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1. Now at the same time that Titus Caesar lay at the siege of
Jerusalem, did Vespasian go on board a merchantship and sailed
from Alexandria to Rhodes; whence he sailed away ,in ships with
three rows of oars; and as he touched at several cities that lay
in his road, he was joyfully received by them all, and so passed
over from Ionia into Greece; whence he set sail from Corcyra to
the promontory of Iapyx, whence he took his journey by land. But
as for Titus, he marched from that Cesarea which lay by the
sea-side, and came to that which is named Cesarea Philippi, and
staid there a considerable time, and exhibited all sorts of shows
there. And here a great number of the captives were destroyed,
some being thrown to wild beasts, and others in multitudes forced
to kill one another, as if they were their enemies. And here it
was that Titus was informed of the seizure of Simon the son of
Gioras, which was made after the manner following: This Simon,
during the siege of Jerusalem, was in the upper city; but when
the Roman army was gotten within the walls, and were laying the
city waste, he then took the most faithful of his friends with
him, and among them some that were stone-cutters, with those iron
tools which belonged to their occupation, and as great a quantity
of provisions as would suffice them for a long time, and let
himself and all them down into a certain subterraneous cavern
that was not visible above ground. Now, so far as had been digged
of old, they went onward along it without disturbance; but where
they met with solid earth, they dug a mine under ground, and this
in hopes that they should be able to proceed so far as to rise
from under ground in a safe place, and by that means escape. But
when they came to make the experiment, they were disappointed of
their hope; for the miners could make but small progress, and
that with difficulty also; insomuch that their provisions, though
they distributed them by measure, began to fail them. And now
Simon, thinking he might be able to astonish and elude the
Romans, put on a white frock, and buttoned upon him a purple
cloak, and appeared out of the ground in the place where the
temple had formerly been. At the first, indeed, those that saw
him were greatly astonished, and stood still where they were; but
afterward they came nearer to him, and asked him who he was. Now
Simon would not tell them, but bid them call for their captain;
and when they ran to call him, Terentius Rufus who was left
to command the army there, came to Simon, and learned of him the
whole truth, and kept him in bonds, and let Caesar know that he
was taken. Thus did God bring this man to be punished for what
bitter and savage tyranny he had exercised against his countrymen
by those who were his worst enemies; and this while he was not
subdued by violence, but voluntarily delivered himself up to them
to be punished, and that on the very same account that he had
laid false accusations against many Jews, as if they were falling
away to the Romans, and had barbarously slain them for wicked
actions do not escape the Divine anger, nor is justice too weak
to punish offenders, but in time overtakes those that transgress
its laws, and inflicts its punishments upon the wicked in a
manner, so much more severe, as they expected to escape it on
account of their not being punished immediately. Simon was
made sensible of this by falling under the indignation of the
Romans. This rise of his out of the ground did also occasion the
discovery of a great number of others Of the seditious at that
time, who had hidden themselves under ground. But for Simon, he
was brought to Caesar in bonds, when he was come back to that
Cesarea which was on the seaside, who gave orders that he should
be kept against that triumph which he was to celebrate at Rome
upon this occasion.
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