2. As Josephus spoke these words, with groans and tears in his eyes, his

voice was intercepted by sobs. However, the Romans could not but pity

the affliction he was under, and wonder at his conduct. But for John,

and those that were with him, they were but the more exasperated against

the Romans on this account, and were desirous to get Josephus also into

their power: yet did that discourse influence a great many of the better

sort; and truly some of them were so afraid of the guards set by the

seditious, that they tarried where they were, but still were satisfied

that both they and the city were doomed to destruction. Some also there

were who, watching a proper opportunity when they might quietly get

away, fled to the Romans, of whom were the high priests Joseph and

Jesus, and of the sons of high priests three, whose father was Ishmael,

who was beheaded in Cyrene, and four sons of Matthias, as also one son

of the other Matthias, who ran away after his father's death, 9 and

whose father was slain by Simon the son of Gioras, with three of his

sons, as I have already related; many also of the other nobility went

over to the Romans, together with the high priests. Now Caesar not only

received these men very kindly in other respects, but, knowing they

would not willingly live after the customs of other nations, he sent

them to Gophna, and desired them to remain there for the present, and

told them, that when he was gotten clear of this war, he would restore

each of them to their possessions again; so they cheerfully retired to

that small city which was allotted them, without fear of any danger.

But as they did not appear, the seditious gave out again that these

deserters were slain by the Romans, which was done in order to deter

the rest from running away, by fear of the like treatment. This trick of

theirs succeeded now for a while, as did the like trick before; for the

rest were hereby deterred from deserting, by fear of the like treatment.

3. However, when Titus had recalled those men from Gophna, he gave

orders that they should go round the wall, together with Josephus,

and show themselves to the people; upon which a great many fled to the

Romans. These men also got in a great number together, and stood before

the Romans, and besought the seditious, with groans and tears in their

eyes, in the first place to receive the Romans entirely into the city,

and save that their own place of residence again; but that, if they

would not agree to such a proposal, they would at least depart out of

the temple, and save the holy house for their own use; for that the

Romans would not venture to set the sanctuary on fire but under the most

pressing necessity. Yet did the seditious still more and more contradict

them; and while they cast loud and bitter reproaches upon these

deserters, they also set their engines for throwing of darts, and

javelins, and stones upon the sacred gates of the temple, at due

distances from one another, insomuch that all the space round about

within the temple might be compared to a burying-ground, so great was

the number of the dead bodies therein; as might the holy house itself

be compared to a citadel. Accordingly, these men rushed upon these holy

places in their armor, that were otherwise unapproachable, and that

while their hands were yet warm with the blood of their own people which

they had shed; nay, they proceeded to such great transgressions, that

the very same indignation which Jews would naturally have against

Romans, had they been guilty of such abuses against them, the Romans

now had against Jews, for their impiety in regard to their own religious

customs. Nay, indeed, there were none of the Roman soldiers who did not

look with a sacred horror upon the holy house, and adored it, and wished

that the robbers would repent before their miseries became incurable.

4. Now Titus was deeply affected with this state of things, and

reproached John and his party, and said to them, "Have not you, vile

wretches that you are, by our permission, put up this partition-wall

before your sanctuary? Have not you been allowed to put up the pillars

thereto belonging, at due distances, and on it to engrave in Greek,

and in your own letters, this prohibition, that no foreigner should

go beyond that wall. 10 Have not we given you leave to kill such as

go beyond it, though he were a Roman? And what do you do now, you

pernicious villains? Why do you trample upon dead bodies in this temple?

and why do you pollute this holy house with the blood of both foreigners

and Jews themselves? I appeal to the gods of my own country, and to

every god that ever had any regard to this place; [for I do not suppose

it to be now regarded by any of them;] I also appeal to my own army, and

to those Jews that are now with me, and even to yourselves, that I do

not force you to defile this your sanctuary; and if you will but change

the place whereon you will fight, no Roman shall either come near your

sanctuary, or offer any affront to it; nay, I will endeavor to preserve

you your holy house, whether you will or not." 11

5. As Josephus explained these things from the mouth of Caesar, both the

robbers and the tyrant thought that these exhortations proceeded from

Titus's fear, and not from his good-will to them, and grew insolent

upon it. But when Titus saw that these men were neither to be moved by

commiseration towards themselves, nor had any concern upon them to have

the holy house spared, he proceeded unwillingly to go on again with the

war against them. He could not indeed bring all his army against them,

the place was so narrow; but choosing thirty soldiers of the most

valiant out of every hundred, and committing a thousand to each tribune,

and making Cerealis their commander-in-chief, he gave orders that they

should attack the guards of the temple about the ninth hour of that

night. But as he was now in his armor, and preparing to go down with

them, his friends would not let him go, by reason of the greatness of

the danger, and what the commanders suggested to them; for they said

that he would do more by sitting above in the tower of Antonia, as a

dispenser of rewards to those soldiers that signalized themselves in the

fight, than by coming down and hazarding his own person in the forefront

of them; for that they would all fight stoutly while Caesar looked upon

them. With this advice Caesar complied, and said that the only reason

he had for such compliance with the soldiers was this, that he might be

able to judge of their courageous actions, and that no valiant soldier

might lie concealed, and miss of his reward, and no cowardly soldier

might go unpunished; but that he might himself be an eye-witness, and

able to give evidence of all that was done, who was to be the disposer

of punishments and rewards to them. So he sent the soldiers about their

work at the hour forementioned, while he went out himself to a higher

place in the tower of Antonia, whence he might see what was done, and

there waited with impatience to see the event.

6. However, the soldiers that were sent did not find the guards of the

temple asleep, as they hoped to have done; but were obliged to fight

with them immediately hand to hand, as they rushed with violence upon

them with a great shout. Now as soon as the rest within the temple heard

that shout of those that were upon the watch, they ran out in troops

upon them. Then did the Romans receive the onset of those that came

first upon them; but those that followed them fell upon their own

troops, and many of them treated their own soldiers as if they had

been enemies; for the great confused noise that was made on both sides

hindered them from distinguishing one another's voices, as did the

darkness of the night hinder them from the like distinction by the

sight, besides that blindness which arose otherwise also from the

passion and the fear they were in at the same time; for which reason

it was all one to the soldiers who it was they struck at. However, this

ignorance did less harm to the Romans than to the Jews, because they

were joined together under their shields, and made their sallies

more regularly than the others did, and each of them remembered their

watch-word; while the Jews were perpetually dispersed abroad, and made

their attacks and retreats at random, and so did frequently seem to one

another to be enemies; for every one of them received those of their own

men that came back in the dark as Romans, and made an assault upon them;

so that more of them were wounded by their own men than by the enemy,

till, upon the coming on of the day, the nature of the right was

discerned by the eye afterward. Then did they stand in battle-array in

distinct bodies, and cast their darts regularly, and regularly defended

themselves; nor did either side yield or grow weary. The Romans

contended with each other who should fight the most strenuously, both

single men and entire regiments, as being under the eye of Titus; and

every one concluded that this day would begin his promotion if he

fought bravely. What were the great encouragements of the Jews to act

vigorously were, their fear for themselves and for the temple, and the

presence of their tyrant, who exhorted some, and beat and threatened

others, to act courageously. Now, it so happened, that this fight was

for the most part a stationary one, wherein the soldiers went on and

came back in a short time, and suddenly; for there was no long space of

ground for either of their flights or pursuits. But still there was a

tumultuous noise among the Romans from the tower of Antonia, who loudly

cried out upon all occasions to their own men to press on courageously,

when they were too hard for the Jews, and to stay when they were

retiring backward; so that here was a kind of theater of war; for what

was done in this fight could not be concealed either from Titus, or from

those that were about him. At length it appeared that this fight, which

began at the ninth hour of the night, was not over till past the fifth

hour of the day; and that, in the same place where the battle began,

neither party could say they had made the other to retire; but both

the armies left the victory almost in uncertainty between them; wherein

those that signalized themselves on the Roman side were a great many,

but on the Jewish side, and of those that were with Simon, Judas the son

of Merto, and Simon the son of Josas; of the Idumeans, James and Simon,

the latter of whom was the son of Cathlas, and James was the son of

Sosas; of those that were with John, Gyphtheus and Alexas; and of the

zealots, Simon the son of Jairus.

7. In the mean time, the rest of the Roman army had, in seven days'

time, overthrown [some] foundations of the tower of Antonia, and had

made a ready and broad way to the temple. Then did the legions come near

the first court, 12 and began to raise their banks. The one bank was

over against the north-west corner of the inner temple 13 another was at

that northern edifice which was between the two gates; and of the other

two, one was at the western cloister of the outer court of the temple;

the other against its northern cloister. However, these works were thus

far advanced by the Romans, not without great pains and difficulty, and

particularly by being obliged to bring their materials from the distance

of a hundred furlongs. They had further difficulties also upon them;

sometimes by their over-great security they were in that they should

overcome the Jewish snares laid for them, and by that boldness of the

Jews which their despair of escaping had inspired them withal; for some

of their horsemen, when they went out to gather wood or hay, let their

horses feed without having their bridles on during the time of foraging;

upon which horses the Jews sallied out in whole bodies, and seized them.

And when this was continually done, and Caesar believed what the truth

was, that the horses were stolen more by the negligence of his own men

than by the valor of the Jews, he determined to use greater severity to

oblige the rest to take care of their horses; so he commanded that

one of those soldiers who had lost their horses should be capitally

punished; whereby he so terrified the rest, that they preserved their

horses for the time to come; for they did not any longer let them go

from them to feed by themselves, but, as if they had grown to them, they

went always along with them when they wanted necessaries. Thus did the

Romans still continue to make war against the temple, and to raise their

banks against it.

8. Now after one day had been interposed since the Romans ascended the

breach, many of the seditious were so pressed by the famine, upon the

present failure of their ravages, that they got together, and made an

attack on those Roman guards that were upon the Mount of Olives, and

this about the eleventh hour of the day, as supposing, first, that they

would not expect such an onset, and, in the next place, that they were

then taking care of their bodies, and that therefore they should easily

beat them. But the Romans were apprized of their coming to attack them

beforehand, and, running together from the neighboring camps on the

sudden, prevented them from getting over their fortification, or forcing

the wall that was built about them. Upon this came on a sharp fight, and

here many great actions were performed on both sides; while the Romans

showed both their courage and their skill in war, as did the Jews come

on them with immoderate violence and intolerable passion. The one part

were urged on by shame, and the other by necessity; for it seemed a very

shameful thing to the Romans to let the Jews go, now they were taken in

a kind of net; while the Jews had but one hope of saving themselves, and

that was in case they could by violence break through the Roman wall;

and one whose name was Pedanius, belonging to a party of horsemen, when

the Jews were already beaten and forced down into the valley together,

spurred his horse on their flank with great vehemence, and caught up a

certain young man belonging to the enemy by his ankle, as he was running

away; the man was, however, of a robust body, and in his armor; so

low did Pedanius bend himself downward from his horse, even as he was

galloping away, and so great was the strength of his right hand, and of

the rest of his body, as also such skill had he in horsemanship. So this

man seized upon that his prey, as upon a precious treasure, and carried

him as his captive to Caesar; whereupon Titus admired the man that had

seized the other for his great strength, and ordered the man that was

caught to be punished [with death] for his attempt against the Roman

wall, but betook himself to the siege of the temple, and to pressing on

the raising of the banks.

9. In the mean time, the Jews were so distressed by the fights they had

been in, as the war advanced higher and higher, and creeping up to the

holy house itself, that they, as it were, cut off those limbs of their

body which were infected, in order to prevent the distemper's spreading

further; for they set the north-west cloister, which was joined to the

tower of Antonia, on fire, and after that brake off about twenty cubits

of that cloister, and thereby made a beginning in burning the sanctuary;

two days after which, or on the twenty-fourth day of the forenamed

month, [Panemus or Tamuz,] the Romans set fire to the cloister that

joined to the other, when the fire went fifteen cubits farther. The

Jews, in like manner, cut off its roof; nor did they entirely leave

off what they were about till the tower of Antonia was parted from the

temple, even when it was in their power to have stopped the fire; nay,

they lay still while the temple was first set on fire, and deemed this

spreading of the fire to be for their own advantage. However, the armies

were still fighting one against another about the temple, and the war

was managed by continual sallies of particular parties against one

another.

10. Now there was at this time a man among the Jews, low of stature he

was, and of a despicable appearance; of no character either as to his

family, or in other respects: his name was Jonathan. He went out at the

high priest John's monument, and uttered many other insolent things to

the Romans, and challenged the best of them all to a single combat. But

many of those that stood there in the army huffed him, and many of them

[as they might well be] were afraid of him. Some of them also reasoned

thus, and that justly enough: that it was not fit to fight with a man

that desired to die, because those that utterly despaired of deliverance

had, besides other passions, a violence in attacking men that could not

be opposed, and had no regard to God himself; and that to hazard oneself

with a person, whom, if you overcome, you do no great matter, and

by whom it is hazardous that you may be taken prisoner, would be an

instance, not of manly courage, but of unmanly rashness. So there being

nobody that came out to accept the man's challenge, and the Jew cutting

them with a great number of reproaches, as cowards, [for he was a very

haughty man in himself, and a great despiser of the Romans,] one whose

name was Pudens, of the body of horsemen, out of his abomination of

the other's words, and of his impudence withal, and perhaps out of an

inconsiderate arrogance, on account of the other's lowness of stature,

ran out to him, and was too hard for him in other respects, but was

betrayed by his ill fortune; for he fell down, and as he was down,

Jonathan came running to him, and cut his throat, and then, standing

upon his dead body, he brandished his sword, bloody as it was, and shook

his shield with his left hand, and made many acclamations to the Roman

army, and exulted over the dead man, and jested upon the Romans; till

at length one Priscus, a centurion, shot a dart at him as he was leaping

and playing the fool with himself, and thereby pierced him through;

upon which a shout was set up both by the Jews and the Romans, though

on different accounts. So Jonathan grew giddy by the pain of his wounds,

and fell down upon the body of his adversary, as a plain instance how

suddenly vengeance may come upon men that have success in war, without

any just deserving the same.

CHAPTER 3.

Concerning A Stratagem That Was Devised By The Jews, By

Which They Burnt Many Of The Romans; With Another

Description Of The Terrible Famine That Was In The City.

1. But now the seditious that were in the temple did every day openly

endeavor to beat off the soldiers that were upon the banks, and on the

twenty-seventh day of the forenamed month [Panemus or Tamuz] contrived

such a stratagem as this: They filled that part of the western cloister

14 which was between the beams, and the roof under them, with dry

materials, as also with bitumen and pitch, and then retired from that

place, as though they were tired with the pains they had taken; at which

procedure of theirs, many of the most inconsiderate among the Romans,

who were carried away with violent passions, followed hard after them as

they were retiring, and applied ladders to the cloister, and got up to

it suddenly; but the prudent part of them, when they understood this

unaccountable retreat of the Jews, stood still where they were before.

However, the cloister was full of those that were gone up the ladders;

at which time the Jews set it all on fire; and as the flame burst out

every where on the sudden, the Romans that were out of the danger were

seized with a very great consternation, as were those that were in

the midst of the danger in the utmost distress. So when they perceived

themselves surrounded with the flames, some of them threw themselves

down backwards into the city, and some among their enemies [in the

temple]; as did many leap down to their own men, and broke their limbs

to pieces; but a great number of those that were going to take these

violent methods were prevented by the fire; though some prevented the

fire by their own swords. However, the fire was on the sudden carried

so far as to surround those who would have otherwise perished. As for

Caesar himself, he could not, however, but commiserate those that thus

perished, although they got up thither without any order for so doing,

since there was no way of giving the many relief. Yet was this some

comfort to those that were destroyed, that every body might see that

person grieve, for whose sake they came to their end; for he cried out

openly to them, and leaped up, and exhorted those that were about him to

do their utmost to relieve them; So every one of them died cheerfully,

as carrying along with him these words and this intention of Caesar as a

sepulchral monument. Some there were indeed who retired into the wall of

the cloister, which was broad, and were preserved out of the fire, but

were then surrounded by the Jews; and although they made resistance

against the Jews for a long time, yet were they wounded by them, and at

length they all fell down dead.

2. At the last a young man among them, whose name was Longus, became a

decoration to this sad affair, and while every one of them that perished

were worthy of a memorial, this man appeared to deserve it beyond

all the rest. Now the Jews admired this man for his courage, and were

further desirous of having him slain; so they persuaded him to come down

to them, upon security given him for his life. But Cornelius his brother

persuaded him on the contrary, not to tarnish his own glory, nor that

of the Roman army. He complied with this last advice, and lifting up his

sword before both armies, he slew himself. Yet there was one Artorius

among those surrounded by the fire who escaped by his subtlety; for

when he had with a loud voice called to him Lucius, one of his fellow

soldiers that lay with him in the same tent, and said to him, "I do

leave thee heir of all I have, if thou wilt come and receive me." Upon

this he came running to receive him readily; Artorius then threw himself

down upon him, and saved his own life, while he that received him was

dashed so vehemently against the stone pavement by the other's weight,

that he died immediately. This melancholy accident made the Romans

sad for a while, but still it made them more upon their guard for the

future, and was of advantage to them against the delusions of the Jews,

by which they were greatly damaged through their unacquaintedness with

the places, and with the nature of the inhabitants. Now this cloister

was burnt down as far as John's tower, which he built in the war he made

against Simon over the gates that led to the Xystus. The Jews also cut

off the rest of that cloister from the temple, after they had destroyed

those that got up to it. But the next day the Romans burnt down the

northern cloister entirely, as far as the east cloister, whose common

angle joined to the valley that was called Cedron, and was built over

it; on which account the depth was frightful. And this was the state of

the temple at that time.

3. Now of those that perished by famine in the city, the number was

prodigious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable; for if so

much as the shadow of any kind of food did any where appear, a war was

commenced presently, and the dearest friends fell a fighting one with

another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports

of life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food,

but the robbers would search them when they were expiring, lest any one

should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying;

nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stumbling and

staggering along like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the

houses like drunken men; they would also, in the great distress they

were in, rush into the very same houses two or three times in one and

the same day. Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged

them to chew every thing, while they gathered such things as the most

sordid animals would not touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they

at length abstain from girdles and shoes; and the very leather which

belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed: the very wisps

of old hay became food to some; and some gathered up fibres, and sold

a very small weight of them for four Attic [drachmae]. But why do I

describe the shameless impudence that the famine brought on men in their

eating inanimate things, while I am going to relate a matter of fact,

the like to which no history relates, 15 either among the Greeks or

Barbarians? It is horrible to speak of it, and incredible when heard.

I had indeed willingly omitted this calamity of ours, that I might not

seem to deliver what is so portentous to posterity, but that I have

innumerable witnesses to it in my own age; and besides, my country would

have had little reason to thank me for suppressing the miseries that she

underwent at this time.

4. There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond Jordan, her name was

Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethezob, which signifies

the house of Hyssop. She was eminent for her family and her wealth, and

had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with

them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman had

been already seized upon, such I mean as she had brought with her out

of Perea, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as

also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by

the rapacious guards, who came every day running into her house for that

purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion, and by

the frequent reproaches and imprecations she cast at these rapacious

villains, she had provoked them to anger against her; but none of them,

either out of the indignation she had raised against herself, or out of

commiseration of her case, would take away her life; and if she found

any food, she perceived her labors were for others, and not for herself;

and it was now become impossible for her any way to find any more food,

while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow, when also

her passion was fired to a degree beyond the famine itself; nor did she

consult with any thing but with her passion and the necessity she was

in. She then attempted a most unnatural thing; and snatching up her

son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said, "O thou miserable

infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and

this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our

lives, we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us, even before

that slavery comes upon us. Yet are these seditious rogues more terrible

than both the other. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to

these seditious varlets, and a by-word to the world, which is all that

is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews." As soon as she

had said this, she slew her son, and then roasted him, and eat the one

half of him, and kept the other half by her concealed. Upon this the

seditious came in presently, and smelling the horrid scent of this food,

they threatened her that they would cut her throat immediately if she

did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied that she

had saved a very fine portion of it for them, and withal uncovered

what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and

amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight, when she said to

them, "This is mine own son, and what hath been done was mine own

doing! Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself! Do not

you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate

than a mother; but if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my

sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for

me also." After which those men went out trembling, being never so much

affrighted at any thing as they were at this, and with some difficulty

they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city

was full of this horrid action immediately; and while every body laid

this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this

unheard of action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus

distressed by the famine were very desirous to die, and those already

dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either

to hear or to see such miseries.

5. This sad instance was quickly told to the Romans, some of whom could

not believe it, and others pitied the distress which the Jews were

under; but there were many of them who were hereby induced to a more

bitter hatred than ordinary against our nation. But for Caesar, he

excused himself before God as to this matter, and said that he had

proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as an oblivion of all

their former insolent practices; but that they, instead of concord,

had chosen sedition; instead of peace, war; and before satiety and

abundance, a famine. That they had begun with their own hands to burn

down that temple which we have preserved hitherto; and that therefore

they deserved to eat such food as this was. That, however, this horrid

action of eating an own child ought to be covered with the overthrow of

their very country itself, and men ought not to leave such a city upon

the habitable earth to be seen by the sun, wherein mothers are thus fed,

although such food be fitter for the fathers than for the mothers to eat

of, since it is they that continue still in a state of war against us,

after they have undergone such miseries as these. And at the same time

that he said this, he reflected on the desperate condition these men

must be in; nor could he expect that such men could be recovered to

sobriety of mind, after they had endured those very sufferings, for the

avoiding whereof it only was probable they might have repented.

CHAPTER 4.

When The Banks Were Completed And The Battering Rams

Brought, And Could Do Nothing, Titus Gave Orders To Set Fire

To The Gates Of The Temple; In No Long Time After Which The

Holy House Itself Was Burnt Down, Even Against His Consent.

1. And now two of the legions had completed their banks on the eighth

day of the month Lous [Ab]. Whereupon Titus gave orders that the

battering rams should be brought, and set over against the western

edifice of the inner temple; for before these were brought, the firmest

of all the other engines had battered the wall for six days together

without ceasing, without making any impression upon it; but the vast

largeness and strong connexion of the stones were superior to that

engine, and to the other battering rams also. Other Romans did indeed

undermine the foundations of the northern gate, and after a world of

pains removed the outermost stones, yet was the gate still upheld by the

inner stones, and stood still unhurt; till the workmen, despairing of

all such attempts by engines and crows, brought their ladders to the

cloisters. Now the Jews did not interrupt them in so doing; but when

they were gotten up, they fell upon them, and fought with them; some of

them they thrust down, and threw them backwards headlong; others of

them they met and slew; they also beat many of those that went down the

ladders again, and slew them with their swords before they could bring

their shields to protect them; nay, some of the ladders they threw down

from above when they were full of armed men; a great slaughter was made

of the Jews also at the same time, while those that bare the ensigns

fought hard for them, as deeming it a terrible thing, and what would

tend to their great shame, if they permitted them to be stolen away. Yet

did the Jews at length get possession of these engines, and destroyed

those that had gone up the ladders, while the rest were so intimidated

by what those suffered who were slain, that they retired; although none

of the Romans died without having done good service before his death. Of

the seditious, those that had fought bravely in the former battles did

the like now, as besides them did Eleazar, the brother's son of Simon

the tyrant. But when Titus perceived that his endeavors to spare a

foreign temple turned to the damage of his soldiers, and then be killed,

he gave order to set the gates on fire.

2. In the mean time, there deserted to him Ananus, who came from

Emmaus, the most bloody of all Simon's guards, and Archelaus, the son of

Magadatus, they hoping to be still forgiven, because they left the Jews

at a time when they were the conquerors. Titus objected this to these

men, as a cunning trick of theirs; and as he had been informed of their

other barbarities towards the Jews, he was going in all haste to

have them both slain. He told them that they were only driven to this

desertion because of the utmost distress they were in, and did not come

away of their own good disposition; and that those did not deserve to be

preserved, by whom their own city was already set on fire, out of which

fire they now hurried themselves away. However, the security he had

promised deserters overcame his resentments, and he dismissed them

accordingly, though he did not give them the same privileges that he

had afforded to others. And now the soldiers had already put fire to the

gates, and the silver that was over them quickly carried the flames to

the wood that was within it, whence it spread itself all on the sudden,

and caught hold on the cloisters. Upon the Jews seeing this fire all

about them, their spirits sunk together with their bodies, and they were

under such astonishment, that not one of them made any haste, either to

defend himself or to quench the fire, but they stood as mute spectators

of it only. However, they did not so grieve at the loss of what was now

burning, as to grow wiser thereby for the time to come; but as though

the holy house itself had been on fire already, they whetted their

passions against the Romans. This fire prevailed during that day and the

next also; for the soldiers were not able to burn all the cloisters that

were round about together at one time, but only by pieces.

3. But then, on the next day, Titus commanded part of his army to

quench the fire, and to make a road for the more easy marching up of

the legions, while he himself gathered the commanders together. Of those

there were assembled the six principal persons: Tiberius Alexander, the

commander [under the general] of the whole army; with Sextus Cerealis,

the commander of the fifth legion; and Larcius Lepidus, the commander

of the tenth legion; and Titus Frigius, the commander of the fifteenth

legion: there was also with them Eternius, the leader of the two legions

that came from Alexandria; and Marcus Antonius Julianus, procurator of

Judea: after these came together all the rest of the procurators and

tribunes. Titus proposed to these that they should give him their advice

what should be done about the holy house. Now some of these thought

it would be the best way to act according to the rules of war, [and

demolish it,] because the Jews would never leave off rebelling while

that house was standing; at which house it was that they used to get all

together. Others of them were of opinion, that in case the Jews would

leave it, and none of them would lay their arms up in it, he might save

it; but that in case they got upon it, and fought any more, he might

burn it; because it must then be looked upon not as a holy house, but as

a citadel; and that the impiety of burning it would then belong to

those that forced this to be done, and not to them. But Titus said, that

"although the Jews should get upon that holy house, and fight us thence,

yet ought we not to revenge ourselves on things that are inanimate,

instead of the men themselves;" and that he was not in any case for

burning down so vast a work as that was, because this would be a

mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their

government while it continued. So Fronto, and Alexander, and Cerealis

grew bold upon that declaration, and agreed to the opinion of Titus.

Then was this assembly dissolved, when Titus had given orders to the

commanders that the rest of their forces should lie still; but that they

should make use of such as were most courageous in this attack. So he

commanded that the chosen men that were taken out of the cohorts should

make their way through the ruins, and quench the fire.

4. Now it is true that on this day the Jews were so weary, and under

such consternation, that they refrained from any attacks. But on the

next day they gathered their whole force together, and ran upon those

that guarded the outward court of the temple very boldly, through the

east gate, and this about the second hour of the day. These guards

received that their attack with great bravery, and by covering

themselves with their shields before, as if it were with a wall, they

drew their squadron close together; yet was it evident that they could

not abide there very long, but would be overborne by the multitude of

those that sallied out upon them, and by the heat of their passion.

However, Caesar seeing, from the tower of Antonia, that this squadron

was likely to give way, he sent some chosen horsemen to support them.

Hereupon the Jews found themselves not able to sustain their onset, and

upon the slaughter of those in the forefront, many of the rest were put

to flight. But as the Romans were going off, the Jews turned upon them,

and fought them; and as those Romans came back upon them, they retreated

again, until about the fifth hour of the day they were overborne, and

shut themselves up in the inner [court of the] temple.

5. So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the

temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to

encamp round about the holy house. But as for that house, God had, for

certain, long ago doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal day was

come, according to the revolution of ages; it was the tenth day of

the month Lous, [Ab,] upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of

Babylon; although these flames took their rise from the Jews themselves,

and were occasioned by them; for upon Titus's retiring, the seditious

lay still for a little while, and then attacked the Romans again, when

those that guarded the holy house fought with those that quenched the

fire that was burning the inner [court of the] temple; but these Romans

put the Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the holy house itself.

At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and

without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and

being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the

materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he

set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the

rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of it. As

the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamor, such as so mighty

an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it; and now they

spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered any thing to restrain

their force, since that holy house was perishing, for whose sake it was

that they kept such a guard about it.

6. And now a certain person came running to Titus, and told him of

this fire, as he was resting himself in his tent after the last battle;

whereupon he rose up in great haste, and, as he was, ran to the holy

house, in order to have a stop put to the fire; after him followed all

his commanders, and after them followed the several legions, in great

astonishment; so there was a great clamor and tumult raised, as was

natural upon the disorderly motion of so great an army. Then did Caesar,

both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a loud voice,

and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench

the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud,

having their ears already dimmed by a greater noise another way; nor did

they attend to the signal he made with his hand neither, as still some

of them were distracted with fighting, and others with passion. But as

for the legions that came running thither, neither any persuasions

nor any threatenings could restrain their violence, but each one's own

passion was his commander at this time; and as they were crowding into

the temple together, many of them were trampled on by one another, while

a great number fell among the ruins of the cloisters, which were still

hot and smoking, and were destroyed in the same miserable way with those

whom they had conquered; and when they were come near the holy house,

they made as if they did not so much as hear Caesar's orders to the

contrary; but they encouraged those that were before them to set it on

fire. As for the seditious, they were in too great distress already to

afford their assistance [towards quenching the fire]; they were every

where slain, and every where beaten; and as for a great part of the

people, they were weak and without arms, and had their throats cut

wherever they were caught. Now round about the altar lay dead bodies

heaped one upon another, as at the steps 16 going up to it ran a great

quantity of their blood, whither also the dead bodies that were slain

above [on the altar] fell down.

7. And now, since Caesar was no way able to restrain the enthusiastic

fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, he went

into the holy place of the temple, with his commanders, and saw it, with

what was in it, which he found to be far superior to what the relations

of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted

of and believed about it. But as the flame had not as yet reached to its

inward parts, but was still consuming the rooms that were about the

holy house, and Titus supposing what the fact was, that the house itself

might yet be saved, he came in haste and endeavored to persuade the

soldiers to quench the fire, and gave order to Liberalius the centurion,

and one of those spearmen that were about him, to beat the soldiers that

were refractory with their staves, and to restrain them; yet were their

passions too hard for the regards they had for Caesar, and the dread

they had of him who forbade them, as was their hatred of the Jews, and

a certain vehement inclination to fight them, too hard for them also.

Moreover, the hope of plunder induced many to go on, as having this

opinion, that all the places within were full of money, and as seeing

that all round about it was made of gold. And besides, one of those

that went into the place prevented Caesar, when he ran so hastily out to

restrain the soldiers, and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate,

in the dark; whereby the flame burst out from within the holy house

itself immediately, when the commanders retired, and Caesar with them,

and when nobody any longer forbade those that were without to set

fire to it. And thus was the holy house burnt down, without Caesar's

approbation.

8. Now although any one would justly lament the destruction of such a

work as this was, since it was the most admirable of all the works

that we have seen or heard of, both for its curious structure and its

magnitude, and also for the vast wealth bestowed upon it, as well as for

the glorious reputation it had for its holiness; yet might such a one

comfort himself with this thought, that it was fate that decreed it so

to be, which is inevitable, both as to living creatures, and as to works

and places also. However, one cannot but wonder at the accuracy of this

period thereto relating; for the same month and day were now observed,

as I said before, wherein the holy house was burnt formerly by the

Babylonians. Now the number of years that passed from its first

foundation, which was laid by king Solomon, till this its destruction,

which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, are

collected to be one thousand one hundred and thirty, besides seven

months and fifteen days; and from the second building of it, which

was done by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus the king, till its

destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred and thirty-nine

years and forty-five days.

CHAPTER 5.

The Great Distress The Jews Were In Upon The Conflagration

Of The Holy House. Concerning A False Prophet, And The Signs

That Preceded This Destruction.

1. While the holy house was on fire, every thing was plundered that came

to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor

was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity, but

children, and old men, and profane persons, and priests were all slain

in the same manner; so that this war went round all sorts of men, and

brought them to destruction, and as well those that made supplication

for their lives, as those that defended themselves by fighting. The

flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the

groans of those that were slain; and because this hill was high, and the

works at the temple were very great, one would have thought the whole

city had been on fire. Nor can one imagine any thing either greater

or more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout of the

Roman legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamor of the

seditious, who were now surrounded with fire and sword. The people also

that were left above were beaten back upon the enemy, and under a great

consternation, and made sad moans at the calamity they were under; the

multitude also that was in the city joined in this outcry with those

that were upon the hill. And besides, many of those that were worn away

by the famine, and their mouths almost closed, when they saw the fire of

the holy house, they exerted their utmost strength, and brake out into

groans and outcries again: Perea 17 did also return the echo, as well

as the mountains round about [the city,] and augmented the force of

the entire noise. Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this

disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the

temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it,

that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that were

slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did

no where appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the

soldiers went over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as fled

from them. And now it was that the multitude of the robbers were thrust

out [of the inner court of the temple by the Romans,] and had much ado

to get into the outward court, and from thence into the city, while the

remainder of the populace fled into the cloister of that outer court. As

for the priests, some of them plucked up from the holy house the spikes

18 that were upon it, with their bases, which were made of lead, and

shot them at the Romans instead of darts. But then as they gained

nothing by so doing, and as the fire burst out upon them, they retired

to the wall that was eight cubits broad, and there they tarried; yet did

two of these of eminence among them, who might have saved themselves by

going over to the Romans, or have borne up with courage, and taken their

fortune with the others, throw themselves into the fire, and were burnt

together with the holy house; their names were Meirus the son of Belgas,

and Joseph the son of Daleus.

2. And now the Romans, judging that it was in vain to spare what was

round about the holy house, burnt all those places, as also the remains

of the cloisters and the gates, two excepted; the one on the east side,

and the other on the south; both which, however, they burnt afterward.

They also burnt down the treasury chambers, in which was an immense

quantity of money, and an immense number of garments, and other precious

goods there reposited; and, to speak all in a few words, there it was

that the entire riches of the Jews were heaped up together, while

the rich people had there built themselves chambers [to contain such

furniture]. The soldiers also came to the rest of the cloisters that

were in the outer [court of the] temple, whither the women and children,

and a great mixed multitude of the people, fled, in number about six

thousand. But before Caesar had determined any thing about these people,

or given the commanders any orders relating to them, the soldiers were

in such a rage, that they set that cloister on fire; by which means it

came to pass that some of these were destroyed by throwing themselves

down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloisters themselves. Nor

did any one of them escape with his life. A false prophet 19 was

the occasion of these people's destruction, who had made a public

proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get

upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of

their deliverance. Now there was then a great number of false prophets

suborned by the tyrants to impose on the people, who denounced this to

them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; and this was in

order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up

above fear and care by such hopes. Now a man that is in adversity does

easily comply with such promises; for when such a seducer makes him

believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress

him, then it is that the patient is full of hopes of such his

deliverance.

3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such

as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the

signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future

desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or

minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to

them. Thus there was a star 20 resembling a sword, which stood over the

city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the

Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war,

when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened

bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, 21 [Nisan,] and at the

ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the

holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for

half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful,

but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events

that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also, a heifer,

as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb

in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner 22

[court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had

been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed

with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which

was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own

accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in

the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told

him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty

was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to

be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of

happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of

their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was

opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared

that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them.

Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth

day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible

phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a

fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events

that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals;

for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor

were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities.

Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were

going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom

was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first

place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they

heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence."

But, what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of

Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the

war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and

prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for every one

to make tabernacles to God in the temple, 23 began on a sudden to cry

aloud, "A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from

the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice

against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole

people!" This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all

the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the

populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up

the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he

either say any thing for himself, or any thing peculiar to those that

chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried

before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that

this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman

procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet

he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but

turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke

of the whip his answer was, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" And when Albinus

[for he was then our procurator] asked him, Who he was? and whence he

came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what

he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus

took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now, during all the time

that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of

the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day

uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow,

"Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" Nor did he give ill words to any of those that

beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this

was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage

of what was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals;

and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without

growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he

saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for

as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force,

"Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!"

And just as he added at the last, "Woe, woe to myself also!" there

came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him

immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up

the ghost.

4. Now if any one consider these things, he will find that God takes

care of mankind, and by all ways possible foreshows to our race what is

for their preservation; but that men perish by those miseries which

they madly and voluntarily bring upon themselves; for the Jews, by

demolishing the tower of Antonia, had made their temple four-square,

while at the same time they had it written in their sacred oracles,

"That then should their city be taken, as well as their holy house, when

once their temple should become four-square." But now, what did the most

elevate them in undertaking this war, was an ambiguous oracle that was

also found in their sacred writings, how, "about that time, one from

their country should become governor of the habitable earth." The Jews

took this prediction to belong to themselves in particular, and many

of the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination. Now this

oracle certainly denoted the government of Vespasian, who was appointed

emperor in Judea. However, it is not possible for men to avoid fate,

although they see it beforehand. But these men interpreted some of these

signals according to their own pleasure, and some of them they utterly

despised, until their madness was demonstrated, both by the taking of

their city and their own destruction.

CHAPTER 6.

How The Romans Carried Their Ensigns To The Temple, And Made

Joyful Acclamations To Titus. The Speech That Titus Made To

The Jews When They Made Supplication For Mercy. What Reply

They Made Thereto; And How That Reply Moved Titus's

Indignation Against Them.

1. And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city,

and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings

round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple 24 and set them over

against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to

them, and there did they make Titus imperator 25 with the greatest

acclamations of joy. And now all the soldiers had such vast quantities

of the spoils which they had gotten by plunder, that in Syria a pound

weight of gold was sold for half its former value. But as for those

priests that kept themselves still upon the wall of the holy house,26

there was a boy that, out of the thirst he was in, desired some of the

Roman guards to give him their right hands as a security for his life,

and confessed he was very thirsty. These guards commiserated his age,

and the distress he was in, and gave him their right hands accordingly.

So he came down himself, and drank some water, and filled the vessel

he had with him when he came to them with water, and then went off, and

fled away to his own friends; nor could any of those guards overtake

him; but still they reproached him for his perfidiousness. To which he

made this answer: "I have not broken the agreement; for the security I

had given me was not in order to my staying with you, but only in order

to my coming down safely, and taking up some water; both which things I

have performed, and thereupon think myself to have been faithful to my

engagement." Hereupon those whom the child had imposed upon admired at

his cunning, and that on account of his age. On the fifth day afterward,

the priests that were pined with the famine came down, and when they

were brought to Titus by the guards, they begged for their lives; but he

replied, that the time of pardon was over as to them, and that this

very holy house, on whose account only they could justly hope to be

preserved, was destroyed; and that it was agreeable to their office that

priests should perish with the house itself to which they belonged. So

he ordered them to be put to death.

2. But as for the tyrants themselves, and those that were with them,

when they found that they were encompassed on every side, and, as it

were, walled round, without any method of escaping, they desired to

treat with Titus by word of mouth. Accordingly, such was the kindness

of his nature, and his desire of preserving the city from destruction,

joined to the advice of his friends, who now thought the robbers were

come to a temper, that he placed himself on the western side of the

outer [court of the] temple; for there were gates on that side above the

Xystus, and a bridge that connected the upper city to the temple. This

bridge it was that lay between the tyrants and Caesar, and parted them;

while the multitude stood on each side; those of the Jewish nation

about Sinran and John, with great hopes of pardon; and the Romans about

Caesar, in great expectation how Titus would receive their supplication.

So Titus charged his soldiers to restrain their rage, and to let their

darts alone, and appointed an interpreter between them, which was a sign

that he was the conqueror, and first began the discourse, and said, "I

hope you, sirs, are now satiated with the miseries of your country, who

have not had any just notions, either of our great power, or of your own

great weakness, but have, like madmen, after a violent and inconsiderate

manner, made such attempts, as have brought your people, your city, and

your holy house to destruction. You have been the men that have never

left off rebelling since Pompey first conquered you, and have, since

that time, made open war with the Romans. Have you depended on your

multitude, while a very small part of the Roman soldiery have been

strong enough for you? Have you relied on the fidelity of your

confederates? And what nations are there, out of the limits of our

dominion, that would choose to assist the Jews before the Romans? Are

your bodies stronger than ours? nay, you know that the [strong] Germans

themselves are our servants. Have you stronger walls than we have? Pray,

what greater obstacle is there than the wall of the ocean, with which

the Britons are encompassed, and yet do adore the arms of the Romans.

Do you exceed us in courage of soul, and in the sagacity of your

commanders? Nay, indeed, you cannot but know that the very Carthaginians

have been conquered by us. It can therefore be nothing certainly but

the kindness of us Romans which hath excited you against us; who, in

the first place, have given you this land to possess; and, in the next

place, have set over you kings of your own nation; and, in the third

place, have preserved the laws of your forefathers to you, and have

withal permitted you to live, either by yourselves, or among others, as

it should please you: and, what is our chief favor of all we have given

you leave to gather up that tribute which is paid to God 27 with such

other gifts that are dedicated to him; nor have we called those that

carried these donations to account, nor prohibited them; till at length

you became richer than we ourselves, even when you were our enemies; and

you made preparations for war against us with our own money; nay, after

all, when you were in the enjoyment of all these advantages, you

turned your too great plenty against those that gave it you, and, like

merciless serpents, have thrown out your poison against those that

treated you kindly. I suppose, therefore, that you might despise the

slothfulness of Nero, and, like limbs of the body that are broken or

dislocated, you did then lie quiet, waiting for some other time, though

still with a malicious intention, and have now showed your distemper

to be greater than ever, and have extended your desires as far as your

impudent and immense hopes would enable you to do it. At this time my

father came into this country, not with a design to punish you for what

you had done under Cestius, but to admonish you; for had he come to

overthrow your nation, he had run directly to your fountain-head, and

had immediately laid this city waste; whereas he went and burnt Galilee

and the neighboring parts, and thereby gave you time for repentance;

which instance of humanity you took for an argument of his weakness, and

nourished up your impudence by our mildness. When Nero was gone out

of the world, you did as the wickedest wretches would have done, and

encouraged yourselves to act against us by our civil dissensions, and

abused that time, when both I and my father were gone away to Egypt,

to make preparations for this war. Nor were you ashamed to raise

disturbances against us when we were made emperors, and this while you

had experienced how mild we had been, when we were no more than generals

of the army. But when the government was devolved upon us, and all other

people did thereupon lie quiet, and even foreign nations sent embassies,

and congratulated our access to the government, then did you Jews show

yourselves to be our enemies. You sent embassies to those of your nation

that are beyond Euphrates to assist you in your raising disturbances;

new walls were built by you round your city, seditions arose, and one

tyrant contended against another, and a civil war broke out among you;

such indeed as became none but so wicked a people as you are. I then

came to this city, as unwillingly sent by my father, and received

melancholy injunctions from him. When I heard that the people were

disposed to peace, I rejoiced at it; I exhorted you to leave off these

proceedings before I began this war; I spared you even when you had

fought against me a great while; I gave my right hand as security to the

deserters; I observed what I had promised faithfully. When they fled

to me, I had compassion on many of those that I had taken captive; I

tortured those that were eager for war, in order to restrain them. It

was unwillingly that I brought my engines of war against your walls; I

always prohibited my soldiers, when they were set upon your slaughter,

from their severity against you. After every victory I persuaded you

to peace, as though I had been myself conquered. When I came near your

temple, I again departed from the laws of war, and exhorted you to spare

your own sanctuary, and to preserve your holy house to yourselves. I

allowed you a quiet exit out of it, and security for your preservation;

nay, if you had a mind, I gave you leave to fight in another place. Yet

have you still despised every one of my proposals, and have set fire

to your holy house with your own hands. And now, vile wretches, do you

desire to treat with me by word of mouth? To what purpose is it that you

would save such a holy house as this was, which is now destroyed? What

preservation can you now desire after the destruction of your temple?

Yet do you stand still at this very time in your armor; nor can you

bring yourselves so much as to pretend to be supplicants even in this

your utmost extremity. O miserable creatures! what is it you depend on?

Are not your people dead? is not your holy house gone? is not your city

in my power? and are not your own very lives in my hands? And do you

still deem it a part of valor to die? However, I will not imitate your

madness. If you throw down your arms, and deliver up your bodies to me,

I grant you your lives; and I will act like a mild master of a family;

what cannot be healed shall be punished, and the rest I will preserve

for my own use."

3. To that offer of Titus they made this reply: That they could not

accept of it, because they had sworn never to do so; but they desired

they might have leave to go through the wall that had been made about

them, with their wives and children; for that they would go into the

desert, and leave the city to him. At this Titus had great indignation,

that when they were in the case of men already taken captives, they

should pretend to make their own terms with him, as if they had been

conquerors. So he ordered this proclamation to be made to them, That

they should no more come out to him as deserters, nor hope for any

further security; for that he would henceforth spare nobody, but fight

them with his whole army; and that they must save themselves as well as

they could; for that he would from henceforth treat them according to

the laws of war. So he gave orders to the soldiers both to burn and to

plunder the city; who did nothing indeed that day; but on the next

day they set fire to the repository of the archives, to Acra, to the

council-house, and to the place called Ophlas; at which time the fire

proceeded as far as the palace of queen Helena, which was in the middle

of Acra; the lanes also were burnt down, as were also those houses that

were full of the dead bodies of such as were destroyed by famine.

4. On the same day it was that the sons and brethren of Izates the

king, together with many others of the eminent men of the populace,

got together there, and besought Caesar to give them his right hand for

their security; upon which, though he was very angry at all that were

now remaining, yet did he not lay aside his old moderation, but received

these men. At that time, indeed, he kept them all in custody, but still

bound the king's sons and kinsmen, and led them with him to Rome, in

order to make them hostages for their country's fidelity to the Romans.

CHAPTER 7.

What Afterward Befell The Seditious When They Had Done A

Great Deal Of Mischief, And Suffered Many Misfortunes; As

Also How Caesar Became Master Of The Upper City.

1. And now the seditious rushed into the royal palace, into which many

had put their effects, because it was so strong, and drove the Romans

away from it. They also slew all the people that had crowded into it,

who were in number about eight thousand four hundred, and plundered them

of what they had. They also took two of the Romans alive; the one was

a horseman, and the other a footman. They then cut the throat of the

footman, and immediately had him drawn through the whole city, as

revenging themselves upon the whole body of the Romans by this one

instance. But the horseman said he had somewhat to suggest to them in

order to their preservation; whereupon he was brought before Simon; but

he having nothing to say when he was there, he was delivered to Ardalas,

one of his commanders, to be punished, who bound his hands behind him,

and put a riband over his eyes, and then brought him out over against

the Romans, as intending to cut off his head. But the man prevented

that execution, and ran away to the Romans, and this while the Jewish

executioner was drawing out his sword. Now when he was gotten away from

the enemy, Titus could not think of putting him to death; but because he

deemed him unworthy of being a Roman soldier any longer, on account that

he had been taken alive by the enemy, he took away his arms, and ejected

him out of the legion whereto he had belonged; which, to one that had a

sense of shame, was a penalty severer than death itself.

2. On the next day the Romans drove the robbers out of the lower city,

and set all on fire as far as Siloam. These soldiers were indeed glad

to see the city destroyed. But they missed the plunder, because the

seditious had carried off all their effects, and were retired into the

upper city; for they did not yet at all repent of the mischiefs they had

done, but were insolent, as if they had done well; for, as they saw the

city on fire, they appeared cheerful, and put on joyful countenances, in

expectation, as they said, of death to end their miseries. Accordingly,

as the people were now slain, the holy house was burnt down, and the

city was on fire, there was nothing further left for the enemy to do.

Yet did not Josephus grow weary, even in this utmost extremity, to beg

of them to spare what was left of the city; he spake largely to them

about their barbarity and impiety, and gave them his advice in order to

their escape; though he gained nothing thereby more than to be laughed

at by them; and as they could not think of surrendering themselves up,

because of the oath they had taken, nor were strong enough to fight with

the Romans any longer upon the square, as being surrounded on all sides,

and a kind of prisoners already, yet were they so accustomed to kill

people, that they could not restrain their right hands from acting

accordingly. So they dispersed themselves before the city, and laid

themselves in ambush among its ruins, to catch those that attempted to

desert to the Romans; accordingly many such deserters were caught by

them, and were all slain; for these were too weak, by reason of their

want of food, to fly away from them; so their dead bodies were thrown to

the dogs. Now every other sort of death was thought more tolerable than

the famine, insomuch that, though the Jews despaired now of mercy, yet

would they fly to the Romans, and would themselves, even of their own

accord, fall among the murderous rebels also. Nor was there any place

in the city that had no dead bodies in it, but what was entirely covered

with those that were killed either by the famine or the rebellion; and

all was full of the dead bodies of such as had perished, either by that

sedition or by that famine.

3. So now the last hope which supported the tyrants, and that crew of

robbers who were with them, was in the caves and caverns under ground;

whither, if they could once fly, they did not expect to be searched for;

but endeavored, that after the whole city should be destroyed, and the

Romans gone away, they might come out again, and escape from them. This

was no better than a dream of theirs; for they were not able to lie

hid either from God or from the Romans. However, they depended on these

under-ground subterfuges, and set more places on fire than did the

Romans themselves; and those that fled out of their houses thus set

on fire into the ditches, they killed without mercy, and pillaged them

also; and if they discovered food belonging to any one, they seized upon

it and swallowed it down, together with their blood also; nay, they were

now come to fight one with another about their plunder; and I cannot

but think that, had not their destruction prevented it, their barbarity

would have made them taste of even the dead bodies themselves.

CHAPTER 8.

How Caesar Raised Banks Round About The Upper City [Mount

Zion] And When They Were Completed, Gave Orders That The

Machines Should Be Brought. He Then Possessed Himself Of The

Whole City.

1. Now when Caesar perceived that the upper city was so steep that

it could not possibly be taken without raising banks against it, he

distributed the several parts of that work among his army, and this

on the twentieth day of the month Lous [Ab]. Now the carriage of the

materials was a difficult task, since all the trees, as I have already

told you, that were about the city, within the distance of a hundred

furlongs, had their branches cut off already, in order to make the

former banks. The works that belonged to the four legions were erected

on the west side of the city, over against the royal palace; but the

whole body of the auxiliary troops, with the rest of the multitude that

were with them, [erected their banks] at the Xystus, whence they reached

to the bridge, and that tower of Simon which he had built as a citadel

for himself against John, when they were at war one with another.

2. It was at this time that the commanders of the Idumeans got together

privately, and took counsel about surrendering up themselves to the

Romans. Accordingly, they sent five men to Titus, and entreated him to

give them his right hand for their security. So Titus thinking that the

tyrants would yield, if the Idumeans, upon whom a great part of the

war depended, were once withdrawn from them, after some reluctancy and

delay, complied with them, and gave them security for their lives, and

sent the five men back. But as these Idumeans were preparing to march

out, Simon perceived it, and immediately slew the five men that had gone

to Titus, and took their commanders, and put them in prison, of whom the

most eminent was Jacob, the son of Sosas; but as for the multitude of

the Idumeans, who did not at all know what to do, now their commanders

were taken from them, he had them watched, and secured the walls by a

more numerous garrison, Yet could not that garrison resist those that

were deserting; for although a great number of them were slain, yet were

the deserters many more in number. They were all received by the Romans,

because Titus himself grew negligent as to his former orders for killing

them, and because the very soldiers grew weary of killing them, and

because they hoped to get some money by sparing them; for they left only

the populace, and sold the rest of the multitude, 28 with their wives

and children, and every one of them at a very low price, and that

because such as were sold were very many, and the buyers were few: and

although Titus had made proclamation beforehand, that no deserter should

come alone by himself, that so they might bring out their families with

them, yet did he receive such as these also. However, he set over them

such as were to distinguish some from others, in order to see if any of

them deserved to be punished. And indeed the number of those that were

sold was immense; but of the populace above forty thousand were saved,

whom Caesar let go whither every one of them pleased.

3. But now at this time it was that one of the priests, the son of

Thebuthus, whose name was Jesus, upon his having security given him, by

the oath of Caesar, that he should be preserved, upon condition that

he should deliver to him certain of the precious things that had been

reposited in the temple 29 came out of it, and delivered him from the

wall of the holy house two candlesticks, like to those that lay in the

holy house, with tables, and cisterns, and vials, all made of solid

gold, and very heavy. He also delivered to him the veils and the

garments, with the precious stones, and a great number of other precious

vessels that belonged to their sacred worship. The treasurer of the

temple also, whose name was Phineas, was seized on, and showed Titus the

coats and girdles of the priests, with a great quantity of purple and

scarlet, which were there reposited for the uses of the veil, as also a

great deal of cinnamon and cassia, with a large quantity of other sweet

spices, 30 which used to be mixed together, and offered as incense to

God every day. A great many other treasures were also delivered to

him, with sacred ornaments of the temple not a few; which things thus

delivered to Titus obtained of him for this man the same pardon that he

had allowed to such as deserted of their own accord.

4. And now were the banks finished on the seventh day of the month

Gorpieus, [Elul,] in eighteen days' time, when the Romans brought their

machines against the wall. But for the seditious, some of them, as

despairing of saving the city, retired from the wall to the citadel;

others of them went down into the subterranean vaults, though still a

great many of them defended themselves against those that brought the

engines for the battery; yet did the Romans overcome them by their

number and by their strength; and, what was the principal thing of

all, by going cheerfully about their work, while the Jews were quite

dejected, and become weak. Now as soon as a part of the wall was

battered down, and certain of the towers yielded to the impression of

the battering rams, those that opposed themselves fled away, and such

a terror fell upon the tyrants, as was much greater than the occasion

required; for before the enemy got over the breach they were quite

stunned, and were immediately for flying away. And now one might see

these men, who had hitherto been so insolent and arrogant in their

wicked practices, to be cast down and to tremble, insomuch that it

would pity one's heart to observe the change that was made in those vile

persons. Accordingly, they ran with great violence upon the Roman wall

that encompassed them, in order to force away those that guarded it, and

to break through it, and get away. But when they saw that those who had

formerly been faithful to them had gone away, [as indeed they were fled

whithersoever the great distress they were in persuaded them to flee,]

as also when those that came running before the rest told them that the

western wall was entirely overthrown, while others said the Romans were

gotten in, and others that they were near, and looking out for them,

which were only the dictates of their fear, which imposed upon their

sight, they fell upon their face, and greatly lamented their own mad

conduct; and their nerves were so terribly loosed, that they could

not flee away. And here one may chiefly reflect on the power of God

exercised upon these wicked wretches, and on the good fortune of the

Romans; for these tyrants did now wholly deprive themselves of the

security they had in their own power, and came down from those very

towers of their own accord, wherein they could have never been taken

by force, nor indeed by any other way than by famine. And thus did the

Romans, when they had taken such great pains about weaker walls, get

by good fortune what they could never have gotten by their engines;

for three of these towers were too strong for all mechanical engines

whatsoever, concerning which we have treated above.

5. So they now left these towers of themselves, or rather they were

ejected out of them by God himself, and fled immediately to that valley

which was under Siloam, where they again recovered themselves out of the

dread they were in for a while, and ran violently against that part of

the Roman wall which lay on that side; but as their courage was too much

depressed to make their attacks with sufficient force, and their power

was now broken with fear and affliction, they were repulsed by the

guards, and dispersing themselves at distances from each other, went

down into the subterranean caverns. So the Romans being now become

masters of the walls, they both placed their ensigns upon the towers,

and made joyful acclamations for the victory they had gained, as having

found the end of this war much lighter than its beginning; for when they

had gotten upon the last wall, without any bloodshed, they could hardly

believe what they found to be true; but seeing nobody to oppose them,

they stood in doubt what such an unusual solitude could mean. But when

they went in numbers into the lanes of the city with their swords drawn,

they slew those whom they overtook without and set fire to the houses

whither the Jews were fled, and burnt every soul in them, and laid

waste a great many of the rest; and when they were come to the houses

to plunder them, they found in them entire families of dead men, and

the upper rooms full of dead corpses, that is, of such as died by the

famine; they then stood in a horror at this sight, and went out without

touching any thing. But although they had this commiseration for such as

were destroyed in that manner, yet had they not the same for those that

were still alive, but they ran every one through whom they met with,

and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole

city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of

many of the houses was quenched with these men's blood. And truly so it

happened, that though the slayers left off at the evening, yet did the

fire greatly prevail in the night; and as all was burning, came that

eighth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul] upon Jerusalem, a city that had

been liable to so many miseries during this siege, that, had it always

enjoyed as much happiness from its first foundation, it would certainly

have been the envy of the world. Nor did it on any other account so much

deserve these sore misfortunes, as by producing such a generation of men

as were the occasions of this its overthrow.

CHAPTER 9.

What Injunctions Caesar Gave When He Was Come Within The

City. The Number Of The Captives And Of Those That Perished

In The Siege; As Also Concerning Those That Had Escaped Into

The Subterranean Caverns, Among Whom Were The Tyrants Simon

And John Themselves.

1. Now when Titus was come into this [upper] city, he admired not only

some other places of strength in it, but particularly those strong

towers which the tyrants in their mad conduct had relinquished; for when

he saw their solid altitude, and the largeness of their several stones,

and the exactness of their joints, as also how great was their breadth,

and how extensive their length, he expressed himself after the manner

following: "We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war,

and it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these

fortifications; for what could the hands of men or any machines do

towards overthrowing these towers?" At which time he had many such

discourses to his friends; he also let such go free as had been bound by

the tyrants, and were left in the prisons. To conclude, when he entirely

demolished the rest of the city, and overthrew its walls, he left

these towers as a monument of his good fortune, which had proved his

auxiliaries, and enabled him to take what could not otherwise have been

taken by him.

2. And now, since his soldiers were already quite tired with killing

men, and yet there appeared to be a vast multitude still remaining

alive, Caesar gave orders that they should kill none but those that were

in arms, and opposed them, but should take the rest alive. But, together

with those whom they had orders to slay, they slew the aged and the

infirm; but for those that were in their flourishing age, and who might

be useful to them, they drove them together into the temple, and shut

them up within the walls of the court of the women; over which Caesar

set one of his freed-men, as also Fronto, one of his own friends; which

last was to determine every one's fate, according to his merits. So

this Fronto slew all those that had been seditious and robbers, who were

impeached one by another; but of the young men he chose out the tallest

and most beautiful, and reserved them for the triumph; and as for the

rest of the multitude that were above seventeen years old, he put them

into bonds, and sent them to the Egyptian mines. 31 Titus also sent a

great number into the provinces, as a present to them, that they might

be destroyed upon their theatres, by the sword and by the wild beasts;

but those that were under seventeen years of age were sold for slaves.

Now during the days wherein Fronto was distinguishing these men, there

perished, for want of food, eleven thousand; some of whom did not taste

any food, through the hatred their guards bore to them; and others would

not take in any when it was given them. The multitude also was so very

great, that they were in want even of corn for their sustenance.

3. Now the number 32 of those that were carried captive during this

whole war was collected to be ninety-seven thousand; as was the number

of those that perished during the whole siege eleven hundred thousand,

the greater part of whom were indeed of the same nation [with the

citizens of Jerusalem], but not belonging to the city itself; for they

were come up from all the country to the feast of unleavened bread,

and were on a sudden shut up by an army, which, at the very first,

occasioned so great a straitness among them, that there came a

pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterward such a famine, as

destroyed them more suddenly. And that this city could contain so many

people in it, is manifest by that number of them which was taken under

Cestius, who being desirous of informing Nero of the power of the city,

who otherwise was disposed to contemn that nation, entreated the high

priests, if the thing were possible, to take the number of their whole

multitude. So these high priests, upon the coming of that feast which

is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth

hour till the eleventh, but so that a company not less than ten 33

belong to every sacrifice, [for it is not lawful for them to feast

singly by themselves,] and many of us are twenty in a company, found

the number of sacrifices was two hundred and fifty-six thousand five

hundred; which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feast

together, amounts to two millions seven hundred thousand and two hundred

persons that were pure and holy; for as to those that have the leprosy,

or the gonorrhea, or women that have their monthly courses, or such as

are otherwise polluted, it is not lawful for them to be partakers of

this sacrifice; nor indeed for any foreigners neither, who come hither

to worship.

4. Now this vast multitude is indeed collected out of remote places, but

the entire nation was now shut up by fate as in prison, and the

Roman army encompassed the city when it was crowded with inhabitants.

Accordingly, the multitude of those that therein perished exceeded all

the destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world;

for, to speak only of what was publicly known, the Romans slew some

of them, some they carried captives, and others they made a search for

under ground, and when they found where they were, they broke up the

ground and slew all they met with. There were also found slain there

above two thousand persons, partly by their own hands, and partly by one

another, but chiefly destroyed by the famine; but then the ill savor

of the dead bodies was most offensive to those that lighted upon them,

insomuch that some were obliged to get away immediately, while others

were so greedy of gain, that they would go in among the dead bodies

that lay on heaps, and tread upon them; for a great deal of treasure was

found in these caverns, and the hope of gain made every way of getting

it to be esteemed lawful. Many also of those that had been put in prison

by the tyrants were now brought out; for they did not leave off their

barbarous cruelty at the very last: yet did God avenge himself upon them

both, in a manner agreeable to justice. As for John, he wanted food,

together with his brethren, in these caverns, and begged that the Romans

would now give him their right hand for his security, which he had

often proudly rejected before; but for Simon, he struggled hard with

the distress he was in, still he was forced to surrender himself, as we

shall relate hereafter; so he was reserved for the triumph, and to be

then slain; as was John condemned to perpetual imprisonment. And now the

Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down,

and entirely demolished its walls.

CHAPTER 10.

That Whereas The City Of Jerusalem Had Been Five Times Taken

Formerly, This Was The Second Time Of Its Desolation. A

Brief Account Of Its History.

1. And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of

Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul]. It had been

taken five 34 times before, though this was the second time of its

desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and

after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but

still preserved it; but before all these, the king of Babylon conquered

it, and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight

years and six months after it was built. But he who first built it was

a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our own tongue called

[Melchisedek], the Righteous King, for such he really was; on which

account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple

[there], 35 and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called

Salem. However, David, the king of the Jews, ejected the Canaanites,

and settled his own people therein. It was demolished entirely by the

Babylonians, four hundred and seventy-seven years and six months after

him. And from king David, who was the first of the Jews who reigned

therein, to this destruction under Titus, were one thousand one hundred

and seventy-nine years; but from its first building, till this last

destruction, were two thousand one hundred and seventy-seven years; yet

hath not its great antiquity, nor its vast riches, nor the diffusion

of its nation over all the habitable earth, nor the greatness of

the veneration paid to it on a religious account, been sufficient to

preserve it from being destroyed. And thus ended the siege of Jerusalem.

WAR BOOK 6 FOOTNOTES

1 (return) [ Reland notes here, very pertinently, that the tower of

Antonia stood higher than the floor of the temple or court adjoining

to it; and that accordingly they descended thence into the temple, as

Josephus elsewhere speaks also. See Book VI. ch. 2. sect. 5.]

2 (return) [ In this speech of Titus we may clearly see the notions

which the Romans then had of death, and of the happy state of those who

died bravely in war, and the contrary estate of those who died ignobly

in their beds by sickness. Reland here also produces two parallel

passages, the one out of Atonia Janus Marcellinus, concerning the Alani,

lib. 31, that "they judged that man happy who laid down his life in

battle;" the other of Valerius Maximus, lib. 11. ch. 6, who says, "that

the Cimbri and Celtiberi exulted for joy in the army, as being to go out

of the world gloriously and happily."]

3 (return) [ See the note on p. 809.]

4 (return) [ No wonder that this Julian, who had so many nails in his

shoes, slipped upon the pavement of the temple, which was smooth, and

laid with marble of different colors.]

5 (return) [ This was a remarkable day indeed, the seventeenth of

Panemuns. [Footnote Tamuz,] A.D. 70, when, according to Daniel's

prediction, six hundred and six years before, the Romans "in half a week

caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease," Daniel 9:27. For from the

month of February, A.D. 66, about which time Vespasian entered on this

war, to this very time, was just three years and a half. See Bishop

Lloyd's Tables of Chronology, published by Mr. Marshall, on this year.

Nor is it to be omitted, what year nearly confirms this duration of the

war, that four years before the war begun was somewhat above seven years

five months before the destruction of Jerusalem, ch. 5. sect. 3.]

6 (return) [ The same that in the New Testament is always so called, and

was then the common language of the Jews in Judea, which was the Syriac

dialect.]

7 (return) [ Our present copies of the Old Testament want this encomium

upon king Jechoniah or Jehoiachim, which it seems was in Josephus's

copy.]

8 (return) [ Of this oracle, see the note on B. IV. ch. 6. sect. 3.

Josephus, both here and in many places elsewhere, speaks so, that it is

most evident he was fully satisfied that God was on the Romans' side,

and made use of them now for the destruction of that wicked nation of

the Jews; which was for certain the true state of this matter, as the

prophet Daniel first, and our Savior himself afterwards, had clearly

foretold. See Lit. Accompl. of Proph. p. 64, etc.]

9 (return) [ Josephus had before told us, B. V. ch. 13. sect. 1, that

this fourth son of Matthias ran away to the Romans "before" his father's

and brethren's slaughter, and not "after" it, as here. The former

account is, in all probability, the truest; for had not that fourth

son escaped before the others were caught and put to death, he had been

caught and put to death with them. This last account, therefore, looks

like an instance of a small inadvertence of Josephus in the place before

us.]

10 (return) [ Of this partition-wall separating Jews and Gentiles, with

its pillars and inscription, see the description of the temples, ch.

15.]

11 (return) [ That these seditious Jews were the direct occasions

of their own destruction, and of the conflagration of their city and

temple, and that Titus earnestly and constantly labored to save both, is

here and every where most evident in Josephus.]

12 (return) [ Court of the Gentiles.]

13 (return) [ Court of Israel.]

14 (return) [ Of the court of the Gentiles.]

15 (return) [ What Josephus observes here, that no parallel examples

had been recorded before this time of such sieges, wherein mothers were

forced by extremity of famine to eat their own children, as had been

threatened to the Jews in the law of Moses, upon obstinate disobedience,

and more than once fulfilled, [see my Boyle's Lectures, p. 210-214,]

is by Dr. Hudson supposed to have had two or three parallel examples in

later ages. He might have had more examples, I suppose, of persons on

ship-board, or in a desert island, casting lots for each others' bodies;

but all this was only in cases where they knew of no possible way to

avoid death themselves but by killing and eating others. Whether such

examples come up to the present case may be doubted. The Romans were not

only willing, but very desirous, to grant those Jews in Jerusalem both

their lives and their liberties, and to save both their city and their

temple. But the zealots, the robbers, and the seditious would hearken to

no terms of submission. They voluntarily chose to reduce the citizens to

that extremity, as to force mothers to this unnatural barbarity, which,

in all its circumstances, has not, I still suppose, been hitherto

paralleled among the rest of mankind.]

16 (return) [ These steps to the altar of burnt-offering seem here

either an improper and inaccurate expression of Josephus, since it was

unlawful to make ladder steps; [see description of the temples, ch. 13.,

and note on Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 5;] or else those steps or stairs

we now use were invented before the days of Herod the Great, and had

been here built by him; though the later Jews always deny it, and say

that even Herod's altar was ascended to by an acclivity only.]

17 (return) [ This Perea, if the word be not mistaken in the copies,

cannot well be that Perea which was beyond Jordan, whose mountains

were at a considerable distance from Jordan, and much too remote from

Jerusalem to join in this echo at the conflagration of the temple; but

Perea must be rather some mountains beyond the brook Cedron, as was the

Mount of Olives, or some others about such a distance from Jerusalem;

which observation is so obvious, that it is a wonder our commentators

here take no notice of it.]

18 (return) [ Reland I think here judges well, when he interprets these

spikes [Footnote of those that stood on the top of the holy house]

with sharp points; they were fixed into lead, to prevent the birds from

sitting there, and defiling the holy house; for such spikes there were

now upon it, as Josephus himself hath already assured us, B. V. ch. 5.

sect. 6.]

19 (return) [ Reland here takes notice, that these Jews, who had

despised the true Prophet, were deservedly abused and deluded by these

false ones.]

20 (return) [ Whether Josephus means that this star was different from

that comet which lasted a whole year, I cannot certainly determine. His

words most favor their being different one from another.]

21 (return) [ Since Josephus still uses the Syro-Macedonian month

Xanthicus for the Jewish month Nisan, this eighth, or, as Nicephorus

reads it, this ninth of Xanthicus or Nisan was almost a week before the

passover, on the fourteenth; about which time we learn from St.

John that many used to go "out of the country to Jerusalem to purify

themselves," John 11:55, with 12:1; in agreement with Josephus also, B.

V. ch. 3. sect. 1. And it might well be, that in the sight of these this

extraordinary light might appear.]

22 (return) [ This here seems to be the court of the priests.]

23 (return) [ Both Reland and Havercamp in this place alter the natural

punctuation and sense of Josephus, and this contrary to the opinion of

Valesilus and Dr. Hudson, lest Josephus should say that the Jews built

booths or tents within the temple at the feast of tabernacles; which

the later Rabbins will not allow to have been the ancient practice: but

then, since it is expressly told us in Nehemiah, ch. 8:16, that in still

elder times "the Jews made booths in the courts of the house of God"

at that festival, Josephus may well be permitted to say the same.

And indeed the modern Rabbins are of very small authority in all such

matters of remote antiquity.]

24 (return) [ Take Havercamp's note here: "This [says he] is a

remarkable place; and Tertullian truly says in his Apologetic, ch. 16.

p. 162, that the entire religion of the Roman camp almost consisted in

worshipping the ensigns, in swearing by the ensigns, and in preferring

the ensigns before all the [other] gods." See what Havercamp says upon

that place of Tertullian.]

25 (return) [ This declaring Titus imperator by the soldiers, upon such

signal success, and the slaughter of such a vast number of enemies, was

according to the usual practice of the Romans in like cases, as Reland

assures us on this place.]

26 (return) [ The Jews of later times agree with Josephus, that there

were hiding-places or secret chambers about the holy house, as Reland

here informs us, where he thinks he has found these very walls described

by them.]

27 (return) [ Spanheim notes here, that the Romans used to permit the

Jews to collect their sacred tribute, and send it to Jerusalem; of which

we have had abundant evidence in Josephus already on other occasions.]

28 (return) [ This innumerable multitude of Jews that were "sold" by the

Romans was an eminent completion of God's ancient threatening by Moses,

that if they apostatized from the obedience to his laws, they should

be "sold unto their enemies for bond-men and bond-women," Deuteronomy

28;68. See more especially the note on ch. 9. sect. 2. But one thing

is here peculiarly remarkable, that Moses adds, Though they should be

"sold" for slaves, yet "no man should buy them;" i.e. either they should

have none to redeem them from this sale into slavery; or rather, that

the slaves to be sold should be more than were the purchasers for them,

and so they should be sold for little or nothing; which is what Josephus

here affirms to have been the case at this time.]

29 (return) [ What became of these spoils of the temple that escaped the

fire, see Josephus himself hereafter, B. VII. ch. 5. sect. 5, and Reland

de Spoliis Templi, p. 129-138.]

30 (return) [ These various sorts of spices, even more than those four

which Moses prescribed, Exodus 31:34, we see were used in their public

worship under Herod's temple, particularly cinnamon and cassia; which

Reland takes particular notice of, as agreeing with the latter testimony

of the Talmudists.]

31 (return) [ See the several predictions that the Jews, if they became

obstinate in their idolatry and wickedness, should be sent again or sold

into Egypt for their punishment, Deuteronomy 28:68; Jeremiah 44:7; Hosea

8:13; 9:3; 9:4, 5; 2 Samuel 15:10-13; with Authentic Records, Part I. p.

49, 121; and Reland Painest And, tom. II. p. 715.]

32 (return) [ The whole multitude of the Jews that were destroyed during

the entire seven years before this time, in all the countries of and

bordering on Judea, is summed up by Archbishop Usher, from Lipsius, out

of Josephus, at the year of Christ 70, and amounts to 1,337,490. Nor

could there have been that number of Jews in Jerusalem to be destroyed

in this siege, as will be presently set down by Josephus, but that both

Jews and proselytes of justice were just then come up out of the other

countries of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and Perea and other remoter

regions, to the passover, in vast numbers, and therein cooped up, as in

a prison, by the Roman army, as Josephus himself well observes in this

and the next section, and as is exactly related elsewhere, B. V. ch. 3.

sect. 1 and ch. 13. sect. 7.]

33 (return) [ This number of a company for one paschal lamb, between

ten and twenty, agrees exactly with the number thirteen, at our Savior's

last passover. As to the whole number of the Jews that used to come up

to the passover, and eat of it at Jerusalem, see the note on B. II.

ch. 14. sect. 3. This number ought to be here indeed just ten times the

number of the lambs, or just 2,565,000, by Josephus's own reasoning;

whereas it is, in his present copies, no less than 2,700,000, which last

number is, however, nearest the other number in the place now cited,

which is 3,000,000. But what is here chiefly remarkable is this, that no

foreign nation ever came thus to destroy the Jews at any of their solemn

festivals, from the days of Moses till this time, but came now upon

their apostasy from God, and from obedience to him. Nor is it possible,

in the nature of things, that in any other nation such vast numbers

should be gotten together, and perish in the siege of any one city

whatsoever, as now happened in Jerusalem.]

34 (return) [ This is the proper place for such as have closely

attended to these latter books of the War to peruse, and that with equal

attention, those distinct and plain predictions of Jesus of Nazareth, in

the Gospels thereto relating, as compared with their exact completions

in Josephus's history; upon which completions, as Dr. Whitby well

observes, Annot. on Matthew 24:2, no small part of the evidence for the

truth of the Christian religion does depend; and as I have step by

step compared them together in my Literal Accomplishment of Scripture

Prophecies. The reader is to observe further, that the true reason why I

have so seldom taken notice of those completions in the course of these

notes, notwithstanding their being so very remarkable, and frequently

so very obvious, is this, that I had entirely prevented myself in that

treatise beforehand; to which therefore I must here, once for all,

seriously refer every inquisitive reader. Besides these five here

enumerated, who had taken Jerusalem of old, Josephus, upon further

recollection, reckons a sixth, Antiq. B. XII. ch. 1. sect. 1, who should

have been here inserted in the second place; I mean Ptolemy, the son of

Lagus.]

35 (return) [ Why the great Bochart should say, [De Phoenic. Colon.

B. II. ch. iv.,] that "there are in this clause of Josephus as many

mistakes as words," I do by no means understand. Josephus thought

Melchisedek first built, or rather rebuilt and adorned, this city, and

that it was then called Salem, as Psalm 76:2; afterwards came to be

called Jerusalem; and that Melchisedek, being a priest as well as a

king, built to the true God therein a temple, or place for public Divine

worship and sacrifice; all which things may be very true for aught we

know to the contrary. And for the word, or temple, as if it must needs

belong to the great temple built by Solomon long afterward, Josephus

himself uses, for the small tabernacle of Moses, Antiq. B. III. ch. 6.

sect. 4; see also Antiq. B. lit. ch. 6. sect. 1; as he here presently

uses, for a large and splendid synagogue of the Jews at Antioch, B. VII.

ch. 3. sect. 3.]

BOOK VII.

Containing The Interval Of About Three Years.

From The Taking Of Jerusalem By Titus To The Sedition At

Cyrene

CHAPTER 1.

How The Entire City Of Jerusalem Was Demolished, Excepting

Three Towers; And How Titus Commended His Soldiers In A

Speech Made To Them, And Distributed Rewards To Them And

Then Dismissed Many Of Them.

1. Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder,

because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, [for they

would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be

done,] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city

and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of

the greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne;

and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This

wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in

garrison, as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to

posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the

Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall, it was so

thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the

foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither

believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem

came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city

otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.

2. But Caesar resolved to leave there, as a guard, the tenth legion,

with certain troops of horsemen, and companies of footmen. So, having

entirely completed this war, he was desirous to commend his whole army,

on account of the great exploits they had performed, and to bestow

proper rewards on such as had signalized themselves therein. He had

therefore a great tribunal made for him in the midst of the place

where he had formerly encamped, and stood upon it with his principal

commanders about him, and spake so as to be heard by the whole army

in the manner following: That he returned them abundance of thanks for

their good-will which they had showed to him: he commended them for that

ready obedience they had exhibited in this whole war, which obedience

had appeared in the many and great dangers which they had courageously

undergone; as also for that courage they had shown, and had thereby

augmented of themselves their country's power, and had made it evident

to all men, that neither the multitude of their enemies, nor the

strength of their places, nor the largeness of their cities, nor the

rash boldness and brutish rage of their antagonists, were sufficient at

any time to get clear of the Roman valor, although some of them may have

fortune in many respects on their side. He said further, that it was

but reasonable for them to put an end to this war, now it had lasted

so long, for that they had nothing better to wish for when they entered

into it; and that this happened more favorably for them, and more for

their glory, that all the Romans had willingly accepted of those for

their governors, and the curators of their dominions, whom they had

chosen for them, and had sent into their own country for that purpose,

which still continued under the management of those whom they had

pitched on, and were thankful to them for pitching upon them. That

accordingly, although he did both admire and tenderly regard them all,

because he knew that every one of them had gone as cheerfully about

their work as their abilities and opportunities would give them leave;

yet, he said, that he would immediately bestow rewards and dignities on

those that had fought the most bravely, and with greater force, and had

signalized their conduct in the most glorious manner, and had made his

army more famous by their noble exploits; and that no one who had

been willing to take more pains than another should miss of a just

retribution for the same; for that he had been exceeding careful about

this matter, and that the more, because he had much rather reward the

virtues of his fellow soldiers than punish such as had offended.

3. Hereupon Titus ordered those whose business it was to read the list

of all that had performed great exploits in this war, whom he called to

him by their names, and commended them before the company, and rejoiced

in them in the same manner as a man would have rejoiced in his own

exploits. He also put on their heads crowns of gold, and golden

ornaments about their necks, and gave them long spears of gold, and

ensigns that were made of silver, and removed every one of them to a

higher rank; and besides this, he plentifully distributed among them,

out of the spoils, and the other prey they had taken, silver, and

gold, and garments. So when they had all these honors bestowed on them,

according to his own appointment made to every one, and he had wished

all sorts of happiness to the whole army, he came down, among the great

acclamations which were made to him, and then betook himself to offer

thank-offerings [to the gods], and at once sacrificed a vast number of

oxen, that stood ready at the altars, and distributed them among the

army to feast on. And when he had staid three days among the principal

commanders, and so long feasted with them, he sent away the rest of his

army to the several places where they would be every one best situated;

but permitted the tenth legion to stay, as a guard at Jerusalem, and did

not send them away beyond Euphrates, where they had been before. And as

he remembered that the twelfth legion had given way to the Jews, under

Cestius their general, he expelled them out of all Syria, for they

had lain formerly at Raphanea, and sent them away to a place called

Meletine, near Euphrates, which is in the limits of Armenia and

Cappadocia; he also thought fit that two of the legions should stay with

him till he should go to Egypt. He then went down with his army to that

Cesarea which lay by the sea-side, and there laid up the rest of his

spoils in great quantities, and gave order that the captives should be

kept there; for the winter season hindered him then from sailing into

Italy.

CHAPTER 2.

How Titus Exhibited All Sorts Of Shows At Cesarea Philippi.

Concerning Simon The Tyrant How He Was Taken, And Reserved

For The Triumph.