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1. And now Vespasian had fortified all the places round
about Jerusalem, and erected citadels at Jericho and Adida, and
placed garrisons in them both, partly out of his own Romans, and
partly out of the body of his auxiliaries. He also sent Lucius
Annius to Gerasa, and delivered to him a body of horsemen, and a
considerable number of footmen. So when
he had taken the city, which he did at the first onset, he slew
a thousand of those young men who had not prevented him
by flying away; but he took their families captive, and
permitted his soldiers to plunder them of their effects; after
which he set fire to their houses, and went away to the
adjoining villages, while the men of power fled away, and the
weaker part were destroyed, and what was remaining was all burnt
down. And now the war having gone through all the
mountainous country, and all the plain country also, those that
were at Jerusalem were deprived of the liberty of going out of
the city; for as to such as had a mind to desert, they were
watched by the zealots; and as to such as were not yet on the
side of the Romans, their army kept them in, by
encompassing the city round about on all sides.
2. Now as Vespasian was returned to Cesarea, and was
getting ready with all his army to march directly to Jerusalem,
he was informed that Nero was dead, after he had reigned thirteen
years and eight days. Bnt as to any narration after what manner
he abused his power in the government, and
committed the management of affairs to those vile wretches,
Nymphidius and Tigellinus, his unworthy freed-men; and how he had
a plot laid against him by them, and was deserted by all his
guards, and ran away with four of his most trusty freed-men, and
slew himself in the suburbs of Rome; and
how those that occasioned his death were in no long time
brought themselves to punishment; how also the war in Gall ended;
and how Galba was made emperor and returned
out of Spain to Rome; and how he was accused by the
soldiers as a pusillanimous person, and slain by treachery in
the middle of the market-place at Rome, and Otho was made
emperor; with his expedition against the commanders of
Vitellius, and his destruction thereupon; and besides what
troubles there were under Vitellius, and the fight that was about
the capitol; as also how Antonius Primus and Mucianus slew
Vitellius, and his German legions, and thereby put an end to that
civil war; I have omitted to give an exact account of them,
because they are well known by all, and they are described by a
great number of Greek and Roman
authors; yet for the sake of the connexion of matters, and that
my history may not be incoherent, I have just touched upon every
thing briefly. Wherefore Vespasian put off at first his
expedition against Jerusalem, and stood waiting whither the
empire would be transferred after the death of Nero. Moreover,
when he heard that Galba was made emperor, he
attempted nothing till he also should send him some
directions about the war: however, he sent his son Titus to
him, to salute him, and to receive his commands about the Jews.
Upon the very same errand did king Agrippa sail along with Titus
to Galba; but as they were sailing in their long ships by the
coasts of Achaia, for it was winter time, they heard that Galba
was slain, before they could get to him, after he had reigned
seven months and as many days. After whom Otho took the
government, and undertook the
management of public affairs. So Agrippa resolved to go on to
Rome without any terror; on account of the change in the
government; but Titus, by a Divine impulse, sailed back from
Greece to Syria, and came in great haste to Cesarea, to his
father. And now they were both in suspense about the public
affairs, the Roman empire being then in a fluctuating
condition, and did not go on with their expedition against the
Jews, but thought that to make any attack upon foreigners was now
unseasonable, on account of the solicitude they were in for their
own country.
3. And now there arose another war at Jerusalem. There was a
son of Giora, one Simon, by birth of Gerasa, a young man, not so
cunning indeed as John [of Gisehala], who had already seized upon
the city, but superior in strength of body and courage; on which
account, when he had been driven away
from that Acrabattene toparchy, which he once had, by
Ananus the high priest, he came to those robbers who had seized
upon Masada. At the first they suspected him, and only permitted
him to come with the women he brought with him into the lower
part of the fortress, while they dwelt in the upper part of it
themselves. However, his manner so well agreed with theirs, and
he seemed so trusty a man, that he went out with them, and
ravaged and destroyed the country with them about Masada; yet
when he persuaded them to
undertake greater things, he could not prevail with them so to
do; for as they were accustomed to dwell in that citadel, they
were afraid of going far from that which was their
hiding-place; but he affecting to tyrannize, and being fond of
greatness, when he had heard of the death of Ananus, he left
them, and went into the mountainous part of the country. So he
proclaimed liberty to those in slavery, and a reward to those
already free, and got together a set of wicked men from all
quarters.
4. And as he had now a strong body of men about him, he
overran the villages that lay in the mountainous country, and
when there were still more and more that came to him, he ventured
to go down into the lower parts of the country, and since he was
now become formidable to the cities, many of the men of power
were corrupted by him; so that his army was no longer composed of
slaves and robbers, but a great many of the populace were
obedient to him as to their king. He then overran the Acrabattene
toparchy, and the places that reached as far as the Great Idumea;
for he built a wall at a certain village called Nain, and made
use of that as a fortress for his own party's security; and at
the valley called Paran, he enlarged many of the caves, and many
others he found ready for his purpose; these he made use of as
repositories for his treasures, and receptacles for his prey,
and therein he laid up the fruits that he had got by rapine; and
many of his partizans had their dwelling in them; and he made no
secret of it that he was exercising his men
beforehand, and making preparations for the assault of
Jerusalem.
5. Whereupon the zealots, out of the dread they were in of his
attacking them, and being willing to prevent one that was growing
up to oppose them, went out against him with their weapons. Simon
met them, and joining battle with them, slew a considerable
number of them, and drove the rest before him into the city, but
durst not trust so much upon his forces as to make an assault
upon the walls; but he resolved first to subdue Idumea, and as he
had now twenty thousand armed
men, he marched to the borders of their country. Hereupon the
rulers of the Idumeans got together on the sudden the most
warlike part of their people, about twenty-five thousand in
number, and permitted the rest to be a guard to their own
country, by reason of the incursions that were made by the
Sicarii that were at Masada. Thus they received Simon at their
borders, where they fought him, and continued the
battle all that day; and the dispute lay whether they had
conquered him, or been conquered by him. So he went back to Nain,
as did the Idumeans return home. Nor was it long ere Simon came
violently again upon their country; when he pitched his camp at a
certain village called Thecoe, and sent Eleazar, one of his
companions, to those that kept garrison at Herodium, and in order
to persuade them to surrender that fortress to him. The garrison
received this man readily, while they knew nothing of what he
came about; but as soon as he talked of the surrender of the
place, they fell upon him with their drawn swords, till he found
that he had no place for flight, when he threw himself down from
the wall into the valley beneath; so he died immediately: but the
Idumeans, who were already much afraid of Simon's power, thought
fit to take a view of the enemy's army before they hazarded a
battle with them.
6. Now there was one of their commanders named Jacob,
who offered to serve them readily upon that occasion, but had
it in his mind to betray them. He went therefore from the village
Alurus, wherein the army of the Idumeans were gotten together,
and came to Simon, and at the very first he agreed to betray his
country to him, and took assurances upon oath from him that he
should always have him in
esteem, and then promised him that he would assist him in
subduing all Idumea under him; upon which account he was feasted
after an obliging manner by Simon, and elevated by his mighty
promises; and when he was returned to his own men, he at first
belied the army of Simon, and said it was manifold more in number
than what it was; after which, he dexterously persuaded the
commanders, and by degrees the whole multitude, to receive Simon,
and to surrender the
whole government up to him without fighting. And as he was
doing this, he invited Simon by his messengers, and promised him
to disperse the Idumeans, which he performed also; for as soon as
their army was nigh them, he first of all got upon his horse, and
fled, together with those whom he had
corrupted; hereupon a terror fell upon the whole multitude; and
before it came to a close fight, they broke their ranks, and
every one retired to his own home.
7. Thus did Simon unexpectedly march into Idumea, without
bloodshed, and made a sudden attack upon the city Hebron, and
took it; wherein he got possession of a great deal of prey, and
plundered it of a vast quantity of fruit. Now the people of the
country say that it is an ancienter city, not only than any in
that country, but than Memphis in Egypt, and
accordingly its age is reckoned at two thousand and three
hundred years. They also relate that it had been the
habitation of Abram, the progenitor of the Jews, after he had
removed out of Mesopotamia; and they say that his posterity
descended from thence into Egypt, whose monuments are to this
very time showed in that small city; the fabric of which
monuments are of the most excellent marble, and wrought
after the most elegant manner. There is also there showed, at
the distance of six furlongs from the city, a very large
turpentine tree and the report goes, that this tree has
continued ever since the creation of the world. Thence did Simon
make his progress over all Idumen, and did not only ravage the
cities and villages, but lay waste the whole country; for,
besides those that were completely armed, he had forty thousand
men that followed him, insomuch that he had not provisions enough
to suffice such a multitude. Now, besides this want of provisions
that he was in, he was of a barbarous disposition, and bore great
anger at this nation, by which means it came to pass that Idumea
was greatly depopulated; and as one may see all the woods behind
despoiled of their leaves by locusts, after they have been there,
so was there nothing left behind Simon's army but a desert. Some
places they burnt down, some they utterly demolished, and
whatsoever grew in the country, they either trod it down or fed
upon it, and by their marches they made the ground that was
cultivated harder and more untractable than that which was
barren. In short, there was no sign remaining of those places
that had been laid waste, that ever they had had a being.
8. This success of Simon excited the zealots afresh; and though
they were afraid to fight him openly in a fair battle, yet did
they lay ambushes in the passes, and seized upon his wife, with a
considerable number of her attendants;
whereupon they came back to the city rejoicing, as if they had
taken Simon himself captive, and were in present
expectation that he would lay down his arms, and make
supplication to them for his wife; but instead of indulging any
merciful affection, he grew very angry at them for seizing his
beloved wife; so he came to the wall of Jerusalem, and, like wild
beasts when they are wounded, and cannot overtake
those that wounded them, he vented his spleen upon all
persons that he met with. Accordingly, he caught all those that
were come out of the city gates, either to gather herbs or
sticks, who were unarmed and in years; he then tormented them and
destroyed them, out of the immense rage he was
in, and was almost ready to taste the very flesh of their dead
bodies. He also cut off the hands of a great many, and sent them
into the city to astonish his enemies, and in order to make the
people fall into a sedition, and desert those that had been the
authors of his wife's seizure. He also enjoined them to tell the
people that Simon swore by the God of the universe, who sees all
things, that unless they will restore him his wife, he will break
down their wall, and inflict the like punishment upon all the
citizens, without sparing any age, and without making any
distinction between the guilty and the innocent. These
threatenings so greatly affrighted, not the people only, but the
zealots themselves also, that they sent his wife back to him;
when he became a little milder, and left off his perpetual
blood-shedding.
9. But now sedition and civil war prevailed, not only over
Judea, but in Italy also; for now Galba was slain in the midst of
the Roman market-place; then was Otho made emperor,
and fought against Vitellius, who set up for emperor also; for
the legions in Germany had chosen him. But when he gave
battle to Valens and Cecinna, who were Vitellius's generals, at
Betriacum, in Gaul, Otho gained the advantage on the first day,
but on the second day Vitellius's soldiers had the victory; and
after much slaughter Otho slew himself, when he had
heard of this defeat at Brixia, and after he had managed the
public affairs three months and two days. Otho's army also
came over to Vitellius's generals, and he came himself down to
Rome with his army. But in the mean time
Vespasian removed from Cesarea, on the fifth day of the
month Deasius, [Sivan,] and marched against those places of
Judea which were not yet overthrown. So he went up to the
mountainous country, and took those two toparchies that
were called the Gophnitick and Acrabattene toparchies. After
which he took Bethel and Ephraim, two small cities; and
when he had put garrisons into them, he rode as far as
Jerusalem, in which march he took many prisoners, and many
captives; but Cerealis, one of his commanders, took a body of
horsemen and footmen, and laid waste that part of Idumea which
was called the Upper Idumea, and attacked Caphethra, which
pretended to be a small city, and took it at the first onset, and
burnt it down. He also attacked Caphatabira, and laid siege to
it, for it had a very strong wall; and when he expected to spend
a long time in that siege, those that were within opened their
gates on the sudden, and came to beg pardon, and surrendered
themselves up to him. When
Cerealis had conquered them, he went to Hebron, another
very ancient city. I have told you already that this city is
situated in a mountainous country not far off Jerusalem; and when
he had broken into the city by force, what multitude and young
men were left therein he slew, and burnt down the city; so that
as now all the places were taken, excepting Herodlum, and Masada,
and Macherus, which were in the
possession of the robbers, so Jerusalem was what the Romans at
present aimed at.
10. And now, as soon as Simon had set his wife free, and
recovered her from the zealots, he returned back to the
remainders of Idumea, and driving the nation all before him
from all quarters, he compelled a great number of them to retire
to Jerusalem; he followed them himself also to the city, and
encompassed the wall all round again; and when he
lighted upon any laborers that were coming thither out of the
country, he slew them. Now this Simon, who was without the wall,
was a greater terror to the people than the Romans themselves, as
were the zealots who were within it more
heavy upon them than both of the other; and during this time
did the mischievous contrivances and courage [of John]
corrupt the body of the Galileans; for these Galileans had
advanced this John, and made him very potent, who made
them suitable requital from the authority he had obtained by
their means; for he permitted them to do all things that any of
them desired to do, while their inclination to plunder was
insatiable, as was their zeal in searching the houses of the
rich; and for the murdering of the men, and abusing of the women,
it was sport to them. They also devoured what spoils they had
taken, together with their blood, and indulged
themselves in feminine wantonness, without any disturbance,
till they were satiated therewith; while they decked their hair,
and put on women's garments, and were besmeared over with
ointments; and that they might appear very comely, they had
paints under their eyes, and imitated not only the ornaments, but
also the lusts of women, and were guilty of such
intolerable uncleanness, that they invented unlawful pleasures
of that sort. And thus did they roll themselves up and down the
city, as in a brothel-house, and defiled it entirely with their
impure actions; nay, while their faces looked like the faces of
women, they killed with their right hands; and when their gait
was effeminate, they presently attacked men, and became warriors,
and drew their swords from under their
finely dyed cloaks, and ran every body through whom they
alighted upon. However, Simon waited for such as ran away from
John, and was the more bloody of the two; and he who had escaped
the tyrant within the wall was destroyed by the other that lay
before the gates, so that all attempts of flying and deserting to
the Romans were cut off, as to those that had a mind so to do.
11. Yet did the army that was under John raise a sedition
against him, and all the Idumeans separated themselves from the
tyrant, and attempted to destroy him, and this out of their envy
at his power, and hatred of his cruelty; so they got together,
and slew many of the zealots, and drove the rest before them into
that royal palace that was built by Grapte, who was a relation of
Izates, the king of Adiabene; the
Idumeans fell in with them, and drove the zealots out thence
into the temple, and betook themselves to plunder John's effects;
for both he himself was in that palace, and therein had he laid
up the spoils he had acquired by his tyranny. In the mean time,
the multitude of those zealots that were
dispersed over the city ran together to the temple unto those
that fled thither, and John prepared to bring them down
against the people and the Idumeans, who were not so much
afraid of being attacked by them (because they were
themselves better soldiers than they) as at their madness, lest
they should privately sally out of the temple and get among them,
and not only destroy them, but set the city on fire also. So they
assembled themselves together, and the high priests with them,
and took counsel after what manner they should avoid their
assault. Now it was God who turned their
opinions to the worst advice, and thence they devised such a
remedy to get themselves free as was worse than the disease
itself. Accordingly, in order to overthrow John, they
determined to admit Simon, and earnestly to desire the
introduction of a second tyrant into the city; which resolution
they brought to perfection, and sent Matthias, the high priest,
to beseech this Simon to come ill to them, of whom they had so
often been afraid. Those also that had fled from the
zealots in Jerusalem joined in this request to him, out of the
desire they had of preserving their houses and their effects.
Accordingly he, in an arrogant manner, granted them his
lordly protection, and came into the city, in order to deliver
it from the zealots. The people also made joyful acclamations to
him, as their savior and their preserver; but when he was come
in, with his army, he took care to secure his own
authority, and looked upon those that had invited him in to be
no less his enemies than those against whom the invitation was
intended.
12. And thus did Simon get possession of Jerusalem, in the
third year of the war, in the month Xanthicus [Nisan];
whereupon John, with his multitude of zealots, as being both
prohibited from coming out of the temple, and having lost their
power in the city, (for Simon and his party had
plundered them of what they had,) were in despair of
deliverance. Simon also made an assault upon the temple, with
the assistance of the people, while the others stood upon the
cloisters and the battlements, and defended themselves from their
assaults. However, a considerable number of
Simon's party fell, and many were carried off wounded; for the
zealots threw their darts easily from a superior place, and
seldom failed of hitting their enemies; but having the
advantage of situation, and having withal erected four very
large towers aforehand, that their darts might come from higher
places, one at the north-east corner of the court, one above the
Xystus, the third at another corner over against the lower city,
and the last was erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where
one of the priests stood of course, and gave a signal beforehand,
with a trumpet at the
beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight, as
also at the evening when that day was finished, as giving notice
to the people when they were to leave off work, and when they
were to go to work again. These men also set their engines to
cast darts and stones withal, upon those towers, with their
archers and slingers. And now Simon made his
assault upon the temple more faintly, by reason that the
greatest part of his men grew weary of that work; yet did he not
leave off his opposition, because his army was superior to the
others, although the darts which were thrown by the
engines were carried a great way, and slew many of those that
fought for him.
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