Read the work of Josephus the Jew[145] on _The Calamities of the
Jews_. The capture of Iotapata[146] (at which Josephus himself was
taken prisoner) and Gischala,[146] and the desolation of other
Jewish fortresses is described, and in the last book the destruction
of Jerusalem and the fortress of Masada.[147] The work is in seven
books. The author has a pure style, and is apt at expressing his
meaning with dignity, with distinctness and charm. In the speeches
introduced he is persuasive and agreeable, even when the opportunity
invites him to take opposite views; he is clever and prolific in the
use of arguments on either side, and is extremely fond of aphorisms.
He is also very skilful in introducing the emotional, in rousing the
passions and calming them.
He relates that many signs and portents preceded the taking of
Jerusalem. A heifer that was being led to the sacrifice brought forth
a lamb; a light shone in the temple and a voice was heard saying,
“Let us remove hence”; the gates of the temple, which twenty men
could hardly open, opened of their own accord; in the evening troops
appeared clad in armour. A man named Jesus, son of Ananias, for six
years and three months incessantly repeated, like one inspired, the
words “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” When he was whipped for it, he made no
reply, but repeated the same words. He was present at the capture of
the city, and while crying out “Woe, woe, to the city!” he was hit by
a stone from one of the enemy’s engines, and gave up the ghost.
Such were the signs that foretold the taking of the city; but it
was internal sedition, together with the enemy, that overthrew
it. Split up into the factions of Zelotae and Sicarii,[148] they
destroyed one another, and thus the body of the state was cruelly and
mercilessly torn asunder by the common people. The city suffered so
grievously from famine that the inhabitants were driven to all kinds
of excesses; a woman even ate the flesh of her own son. Famine was
succeeded by pestilence, a clear proof that it was the work of the
divine wrath, in fulfilment of the Lord’s proclamation and threat
that the city should be taken and utterly destroyed.