Vespasian having ordered all to withdraw except his son Titus and two of
his friends, the prisoner thus addressed him: “You suppose, Vespasian,
that in the person of Josephus you have taken a mere captive; but I come
to you as a messenger of greater destinies. Had I not been sent on this
errand by God, I knew the law of the Jews and how it becomes a general
to die. To Nero do you send me? Why then? Will those who succeed Nero
before your accession continue?[289] You, Vespasian, are Cæsar and
Emperor—you and this your son. Bind me now yet more securely and keep me
for (trial by) yourself. For you, Cæsar, are master not of me only, but
of land and sea and the whole human race. And I—I deserve to be reserved
for punishment in even stricter custody,[290] if I dare to trifle with
the words of God.”
To this speech Vespasian, at the moment, seemed to attach little credit,
supposing it to be an ingenious device of Josephus to save his life.
Gradually, however, he was led to believe it, since God was already
turning his thoughts to the imperial office[291] and by other tokens
foreshadowing the throne. He found, moreover, that Josephus had proved a
veracious prophet in other matters. For, one of the two friends in
attendance at the private interview having expressed his surprise that
he had not predicted the fall of Jotapata to its inhabitants nor his own
captivity, if his present words were not a nonsensical invention to
avert the indignation which he had aroused, Josephus replied that he had
foretold to the people of Jotapata that their city would be captured
after forty-seven days and that he himself would be taken alive by the
Romans.
Vespasian, having privately questioned the prisoners on these statements
and found them true, then began to credit those concerning himself. He
did not, however, exempt Josephus from custody or bonds, though he
presented him with raiment and other precious possessions, and continued
to treat him with kindness and attention, Titus contributing much to
these complimentary honours.—_B.J._ III. 7. 33-8. 9 (316-408).
Footnote 272:
Or possibly “could no longer endure the strain, even under
compulsion.”
Footnote 273:
Gr. “chiliarch(s).”
Footnote 274:
MSS “of the fifth and tenth legion” (_sic_).
Footnote 275:
Another reading, “the secret recesses of the city.”
Footnote 276:
Gr. “chiliarch(s).”
Footnote 277:
Lit. “right hands.”
Footnote 278:
Cf. “Romane, memento.... Parcere subjectis.”—Virg. _Æn._ VI, 851 ff.
Footnote 279:
Gr. “polemarch.”
Footnote 280:
Did he claim kinship with his namesake Joseph?
Footnote 281:
Or, perhaps, “began, in his straits, to reason ... philosophically.”
Footnote 282:
The doctrine of _metempsychosis_.
Footnote 283:
Or “a darker region.”
Footnote 284:
Gr. “Hades.”
Footnote 285:
Text (“those who did violence to their fathers”) corrupt. I read τὰς
τῶν πατέρων ὕβρεις.
Footnote 286:
Traill, “be thrown on his own resolution” (lit. “lie on his own right
hand”).
Footnote 287:
Or “to be made in good faith.”
Footnote 288:
Another reading, “through his own virtuous disposition” (ἐξ ἀρετῆς for
ἐξαιρέτως).
Footnote 289:
Text and meaning doubtful. The reference is apparently to the short
reigns of Galba, Otho and Vitellius; but, as Niese suggests, we expect
a sentence to precede, predicting the impending death of Nero.
Footnote 290:
In the underworld apparently.
Footnote 291:
Another reading, “had already raised him to power.”
(44) Reception at Jerusalem of the News of the Fall of Jotapata
When news of the fate of Jotapata reached Jerusalem, the magnitude of
the calamity and the absence of any eyewitness of the events reported at
first induced general incredulity. For not one had escaped to tell the
tale; Rumour, own sister to Black Tidings,[292] came as her own herald
of the city’s capture. Little by little, however, the truth found its
way through the adjacent districts, and the fact was now regarded by all
as established beyond doubt. But the facts were embroidered by fiction;
thus Josephus was reported to have fallen when the city was taken. This
intelligence filled Jerusalem with the deepest sorrow. In every
household and family there was mourning of the relatives for their own
lost ones; but the lamentation for the commander was national. Some
mourned for their former guests, others for relatives, others for
friends, but all alike for Josephus. Thus for thirty days the
lamentations in the city were incessant, and many flute-players were
hired, who used to take the lead in their dirges.[293]
But when the true story of what had happened at Jotapata was in time
disclosed, and the reported death of Josephus was found to be a
fabrication, and it became known that he was alive and in Roman hands
and being treated by the commanding officers with a respect beyond the
common lot of a prisoner, the demonstrations of anger at his escaping
alive were as loud as the former expressions of affection when he was
believed to be dead. Some abused him as a coward, others as a traitor;
and the city was filled with indignation and imprecations upon his
devoted head.
They were exasperated, moreover, by their reverses, and their failures
added fuel to the flames. A defeat, which with the wise induces
precaution and care to provide against similar misfortunes, but goaded
them on to further disasters; and the end of one calamity was always the
beginning of the next. At any rate, the desire for vengeance on
Josephus, now in the enemy’s ranks, impelled them to fiercer assaults
upon the Romans. Such was the uproar that now prevailed in
Jerusalem.—_B.J._ III. 9. 5 f. (432-442).
Footnote 292:
Cf. Virg. _Æn._ IV, 173 ff.
Footnote 293:
Cf. Matt. ix. 23.
(45) Murder of the High Priest Ananus; also of Zacharias after a mock
trial
The Idumæans had been summoned by the Zealots to aid them against
the party of Ananus, and had with difficulty gained entrance to
Jerusalem during a thunderstorm at night. After massacring their
Jewish enemies these “children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem”
subsequently repented of their adventure and withdrew from the city.
For Zacharias see Appendix, Note V.
[Sidenote: Winter A.D. 67-68]
The fury of the Idumæans being still unsatiated, they turned (from the
Temple) to the city, looting every house and killing all who fell in
their way. But, thinking their energies wasted on the common people,
they went in search of the chief priests. The main body rushed to attack
them, and they were soon caught and slain. Then, standing over their
dead bodies, they scoffed at Ananus for his patronage of the people and
at Jesus for the address which he had delivered from the wall. They
actually went so far in their impiety as to cast out the corpses without
burial, although the Jews are so careful about funeral rites that even
malefactors who have been sentenced to crucifixion are taken down and
buried before sunset.[294]
I do not think I shall be wrong in saying that the capture of the city
began with the death of Ananus; and that the overthrow of the walls and
the downfall of the Jewish state dated from the day on which the Jews
beheld their high priest, the captain of their salvation, butchered in
the heart of Jerusalem.
A man in all ways venerable and in integrity unsurpassed, Ananus, with
all the distinction of his birth, his rank and the honours to which he
had attained, yet delighted to treat the very humblest as his equals.
Unrivalled in his love of liberty and an admirer of democracy, he on all
occasions put the public welfare above his private interests. To
maintain peace was his supreme object. He knew that the Roman power was
irresistible; but, when driven to provide for a state of war,
endeavoured to secure that, if the Jews would not break off hostilities,
the struggle should at least be skilfully conducted. In a word, had
Ananus lived, they would undoubtedly either have come to terms—for he
was an effective speaker, whose words carried weight with the people,
and was already gaining control over those who thwarted him—or else, had
hostilities continued, they would, under such a general, have greatly
retarded the victory of the Romans.
With him was linked Jesus, who, though not comparable with Ananus,
excelled the rest of his contemporaries.
It was, I suppose, because God had, for its pollutions, condemned the
city to destruction and desired to purge the sanctuary by fire, that He
thus cut off those who clung to it with such tender affection. So they
who but lately were clad in the sacred vestments, had led the ceremonies
of world-wide significance[295] and were reverenced by visitors to the
city from every quarter of the earth, were now seen cast out naked, to
be devoured by dogs and beasts of prey. Virtue herself, I think, groaned
over these men’s fate, lamenting that she should have been so completely
defeated by Vice. Such, then, was the end of Ananus and Jesus.
Having disposed of them, the Zealots with the mass of the Idumæans fell
upon and butchered the people as though they had been a herd of unclean
animals....
The Mock Trial and Murder of Zacharias
Having now come to loathe indiscriminate massacre, the Zealots
instituted mock trials and courts of justice. They had determined to put
to death Zacharias, son of Baris,[296] one of the most eminent of the
citizens. His pronounced hatred of wrongdoing and love of liberty
exasperated them, and, as he was also rich, they had the double prospect
of plundering his property and of getting rid of a powerful and
dangerous opponent. So they issued a peremptory summons to seventy of
the leading citizens to appear in the Temple, assigning to them, as in a
play, the _rôle_, without the authority, of judges; and accused
Zacharias of betraying the state to the Romans and of holding
treasonable communications with Vespasian. They adduced no evidence or
proof in support of these charges; but declared that they were fully
convinced of his guilt themselves and claimed this as sufficient
guarantee that the accusation was true.
Perceiving that no hope of escape was left him, as he had been
treacherously summoned not to a court of justice but to prison,
Zacharias did not allow despair of life to rob him of liberty of speech.
He rose and ridiculed the probability of the accusation, and in few
words quashed the charges laid against him. Then, rounding upon his
accusers, he went over all their enormities in order, and bitterly
lamented the confusion of public affairs. The Zealots were in an uproar
and could scarce refrain from drawing their swords, although anxious to
play out their part in the farce of a trial to the close, and desirous,
moreover, to test whether the judges would put considerations of justice
above their own peril.
The seventy, preferring to die with the defendant rather than be held
answerable for his destruction, brought in a unanimous verdict in his
favour. The Zealots raised an outcry at his acquittal, and were all
indignant with the judges for not understanding that the authority
entrusted to them was a mere pretence. Two of the most daring of them
then set upon Zacharias and slew him in the midst of the Temple; and
addressing him as he lay with jeering words, “There you have our verdict
as well and a surer release,”[297] forthwith cast him out of the Temple
into the ravine below. Then they insolently struck the judges with the
backs of their swords and drove them from the precincts; their sole
reason for sparing their lives was that they might disperse through the
city and proclaim to all the servitude to which they were
reduced.—_B.J._ IV. 5. 2-4 (314-326; 334-344).
Footnote 294:
Cf. Deut. xxi. 22 f.; John xix. 31.
Footnote 295:
Lit. “cosmical,” meaning either “open to the whole world” or perhaps
“emblematic of the mundane system” (Traill); cf. Jos. _Ant._ III. 6. 4
(123); 7. 7 (the Tabernacle a symbol of the universe), with Westcott’s
note on Heb. ix 1.
Footnote 296:
According to other MSS “Bariscæus” or “Baruch.”
Footnote 297:
The Gr. word (ἀπόλυσις) means both “acquittal” and “death.”
(46) How Josephus was Liberated
[Sidenote: Probably Summer A.D. 69]
Now that fortune was everywhere furthering his wishes and that
circumstances had in large measure conspired in his favour, the thought
arose in Vespasian’s mind that divine providence had played a part in
his rise to sovereignty and that some just destiny had laid the empire
of the world upon his shoulders. Among many other omens, which had
everywhere foreshadowed his imperial office, he recalled the expressions
of Josephus, who had ventured to address him as emperor while Nero was
still alive. He was shocked to think that the man was still a prisoner
in his hands, and summoning Mucianus with his other generals and
personal friends, he first reminded them of his doughty deeds and how
much trouble he had given them at Jotapata; and then referred to his
predictions, which at the time he himself had suspected of being the
fabrications of fear, but which time and the course of events had proved
to be divine. “It is disgraceful,” he said, “that one who foretold my
elevation to power and was a minister of the voice of God should still
rank as a captive and endure a prisoner’s fate”; and calling for
Josephus, he ordered him to be liberated.
The officers from this requital of a foreigner were led to augur
brilliant honours for themselves. But Titus, who was beside his father,
said, “Justice demands, father, that, with his bonds, the disgrace
should also be removed from Josephus. If, instead of loosing, we sever
his chains, he will be as though he had never been in bonds at all.”
This is the usual custom when a man has been unjustly chained. Vespasian
approving, an attendant came forward and severed the chain with an axe.
Thus Josephus won his freedom[298] as the reward of his divination, and
his power of insight into the future was no longer discredited.—_B.J._
IV. 10. 7 (622-629).
Footnote 298:
Lit. “civic rights.”
(47) A Roman Reverse Inspires false Confidence
[Sidenote: May A.D. 70]
Thus, after gaining possession of the second wall, were the Romans
ejected. The spirits of the war party in the city, elated at their
success, rose to a high pitch; they thought that the Romans would never
again venture into the city, or that, if they did, they themselves would
prove invincible. For God was blinding their minds because of their
transgressions; and they perceived neither how the forces still left to
the Romans far out-numbered those which had been expelled nor the
stealthy approach of famine. It was still possible to feed upon the
public miseries and to drink of the city’s life-blood; but honest men
had long since felt the pinch of want, and many were already failing for
lack of necessaries. The factions, on the other hand, considered the
destruction of the people to be a relief to themselves; they maintained
that only those should be preserved who were enemies to peace and
determined to devote their lives to resisting the Romans; the crowds of
their opponents they regarded as a mere encumbrance[299] and their
gradual extinction a cause for satisfaction. Such were their feelings
towards those within the walls. As for their external foes, having
blocked and walled up the breach with their own bodies, they attempted
to beat off the Romans who were once more attempting to break through.
For three days they maintained a stubborn defence and held their ground;
but on the fourth, unable to withstand a gallant assault of Titus, they
were compelled to fall back as before. Titus, once more master of the
wall, immediately razed the whole of the northern portion; and, placing
garrisons in the towers on the south side, made preparations to attack
the third wall.—_B.J._ V. 8. 2 (342-347).
Footnote 299:
Another reading, “as mere barbarians.”
(48) Cessation of the Daily Sacrifice. Josephus appeals to the Jews
Titus now ordered the troops at his disposal to raze the foundations of
Antonia[300] and to prepare an easy ascent (to the Temple) for his whole
army. On the seventeenth of Panemus, [Sidenote: July A.D. 70] having
heard that on that day the so-called continual sacrifice[301] had ceased
to be offered to God from lack of men and that the people were in
consequence terribly despondent, he put Josephus forward with
instructions to repeat to John[302] the same message as before; namely
“that if he was the slave of a depraved love of fighting, it was open to
him to come out with as many men as he chose and carry on the war,
without involving the city and the sanctuary in his own ruin; but that
he should no longer pollute the Holy Place nor sin against God; and that
he would be permitted to perform the interrupted sacrifices through the
ministry of any Jews he might select.”
Josephus, in order that his words might be listened to[303] not by John
only but by the multitude, delivered Cæsar’s message in Hebrew,[304]
with earnest appeals to them “to spare their country, to disperse the
flames that were already licking[305] the sanctuary and to restore to
God the customary expiations.”[306] This address was received by the
people with dejection and silence; the tyrant,[307] on the contrary,
after many invectives and imprecations upon Josephus, ended by saying
that “he could never fear capture, since the city was God’s.”
At this Josephus cried aloud:—
“Pure indeed have you kept it for God! The Holy Place too remains
undefiled! No impiety are you guilty of against your looked-for Ally and
He receives His customary sacrifices! Most impious wretch, should any
one deprive you of your daily food, you would consider him an enemy; and
do you hope to have God for your ally in the war, whom you have bereft
of His everlasting ceremonial? And do you impute these sins to the
Romans, who, to this day, are concerned for our laws and are trying to
force you to restore to God those sacrifices which _you_ have
interrupted? Who would not bewail and lament for the city at this
amazing transposition, when aliens and enemies rectify your impiety,
while you, a Jew, nurtured in our laws, treat them with greater cruelty
even than your foes?
“Yet, be sure, John, it is no disgrace to repent of misdeeds, even at
the last; and, if you desire to save your country, you have a noble
example set before you in Jeconiah, king of the Jews. He, when in the
old days the Babylonian led out his army on his account, of his own free
will left the city before it was taken, and with his family endured
voluntary captivity, rather than deliver up these holy places to the
enemy and suffer the house of God to be set on fire.[308] For this he is
commemorated in sacred story by all Jews, and memory, flowing ever fresh
from age to age, transmits his undying fame to after generations. A
noble example, John, even were it dangerous to follow; but I can warrant
you even pardon from the Romans. Remember, too, that I who exhort you am
your compatriot, that I who make this promise am a Jew; and it is right
that you should consider who is your counsellor and of what country he
comes. For I pray that I may never live to be so abject a captive as to
abjure my race or to forget the traditions of my forefathers.
“Once again you are indignant and shout your abuse at me; and indeed I
deserve even harsher treatment for offering advice in fate’s despite and
for struggling to save those whom God has condemned. Who is ignorant of
the records of the ancient prophets and of that oracle which threatens
this poor city and is now on the eve of fulfilment? They foretold that
it would be taken when one should begin to slaughter his own countrymen.
And is not the city and the whole Temple too filled with the corpses of
your fellow-citizens? God it is then, God Himself, who with the Romans
is bringing the fire to purge His Temple and desolation upon a city so
laden with pollutions.”—_B.J._ VI. 2. 1 (93-110).
Footnote 300:
The tower or “castle” adjoining the Temple from the stairs of which
St. Paul delivered the speech recorded in Acts xxii.
Footnote 301:
The daily, morning and evening, sacrifice (ἐνδελεχισμός: Heb.
_Tamid_); cf. Numb. xxviii. 6.
Footnote 302:
John of Gischala.
Footnote 303:
Many MSS insert “standing” (“standing where he might be heard,” etc.).
Footnote 304:
_i.e._ Aramaic. Cf. Acts xxi. 40; xxii. 2.
Footnote 305:
Lit. “tasting.”
Footnote 306:
The Gr. word strictly means “offerings to the dead.”
Footnote 307:
John of Gischala.
Footnote 308:
Amplification of 2 K. xxiv. 12; cf. _Ant._ x. 7. 1 (100).
(49) Conflagration of the Temple
“There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not
be thrown down.”
Titus, to protect his forces, had ordered the gates of the outer
court to be set on fire, and from the gates the fire extended to the
porticoes. But, after a council of war, it was decided that the main
fabric—the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies—must be saved; Titus
urging that “if it were burnt, the Romans would be the losers; if
preserved, it would be an ornament of his Empire.” His attempts to
check the spread of the conflagration proved, however, unavailing.
[Sidenote: August A.D. 70]
Throughout that day fatigue and consternation checked the Jews from
attacking; but, on the following day, about the second hour, with
recruited strength and renewed courage, they sallied out through the
eastern gate and charged the guards of the outer court of the Temple.
The Romans stubbornly met their charge and, forming a screen in front
with their shields, closed up their ranks like a wall. It was evident,
however, that they would not long be able to hold together, overpowered
as they were by the number and _élan_ of their assailants. Cæsar, who
from the (tower of) Antonia was watching the scene, anticipating the
breaking of the line, came to their rescue with his picked cavalry. The
Jews could not withstand their onset; the foremost fell and the main
body retreated. Yet whenever the Romans retired the Jews returned to the
attack, only to fall back once more when the Romans wheeled round;
until, about the fifth hour of the day, the Jews were overpowered and
shut up in the inner court of the Temple.
Titus then withdrew to Antonia, with the determination on the following
day, about dawn, to attack with his whole force and invest the Temple.
But God, it seems, had long since sentenced that building to the flames;
and now in the revolution of the years had come round the fated day, the
tenth of the month Lous, [Sidenote: August] on which it had once before
been burnt by the king of Babylon. Those flames, however, owed their
origin and cause to God’s own people.[309] For, on the withdrawal of
Titus, the insurgents, after a brief respite, again attacked the Romans,
and an engagement ensued between the (Jewish) guards of the sanctuary
and the (Romans) who were endeavouring to extinguish the fire in the
inner court. The latter routed the Jews and pursued them right up
to[310] the sanctuary.
At this moment, one of the soldiers, without waiting for orders and with
no horror of so dread a deed, but moved by some supernatural impulse,
snatched a brand from the burning timber[311] and, hoisted up by one of
his comrades, flung the fiery missile through a golden window,[312]
which gave access on the north side to the chambers surrounding the
sanctuary. As the flame shot up, a cry, such as the calamity demanded,
arose from the Jews, who rushed to the rescue, lost to all thought of
self-preservation, all husbanding of strength, now that the object of
all their past vigilance was gone.
* * * * *
Titus was resting in his tent after the engagement, when a messenger
rushed in with the tidings. Starting up just as he was, he ran to the
Temple to arrest the conflagration, followed by all his generals, while
in their train came the excited legionaries, with the clamour and
confused noise arising from the movement in irregular order of so large
an army. Cæsar, both by word of mouth and by a wave of his hand,
signalled to the combatants to extinguish the fire; but they neither
heard his shouts, drowned in the louder din which filled their ears,
nor, distracted as they were by the fever of battle or rage, did they
heed his beckoning hand. The impetuosity of the legionaries, when they
joined the fray, neither exhortation nor threat could restrain; passion
was for all the one officer in command. Crushed together about the
entrances, many were trampled down by their companions; while many,
stumbling on the still hot and smouldering ruins of the porticoes,
suffered the same fate as the vanquished.[313] As they came nearer the
sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Cæsar’s orders and shouted to
those in front of them to throw in the firebrands.