|
The Works of Flavius Josephus
war of the Jews
book iV
FROM THE SIEGE OF GAMALA TO THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM
Translated by William Whiston
CHAPTER 1.
THE SIEGE AND TAKING OF GAMALA.
1. NOW all those Galileans who, after the taking of Jotapata, had revolted
from the Romans, did, upon the conquest of Taricheae, deliver themselves
up to them again. And the Romans received all the fortresses and the cities,
excepting Gischala and those that had seized upon Mount Tabor; Gamala also,
which is a city ever against Tarichem, but on the other side of the lake,
conspired with them. This city lay Upon the borders of Agrippa's kingdom,
as also did Sogana and Scleucia. And these were both parts of Gaulanitis;
for Sogana was a part of that called the Upper Gaulanitis, as was Gamala
of the Lower; while Selcucia was situated at the lake Semechouitis, which
lake is thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in length; its marshes reach
as far as the place Daphne, which in other respects is a delicious place,
and hath such fountains as supply water to what is called Little Jordan,
under the temple of the golden calf,
(1)
where it is sent into Great Jordan. Now Agrippa had united Sogana and Seleucia
by leagues to himself, at the very beginning of the revolt from the Romans;
yet did not Gamala accede to them, but relied upon the difficulty of the
place, which was greater than that of Jotapata, for it was situated upon
a rough ridge of a high mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle: where
it begins to ascend, it lengthens itself, and declines as much downward
before as behind, insomuch that it is like a camel in figure, from whence
it is so named, although the people of the country do not pronounce it
accurately. Both on the side and the face there are abrupt parts divided
from the rest, and ending in vast deep valleys; yet are the parts behind,
where they are joined to the mountain, somewhat easier of ascent than the
other; but then the people belonging to the place have cut an oblique ditch
there, and made that hard to be ascended also. On its acclivity, which
is straight, houses are built, and those very thick and close to one another.
The city also hangs so strangely, that it looks as if it would fall down
upon itself, so sharp is it at the top. It is exposed to the south, and
its southern mount, which reaches to an immense height, was in the nature
of a citadel to the city; and above that was a precipice, not walled about,
but extending itself to an immense depth. There was also a spring of water
within the wall, at the utmost limits of the city.
2. As this city was naturally hard to be taken, so had Josephus, by
building a wall about it, made it still stronger, as also by ditches and
mines under ground. The people that were in it were made more bold by the
nature of the place than the people of Jotapata had been, but it had much
fewer fighting men in it; and they had such a confidence in the situation
of the place, that they thought the enemy could not be too many for them;
for the city had been filled with those that had fled to it for safety,
on account of its strength; on which account they had been able to resist
those whom Agrippa sent to besiege it for seven months together.
3. But Vespasian removed from Emmaus, where he had last pitched his
camp before the city Tiberias, (now Emmaus, if it be interpreted, may be
rendered "a warm bath," for therein is a spring of warm water,
useful for healing,) and came to Gamala; yet was its situation such that
he was not able to encompass it all round with soldiers to watch it; but
where the places were practicable, he set men to watch it, and seized upon
the mountain which was over it. And as the legions, according to their
usual custom, were fortifying their camp upon that mountain, he began to
cast up banks at the bottom, at the part towards the east, where the highest
tower of the whole city was, and where the fifteenth legion pitched their
camp; while the fifth legion did duty over against the midst of the city,
and whilst the tenth legion filled up the ditches and the valleys. Now
at this time it was that as king Agrippa was come nigh the walls, and was
endeavoring to speak to those that were on the walls about a surrender,
he was hit with a stone on his right elbow by one of the slingers; he was
then immediately surrounded with his own men. But the Romans were excited
to set about the siege, by their indignation on the king's account, and
by their fear on their own account, as concluding that those men would
omit no kinds of barbarity against foreigners and enemies, who where so
enraged against one of their own nation, and one that advised them to nothing
but what was for their own advantage.
4. Now when the banks were finished, which was done on the sudden, both
by the multitude of hands, and by their being accustomed to such work,
they brought the machines; but Chares and Joseph, who were the most potent
men in the city, set their armed men in order, though already in a fright,
because they did not suppose that the city could hold out long, since they
had not a sufficient quantity either of water, or of other necessaries.
However, these their leaders encouraged them, and brought them out upon
the wall, and for a while indeed they drove away those that were bringing
the machines; but when those machines threw darts and stones at them, they
retired into the city; then did the Romans bring battering rams to three
several places, and made the wall shake [and fall]. They then poured in
over the parts of the wall that were thrown down, with a mighty sound of
trumpets and noise of armor, and with a shout of the soldiers, and brake
in by force upon those that were in the city; but these men fell upon the
Romans for some time, at their first entrance, and prevented their going
any further, and with great courage beat them back; and the Romans were
so overpowered by the greater multitude of the people, who beat them on
every side, that they were obliged to run into the upper parts of the city.
Whereupon the people turned about, and fell upon their enemies, who had
attacked them, and thrust them down to the lower parts, and as they were
distressed by the narrowness and difficulty of the place, slew them; and
as these Romans could neither beat those back that were above them, nor
escape the force of their own men that were forcing their way forward,
they were compelled to fly into their enemies' houses, which were low;
but these houses being thus full, of soldiers, whose weight they could
not bear, fell down suddenly; and when one house fell, it shook down a
great many of those that were under it, as did those do to such as were
under them. By this means a vast number of the Romans perished; for they
were so terribly distressed, that although they saw the houses subsiding,
they were compelled to leap upon the tops of them; so that a great many
were ground to powder by these ruins, and a great many of those that got
from under them lost some of their limbs, but still a greater number were
suffocated by the dust that arose from those ruins. The people of Gamala
supposed this to be an assistance afforded them by God, and without regarding
what damage they suffered themselves, they pressed forward, and thrust
the enemy upon the tops of their houses; and when they stumbled in the
sharp and narrow streets, and were perpetually falling down, they threw
their stones or darts at them, and slew them. Now the very ruins afforded
them stones enow; and for iron weapons, the dead men of the enemies' side
afforded them what they wanted; for drawing the swords of those that were
dead, they made use of them to despatch such as were only half dead; nay,
there were a great number who, upon their falling down from the tops of
the houses, stabbed themselves, and died after that manner; nor indeed
was it easy for those that were beaten back to fly away; for they were
so unacquainted with the ways, and the dust was so thick, that they wandered
about without knowing one another, and fell down dead among the crowd.
5. Those therefore that were able to find the ways out of the city retired.
But now Vespasian always staid among those that were hard set; for he was
deeply affected with seeing the ruins of the city falling upon his army,
and forgot to take care of his own preservation. He went up gradually towards
the highest parts of the city before he was aware, and was left in the
midst of dangers, having only a very few with him; for even his son Titus
was not with him at that time, having been then sent into Syria to Mucianus.
However, he thought it not safe to fly, nor did he esteem it a fit thing
for him to do; but calling to mind the actions he had done from his youth,
and recollecting his courage, as if he had been excited by a divine fury,
he covered himself and those that were with him with their shields, and
formed a testudo over both their bodies and their armor, and bore up against
the enemy's attacks, who came running down from the top of the city; and
without showing any dread at the multitude of the men or of their darts,
he endured all, until the enemy took notice of that divine courage that
was within him, and remitted of their attacks; and when they pressed less
zealously upon him, he retired, though without showing his back to them
till he was gotten out of the walls of the city. Now a great number of
the Romans fell in this battle, among whom was Ebutius, the decurion, a
man who appeared not only in this engagement, wherein he fell, but every
where, and in former engagements, to be of the truest courage, and one
that had done very great mischief to the Jews. But there was a centurion
whose name was Gallus, who, during this disorder, being encompassed about,
he and ten other soldiers privately crept into the house of a certain person,
where he heard them talking at supper, what the people intended to do against
the Romans, or about themselves (for both the man himself and those with
him were Syrians). So he got up in the night time, and cut all their throats,
and escaped, together with his soldiers, to the Romans.
6. And now Vespasian comforted his army, which was much dejected by
reflecting on their ill success, and because they had never before fallen
into such a calamity, and besides this, because they were greatly ashamed
that they had left their general alone in great dangers. As to what concerned
himself, he avoided to say any thing, that he might by no means seem to
complain of it; but he said that "we ought to bear manfully what usually
falls out in war, and this, by considering what the nature of war is, and
how it can never be that we must conquer without bloodshed on our own side;
for there stands about us that fortune which is of its own nature mutable;
that while they had killed so many ten thousands of the Jews, they had
now paid their small share of the reckoning to fate; and as it is the part
of weak people to be too much puffed up with good success, so is it the
part of cowards to be too much aftrighted at that which is ill; for the
change from the one to the other is sudden on both sides; and he is the
best warrior who is of a sober mind under misfortunes, that he may continue
in that temper, and cheerfully recover what had been lost formerly; and
as for what had now happened, it was neither owing to their own effeminacy,
nor to the valor of the Jews, but the difficulty of the place was the occasion
of their advantage, and of our disappointment. Upon reflecting on which
matter one might blame your zeal as perfectly ungovernable; for when the
enemy had retired to their highest fastnesses, you ought to have restrained
yourselves, and not, by presenting yourselves at the top of the city, to
be exposed to dangers; but upon your having obtained the lower parts of
the city, you ought to have provoked those that had retired thither to
a safe and settled battle; whereas, in rushing so hastily upon victory,
you took no care of your safety. But this incautiousness in war, and this
madness of zeal, is not a Roman maxim. While we perform all that we attempt
by skill and good order, that procedure is the part of barbarians, and
is what the Jews chiefly support themselves by. We ought therefore to return
to our own virtue, and to be rather angry than any longer dejected at this
unlucky misfortune, and let every one seek for his own consolation from
his own hand; for by this means he will avenge those that have been destroyed,
and punish those that have killed them. For myself, I will endeavor, as
I have now done, to go first before you against your enemies in every engagement,
and to be the last that retires from it."
7. So Vespasian encouraged his army by this speech; but for the people
of Gamala, it happened that they took courage for a little while, upon
such great and unaccountable success as they had had. But when they considered
with themselves that they had now no hopes of any terms of accommodation,
and reflecting upon it that they could not get away, and that their provisions
began already to be short, they were exceedingly cast down, and their courage
failed them; yet did they not neglect what might be for their preservation,
so far as they were able, but the most courageous among them guarded those
parts of the wall that were beaten down, while the more infirm did the
same to the rest of the wall that still remained round the city. And as
the Romans raised their banks, and attempted to get into the city a second
time, a great many of them fled out of the city through impracticable valleys,
where no guards were placed, as also through subterraneous caverns; while
those that were afraid of being caught, and for that reason staid in the
city, perished for want of food; for what food they had was brought together
from all quarters, and reserved for the fighting men.
8. And these were the hard circumstances that the people of Gamala were
in. But now Vespasian went about other work by the by, during this siege,
and that was to subdue those that had seized upon Mount Tabor, a place
that lies in the middle between the great plain and Scythopolis, whose
top is elevated as high as thirty furlongs
(2)
and is hardly to be ascended on its north side; its top is a plain of twenty-six
furlongs, and all encompassed with a wall. Now Josephus erected this so
long a wall in forty days' time, and furnished it with other materials,
and with water from below, for the inhabitants only made use of rain water.
As therefore there was a great multitude of people gotten together upon
this mountain, Vespasian sent Placidus with six hundred horsemen thither.
Now, as it was impossible for him to ascend the mountain, he invited many
of them to peace, by the offer of his right hand for their security, and
of his intercession for them. Accordingly they came down, but with a treacherous
design, as well as he had the like treacherous design upon them on the
other side; for Placidus spoke mildly to them, as aiming to take them,
when he got them into the plain; they also came down, as complying with
his proposals, but it was in order to fall upon him when he was not aware
of it: however, Placidus's stratagem was too hard for theirs; for when
the Jews began to fight, he pretended to run away, and when they were in
pursuit of the Romans, he enticed them a great way along the plain, and
then made his horsemen turn back; whereupon he beat them, and slew a great
number of them, and cut off the retreat of the rest of the multitude, and
hindered their return. So they left Tabor, and fled to Jerusalem, while
the people of the country came to terms with him, for their water failed
them, and so they delivered up the mountain and themselves to Placidus.
9. But of the people of Gamala, those that were of the bolder sort fled
away and hid themselves, while the more infirm perished by famine; but
the men of war sustained the siege till the two and twentieth day of the
month Hyperberetmus, [Tisri,] when three soldiers of the fifteenth legion,
about the morning watch, got under a high tower that was near them, and
undermined it, without making any noise; nor when they either came to it,
which was in the night time, nor when they were under it, did those that
guarded it perceive them. These soldiers then upon their coming avoided
making a noise, and when they had rolled away five of its strongest stones,
they went away hastily; whereupon the tower fell down on a sudden, with
a very great noise, and its guard fell headlong with it; so that those
that kept guard at other places were under such disturbance, that they
ran away; the Romans also slew many of those that ventured to oppose them,
among whom was Joseph, who was slain by a dart, as he was running away
over that part of the wall that was broken down: but as those that were
in the city were greatly aftrighted at the noise, they ran hither and thither,
and a great consternation fell upon them, as though all the enemy had fallen
in at once upon them. Then it was that Chares, who was ill, and under the
physician's hands, gave up the ghost, the fear he was in greatly contributing
to make his distemper fatal to him. But the Romans so well remembered their
former ill success, that they did not enter the city till the three and
twentieth day of the forementioned month.
10. At which time Titus, who was now returned, out of the indignation
he had at the destruction the Romans had undergone while he was absent,
took two hundred chosen horsemen and some footmen with him, and entered
without noise into the city. Now as the watch perceived that he was coming,
they made a noise, and betook themselves to their arms; and as that his
entrance was presently known to those that were in the city, some of them
caught hold of their children and their wives, and drew them after them,
and fled away to the citadel, with lamentations and cries, while others
of them went to meet Titus, and were killed perpetually; but so many of
them as were hindered from running up to the citadel, not knowing what
in the world to do, fell among the Roman guards, while the groans of those
that were killed were prodigiously great every where, and blood ran down
over all the lower parts of the city, from the upper. But then Vespasian
himself came to his assistance against those that had fled to the citadel,
and brought his whole army with him; now this upper part of the city was
every way rocky, and difficult of ascent, and elevated to a vast altitude,
and very full of people on all sides, and encompassed with precipices,
whereby the Jews cut off those that came up to them, and did much mischief
to others by their darts, and the large stones which they rolled down upon
them, while they were themselves so high that the enemy's darts could hardly
reach them. However, there arose such a Divine storm against them as was
instrumental to their destruction; this carried the Roman darts upon them,
and made those which they threw return back, and drove them obliquely away
from them; nor could the Jews indeed stand upon their precipices, by reason
of the violence of the wind, having nothing that was stable to stand upon,
nor could they see those that were ascending up to them; so the Romans
got up and surrounded them, and some they slew before they could defend
themselves, and others as they were delivering up themselves; and the remembrance
of those that were slain at their former entrance into the city increased
their rage against them now; a great number also of those that were surrounded
on every side, and despaired of escaping, threw their children and their
wives, and themselves also, down the precipices, into the valley beneath,
which, near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a vast depth; but so it
happened, that the anger of the Romans appeared not to be so extravagant
as was the madness of those that were now taken, while the Romans slew
but four thousand, whereas the number of those that had thrown themselves
down was found to be five thousand: nor did any one escape except two women,
who were the daughters of Philip, and Philip himself was the son of a certain
eminent man called Jacimus, who had been general of king Agrippa's army;
and these did therefore escape, because they lay concealed from the rage
of the Romans when the city was taken; for otherwise they spared not so
much as the infants, of which many were flung down by them from the citadel.
And thus was Gamala taken on the three and twentieth day of the month Hyperberetens,
[Tisri,] whereas the city had first revolted on the four and twentieth
day of the month Gorpieus [Elul].
CHAPTER 2.
THE SURRENDER OF GISCHALA; WHILE JOHN FLIES AWAY FROM IT
TO JERUSALEM.
1. NOW no place of Galilee remained to be taken but the small city of
Gischala, whose multitude yet were desirous of peace; for they were generally
husbandmen, and always applied themselves to cultivate the fruits of the
earth. However, there were a great number that belonged to a band of robbers,
that were already corrupted, and had crept in among them, and some of the
governing part of the citizens were sick of the same distemper. It was
John, the son of a certain man whose name was Levi, that drew them into
this rebellion, and encouraged them in it. He was a cunning knave, and
of a temper that could put on various shapes; very rash in expecting great
things, and very sagacious in bringing about what he hoped for. It was
known to every body that he was fond of war, in order to thrust himself
into authority; and the seditious part of the people of Gischala were under
his management, by whose means the populace, who seemed ready to send ambassadors
in order to a surrender, waited for the coming of the Romans in battle-array.
Vespasian sent against them Titus, with a thousand horsemen, but withdrew
the tenth legion to Scythopolis, while he returned to Cesarea with the
two other legions, that he might allow them to refresh themselves after
their long and hard campaign, thinking withal that the plenty which was
in those cities would improve their bodies and their spirits, against the
difficulties they were to go through afterwards; for he saw there would
be occasion for great pains about Jerusalem, which was not yet taken, because
it was the royal city, and the principal city of the whole nation, and
because those that had run away from the war in other places got all together
thither. It was also naturally strong, and the walls that were built round
it made him not a little concerned about it. Moreover, he esteemed the
men that were in it to be so courageous and bold, that even without the
consideration of the walls, it would be hard to subdue them; for which
reason he took care of and exercised his soldiers beforehand for the work,
as they do wrestlers before they begin their undertaking.
2. Now Titus, as he rode ut to Gischala, found it would be easy for
him to take the city upon the first onset; but knew withal, that if he
took it by force, the multitude would be destroyed by the soldiers without
mercy. (Now he was already satiated with the shedding of blood, and pitied
the major part, who would then perish, without distinction, together with
the guilty.) So he was rather desirous the city might be surrendered up
to him on terms. Accordingly, when he saw the wall full of those men that
were of the corrupted party, he said to them, - That he could not but wonder
what it was they depended on, when they alone staid to fight the Romans,
after every other city was taken by them, especially when they have seen
cities much better fortified than theirs is overthrown by a single attack
upon them; while as many as have intrusted themselves to the security of
the Romans' right hands, which he now offers to them, without regarding
their former insolence, do enjoy their own possessions in safety; for that
while they had hopes of recovering their liberty, they might be pardoned;
but that their continuance still in their opposition, when they saw that
to be impossible, was inexcusable; for that if they will not comply with
such humane offers, and right hands for security, they should have experience
of such a war as would spare nobody, and should soon be made sensible that
their wall would be but a trifle, when battered by the Roman machines;
in depending on which they demonstrate themselves to be the only Galileans
that were no better than arrogant slaves and captives.
3. Now none of the populace durst not only make a reply, but durst not
so much as get upon the wall, for it was all taken up by the robbers, who
were also the guard at the gates, in order to prevent any of the rest from
going out, in order to propose terms of submission, and from receiving
any of the horsemen into the city. But John returned Titus this answer:
That for himself he was content to hearken to his proposals, and that he
would either persuade or force those that refused them. Yet he said that
Titus ought to have such regard to the Jewish law, as to grant them leave
to celebrate that day, which was the seventh day of the week, on which
it was unlawful not only to remove their arms, but even to treat of peace
also; and that even the Romans were not ignorant how the period of the
seventh day was among them a cessation from all labors; and that he who
should compel them to transgress the law about that day would be equally
guilty with those that were compelled to transgress it: and that this delay
could be of no disadvantage to him; for why should any body think of doing
any thing in the night, unless it was to fly away? which he might prevent
by placing his camp round about them; and that they should think it a great
point gained, if they might not be obliged to transgress the laws of their
country; and that it would be a right thing for him, who designed to grant
them peace, without their expectation of such a favor, to preserve the
laws of those they saved inviolable. Thus did this man put a trick upon
Titus, not so much out of regard to the seventh day as to his own preservation,
for he was afraid lest he should be quite deserted if the city should be
taken, and had his hopes of life in that night, and in his flight therein.
Now this was the work of God, who therefore preserved this John, that he
might bring on the destruction of Jerusalem; as also it was his work that
Titus was prevailed with by this pretense for a delay, and that he pitched
his camp further off the city at Cydessa. This Cydessa was a strong Mediterranean
village of the Tyrians, which always hated and made war against the Jews;
it had also a great number of inhabitants, and was well fortified, which
made it a proper place for such as were enemies to the Jewish nation.
4. Now, in the night time, when John saw that there was no Roman guard
about the city, he seized the opportunity directly, and, taking with him
not only the armed men that where about him, but a considerable number
of those that had little to do, together with their families, he fled to
Jerusalem. And indeed, though the man was making haste to get away, and
was tormented with fears of being a captive, or of losing his life, yet
did he prevail with himself to take out of the city along with him a multitude
of women and children, as far as twenty furlongs; but there he left them
as he proceeded further on his journey, where those that were left behind
made sad lamentations; for the farther every one of them was come from
his own people, the nearer they thought themselves to be to their enemies.
They also affrighted themselves with this thought, that those who would
carry them into captivity were just at hand, and still turned themselves
back at the mere noise they made themselves in this their hasty flight,
as if those from whom they fled were just upon them. Many also of them
missed their ways, and the earnestness of such as aimed to outgo the rest
threw down many of them. And indeed there was a miserable destruction made
of the women and children; while some of them took courage to call their
husbands and kinsmen back, and to beseech them, with the bitterest lamentations,
to stay for them; but John's exhortation, who cried out to them to save
themselves, and fly away, prevailed. He said also, that if the Romans should
seize upon those whom they left behind, they would be revenged on them
for it. So this multitude that run thus away was dispersed abroad, according
as each of them was able to run, one faster or slower than another.
5. Now on the next day Titus came to the wall, to make the agreement;
whereupon the people opened their gates to him, and came out to him, with
their children and wives, and made acclamations of joy to him, as to one
that had been their benefactor, and had delivered the city out of custody;
they also informed him of John's flight, and besought him to spare them,
and to come in, and bring the rest of those that were for innovations to
punishment. But Titus, not so much regarding the supplications of the people,
sent part of his horsemen to pursue after John, but they could not overtake
him, for he was gotten to Jerusalem before; they also slew six thousand
of the women and children who went out with him, but returned back, and
brought with them almost three thousand. However, Titus was greatly displeased
that he had not been able to bring this John, who had deluded him, to punishment;
yet he had captives enough, as well as the corrupted part of the city,
to satisfy his anger, when it missed of John. So he entered the city in
the midst of acclamations of joy; and when he had given orders to the soldiers
to pull down a small part of the wall, as of a city taken in war, he repressed
those that had disturbed the city rather by threatenings than by executions;
for he thought that many would accuse innocent persons, out of their own
private animosities and quarrels, if he should attempt to distinguish those
that were worthy of punishment from the rest; and that it was better to
let a guilty person alone in his fears, that to destroy with him any one
that did not deserve it; for that probably such a one might be taught prudence,
by the fear of the punishment he had deserved, and have a shame upon him
for his former offenses, when he had been forgiven; but that the punishment
of such as have been once put to death could never be retrieved. However,
he placed a garrison in the city for its security, by which means he should
restrain those that were for innovations, and should leave those that were
peaceably disposed in greater security. And thus was all Galilee taken,
but this not till after it had cost the Romans much pains before it could
be taken by them.
CHAPTER 3.
CONCERNING JOHN OF GISCHALA. CONCERNING THE ZEALOTS AND THE
HIGH PRIEST ANANUS; AS ALSO HOW THE JEWS RAISE SEDITIONS ONE AGAINST ANOTHER
[IN JERUSALEM].
1. NOW upon John's entry into Jerusalem, the whole body of the people
were in an uproar, and ten thousand of them crowded about every one of
the fugitives that were come to them, and inquired of them what miseries
had happened abroad, when their breath was so short, and hot, and quick,
that of itself it declared the great distress they were in; yet did they
talk big under their misfortunes, and pretended to say that they had not
fled away from the Romans, but came thither in order to fight them with
less hazard; for that it would be an unreasonable and a fruitless thing
for them to expose themselves to desperate hazards about Gischala, and
such weak cities, whereas they ought to lay up their weapons and their
zeal, and reserve it for their metropolis. But when they related to them
the taking of Gischala, and their decent departure, as they pretended,
from that place, many of the people understood it to be no better than
a flight; and especially when the people were told of those that were made
captives, they were in great confusion, and guessed those things to be
plain indications that they should be taken also. But for John, he was
very little concerned for those whom he had left behind him, but went about
among all the people, and persuaded them to go to war, by the hopes he
gave them. He affirmed that the affairs of the Romans were in a weak condition,
and extolled his own power. He also jested upon the ignorance of the unskillful,
as if those Romans, although they should take to themselves wings, could
never fly over the wall of Jerusalem, who found such great difficulties
in taking the villages of Galilee, and had broken their engines of war
against their walls.
2. These harangues of John's corrupted a great part of the young men,
and puffed them up for the war; but as to the more prudent part, and those
in years, there was not a man of them but foresaw what was coming, and
made lamentation on that account, as if the city was already undone; and
in this confusion were the people. But then it must be observed, that the
multitude that came out of the country were at discord before the Jerusalem
sedition began; for Titus went from Gischala to Cesates, and Vespasian
from Cesarea to Jamnia and Azotus, and took them both; and when he had
put garrisons into them, he came back with a great number of the people,
who were come over to him, upon his giving them his right hand for their
preservation. There were besides disorders and civil wars in every city;
and all those that were at quiet from the Romans turned their hands one
against another. There was also a bitter contest between those that were
fond of war, and those that were desirous for peace. At the first this
quarrelsome temper caught hold of private families, who could not agree
among themselves; after which those people that were the dearest to one
another brake through all restraints with regard to each other, and every
one associated with those of his own opinion, and began already to stand
in opposition one to another; so that seditions arose every where, while
those that were for innovations, and were desirous of war, by their youth
and boldness, were too hard for the aged and prudent men. And, in the first
place, all the people of every place betook themselves to rapine; after
which they got together in bodies, in order to rob the people of the country,
insomuch that for barbarity and iniquity those of the same nation did no
way differ from the Romans; nay, it seemed to be a much lighter thing to
be ruined by the Romans than by themselves.
3. Now the Roman garrisons, which guarded the cities, partly out of
their uneasiness to take such trouble upon them, and partly out of the
hatred they bare to the Jewish nation, did little or nothing towards relieving
the miserable, till the captains of these troops of robbers, being satiated
with rapines in the country, got all together from all parts, and became
a band of wickedness, and all together crept into Jerusalem, which was
now become a city without a governor, and, as the ancient custom was, received
without distinction all that belonged to their nation; and these they then
received, because all men supposed that those who came so fast into the
city came out of kindness, and for their assistance, although these very
men, besides the seditions they raised, were otherwise the direct cause
of the city's destruction also; for as they were an unprofitable and a
useless multitude, they spent those provisions beforehand which might otherwise
have been sufficient for the fighting men. Moreover, besides the bringing
on of the war, they were the occasions of sedition and famine therein.
4. There were besides these other robbers that came out of the country,
and came into the city, and joining to them those that were worse than
themselves, omitted no kind of barbarity; for they did not measure their
courage by their rapines and plunderings only, but preceded as far as murdering
men; and this not in the night time or privately, or with regard to ordinary
men, but did it openly in the day time, and began with the most eminent
persons in the city; for the first man they meddled with was Antipas, one
of the royal lineage, and the most potent man in the whole city, insomuch
that the public treasures were committed to his care; him they took and
confined; as they did in the next place to Levias, a person of great note,
with Sophas, the son of Raguel, both which were of royal lineage also.
And besides these, they did the same to the principal men of the country.
This caused a terrible consternation among the people, and everyone contented
himself with taking care of his own safety, as they would do if the city
had been taken in war.
5. But these were not satisfied with the bonds into which they had put
the men forementioned; nor did they think it safe for them to keep them
thus in custody long, since they were men very powerful, and had numerous
families of their own that were able to avenge them. Nay, they thought
the very people would perhaps be so moved at these unjust proceedings,
as to rise in a body against them; it was therefore resolved to have them
slain accordingly, they sent one John, who was the most bloody-minded of
them all, to do that execution: this man was also called "the son
of Dorcas,"
(3)
in the language of our country. Ten more men went along with him into the
prison, with their swords drawn, and so they cut the throats of those that
were in custody there. The grand lying pretence these men made for so flagrant
an enormity was this, that these men had had conferences with the Romans
for a surrender of Jerusalem to them; and so they said they had slain only
such as were traitors to their common liberty. Upon the whole, they grew
the more insolent upon this bold prank of theirs, as though they had been
the benefactors and saviors of the city.
6. Now the people were come to that degree of meanness and fear, and
these robbers to that degree of madness, that these last took upon them
to appoint high priests.
(4)
So when they had disannulled the succession, according to those families
out of which the high priests used to be made, they ordained certain unknown
and ignoble persons for that office, that they might have their assistance
in their wicked undertakings; for such as obtained this highest of all
honors, without any desert, were forced to comply with those that bestowed
it on them. They also set the principal men at variance one with another,
by several sorts of contrivances and tricks, and gained the opportunity
of doing what they pleased, by the mutual quarrels of those who might have
obstructed their measures; till at length, when they were satiated with
the unjust actions they had done towards men, they transferred their contumelious
behavior to God himself, and came into the sanctuary with polluted feet.
7. And now the multitude were going to rise against them already; for
Ananus, the ancientest of the high priests, persuaded them to it. He was
a very prudent man, and had perhaps saved the city if he could but have
escaped the hands of those that plotted against him. These men made the
temple of God a strong hold for them, and a place whither they might resort,
in order to avoid the troubles they feared from the people; the sanctuary
was now become a refuge, and a shop of tyranny. They also mixed jesting
among the miseries they introduced, which was more intolerable than what
they did; for in order to try what surprise the people would be under,
and how far their own power extended, they undertook to dispose of the
high priesthood by casting lots for it, whereas, as we have said already,
it was to descend by succession in a family. The pretense they made for
this strange attempt was an ancient practice, while they said that of old
it was determined by lot; but in truth, it was no better than a dissolution
of an undeniable law, and a cunning contrivance to seize upon the government,
derived from those that presumed to appoint governors as they themselves
pleased.
8. Hereupon they sent for one of the pontifical tribes, which is called
Eniachim,
(5)
and cast lots which of it should be the high priest. By fortune the lot
so fell as to demonstrate their iniquity after the plainest manner, for
it fell upon one whose name was Phannias, the son of Samuel, of the village
Aphtha. He was a man not only unworthy of the high priesthood, but that
did not well know what the high priesthood was, such a mere rustic was
he ! yet did they hail this man, without his own consent, out of the country,
as if they were acting a play upon the stage, and adorned him with a counterfeit
thee; they also put upon him the sacred garments, and upon every occasion
instructed him what he was to do. This horrid piece of wickedness was sport
and pastime with them, but occasioned the other priests, who at a distance
saw their law made a jest of, to shed tears, and sorely lament the dissolution
of such a sacred dignity.
9. And now the people could no longer bear the insolence of this procedure,
but did all together run zealously, in order to overthrow that tyranny;
and indeed they were Gorion the son of Josephus, and Symeon the son of
Gamaliel,
(6)
who encouraged them, by going up and down when they were assembled together
in crowds, and as they saw them alone, to bear no longer, but to inflict
punishment upon these pests and plagues of their freedom, and to purge
the temple of these bloody polluters of it. The best esteemed also of the
high priests, Jesus the son of Gamalas, and Ananus the son of Ananus when
they were at their assemblies, bitterly reproached the people for their
sloth, and excited them against the zealots; for that was the name they
went by, as if they were zealous in good undertakings, and were not rather
zealous in the worst actions, and extravagant in them beyond the example
of others.
10. And now, when the multitude were gotten together to an assembly,
and every one was in indignation at these men's seizing upon the sanctuary,
at their rapine and murders, but had not yet begun their attacks upon them,
(the reason of which was this, that they imagined it to be a difficult
thing to suppress these zealots, as indeed the case was,) Ananus stood
in the midst of them, and casting his eyes frequently at the temple, and
having a flood of tears in his eyes, he said, "Certainly it had been
good for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many abominations,
or these sacred places, that ought not to be trodden upon at random, filled
with the feet of these blood-shedding villains; yet do I, who am clothed
with the vestments of the high priesthood, and am called by that most venerable
name [of high priest], still live, and am but too fond of living, and cannot
endure to undergo a death which would be the glory of my old age; and if
I were the only person concerned, and as it were in a desert, I would give
up my life, and that alone for God's sake; for to what purpose is it to
live among a people insensible of their calamities, and where there is
no notion remaining of any remedy for the miseries that are upon them?
for when you are seized upon, you bear it! and when you are beaten, you
are silent! and when the people are murdered, nobody dare so much as send
out a groan openly! O bitter tyranny that we are under! But why do I complain
of the tyrants? Was it not you, and your sufferance of them, that have
nourished them? Was it not you that overlooked those that first of all
got together, for they were then but a few, and by your silence made them
grow to be many; and by conniving at them when they took arms, in effect
armed them against yourselves? You ought to have then prevented their first
attempts, when they fell a reproaching your relations; but by neglecting
that care in time, you have encouraged these wretches to plunder men. When
houses were pillaged, nobody said a word, which was the occasion why they
carried off the owners of those houses; and when they were drawn through
the midst of the city, nobody came to their assistance. They then proceeded
to put those whom you have betrayed into their hands into bonds. I do not
say how many and of what characters those men were whom they thus served;
but certainly they were such as were accused by none, and condemned by
none; and since nobody succored them when they were put into bonds, the
consequence was, that you saw the same persons slain. We have seen this
also; so that still the best of the herd of brute animals, as it were,
have been still led to be sacrificed, when yet nobody said one word, or
moved his right hand for their preservation. Will you bear, therefore,
will you bear to see your sanctuary trampled on? and will you lay steps
for these profane wretches, upon which they may mount to higher degrees
of insolence? Will not you pluck them down from their exaltation? for even
by this time they had proceeded to higher enormities, if they had been
able to overthrow any thing greater than the sanctuary. They have seized
upon the strongest place of the whole city; you may call it the temple,
if you please, though it be like a citadel or fortress. Now, while you
have tyranny in so great a degree walled in, and see your enemies over
your heads, to what purpose is it to take counsel? and what have you to
support your minds withal? Perhaps you wait for the Romans, that they may
protect our holy places: are our matters then brought to that pass? and
are we come to that degree of misery, that our enemies themselves are expected
to pity us? O wretched creatures! will not you rise up and turn upon those
that strike you? which you may observe in wild beasts themselves, that
they will avenge themselves on those that strike them. Will you not call
to mind, every one of you, the calamities you yourselves have suffered?
nor lay before your eyes what afflictions you yourselves have undergone?
and will not such things sharpen your souls to revenge? Is therefore that
most honorable and most natural of our passions utterly lost, I mean the
desire of liberty? Truly we are in love with slavery, and in love with
those that lord it over us, as if we had received that principle of subjection
from our ancestors; yet did they undergo many and great wars for the sake
of liberty, nor were they so far overcome by the power of the Egyptians,
or the Medes, but that still they did what they thought fit, notwithstanding
their commands to the contrary. And what occasion is there now for a war
with the Romans? (I meddle not with determining whether it be an advantageous
and profitable war or not.) What pretense is there for it? Is it not that
we may enjoy our liberty? Besides, shall we not bear the lords of the habitable
earth to be lords over us, and yet bear tyrants of our own country? Although
I must say that submission to foreigners may be borne, because fortune
hath already doomed us to it, while submission to wicked people of our
own nation is too unmanly, and brought upon us by our own consent. However,
since I have had occasion to mention the Romans, I will not conceal a thing
that, as I am speaking, comes into my mind, and affects me considerably;
it is this, that though we should be taken by them, (God forbid the event
should be so!) yet can we undergo nothing that will be harder to be borne
than what these men have already brought upon us. How then can we avoid
shedding of tears, when we see the Roman donations in our temple, while
we withal see those of our own nation taking our spoils, and plundering
our glorious metropolis, and slaughtering our men, from which enormities
those Romans themselves would have abstained? to see those Romans never
going beyond the bounds allotted to profane persons, nor venturing to break
in upon any of our sacred customs; nay, having a horror on their minds
when they view at a distance those sacred walls; while some that have been
born in this very country, and brought up in our customs, and called Jews,
do walk about in the midst of the holy places, at the very time when their
hands are still warm with the slaughter of their own countrymen. Besides,
can any one be afraid of a war abroad, and that with such as will have
comparatively much greater moderation than our own people have? For truly,
if we may suit our words to the things they represent, it is probable one
may hereafter find the Romans to be the supporters of our laws, and those
within ourselves the subverters of them. And now I am persuaded that every
one of you here comes satisfied before I speak that these overthrowers
of our liberties deserve to be destroyed, and that nobody can so much as
devise a punishment that they have not deserved by what they have done,
and that you are all provoked against them by those their wicked actions,
whence you have suffered so greatly. But perhaps many of you are aftrighted
at the multitude of those zealots, and at their audaciousness, as well
as at the advantage they have over us in their being higher in place than
we are; for these circumstances, as they have been occasioned by your negligence,
so will they become still greater by being still longer neglected; for
their multitude is every day augmented, by every ill man's running away
to those that are like to themselves, and their audaciousness is therefore
inflamed, because they meet with no obstruction to their designs. And for
their higher place, they will make use of it for engines also, if we give
them time to do so; but be assured of this, that if we go up to fight them,
they will be made tamer by their own consciences, and what advantages they
have in the height of their situation they will lose by the opposition
of their reason; perhaps also God himself, who hath been affronted by them,
will make what they throw at us return against themselves, and these impious
wretches will be killed by their own darts: let us but make our appearance
before them, and they will come to nothing. However, it is a right thing,
if there should be any danger in the attempt, to die before these holy
gates, and to spend our very lives, if not for the sake of our children
and wives, yet for God's sake, and for the sake of his sanctuary. I will
assist you both with my counsel and with my hand; nor shall any sagacity
of ours be wanting for your support; nor shall you see that I will be sparing
of my body neither."
11. By these motives Ananus encouraged the multitude to go against the
zealots, although he knew how difficult it would be to disperse them, because
of their multitude, and their youth, and the courage of their souls; but
chiefly because of their consciousness of what they had done, since they
would not yield, as not so much as hoping for pardon at the last for those
their enormities. However, Ananus resolved to undergo whatever sufferings
might come upon him, rather than overlook things, now they were in such
great confusion. So the multitude cried out to him, to lead them on against
those whom he had described in his exhortation to them, and every one of
them was most readily disposed to run any hazard whatsoever on that account.
12. Now while Ananus was choosing out his men, and putting those that
were proper for his purpose in array for fighting, the zealots got information
of his undertaking, (for there were some who went to them, and told them
all that the people were doing,) and were irritated at it, and leaping
out of the temple in crowds, and by parties, spared none whom they met
with. Upon this Ananus got the populace together on the sudden, who were
more numerous indeed than the zealots, but inferior to them in arms, because
they had not been regularly put into array for fighting; but the alacrity
that every body showed supplied all their defects on both sides, the citizens
taking up so great a passion as was stronger than arms, and deriving a
degree of courage from the temple more forcible than any multitude whatsoever;
and indeed these citizens thought it was not possible for them to dwell
in the city, unless they could cut off the robbers that were in it. The
zealots also thought that unless they prevailed, there would be no punishment
so bad but it would be inflicted on them. So their conflicts were conducted
by their passions; and at the first they only cast stones at each other
in the city, and before the temple, and threw their javelins at a distance;
but when either of them were too hard for the other, they made use of their
swords; and great slaughter was made on both sides, and a great number
were wounded. As for the dead bodies of the people, their relations carried
them out to their own houses; but when any of the zealots were wounded,
he went up into the temple, and defiled that sacred floor with his blood,
insomuch that one may say it was their blood alone that polluted our sanctuary.
Now in these conflicts the robbers always sallied out of the temple, and
were too hard for their enemies; but the populace grew very angry, and
became more and more numerous, and reproached those that gave back, and
those behind would not afford room to those that were going off, but forced
them on again, till at length they made their whole body to turn against
their adversaries, and the robbers could no longer oppose them, but were
forced gradually to retire into the temple; when Ananus and his party fell
into it at the same time together with them.
(7)
This horribly affrighted the robbers, because it deprived them of the first
court; so they fled into the inner court immediately, and shut the gates.
Now Ananus did not think fit to make any attack against the holy gates,
although the other threw their stones and darts at them from above. He
also deemed it unlawful to introduce the multitude into that court before
they were purified; he therefore chose out of them all by lot six thousand
armed men, and placed them as guards in the cloisters; so there was a succession
of such guards one after another, and every one was forced to attend in
his course; although many of the chief of the city were dismissed by those
that then took on them the government, upon their hiring some of the poorer
sort, and sending them to keep the guard in their stead.
13. Now it was John who, as we told you, ran away from Gischala, and
was the occasion of all these being destroyed. He was a man of great craft,
and bore about him in his soul a strong passion after tyranny, and at a
distance was the adviser in these actions; and indeed at this time he pretended
to be of the people's opinion, and went all about with Ananus when he consulted
the great men every day, and in the night time also when he went round
the watch; but he divulged their secrets to the zealots, and every thing
that the people deliberated about was by his means known to their enemies,
even before it had been well agreed upon by themselves. And by way of contrivance
how he might not be brought into suspicion, he cultivated the greatest
friendship possible with Ananus, and with the chief of the people; yet
did this overdoing of his turn against him, for he flattered them so extravagantly,
that he was but the more suspected; and his constant attendance every where,
even when he was not invited to be present, made him strongly suspected
of betraying their secrets to the enemy; for they plainly perceived that
they understood all the resolutions taken against them at their consultations.
Nor was there any one whom they had so much reason to suspect of that discovery
as this John; yet was it not easy to get quit of him, so potent was he
grown by his wicked practices. He was also supported by many of those eminent
men, who were to be consulted upon all considerable affairs; it was therefore
thought reasonable to oblige him to give them assurance of his good-will
upon oath; accordingly John took such an oath readily, that he would be
on the people's side, and would not betray any of their counsels or practices
to their enemies, and would assist them in overthrowing those that attacked
them, and that both by his hand and his advice. So Ananus and his party
believed his oath, and did now receive him to their consultations without
further suspicion; nay, so far did they believe him, that they sent him
as their ambassador into the temple to the zealots, with proposals of accommodation;
for they were very desirous to avoid the pollution of the temple as much
as they possibly could, and that no one of their nation should be slain
therein.
14. But now this John, as if his oath had been made to the zealots,
and for confirmation of his good-will to them, and not against them, went
into the temple, and stood in the midst of them, and spake as follows:
That he had run many hazards o, their accounts, and in order to let them
know of every thing that was secretly contrived against them by Ananus
and his party; but that both he and they should be cast into the most imminent
danger, unless some providential assistance were afforded them; for that
Ananus made no longer delay, but had prevailed with the people to send
ambassadors to Vespasian, to invite him to come presently and take the
city; and that he had appointed a fast for the next day against them, that
they might obtain admission into the temple on a religious account, or
gain it by force, and fight with them there; that he did not see how long
they could either endure a siege, or how they could fight against so many
enemies. He added further, that it was by the providence of God he was
himself sent as an ambassador to them for an accommodation; for that Artanus
did therefore offer them such proposals, that he might come upon them when
they were unarmed; that they ought to choose one of these two methods,
either to intercede with those that guarded them, to save their lives,
or to provide some foreign assistance for themselves; that if they fostered
themselves with the hopes of pardon, in case they were subdued, they had
forgotten what desperate things they had done, or could suppose, that as
soon as the actors repented, those that had suffered by them must be presently
reconciled to them; while those that have done injuries, though they pretend
to repent of them, are frequently hated by the others for that sort of
repentance; and that the sufferers, when they get the power into their
hands, are usually still more severe upon the actors; that the friends
and kindred of those that had been destroyed would always be laying plots
against them; and that a large body of people were very angry on account
of their gross breaches of their laws, and [illegal] judicatures, insomuch
that although some part might commiserate them, those would be quite overborne
by the majority.
CHAPTER 4.
THE IDUMEANS BEING SENT FOR BY THE ZEALOTS, CAME IMMEDIATELY
TO JERUSALEM; AND WHEN THEY WERE EXCLUDED OUT OF THE CITY, THEY LAY ALL
NIGHT THERE. JESUS ONE OF THE HIGH PRIESTS MAKES A SPEECH TO THEM; AND
SIMON THE IDUMEAN MAKES A REPLY TO IT.
1. NOW, by this crafty speech, John made the zealots afraid; yet durst
he not directly name what foreign assistance he meant, but in a covert
way only intimated at the Idumeans. But now, that he might particularly
irritate the leaders of the zealots, he calumniated Ananus, that he was
about a piece of barbarity, and did in a special manner threaten them.
These leaders were Eleazar, the son of Simon, who seemed the most plausible
man of them all, both in considering what was fit to be done, and in the
execution of what he had determined upon, and Zacharias, the son of Phalek;
both of whom derived their families from the priests. Now when these two
men had heard, not only the common threatenings which belonged to them
all, but those peculiarly leveled against themselves; and besides, how
Artanus and his party, in order to secure their own dominion, had invited
the Romans to come to them, for that also was part of John's lie; they
hesitated a great while what they should do, considering the shortness
of the time by which they were straitened; because the people were prepared
to attack them very soon, and because the suddenness of the plot laid against
them had almost cut off all their hopes of getting any foreign assistance;
for they might be under the height of their afflictions before any of their
confederates could be informed of it. However, it was resolved to call
in the Idumeans; so they wrote a short letter to this effect: That Ananus
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 their liberty; that there
was but a small time left wherein they might hope for their deliverance;
and that unless they would come immediately to their assistance, they should
themselves be soon in the power of Artanus, and the city would be in the
power of the Romans. They also charged the messengers to tell many more
circumstances to the rulers of the Idumeans. Now there were two active
men proposed for the carrying this message, and such as were able to speak,
and to persuade them that things were in this posture, and, what was a
qualification still more necessary than the former, they were very swift
of foot; for they knew well enough that these would immediately comply
with their desires, as being ever a tumultuous and disorderly nation, always
on the watch upon every motion, delighting in mutations; and upon your
flattering them ever so little, and petitioning them, they soon take their
arms, and put themselves into motion, and make haste to a battle, as if
it were to a feast. There was indeed occasion for quick despatch in the
carrying of this message, in which point the messengers were no way defective.
Both their names were Ananias; and they soon came to the rulers of the
Idumeans.
2. Now these rulers were greatly surprised at the contents of the letter,
and at what those that came with it further told them; whereupon they ran
about the nation like madmen, and made proclamation that the people should
come to war; so a multitude was suddenly got together, sooner indeed than
the time appointed in the proclamation, and every body caught up their
arms, in order to maintain the liberty of their metropolis; and twenty
thousand of them were put into battle-array, and came to Jerusalem, under
four commanders, John, and Jacob the son of Sosas; and besides these were
Simon, the son of Cathlas, and Phineas, the son of Clusothus.
3. Now this exit of the messengers was not known either to Ananus or
to the guards, but the approach of the Idumeans was known to him; for as
he knew of it before they came, he ordered the gates to be shut against
them, and that the walls should be guarded. Yet did not he by any means
think of fighting against them, but, before they came to blows, to try
what persuasions would do. Accordingly, Jesus, the eldest of the high priests
next to Artanus, stood upon the tower that was over against them, and said
thus: "Many troubles indeed, and those of various kinds, have fallen
upon this city, yet in none of them have I so much wondered at her fortune
as now, when you are come to assist wicked men, and this after a manner
very extraordinary; for I see that you are come to support the vilest of
men against us, and this with so great alacrity, as you could hardly put
on the like, in case our metropolis had called you to her assistance against
barbarians. And if I had perceived that your army was composed of men like
unto those who invited them, I had not deemed your attempt so absurd; for
nothing does so much cement the minds of men together as the alliance there
is between their manners. But now for these men who have invited you, if
you were to examine them one by one, every one of them would be found to
have deserved ten thousand deaths; for the very rascality and offscouring
of the whole country, who have spent in debauchery their own substance,
and, by way of trial beforehand, have madly plundered the neighboring villages
and cities, in the upshot of all, have privately run together into this
holy city. They are robbers, who by their prodigious wickedness have profaned
this most sacred floor, and who are to be now seen drinking themselves
drunk in the sanctuary, and expending the spoils of those whom they have
slaughtered upon their unsatiable bellies. As for the multitude that is
with you, one may see them so decently adorned in their armor, as it would
become them to be had their metropolis called them to her assistance against
foreigners. What can a man call this procedure of yours but the sport of
fortune, when he sees a whole nation coming to protect a sink of wicked
wretches? I have for a good while been in doubt what it could possibly
be that should move you to do this so suddenly; because certainly you would
not take on your armor on the behalf of robbers, and against a people of
kin to you, without some very great cause for your so doing. But we have
an item that the Romans are pretended, and that we are supposed to be going
to betray this city to them; for some of your men have lately made a clamor
about those matters, and have said they are come to set their metropolis
free. Now we cannot but admire at these wretches in their devising such
a lie as this against us; for they knew there was no other way to irritate
against us men that were naturally desirous of liberty, and on that account
the best disposed to fight against foreign enemies, but by framing a tale
as if we were going to betray that most desirable thing, liberty. But you
ought to consider what sort of people they are that raise this calumny,
and against what sort of people that calumny is raised, and to gather the
truth of things, not by fictitious speeches, but out of the actions of
both parties; for what occasion is there for us to sell ourselves to the
Romans, while it was in our power not to have revolted from them at the
first, or when we had once revolted, to have returned under their dominion
again, and this while the neighboring countries were not yet laid waste?
whereas it is not an easy thing to be reconciled to the Romans, if we were
desirous of it, now they have subdued Galilee, and are thereby become proud
and insolent; and to endeavor to please them at the time when they are
so near us, would bring such a reproach upon us as were worse than death.
As for myself, indeed, I should have preferred peace with them before death;
but now we have once made war upon them, and fought with them, I prefer
death, with reputation, before living in captivity under them. But further,
whether do they pretend that we, who are the rulers of the people, have
sent thus privately to the Romans, or hath it been done by the common suffrages
of the people? If it be ourselves only that have done it, let them name
those friends of ours that have been sent, as our servants, to manage this
treachery. Hath any one been caught as he went out on this errand, or seized
upon as he came back? Are they in possession of our letters? How could
we be concealed from such a vast number of our fellow citizens, among whom
we are conversant every hour, while what is done privately in the country
is, it seems, known by the zealots, who are but few in number, and under
confinement also, and are not able to come out of the temple into the city.
Is this the first time that they are become sensible how they ought to
be punished for their insolent actions? For while these men were free from
the fear they are now under, there was no suspicion raised that any of
us were traitors. But if they lay this charge against the people, this
must have been done at a public consultation, and not one of the people
must have dissented from the rest of the assembly; in which case the public
fame of this matter would have come to you sooner than any particular indication.
But how could that be? Must there not then have been ambassadors sent to
confirm the agreements? And let them tell us who this ambassador was that
was ordained for that purpose. But this is no other than a pretense of
such men as are loath to die, and are laboring to escape those punishments
that hang over them; for if fate had determined that this city was to be
betrayed into its enemies' hands, no other than these men that accuse us
falsely could have the impudence to do it, there being no wickedness wanting
to complete their impudent practices but this only, that they become traitors.
And now you Idumeans are come hither already with your arms, it is your
duty, in the first place, to be assisting to your metropolis, and to join
with us in cutting off those tyrants that have infringed the rules of our
regular tribunals, that have trampled upon our laws, and made their swords
the arbitrators of right and wrong; for they have seized upon men of great
eminence, and under no accusation, as they stood in the midst of the market-place,
and tortured them with putting them into bonds, and, without bearing to
hear what they had to say, or what supplications they made, they destroyed
them. You may, if you please, come into the city, though not in the way
of war, and take a view of the marks still remaining of what I now say,
and may see the houses that have been depopulated by their rapacious hands,
with those wives and families that are in black, mourning for their slaughtered
relations; as also you may hear their groans and lamentations all the city
over; for there is nobody but hath tasted of the incursions of these profane
wretches, who have proceeded to that degree of madness, as not only to
have transferred their impudent robberies out of the country, and the remote
cities, into this city, the very face and head of the whole nation, but
out of the city into the temple also; for that is now made their receptacle
and refuge, and the fountain-head whence their preparations are made against
us. And this place, which is adored by the habitable world, and honored
by such as only know it by report, as far as the ends of the earth, is
trampled upon by these wild beasts born among ourselves. They now triumph
in the desperate condition they are already in, when they hear that one
people is going to fight against another people, and one city against another
city, and that your nation hath gotten an army together against its own
bowels. Instead of which procedure, it were highly fit and reasonable,
as I said before, for you to join with us in cutting off these wretches,
and in particular to be revenged on them for putting this very cheat upon
you; I mean, for having the impudence to invite you to assist them, of
whom they ought to have stood in fear, as ready to punish them. But if
you have some regard to these men's invitation of you, yet may you lay
aside your arms, and come into the city under the notion of our kindred,
and take upon you a middle name between that of auxiliaries and of enemies,
and so become judges in this case. However, consider what these men will
gain by being called into judgment before you, for such undeniable and
such flagrant crimes, who would not vouchsafe to hear such as had no accusations
laid against them to speak a word for themselves. However, let them gain
this advantage by your coming. But still, if you will neither take our
part in that indignation we have at these men, nor judge between us, the
third thing I have to propose is this, that you let us both alone, and
neither insult upon our calamities, nor abide with these plotters against
their metropolis; for though you should have ever so great a suspicion
that some of us have discoursed with the Romans, it is in your power to
watch the passages into the city; and in case any thing that we have been
accused of is brought to light, then to come and defend your metropolis,
and to inflict punishment on those that are found guilty; for the enemy
cannot prevent you who are so near to the city. But if, after all, none
of these proposals seem acceptable and moderate, do not you wonder that
the gates are shut against you, while you bear your arms about you."
4. Thus spake Jesus; yet did not the multitude of the Idumeans give
any attention to what he said, but were in a rage, because they did not
meet with a ready entrance into the city. The generals also had indignation
at the offer of laying down their arms, and looked upon it as equal to
a captivity, to throw them away at any man's injunction whomsoever. But
Simon, the son of Cathlas, one of their commanders, with much ado quieted
the tumult of his own men, and stood so that the high priests might hear
him, and said 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
(8)
to their own nation, and at the same time 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 own towers, and
enjoin them to throw down their arms which they have taken up for the preservation
of its liberty. And while they will not intrust the guard of our metropolis
to their kindred, profess to make them judges of the differences that are
among them; nay, while they accuse some men of having slain others without
a legal trial, 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 to even all foreigners that came to worship there. We have indeed
come in great haste to you, and to a war against our own countrymen; and
the reason why we have made such haste is this, that we may preserve that
freedom which you are so unhappy as to betray. You have probably been guilty
of the like crimes against those whom you keep in custody, and have, I
suppose, collected together the like plausible pretenses against them also
that you make use of against us; after which you have gotten the mastery
of those within the temple, and keep them in custody, while they are only
taking care of the public affairs. You have also shut the gates of the
city in general against nations that are the most nearly related to you;
and while you give such injurious commands to others, you complain that
you have been tyrannized over by them, and fix the name of unjust governors
upon such as are tyrannized over by yourselves. Who can bear this your
abuse of words, while they have a regard to the contrariety of your actions,
unless you mean this, that those Idumeans do now exclude you out of your
metropolis, whom you exclude from the sacred offices of your own country?
One may indeed justly complain of those that are besieged in the temple,
that when they had courage enough to punish those tyrants whom you call
eminent men, and free from any accusations, because of their being your
companions in wickedness, they did not begin with you, and thereby cut
off beforehand the most dangerous parts of this treason. But if these men
have been more merciful than the public necessity required, we that are
Idumeans will preserve this house of God, and will fight for our common
country, and will oppose by war as well those that attack them from abroad,
as those that betray them from within. Here will we 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."
5. And now did the Idumeans make an acclamation to what Simon had said;
but Jesus went away sorrowful, as seeing that the Idumeans were against
all moderate counsels, and that the city was besieged on both sides. Nor
indeed were the minds of the Idumeans at rest; for they were in a rage
at the injury that had been offered them by their exclusion out of the
city; and when they thought the zealots had been strong, but saw nothing
of theirs to support them, they were in doubt about the matter, and many
of them repented that they had come thither. But the shame that would attend
them in case they returned without doing any thing at all, so far overcame
that their repentance, that they lay all night before the wall, though
in a very bad encampment; for there broke out a prodigious storm in the
night, with the utmost violence, and very strong winds, with the largest
showers of rain, with continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing
concussions and bellowings of the earth, that was in an earthquake. These
things were a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon
men, when the system of the world was put into this disorder; and any one
would guess that these wonders foreshowed some grand calamities that were
coming.
6. Now the opinion of the Idumeans and of the citizens was one and the
same. The Idumeans thought that God was angry at their taking arms, and
that they would not escape punishment for their making war upon their metropolis.
Ananus and his party thought that they had conquered without fighting,
and that God acted as a general for them; but truly they proved both ill
conjectures at what was to come, and made those events to be ominous to
their enemies, while they were themselves to undergo the ill effects of
them; for the Idumeans fenced one another by uniting their bodies into
one band, and thereby kept themselves warm, and connecting their shields
over their heads, were not so much hurt by the rain. But the zealots were
more deeply concerned for the danger these men were in than they were for
themselves, and got together, and looked about them to see whether they
could devise any means of assisting them. The hotter sort of them thought
it best to force their guards with their arms, and after that to fall into
the midst of the city, and publicly open the gates to those that came to
their assistance; as supposing the guards would be in disorder, and give
way at such an unexpected attempt of theirs, especially as the greater
part of them were unarmed and unskilled in the affairs of war; and that
besides the multitude of the citizens would not be easily gathered together,
but confined to their houses by the storm: and that if there were any hazard
in their undertaking, it became them to suffer any thing whatsoever themselves,
rather than to overlook so great a multitude as were miserably perishing
on their account. But the more prudent part of them disapproved of this
forcible method, because they saw not only the guards about them very numerous,
but the walls of the city itself carefully watched, by reason of the Idumeans.
They also supposed that Ananus would be every where, and visit the guards
every hour; which indeed was done upon other nights, but was omitted that
night, not by reason of any slothfulness of Ananus, but by the overbearing
appointment of fate, that so both he might himself perish, and the multitude
of the guards might perish with him; for truly, as the night was far gone,
and the storm very terrible, Ananus gave the guards in the cloisters leave
to go to sleep; while it came into the heads of the zealots to make use
of the saws belonging to the temple, and to cut the bars of the gates to
pieces. The noise of the wind, and that not inferior sound of the thunder,
did here also conspire with their designs, that the noise of the saws was
not heard by the others.
7. So they secretly went out of the temple to the wall of the city,
and made use of their saws, and opened that gate which was over against
the Idumeans. Now at first there came a fear upon the Idumeans themselves,
which disturbed them, as imagining that Ananus and his party were coming
to attack them, so that every one of them had his right hand upon his sword,
in order to defend himself; but they soon came to know who they were that
came to them, and were entered the city. And had the Idumeans then fallen
upon the city, nothing could have hindered them from destroying the people
every man of them, such was the rage they were in at that time; but as
they first of all made haste to get the zealots out of custody, which those
that brought them in earnestly desired them to do, and not to overlook
those for whose sakes they were come, in the midst of their distresses,
nor to bring them into a still greater danger; for that when they had once
seized upon the guards, it would be easy for them to fall upon the city;
but that if the city were once alarmed, they would not then be able to
overcome those guards, because as soon as they should perceive they were
there, they would put themselves in order to fight them, and would hinder
their coming into the temple.
CHAPTER 5.
THE CRUELTY OF THE IDUMEANS WHEN THEY WERE GOTTEN INTO THE
TEMPLE DURING THE STORM; AND OF THE ZEALOTS. CONCERNING THE SLAUGHTER OF
ANANUS, AND JESUS, AND ZACHARIAS; AND HOW THE IDUMEANS RETIRED HOME.
1. THIS advice pleased the Idumeans, and they ascended through the city
to the temple. The zealots were also in great expectation of their coming,
and earnestly waited for them. When therefore these were entering, they
also came boldly out of the inner temple, and mixing themselves among the
Idumeans, they attacked the guards; and some of those that were upon the
watch, but were fallen asleep, they killed as they were asleep; but as
those that were now awakened made a cry, the whole multitude arose, and
in the amazement they were in caught hold of their arms immediately, and
betook themselves to their own defense; and so long as they thought they
were only the zealots who attacked them, they went on boldly, as hoping
to overpower them by their numbers; but when they saw others pressing in
upon them also, they perceived the Idumeans were got in; and the greatest
part of them laid aside their arms, together with their courage, and betook
themselves to lamentations. But some few of the younger sort covered themselves
with their armor, and valiantly received the Idumeans, and for a while
protected the multitude of old men. Others, indeed, gave a signal to those
that were in the city of the calamities they were in; but when these were
also made sensible that the Idumeans were come in, none of them durst come
to their assistance, only they returned the terrible echo of wailing, and
lamented their misfortunes. A great howling of the women was excited also,
and every one of the guards were in danger of being killed. The zealots
also joined in the shouts raised by the Idumeans; and the storm itself
rendered the cry more terrible; nor did the Idumeans spare any body; for
as they are naturally a most barbarous and bloody nation, and had been
distressed by the tempest, they made use of their weapons against those
that had shut the gates against them, and acted in the same manner as to
those that supplicated for their lives, and to those that fought them,
insomuch that they ran through those with their swords who desired them
to remember the relation there was between them, and begged of them to
have regard to their common temple. Now there was at present neither any
place for flight, nor any hope of preservation; but as they were driven
one upon another in heaps, so were they slain. Thus the greater part were
driven together by force, as there was now no place of retirement, and
the murderers were upon them; and, having no other way, threw themselves
down headlong into the city; whereby, in my opinion, they underwent a more
miserable destruction than that which they avoided, because that was a
voluntary one. And now the outer temple was all of it overflowed with blood;
and that day, as it came on, they saw eight thousand five hundred dead
bodies there.
2. But the rage of the Idumeans was not satiated by these slaughters;
but they now betook themselves to the city, and plundered every house,
and slew every one they met; and for the other multitude, they esteemed
it needless to go on with killing them, but they sought for the high priests,
and the generality went with the greatest zeal against them; and as soon
as they caught them they slew them, and then standing upon their dead bodies,
in way of jest, upbraided Ananus with his kindness to the people, and Jesus
with his speech made to them from the wall. Nay, they proceeded to that
degree of impiety, as to cast away their dead bodies without burial, although
the Jews used to take so much care of the burial of men, that they took
down those that were condemned and crucified, and buried them before the
going down of the sun. I should not mistake if I said that the death of
Ananus 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, whereon they saw their high priest, and the procurer of their
preservation, slain in the midst of their city. He was on other accounts
also a venerable, and a very just man; and besides the grandeur of that
nobility, and dignity, and honor of which he was possessed, he had been
a lover of a kind of parity, even with regard to the meanest of the people;
|
