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1. After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most
eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when
it was going to sink; Costobarus, therefore, and Saul, who were
brethren, together with Philip, the son of Jacimus, who was the
commander of king Agrippa's forces, ran away from the city, and
went to Cestius. But then how Antipas, who had been besieged with
them in the king's palace, but would not fly away with them, was
afterward slain by the seditious, we shall relate hereafter.
However, Cestius sent Saul and his friends, at their own desire,
to Achaia, to Nero, to inform him of the great distress they were
in, and to lay the blame of their kindling the war upon Florus,
as hoping to alleviate his own danger, by provoking his
indignation against Florus.
2. In the mean time, the people of Damascus, when they were
informed of the destruction of the Romans, set about the
slaughter of those Jews that were among them; and as they had
them already cooped up together in the place of public exercises,
which they had done out of the suspicion they had of them, they
thought they should meet with no difficulty in the attempt; yet
did they distrust their own wives, which were almost all of them
addicted to the Jewish religion; on which account it was that
their greatest concern was, how they might conceal these things
from them; so they came upon the Jews, and cut their throats, as
being in a narrow place, in number ten thousand, and all of them
unarmed, and this in one hour's time, without any body to disturb
them.
3. But as to those who had pursued after Cestius, when they were
returned back to Jerusalem, they overbore some of those that
favored the Romans by violence, and some them persuaded [by
en-treaties] to join with them, and got together in great numbers
in the temple, and appointed a great many generals for the war.
Joseph also, the son of Gorion, and Ananus the high priest,
were chosen as governors of all affairs within the city, and with
a particular charge to repair the walls of the city; for they did
not ordain Eleazar the son of Simon to that office, although he
had gotten into his possession the prey they had taken from the
Romans, and the money they had taken from Cestius, together with
a great part of the public treasures, because they saw he was of
a tyrannical temper, and that his followers were, in their
behavior, like guards about him. However, the want they were in
of Eleazar's money, and the subtle tricks used by him, brought
all so about, that the people were circumvented, and submitted
themselves to his authority in all public affairs.
4. They also chose other generals for Idumea; Jesus, the son of
Sapphias, one of the high priests; and Eleazar, the son of
Ananias, the high priest; they also enjoined Niger, the then
governor of Idumea, who was of a family that belonged to
Perea, beyond Jordan, and was thence called the Peraite, that he
should be obedient to those fore-named commanders. Nor did they
neglect the care of other parts of the country; but Joseph the
son of Simon was sent as general to Jericho, as was Manasseh to
Perea, and John, the Esscue, to the toparchy of Thamna; Lydda was
also added to his portion, and Joppa, and Emmaus. But John, the
son of Matthias, was made governor of the toparchies of
Gophnitica and Acrabattene; as was Josephus, the son of Matthias,
of both the Galilees. Gamala also, which was the strongest city
in those parts, was put under his command.
5. So every one of the other commanders administered the affairs
of his portion with that alacrity and prudence they were masters
of; but as to Josephus, when he came into Galilee, his first care
was to gain the good-will of the people of that country, as
sensible that he should thereby have in general good success,
although he should fail in other points. And being conscious to
himself that if he communicated part of his power to the great
men, he should make them his fast friends; and that he should
gain the same favor from the multitude, if he executed his
commands by persons of their own country, and with whom they were
well acquainted; he chose out seventy of the most prudent men,
and those elders in age, and appointed them to be rulers of all
Galilee, as he chose seven judges in every city to hear the
lesser quarrels; for as to the greater causes, and those wherein
life and death were concerned, he enjoined they should be brought
to him and the seventy elders.
6. Josephus also, when he had settled these rules for determining
causes by the law, with regard to the people's dealings one with
another, betook himself to make provisions for their safety
against external violence; and as he knew the Romans would fall
upon Galilee, he built walls in proper places about Jotapata, and
Bersabee, and Selamis; and besides these, about Caphareccho, and
Japha, and Sigo, and what they call Mount Tabor, and Tarichee,
and Tiberias. Moreover, he built walls about the caves near the
lake of Gennesar, which places lay in the Lower Galilee; the same
he did to the places of Upper Galilee, as well as to the rock
called the Rock of the Achabari, and to Seph, and Jamnith, and
Meroth; and in Gaulonitis he fortified Seleucia, and Sogane, and
Gamala; but as to those of Sepphoris, they were the only people
to whom he gave leave to build their own walls, and this because
he perceived they were rich and wealthy, and ready to go to war,
without standing in need of any injunctions for that purpose. The
case was the same with Gischala, which had a wall built about it
by John the son of Levi himself, but with the consent of
Josephus; but for the building of the rest of the fortresses, he
labored together with all the other builders, and was present to
give all the necessary orders for that purpose. He also got
together an army out of Galilee, of more than a hundred thousand
young men, all of which he armed with the old weapons which he
had collected together and prepared for them.
7. And when he had considered that the Roman power became
invincible, chiefly by their readiness in obeying orders, and the
constant exercise of their arms, he despaired of teaching these
his men the use of their arms, which was to be obtained by
experience; but observing that their readiness in obeying orders
was owing to the multitude of their officers, he made his
partitions in his army more after the Roman manner, and appointed
a great many subalterns. He also distributed the soldiers into
various classes, whom he put under captains of tens, and captains
of hundreds, and then under captains of thousands; and besides
these, he had commanders of larger bodies of men. He also taught
them to give the signals one to another, and to call and recall
the soldiers by the trumpets, how to expand the wings of an army,
and make them wheel about; and when one wing hath had success, to
turn again and assist those that were hard set, and to join in
the defense of what had most suffered. He also continually
instructed them ill what concerned the courage of the soul, and
the hardiness of the body; and, above all, he exercised them for
war, by declaring to them distinctly the good order of the
Romans, and that they were to fight with men who, both by the
strength of their bodies and courage of their souls, had
conquered in a manner the whole habitable earth. He told them
that he should make trial of the good order they would observe in
war, even before it came to any battle, in case they would
abstain from the crimes they used to indulge themselves in, such
as theft, and robbery, and rapine, and from defrauding their own
countrymen, and never to esteem the harm done to those that were
so near of kin to them to be any advantage to themselves; for
that wars are then managed the best when the warriors preserve a
good conscience; but that such as are ill men in private life
will not only have those for enemies which attack them, but God
himself also for their antagonist.
8. And thus did he continue to admonish them. Now he chose for
the war such an army as was sufficient, i.e. sixty thousand
footmen, and two hundred and fifty horsemen; and besides
these, on which he put the greatest trust, there were about four
thousand five hundred mercenaries; he had also six hundred men as
guards of his body. Now the cities easily maintained the rest of
his army, excepting the mercenaries, for every one of the cities
enumerated above sent out half their men to the army, and
retained the other half at home, in order to get provisions for
them; insomuch that the one part went to the war, and the other
part to their work, and so those that sent out their corn were
paid for it by those that were in arms, by that security which
they enjoyed from them.
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