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1. But before these things could be brought to a settlement,
Malthace, Archelaus's mother, fell into a distemper, and died of
it; and letters came from Varus, the president of Syria, which
informed Caesar of the revolt of the Jews; for after Archlaus was
sailed, the whole nation was in a tumult. So Varus, since he was
there himself, brought the authors of the disturbance to
punishment; and when he had restrained them for the most part
from this sedition, which was a great one, he took his journey to
Antiocli, leaving one legion of his army at Jerusalem to keep the
Jews quiet, who were now very fond of innovation. Yet did not
this at all avail to put an end to that their sedition; for after
Varus was gone away, Sabinus, Caesar's procurator, staid behind,
and greatly distressed the Jews, relying on the forces that were
left there that they would by their multitude protect him; for he
made use of them, and armed them as his guards, thereby so
oppressing the Jews, and giving them so great disturbance, that
at length they rebelled; for he used force in seizing the
citadels, and zealously pressed on the search after the king's
money, in order to seize upon it by force, on account of his love
of gain and his extraordinary covetousness.
2. But on the approach of pentecost, which is a festival of ours,
so called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten
thousands of men got together; nor did they come only to
celebrate the festival, but out of their indignation at the
madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries he offered them. A great
number there was of Galileans, and Idumeans, and many men from
Jericho, and others who had passed over the river Jordan, and
inhabited those parts. This whole multitude joined themselves to
all the rest, and were more zealous than the others in making an
assault on Sabinus, in order to be avenged on him; so they parted
themselves into three bands, and encamped themselves in the
places following: - some of them seized on the hippodrome and of
the other two bands, one pitched themselves from the northern
part of the temple to the southern, on the east quarter; but the
third band held the western part of the city, where the king's
palace was. Their work tended entirely to besiege the Romans, and
to enclose them on all sides. Now Sabinus was afraid of these
men's number, and of their resolution, who had little regard to
their lives, but were very desirous not to be overcome, while
they thought it a point of puissance to overcome their enemies;
so he sent immediately a letter to Varus, and, as he used to do,
was very pressing with him, and entreated him to come quickly to
his assistance, because the forces he had left were in imminent
danger, and would probably, in no long time, be seized upon, and
cut to pieces; while he did himself get up to the highest tower
of the fortress Phasaelus, which had been built in honor of
Phasaelus, king Herod's brother, and called so when the Parthians
had brought him to his death. So Sabinus gave thence a
signal to the Romans to fall upon the Jews, although he did not
himself venture so much as to come down to his friends, and
thought he might expect that the others should expose themselves
first to die on account of his avarice. However, the Romans
ventured to make a sally out of the place, and a terrible battle
ensued; wherein, though it is true the Romans beat their
adversaries, yet were not the Jews daunted in their resolutions,
even when they had the sight of that terrible slaughter that was
made of them; but they went round about, and got upon those
cloisters which encompassed the outer court of the temple, where
a great fight was still continued, and they cast stones at the
Romans, partly with their hands, and partly with slings, as being
much used to those exercises. All the archers also in array did
the Romans a great deal of mischief, because they used their
hands dexterously from a place superior to the others, and
because the others were at an utter loss what to do; for when
they tried to shoot their arrows against the Jews upwards, these
arrows could not reach them, insomuch that the Jews were easily
too hard for their enemies. And this sort of fight lasted a great
while, till at last the Romans, who were greatly distressed by
what was done, set fire to the cloisters so privately, that those
that were gotten upon them did not perceive it. This fire
being fed by a great deal of combustible matter, caught hold
immediately on the roof of the cloisters; so the wood, which was
full of pitch and wax, and whose gold was laid on it with wax,
yielded to the flame presently, and those vast works, which were
of the highest value and esteem, were destroyed utterly, while
those that were on the roof unexpectedly perished at the same
time; for as the roof tumbled down, some of these men tumbled
down with it, and others of them were killed by their enemies who
encompassed them. There was a great number more, who, out of
despair of saving their lives, and out of astonishment at the
misery that surrounded them, did either cast themselves into the
fire, or threw themselves upon their swords, and so got out of
their misery. But as to those that retired behind the same way by
which they ascended, and thereby escaped, they were all killed by
the Romans, as being unarmed men, and their courage failing them;
their wild fury being now not able to help them, because they
were destitute of armor, insomuch that of those that went up to
the top of the roof, not one escaped. The Romans also rushed
through the fire, where it gave them room so to do, and seized on
that treasure where the sacred money was reposited; a great part
of which was stolen by the soldiers, and Sabinus got openly four
hundred talents.
3. But this calamity of the Jews' friends, who fell in this
battle, grieved them, as did also this plundering of the money
dedicated to God in the temple. Accordingly, that body of them
which continued best together, and was the most warlike,
encompassed the palace, and threatened to set fire to it, and
kill all that were in it. Yet still they commanded them to go out
presently, and promised, that if they would do so, they would not
hurt them, nor Sabinus neither; at which time the greatest part
of the king's troops deserted to them, while Rufus and Gratus,
who had three thousand of the most warlike of Herod's army with
them, who were men of active bodies, went over to the Romans.
There was also a band of horsemen under the command of Ruffis,
which itself went over to the Romans also. However, the Jews went
on with the siege, and dug mines under the palace walls, and
besought those that were gone over to the other side not to be
their hinderance, now they had such a proper opportunity for the
recovery of their country's ancient liberty; and for Sabinus,
truly he was desirous of going away with his soldiers, but was
not able to trust himself with the enemy, on account of what
mischief he had already done them; and he took this great
[pretended] lenity of theirs for an argument why he should not
comply with them; and so, because he expected that Varus was
coming, he still bore the siege.
4. Now at this time there were ten thousand other disorders in
Judea, which were like tumults, because a great number put
themselves into a warlike posture, either out of hopes of gain to
themselves, or out of enmity to the Jews. In particular, two
thousand of Herod's old soldiers, who had been already disbanded,
got together in Judea itself, and fought against the king's
troops, although Achiabus, Herod's first cousin, opposed them;
but as he was driven out of the plains into the mountainous parts
by the military skill of those men, he kept himself in the
fastnesses that were there, and saved what he could.
5. There was also Judas, the son of that Ezekias who had
been head of the robbers; which Ezekias was a very strong man,
and had with great dificulty been caught by Herod. This Judas,
having gotten together a multitude of men of a profligate
character about Sepphoris in Galilee, made an assault upon the
palace [there,] and seized upon all the weapons that were laid up
in it, and with them armed every one of those that were with him,
and carried away what money was left there; and he became
terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those that came near
him; and all this in order to raise himself, and out of an
ambitious desire of the royal dignity; and he hoped to obtain
that as the reward not of his virtuous skill in war, but of his
extravagance in doing injuries.
6. There was also Simon, who had been a slave of Herod the king,
but in other respects a comely person, of a tall and robust body;
he was one that was much superior to others of his order, and had
had great things committed to his care. This man was elevated at
the disorderly state of things, and was so bold as to put a
diadem on his head, while a certain number of the people stood by
him, and by them he was declared to be a king, and thought
himself more worthy of that dignity than any one else. He burnt
down the royal palace at Jericho, and plundered what was left in
it. He also set fire to many other of the king's houses in
several places of the country, and utterly destroyed them, and
permitted those that were with him to take what was left in them
for a prey; and he would have done greater things, unless care
had been taken to repress him immediately; for Gratus, when he
had joined himself to some Roman soldiers, took the forces he had
with him, and met Simon, and after a great and a long fight, no
small part of those that came from Perea, who were a disordered
body of men, and fought rather in a bold than in a skillful
manner, were destroyed; and although Simon had saved himself by
flying away through a certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him,
and cut off his head. The royal palace also at Amathus, by the
river Jordan, was burnt down by a party of men that were got
together, as were those belonging to Simon. And thus did a great
and wild fury spread itself over the nation, because they had no
king to keep the multitude in good order, and because those
foreigners who came to reduce the seditious to sobriety did, on
the contrary, set them more in a flame, because of the injuries
they offered them, and the avaricious management of their
affairs.
7. But because Athronges, a person neither eminent by the dignity
of his progenitors, nor for any great wealth he was possessed of,
but one that had in all respects been a shepherd only, and was
not known by any body; yet because he was a tall man, and
excelled others in the strength of his hands, he was so bold as
to set up for king. This man thought it so sweet a thing to do
more than ordinary injuries to others, that although he should be
killed, he did not much care if he lost his life in so great a
design. He had also four brethren, who were tall men themselves,
and were believed to be superior to others in the strength of
their hands, and thereby were encouraged to aim at great things,
and thought that strength of theirs would support them in
retaining the kingdom. Each of these ruled over a band of men of
their own; for those that got together to them were very
numerous. They were every one of them also commanders; but when
they came to fight, they were subordinate to him, and fought for
him, while he put a diadem about his head, and assembled a
council to debate about what things should be done, and all
things were done according to his pleasure. And this man retained
his power a great while; he was also called king, and had nothing
to hinder him from doing what he pleased. He also, as well as his
brethren, slew a great many both of the Romans and of the king's
forces, an managed matters with the like hatred to each of them.
The king's forces they fell upon, because of the licentious
conduct they had been allowed under Herod's government; and they
fell upon the Romans, because of the injuries they had so lately
received from them. But in process of time they grew more cruel
to all sorts of men, nor could any one escape from one or other
of these seditions, since they slew some out of the hopes of
gain, and others from a mere custom of slaying men. They once
attacked a company of Romans at Emmaus, who were bringing corn
and weapons to the army, and fell upon Arius, the centurion, who
commanded the company, and shot forty of the best of his foot
soldiers; but the rest of them were aftrighted at their
slaughter, and left their dead behind them, but saved themselves
by the means of Gratus, who came with the king's troops that were
about him to their assistance. Now these four brethren continued
the war a long while by such sort of expeditions, and much
grieved the Romans; but did their own nation also a great deal of
mischief. Yet were they afterwards subdued; one of them in a
fight with Gratus, another with Ptolemy; Archelaus also took the
eldest of them prisoner; while the last of them was so dejected
at the other's misfortune, and saw so plainly that he had no way
now left to save himself, his army being worn away with sickness
and continual labors, that he also delivered himself up to
Archclaus, upon his promise and oath to God [to preserve his
life.] But these things came to pass a good while afterward.
8. And now Judea was full of robberies; and as the several
companies of the seditious lighted upon any one to head them, he
was created a king immediately, in order to do mischief to the
public. They were in some small measure indeed, and in small
matters, hurtful to the Romans; but the murders they committed
upon their own people lasted a long while.
9. As soon as Varus was once informed of the state of Judea by
Sabinus's writing to him, he was afraid for the legion he had
left there; so he took the two other legions, (for there were
three legions in all belonging to Syria,) and four troops of
horsemen, with the several auxiliary forces which either the
kings or certain of the tetrarchs afforded him, and made what
haste he could to assist those that were then besieged in Judea.
He also gave order that all that were sent out for this
expedition, should make haste to Ptolemais. The citizens of
Berytus also gave him fifteen hundred auxiliaries as he passed
through their city. Aretas also, the king of Arabia Petrea, out
of his hatred to Herod, and in order to purchase the favor of the
Romans, sent him no small assistance, besides their footmen and
horsemen; and when he had now collected all his forces together,
he committed part of them to his son, and to a friend of his, and
sent them upon an expedition into Galilee, which lies in the
neighborhood of Ptolemais; who made an attack upon the enemy, and
put them to flight, and took Sepphoris, and made its inhabitants
slaves, and burnt the city. But Varus himself pursued his march
for Samaria with his whole army; yet did not he meddle with the
city of that name, because it had not at all joined with the
seditious; but pitched his camp at a certain village that
belonged to Ptolemy, whose name was Arus, which the Arabians
burnt, out of their hatred to Herod, and out of the enmity they
bore to his friends; whence they marched to another village,
whose name was Sampho, which the Arabians plundered and burnt,
although it was a fortified and a strong place; and all along
this march nothing escaped them, but all places were full of fire
and of slaughter. Emmaus was also burnt by Varus's order, after
its inhabitants had deserted it, that he might avenge those that
had there been destroyed. From thence he now marched to
Jerusalem; whereupon those Jews whose camp lay there, and who had
besieged the Roman legion, not bearing the coming of this army,
left the siege imperfect: but as to the Jerusalem Jews, when
Varus reproached them bitterly for what had been done, they
cleared themselves of the accusation, and alleged that the
conflux of the people was occasioned by the feast; that the war
was not made with their approbation, but by the rashness of the
strangers, while they were on the side of the Romans, and
besieged together with them, rather than having any inclination
to besiege them. There also came beforehand to meet Varus,
Joseph, the cousin-german of king Herod, as also Gratus and
Rufus, who brought their soldiers along with them, together with
those Romans who had been besieged; but Sabinus did not come into
Varus's presence, but stole out of the city privately, and went
to the sea-side.
10. Upon this, Varus sent a part of his army into the country, to
seek out those that had been the authors of the revolt; and when
they were discovered, he punished some of them that were most
guilty, and some he dismissed: now the number of those that were
crucified on this account were two thousand. After which he
disbanded his army, which he found no way useful to him in the
affairs he came about; for they behaved themselves very
disorderly, and disobeyed his orders, and what Varus desired them
to do, and this out of regard to that gain which they made by the
mischief they did. As for himself, when he was informed that ten
thousand Jews had gotten together, he made haste to catch them;
but they did not proceed so far as to fight him, but, by the
advice of Achiabus, they came together, and delivered themselves
up to him: hereupon Varus forgave the crime of revolting to the
multitude, but sent their several commanders to Caesar, many of
whom Caesar dismissed; but for the several relations of Herod who
had been among these men in this war, they were the only persons
whom he punished, who, without the least regard to justice,
fought against their own kindred.
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