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Taking the fifth book of the History of Josephus again in our hands,
let us go through the tragedy of events which then occurred. "For the
wealthy," he says, "it was equally dangerous to remain. For under
pretense that they were going to desert men were put to death for their
wealth. The madness of the seditions increased with the famine and
both the miseries were inflamed more and more day by day. Nowhere was
food to be seen; but, bursting into the houses men searched them
thoroughly, and whenever they found anything to eat they tormented the
owners on the ground that they had denied that they had anything; but
if they found nothing, they tortured them on the ground that they had
more carefully concealed it. The proof of their having or not having
food was found in the bodies of the poor wretches. Those of them who
were still in good condition they assumed were well supplied with food,
while those who were already wasted away they passed by, for it seemed
absurd to slay those who were on the point of perishing for want.
Many, indeed, secretly sold their possessions for one measure of
wheat, if they belonged to the wealthier class, of barley if they were
poorer. Then shutting themselves up in the innermost parts of their
houses, some ate the grain uncooked on account of their terrible want,
while others baked it according as necessity and fear dictated.
Nowhere were tables set, but, snatching the yet uncooked food from
the fire, they tore it in pieces. Wretched was the fare, and a
lamentable spectacle it was to see the more powerful secure an abundance
while the weaker mourned. Of all evils, indeed, famine is the
worst, and it destroys nothing so effectively as shame. For that
which under other circumstances is worthy of respect, in the midst of
famine is despised. Thus women snatched the food from the very mouths
of their husbands and children, from their fathers, and what was most
pitiable of all, mothers from their babes, And while their dearest
ones were wasting away in their arms, they were not ashamed to take
away froth them the last drops that supported life. And even while
they were eating thus they did not remain undiscovered. But everywhere
the rioters appeared, to rob them even of these portions of food. For
whenever they saw a house shut up, they regarded it as a sign that
those inside were taking food. And immediately bursting open the doors
they rushed in and seized what they were eating, almost forcing it out
of their very throats. Old men who clung to their food were beaten,
and if the women concealed it in their hands, their hair was torn for
so doing. There was pity neither for gray hairs nor for infants,
but, taking up the babes that clung to their morsels of food, they
dashed them to the ground. But to those that anticipated their
entrance and swallowed what they were about to seize, they were still
more cruel, just as if they had been wronged by them. And they,
devised the most terrible modes of torture to discover food, stopping
up the privy passages of the poor wretches with bitter herbs, and
piercing their seats with sharp rods. And men suffered things horrible
even to hear of, for the sake of compelling them to confess to the
possession of one loaf of bread, or in order that they might be made to
disclose a single drachm of barley which they had concealed. But the
tormentors themselves did not suffer hunger. Their conduct might
indeed have seemed less barbarous if they had been driven to it by
necessity; but they did it for the sake of exercising their madness and
of providing sustenance for themselves for days to come. And when any
one crept out of the city by night as far as the outposts of the Romans
to collect wild herbs and grass, they went to meet him; and when he
thought he had already escaped the enemy, they seized what he had
brought with him, and even though oftentimes the man would entreat
them, and, calling upon the most awful name of God, adjure them to
give him a portion of what he had obtained at the risk of his life,
they would give him nothing back. Indeed, it was fortunate if the one
that was plundered was not also slain."
To this account Josephus, after relating other things, adds the
following: "The possibility of going out of the city being brought to
an end, all hope of safety for the Jews was cut off. And the famine
increased and devoured the people by houses and families. And the
rooms were filled with dead women and children, the lanes of the city
with the corpses of old men. Children and youths, swollen with the
famine, wandered about the market-places like shadows, and fell down
wherever the death agony overtook them. The sick were not strong
enough to bury even their own relatives, and those who had the strength
hesitated because of the multitude of the dead and the uncertainty as to
their own fate. Many, indeed, died while they were burying others,
and many betook themselves to their graves before death came upon them.
There was neither weeping nor lamentation under these misfortunes; but
the famine stifled the natural affections. Those that were dying a
lingering death looked with dry eyes upon those that had gone to their
rest before them. Deep silence and death-laden night encircled the
city.
But the robbers were more terrible than these miseries; for they broke
open the houses, which were now mere sepulchres, robbed the dead and
stripped the covering from their bodies, and went away with a laugh.
They tried the points of their swords in the dead bodies, and some
that were lying on the ground still alive they thrust through in order
to test their weapons. But those that prayed that they would use their
right hand and their sword upon them, they contemptuously left to be
destroyed by the famine. Every one of these died with eyes fixed upon
the temple; and they left the seditious alive. These at first gave
orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, for
they could not endure the stench. But afterward, when they were not
able to do this, they threw the bodies from the walls into the
trenches. And as Titus went around and saw the trenches filled with
the dead, and the thick blood oozing out of the putrid bodies, he
groaned aloud, and, raising his hands, called God to witness that
this was not his doing." After speaking of some other things,
Josephus proceeds as follows: "I cannot hesitate to declare what my
feelings compel me to. I suppose, if the Romans had longer delayed
in coming against these guilty wretches, the city would have been
swallowed up by a chasm, or overwhelmed with a flood, or struck with
such thunderbolts as destroyed Sodom. For it had brought forth a
generation of men much more godless than were those that suffered such
punishment. By their madness indeed was the whole people brought to
destruction."
And in the sixth book he writes as follows: "Of those that perished
by famine in the city the number was countless, and the miseries they
underwent unspeakable. For if so much as the shadow of food appeared
in any house, there was war, and the dearest friends engaged in
hand-to-hand conflict with one another, and snatched from each other
the most wretched supports of life. Nor would they believe that even
the dying were without food; but the robbers would search them while
they were expiring, lest any one should feign death while concealing
food in his bosom. With mouths gaping for want of food, they stumbled
and staggered along like mad dogs, and beat the doors as if they were
drunk, and in their impotence they would rush into the same houses
twice or thrice in one hour. Necessity compelled them to eat anything
they could find, and they gathered and devoured things that were not
fit even for the filthiest of irrational beasts. Finally they did not
abstain even from their girdles and shoes, and they stripped the hides
off their shields and devoured them. Some used even wisps of old hay
for food, and others gathered stubble and sold the smallest weight of
it for four Attic drachm'.
"But why should I speak of the shamelessness which was displayed
during the famine toward inanimate things? For I am going to relate a
fact such as is recorded neither by Greeks nor Barbarians; horrible
to relate, incredible to hear. And indeed I should gladly have
omitted this calamity, that I might not seem to posterity to be a
teller of fabulous tales, if I had not innumerable witnesses to it in
my own age. And besides, I should render my country poor service if
I suppressed the account of the sufferings which she endured.
"There was a certain woman named Mary that dwelt beyond Jordan,
whose father was Eleazer, of the village of Bathezor . She was
distinguished for her family and her wealth, and had fled with the rest
of the multitude to Jerusalem and was shut up there with them during
the siege. The tyrants had robbed her of the rest of the property
which she had brought with her into the city from Perea. And the
remnants of her possessions and whatever food was to be seen the guards
rushed in daily and snatched away from her. This made the woman
terribly angry, and by her frequent reproaches and imprecations she
aroused the anger of the rapacious villains against herself. But no
one either through anger or pity would slay her; and she grew weary of
finding food for others to eat. The search, too, was already become
everywhere difficult, and the famine was piercing her bowels and
marrow, and resentment was raging more violently than famine.
Taking, therefore, anger and necessity as her counsellors, she
proceeded to do a most unnatural thing. Seizing her child, a boy
which was sucking at her breast, she said, Oh, wretched child, m
war, in famine, in sedition, for what do I preserve thee? Slaves
among the Romans we shall be even if we are allowed to live by them.
But even slavery is anticipated by the famine, and the rioters are
more cruel than both. Come, be food for me, a fury for these
rioters, and a bye-word to the world, for this is all that is wanting
to complete the calamities of the Jews. And when she had said this
she slew her son; and having roasted him, she ate one half herself,
and covering up the remainder, she kept it. Very soon the rioters
appeared on the scene, and, smelling the nefarious odor, they
threatened to slay her 'immediately unless she should show them what
she had prepared. She replied that she had saved an excellent portion
for them, and with that she uncovered the remains of the child. They
were immediately seized with horror and amazement and stood transfixed
at the sight. But she said This is my own son, and the deed is
mine. Eat for I too have eaten. Be not more merciful than a woman,
nor more compassionate than a mother. But if you are too pious and
shrinkfrom my sacrifice, I have already eaten of it; let the rest
also remain for me. At these words the men went out trembling, in
this one case being affrighted; yet with difficulty did they yield that
food to the mother. Forthwith the whole city was filled with the awful
crime, and as all pictured the terrible deed before their own eyes,
they trembled as if they had done it themselves. Those that were
suffering from the famine now longed for death; and blessed were they
that had died before hearing and seeing miseries like these."
Such was the reward which the Jews received for their wickedness and
impiety, against the Christ of God.
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