1. NOW as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the
objects of their fury, (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done,) Caesar
gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers
standing as were of the greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the
wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in
garrison, as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well
fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the
ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe
it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for
innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind. (1)

2. But Caesar resolved to leave there, as a guard, the tenth legion, with certain troops of horsemen, and companies
of footmen. So, having entirely completed this war, he was desirous to commend his whole army, on account of the
great exploits they had performed, and to bestow proper rewards on such as had signalized themselves therein. He
had therefore a great tribunal made for him in the midst of the place where he had formerly encamped, and stood
upon it with his principal commanders about him, and spake so as to be heard by the whole arrmy in the manner
following: That he returned them abundance of thanks for their good-will which they had showed to him: he
commended them for that ready obedience they had exhibited in this whole war, which obedience had appeared in
the many and great dangers which they had courageously undergone; as also for that courage they had shown, and
had thereby augmented of themselves their country's power, and had made it evident to all men, that neither the
multitude of their enemies, nor the strength of their places, nor the largeness of their cities, nor the rash boldness
and brutish rage of their antagonists, were sufficient at any time to get clear of the Roman valor, although some of
them may have fortune in many respects on their side. He said further, that it was but reasonable for them to put an
end to this war, now it had lasted so long, for that they had nothing better to wish for when they entered into it; and
that this happened more favorably for them, and more for their glory, that all the Romans had willingly accepted of
those for their governors, and the curators of their dominions, whom they had chosen for them, and had sent into
their own country for that purpose, which still continued under the management of those whom they had pitched on,
and were thankful to them for pitching upon them. That accordingly, although he did both admire and tenderly
regard them all, because he knew that every one of them had gone as cheerfully about their work as their abilities
and opportunities would give them leave; yet, he said, that he would immediately bestow rewards and dignities on
those that had fought the most bravely, and with greater force, and had signalized their conduct in the most glorious
manner, and had made his army more famous by their noble exploits; and that no one who had been willing to take
more pains than another should miss of a just retribution for the same; for that he had been exceeding careful about
this matter, and that the more, because he had much rather reward the virtues of his fellow soldiers than punish
such as had offended.

3. Hereupon Titus ordered those whose business it was to read the list of all that had performed great exploits in
this war, whom he called to him by their names, and commended them before the company, and rejoiced in them in
the same manner as a man would have rejoiced in his own exploits. He also put on their heads crowns of gold, and
golden ornaments about their necks, and gave them long spears of gold,. and ensigns that were made of silver, and
removed every one of them to a higher rank; and besides this, he plentifully distributed among them, out of the
spoils, and the other prey they had taken, silver, and gold, and garments. So when they had all these honors
bestowed on them, according to his own appointment made to every one, and he had wished all sorts of happiness to
the whole army, he came down, among the great acclamations which were made to him, and then betook himself to
offer thank-offerings [to the gods], and at once sacrificed a vast number of oxen, that stood ready at the altars, and
distributed them among the army to feast on. And when he had staid three days among the principal commanders,
and so long feasted with them, he sent away the rest of his army to the several places where they would be every
one best situated; but permitted the tenth legion to stay, as a guard at Jerusalem, and did not send them away
beyond Euphrates, where they had been before. And as he remembered that the twelfth legion had given way to the
Jews, under Cestius their general, he expelled them out of all Syria, for they had lain formerly at Raphanea, and
sent them away to a place called Meletine, near Euphrates, which is in the limits of Armenia and Cappadocia; he
also thought fit that two of the legions should stay with him till he should go to Egypt. He then went down with his
army to that Cesarea which lay by the sea-side, and there laid up the rest of his spoils in great quantities, and gave
order that the captives should he kept there; for the winter season hindered him then from sailing into Italy.

1. NOW at the same time that Titus Caesar lay at the siege of Jerusalem, did Vespasian go on board a
merchantship and sailed from Alexandria to Rhodes; whence he sailed away ,in ships with three rows of oars; and
as he touched at several cities that lay in his road, he was joyfully received by them all, and so passed over from
Ionia into Greece; whence he set sail from Corcyra to the promontory of Iapyx, whence he took his journey by land.
But as for Titus, he marched from that Cesarea which lay by the sea-side, and came to that which is named
Cesarea Philippi, and staid there a considerable time, and exhibited all sorts of shows there. And here a great
number of the captives were destroyed, some being thrown to wild beasts, and others in multitudes forced to kill
one another, as if they were their enemies. And here it was that Titus was informed of the seizure of Simon the son
of Gioras, which was made after the manner following: This Simon, during the siege of Jerusalem, was in the upper
city; but when the Roman army was gotten within the walls, and were laying the city waste, he then took the most
faithful of his friends with him, and among them some that were stone-cutters, with those iron tools which belonged
to their occupation, and as great a quantity of provisions as would suffice them for a long time, and let himself and
all them down into a certain subterraneous cavern that was not visible above ground. Now, so far as had been
digged of old, they went onward along it without disturbance; but where they met with solid earth, they dug a mine
under ground, and this in hopes that they should be able to proceed so far as to rise from under ground in a safe
place, and by that means escape. But when they came to make the experiment, they were disappointed of their
hope; for the miners could make but small progress, and that with difficulty also; insomuch that their provisions,
though they distributed them by measure, began to fail them. And now Simon, thinking he might be able to astonish
and elude the Romans, put on a white frock, and buttoned upon him a purple cloak, and appeared out of the ground
in the place where the temple had formerly been. At the first, indeed, those that saw him were greatly astonished,
and stood still where they were; but afterward they came nearer to him, and asked him who he was. Now Simon
would not tell them, but bid them call for their captain; and when they ran to call him, Terentius Rufus (2) who was
left to command the army there, came to Simon, and learned of him the whole truth, and kept him in bonds, and let
Caesar know that he was taken. Thus did God bring this man to be punished for what bitter and savage tyranny he
had exercised against his countrymen by those who were his worst enemies; and this while he was not subdued by
violence, but voluntarily delivered himself up to them to be punished, and that on the very same account that he had
laid false accusations against many Jews, as if they were falling away to the Romans, and had barbarously slain
them for wicked actions do not escape the Divine anger, nor is justice too weak to punish offenders, but in time
overtakes those that transgress its laws, and inflicts its punishments upon the wicked in a manner, so much more
severe, as they expected to escape it on account of their not being punished immediately. (3) Simon was made
sensible of this by falling under the indignation of the Romans. This rise of his out of the ground did also occasion
the discovery of a great number of others Of the seditious at that time, who had hidden themselves under ground.
But for Simon, he was brought to Caesar in bonds, when he was come back to that Cesarea which was on the
seaside, who gave orders that he should be kept against that triumph which he was to celebrate at Rome upon this
occasion.

1. WHILE Titus was at Cesarea, he solemnized the birthday of his brother Domitian] after a splendid manner, and
inflicted a great deal of the punishment intended for the Jews in honor of him; for the number of those that were
now slain in fighting with the beasts, and were burnt, and fought with one another, exceeded two thousand five
hundred. Yet did all this seem to the Romans, when they were thus destroyed ten thousand several ways, to be a
punishment beneath their deserts. After this Caesar came to Berytus, (4) which is a city of Phoenicia, and a Roman
colony, and staid there a longer time, and exhibited a still more pompous solemnity about his father's birthday, both
in the magnificence of the shows, and in the other vast expenses he was at in his devices thereto belonging; so that
a great multitude of the captives were here destroyed after the same manner as before.

2. It happened also about this time, that the Jews who remained at Antioch were under accusations, and in danger
of perishing, from the disturbances that were raised against them by the Antiochians; and this both on account of
the slanders spread abroad at this time against them, and on account of what pranks they had played not long
before; which I am obliged to describe without fail, though briefly, that I may the better connect my narration of
future actions with those that went before.

3. For as the Jewish nation is widely dispersed over all the habitable earth among its inhabitants, so it is very much
intermingled with Syria by reason of its neighborhood, and had the greatest multitudes in Antioch by reason of the
largeness of the city, wherein the kings, after Antiochus, had afforded them a habitation with the most undisturbed
tranquillity; for though Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, laid Jerusalem waste, and spoiled the temple, yet did
those that succeeded him in the kingdom restore all the donations that were made of brass to the Jews of Antioch,
and dedicated them to their synagogue, and granted them the enjoyment of equal privileges of citizens with the
Greeks themselves; and as the succeeding kings treated them after the same manner, they both multiplied to a
great number, and adorned their temple gloriously by fine ornaments, and with great magnificence, in the use of
what had been given them. They also made proselytes of a great many of the Greeks perpetually, and thereby after
a sort brought them to be a portion of their own body. But about this time when the present war began, and
Vespasian was newly sailed to Syria, and all men had taken up a great hatred against the Jews, then it was that a
certain person, whose name was Antiochus, being one of the Jewish nation, and greatly respected on account of his
father, who was governor of the Jews at Antioch (5) came upon the theater at a time when the people of Antioch
were assembled together, and became an informer against his father, and accused both him and others that they
had resolved to burn the whole city in one night; he also delivered up to them some Jews that were foreigners, as
partners in their resolutions. When the people heard this, they could not refrain their passion, but commanded that
those who were delivered up to them should have fire brought to burn them, who were accordingly all burnt upon
the theater immediately. They did also fall violently upon the multitude of the Jews, as supposing that by punishing
them suddenly they should save their own city. As for Antiochus, he aggravated the rage they were in, and thought
to give them a demonstration of his own conversion, arm of his hatred of the Jewish customs, by sacrificing after
the manner of the Greeks; he persuaded the rest also to compel them to do the same, because they would by that
means discover who they were that had plotted against them, since they would not do so; and when the people of
Antioch tried the experiment, some few complied, but those that would not do so were slain. As for Ailtiochus
himself, he obtained soldiers from the Roman commander, and became a severe master over his own citizens, not
permitting them to rest on the seventh day, but forcing them to do all that they usually did on other days; and to
that degree of distress did he reduce them in this matter, that the rest of the seventh day was dissolved not only at
Antioch, but the same thing which took thence its rise was done in other cities also, in like manner, for some small
time.

4. Now, after these misfortunes had happened to the Jews at Antioch, a second calamity befell them, the
description of which when we were going about we premised the account foregoing; for upon this accident, whereby
the four-square market-place was burnt down, as well as the archives, and the place where the public records were
preserved, and the royal palaces, (and it was not without difficulty that the fire was then put a stop to, which was
likely, by the fury wherewith it was carried along, to have gone over the whole city,) Antiochus accused the Jews as
the occasion of all the mischief that was done. Now this induced the people of Antioch, who were now under the
immediate persuasion, by reason of the disorder they were in, that this calumny was true, and would have been
under the same persuasion, even though they had not borne an ill-will at the Jews before, to believe this man's
accusation, especially when they considered what had been done before, and this to such a degree, that they all fell
violently upon those that were accused, and this, like madmen, in a very furious rage also, even as if they had seen
the Jews in a manner setting fire themselves to the city; nor was it without difficulty that one Cneius Collegas, the
legate, could prevail with them to permit the affairs to be laid before Caesar; for as to Cesennius Petus, the
president of Syria, Vespasian had already sent him away; and so it happened that he was not yet come back thither.
But when Collegas had made a careful inquiry into the matter, he found out the truth, and that not one of those
Jews that were accused by Antiochus had any hand in it, but that all was done by some vile persons greatly in debt,
who supposed that if they could once set fire to the market-place, and burn the public records, they should have no
further demands made upon them. So the Jews were under great disorder and terror, in the uncertain expectations
of what would be the upshot of these accusations against them.

1. AND now Titus Caesar, upon the news that was brought him concerning his father, that

his coming was much desired by all the Italian cities, and that Rome especially received him with great alacrity and
splendor, betook himself to rejoicing and pleasures to a great degree, as now freed from the solicitude he had been
under, after the most agreeable manner. For all men that were in Italy showed their respects to him in their minds
before he came thither, as if he were already come, as esteeming the very expectation they had of him to be his
real presence, on account of the great desires they had to see him, and because the good-will they bore him was
entirely free and unconstrained; for it was, desirable thing to the senate, who well remembered the calamities they
had undergone in the late changes of their governors, to receive a governor who was adorned with the gravity of old
age, and with the highest skill in the actions of war, whose advancement would be, as they knew, for nothing else
but for the preservation of those that were to be governed. Moreover, the people had been so harassed by their
civil miseries, that they were still more earnest for his coming immediately, as supposing they should then be firmly
delivered from their calamities, and believed they should then recover their secure tranquillity and prosperity; and
for the soldiery, they had the principal regard to him, for they were chiefly apprized of his great exploits in war; and
since they had experienced the want of skill and want of courage in other commanders, they were very desirous to
be free from that great shame they had undergone by their means, and heartily wished to receive such a prince as
might be a security and an ornament to them. And as this good-will to Vespasian was universal, those that enjoyed
any remarkable dignities could not have patience enough to stay in Rome, but made haste to meet him at a very
great distance from it; nay, indeed, none of the rest could endure the delay of seeing him, but did all pour out of the
city in such crowds, and were so universally possessed with the opinion that it was easier and better for them to go
out than to stay there, that this was the very first time that the city joyfully perceived itself almost empty of its
citizens; for those that staid within were fewer than those that went out. But as soon as the news was come that he
was hard by, and those that had met him at first related with what good humor he received every one that came to
him, then it was that the whole multitude that had remained in the city, with their wives and children, came into the
road, and waited for him there; and for those whom he passed by, they made all sorts of acclamations, on account of
the joy they had to see him, and the pleasantness of his countenance, and styled him their Benefactor and Savior,
and the only person who was worthy to be ruler of the city of Rome. And now the city was like a temple, full of
garlands and sweet odors; nor was it easy for him to come to the royal palace, for the multitude of the people that
stood about him, where yet at last he performed his sacrifices of thanksgiving to his household gods for his safe
return to the city. The multitude did also betake themselves to feasting; which feasts and drink-offerings they
celebrated by their tribes, and their families, and their neighborhoods, and still prayed God to grant that Vespasian,
his sons, and all their posterity, might continue in the Roman government for a very long time, and that his
dominion might be preserved from all opposition. And this was the manner in which Rome so joyfully received
Vespasian, and thence grew immediately into a state of great prosperity.

2. But before this time, and while Vespasian was about Alexandria, and Titus was lying at the siege of Jerusalem, a
great multitude of the Germans were in commotion, and tended to rebellion; and as the Gauls in their neighborhood
joined with them, they conspired together, and had thereby great hopes of success, and that they should free
themselves from the dominion of the Romans. The motives that induced the Germans to this attempt for a revolt,
and for beginning the war, were these: In the first place, the nature [of the people], which was destitute of just
reasonings, and ready to throw themselves rashly into danger, upon small hopes; in the next place, the hatred they
bore to those that were their governors, while their nation had never been conscious of subjection to any but to the
Romans, and that by compulsion only. Besides these motives, it was the opportunity that now offered itself, which
above all the rest prevailed with them so to do; for when they saw the Roman government in a great internal
disorder, by the continual changes of its rulers, and understood that every part of the habitable earth under them
was in an unsettled and tottering condition, they thought this was the best opportunity that couldd afford itself for
themselves to make a sedition, when the state of the Romans was so ill. Classicus (6) also, and Vitellius, two of
their commanders, puffed them up with such hopes. These had for a long time been openly desirous of such an
innovation, and were induced by the present opportunity to venture upon the declaration of their sentiments; the
multitude was also ready; and when these men told them of what they intended to attempt, that news was gladly
received by them. So when a great part of the Germans had agreed to rebel, and the rest were no better disposed,
Vespasian, as guided by Divine Providence, sent letters to Petilius Cerealis, who had formerly had the command of
Germany, whereby he declared him to have the dignity of consul, and commanded him to take upon him the
government of Britain; so he went whither he was ordered to go, and when he was informed of the revolt of the
Germans, he fell upon them as soon as they were gotten together, and put his army in battle-array, and slew a great
number of them in the fight, and forced them to leave off their madness, and to grow wiser; nay, had he not fallen
thus suddenly upon them on the place, it had not been long ere they would however have been brought to
punishment; for as soon as ever the news of their revolt was come to Rome, and Caesar Domitian was made
acquainted with it, he made no delay, even at that his age, when he was exceeding young, but undertook this
weighty affair. He had a courageous mind from his father, and had made greater improvements than belonged to
such an age: accordingly he marched against the barbarians immediately; whereupon their hearts failed them at the
very rumor of his approach, and they submitted themselves to him with fear, and thought it a happy thing that they
were brought under their old yoke again without suffering any further mischiefs. When therefore Domitian had
settled all the affairs of Gaul in such good order, that it would not be easily put into disorder any more, he returned
to Rome with honor and glory, as having performed such exploits as were above his own age, but worthy of so great
a father.

3. At the very same time with the forementioned revolt of the Germans did the bold attempt of the Scythians
against the Romans occur; for those Scythians who are called Sarmatians, being a very numerous people,
transported themselves over the Danube into Mysia, without being perceived; after which, by their violence, and
entirely unexpected assault, they slew a great many of the Romans that guarded the frontiers; and as the consular
legate Fonteius Agrippa came to meet them, and fought courageously against them, he was slain by them. They
then overran all the region that had been subject to him, tearing and rending every thing that fell in their way. But
when Vespasian was informed of what had happened, and how Mysia was laid waste, he sent away Rubrius Gallus
to punish these Sarmatians; by whose means many of them perished in the battles he fought against them, and that
part which escaped fled with fear to their own country. So when this general had put an end to the war, he provided
for the future security of the country also; for he placed more and more numerous garrisons in the place, till he
made it altogether impossible for the barbarians to pass over the river any more. And thus had this war in Mysia a
sudden conclusion.

CHAPTER V

CONCERNING THE SABBATIC RIVER WHICH TITUS SAW AS HE WAS JOURNEYING THROUGH SYRIA; AND HOW THE PEOPLE OF ANTIOCH CAME WITH A PETITION TO TITUS AGAINST THE JEWS BUT WERE REJECTED BY HIM; AS ALSO CONCERNING TITUS'S AND VESPASIAN'S TRIUMPH

1. NOW Titus Caesar tarried some time at Berytus, as we told you before. He thence removed, and exhibited
magnificent shows in all those cities of Syria through which he went, and made use of the captive Jews as public
instances of the destruction of that nation. He then saw a river as he went along, of such a nature as deserves to be
recorded in history; it runs in the middle between Arcea, belonging to Agrippa's kingdom, and Raphanea. It hath
somewhat very peculiar in it; for when it runs, its current is strong, and has plenty of water; after which its springs
fail for six days together, and leave its channel dry, as any one may see; after which days it runs on the seventh
day as it did before, and as though it had undergone no change at all; it hath also been observed to keep this order
perpetually and exactly; whence it is that they call it the Sabbatic River (7) that name being taken from the sacred
seventh day among the Jews.

2. But when the people of Antioch were informed that Titus was approaching, they were so glad at it, that they could
not keep within their walls, but hasted away to give him the meeting; nay, they proceeded as far as thirty furlongs,
and more, with that intention. These were not the men only, but a multitude of women also with their children did
the same; and when they saw him coming up to them, they stood on both sides of the way, and stretched out their
right hands, saluting him, and making all sorts of acclamations to him, and turned back together with him. They
also, among all the acclamations they made to him, besought him all the way they went to eject the Jews out of their
city; yet did not Titus at all yield to this their petition, but gave them the bare hearing of it quietly. However, the
Jews were in a great deal of terrible fear, under the uncertainty they were in what his opinion was, and what he
would do to them. For Titus did not stay at Antioch, but continued his progress immediately to Zeugma, which lies
upon the Euphrates, whither came to him messengers from Vologeses king of Parthia, and brought him a crown of
gold upon the victory he had gained over the Jews; which he accepted of, and feasted the king's messengers, and
then came back to Antioch. And when the senate and people of Antioch earnestly entreated him to come upon their
theater, where their whole multitude was assembled, and expected him, he complied with great humanity; but when
they pressed him with much earnestness, and continually begged of him that he would eject the Jews out of their
city, he gave them this very pertinent answer: How can this be done, since that country of theirs, whither the Jews
must be obliged then to retire, is destroyed, and no place will receive them besides?" Whereupon the people of
Antioch, when they had failed of success in this their first request, made him a second; for they desired that he
would order those tables of brass to be removed on which the Jews' privileges were engraven. However, Titus
would not grant that neither, but permitted the Jews of Antioch to continue to enjoy the very same privileges in that
city which they had before, and then departed for Egypt; and as he came to Jerusalem in his progress, and
compared the melancholy condition he saw it then in, with the ancient glory of the city, and called to mind the
greatness of its present ruins, as well as its ancient splendor, he could not but pity the destruction of the city, so far
was he from boasting that so great and goodly a city as that was had been by him taken by force; nay, he frequently
cursed those that had been the authors of their revolt, and had brought such a punishment upon the city; insomuch
that it openly appeared that he did not desire that such a calamity as this punishment of theirs amounted to should
be a demonstration of his courage. Yet was there no small quantity of the riches that had been in that city still found
among its ruins, a great deal of which the Romans dug up; but the greatest part was discovered by those who were
captives, and so they carried it away; I mean the gold and the silver, and the rest of that most precious furniture
which the Jews had, and which the owners had treasured up under ground, against the uncertain fortunes of war.

3. So Titus took the journey he intended into Egypt, and passed over the desert very suddenly, and came to
Alexandria, and took up a resolution to go to Rome by sea. And as he was accompanied by two legions, he sent
each of them again to the places whence they had before come; the fifth he sent to Mysia, and the fifteenth to
Pannonia: as for the leaders of the captives, Simon and John, with the other seven hundred men, whom he had
selected out of the rest as being eminently tall and handsome of body, he gave order that they should be soon
carried to Italy, as resolving to produce them in his triumph. So when he had had a prosperous voyage to his mind,
the city of Rome behaved itself in his reception, and their meeting him at a distance, as it did in the case of his
father. But what made the most splendid appearance in Titus's opinion was, when his father met him, and received
him; but still the multitude of the citizens conceived the greatest joy when they saw them all three together, (8) as
they did at this time; nor were many days overpast when they determined to have but one triumph, that should be
common to both of them, on account of the glorious exploits they had performed, although the senate had decreed
each of them a separate triumph by himself. So when notice had been given beforehand of the day appointed for
this pompous solemnity to be made, on account of their victories, not one of the immense multitude was left in the
city, but every body went out so far as to gain only a station where they might stand, and left only such a passage
as was necessary for those that were to be seen to go along it.

4. Now all the soldiery marched out beforehand by companies, and in their several ranks, under their several
commanders, in the night time, and were about the gates, not of the upper palaces, but those near the temple of
Isis; for there it was that the emperors had rested the foregoing night. And as soon as ever it was day, Vespasian
and Titus came out crowned with laurel, and clothed in those ancient purple habits which were proper to their
family, and then went as far as Octavian's Walks; for there it was that the senate, and the principal rulers, and
those that had been recorded as of the equestrian order, waited for them. Now a tribunal had been erected before
the cloisters, and ivory chairs had been set upon it, when they came and sat down upon them. Whereupon the
soldiery made an acclamation of joy to them immediately, and all gave them attestations of their valor; while they
were themselves without their arms, and only in their silken garments, and crowned with laurel: then Vespasian
accepted of these shouts of theirs; but while they were still disposed to go on in such acclamations, he gave them a
signal of silence. And when every body entirely held their peace, he stood up, and covering the greatest part of his
head with his cloak, he put up the accustomed solemn prayers; the like prayers did Titus put up also; after which
prayers Vespasian made a short speech to all the people, and then sent away the soldiers to a dinner prepared for
them by the emperors. Then did he retire to that gate which was called the Gate of the Pomp, because pompous
shows do always go through that gate; there it was that they tasted some food, and when they had put on their
triumphal garments, and had offered sacrifices to the gods that were placed at the gate, they sent the triumph
forward, and marched through the theatres, that they might be the more easily seen by the multitudes.

5. Now it is impossible to describe the multitude of the shows as they deserve, and the magnificence of them all;
such indeed as a man could not easily think of as performed, either by the labor of workmen, or the variety of
riches, or the rarities of nature; for almost all such curiosities as the most happy men ever get by piece-meal were
here one heaped on another, and those both admirable and costly in their nature; and all brought together on that
day demonstrated the vastness of the dominions of the Romans; for there was here to be seen a mighty quantity of
silver, and gold, and ivory, contrived into all sorts of things, and did not appear as carried along in pompous show
only, but, as a man may say, running along like a river. Some parts were composed of the rarest purple hangings,
and so carried along; and others accurately represented to the life what was embroidered by the arts of the
Babylonians. There were also precious stones that were transparent, some set in crowns of gold, and some in other
ouches, as the workmen pleased; and of these such a vast number were brought, that we could not but thence learn
how vainly we imagined any of them to be rarities. The images of the gods were also carried, being as well
wonderful for their largeness, as made very artificially, and with great skill of the workmen; nor were any of these
images of any other than very costly materials; and many species of animals were brought, every one in their own
natural ornaments. The men also who brought every one of these shows were great multitudes, and adorned with
purple garments, all over interwoven with gold; those that were chosen for carrying these pompous shows having
also about them such magnificent ornaments as were both extraordinary and surprising. Besides these, one might
see that even the great number of the captives was not unadorned, while the variety that was in their garments, and
their fine texture, concealed from the sight the deformity of their bodies. But what afforded the greatest surprise of
all was the structure of the pageants that were borne along; for indeed he that met them could not but be afraid that
the bearers would not be able firmly enough to support them, such was their magnitude; for many of them were so
made, that they were on three or even four stories, one above another. The magnificence also of their structure
afforded one both pleasure and surprise; for upon many of them were laid carpets of gold. There was also wrought
gold and ivory fastened about them all; and many resemblances of the war, and those in several ways, and variety
of contrivances, affording a most lively portraiture of itself. For there was to be seen a happy country laid waste,
and entire squadrons of enemies slain; while some of them ran away, and some were carried into captivity; with
walls of great altitude and magnitude overthrown and ruined by machines; with the strongest fortifications taken,
and the walls of most populous cities upon the tops of hills seized on, and an army pouring itself within the walls; as
also every place full of slaughter, and supplications of the enemies, when they were no longer able to lift up their
hands in way of opposition. Fire also sent upon temples was here represented, and houses overthrown, and falling
upon their owners: rivers also, after they came out of a large and melancholy desert, ran down, not into a land
cultivated, nor as drink for men, or for cattle, but through a land still on fire upon every side; for the Jews related
that such a thing they had undergone during this war. Now the workmanship of these representations was so
magnificent and lively in the construction of the things, that it exhibited what had been done to such as did not see
it, as if they had been there really present. On the top of every one of these pageants was placed the commander of
the city that was taken, and the manner wherein he was taken. Moreover, there followed those pageants a great
number of ships; and for the other spoils, they were carried in great plenty. But for those that were taken in the
temple of Jerusalem, (9) they made the greatest figure of them all; that is, the golden table, of the weight of many
talents; the candlestick also, that was made of gold, though its construction were now changed from that which we
made use of; for its middle shaft was fixed upon a basis, and the small branches were produced out of it to a great
length, having the likeness of a trident in their position, and had every one a socket made of brass for a lamp at the
tops of them. These lamps were in number seven, and represented the dignity of the number seven among the
Jews; and the last of all the spoils, was carried the Law of the Jews. After these spoils passed by a great many
men, carrying the images of Victory, whose structure was entirely either of ivory or of gold. After which Vespasian
marched in the first place, and Titus followed him; Domitian also rode along with them, and made a glorious
appearance, and rode on a horse that was worthy of admiration.

6. Now the last part of this pompous show was at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, whither when they were come,
they stood still; for it was the Romans' ancient custom to stay till somebody brought the news that the general of
the enemy was slain. This general was Simon, the son of Gioras, who had then been led in this triumph among the
captives; a rope had also been put upon his head, and he had been drawn into a proper place in the forum, and had
withal been tormented by those that drew him along; and the law of the Romans required that malefactors
condemned to die should be slain there. Accordingly, when it was related that there was an end of him, and all the
people had set up a shout for joy, they then began to offer those sacrifices which they had consecrated, in the
prayers used in such solemnities; which when they had finished, they went away to the palace. And as for some of
the spectators, the emperors entertained them at their own feast; and for all the rest there were noble preparations
made for feasting at home; for this was a festival day to the city of Rome, as celebrated for the victory obtained by
their army over their enemies, for the end that was now put to their civil miseries, and for the commencement of
their hopes of future prosperity and happiness.

7. After these triumphs were over, and after the affairs of the Romans were settled on the surest foundations,
Vespasian resolved to build a temple to Peace, which was finished in so short a time, and in so glorious a manner,
as was beyond all human expectation and opinion: for he having now by Providence a vast quantity of wealth,
besides what he had formerly gained in his other exploits, he had this temple adorned with pictures and statues; for
in this temple were collected and deposited all such rarities as men aforetime used to wander all over the habitable
world to see, when they had a desire to see one of them after another; he also laid up therein those golden vessels
and instruments that were taken out of the Jewish temple, as ensigns of his glory. But still he gave order that they
should lay up their Law, and the purple veils of the holy place, in the royal palace itself, and keep them there.

1. NOW Lucilius Bassus was sent as legate into Judea, and there he received the army from Cerealis Vitellianus,
and took that citadel which was in Herodium, together with the garrison that was in it; after which he got together
all the soldiery that was there, (which was a large body, but dispersed into several parties,) with the tenth legion,
and resolved to make war upon Macherus; for it was highly necessary that this citadel should be demolished, lest it
might be a means of drawing away many into a rebellion, by reason of its strength; for the nature of the place was
very capable of affording the surest hopes of safety to those that possessed it, as well as delay and fear to those
that should attack it; for what was walled in was itself a very rocky hill, elevated to a very great height; which
circumstance alone made it very hard to he subdued. It was also so contrived by nature, that it could not be easily
ascended; for it is, as it were, ditched about with such valleys on all sides, and to such a depth, that the eye cannot
reach their bottoms, and such as are not easily to be passed over, and even such as it is impossible to fill up with
earth. For that valley which cuts it on the west extends to threescore furlongs, and did not end till it came to the
lake Asphaltitis; on the same side it was also that Macherus had the tallest top of its hill elevated above the rest.
But then for the valleys that lay on the north and south sides, although they be not so large as that already
described, yet it is in like manner an impracticable thing to think of getting over them; and for the valley that lies
on the east side, its depth is found to be no less than a hundred cubits. It extends as far as a mountain that lies over
against Macherus, with which it is bounded.

2. Now when Alexander [Janneus], the king of the Jews, observed the nature of this place, he was the first who built
a citadel here, which afterwards was demolished by Gabinius, when he made war against Aristobulus. But when
Herod came to be king, he thought the place to be worthy of the utmost regard, and of being built upon in the
firmest manner, and this especially because it lay so near to Arabia; for it is seated in a convenient place on that
account, and hath a prospect toward that country; he therefore surrounded a large space of ground with walls and
towers, and built a city there, out of which city there was a way that led up to the very citadel itself on the top of the
mountain; nay, more than this, he built a wall round that top of the hill, and erected towers at the corners, of a
hundred and sixty cubits high; in the middle of which place he built a palace, after a magnificent manner, wherein
were large and beautiful edifices. He also made a great many reservoirs for the reception of water, that there might
be plenty of it ready for all uses, and those in the properest places that were afforded him there. Thus did he, as it
were, contend with the nature of the place, that he might exceed its natural strength and security (which yet itself
rendered it hard to be taken) by those fortifications which were made by the hands of men. Moreover, he put a
large quantity of darts and other machines of war into it, and contrived to get every thing thither that might any way
contribute to its inhabitants' security, under the longest siege possible.

3. Now within this place there grew a sort of rue (10) that deserves our wonder on account of its largeness, for it
was no way inferior to any fig tree whatsoever, either in height or in thickness; and the report is, that it had lasted
ever since the times of Herod, and would probably have lasted much longer, had it not been cut down by those Jews
who took possession of the place afterward. But still in that valley which encompasses the city on the north side
there is a certain place called Baaras, which produces a root of the same name with itself (11) its color is like to
that of flame, and towards the evenings it sends out a certain ray like lightning. It is not easily taken by such as
would do it, but recedes from their hands, nor will yield itself to be taken quietly, until either the urine of a woman,
or her menstrual blood, be poured upon it; nay, even then it is certain death to those that touch it, unless any one
take and hang the root itself down from his hand, and so carry it away. It may also be taken another way, without
danger, which is this: they dig a trench quite round about it, till the hidden part of the root be very small, they then
tie a dog to it, and when the dog tries hard to follow him that tied him, this root is easily plucked up, but the dog dies
immediately, as if it were instead of the man that would take the plant away; nor after this need any one be afraid
of taking it into their hands. Yet, after all this pains in getting, it is only valuable on account of one virtue it hath,
that if it be only brought to sick persons, it quickly drives away those called demons, which are no other than the
spirits of the wicked, that enter into men that are alive and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against
them. Here are also fountains of hot water, that flow out of this place, which have a very different taste one from
the other; for some of them are bitter, and others of them are plainly sweet. Here are also many eruptions of cold
waters, and this not only in the places that lie lower, and have their fountains near one another, but, what is still
more wonderful, here is to be seen a certain cave hard by, whose cavity is not deep, but it is covered over by a rock
that is prominent; above this rock there stand up two [hills or] breasts, as it were, but a little distant one from
another, the one of which sends out a fountain that is very cold, and the other sends out one that is very hot; which
waters, when they are mingled together, compose a most pleasant bath; they are medicinal indeed for other
maladies, but especially good for strengthening the nerves. This place has in it also mines of sulfur and alum.

4. Now when Bassus had taken a full view of this place, he resolved to besiege it, by filling up the valley that lay on
the east side; so he fell hard to work, and took great pains to raise his banks as soon as possible, and by that
means to render the siege easy. As for the Jews that were caught in this place, they separated themselves from the
strangers that were with them, and they forced those strangers, as an otherwise useless multitude, to stay in the
lower part of the city, and undergo the principal dangers, while they themselves seized on the upper citadel, and
held it, and this both on account of its strength, and to provide for their own safety. They also supposed they might
obtain their pardon, in case they should [at last] surrender the citadel. However, they were willing to make trial, in
the first place, whether the hopes they had of avoiding a siege would come to any thing; with which intention they
made sallies every day, and fought with those that met them; in which conflicts they were many of them slain, as
they therein slew many of the Romans. But still it was the opportunities that presented themselves which chiefly
gained both sides their victories; these were gained by the Jews, when they fell upon the Romans as they were off
their guard; but by the Romans, when, upon the others' sallies against their banks, they foresaw their coming, and
were upon their lard when they received them. But the conclusion of this siege did not depend upon these
bickerings; but a certain surprising accident, relating to what was done in this siege, forced the Jews to surrender
the citadel. There was a certain young man among the besieged, of great boldness, and very active of his hand, his
name was Eleazar; he greatly signalized himself in those sallies, and encouraged the Jews to go out in great
numbers, in order to hinder the raising of the banks, and did the Romans a vast deal of mischief when they came to
fighting; he so managed matters, that those who sallied out made their attacks easily, and returned back without
danger, and this by still bringing up the rear himself. Now it happened that, on a certain time, when the fight was
over, and both sides were parted, and retired home, he, in way of contempt of the enemy, and thinking that none of
them would begin the fight again at that time, staid without the gates, and talked with those that were upon the wall,
and his mind was wholly intent upon what they said. Now a certain person belonging to the Roman camp, whose
lame was Rufus, by birth an Egyptian, ran upon him suddenly, when nobody expected such a thing, and carried him
off, with his armor itself; while, in the mean time, those that saw it from the wall were under such an amazement,
that Rufus prevented their assistance, and carried Eleazar to the Roman camp. So the general of the Romans
ordered that he should be taken up naked, set before the city to be seen, and sorely whipped before their eyes.
Upon this sad accident that befell the young man, the Jews were terribly confounded, and the city, with one voice,
sorely lamented him, and the mourning proved greater than could well be supposed upon the calamity of a single
person. When Bassus perceived that, he began to think of using a stratagem against the enemy, and was desirous
to aggravate their grief, in order to prevail with them to surrender the city for the preservation of that man. Nor did
he fail of his hope; for he commanded them to set up a cross, as if he were just going to hang Eleazar upon it
immediately; the sight of this occasioned a sore grief among those that were in the citadel, and they groaned
vehemently, and cried out that they could not bear to see him thus destroyed. Whereupon Eleazar besought them
not to disregard him, now he was going to suffer a most miserable death, and exhorted them to save themselves, by
yielding to the Roman power and good fortune, since all other people were now conquered by them. These men
were greatly moved with what he said, there being also many within the city that interceded for him, because he was
of an eminent and very numerous family; so they now yielded to their passion of commiseration, contrary to their
usual custom. Accordingly, they sent out immediately certain messengers, and treated with the Romans, in order to
a surrender of the citadel to them, and desired that they might be permitted to go away, and take Eleazar along with
them. Then did the Romans and their general accept of these terms; while the multitude of strangers that were in
the lower part of the city, hearing of the agreement that was made by the Jews for themselves alone, were resolved
to fly away privately in the night time; but as soon as they had opened their gates, those that had come to terms
with Bassus told him of it; whether it were that they envied the others' deliverance, or whether it were done out of
fear, lest an occasion should be taken against them upon their escape, is uncertain. The most courageous,
therefore, of those men that went out prevented the enemy, and got away, and fled for it; but for those men that
were caught within they

5. When Bassus had settled these affairs, he marched hastily to the forest of Jarden, as it is called; for he had
heard that a great many of those that had fled from Jerusalem and Macherus formerly were there gotten together.
When he was therefore come to the place, and understood that the former news was no mistake, he, in the first
place, surrounded the whole place with his horsemen, that such of the Jews as had boldness enough to try to break
through might have no way possible for escaping, by reason of the situation of these horsemen; and for the
footmen, he ordered them to cut down the trees that were in the wood whither they were fled. So the Jews were
under a necessity of performing some glorious exploit, and of greatly exposing themselves in a battle, since they
might perhaps thereby escape. So they made a general attack, and with a great shout fell upon those that
surrounded them, who received them with great courage; and so while the one side fought desperately, and the
others would not yield, the fight was prolonged on that account. But the event of the battle did not answer the
expectation of the assailants; for so it happened, that no more than twelve fell on the Roman side, with a few that
were wounded; but not one of the Jews escaped out of this battle, but they were all killed, being in the whole not
fewer in number than three thousand, together with Judas, the son of Jairus, their general, concerning whom we
have before spoken, that he had been a captain of a certain band at the siege of Jerusalem, and by going down into
a certain vault under ground, had privately made his escape.

6. About the same time it was that Caesar sent a letter to Bassus, and to Liberius Maximus, who was the
procurator [of Judea], and gave order that all Judea should be exposed to sale (12) for he did not found any city
there, but reserved the country for himself. However, he assigned a place for eight hundred men only, whom he had
dismissed from his army, which he gave them for their habitation; it is called Emmaus, (13) and is distant from
Jerusalem threescore furlongs. He also laid a tribute upon the Jews wheresoever they were, and enjoined every
one of them to bring two drachmae every year into the Capitol, as they used to pay the same to the temple at
Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jewish affairs at this time.

1. AND now, in the fourth year of the reign of Vespasian, it came to pass that Antiochus, the king of Commagene,
with all his family, fell into very great calamities. The occasion was this: Cesennius Petus, who was president of
Syria at this time, whether it were done out of regard to truth, or whether out of hatred to Antiochus, (for which was
the real motive was never thoroughly discovered,) sent an epistle to Caesar, and therein told him that Antiochus,
with his son Epiphanes, had resolved to rebel against the Romans, and had made a league with the king of Parthia
to that purpose; that it was therefore fit to prevent them, lest they prevent us, and begin such a war as may cause a
general disturbance in the Roman empire. Now Caesar was disposed to take some care about the matter, since this
discovery was made; for the neighborhood of the kingdoms made this affair worthy of greater regard; for
Samoseta, the capital of Commagene, lies upon Euphrates, and upon any such design could afford an easy passage
over it to the Parthians, and could also afford them a secure reception. Petus was accordingly believed, and had
authority given him of doing what he should think proper in the case; so he set about it without delay, and fell upon
Commagene before Antiochus and his people had the least expectation of his coming: he had with him the tenth
legion, as also some cohorts and troops of horsemen. These kings also came to his assistance: Aristobulus, king of
the country called Chalcidene, and Sohemus, who was called king of Emesa. Nor was there any opposition made to
his forces when they entered the kingdom; for no one of that country would so much as lift up his hand against
them. When Antiochus heard this unexpected news, he could not think in the least of making war with the Romans,
but determined to leave his whole kingdom in the state wherein it now was, and to retire privately, with his wife and
children, as thinking thereby to demonstrate himself to the Romans to be innocent as to the accusation laid against
him. So he went away from that city as far as a hundred and twenty furlongs, into a plain, and there pitched his
tents.

2. Petus then sent some of his men to seize upon Samosate, and by their means took possession of that city, while
he went himself to attack Antiochus with the rest of his army. However, the king was not prevailed upon by the
distress he was in to do any thing in the way of war against the Romans, but bemoaned his own hard fate, and
endured with patience what he was not able to prevent. But his sons, who were young, and unexperienced in war,
but of strong bodies, were not easily induced to bear this calamity without fighting. Epiphanes, therefore, and
Callinicus, betook themselves to military force; and as the battle was a sore one, and lasted all the day long, they
showed their own valor in a remarkable manner, and nothing but the approach of night put a period thereto, and
that without any diminution of their forces; yet would not Antiochus, upon this conclusion of the fight, continue there
by any means, but took his wife and his daughters, and fled away with them to Cilicia, and by so doing quite
discouraged the minds of his own soldiers. Accordingly, they revolted, and went over to the Romans, out of the
despair they were in of his keeping the kingdom; and his case was looked upon by all as quite desperate. It was
therefore necessary that Epiphanes and his soldiers should get clear of their enemies before they became entirely
destitute of any confederates; nor were there any more than ten horsemen with him, who passed with him over
Euphrates, whence they went undisturbed to Vologeses, the king of Parthie, where they were not disregarded as
fugitives, but had the same respect paid them as if they had retained their ancient prosperity.

3. Now when Antiochus was come to Tarsus in Cilicia, Petus ordered a centurion to go to him, and send him in
bonds to Rome. However, Vespasian could not endure to have a king brought to him in that manner, but thought it
fit rather to have a regard to the ancient friendship that had been between them, than to preserve an inexorable
anger upon pretense of this war. Accordingly, he gave orders that they should take off his bonds, while he was still
upon the road, and that he should not come to Rome, but should now go and live at Lacedemon; he also gave him
large revenues, that he might not only live in plenty, but like a king also. When Epiphanes, who before was in great
fear for his father, was informed of this, their minds were freed from that great and almost incurable concern they
had been under. He also hoped that Caesar would be reconciled to them, upon the intercession of Vologeses; for
although he lived in plenty, he knew not how to bear living out of the Roman empire. So Caesar gave him leave,
after an obliging manner, and he came to Rome; and as his father came quickly to him from Lacedemon, he had all
sorts of respect paid him there, and there he remained.

4. Now there was a nation of the Alans, which we have formerly mentioned some where as being Scythians and
inhabiting at the lake Meotis. This nation about this time laid a design of falling upon Media, and the parts beyond
it, in order to plunder them; with which intention they treated with the king of Hyrcania; for he was master of that
passage which king Alexander [the Great] shut up with iron gates. This king gave them leave to come through
them; so they came in great multitudes, and fell upon the Medes unexpectedly, and plundered their country, which
they found full of people, and replenished with abundance of cattle, while nobody durst make any resistance against
them; for Paeorus, the king of the country, had fled away for fear into places where they could not easily come at
him, and had yielded up every thing he had to them, and had only saved his wife and his concubines from them, and
that with difficulty also, after they had been made captives, by giving them a hundred talents for their ransom.
These Alans therefore plundered the country without opposition, and with great ease, and proceeded as far as
Armenia, laying all waste before them. Now Tiridates was king of that country, who met them, and fought them, but
had like to have been taken alive in the battle; for a certain man threw a net over him from a great distance, and
had soon drawn him to him, unless he had immediately cut the cord with his sword, and ran away, and prevented it.
So the Alans, being still more provoked by this sight, laid waste the country, and drove a great multitude of the
men, and a great quantity of the other prey they had gotten out of both kingdoms, along with them, and then
retreated back to their own country.

1. WHEN Bassus was dead in Judea, Flavius Silva succeeded him as procurator there; who, when he saw that all
the rest of the country was subdued in this war, and that there was but one only strong hold that was still in
rebellion, he got all his army together that lay in different places, and made an expedition against it. This fortress
was called Masada. It was one Eleazar, a potent man, and the commander of these Sicarii, that had seized upon it.
He was a descendant from that Judas who had persuaded abundance of the Jews, as we have formerly related, not
to submit to the taxation when Cyrenius was sent into Judea to make one; for then it was that the Sicarii got
together against those that were willing to submit to the Romans, and treated them in all respects as if they had
been their enemies, both by plundering them of what they had, by driving away their cattle, and by setting fire to
their houses; for they said that they differed not at all from foreigners, by betraying, in so cowardly a manner, that
freedom which Jews thought worthy to be contended for to the utmost, and by owning that they preferred slavery
under the Romans before such a contention. Now this was in reality no better than a pretense and a cloak for the
barbarity which was made use of by them, and to color over their own avarice, which they afterwards made evident
by their own actions; for those that were partners with them in their rebellion joined also with them in the war
against the Romans, and went further lengths with them in their impudent undertakings against them; and when
they were again convicted of dissembling in such their pretenses, they still more abused those that justly
reproached them for their wickedness. And indeed that was a time most fertile in all manner of wicked practices,
insomuch that no kind of evil deeds were then left undone; nor could any one so much as devise any bad thing that
was new, so deeply were they all infected, and strove with one another in their single capacity, and in their
communities, who should run the greatest lengths in impiety towards God, and in unjust actions towards their
neighbors; the men of power oppressing the multitude, and the multitude earnestly laboring to destroy the men of
power. The one part were desirous of tyrannizing over others, and the rest of offering violence to others, and of
plundering such as were richer than themselves. They were the Sicarii who first began these transgressions, and
first became barbarous towards those allied to them, and left no words of reproach unsaid, and no works of
perdition untried, in order to destroy those whom their contrivances affected. Yet did John demonstrate by his
actions that these Sicarii were more moderate than he was himself, for he not only slew all such as gave him good
counsel to do what was right, but treated them worst of all, as the most bitter enemies that he had among all the
Citizens; nay, he filled his entire country with ten thousand instances of wickedness, such as a man who was already
hardened sufficiently in his impiety towards God would naturally do; for the food was unlawful that was set upon his
table, and he rejected those purifications that the law of his country had ordained; so that it was no longer a wonder
if he, who was so mad in his impiety towards God, did not observe any rules of gentleness and common affection
towards men. Again, therefore, what mischief was there which Simon the son of Gioras did not do? or what kind of
abuses did he abstain from as to those very free-men who had set him up for a tyrant? What friendship or kindred
were there that did not make him more bold in his daily murders? for they looked upon the doing of mischief to
strangers only as a work beneath their courage, but thought their barbarity towards their nearest relations would be
a glorious demonstration thereof. The Idumeans also strove with these men who should be guilty of the greatest
madness! for they [all], vile wretches as they were, cut the throats of the high priests, that so no part of a religious
regard to God. might be preserved; they thence proceeded to destroy utterly the least remains of a political
government, and introduced the most complete scene of iniquity in all instances that were practicable; under which
scene that sort of people that were called zealots grew up, and who indeed corresponded to the name; for they
imitated every wicked work; nor, if their memory suggested any evil thing that had formerly been done, did they
avoid zealously to pursue the same; and although they gave themselves that name from their zeal for what was
good, yet did it agree to them only by way of irony, on account of those they had unjustly treated by their wild and
brutish disposition, or as thinking the greatest mischiefs to be the greatest good. Accordingly, they all met with
such ends as God deservedly brought upon them in way of punishment; for all such miseries have been sent upon
them as man's nature is capable of undergoing, till the utmost period of their lives, and till death came upon them in
various ways of torment; yet might one say justly that they suffered less than they had done, because it was
impossible they could be punished according to their deserving. But to make a lamentation according to the deserts
of those who fell under these men's barbarity, this is not a proper place for it; - I therefore now return again to the
remaining part of the present narration.

2. For now it was that the Roman general came, and led his army against Eleazar and those Sicarii who held the
fortress Masada together with him; and for the whole country adjoining, he presently gained it, and put garrisons
into the most proper places of it; he also built a wall quite round the entire fortress, that none of the besieged might
easily escape; he also set his men to guard the several parts of it; he also pitched his camp in such an agreeable
place as he had chosen for the siege, and at which place the rock belonging to the fortress did make the nearest
approach to the neighboring mountain, which yet was a place of difficulty for getting plenty of provisions; for it was
not only food that was to be brought from a great distance [to the army], and this with a great deal of pain to those
Jews who were appointed for that purpose, but water was also to be brought to the camp, because the place
afforded no fountain that was near it. When therefore Silva had ordered these affairs beforehand, he fell to
besieging the place; which siege was likely to stand in need of a great deal of skill and pains, by reason of the
strength of the fortress, the nature of which I will now describe.

3. There was a rock, not small in circumference, and very high. It was encompassed with valleys of such vast depth
downward, that the eye could not reach their bottoms; they were abrupt, and such as no animal could walk upon,
excepting at two places of the rock, where it subsides, in order to afford a passage for ascent, though not without
difficulty. Now, of the ways that lead to it, one is that from the lake Asphaltiris, towards the sun-rising, and another
on the west, where the ascent is easier: the one of these ways is called the Serpent, as resembling that animal in its
narrowness and its perpetual windings; for it is broken off at the prominent precipices of the rock, and returns
frequently into itself, and lengthening again by little and little, hath much ado to proceed forward; and he that would
walk along it must first go on one leg, and then on the other; there is also nothing but destruction, in case your feet
slip; for on each side there is a vastly deep chasm and precipice, sufficient to quell the courage of every body by
the terror it infuses into the mind. When, therefore, a man hath gone along this way for thirty furlongs, the rest is
the top of the hill - not ending at a small point, but is no other than a plain upon the highest part of the mountain.
Upon this top of the hill, Jonathan the high priest first of all built a fortress, and called it Masada: after which the
rebuilding of this place employed the care of king Herod to a great degree; he also built a wall round about the
entire top of the hill, seven furlongs long; it was composed of white stone; its height was twelve, and its breadth
eight cubits; there were also erected upon that wall thirty-eight towers, each of them fifty cubits high; out of which
you might pass into lesser edifices, which were built on the inside, round the entire wall; for the king reserved the
top of the hill, which was of a fat soil, and better mould than any valley for agriculture, that such as committed
themselves to this fortress for their preservation might not even there be quite destitute of food, in case they
should ever be in want of it from abroad. Moreover, he built a palace therein at the western ascent; it was within
and beneath the walls of the citadel, but inclined to its north side. Now the wall of this palace was very high and
strong, and had at its four corners towers sixty cubits high. The furniture also of the edifices, and of the cloisters,
and of the baths, was of great variety, and very costly; and these buildings were supported by pillars of single
stones on every side; the walls and also the floors of the edifices were paved with stones of several colors. He also
had cut many and great pits, as reservoirs for water, out of the rocks, at every one of the places that were
inhabited, both above and round about the palace, and before the wall; and by this contrivance he endeavored to
have water for several uses, as if there had been fountains there. Here was also a road digged from the palace, and
leading to the very top of the mountain, which yet could not be seen by such as were without [the walls]; nor indeed
could enemies easily make use of the plain roads; for the road on the east side, as we have already taken notice,
could not be walked upon, by reason of its nature; and for the western road, he built a large tower at its narrowest
place, at no less a distance from the top of the hill than a thousand cubits; which tower could not possibly be passed
by, nor could it be easily taken; nor indeed could those that walked along it without any fear (such was its
contrivance) easily get to the end of it; and after such a manner was this citadel fortified, both by nature and by the
hands of men, in order to frustrate the attacks of enemies.

4. As for the furniture that was within this fortress, it was still more wonderful on account of its splendor and long
continuance; for here was laid up corn in large quantities, and such as would subsist men for a long time; here was
also wine and oil in abundance, with all kinds of pulse and dates heaped up together; all which Eleazar found there,
when he and his Sicarii got possession of the fortress by treachery. These fruits were also fresh and full ripe, and
no way inferior to such fruits newly laid in, although they were little short of a hundred years (14) from the laying in
these provisions [by Herod], till the place was taken by the Romans; nay, indeed, when the Romans got possession
of those fruits that were left, they found them not corrupted all that while; nor should we be mistaken, if we
supposed that the air was here the cause of their enduring so long; this fortress being so high, and so free from the
mixture of all terrain and muddy particles of matter. There was also found here a large quantity of all sorts of
weapons of war, which had been treasured up by that king, and were sufficient for ten thousand men; there was east
iron, and brass, and tin, which show that he had taken much pains to have all things here ready for the greatest
occasions; for the report goes how Herod thus prepared this fortress on his own account, as a refuge against two
kinds of danger; the one for fear of the multitude of the Jews, lest they should depose him, and restore their former
kings to the government; the other danger was greater and more terrible, which arose from Cleopatra queen of
Egypt, who did not conceal her intentions, but spoke often to Antony, and desired him to cut off Herod, and
entreated him to bestow the kingdom of Judea upon her. And certainly it is a great wonder that Antony did never
comply with her commands in this point, as he was so miserably enslaved to his passion for her; nor should any one
have been surprised if she had been gratified in such her request. So the fear of these dangers made Herod rebuild
Masada, and thereby leave it for the finishing stroke of the Romans in this Jewish war.

5. Since therefore the Roman commander Silva had now built a wall on the outside, round about this whole place, as
we have said already, and had thereby made a most accurate provision to prevent any one of the besieged running
away, he undertook the siege itself, though he found but one single place that would admit of the banks he was to
raise; for behind that tower which secured the road that led to the palace, and to the top of the hill from the west;
there was a certain eminency of the rock, very broad and very prominent, but three hundred cubits beneath the
highest part of Masada; it was called the White Promontory. Accordingly, he got upon that part of the rock, and
ordered the army to bring earth; and when they fell to that work with alacrity, and abundance of them together, the
bank was raised, and became solid for two hundred cubits in height. Yet was not this bank thought sufficiently high
for the use of the engines that were to be set upon it; but still another elevated work of great stones compacted
together was raised upon that bank; this was fifty cubits, both in breadth and height. The other machines that were
now got ready were like to those that had been first devised by Vespasian, and afterwards by Titus, for sieges.
There was also a tower made of the height of sixty cubits, and all over plated with iron, out of which the Romans
threw darts and stones from the engines, and soon made those that fought from the walls of the place to retire, and
would not let them lift up their heads above the works. At the same time Silva ordered that great battering ram
which he had made to be brought thither, and to be set against the wall, and to make frequent batteries against it,
which with some difficulty broke down a part of the wall, and quite overthrew it. However, the Sicarii made haste,
and presently built another wall within that, which should not be liable to the same misfortune from the machines
with the other; it was made soft and yielding, and so was capable of avoiding the terrible blows that affected the
other. It was framed after the following manner: They laid together great beams of wood lengthways, one close to
the end of another, and the same way in which they were cut: there were two of these rows parallel to one another,
and laid at such a distance from each other as the breadth of the wall required, and earth was put into the space
between those rows. Now, that the earth might not fall away upon the elevation of this bank to a greater height,
they further laid other beams over cross them, and thereby bound those beams together that lay lengthways. This
work of theirs was like a real edifice; and when the machines were applied, the blows were weakened by its
yielding; and as the materials by such concussion were shaken closer together, the pile by that means became
firmer than before. When Silva saw this, he thought it best to endeavor the taking of this wall by setting fire to it; so
he gave order that the soldiers should throw a great number of burning torches upon it: accordingly, as it was
chiefly made of wood, it soon took fire; and when it was once set on fire, its hollowness made that fire spread to a
mighty flame. Now, at the very beginning of this fire, a north wind that then blew proved terrible to the Romans; for
by bringing the flame downward, it drove it upon them, and they were almost in despair of success, as fearing their
machines would be burnt: but after this, on a sudden the wind changed into the south, as if it were done by Divine
Providence, and blew strongly the contrary way, and carried the flame, and drove it against the wall, which was now
on fire through its entire thickness. So the Romans, having now assistance from God, returned to their camp with
joy, and resolved to attack their enemies the very next day; on which occasion they set their watch more carefully
that night, lest any of the Jews should run away from them without being discovered.

6. However, neither did Eleazar once think of flying away, nor would he permit any one else to do so; but when he
saw their wall burned down by the fire, and could devise no other way of escaping, or room for their further
courage, and setting before their eyes what the Romans would do to them, their children, and their wives, if they
got them into their power, he consulted about having them all slain. Now as he judged this to be the best thing they
could do in their present circumstances, he gathered the most courageous of his companions together, and
encouraged them to take that course by a speech (15) which he made to them in the manner following: "Since we,
long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself,
who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in
practice. And let us not at this time bring a reproach upon ourselves for self-contradiction, while we formerly would
not undergo slavery, though it were then without danger, but must now, together with slavery, choose such
punishments also as are intolerable; I mean this, upon the supposition that the Romans once reduce us under their
power while we are alive. We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the last that fight against
them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God hath granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and
in a state of freedom, which hath not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly. It is very plain
that we shall be taken within a day's time; but it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious manner, together with
our dearest friends. This is what our enemies themselves cannot by any means hinder, although they be very
desirous to take us alive. Nor can we propose to ourselves any more to fight them, and beat them. It had been
proper indeed for us to have conjectured at the purpose of God much sooner, and at the very first, when we were so
desirous of defending our liberty, and when we received such sore treatment from one another, and worse
treatment from our enemies, and to have been sensible that the same God, who had of old taken the Jewish nation
into his favor, had now condemned them to destruction; for had he either continued favorable, or been but in a
lesser degree displeased with us, he had not overlooked the destruction of so many men, or delivered his most holy
city to be burnt and demolished by our enemies. To be sure we weakly hoped to have preserved ourselves, and
ourselves alone, still in a state of freedom, as if we had been guilty of no sins ourselves against God, nor been
partners with those of others; we also taught other men to preserve their liberty. Wherefore, consider how God
hath convinced us that our hopes were in vain, by bringing such distress upon us in the desperate state we are now
in, and which is beyond all our expectations; for the nature of this fortress which was in itself unconquerable, hath
not proved a means of our deliverance; and even while we have still great abundance of food, and a great quantity
of arms, and other necessaries more than we want, we are openly deprived by God himself of all hope of
deliverance; for that fire which was driven upon our enemies did not of its own accord turn back upon the wall which
we had built; this was the effect of God's anger against us for our manifold sins, which we have been guilty of in a
most insolent and extravagant manner with regard to our own countrymen; the punishments of which let us not
receive from the Romans, but from God himself, as executed by our own hands; for these will be more moderate
than the other. Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted of slavery; and
after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually, and preserve ourselves in
freedom, as an excellent funeral monument for us. But first let us destroy our money and the fortress by fire; for I
am well assured that this will be a great grief to the Romans, that they shall not be able to seize upon our bodies,
and shall fall of our wealth also; and let us spare nothing but our provisions; for they will be a testimonial when we
are dead that we were not subdued for want of necessaries, but that, according to our original resolution, we have
preferred death before slavery."

7. This was Eleazar's speech to them. Yet did not the opinions of all the auditors acquiesce therein; but although
some of them were very zealous to put his advice in practice, and were in a manner filled with pleasure at it, and
thought death to be a good thing, yet had those that were most effeminate a commiseration for their wives and
families; and when these men were especially moved by the prospect of their own certain death, they looked
wistfully at one another, and by the tears that were in their eyes declared their dissent from his opinion. When
Eleazar saw these people in such fear, and that their souls were dejected at so prodigious a proposal, he was afraid
lest perhaps these effeminate persons should, by their lamentations and tears, enfeeble those that heard what he
had said courageously; so he did not leave off exhorting them, but stirred up himself, and recollecting proper
arguments for raising their courage, he undertook to speak more briskly and fully to them, and that concerning the
immortality of the soul. So he made a lamentable groan, and fixing his eyes intently on those that wept, he spake
thus: "Truly, I was greatly mistaken when I thought to be assisting to brave men who struggled hard for their
liberty, and to such as were resolved either to live with honor, or else to die; but I find that you are such people as
are no better than others, either in virtue or in courage, and are afraid of dying, though you be delivered thereby
from the greatest miseries, while you ought to make no delay in this matter, nor to await any one to give you good
advice; for the laws of our country, and of God himself, have from ancient times, and as soon as ever we could use
our reason, continually taught us, and our forefathers have corroborated the same doctrine by their actions, and by
their bravery of mind, that it is life that is a calamity to men, and not death; for this last affords our souls their
liberty, and sends them by a removal into their own place of purity, where they are to be insensible of all sorts of
misery; for while souls are tied clown to a mortal body, they are partakers of its miseries; and really, to speak the
truth, they are themselves dead; for the union of what is divine to what is mortal is disagreeable. It is true, the
power of the soul is great, even when it is imprisoned in a mortal body; for by moving it after a way that is invisible,
it makes the body a sensible instrument, and causes it to advance further in its actions than mortal nature could
otherwise do. However, when it is freed from that weight which draws it down to the earth and is connected with it, it
obtains its own proper place, and does then become a partaker of that blessed power, and those abilities, which are
then every way incapable of being hindered in their operations. It continues invisible, indeed, to the eyes of men, as
does God himself; for certainly it is not itself seen while it is in the body; for it is there after an invisible manner,
and when it is freed from it, it is still not seen. It is this soul which hath one nature, and that an incorruptible one
also; but yet it is the cause of the change that is made in the body; for whatsoever it be which the soul touches, that
lives and flourishes; and from whatsoever it is removed, that withers away and dies; such a degree is there in it of
immortality. Let me produce the state of sleep as a most evident demonstration of the truth of what I say; wherein
souls, when the body does not distract them, have the sweetest rest depending on themselves, and conversing with
God, by their alliance to him; they then go every where, and foretell many futurities beforehand. And why are we
afraid of death, while we are pleased with the rest that we have in sleep? And how absurd a thing is it to pursue
after liberty while we are alive, and yet to envy it to ourselves where it will be eternal! We, therefore, who have
been brought up in a discipline of our own, ought to become an example to others of our readiness to die. Yet, if we
do stand in need of foreigners to support us in this matter, let us regard those Indians who profess the exercise of
philosophy; for these good men do but unwillingly undergo the time of life, and look upon it as a necessary
servitude, and make haste to let their souls loose from their bodies; nay, when no misfortune presses them to it, nor
drives them upon it, these have such a desire of a life of immortality, that they tell other men beforehand that they
are about to depart; and nobody hinders them, but every one thinks them happy men, and gives them letters to be
carried to their familiar friends [that are dead], so firmly and certainly do they believe that souls converse with one
another [in the other world]. So when these men have heard all such commands that were to be given them, they
deliver their body to the fire; and, in order to their getting their soul a separation from the body in the greatest
purity, they die in the midst of hymns of commendations made to them; for their dearest friends conduct them to
their death more readily than do any of the rest of mankind conduct their fellow-citizens when they are going a very
long journey, who at the same time weep on their own account, but look upon the others as happy persons, as so
soon to be made partakers of the immortal order of beings. Are not we, therefore, ashamed to have lower notions
than the Indians? and by our own cowardice to lay a base reproach upon the laws of our country, which are so much
desired and imitated by all mankind? But put the case that we had been brought up under another persuasion, and
taught that life is the greatest good which men are capable of, and that death is a calamity; however, the
circumstances we are now in ought to he an inducement to us to bear such calamity courageously, since it is by the
will of God, and by necessity, that we are to die; for it now appears that God hath made such a decree against the
whole Jewish nation, that we are to be deprived of this life which [he knew] we would not make a due use of. For do
not you ascribe the occasion of our present condition to yourselves, nor think the Romans are the true occasion
that this war we have had with them is become so destructive to us all: these things have not come to pass by their
power, but a more powerful cause hath intervened, and made us afford them an occasion of their appearing to be
conquerors over us. What Roman weapons, I pray you, were those by which the Jews at Cesarea were slain? On
the contrary, when they were no way disposed to rebel, but were all the while keeping their seventh day festival,
and did not so much as lift up their hands against the citizens of Cesarea, yet did those citizens run upon them in
great crowds, and cut their throats, and the throats of their wives and children, and this without any regard to the
Romans themselves, who never took us for their enemies till we revolted from them. But some may be ready to
say, that truly the people of Cesarea had always a quarrel against those that lived among them, and that when an
opportunity offered itself, they only satisfied the old rancor they had against them. What then shall we say to those
of Scythopolis, who ventured to wage war with us on account of the Greeks? Nor did they do it by way of revenge
upon the Romans, when they acted in concert with our countrymen. Wherefore you see how little our good-will and
fidelity to them profiled us, while they were slain, they and their whole families, after the most inhuman manner,
which was all the requital that was made them for the assistance they had afforded the others; for that very same
destruction which they had prevented from falling upon the others did they suffer themselves from them, as if they
had been ready to be the actors against them. It would be too long for me to speak at this time of every destruction
brought upon us; for you cannot but know that there was not any one Syrian city which did not slay their Jewish
inhabitants, and were not more bitter enemies to us than were the Romans themselves; nay, even those of
Damascus, (16) when they were able to allege no tolerable pretense against us, filled their city with the most
barbarous slaughters of our people, and cut the throats of eighteen thousand Jews, with their wives and children.
And as to the multitude of those that were slain in Egypt, and that with torments also, we have been informed they
were more than sixty thousand; those indeed being in a foreign country, and so naturally meeting with nothing to
oppose against their enemies, were killed in the manner forementioned. As for all those of us who have waged war
against the Romans in our own country, had we not sufficient reason to have sure hopes of victory? For we had
arms, and walls, and fortresses so prepared as not to be easily taken, and courage not to be moved by any dangers
in the cause of liberty, which encouraged us all to revolt from the Romans. But then these advantages sufficed us
but for a short time, and only raised our hopes, while they really appeared to be the origin of our miseries; for all
we had hath been taken from us, and all hath fallen under our enemies, as if these advantages were only to render
their victory over us the more glorious, and were not disposed for the preservation of those by whom these
preparations were made. And as for those that are already dead in the war, it is reasonable we should esteem them
blessed, for they are dead in defending, and not in betraying their liberty; but as to the multitude of those that are
now under the Romans, who would not pity their condition? and who would not make haste to die, before he would
suffer the same miseries with them? Some of them have been put upon the rack, and tortured with fire and
whippings, and so died. Some have been half devoured by wild beasts, and yet have been reserved alive to be
devoured by them a second time, in order to afford laughter and sport to our enemies; and such of those as are
alive still are to be looked on as the most miserable, who, being so desirous of death, could not come at it. And
where is now that great city, the metropolis of the Jewish nation, which vas fortified by so many walls round about,
which had so many fortresses and large towers to defend it, which could hardly contain the instruments prepared for
the war, and which had so many ten thousands of men to fight for it? Where is this city that was believed to have
God himself inhabiting therein? It is now demolished to the very foundations, and hath nothing but that monument
of it preserved, I mean the camp of those that hath destroyed it, which still dwells upon its ruins; some unfortunate
old men also lie upon the ashes of the temple, and a few women are there preserved alive by the enemy, for our
bitter shame and reproach. Now who is there that revolves these things in his mind, and yet is able to bear the sight
of the sun, though he might live out of danger? Who is there so much his country's enemy, or so unmanly, and so
desirous of living, as not to repent that he is still alive? And I cannot but wish that we had all died before we had
seen that holy city demolished by the hands of our enemies, or the foundations of our holy temple dug up after so
profane a manner. But since we had a generous hope that deluded us, as if we might perhaps have been able to
avenge ourselves on our enemies on that account, though it be now become vanity, and hath left us alone in this
distress, let us make haste to die bravely. Let us pity ourselves, our children, and our wives while it is in our own
power to show pity to them; for we were born to die, (17) as well as those were whom we have begotten; nor is it in
the power of the most happy of our race to avoid it. But for abuses, and slavery, and the sight of our wives led away
after an ignominious manner, with their children, these are not such evils as are natural and necessary among men;
although such as do not prefer death before those miseries, when it is in their power so to do, must undergo even
them, on account of their own cowardice. We revolted from the Romans with great pretensions to courage; and
when, at the very last, they invited us to preserve ourselves, we would not comply with them. Who will not,
therefore, believe that they will certainly be in a rage at us, in case they can take us alive? Miserable will then be
the young men who will be strong enough in their bodies to sustain many torments! miserable also will be those of
elder years, who will not be able to bear those calamities which young men might sustain! One man will be obliged
to hear the voice of his son implore help of his father, when his hands are bound. But certainly our hands are still at
liberty, and have a sword in them; let them then be subservient to us in our glorious design; let us die before we
become slaves under our eneimies, and let us go out of the world, together with our children and our wives, in a
state of freedom. This it is that our laws command us to do this it is that our wives and children crave at our hands;
nay, God himself hath brought this necessity upon us; while the Romans desire the contrary, and are afraid lest any
of us should die before we are taken. Let us therefore make haste, and instead of affording them so much pleasure,
as they hope for in getting us under their power, let us leave them an example which shall at once cause their
astonishment at our death, and their admiration of our hardiness therein."

1. NOW as Eleazar was proceeding on in this exhortation, they all cut him off short, and made haste to do the work,
as full of an unconquerable ardor of mind, and moved with a demoniacal fury. So they went their ways, as one still
endeavoring to be before another, and as thinking that this eagerness would be a demonstration of their courage
and good conduct, if they could avoid appearing in the last class; so great was the zeal they were in to slay their
wives and children, and themselves also! Nor indeed, when they came to the work itself, did their courage fail them,
as one might imagine it would have done, but they then held fast the same resolution, without wavering, which they
had upon the hearing of Eleazar's speech, while yet every one of them still retained the natural passion of love to
themselves and their families, because the reasoning they went upon appeared to them to be very just, even with
regard to those that were dearest to them; for the husbands tenderly embraced their wives, and took their children
into their arms, and gave the longest parting kisses to them, with tears in their eyes. Yet at the same time did they
complete what they had resolved on, as if they had been executed by the hands of strangers; and they had nothing
else for their comfort but the necessity they were in of doing this execution, to avoid that prospect they had of the
miseries they were to suffer from their enemies. Nor was there at length any one of these men found that scrupled
to act their part in this terrible execution, but every one of them despatched his dearest relations. Miserable men
indeed were they! whose distress forced them to slay their own wives and children with their own hands, as the
lightest of those evils that were before them. So they being not able to bear the grief they were under for what they
had done any longer, and esteeming it an injury to those they had slain, to live even the shortest space of time after
them, they presently laid all they had upon a heap, and set fire to it. They then chose ten men by lot out of them to
slay all the rest; every one of whom laid himself down by his wife and children on the ground, and threw his arms
about them, and they offered their necks to the stroke of those who by lot executed that melancholy office; and
when these ten had, without fear, slain them all, they made the same rule for casting lots for themselves, that he
whose lot it was should first kill the other nine, and after all should kill himself. Accordingly, all these had courage
sufficient to be no way behind one another in doing or suffering; so, for a conclusion, the nine offered their necks to
the executioner, and he who was the last of all took a view of all the other bodies, lest perchance some or other
among so many that were slain should want his assistance to be quite despatched, and when he perceived that they
were all slain, he set fire to the palace, and with the great force of his hand ran his sword entirely through himself,
and fell down dead near to his own relations. So these people died with this intention, that they would not leave so
much as one soul among them all alive to be subject to the Romans. Yet was there an ancient woman, and another
who was of kin to Eleazar, and superior to most women in prudence and learning, with five children, who had
concealed themselves in caverns under ground, and had carried water thither for their drink, and were hidden there
when the rest were intent upon the slaughter of one another. Those others were nine hundred and sixty in number,
the women and children being withal included in that computation. This calamitous slaughter was made on the
fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan].

2. Now for the Romans, they expected that they should be fought in the morning, when, accordingly, they put on
their armor, and laid bridges of planks upon their ladders from their banks, to make an assault upon the fortress,
which they did; but saw nobody as an enemy, but a terrible solitude on every side, with a fire within the place, as
well as a perfect silence. So they were at a loss to guess at what had happened. At length they made a shout, as if it
had been at a blow given by the battering ram, to try whether they could bring any one out that was within; the
women heard this noise, and came out of their under-ground cavern, and informed the Romans what had been done,
as it was done; and the second of them clearly described all both what was said and what was done, and this manner
of it; yet did they not easily give their attention to such a desperate undertaking, and did not believe it could be as
they said; they also attempted to put the fire out, and quickly cutting themselves a way through it, they came within
the palace, and so met with the multitude of the slain, but could take no pleasure in the fact, though it were done to
their enemies. Nor could they do other than wonder at the courage of their resolution, and the immovable contempt
of death which so great a number of them had shown, when they went through with such an action as that was.

1. WHEN Masada was thus taken, the general left a garrison in the fortress to keep it, and he himself went away
to Cesarea; for there were now no enemies left in the country, but it was all overthrown by so long a war. Yet did
this war afford disturbances and dangerous disorders even in places very far remote from Judea; for still it came to
pass that many Jews were slain at Alexandria in Egypt; for as many of the Sicarii as were able to fly thither, out of
the seditious wars in Judea, were not content to have saved themselves, but must needs be undertaking to make
new disturbances, and persuaded many of those that entertained them to assert their liberty, to esteem the Romans
to be no better than themselves, and to look upon God as their only Lord and Master. But when part of the Jews of
reputation opposed them, they slew some of them, and with the others they were very pressing in their exhortations
to revolt from the Romans; but when the principal men of the senate saw what madness they were come to, they
thought it no longer safe for themselves to overlook them. So they got all the Jews together to an assembly, and
accused the madness of the Sicarii, and demonstrated that they had been the authors of all the evils that had come
upon them. They said also that "these men, now they were run away from Judea, having no sure hope of escaping,
because as soon as ever they shall be known, they will be soon destroyed by the Romans, they come hither and fill
us full of those calamities which belong to them, while we have not been partakers with them in any of their sins."
Accordingly, they exhorted the multitude to have a care, lest they should be brought to destruction by their means,
and to make their apology to the Romans for what had been done, by delivering these men up to them; who being
thus apprized of the greatness of the danger they were in, complied with what was proposed, and ran with great
violence upon the Sicarii, and seized upon them; and indeed six hundred of them were caught immediately: but as to
all those that fled into Egypt (18) and to the Egyptian Thebes, it was not long ere they were caught also, and
brought back, whose courage, or whether we ought to call it madness, or hardiness in their opinions, every body
was amazed at. For when all sorts of torments and vexations of their bodies that could be devised were made use of
to them, they could not get any one of them to comply so far as to confess, or seem to confess, that Caesar was
their lord; but they preserved their own opinion, in spite of all the distress they were brought to, as if they received
these torments and the fire itself with bodies insensible of pain, and with a soul that in a manner rejoiced under
them. But what was most of all astonishing to the beholders was the courage of the children; for not one of these
children was so far overcome by these torments, as to name Caesar for their lord. So far does the strength of the
courage [of the soul] prevail over the weakness of the body.

2. Now Lupus did then govern Alexandria, who presently sent Caesar word of this commotion; who having in
suspicion the restless temper of the Jews for innovation, and being afraid lest they should get together again, and
persuade some others to join with them, gave orders to Lupus to demolish that Jewish temple which was in the
region called Onion, (19) and was in Egypt, which was built and had its denomination from the occasion following:
Onias, the son of Simon, one of the Jewish high priests fled from Antiochus the king of Syria, when he made war
with the Jews, and came to Alexandria; and as Ptolemy received him very kindly, on account of hatred to
Antiochus, he assured him, that if he would comply with his proposal, he would bring all the Jews to his assistance;
and when the king agreed to do it so far as he was able, he desired him to give him leave to build a temple some
where in Egypt, and to worship God according to the customs of his own country; for that the Jews would then be so
much readier to fight against Antiochus who had laid waste the temple at Jerusalem, and that they would then come
to him with greater good-will; and that, by granting them liberty of conscience, very many of them would come over
to him.

3. So Ptolemy complied with his proposals, and gave him a place one hundred and eighty furlongs distant from
Memphis. (20) That Nomos was called the Nomos of Hellopolls, where Onias built a fortress and a temple, not like
to that at Jerusalem, but such as resembled a tower. He built it of large stones to the height of sixty cubits; he
made the structure of the altar in imitation of that in our own country, and in like manner adorned with gifts,
excepting the make of the candlestick, for he did not make a candlestick, but had a [single] lamp hammered out of
a piece of gold, which illuminated the place with its rays, and which he hung by a chain of gold; but the entire temple
was encompassed with a wall of burnt brick, though it had gates of stone. The king also gave him a large country
for a revenue in money, that both the priests might have a plentiful provision made for them, and that God might
have great abundance of what things were necessary for his worship. Yet did not Onias do this out of a sober
disposition, but he had a mind to contend with the Jews at Jerusalem, and could not forget the indignation he had
for being banished thence. Accordingly, he thought that by building this temple he should draw away a great number
from them to himself. There had been also a certain ancient prediction made by [a prophet] whose name was Isaiah,
about six hundred years before, that this temple should be built by a man that was a Jew in Egypt. And this is the
history of the building of that temple.

4. And now Lupus, the governor of Alexandria, upon the receipt of Caesar's letter, came to the temple, and carried
out of it some of the donations dedicated thereto, and shut up the temple itself. And as Lupus died a little afterward,
Paulinns succeeded him. This man left none of those donations there, and threatened the priests severely if they
did not bring them all out; nor did he permit any who were desirous of worshipping God there so much as to come
near the whole sacred place; but when he had shut up the gates, he made it entirely inaccessible, insomuch that
there remained no longer the least footsteps of any Divine worship that had been in that place. Now the duration of
the time from the building of this temple till it was shut up again was three hundred and forty-three years.

1. AND now did the madness of the Sicarii, like a disease, reach as far as the cities of Cyrene; for one Jonathan, a
vile person, and by trade a weaver, came thither and prevailed with no small number of the poorer sort to give ear
to him; he also led them into the desert, upon promising them that he would show them signs and apparitions. And
as for the other Jews of Cyrene, he concealed his knavery from them, and put tricks upon them; but those of the
greatest dignity among them informed Catullus, the governor of the Libyan Pentapolis, of his march into the desert,
and of the preparations he had made for it. So he sent out after him both horsemen and footmen, and easily
overcame them, because they were unarmed men; of these many were slain in the fight, but some were taken alive,
and brought to Catullus. As for Jonathan, the head of this plot, he fled away at that time; but upon a great and very
diligent search, which was made all the country over for him, he was at last taken. And when he was brought to
Catullus, he devised a way whereby he both escaped punishment himself, and afforded an occasion to Catullus of
doing much mischief; for he falsely accused the richest men among the Jews, and said that they had put him upon
what he did.

2. Now Catullus easily admitted of these his calumnies, and aggravated matters greatly, and made tragical
exclamations, that he might also be supposed to have had a hand in the finishing of the Jewish war. But what was
still harder, he did not only give a too easy belief to his stories, but he taught the Sicarii to accuse men falsely. He
bid this Jonathan, therefore, to name one Alexander, a Jew (with whom he had formerly had a quarrel, and openly
professed that he hated him); he also got him to name his wife Bernice, as concerned with him. These two Catullus
ordered to be slain in the first place; nay, after them he caused all the rich and wealthy Jews to be slain, being no
fewer in all than three thousand. This he thought he might do safely, because he confiscated their effects, and
added them to Caesar's revenues.

3. Nay, indeed, lest any Jews that lived elsewhere should convict him of his villainy, he extended his false
accusations further, and persuaded Jonathan, and certain others that were caught with him, to bring an accusation
of attempts for innovation against the Jews that were of the best character both at Alexandria and at Rome. One of
these, against whom this treacherous accusation was laid, was Josephus, the writer of these books. However, this
plot, thus contrived by Catullus, did not succeed according to his hopes; for though he came himself to Rome, and
brought Jonathan and his companions along with him in bonds, and thought he should have had no further
inquisition made as to those lies that were forged under his government, or by his means; yet did Vespasian
suspect the matter and made an inquiry how far it was true. And when he understood that the accusation laid
against the Jews was an unjust one, he cleared them of the crimes charged upon them, and this on account of
Titus's concern about the matter, and brought a deserved punishment upon Jonathan; for he was first tormented,
and then burnt alive.

4. But as to Catullus, the emperors Were so gentle to him, that he underwent no severe condemnation at this time;
yet was it not long before he fell into a complicated and almost incurable distemper, and died miserably. He was not
only afflicted in body, but the distemper in his mind was more heavy upon him than the other; for he was terribly
disturbed, and continually cried out that he saw the ghosts of those whom he had slain standing before him.
Whereupon he was not able to contain himself, but leaped out of his bed, as if both torments and fire were brought
to him. This his distemper grew still a great deal worse and worse continually, and his very entrails were so
corroded, that they fell out of his body, and in that condition he died. Thus he became as great an instance of Divine
Providence as ever was, and demonstrated that God punishes wicked men.

5. And here we shall put an end to this our history; wherein we formerly promised to deliver the same with all
accuracy, to such as should be desirous of understanding after what manner this war of the Romans with the Jews
was managed. Of which history, how good the style is, must be left to the determination of the readers; but as for its
agreement with the facts, I shall not scruple to say, and that boldly, that truth hath been what I have alone aimed at
through its entire composition.

(1) Why the great Bochart should say, (De Phoenic. Colon. B. II. ch. iv.,) that" there are in this clause of Josephus
as many mistakes as words," I do by no means understand. Josephus thought Melchisedek first built, or rather
rebuilt and adorned, this city, and that it was then called Salem, as Psalm 76:2; afterwards came to be called
Jerusalem; and that Melchisedek, being a priest as well as a king, built to the true God therein a temple, or place
for public Divine worship and sacrifice; all which things may be very true for aught we know to the contrary. And
for the word, or temple, as if it must needs belong to the great temple built by Solomon long afterward, Josephus
himself uses, for the small tabernacle of Moses, Antiq. B. III. ch. 6. sect. 4; see also Antiq. B. lit. ch. 6. sect. 1; as
he here presently uses, for a large and splendid synagogue of the Jews at Antioch, B. VII. ch. 3. sect. 3.

(2) This Tereutius Rufus, as Reland in part observes here, is the same person whom the Talmudists call Turnus
Rufus; of whom they relate, that "he ploughed up Sion as a field, and made Jerusalem become as heaps, and the
mountain of the house as the high Idaces of a forest;" which was long before foretold by the prophet Micah, ch.
3:12, and quoted from him in the prophecies of Jeremiah, ch. 26:18.

(3) See Ecclesiastes 8:11.

(4) This Berytus was certainly a Roman colony, and has coins extant that witness the same, as Hudson and
Spanheim inform us. See the note on Antiq. B. XVI: ch. 11. sect. 1.

(5) The Jews at Antioch and Alexandria, the two principal cities in all the East, had allowed them, both by the
Macedonians, and afterwards by the Romans, a governor of their own, who was exempt from the jurisdiction of the
other civil governors. He was called sometimes barely "governor," sometimes "ethnarch," and [at Alexandria]
"alabarch," as Dr. Hudson takes notice on this place out of Fuller's Miscellanies. They had the like governor or
governors allowed them at Babylon under their captivity there, as the history of Susanna implies.

(6) This Classicus, and Civilis, and Cerealis are names well known in Tacitus; the two former as moving sedition
against the Romans, and the last as sent to repress them by Vespasian, just as they are here described in
Josephus; which is the case also of Fontellis Agrippa and Rubrius Gallup, i, sect. 3. But as to the very favorable
account presently given of Domitian, particularly as to his designs in this his Gallic and German expedition, it is not
a little contrary to that in Suetonius, Vesp. sect. 7. Nor are the reasons unobvious that might occasion this great
diversity: Domitian was one of Josephus's patrons, and when he published these books of the Jewish war, was very
young, and had hardly begun those wicked practices which rendered him so infamous afterward; while Suetonius
seems to have been too young, and too low in life, to receive any remarkable favors from him; as Domitian was
certainly very lewd and cruel, and generally hated, when Puetonius wrote about him.

(7) Since in these latter ages this Sabbatic River, once so famous, which, by Josephus's account here, ran every
seventh day, and rested on six, but according to Pliny, Nat. Hist. 31. II, ran perpetually on six days, and rested
every seventh, (though it no way appears by either of their accounts that the seventh day of this river was the
Jewish seventh day or sabbath,) is quite vanished, I shall add no more about it: only see Dr. Hudson's note. In
Varenius's Geography, i, 17, the reader will find several instances of such periodical fountains and. rivers, though
none of their periods were that of a just week as of old this appears to have been.

(8) Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian.

(9) See the representations of these Jewish vessels as they still stand on Titus's triumphal arch at Rome, in
Reland's very curious book de Spoliis Ternpli, throughout. But what, things are chiefly to be noted are these: (1.)
That Josephus says the candlestick here carried in this triumph was not thoroughly like that which was used in the
temple, which appears in the number of the little knobs and flowers in that on the triumphal arch not well agreeing
with Moses's description, Exodus 25:31-36. (2.) The smallness of the branches in Josephus compared with the
thickness of those on that arch. (3.) That the Law or Pentateuch does not appear on that arch at all, though
Josephus, an eye-witness, assures us that it was carried in this procession. All which things deserve the
consideration of the inquisitive reader.

(10) Spanheim observes here, that in Graceia Major and Sicily they had rue prodigiously great and durable, like
this rue at Macherus,

(11) This strange account of the place and root Baaras seems to have been taken from the magicians, and the root
to have been made use of in the days of Josephus, in that superstitious way of casting out demons, supposed by him
to have been derived from king Solomon; of which we have already seen he had a great opinion, Antiq. B. VIII. ch.
2. sect. 5. We also may hence learn the true notion Josephus had of demons and demoniacs, exactly like that of the
Jews and Christians in the New Testament, and the first four centuries. See Antiq. B. I. ch. 8. sect. 2; B. XI, ch. 2.
sect. 3.

(12) It is very remarkable that Titus did not people this now desolate country of Judea, but ordered it to be all sold;
nor indeed is it properly peopled at this day, but lies ready for its old inhabitants the Jews, at their future
restoration. See Literal Accomplishment of Prophecies, p. 77.

(13) That the city Emmaus, or Areindus, in Josephus and others which was the place of the government of Julius
Africanus were slain, to the number of one thousand seven hundred, as were the women and the children made
slaves. But as Bassus thought he must perform the covenant he had made with those that had surrendered the
citadel, he let them go, and restored Eleazar to them, in the beginning of the third century, and which he then
procured to be rebuilt, and after which rebuilding it was called Nicopolis, is entirely different from that Emmaus
which is mentioned by St. Luke 24;13; see Reland's Paleestina, lib. II. p. 429, and under the name Ammaus also.
But he justly thinks that that in St. Luke may well be the same with his Ammaus before us, especially since the
Greek copies here usually make it sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem, as does St. Luke, though the Latin copies
say only thirty. The place also allotted for these eight hundred soldiers, as for a Roman garrison, in this place,
would most naturally be not so remote from Jerusalem as was the other Emmaus, or Nicopolis.

(14) Pliny and others confirm this strange paradox, that provisions laid up against sieges will continue good for a
hundred ears, as Spanheim notes upon this place.

(15) The speeches in this and the next section, as introduced under the person of this Eleazar, are exceeding
remarkable, and oil the noblest subjects, the contempt of death, and the dignity and immortality of the soul; and
that not only among the Jews, but among the Indians themselves also; and are highly worthy the perusal of all the
curious. It seems as if that philosophic lady who survived, ch. 9. sect. 1, 2, remembered the substance of these
discourses, as spoken by Eleazar, and so Josephus clothed them in his own words: at the lowest they contain the
Jewish notions on these heads, as understood then by our Josephus, and cannot but deserve a suitable regard from
us.

(16) See B. II. ch. 20. sect. 2, where the number of the slain is but 10,000.

(17) Reland here sets down a parallel aphorism of one of the Jewish Rabbins, "We are born that we may die, and
die that we may live.'

(18) Since Josephus here informs us that some of these Sicarii, or ruffians, went from Alexandria (which was itself
in Egypt, in a large sense) into Egypt, and Thebes there situated, Reland well observes, from Vossius, that Egypt
sometimes denotes Proper or Upper Egypt, as distinct from the Delta, and the lower parts near Palestine.
Accordingly, as he adds, those that say it never rains in Egypt must mean the Proper or Upper Egypt, because it
does sometimes rain in the other parts. See the note on Antiq. B. II. ch. 7. sect. 7, and B. III. ch. 1. sect. 6.

(19) Of this temple of Onias's building in Egypt, see the notes on Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 3. sect. 1. But whereas it is
elsewhere, both of the War, B. I. ch. 1. sect. 1, and in the Antiquities as now quoted, said that this temple was like
to that at Jerusalem, and here that it was not like it, but like a tower, sect. 3, there is some reason to suspect the
reading here, and that either the negative particle is here to be blotted out, or the word entirely added.

(20) We must observe, that Josephus here speaks of Antiochus who profaned the temple as now alive, when Onias
had leave given them by Philometer to build his temple; whereas it seems not to have been actually built till about
fifteen years afterwards. Yet, because it is said in the Antiquities that Onias went to Philometer, B. XII. ch. 9. sect.
7, during the lifetime of that Antiochus, it is probable he petitioned, and perhaps obtained his leave then, though it
were not actually built or finished till fifteen years afterward.

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