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1. Now, on the next night, a surprising disturbance fell upon
the Romans; for whereas Titus had given orders for the
erection of three towers of fifty cubits high, that by setting
men upon them at every bank, he might from thence drive
those away who were upon the wall, it so happened that
one of these towers fell down about midnight; and as its fall
made a very great noise, fear fell upon the army, and they,
supposing that the enemy was coming to attack them, ran
all to their arms. Whereupon a disturbance and a tumult
arose among the legions, and as nobody could tell what
had happened, they went on after a disconsolate manner;
and seeing no enemy appear, they were afraid one of
another, and every one demanded of his neighbor the
watchword with great earnestness, as though the Jews had
invaded their camp. And now were they like people under a panic
fear, till Titus was informed of what had happened, and gave
orders that all should be acquainted with it; and then, though
with some difficulty, they got clear of the disturbance they had
been under.
2. Now these towers were very troublesome to the Jews,
who otherwise opposed the Romans very courageously; for
they shot at them out of their lighter engines from those
towers, as they did also by those that threw darts, and the
archers, and those that flung stones. For neither could the Jews
reach those that were over them, by reason of their height; and
it was not practicable to take them, nor to
overturn them, they were so heavy, nor to set them on fire,
because they were covered with plates of iron. So they
retired out of the reach of the darts, and did no longer
endeavor to hinder the impression of their rams, which, by
continually beating upon the wall, did gradually prevail against
it; so that the wall already gave way to the Nico, for by that
name did the Jews themselves call the greatest of their engines,
because it conquered all things. And now
they were for a long while grown weary of fighting, and of
keeping guards, and were retired to lodge in the night time at a
distance from the wall. It was on other accounts also thought by
them to be superfluous to guard the wall, there being besides
that two other fortifications still remaining, and they being
slothful, and their counsels having been ill concerted on all
occasions; so a great many grew lazy and retired. Then the Romans
mounted the breach, where Nico
had made one, and all the Jews left the guarding that wall, and
retreated to the second wall; so those that had gotten over that
wall opened the gates, and received all the army within it. And
thus did the Romans get possession of this first wall, on the
fifteenth day of the siege, which was the seventh day of the
month Artemisius, [Jyar,] when they
demolished a great part of it, as well as they did of the
northern parts of the city, which had been demolished also by
Cestius formerly.
3. And now Titus pitched his camp within the city, at that
place which was called "the Camp of the Assyrians," having seized
upon all that lay as far as Cedron, but took care to be out of
the reach of the Jews' darts. He then presently began his
attacks, upon which the Jews divided themselves into several
bodies, and courageously defended that wall; while John and his
faction did it from the tower of Antonia, and from the northern
cloister of the temple, and fought the Romans before the
monuments of king Alexander; and
Sireoh's army also took for their share the spot of ground that
was near John's monument, and fortified it as far as to that gate
where water was brought in to the tower Hippicus. However, the
Jews made violent sallies, and that frequently also, and in
bodies together out of the gates, and there fought the Romans;
and when they were pursued all
together to the wall, they were beaten in those fights, as
wanting the skill of the Romans. But when they fought them from
the walls, they were too hard for them; the Romans
being encouraged by their power, joined to their skill, as were
the Jews by their boldness, which was nourished by
the fear they were in, and that hardiness which is natural to
our nation under calamities; they were also encouraged still by
the hope of deliverance, as were the Romans by their
hopes of subduing them in a little time. Nor did either side
grow weary; but attacks and rightings upon the wall, and
perpetual sallies out in bodies, were there all the day long; nor
were there any sort of warlike engagements that were not then put
in use. And the night itself had much ado to part them, when they
began to fight in the morning; nay, the night itself was passed
without sleep on both sides, and was more uneasy than the day to
them, while the one was
afraid lest the wall should be taken, and the other lest the
Jews should make sallies upon their camps; both sides also lay in
their armor during the night time, and thereby were ready at the
first appearance of light to go to the battle. Now among the Jews
the ambition was who should
undergo the first dangers, and thereby gratify their
commanders. Above all, they had a great veneration and
dread of Simon; and to that degree was he regarded by
every one of those that were under him, that at his
command they were very ready to kill themselves with their own
hands. What made the Romans so courageous was
their usual custom of conquering and disuse of being
defeated, their constant wars, and perpetual warlike
exercises, and the grandeur of their dominion; and what
was now their chief encouragement -Titus who was present every
where with them all; for it appeared a terrible thing to grow
weary while Caesar was there, and fought bravely as well as they
did, and was himself at once an eye-witness of such as behaved
themselves valiantly, and he who was to
reward them also. It was, besides, esteemed an advantage at
present to have any one's valor known by Caesar; on
which account many of them appeared to have more
alacrity than strength to answer it. And now, as the Jews were
about this time standing in array before the wall, and that in a
strong body, and while both parties were throwing their darts at
each other, Longinus, one of the equestrian order, leaped out of
the army of the Romans, and leaped
into the very midst of the army of the Jews; and as they
dispersed themselves upon the attack, he slew two of their men of
the greatest courage; one of them he struck in his mouth as he
was coming to meet him, the other was slain
by him by that very dart which he drew out of the body of the
other, with which he ran this man through his side as he was
running away from him; and when he had done
this, he first of all ran out of the midst of his enemies to
his own side. So this man signalized himself for his valor, and
many there were who were ambitious of gaining the like
reputation. And now the Jews were unconcerned at what
they suffered themselves from the Romans, and were only
solicitous about what mischief they could do them; and
death itself seemed a small matter to them, if at the same time
they could but kill any one of their enemies. But Titus took care
to secure his own soldiers from harm, as well as to have them
overcome their enemies. He also said that
inconsiderate violence was madness, and that this alone
was the true courage that was joined with good conduct.
He therefore commanded his men to take care, when they
fought their enemies, that they received no harm from them at
the same time, and thereby show themselves to be truly valiant
men.
4. And now Titus brought one of his engines to the middle tower
of the north part of the wall, in which a certain crafty Jew,
whose name was Castor, lay in ambush, with ten
others like himself, the rest being fled away by reason of the
archers. These men lay still for a while, as in great fear, under
their breastplates; but when the tower was shaken, they arose,
and Castor did then stretch out his hand, as a petitioner, and
called for Caesar, and by his voice moved his compassion, and
begged of him to have mercy upon
them; and Titus, in the innocency of his heart, believing him
to be in earnest, and hoping that the Jews did now repent,
stopped the working of the battering ram, and forbade them to
shoot at the petitioners, and bid Castor say what he had a mind
to say to him. He said that he would come down, if he would give
him his right hand for his security. To which Titus replied, that
he was well pleased with such his
agreeable conduct, and would be well pleased if all the
Jews would be of his mind, and that he was ready to give the
like security to the city. Now five of the ten dissembled with
him, and pretended to beg for mercy, while the rest cried out
aloud that they would never be slaves to the
Romans, while it was in their power to die in a state of
freedom. Now while these men were quarrelling for a long while,
the attack was delayed; Castor also sent to Simon, and told him
that they might take some time for consultation about what was to
be done, because he would elude the
power of the Romans for a considerable time. And at the
same time that he sent thus to him, he appeared openly to
exhort those that were obstinate to accept of Titus's hand for
their security; but they seemed very angry at it, and brandished
their naked swords upon the breast-works, and struck themselves
upon their breast, and fell down as if they had been slain.
Hereupon Titus, and those with him, were amazed at the courage of
the men; and as they were
not able to see exactly what was done, they admired at
their great fortitude, and pitied their calamity. During this
interval, a certain person shot a dart at Castor, and
wounded him in his nose; whereupon he presently pulled
out the dart, and showed it to Titus, and complained that this
was unfair treatment; so Caesar reproved him that shot the dart,
and sent Josephus, who then stood by him, to
give his right hand to Castor. But Josephus said that he would
not go to him, because these pretended petitioners meant nothing
that was good; he also restrained those
friends of his who were zealous to go to him. But still there
was one Eneas, a deserter, who said he would go to him.
Castor also called to them, that somebody should come
and receive the money which he had with him; this made
Eneas the more earnestly to run to him with his bosom
open. Then did Castor take up a great stone, and threw it at
him, which missed him, because he guarded himself
against it; but still it wounded another soldier that was
coining to him. When Caesar understood that this was a
delusion, he perceived that mercy in war is a pernicious thing,
because such cunning tricks have less place under the exercise of
greater severity. So he caused the engine to work more strongly
than before, on account of his anger at the deceit put upon him.
But Castor and his companions
set the tower on fire when it began to give way, and leaped
through the flame into a hidden vault that was under it, which
made the Romans further suppose that they were
men of great courage, as having cast themselves into the fire.
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