would
undertake any pains with great cheerfulness on his account, and in that
case there would be some comfort for them also, though they should be
taken: that it became him neither to fly from his enemies, nor to desert
his friends, nor to leap out of that city, as out of a ship that was
sinking in a storm, into which he came when it was quiet and in a calm;
for that by going away he would be the cause of drowning the city,
because nobody would then venture to oppose the enemy when he was once
gone, upon whom they wholly confided. 16. Hereupon Josephus avoided
letting them know that he was to go away to provide for his own safety,
but told them that he would go out of the city for their sakes; for that
if he staid with them, he should be able to do them little good while
they were in a safe condition; and that if they were once taken, he
should only perish with them to no purpose; but that if he were once
gotten free from this siege, he should be able to bring them very great
relief; for that he would then immediately get the Galileans together,
out of the country, in great multitudes, and draw the Romans off their
city by another war. That he did not see what advantage he could bring
to them now, by staying among them, but only provoke the Romans to
besiege them more closely, as esteeming it a most valuable thing to take
him; but that if they were once informed that he was fled out of the
city, they would greatly remit of their eagerness against it. Yet did
not this plea move the people, but inflamed them the more to hang about
him. Accordingly, both the children and the old men, and the women with
their infants, came mourning to him, and fell down before him, and all
of them caught hold of his feet, and held him fast, and besought him,
with great lamentations, that he would take his share with them in
their fortune; and I think they did this, not that they envied his
deliverance, but that they hoped for their own; for they could not think
they should suffer any great misfortune, provided Josephus would but
stay with them.
17. Now Josephus thought, that if he resolved to stay, it would be
ascribed to their entreaties; and if he resolved to go away by force, he
should be put into custody. His commiseration also of the people under
their lamentations had much broken that his eagerness to leave them; so
he resolved to stay, and arming himself with the common despair of
the citizens, he said to them, "Now is the time to begin to fight in
earnest, when there is no hope of deliverance left. It is a brave
thing to prefer glory before life, and to set about some such noble
undertaking as may be remembered by late posterity." Having said
this, he fell to work immediately, and made a sally, and dispersed the
enemies' out-guards, and ran as far as the Roman camp itself, and pulled
the coverings of their tents to pieces, that were upon their banks, and
set fire to their works. And this was the manner in which he never left
off fighting, neither the next day, nor the day after it, but went on
with it for a considerable number of both days and nights.
18. Upon this, Vespasian, when he saw the Romans distressed by these
sallies, [though they were ashamed to be made to run away by the Jews;
and when at any time they made the Jews run away, their heavy armor
would not let them pursue them far; while the Jews, when they had
performed any action, and before they could be hurt themselves, still
retired into the city,] ordered his armed men to avoid their onset,
and not fight it out with men under desperation, while nothing is more
courageous than despair; but that their violence would be quenched when
they saw they failed of their purposes, as fire is quenched when
it wants fuel; and that it was proper for the Romans to gain their
victories as cheap as they could, since they are not forced to fight,
but only to enlarge their own dominions. So he repelled the Jews in
great measure by the Arabian archers, and the Syrian slingers, and by
those that threw stones at them, nor was there any intermission of the
great number of their offensive engines. Now the Jews suffered greatly
by these engines, without being able to escape from them; and when these
engines threw their stones or javelins a great way, and the Jews were
within their reach, they pressed hard upon the Romans, and fought
desperately, without sparing either soul or body, one part succoring
another by turns, when it was tired down.
19. When, therefore, Vespasian looked upon himself as in a manner
besieged by these sallies of the Jews, and when his banks were now not
far from the walls, he determined to make use of his battering ram.
This battering ram is a vast beam of wood like the mast of a ship, its
forepart is armed with a thick piece of iron at the head of it, which
is so carved as to be like the head of a ram, whence its name is taken.
This ram is slung in the air by ropes passing over its middle, and is
hung like the balance in a pair of scales from another beam, and braced
by strong beams that pass on both sides of it, in the nature of a cross.
When this ram is pulled backward by a great number of men with united
force, and then thrust forward by the same men, with a mighty noise, it
batters the walls with that iron part which is prominent. Nor is there
any tower so strong, or walls so broad, that can resist any more than
its first batteries, but all are forced to yield to it at last. This was
the experiment which the Roman general betook himself to, when he was
eagerly bent upon taking the city; but found lying in the field so
long to be to his disadvantage, because the Jews would never let him be
quiet. So these Romans brought the several engines for galling an enemy
nearer to the walls, that they might reach such as were upon the wall,
and endeavored to frustrate their attempts; these threw stones and
javelins at them; in the like manner did the archers and slingers come
both together closer to the wall. This brought matters to such a pass
that none of the Jews durst mount the walls, and then it was that the
other Romans brought the battering ram that was cased with hurdles all
over, and in the tipper part was secured by skins that covered it, and
this both for the security of themselves and of the engine. Now, at the
very first stroke of this engine, the wall was shaken, and a terrible
clamor was raised by the people within the city, as if they were already
taken.
20. And now, when Josephus saw this ram still battering the same place,
and that the wall would quickly be thrown down by it, he resolved to
elude for a while the force of the engine. With this design he gave
orders to fill sacks with chaff, and to hang them down before that place
where they saw the ram always battering, that the stroke might be turned
aside, or that the place might feel less of the strokes by the yielding
nature of the chaff. This contrivance very much delayed the attempts
of the Romans, because, let them remove their engine to what part they
pleased, those that were above it removed their sacks, and placed them
over against the strokes it made, insomuch that the wall was no way
hurt, and this by diversion of the strokes, till the Romans made an
opposite contrivance of long poles, and by tying hooks at their ends,
cut off the sacks. Now when the battering ram thus recovered its force,
and the wall having been but newly built, was giving way, Josephus and
those about him had afterward immediate recourse to fire, to defend
themselves withal; whereupon they took what materials soever they had
that were but dry, and made a sally three ways, and set fire to the
machines, and the hurdles, and the banks of the Romans themselves; nor
did the Romans well know how to come to their assistance, being at once
under a consternation at the Jews' boldness, and being prevented by the
flames from coming to their assistance; for the materials being dry with
the bitumen and pitch that were among them, as was brimstone also, the
fire caught hold of every thing immediately, and what cost the Romans a
great deal of pains was in one hour consumed.
21. And here a certain Jew appeared worthy of our relation and
commendation; he was the son of Sameas, and was called Eleazar, and was
born at Saab, in Galilee. This man took up a stone of a vast bigness,
and threw it down from the wall upon the ram, and this with so great a
force, that it broke off the head of the engine. He also leaped down,
and took up the head of the ram from the midst of them, and without any
concern carried it to the top of the wall, and this while he stood as a
fit mark to be pelted by all his enemies. Accordingly, he received the
strokes upon his naked body, and was wounded with five darts; nor did he
mind any of them while he went up to the top of the wall, where he stood
in the sight of them all, as an instance of the greatest boldness; after
which he drew himself on a heap with his wounds upon him, and fell down
together with the head of the ram. Next to him, two brothers showed
their courage; their names were Netir and Philip, both of them of the
village Ruma, and both of them Galileans also; these men leaped upon the
soldiers of the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with such a noise
and force as to disorder their ranks, and to put to flight all upon
whomsoever they made their assaults.
22. After these men's performances, Josephus, and the rest of the
multitude with him, took a great deal of fire, and burnt both the
machines and their coverings, with the works belonging to the fifth and
to the tenth legion, which they put to flight; when others followed them
immediately, and buried those instruments and all their materials under
ground. However, about the evening, the Romans erected the battering ram
again, against that part of the wall which had suffered before; where a
certain Jew that defended the city from the Romans hit Vespasian with a
dart in his foot, and wounded him a little, the distance being so great,
that no mighty impression could be made by the dart thrown so far off.
However, this caused the greatest disorder among the Romans; for when
those who stood near him saw his blood, they were disturbed at it, and
a report went abroad, through the whole army, that the general was
wounded, while the greatest part left the siege, and came running
together with surprise and fear to the general; and before them all
came Titus, out of the concern he had for his father, insomuch that the
multitude were in great confusion, and this out of the regard they had
for their general, and by reason of the agony that the son was in. Yet
did the father soon put an end to the son's fear, and to the disorder
the army was under, for being superior to his pains, and endeavoring
soon to be seen by all that had been in a fright about him, he excited
them to fight the Jews more briskly; for now every body was willing to
expose himself to danger immediately, in order to avenge their general;
and then they encouraged one another with loud voices, and ran hastily
to the walls.
23. But still Josephus and those with him, although they fell down dead
one upon another by the darts and stones which the engines threw upon
them, yet did not they desert the wall, but fell upon those who managed
the ram, under the protection of the hurdles, with fire, and iron
weapons, and stones; and these could do little or nothing, but fell
themselves perpetually, while they were seen by those whom they could
not see, for the light of their own flame shone about them, and made
them a most visible mark to the enemy, as they were in the day time,
while the engines could not be seen at a great distance, and so what was
thrown at them was hard to be avoided; for the force with which these
engines threw stones and darts made them hurt several at a time, and the
violent noise of the stones that were cast by the engines was so great,
that they carried away the pinnacles of the wall, and broke off the
corners of the towers; for no body of men could be so strong as not to
be overthrown to the last rank by the largeness of the stones. And any
one may learn the force of the engines by what happened this very night;
for as one of those that stood round about Josephus was near the wall,
his head was carried away by such a stone, and his skull was flung as
far as three furlongs. In the day time also, a woman with child had her
belly so violently struck, as she was just come out of her house, that
the infant was carried to the distance of half a furlong, so great was
the force of that engine. The noise of the instruments themselves was
very terrible, the sound of the darts and stones that were thrown by
them was so also; of the same sort was that noise the dead bodies made,
when they were dashed against the wall; and indeed dreadful was the
clamor which these things raised in the women within the city, which was
echoed back at the same time by the cries of such as were slain; while
the whole space of ground whereon they fought ran with blood, and the
wall might have been ascended over by the bodies of the dead carcasses;
the mountains also contributed to increase the noise by their echoes;
nor was there on that night any thing of terror wanting that could
either affect the hearing or the sight: yet did a great part of those
that fought so hard for Jotapata fall manfully, as were a great part of
them wounded. However, the morning watch was come ere the wall yielded
to the machines employed against it, though it had been battered without
intermission. However, those within covered their bodies with their
armor, and raised works over against that part which was thrown down,
before those machines were laid by which the Romans were to ascend into
the city.