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The
history of
PREFACE
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS was born at
In the following pages some of the principal prophecies
are selected from Moses and Jesus Christ, and placed at the head of each
chapter, that the reader may more readily perceive their literal and precise
accomplishment. In the Introduction a descriptive sketch of
December 6, 1838.
D.S.
Introduction
Section 1
SKETCH OF
The history of no other country on earth affords so great
an amount of interest and instruction as that of
As its geographical position was admirable, so its internal aspect was delightful. It was beautifully diversified with hills and plains— hills now barren and gloomy, but once cultivated to their summits, and smiling in the variety of their produce. Plains over which the Bedouin Arab now roves to collect a scanty herbage for his cattle, once yielded an abundance, of which the inhabitants of a more northern clime can scarcely form an idea.
The description of Moses was both beautiful and accurate:
“The Lord bringeth thee into a good land—a land of brooks, of water, of
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and
barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and
honey.” Rich in its soil, smiling in the sunshine of an almost perpetual
summer, and abounding in scenery of the grandest as well as the most
picturesque and beautiful kind, this happy country was indeed a land which the
Lord had blessed.
But Mohammedan sloth and despotism, as the instruments
employed to execute the curse of Heaven, have converted a great part of it into
a waste of rock and desert. There are, however, still remaining spots of
verdure sufficient to attest the accounts formerly given of it; and when
properly cultivated its most rocky, and, to appearance, insuperably sterile
parts are made to yield abundantly. Dr. Clarke gives us the following account
of what he saw on the road from Naploitse to Jerusalem: “The road was rocky,
mountainous, and full of loose stones, yet the cultivation was everywhere
marvellous: it afforded one of the most striking pictures of human industry
which it is possible to behold. The limestone rocks and stony valleys of
It should be remembered that eastern impressions of
fertility differ from ours. To an oriental, plantations of figs, vines, and
olives, with which the limestone rocks of Judea were once covered, would
suggest the same associations of plenty and opulence that are called up to the
mind of an American by rich tracts of arable land. The
The lofty palm-tree also flourished here. “The extensive
importance of this tree,” says Dr. E. D. Clarke, “is one of the most curious
subjects to which the traveler can turn his attention. A considerable part of
the inhabitants of
“The
diligent natives,” says Gibbon, “celebrated either in prose or verse the three
hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice,
and the fruit were skillfully applied.” Such was ancient
Besides these there were in its later days the waters of Ethan, which Pilate had conveyed through aqueducts into the city. It was celebrated for its extent, being, according to Strabo, sixty furlongs in length; for the strength of its walls and bulwarks; but above all, for its magnificent temple, and for the divine manifestations which it so richly enjoyed. Here flourished those singular and excellent men, the Hebrew prophets. Here they unveiled the future, predicting the fate of kingdoms, the rise and fall of empires, and the coming of the great Messiah.
Here also almost the entire nation congregated at their
great religious celebrations; and finally, here the Savior of the world
performed some of his most glorious miracles, uttered some of his most striking
predictions, manifested some of his most tender sympathies, and finally
accomplished the grand work of human redemption. No city was ever so highly
exalted as
SECTION II.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
The account of the destruction of
Not long after, Pompey, then chief general of the Roman
army, returned from the east to
Pompey did not take away the holy utensils or treasures
of the temple, but he made
Herod, by birth an Idumean, whose father, Antipater, as
well as himself, had occupied posts of honor and trust under Hyrcanus,
immediately set out for Rome, and prevailed upon the senate to appoint him king
of Judea. Armed with this authority, he returned and began hostilities against
Antigonus. In about three years he took
He enlarged the
At this time there was a general expectation of the
appearance of the Messiah among the Jews, and from the prophecies which had
been spread among the surrounding heathens an idea prevailed among them that
some extraordinary conqueror or deliverer would soon appear in
He was soon after smitten with a most loathsome and tormenting disease, and died a signal example of divine justice about a year and a quarter after the birth of the Savior, who, by the direction of an angel, had been carried to Egypt before the slaughter of the children took place. Herod made his will not long before, dividing the kingdom among his three sons, Archilaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip. This will was ratified by the emperor Augustus in its most material points.
Archilaus, who had retained the government of Judea, was
a cruel tyrant, and after reigning ten years, upon a complaint of the Jews, was
banished by Augustus to Vienne, in
The power of life and death was now taken out of the
hands of the Jews, and taxes from this time paid, not as before, to a prince of
their own, but immediately to the Roman emperor. Justice was administered in
the name and by the laws of
After Coponius, Ambivius Annius, Rufus Valerius, Gratus,
and Pontius Pilate were successively procurators of
Fadus was soon succeeded by Tiberias, and he was followed by Alexander Cumanus, Felix, and Festus. But Claudius afterward conferred Trachonitus and Abilene, to which a part of Galilee was added, upon young Agrippa. This was the Agrippa before whom Paul afterward spoke at Caesarea. Several of the Roman governors severely oppressed and persecuted the Jews, and at length Florus, obtaining the government, excelled all his predecessors in his tyranny and insults.
The Jews in the meantime had become a nation of desperadoes. Jerusalem, the seat of their religion, and the place of their once solemn festivals, was filled with mobs, turbulence, and violence. Their once grave and dignified Sanhedrin, or great national council, now resembled the mob parliament of France in the time of the French revolution, where decency and order gave place to violence and tumult. They had imbrued their hands in the blood of the Savior; murdered Stephen without even so much as a mock trial, and, like infuriate fiends, seized every opportunity to butcher the followers of the Messiah. Thus the governor and the people were equally wicked.
Florus, indeed, became a public robber, and used his office and power for rapine and plunder. He not only oppressed the people with illegal and enormous taxes, but united with the desperadoes of the land, selling to all sorts of criminals their freedom, if they had but money or friends to purchase it. He thought it but a petty offence, indeed, says Josephus, to get money out of single persons, so he spoiled whole cities and ruined entire bodies of men at once, and did almost publicly proclaim all over the country that they had liberty given them to turn robbers, upon condition that they allowed him a share of the spoils. His enormities finally became so public, and so great, that, beginning to fear the Romans would punish him for his crimes, he determined to force the Jews into a rebellion to conceal his villainies.
An opportunity soon offered. The Jews at Caesarea had a synagogue built upon land belonging to a Greek. They had frequently endeavored to purchase the land, but the Greek not only refused to sell it, but continued to raise other buildings, such as mechanics’ shops, around the place. These left them so narrow an entrance that it was difficult to approach their place of worship. The Jews then gave to Florus a bribe of eight talents, for which he promised to put a stop to the erection of the buildings. But after getting the money, he left Caesarea, and allowed the work to go on.
On the following Sabbath, as the Jews were repairing to
their place of worship, a man of Caesarea took at earthen vessel, and setting
it near the entrance of the synagogue, sacrificed some birds upon it This was
the ceremony performed at the cleansing of leprous persons (see Leviticus,
chap. xiv) and intended to reproach the Jews, as though they were polluted with
that loathsome disease. It was also an insult to their worship, and polluted
their sanctuary. Being exceedingly enraged, the Jews and the populace of
Caesarea came to blows, and the former, taking away their copies of the laws
retired to a place belonging to them, called Narbata. They also sent a
complaint to Florus, who, instead of giving them any redress, seized the
messengers and put them in prison.
The Jews at Jerusalem felt themselves as deeply injured by the insult offered to their religion as those of Caesarea; but they kept quiet until Florus, determined to force the nation into a rebellion, sent and took seventeen talents from the temple, under pretense that they were wanted by Caesar. This so exasperated the people that they ran together to the temple in a tumultuous manner, calling on Caesar by name to deliver them from the tyranny of Florus.
To ridicule him, some of them took baskets and went about the streets begging small sums of money for him, as one who needed charity. Florus, instead of going to Caesarea to quell the disturbance there, immediately marched an army of horse and foot to Jerusalem. Here he committed a variety of flagrant acts, and finally ordered his soldiers to plunder the upper market place, and slay such as they should find. The soldiers slew and plundered, and Florus scourged and crucified, so that there were slain, men, women and children, about three thousand six hundred.
Bernice, the sister of Agrippa, being at this time in Jerusalem, besought Florus to spare the Jews; but she only endangered her own life by her interference. Agrippa came also to Jerusalem about this time, and endeavored to persuade the people to submit to Florus until Caesar should learn the state of affairs, and appoint another governor in his place. But Florus had so exasperated them, that Agrippa found himself unable to succeed He also learned that the Jews had neglected to pay the annual tribute exacted by the Romans, and therefore retired into his own kingdom. The flames of war were now fast kindling, and the leaders of the sedition began in earnest to prepare for it. In the following chapters I shall give some of the predictions concerning the destruction of the devoted city Jerusalem, and abridge the history of Josephus to show their fulfilment.
CHAPTER 1
"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.” —Jesus Christ, Luke 21:20-22; NASU
Florus had at length succeeded in kindling the spirit of revolt, and the Jews, after seeing numbers of their relations butchered, had attacked and killed the guards stationed in the castle of Antonia. The news of this brought Cestius from Syria with a large army. He encamped within a short distance of Jerusalem, and after remaining in his camp for three days, took possession of the suburbs, the Jews retreating into the inner part of the city and into the temple. Cestius seems to have been disposed to follow up his advantage, and to force the walls, but was diverted from the attempt by one of his principal officers, at the suggestion of Florus, who wished to lengthen out the war. The more considerate part of the people were, indeed, about to open the gates to him, when, without any sufficient reason whatever, he withdrew from the city, pursued and harassed by the Jews.
[This circumstance was very remarkable. But it was doubtless providential. For the Christians, who were shut up in the city while his army was besieging it, remembering the words of their Master, uttered several years before, now took the opportunity to flee, and, as the early Christian writers inform us, escaped in a body from the impending calamities of the place. Josephus, who was not a Christian, is careful to say very little of Christ or his followers; but he tells us, “After this calamity, which had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent Jews swam away from the city as from a ship that was going to sink.”]
When Nero, the Roman emperor, heard of the shameful and cowardly retreat of Cestius, he sent Vespasian, one of the most able of his generals, to take command of the forces in Syria, and carry on the war against the Jews. Vespasian sent his son Titus to Alexandria, in Egypt, to bring the fifth and tenth Roman legions which were there, proceeding himself to Syria. Titus, having brought up the two legions from Egypt, met his father at Ptolemais, in Palestine. These two legions, the most eminent of all, were joined with the fifteenth, which was already with Vespasian. Eighteen cohorts followed these, and there came also five cohorts from Caesarea, with one troop of horsemen from Syria.
There were also a considerable number of auxiliaries got together that came from the kings Antiochus, and Agrippa, and Sohemus, each of them contributing one thousand footmen who were archers, and a thousand horsemen. Malchus, also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horsemen and five thousand footmen, the greater part of whom were archers. The whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, amounted to sixty thousand besides the servants, who followed in vast numbers, and had been trained up in war with the rest, and therefore ought not to be distinguished from the fighting men; for serving both in peace and war they were inferior to none either in strength or skill.
One cannot but admire the precaution and skill of the Romans, for their military exercises differ not at all from the real use of arms; nor should we greatly err in calling their military exercises un-bloody battles, and their battles bloody exercises. Nor can their enemies surprise them with the suddenness of their incursions, for as soon as they have marched into an enemy’s land, they do not begin to fight till they have walled their camp about, and leveled their ground.
Their camp is four-square, and carpenters are ready in great numbers with their tools to erect their buildings. That which is within is set apart for tents, but the outward circumference resembles a wall, and is adorned with towers at equal distances. Between the towers stand the engines for throwing arrows and darts, and slinging stones, with all other engines that can annoy an enemy. They also erect four gates, one on each side, wide enough for the entrance of beasts, or making excursions. They divide the camp within into streets, and place the tents of the commanders in the middle, and in the midst of all the general’s own tent, rising like a temple; so that the whole appears like a city built suddenly, with its market and place for handicraft trades, and seats for the officers superior and inferior, where, if any difference arises, their causes are heard and determined.
When occasion requires, a trench six feet deep, and of the same width, is drawn around the whole. When they have thus secured themselves, they live together by companies with quietness and decency, supping and dining together. Their times for sleeping, watching, and rising are notified by the sound of trumpets. In the morning the soldiers go every one to their centurions, and these centurions to their tribunes to salute them, with whom all the superior officers go to the general of the army, who then gives them the watchword and orders to be carried to all under their command.
When they go out of their camp, the trumpet sounds, and all take down their tents: it sounds again, and the baggage is laid upon their mules. Then it sounds a third time, and a crier, standing at the general’s right hand, asks them thrice if they are ready. To which they reply in a loud voice, “We are ready.” This they do as filled with a kind of martial fury, lifting up their right hands at the same time. The Roman soldiers are, moreover, hardened for war by fear; for their laws inflict capital punishment not only for desertion from the ranks, but for slothfulness and inactivity. They also bestow great rewards on valiant soldiers.
The war was now prosecuted with vigor; one after another of the cities in possession of the Jews fell into the hands of the Romans, and after a most obstinate and bloody siege Jotapata, with Josephus, was taken by the Romans. The Jews had lost their most able general when Josephus was taken, and Vespasian soon overran the whole country and took all the principal cities, except Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 2
“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: . . . The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.” — Predictions of Moses, Deut. 28:15, 20; NASV)
GISCHALA was one of the last cities that surrendered to the army of Vespasian. It had been commanded by one John, a cunning knave, capable of assuming various shapes, very rash in expecting great things, and very sagacious in bringing about his plans. By deceiving Titus he had succeeded in escaping with a part of his troops to Jerusalem. Upon his entry into Jerusalem, thousands crowded about him and his followers, inquiring what miseries had happened abroad. Though they had entered the city out of breath from the haste of their flight, they began to talk pompously under their misfortunes, and said they had not fled from the Romans, but came to the city in order to fight them with less hazard.
John asserted that the affairs of the Romans were in a very weak condition, and extolled his own power. He jested at the idea of their being able to take Jerusalem. By these harangues he deluded many of the young men, and fired them for war. But there was not a man of years and discretion who did not foresee the impending miseries.
It must also be observed that sedition raged among those who came out of the country before it began in Jerusalem. There were disorders and civil wars in every city; and those that were quiet from the Romans turned their hands against each other. There were also bitter contests between those fond of war and those desjrous of peace. Quarrels at first began among private families, and those that were dearest to each other broke through all restraints, and every one, associating with those of his own opinions, was ready for strife with all who differed from him. The young men who were fond of innovation and for war were too hard for the aged and prudent. Many betook themselves to rapine, and formed bodies of plunderers, who proved a greater scourge than the Romans themselves.
The Roman garrisons which were stationed in the cities, through indolence and hatred of the Jews, did little or nothing to put a stop to these disorders, till the captains of these troops of robbers, being satiated with rapine in the country, stole into Jerusalem, a city now in anarchy, receiving all without distinction that belonged to their nation, as though they came out of kindness, and to render assistance. These men, besides helping to blow up the flames of discord, hastened the calamities of the city by devouring the provisions. There was, in short, abundance of robbers that came out of the country, and joining with those already there, they murdered openly some of the most eminent persons in the city. They even proceeded to imprison some men of the royal lineage, and fearing lest their friends should bring them to account for so flagrant an act, they sent and cut their throats in the prison.
Finally, they grew so bold and blasphemous that they disannulled the succession of the high priests, and appointed certain unknown and ignoble persons to that office, that they might obtain the influence of the office to aid them in the commission of their crimes. They also contrived to excite the principal men against each other, that no one might be left to obstruct their measures. Finally, transferring their crimes against men to the most contumelious conduct toward God himself, they defiled the temple and entered the sanctuary with polluted feet.
The multitude were now about to rise against them. They were persuaded to do so by Annus, the most ancient of the high priests. He was a very prudent man, and might, perhaps, have saved the city, could he have escaped the hands of the murderers. These men had now converted the holy temple into a strong hold, and the sanctuary had become a shop of tyranny.
To see how far their power extended, and how much the people would bear, they sent for one of the pontifical tribes, and set up the high priest’s office to be disposed of by lot. The lot fell upon one Phannias, so much of a rustic that he scarcely knew what the high priesthood was; yet this man was brought from the country and adorned with a counterfeit face or mask. The sacred garments were put upon him, and he was taught the course he must pursue. This shocking piece of wickedness was sport to some, but it occasioned the other priests, who saw their law made a jest, sorely to lament the desecration of such a sacred dignity.
The people, enraged at this most insolent procedure, now came together. But they seemed afraid to attack the zealots, as they called themselves. But Annus, standing in the midst of them and casting his eyes, filled with tears, toward the temple, addressed them in a most affecting manner, urging them to attack and disperse these murderous and blasphemous men. An attack was accordingly made, and a most bloody conflict ensued; and after great slaughter on both sides, the zealots were driven into the temple which was polluted with their blood.
Fleeing into the inner court, they shut the gates. Annus, deeming it unlawful to introduce the multitude into the inner court before they were purified, chose out six thousand men by lot, whom he placed as a guard in the cloisters. Matters were also arranged for a succession of guards, one after the other, every one being obliged to take his course.
Now John, who, as before related, fled from Gischala to Jerusalem, was one of the chief causes of all these difficulties. He was a crafty villain, with a strong passion for tyranny, and pretending to be opposed to the zealots, and to side with the people, he went about with Annus every day when he went to consult the chief men. But no sooner had he gained possession of their secrets than he went and made them known to the seditious. He informed the zealots that Annus was determined on their destruction, and that to secure his own power he and his party were intending to open the gates to Vespasian. He therefore hinted that they had better send for the Idumeans to come to their assistance (these were the descend ants of Esau, and had been so reduced by the Maccabees that they had consented to embrace the religion of the Jews, and had been incorpo rated with them).
The leaders of the zealots were Eleazar. the son of
Simon, the most plausible man of them all, and Zacharias, the son of Phalek,
both of whom were of the families of the priests. After hearing from John that
Annus intended opening the gates to the Romans, they wrote a letter to the
Idumeans to this effect: that “Annus had imposed on the people, and was
betraying their metropolis to the Romans; that they themselves had revolted
from the rest, and were in custody in the temple on account of the preservation
of liberty; that there was but a short time left wherein they might hope for
deliverance; and that unless the Idumeans would come immediately to their
assistance, they should themselves be in the power of Annus, and the city would
be in the power of the Romans.”
Now they very well judged that the Idumeans would comply with their desires, for they were ever a tumultuous and disorderly people, ready to make haste to battle as though it were a feast. The rulers of the Idumeans ran about the nation like madmen, making proclamation that the people should assemble for war. Twenty thousand of them were immediately in battle array, and under four commanders named John, Jacob, Cathlas, and Phineas, were before the walls of Jerusalem.
The message to the Idumeans was unknown to Annus, but perceiving the approach of the army he ordered the gates to be shut and the walls to be guarded. When they were assembled under the walls, Jesus, the eldest high priest next to, Annus, stood upon the tower over against them, and addressing them, gave a true account of the state of things in the city.
The Idumeans paid no attention to the address of Jesus, but were greatly enraged because they were excluded from the city. But Simon, one of their generals, after quieting the noise and tumult among his own people, stood where the high priest could hear him and re plied as follows: “I can no longer wonder that the patrons of liberty are under custody in the temple, since there are those that shut the gates of our common city against their own nation; at the same time they are prepared to admit the Romans into it, nay, perhaps are disposed to crown the gates with garlands at their coming, while they speak to the Idumeans from their towers, and enjoin them to throw down their arms, which they have taken up for the preservation of liberty. And while they will not in- trust the guarding of our metropolis to their kindred, they do themselves condemn a whole nation after an ignominious manner, and have now walled up that city from their own nation which used to be open even to all foreigners that came to worship there. But here we will abide before the walls in our armor, until either the Romans grow weary in waiting for you, or you become friends to liberty and repent of what you have done against it.”
When Simon finished his speech the Idumeans set up a loud acclamation; but Jesus went away sorrowful at discovering them to be against all moderate counsel, and at seeing the city besieged on both sides. Many of the Idumeans were also enraged at the zealots when they found they received no support from them, and would have returned but for the shame of coming and doing nothing. So they lay all night before the wall, though in a very bad encampment.
There broke out, also in the night a prodigious storm. It came with the utmost violence, attended by strong winds, the largest showers of rain, continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth. Both the Idumeans and citizens thought God was angry with the former for taking arms against the metropolis. Annus and his party thought God had acted as a general for them, and that they had conquered without fighting. But their opinions were not well founded; for the Idumeans fenced one another by uniting their bodies into one band, thereby keeping themselves warm, and connecting their shields over their heads they were not much injured by the rain.
But the zealots were much concerned for the Idumeans, and endeavored to contrive some plan for assisting them. The more rash party were for falling upon the guards and rushing to the gates to admit them, but the more prudent were opposed to so rash a measure, as they supposed Annus would be visiting the guards every hour; which, indeed, was done upon other nights, but was omitted that night. For, as the night was far gone, and the storm very terrible, Annus gave the guards in the cloisters liberty to go to sleep. The zealots now thought of making use of the saws which were in the temple, with which they cut the bars of the gates to pieces. The noise of the wind, united with that of the thunder, prevented their being discovered.
The Idumeans were thus let into the city, and entering
the temple they attacked and slew the sleeping guards. The zealots also rushed
out of the inner court, and joined them in the work of slaughter. But as those
now awakened made a cry, .the whole multitude arose, and seizing their arms
fought bravely until learning they had the Idumeans as well as the zealots to
contend with, their, courage forsook them, and they gave themselves up to
lamentation. Some few of the younger men, however, covering themselves with
their armor, valiantly defended the old men. Others gave a signal to those in
the, city of the situation they were in, but these were seized with consternation;
and instead of coming to their assistance, only returned the terrible echo of
wailing and lamentation.
The women also mingled the voice of their sorrows with the general wail, while the Idumeans and zealots raised the fiendish shout of triumph, and all mingled with the howlings of the storm. The Idumeans spared nobody. Being naturally a most barbarous and bloody nation, and having been distressed by the tempest, they were infuriated against those who had shut their gates against them, and went on slaying indiscriminately. They even ran those through with their swords who supplicated for mercy and desired them to remember the relation there was between them, and to have regard to their common temple.
The citizens were driven together in heaps, and butchered without butchering and plundering all who came in their way. Weary at length with indiscriminate slaughter, they sought for the high priests, and when they had murdered them they stood upon their dead bodies, and in ridicule upbraided Annus with his kindness to the people, and Jesus with his speech made to them from the tower. In the morning the light presented the horrid spectacle of eight thousand five hundred dead bodies lying in the outer temple weltering in their own blood.
I should not mistake, says Josephus, if I said that the death of Annus was the beginning of the destruction of the city; and that from this very day may be dated the overthrow of her wall and the ruin of her affairs. He was a very venerable and very just man, and besides the grandeur of his nobility and the honor which he possessed, he had been a lover of a kind of parity even with regard to the meanest of the people. He was, indeed, a prodigious lover of liberty, and an admirer of a free government; and did ever prefer the public welfare before his own advantage, and preferred peace above all things. He was thoroughly sensible that the Romans were not to be conquered. He also foresaw that unless the Jews came to terms, they would be destroyed. In a word, if Annus had lived they certainly would have come to an agreement.
Jesus was also united with him, and though his inferior, he was superior to the rest; and I cannot but think it was because God had doomed this city to destruction as a polluted city, and was determined to purge his sanctuary by fire, that he cut off these their great defenders, and allowed them who a little before had worn the sacred garments, presided over public worship, and been esteemed venerable by those who dwelt upon the whole habitable earth when they came into our- city, to be cast out naked as food for dogs and wild beasts. I cannot but imagine that virtue herself groaned over these men, and lamented that here she was so terribly conquered by wickedness.
After Anus and Jesus were slain, the zealots and Idumeans fell upon the people as upon a herd of profane animals, and cut their throats. But the noblemen and youth they bound and shut up in prison, in hopes they should bring them over to their party; yet they did not succeed: these men preferring death to being enrolled among such wicked wretches. But their refusal brought upon them the most terrible tortures; for they were scourged and tormented till death released them from their tormentors. Those whom they caught in the day time were slain at night, and thrown out to empty the prisons for new victims. So great was the terror that none dare bury their murdered friends, or scarcely weep for them, lest they should share the same fate. Only in the night they ventured to cast a little dust. upon the bodies of the slain. Of the most respectable inhabitants twelve thousand thus perished.
Weary of killing in this way, the Idumeans and zealots set up a sort of mock tribunal. Wishing to slay Zacharias, the son of Baruch, a lover of virtue and a man of wealth, they called together seventy of the principal men of the populace, and constituting them a council of judges, they brought Zacharias before them on a charge of wishing to betray the city to the Romans. Not a shadow of evidence was brought to support the charge; but when the judges acquitted him a couple of the zealots fell upon him and slew him in the midst of the temple, and cast his body over the wall. Moreover, they abused the judges, striking them with the backs of their swords; and thrusting them out of the temple they spared their lives only that, dispersing among the people, they might become messengers to let them know that they were all regarded as slaves.
About this time the Idumeans, touched with a little remorse at the abominations they had committed, and being told by one of the zealots that the report that Annus and his party had intended to deliver up the city to the Romans was false, concluded to depart. Before they went they set about two thousand of the populace at liberty, who had been confined in prison, and these persons immediately left the city and joined themselves to one Simon, of whom we shall speak hereafter. After this the Idumeans, to the great surprise of all parties, returned home.
Upon their departure the courage of the people revived for a while, and they attempted again to oppose the zealots. But the latter grew more insolent than ever, and still thirsting for blood, particularly that of the most valiant men, and men of good families, the one sort they destroyed out of envy, and the other out of fear. Supposing their security depended on leaving no potent men alive, they slew among others Gorion, a person of eminent dignity, and also Niger of Perea, a man of great valor in the war with the Romans, who, as he was drawn through the middle of the city, cried out and showed the scars he had received in their defense. When he saw they were determined on imbruing their hands in his blood, he besought a them to grant him a burial, but they threatened beforehand not to grant him a grave.
Now when they were slaying him he uttered this imprecation upon them: that “they might suffer both famine and pestilence in this war, and come to the mutual slaughter of one another;” all of which was most fearfully confirmed. After the death of Niger they seemed no longer to stand in any fear, and went on entirely reckless in their work of blood. If any one did not come near them they slew him as a proud man; if any one came with boldness they esteemed him a condemner of their authority; and if any came as aiming to oblige them, he was supposed to have some plot against them, while the only punishment for any sort of alleged crime, great or small, was death.
While sedition was thus raging in the city, the officers in Vespasian’s army were very earnest to march against the city; but Vespasian replied, “If they now attacked the city, those who were at present consuming each other would unite to oppose the Roman army; whereas, the true policy was to let them alone, while God seemed to be acting as the general of the Romans in giving up the Jews to them without any pains of their own.”
Many persons now deserted to the Romans every day, although it was quite difficult to get out of the city, as the zealots guarded the passes, and slew those whom they found attempting to escape. Yet the rich purchased their flight by money, while the poor were voted traitors and put to death. All along the roads vast numbers of dead bodies lay in heaps, which induced many who had been zealous for deserting to choose rather to die in the city in hopes of burial.
But the zealots at last determined to bestow burial
neither on those who perished in the city, nor those who lay along the streets,
so they left the dead bodies to putrefy under the Sun; and the same punishment
was inflicted on those who buried any as on those who deserted. If any one,
therefore, granted a grave to another, he would presently need one himself. To
say all in one word, no other gentle passion was so entirely lost among them as
mercy, for the greatest objects of pity did most of all irritate them. The
terror was, indeed, so great that the survivors envied the dead, and those
under torture in the prisons wished themselves in the place of those who lay
unburied. These men, therefore, trampled on all the laws of men, and laughed at
the laws of God. They
ridiculed the predictions of the prophets, although those very predictions were then being fulfilled.
CHAPTER 3
"But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: . . . Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. The LORD will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; and you will grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you.” — The Predictions of Moses, Duet. 28:15, 26-29; NASU
AT this time John (of Gischala) began to rise in arrogance, and thinking it beneath him to stand on an equality with the other seditious leaders, he united to himself the very wickedest of all parties, and breaking off from the rest of the faction, set up for himself. Some submitted to him through fear, some were enticed by his cunning, and others thought they should be more safe if all were joined under one leader, instead of so many. His activity was great, his guards numerous; and he was evidently aiming at monarchy. Yet he had a large party of antagonists, who dreaded his arriving at supreme power. So the sedition was divided into two parts: John reigned in opposition to his adversaries, and both parties fought against the people, contending who should bring home the greatest spoil.
Thus the city struggled with war, tyranny, and sedition; and war seemed the least evil of the three. Many of the people, indeed, ran away to the Romans and obtained that protection from their enemies which was denied them by their own countrymen. And now there arose still another war in Jerusalem. There was one Simon, a son of Giora, who rose to power by joining himself with a band of robbers, of whom he became the leader. His power becoming quite formidable, many of the populace united with him, and obeyed him as a king. Marching suddenly with a considerable force into Idumea, he took the city of Hebron, where he found considerable booty. After this, he succeeded in overrunning all Idumea. His forces increasing, he finally commanded an army of forty thousand, and such was his hatred to the Idumeans that he almost depopulated their country.
This success of Simon excited the anger of the zealots; but being afraid to fight him openly, they set ambushes to watch for him in the passes of the mountains. These men, lying in wait, seized the wife of Simon with her attendants, and came back rejoicing, as though they had taken Simon himself, supposing he would lay down his arms and make supplication to them for her.
But Simon, being in a great fury at the capture of his beloved wife, came like a wild beast to the walls of Jerusalem. He seized upon the poor unarmed people who went out to gather herbs and sticks; these he tormented and slew. He also cut off the hands of numbers and sent them into the city to astonish his enemies, and induce the people to take up arms against those who had seized his wife. He sent word into the city that unless his wife was restored he would break down the wall, and spare neither innocent nor guilty. These threats so affrighted them that they sent back his wife.
Simon, having now recovered his wife, he turned to complete the work of desolation in Idumea; and driving the people before him, he compelled many of them to take refuge in Jerusalem. Thither he followed them, and encompassed the city with his army of robbers.
Now this Simon, who was without the wall, became a greater terror to the people than the Romans themselves, and the zealots within were worse than both the others put together. John’s party in the mean time, who were chiefly Galileans, became the most desperate set of wretches on the face of the earth. Arraying themselves in the apparel of women, they went out and fell unexpectedly upon the people; and drawing out their instruments of death from under their finely died cloaks, they ran every body through whom they pleased. Every resource for the wretched inhabitants was now cut off: they were hunted down by John within the walls, and their only hope, that of flying to the Romans, was cut off by Simon, who butchered them as soon as they ventured without the walls.
The Idumeans, envying the power and hating the cruelty of
John, now separated from him, and attempted to destroy him. They slew many of
the zealots, and drove them into the temple, and plundered John’s effects,
which he had obtained by his enormities. But the zealots, who had been
dispersed over the city, came together into the temple to John, who had now
become so furious it was feared he would set fire to the city. So the people,
with the high priest, assembled to consult together what should be done.
But God overruled their counsel, so that the remedy they devised turned out worse than the disease itself. For, in order to overthrow John, they determined to admit Simon, and sent Matthias, the high priest, to invite him to come in. Accordingly, he, in an arrogant manner, granted them his lordly protection, and came into the city to deliver it from the zealots. The people received him with joyful acclamations as a deliverer; but after he had taken care to secure his own authority, he looked upon those who invited him in as no less his enemies than those against whom they invited him to come.
Thus did Simon and his party get possession of Jerusalem in the third year of the war, while John and his zealots beheld his entry with despair. Simon now ordered an assault to be made upon the temple. His troops were also assisted by the people. But John’s party defended themselves from the cloisters and battlements, and threw arrows down upon their assailants, among whom they made considerable slaughter. They had also erected four very large towers, from which they fought with much advantage. The assault of Simon became more faint, though from his superior numbers it was still kept up.
About this time the government of the Roman empire became very unsettled. Nero had been deposed and slain; Galba succeeded him for a very short time, and was in his turn succeeded by Otho. Otho was soon deprived of the empire by Vitellius, whose vices, extravagance, and gluttony rendering him odious to the Roman people, the army in Judea proclaimed Vespasian emperor. The legions in Alexandria confirming the act of those in Judea, Vespasian, after presenting Josephus with his liberty, left the army under the command of Titus, and went to Rome to attend to the administration of the government. Josephus still continued with the Roman army, acting as interpreter between Titus and the Jews.
“Eleazar, the son of Simon, who made the first separation of the zealots from the people, and made them retire into the temple, appeared very angry at John’s insolent attempts, which he made every day upon the people; for this man never left off murdering: but the truth was, that he could not bear to submit to a tyrant who set up after him. So, being desirous of gaining the entire power and dominion to himself, he revolted from John, and took to his assistance Judas the son of Chelcias, and Simon the son of Ezron, who were among the men of greatest power. There was also with him Hezekiah, the son of Chobar, a person of eminence.
“Each of these was followed by a great many of the zealots; these seized upon the inner court of the temple, and laid their arms upon the holy gates, and over the holy front of that court (this appears to be the first time that the zealots ventured to pollute this most sacred court of the temple). And because they had plenty of provisions, they were of good courage; for there was a great abundance of what was consecrated to sacred uses, and they scrupled not the making use of them; yet were they afraid on account of their small number, and when they had laid up their arms there, they did not stir from the place they were in. Now, as to John, what advantage he had above Eleazar in the multitude of his followers, the like disadvantage he had in the situation he was in, since he had his enemies over his head; and as he could not make any assault upon them without some terror, so was his anger too great to let him be at rest; nay, although he suffered more mischief from Eleazar and his party than he could inflict upon them, yet would he not leave off assaulting them, insomuch that there were continual sallies made one against another, as well as darts thrown at one another, and the temple was defiled everywhere with murders.
“But now the tyrant Simon, the son of Gioras, whom the people had invited in, out of the hopes they had of his assistance in the great distress they were in, having in his power he upper city, and a great part of the lower, did now make more vehement assaults upon John and his party, because they were fought against from above also; yet was he beneath their situation, when he attacked them, as they were beneath the attacks of the others above them. Whereby it came to pass, that John did both receive and inflict great damage, and that easily, as he was fought against on both sides; and the same advantage that Eleazar and his party had over him, since he was beneath them, the same advantage had he, by his higher situation, over Simon. On which account he easily repelled the attacks that were made from beneath by the weapons thrown from their hands only; but was obliged to repel those that threw their darts from the temple above him by his engines of war; for he had such engines as threw darts, and javelins, and stones, and that in no small number, by which he did not only defend himself from such as fought against him, but slew moreover many of the priests as they were about their sacred ministrations. For, notwithstanding these men were mad with all sorts of impiety, yet did they still admit those that desired to offer their sacrifices, although they took care to search the people of their own country beforehand, and both suspected and watched them; while they were not so much afraid of strangers, who, although they had gotten leave of them, how cruel soever they were, to come into that court, were yet often destroyed by this sedition; for those darts that were thrown by the engines came with that force that they went over all the buildings, and reached as far as the altar, and the temple itself, and fell upon the priests, and those that were about the sacred offices; insomuch that many persons who came thither with great zeal from the ends of the earth, to offer sacrifices at this celebrated place, which was esteemed holy by all mankind, fell down before their own sacrifices themselves, and sprinkled that altar which was venerable among all men, both Greeks and barbarians, with their own blood; till the dead bodies of strangers were mingled together with those of their own country, and those of profane persons with those of the priests, and the blood of all sorts of dead carcasses stood in lakes in the holy courts themselves. And now, ‘O most wretched city, what misery so great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans, when they came to purify thee from thy intestine hatred? for thou couldst be no longer a place fit for God, nor couldst thou long continue in being, after thou hadst been a sepulchre for the bodies of thy own people, and hadst made the holy house itself a burying place in this civil war of thine. Yet mayest thou again grow better, if perchance thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of that God who is the author of thy destruction.’ But I must restrain myself from these passions by the rules of history, since this is not a proper time for domestic lamentations, but for historical narrations I therefore return to the operations that follow in this sedition.
“And now there were three treacherous factions in tho city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John. Those that were with John plundered the populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. This Simon had his supply of provisions from the city in opposition to the seditious. When, therefore, John was assaulted on both sides, he made his men turn about, throwing his darts upon those citizens that came up against him from the cloisters he had in his possession, while he opposed those that attacked him from the temple by his engines of war. And if at any time he was freed from those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his party; and this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all other provisions.1 The same thing was done by Simon, when, upon the other’s retreat, he attacked the city also; as if they had on purpose done it to serve the Romans, by destroying what the city had laid up against the siege, and by thus cutting off the nerves of their own power. Accordingly, it so came to pass, that all the places that were about the temple were burned down, and were become an intermediate desert space, ready for fighting on both sides of it; and that almost all that corn was burned which would have been sufficient for a siege of many years. So they were taken by means of the famine, which it was impossible they should have been unless they had thus prepared the way for it by this procedure.
“And now, as the city was engaged in a war on all sides, from these treacherous crowds of wicked men, the people of the city between them were like a great body torn in pieces. The aged men and the women were in such distress by their internal calamities that they wished for the Romans, and earnestly hoped for an external war, in order to their delivery from their domestic miseries. The citizens themselves were under a terrible consternation and fear; nor had they any opportunity of taking counsel, and of changing their conduct; nor were there any hopes of coming to an agreement with their enemies; nor could such as had a mind flee away; for guards were set at all places, and the heads of the robbers, although they were seditious one against another in other respects, yet did they agree in killing those that were for peace with the Romans, or were suspected of an inclination to desert to them, as their common enemies. They agreed in nothing but this, to kill those that were innocent. The noise also of those that were fighting was incessant both by day and by night; but the lamentations of those that mourned exceeded the other; nor was there ever any occasion for them to leave off their lamentations, because their calamities came perpetually, one upon another, although the deep consternation they were in prevented their outward wailing; but being constrained by their fear to conceal their passions, they were inwardly tormented, without daring to open their lips in groans. Nor was any regard paid to those that were still alive by their relations; nor was there any care taken of burial for those that were dead: the occasion of both which was this, that every one despaired of himself: for those that were not among the seditious had no great desires of any thing, as expecting for certain that they should very soon be destroyed; but for the seditious themselves, they fought against each other while they trod upon the dead bodies as they lay heaped one upon another, and taking up a mad rage from those dead bodies that were under their feet, became the fiercer thereupon. They, moreover, were still inventing somewhat, or other that was pernicious against themselves; and when they had resolved upon any thing, they executed it without mercy, and omitted no method of torment or of barbarity. Nay, John abused the sacred materials, and employed them in the construction of his engines of war; for the people and the priests had formerly determined to support the temple, and raise the holy house twenty cubits higher; for King Agrippa had, at a very great expense, and with very great pains, brought thither such materials as were proper for that purpose, being pieces of timber very well worth seeing, both for their straightness and their largeness; but the war coming on, and interrupting the work, John had them cut and prepared for the building him towers, he finding them long enough to oppose his adversaries that fought him from the temple that was above him. He also had them brought and erected behind the inner court, over against the west end of the cloisters, where alone he could erect them; whereas the other side of the court had so many steps as would not let them come nigh enough to the cloisters.2
“Thus did John hope to be too hard for his enemies by these engines, constructed by his impiety; but God himself demonstrated, that his pains would prove of no use to him, by bringing the Romans upon him before he had reared any of his towers; for Titus, when he had gotten together part of his forces about him, and had ordered the rest to meet him at Jerusalem, marched out of Caesarea. He had with him those three legions that had accompanied his father when he laid Judea waste, together with that twelfth legion which had been formerly beaten with Gestius; which legion, as it was otherwise remarkable for its valor, so did it march on now with greater alacrity to avenge themselves on the Jews. Of these legions he ordered the fifth to meet him by going through Emmaus, and the tenth to go up by Jericho: he also moved himself together with the rest, besides which, marched those auxiliaries that came from the kings, being now more in number than before, together with a considerable number that came to his assistance from Syria. Those also that had been selected out of these four legions, and sent with Mucianus to Italy against Vitellius, had their places filled up out of those soldiers that came out of Egypt with Titus; which were two thousand men, chosen out of the armies at Alexandria. There followed him also three thousand drawn from those that guarded the river Euphrates: as also there came Tiberius Alexander, who was a friend of his, most valuable both for his good will to him, and for his prudence. He had formerly been governor of Alexandria, but was now thought worthy to be general of the army under Titus. The reason of this was, that he had been the first who encouraged Vespasian very lately to accept this his new dominion, and joined himself to him with great fidelity when,things were uncertain, and fortune had not yet declared for him. He also followed Titus as a counselor, very useful to him in this war both by his age, and skill in such affairs.”
CHAPTER 4
"The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the LORD your God has given you. — Predictions of Moses, Deut. 28:49-52; NASU
TITUS now led his army against Jerusalem, approaching it in the following order: The auxiliaries sent by the different kings composed the van of the advancing host. Next came the men who were to prepare the roads, and mark out the encampment. Then came the baggage of the officers. Titus himself followed with a select body: the pikemen were next in order, followed by the horsemen belonging to that legion. All these advanced before the engines, which were followed by the tribunes and leaders of cohorts, with their select bodies. Next in order were the ensigns with the eagle, preceded by the trumpeters belonging to them: these were followed by the main body of the army in ranks six deep. The servants, with their baggage, followed the main body, and were in turn succeeded by the mercenaries the guard of these last brought up the rear.
Now Titus, according to the Roman usage, went into the front of the army, and having advanced to a place called the Valley of Thorns, about thirty furlongs from Jerusalem, he pitched his camp. Here he chose out six hundred select horsemen, and went to take a view of the city, to observe its strength, and ascertain how the courage of the Jews held out. He wished to learn whether they would stand a battle, or whether they would submit; for he had learned that many, tired of their calamities, were desirous of peace; which was, indeed, true, but having fallen under the power of the robbers, and being too weak to rise up against them, they were forced to be quiet.
Now while he kept the direct road to the city, no one
appeared out of the gates; but when he turned toward the tower Psephinus, and
led his band of horsemen obliquely, an immense number of Jews suddenly leaped
out of the tower called the Women’s Tower, and intercepted his horsemen. They
intercepted Titus, also, with a few others. Now it was impossible for him to go
forward, because the place had trenches dug in it from the wall to preserve the
gardens, of which it was full, as well as of hedges. To return to his own men,
from whom he had been separated, was equally impossible, because of the
multitude of Jews who were between them. Titus’s own men, in the mean time, did
not know that he had been separated from them, but in the affray supposed him
in the midst of them. Titus, perceiving that his life depended wholly upon his
own courage, turned his horse, and crying aloud to the few that were with him
to follow him, pushed with violence into the midst of his enemies, forcing his
way back toward his own men. Many darts were thrown at him, but, although he
had on neither his head-piece nor breast-plate, not one of them touched him. So
he parried off those that came by his side with his sword, and overthrew those
that pressed him in front, riding over them. The enemy made a shout at the
boldness of Caesar,3 and exhorted one another to rush upon him. Two
of Titus’s horsemen were slain on this occasion, and others wounded, but he
came off unhurt. This slight success considerably elevated the hopes of the
Jews.
Caesar now removed his camp to a place called Scopus, from which the city and the great temple might be plainly seen. This place, on the north quarter of the city, was a plain, and very properly called Scopus, which signifies a prospect. It was seven furlongs from Jerusalem. Here Titus ordered a camp to be fortified for two of his legions (a legion was five thousand men), and another for the fifth legion three furlongs in the rear of the first camp. The tenth legion, which came by the way of Jericho, now arrived at a place where a party of armed men had formerly lain to guard that pass into the city, which had before been taken by Vespasian. These had orders to encamp at the distance of six furlongs from Jerusalem, at the mount called the Mount of Olives, which lies over against the city on the east side, and is parted from it by a deep valley named Kidron.
Now when the seditious, who had been actively carrying forward their civil war, saw three camps pitched against them, and a foreign war bursting suddenly upon the city, they began to think of an awkward sort of concord. They said, therefore, one to another, “What do we here, and what do we mean, when we suffer three fortified walls to be built to coop us in, so that we shall not be able even to breathe freely, while the enemy is securely building a kind of city in opposition to us, and while we sit still within our walls and become spectators only of what they are doing, with our hands idle, and our armor laid by, as if they were about somewhat that is for our good and advantage? We are, it seems, courageous only against ourselves, while the Romans are likely to gain the city without bloodshed by our sedition.”
“Thus did they encourage one another when they were gotten together, and took their armor immediately, and ran out upon the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with great eagerness, and with a prodigious shout, as they were fortifying their camp. These Romans were caught in different parties, and this in order to perform their several works, and on that account had in a great measure laid aside their arms; for they thought the Jews would not have ventured to make a sally upon them; and, had they been disposed so to do, they supposed their sedition would have distracted them. So they were put into disorder unexpectedly; when some of them left their works, and immediately marched off, while many ran to their arms, but were smitten and slain before they could turn back upon the enemy.
“The Jews became still more and more in number, as encouraged by the good success of those that first made the attack; and while they had such good fortune, they seemed, both to themselves and to the enemy, to be many more than they really were. The disorderly way of their fighting at first put the Romans also to a stand, who had been constantly used to fight skillfully in good order, and with keeping their ranks, and obeying the orders that were given them: for which reason the Romans were caught unexpectedly, and were obliged to give way to the assaults that were made upon them.
“Now, when these Romans were overtaken, and turned back upon the Jews, they put a stop to their career, who, when they did not take care enough of themselves through the vehemence of their pursuit, were wounded by them; but as still more and more Jews sallied out of the city, the Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put to flight, and ran away from their camp. Nay, things looked as though the entire legion would have been in danger, unless Titus had been informed of their condition, and had sent them succors immediately. So he reproached them for their cowardice, and brought those back that were running away, and fell himself upon the Jews on their flank with those select troops that were with him, and slew a considerable number and wounded more of them, and put them all to flight, and made them run away hastily down the valley.
“Now
as these Jews suffered greatly in the declivity of the valley, so, when they
were gotten over it, they turned about, and stood over against the Romans,
having the valley between them, and there fought with them. Thus did they
continue the fight till noon; but when it was already a little after noon,
Titus set those that came to the assistance of the Romans with him, and those
that belonged to the cohorts, to prevent the Jews from making any more sallies,
and then sent the rest of the legion to the upper parts of the mountain to
fortify their camp.
“This march of the Romans seemed to the Jews to be a flight; and as the watchman who was placed upon the wall gave a signal by shaking his garment, there came out a fresh multitude of Jews, and that with such mighty violence that one might compare it to the running of the most terrible wild beasts. To say the truth, none of them that opposed them could sustain the fury with which they made their attacks; but, as if they had been cast from an engine, they broke the enemy’s ranks to pieces, who were put to flight, and ran away to the mountain—none but Titus himself, and a few others with him, being left in the midst of the acclivity. Now these others, who were his friends, despised the danger they were in, and were ashamed to leave their general, earnestly exhorting him ‘to give way to these Jews that are fond of dying, and not to run into such dangers before those that ought to stay before him; to consider what his fortune was, and not by supplying the place of a common soldier to venture to turn back upon the enemy so suddenly; and this because he was general in the war, and lord of the habitable earth, on whose preservation the public affairs do all depend.’
“These persuasions Titus seemed not so much as to hear, but opposed those that ran upon him, and smote them on the face; and when he had forced them to go back, he slew them: he also fell upon great numbers as they marched down the hill, and thrust them forward; while those men were so amazed at his courage and his strength that they could not fly directly to the city, but declined from him on both sides, and pressed after those that fled up the hill; yet did he still fall upon their flank, and put a stop to their fury. In the mean time, a disorder and a terror fell again upon those that were fortifying their camp at the top of the hill, upon their seeing those beneath them running away; insomuch that the whole legion was dispersed, while they thought that the sallies of the Jews upon them were plainly insupportable, and that Titus himself was put to flight; because they took it for granted, that if he had stayed, the rest would never have fled.
“Thus were they encompassed on every side by a kind of panic, and some dispersed themselves one way and some another, till certain of them saw their general in the very midst of an action, and, being under great concern for him, they loudly proclaimed the danger he was in to the entire legion: and now shame made them turn back; they reproached one another that they did worse than run away by deserting Caesar. So they used their utmost force against the Jews, and declining from the straight declivity, they drove them on heaps into the bottom of the valley. Then did the Jews turn about and fight them; but as they were themselves retiring, and now, because the Romans had the advantage of the ground, being above the Jews, they drove them all into the valley. Titus also pressed upon those that were near him, and sent the legion again to fortify their camp while he, and those that were with him before, opposed the enemy, and kept them from doing farther mischief; insomuch that if I may be allowed neither to add any thing out of flattery, nor to diminish any thing out of envy, but speak the plain truth, Caesar did twice deliver that entire legion when it was in jeopardy, and gave them a quiet opportunity of fortifying their camp.”
As the war without now ceased for a while, it revived within; for on the feast of Unleavened Bread,4 Eleazar and his party opened the gates of the inner court of the temple, and admitted such of the people as desired to worship in it. But John, making use of this festival as a cloak for his treachery, armed a part of his followers, who, with weapons under their garments, entered in order to seize the inner court; and throwing aside their garments, they appeared in their armor: upon which there was a great disturbance about the holy house. The people who had no concern in the sedition supposed the assault was made upon them, and Eleazar’s party thought it was made against them.
The zealots, deserting the gates which they had been guarding, leaped down from their battlements, and fled away into the subterranean caverns, while the people that stood trembling at the altar and around the holy house were rolled together in heaps and trampled upon and beaten without mercy. Those who had private animosities took this opportunity of gratifying them, by killing those whom they disliked; and those who had formerly offended any of these wretches were now led away to the slaughter. When they had thus treated the innocent in the most merciless manner, they granted a truce to the guilty, and let those escape who came out of the caverns, while John and his party seized upon the inner court of the temple, and the engines of war which were in it, and then ventured to renew the war with Simon. Thus the sedition, which had been divided into three factions, was now reduced to two.
Titus, intending now to pitch his camp nearer to the city than Scopus, placed a body of his choice horsemen opposite the Jews, to prevent a sally, and gave orders to his whole army to level the distance as far as the walls of the city. So they threw down all the hedges and garden walls, and cut down the groves and fruit trees, and filled up the hollow places and chasms, and demolished the rocky precipices with iron instruments, and leveled the whole distance from Scopus to Herod’s monuments, adjoining the pool called the Serpent’s pool.
Now the Jews contrived a stratagem against the Romans. A party of the boldest went out at the towers called the Women’s Towers, as though they had been driven out by the party who were for peace. Those on the walls at the same time, seeming to be of the people’s side, cried aloud for peace, and threw stones at those without. They also called on the Romans to come to their assistance, promising to open the gates. A part of the Roman soldiers who were nearest the city, deceived by the stratagem, and without Titus’s orders, seized their weapons and ran to the gates; The party of Jews who had come out, at first retired, but when the Romans had got between the towers, they rushed upon them while those on the walls cast down a shower of stones and darts, slaying a number and wounding many more. The Jews were greatly elated with this success, while Caesar severely reprimanded and threatened those who had brought upon themselves this calamity by acting without orders.
“And now, when the space between the Romans and the wall had been leveled, which was done in four days, as he was desirous to bring the baggage of the army, with the rest of the multitude that followed him, safely to the camp, he set the strongest part of his army over against that wall which lay on the north quarter of the city, and over against the western part of it, and made his army seven deep, with the footmen placed before them, and the horsemen behind them, each of the last in three ranks, while the archers stood in the midst in seven ranks. And now, as the Jews were prohibited by so great a body of men, from making sallies upon the Romans, both the beasts that bore the burdens and belonged to the three legions, and the rest of the multitude, marched on without any fear. But as for Titus himself, he was but about two furlongs distant from the wall, at the corner, and over against that tower which was called Psephinus, at which tower the compass of the wall belonging to the north bended, and extended itself over against the west; but the other part of the army fortified itself at the tower called Hippicus, and was distant, in like manner, but two furlongs from the city. However, the tenth legion continued in its own place upon the Mount of Olives.”
CHAPTER 5
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great King . . . Walk about Zion and go around her; count her towers; consider her ramparts; go through her palaces, that you may tell it to the next generation.” The Sons of Korah, Psalm 48:1-2, 12-13; NASU
“THE city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not encompassed with impassable valleys; for in such places it had but one wall. It was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length more direct. Accordingly, it was called “the citadel” by King David; he was the father of that Solomon who built this temple at the first; but it is by us called the Upper Marketplace. But the other hill, which was called Acra, and sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a moon when she is horned; over against that there was a third bill, but naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly from the other by a broad valley.
“However, in those times when the Hasmonians reigned, they filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. They then took off part of the height of Acra, and reduced it to be of less elevation than it was before, that the temple might be superior to it. Now the valley of the Cheesemongers, as it was called, and was that which we told yon before distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the name of a fountain which hath sweet water in it, and this in great plenty also. But on the outsides, these hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and by reason of the precipices on both sides, they are everywhere impassable.
“Now of these three walls, the old one was hard to be taken, both by reason of the valleys and of that hill on which it was built, and which was above them. But besides that great advantage, as to the place where they were situated, it was also built very strong; because David and Solomon, and the following kings, were very zealous about this work. Now that wall began on the north, at the tower called Hippicus, and extended so far as the Xistus, a place so called, and then joining to the council house, ended at the west cloister of the temple. But if we go the other way westward, it began at the same place, and extended through a place called Bethso, to the gate of the Essenes; and after that it went southward, having its bending above the fountain Siloam, where it also bends again toward the east, at Solomon’s pool, and reaches as far as a certain place which they called Ophlas, where it was joined to the eastern cloister of the temple.
“The second wall took its beginning from that gate which they called Gennath, which belonged to the first wall: it only encompassed the northern quarter of the city, and reached as far as the tower Antonia. The beginning of the third wall was at the tower Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north quarter of the city, and the tower Psephinus, and thence extended till it came over against the monument of Helena, which Helena was queen of Adiabene, the daughter of Izates; it then extended farther to a great length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns or the kings, and bent again at the tower of the Corner, at the monument which is called the Monument of the Fuller, and joined to the old wall, at the valley of Kidron. It was Agrippa who encompassed the parts added to the old city with this wall, which had been all naked before; for as the city grew more populous it gradually crept beyond its old limits and those parts of it that stood northward of the temple, and joined that hill to the city, and made it considerably larger, and occasioned that hill which is in number the fourth, and is called Bezetha, to be inhabited also. It lies over against the tower Antonia, but is divided from it by a deep valley, which was dug to hinder the foundation of the tower of Antonia from joining to this hill, and thereby affording an opportunity for getting to it with ease, and hindering the security that arose from its superior elevation; for which reason also, that depth of the ditch made the elevation of the towers more remarkable. This new-built part of the city was called Bezetha, in our language, which signifies the New City. Since, therefore, its inhabitants stood in need of a covering, the father of the present .king, and of the same name with him, Agrippa, began that wall we spoke of; but he left off building it when he had only laid the foundations, out of the fear he was in of Claudius Caesar, lest he should suspect that so strong a wall was built in order to make some innovation in public affairs; for the city could no way have been taken, if that wall had been finished in the manner it was begun; as its parts were connected together by stones twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad, which could neither have been either easily undermined by any iron tools, or shaken by any engines. The wall was, however, ten cubits wide, and it would probably have had a height greater than that, had not his zeal, who began it, been hindered from exerting itself. After this it was erected with great diligence by the Jews as high as twenty cubits, above which it hath battlements of two cubits, and turrets of three cubits altitude, insomuch that the entire altitude extended as far as twenty-five cubits.
“Now
the towers that were upon it were twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits
in height; they were square and solid, as was the wall itself, wherein the
niceness of the joints and the beauty of the stones were no way inferior to
those of the holy house itself. Above this solid altitude of the towers, which
was twenty cubits, there were rooms of great magnificence, and over them upper
rooms, and cisterns to receive rain water. They were many in number, and the
steps by which you ascended up to them were every one broad: of these towers
then the third wall had ninety, and the spaces between them were each two
hundred cubits; but in the middle wall were forty towers, and the old wall was
parted into sixty, while the whole compass of the city was thirty-three
furlongs.5
“Now the third wall was all of it wonderful; yet was the tower Psephinus elevated above it at the north-west corner, and there Titus pitched his own tent: for being seventy cubits high, it both afforded a prospect of Arabia and the sunrising, as well as the utmost limits of the Hebrew possessions at the sea westward. Moreover, it was an octagon, and over against it was the tower Hippicus, and