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1. Now when Caesar perceived that the upper city was so steep
that it could not possibly be taken without raising banks against
it, he distributed the several parts of that work among his army,
and this on the twentieth day of the month Lous [Ab]. Now the
carriage of the materials was a difficult task, since all the
trees, as I have already told you, that were about the city,
within the distance of a hundred furlongs, had their branches cut
off already, in order to make the former banks. The works that
belonged to the four legions were erected on the west side of the
city, over against the royal palace; but the whole body of the
auxiliary troops, with the rest of the multitude that were with
them, [erected their banks] at the Xystus, whence they reached to
the bridge, and that tower of Simon which he had built as a
citadel for himself against John, when they were at war one with
another.
2. It was at this time that the commanders of the Idumeans got
together privately, and took counsel about surrendering up
themselves to the Romans. Accordingly, they sent five men to
Titus, and entreated him to give them his right hand for their
security. So Titus thinking that the tyrants would yield, if the
Idumeans, upon whom a great part of the war depended, were once
withdrawn from them, after some reluctancy and delay, complied
with them, and gave them security for their lives, and sent the
five men back. But as these Idumeans were preparing to march out,
Simon perceived it, and immediately slew the five men that had
gone to Titus, and took their commanders, and put them in prison,
of whom the most eminent was Jacob, the son of Sosas; but as for
the multitude of the Idumeans, who did not at all know what to
do, now their commanders were taken from them, he had them
watched, and secured the walls by a more numerous garrison, Yet
could not that garrison resist those that were deserting; for
although a great number of them were slain, yet were the
deserters many more in number. They were all received by the
Romans, because Titus himself grew negligent as to his former
orders for killing them, and because the very soldiers grew weary
of killing them, and because they hoped to get some money by
sparing them; for they left only the populace, and sold the rest
of the multitude, with their wives and children, and every
one of them at a very low price, and that because such as were
sold were very many, and the buyers were few: and although Titus
had made proclamation beforehand, that no deserter should come
alone by himself, that so they might bring out their families
with them, yet did he receive such as these also. However, he set
over them such as were to distinguish some from others, in order
to see if any of them deserved to be punished. And indeed the
number of those that were sold was immense; but of the populace
above forty thousand were saved, whom Caesar let go whither every
one of them pleased.
3. But now at this time it was that one of the priests, the son
of Thebuthus, whose name was Jesus, upon his having security
given him, by the oath of Caesar, that he should be preserved,
upon condition that he should deliver to him certain of the
precious things that had been reposited in the temple came
out of it, and delivered him from the wall of the holy house two
candlesticks, like to those that lay in the holy house, with
tables, and cisterns, and vials, all made of solid gold, and very
heavy. He also delivered to him the veils and the garments, with
the precious stones, and a great number of other precious vessels
that belonged to their sacred worship. The treasurer of the
temple also, whose name was Phineas, was seized on, and showed
Titus the coats and girdles of the priests, with a great quantity
of purple and scarlet, which were there reposited for the uses of
the veil, as also a great deal of cinnamon and cassia, with a
large quantity of other sweet spices, which used to be mixed
together, and offered as incense to God every day. A great many
other treasures were also delivered to him, with sacred ornaments
of the temple not a few; which things thus delivered to Titus
obtained of him for this man the same pardon that he had allowed
to such as deserted of their own accord.
4. And now were the banks finished on the seventh day of the
month Gorpieus, [Elul,] in eighteen days' time, when the Romans
brought their machines against the wall. But for the seditious,
some of them, as despairing of saving the city, retired from the
wall to the citadel; others of them went down into the
subterranean vaults, though still a great many of them defended
themselves against those that brought the engines for the
battery; yet did the Romans overcome them by their number and by
their strength; and, what was the principal thing of all, by
going cheerfully about their work, while the Jews were quite
dejected, and become weak. Now as soon as a part of the wall was
battered down, and certain of the towers yielded to the
impression of the battering rams, those that opposed themselves
fled away, and such a terror fell upon the tyrants, as was much
greater than the occasion required; for before the enemy got over
the breach they were quite stunned, and were immediately for
flying away. And now one might see these men, who had hitherto
been so insolent and arrogant in their wicked practices, to be
cast down and to tremble, insomuch that it would pity one's heart
to observe the change that was made in those vile persons.
Accordingly, they ran with great violence upon the Roman wall
that encompassed them, in order to force away those that guarded
it, and to break through it, and get away. But when they saw that
those who had formerly been faithful to them had gone away, (as
indeed they were fled whithersoever the great distress they were
in persuaded them to flee,) as also when those that came running
before the rest told them that the western wall was entirely
overthrown, while others said the Romans were gotten in, and
others that they were near, and looking out for them, which were
only the dictates of their fear, which imposed upon their sight,
they fell upon their face, and greatly lamented their own mad
conduct; and their nerves were so terribly loosed, that they
could not flee away. And here one may chiefly reflect on the
power of God exercised upon these wicked wretches, and on the
good fortune of the Romans; for these tyrants did now wholly
deprive themselves of the security they had in their own power,
and came down from those very towers of their own accord, wherein
they could have never been taken by force, nor indeed by any
other way than by famine. And thus did the Romans, when they had
taken such great pains about weaker walls, get by good fortune
what they could never have gotten by their engines; for three of
these towers were too strong for all mechanical engines
whatsoever, concerning which we have treated above.
5. So they now left these towers of themselves, or rather they
were ejected out of them by God himself, and fled immediately to
that valley which was under Siloam, where they again recovered
themselves out of the dread they were in for a while, and ran
violently against that part of the Roman wall which lay on that
side; but as their courage was too much depressed to make their
attacks with sufficient force, and their power was now broken
with fear and affliction, they were repulsed by the guards, and
dispersing themselves at distances from each other, went down
into the subterranean caverns. So the Romans being now become
masters of the walls, they both placed their ensigns upon the
towers, and made joyful acclamations for the victory they had
gained, as having found the end of this war much lighter than its
beginning; for when they had gotten upon the last wall, without
any bloodshed, they could hardly believe what they found to be
true; but seeing nobody to oppose them, they stood in doubt what
such an unusual solitude could mean. But when they went in
numbers into the lanes of the city with their swords drawn, they
slew those whom they overtook without and set fire to the houses
whither the Jews were fled, and burnt every soul in them, and
laid waste a great many of the rest; and when they were come to
the houses to plunder them, they found in them entire families of
dead men, and the upper rooms full of dead corpses, that is, of
such as died by the famine; they then stood in a horror at this
sight, and went out without touching any thing. But although they
had this commiseration for such as were destroyed in that manner,
yet had they not the same for those that were still alive, but
they ran every one through whom they met with, and obstructed the
very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run
down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of
the houses was quenched with these men's blood. And truly so it
happened, that though the slayers left off at the evening, yet
did the fire greatly prevail in the night; and as all was
burning, came that eighth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul] upon
Jerusalem, a city that had been liable to so many miseries during
this siege, that, had it always enjoyed as much happiness from
its first foundation, it would certainly have been the envy of
the world. Nor did it on any other account so much deserve these
sore misfortunes, as by producing such a generation of men as
were the occasions of this its overthrow.
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