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1. Now all those Galileans who, after the taking of Jotapata,
had revolted from the Romans, did, upon the conquest of
Taricheae, deliver themselves up to them again. And the
Romans received all the fortresses and the cities, excepting
Gischala and those that had seized upon Mount Tabor; Gamala also,
which is a city ever against Tarichem, but on the other side of
the lake, conspired with them. This city lay Upon the borders of
Agrippa's kingdom, as also did Sogana and Scleucia. And these
were both parts of Gaulanitis; for Sogana was a part of that
called the Upper Gaulanitis, as was Gamala of the Lower; while
Selcucia was situated at the lake Semechouitis, which lake is
thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in length; its marshes
reach as far as the place Daphne, which in other respects is a
delicious place, and hath such fountains as supply water to what
is called Little Jordan, under the temple of the golden calf,
where it is sent into Great Jordan. Now Agrippa had united Sogana
and Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the very beginning of the
revolt from the Romans; yet did not Gamala accede to them, but
relied upon the difficulty of the place, which was greater than
that of Jotapata, for it was situated upon a rough ridge of a
high mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle: where it begins
to ascend, it lengthens itself, and declines as much downward
before as behind, insomuch that it is like a camel in figure,
from whence it is so named, although the people of the
country do not pronounce it accurately. Both on the side and
the face there are abrupt parts divided from the rest, and ending
in vast deep valleys; yet are the parts behind, where they are
joined to the mountain, somewhat easier of ascent than the other;
but then the people belonging to the place have cut an oblique
ditch there, and made that hard to be ascended also. On its
acclivity, which is straight, houses are built, and those very
thick and close to one another. The city also hangs so strangely,
that it looks as if it would fall down upon itself, so sharp is
it at the top. It is exposed to the south, and its southern
mount, which reaches to an immense height, was in the nature of a
citadel to the city; and above that was a precipice, not walled
about, but extending itself to an immense depth. There was also a
spring of water within the wall, at the utmost limits of the
city.
2. As this city was naturally hard to be taken, so had
Josephus, by building a wall about it, made it still stronger,
as also by ditches and mines under ground. The people that
were in it were made more bold by the nature of the place than
the people of Jotapata had been, but it had much fewer fighting
men in it; and they had such a confidence in the situation of the
place, that they thought the enemy could not be too many for
them; for the city had been filled with those that had fled to it
for safety, on account of its strength; on which account they had
been able to resist those whom
Agrippa sent to besiege it for seven months together.
3. But Vespasian removed from Emmaus, where he had last
pitched his camp before the city Tiberias, (now Emmaus, if it
be interpreted, may be rendered "a warm bath," for therein is a
spring of warm water, useful for healing,) and came to Gamala;
yet was its situation such that he was not able to encompass it
all round with soldiers to watch it; but where the places were
practicable, he set men to watch it, and seized upon the mountain
which was over it. And as the
legions, according to their usual custom, were fortifying their
camp upon that mountain, he began to cast up banks at the bottom,
at the part towards the east, where the highest tower of the
whole city was, and where the fifteenth legion pitched their
camp; while the fifth legion did duty over against the midst of
the city, and whilst the tenth legion filled up the ditches and
the valleys. Now at this time it was that as king Agrippa was
come nigh the walls, and was endeavoring to
speak to those that were on the walls about a surrender, he was
hit with a stone on his right elbow by one of the slingers; he
was then immediately surrounded with his own men. But the Romans
were excited to set about the siege, by their indignation on the
king's account, and by their fear on their own account, as
concluding that those men would omit no
kinds of barbarity against foreigners and enemies, who where so
enraged against one of their own nation, and one that advised
them to nothing but what was for their own
advantage.
4. Now when the banks were finished, which was done on the
sudden, both by the multitude of hands, and by their being
accustomed to such work, they brought the machines; but
Chares and Joseph, who were the most potent men in the
city, set their armed men in order, though already in a fright,
because they did not suppose that the city could hold out long,
since they had not a sufficient quantity either of water, or of
other necessaries. However, these their leaders
encouraged them, and brought them out upon the wall, and for a
while indeed they drove away those that were bringing the
machines; but when those machines threw darts and
stones at them, they retired into the city; then did the Romans
bring battering rams to three several places, and made the wall
shake [and fall]. They then poured in over the parts of the wall
that were thrown down, with a mighty sound of trumpets and noise
of armor, and with a shout of the
soldiers, and brake in by force upon those that were in the
city; but these men fell upon the Romans for some time, at their
first entrance, and prevented their going any further, and with
great courage beat them back; and the Romans
were so overpowered by the greater multitude of the people, who
beat them on every side, that they were obliged to run into the
upper parts of the city. Whereupon the people
turned about, and fell upon their enemies, who had attacked
them, and thrust them down to the lower parts, and as they were
distressed by the narrowness and difficulty of the place, slew
them; and as these Romans could neither beat those
back that were above them, nor escape the force of their own
men that were forcing their way forward, they were
compelled to fly into their enemies' houses, which were low;
but these houses being thus full, of soldiers, whose weight they
could not bear, fell down suddenly; and when one house fell, it
shook down a great many of those that were under it, as did those
do to such as were under them. By this means a vast number of the
Romans perished; for they were so
terribly distressed, that although they saw the houses
subsiding, they were compelled to leap upon the tops of
them; so that a great many were ground to powder by these
ruins, and a great many of those that got from under them lost
some of their limbs, but still a greater number were suffocated
by the dust that arose from those ruins. The
people of Gamala supposed this to be an assistance afforded
them by God, and without regarding what damage they
suffered themselves, they pressed forward, and thrust the enemy
upon the tops of their houses; and when they
stumbled in the sharp and narrow streets, and were
perpetually falling down, they threw their stones or darts at
them, and slew them. Now the very ruins afforded them
stones enow; and for iron weapons, the dead men of the
enemies' side afforded them what they wanted; for drawing the
swords of those that were dead, they made use of them to despatch
such as were only half dead; nay, there were a great number who,
upon their falling down from the tops of the houses, stabbed
themselves, and died after that manner; nor indeed was it easy
for those that were beaten back to fly away; for they were so
unacquainted with the ways, and the dust was so thick, that they
wandered about without knowing one another, and fell down dead
among the crowd.
5. Those therefore that were able to find the ways out of the
city retired. But now Vespasian always staid among those that
were hard set; for he was deeply affected with seeing the ruins
of the city falling upon his army, and forgot to take care of his
own preservation. He went up gradually towards the highest parts
of the city before he was aware, and was left in the midst of
dangers, having only a very few with him; for even his son Titus
was not with him at that time, having been then sent into Syria
to Mucianus. However, he thought it not safe to fly, nor did he
esteem it a fit thing for him to do; but calling to mind the
actions he had done from his youth, and recollecting his courage,
as if he had been excited by a divine fury, he covered himself
and those that were with him with their shields, and formed a
testudo over both their bodies and their armor, and bore up
against the enemy's attacks, who came running down from the top
of the city; and without showing any dread at the multitude of
the men or of their darts, he endured all, until the enemy took
notice of that divine courage that was within him, and remitted
of their attacks; and when they pressed less zealously upon him,
he retired, though without showing his back to them till he was
gotten out of the walls of the city. Now a great number of the
Romans fell in this battle, among whom was Ebutius, the
decurion, a man who appeared not only in this engagement,
wherein he fell, but every where, and in former engagements, to
be of the truest courage, and one that had done very great
mischief to the Jews. But there was a centurion whose name was
Gallus, who, during this disorder, being encompassed about, he
and ten other soldiers privately crept into the house of a
certain person, where he heard them talking at supper, what the
people intended to do against the Romans, or about themselves
(for both the man himself and those with him
were Syrians). So he got up in the night time, and cut all
their throats, and escaped, together with his soldiers, to the
Romans.
6. And now Vespasian comforted his army, which was much
dejected by reflecting on their ill success, and because they
had never before fallen into such a calamity, and besides this,
because they were greatly ashamed that they had left their
general alone in great dangers. As to what concerned himself, he
avoided to say any thing, that he might by no means seem to
complain of it; but he said that "we ought to bear manfully what
usually falls out in war, and this, by considering what the
nature of war is, and how it can never be that we must conquer
without bloodshed on our own side; for there stands about us that
fortune which is of its own nature mutable; that while they had
killed so many ten thousands of the Jews, they had now paid their
small share of the reckoning to fate; and as it is the part of
weak people to be too much puffed up with good success, so is it
the part of cowards to be too much aftrighted at that which is
ill; for the change from the one to the other is sudden on both
sides; and he is the best warrior who is of a sober mind under
misfortunes, that he may
continue in that temper, and cheerfully recover what had been
lost formerly; and as for what had now happened, it was neither
owing to their own effeminacy, nor to the valor of the Jews, but
the difficulty of the place was the occasion of their advantage,
and of our disappointment. Upon reflecting on which matter one
might blame your zeal as perfectly
ungovernable; for when the enemy had retired to their
highest fastnesses, you ought to have restrained yourselves,
and not, by presenting yourselves at the top of the city, to be
exposed to dangers; but upon your having obtained the lower parts
of the city, you ought to have provoked those that had retired
thither to a safe and settled battle; whereas, in rushing so
hastily upon victory, you took no care of your safety. But this
incautiousness in war, and this madness of zeal, is not a Roman
maxim. While we perform all that we attempt by skill and good
order, that procedure is the part of barbarians, and is what the
Jews chiefly support themselves by. We ought therefore to return
to our own virtue, and to be rather angry than any longer
dejected at this unlucky misfortune, and let every one seek for
his own consolation from his own hand; for by this means he will
avenge those that have been
destroyed, and punish those that have killed them. For
myself, I will endeavor, as I have now done, to go first before
you against your enemies in every engagement, and to be the last
that retires from it."
7. So Vespasian encouraged his army by this speech; but for the
people of Gamala, it happened that they took courage for a little
while, upon such great and unaccountable success as they had had.
But when they considered with themselves that they had now no
hopes of any terms of accommodation, and reflecting upon it that
they could not get away, and that their provisions began already
to be short, they were exceedingly cast down, and their courage
failed them; yet did they not neglect what might be for their
preservation, so far as they were able, but the most courageous
among them guarded
those parts of the wall that were beaten down, while the more
infirm did the same to the rest of the wall that still remained
round the city. And as the Romans raised their
banks, and attempted to get into the city a second time, a
great many of them fled out of the city through impracticable
valleys, where no guards were placed, as also through
subterraneous caverns; while those that were afraid of being
caught, and for that reason staid in the city, perished for want
of food; for what food they had was brought together from all
quarters, and reserved for the fighting men.
8. And these were the hard circumstances that the people of
Gamala were in. But now Vespasian went about other work
by the by, during this siege, and that was to subdue those that
had seized upon Mount Tabor, a place that lies in the middle
between the great plain and Scythopolis, whose top is
elevated as high as thirty furlongs and is hardly to be
ascended on its north side; its top is a plain of twenty-six
furlongs, and all encompassed with a wall. Now Josephus
erected this so long a wall in forty days' time, and furnished
it with other materials, and with water from below, for the
inhabitants only made use of rain water. As therefore there was a
great multitude of people gotten together upon this mountain,
Vespasian sent Placidus with six hundred
horsemen thither. Now, as it was impossible for him to
ascend the mountain, he invited many of them to peace, by the
offer of his right hand for their security, and of his
intercession for them. Accordingly they came down, but with a
treacherous design, as well as he had the like treacherous design
upon them on the other side; for Placidus spoke
mildly to them, as aiming to take them, when he got them into
the plain; they also came down, as complying with his proposals,
but it was in order to fall upon him when he was not aware of it:
however, Placidus's stratagem was too hard for theirs; for when
the Jews began to fight, he pretended to run away, and when they
were in pursuit of the Romans, he enticed them a great way along
the plain, and then made his horsemen turn back; whereupon he
beat them, and slew a
great number of them, and cut off the retreat of the rest of
the multitude, and hindered their return. So they left Tabor, and
fled to Jerusalem, while the people of the country came to terms
with him, for their water failed them, and so they delivered up
the mountain and themselves to Placidus.
9. But of the people of Gamala, those that were of the bolder
sort fled away and hid themselves, while the more infirm perished
by famine; but the men of war sustained the siege till the two
and twentieth day of the month Hyperberetmus, [Tisri,] when three
soldiers of the fifteenth legion, about the morning watch, got
under a high tower that was near them, and undermined it, without
making any noise; nor when they either came to it, which was in
the night time, nor when they were under it, did those that
guarded it perceive them. These soldiers then upon their coming
avoided making a noise, and when they had rolled away five of its
strongest stones, they went away hastily; whereupon the tower
fell down on a
sudden, with a very great noise, and its guard fell headlong
with it; so that those that kept guard at other places were under
such disturbance, that they ran away; the Romans also slew many
of those that ventured to oppose them, among
whom was Joseph, who was slain by a dart, as he was running
away over that part of the wall that was broken down: but as
those that were in the city were greatly aftrighted at the noise,
they ran hither and thither, and a great consternation fell upon
them, as though all the enemy had fallen in at once upon them.
Then it was that Chares, who was ill, and under the physician's
hands, gave up the ghost, the fear he was in greatly contributing
to make his distemper fatal to him. But the Romans so well
remembered their former ill success, that they did not enter the
city till the three and twentieth day of the forementioned month.
10. At which time Titus, who was now returned, out of the
indignation he had at the destruction the Romans had
undergone while he was absent, took two hundred chosen
horsemen and some footmen with him, and entered without
noise into the city. Now as the watch perceived that he was
coming, they made a noise, and betook themselves to their arms;
and as that his entrance was presently known to those that were
in the city, some of them caught hold of their children and their
wives, and drew them after them, and fled away to the citadel,
with lamentations and cries, while others of them went to meet
Titus, and were killed perpetually; but so many of them as were
hindered from running up to the
citadel, not knowing what in the world to do, fell among the
Roman guards, while the groans of those that were killed were
prodigiously great every where, and blood ran down
over all the lower parts of the city, from the upper. But then
Vespasian himself came to his assistance against those that had
fled to the citadel, and brought his whole army with him; now
this upper part of the city was every way rocky, and difficult of
ascent, and elevated to a vast altitude, and very full of people
on all sides, and encompassed with precipices, whereby the Jews
cut off those that came up to them, and did much mischief to
others by their darts, and the large stones which they rolled
down upon them, while they were
themselves so high that the enemy's darts could hardly reach
them. However, there arose such a Divine storm against them as
was instrumental to their destruction; this carried the Roman
darts upon them, and made those which they threw
return back, and drove them obliquely away from them; nor could
the Jews indeed stand upon their precipices, by reason of the
violence of the wind, having nothing that was stable to stand
upon, nor could they see those that were ascending up to them; so
the Romans got up and surrounded them, and
some they slew before they could defend themselves, and
others as they were delivering up themselves; and the
remembrance of those that were slain at their former
entrance into the city increased their rage against them now; a
great number also of those that were surrounded on every side,
and despaired of escaping, threw their children and their wives,
and themselves also, down the precipices, into the valley
beneath, which, near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a vast
depth; but so it happened, that the anger of the Romans appeared
not to be so extravagant as was the
madness of those that were now taken, while the Romans
slew but four thousand, whereas the number of those that had
thrown themselves down was found to be five thousand: nor did any
one escape except two women, who were the
daughters of Philip, and Philip himself was the son of a
certain eminent man called Jacimus, who had been general of king
Agrippa's army; and these did therefore escape, because they lay
concealed from the rage of the Romans when the
city was taken; for otherwise they spared not so much as the
infants, of which many were flung down by them from the
citadel. And thus was Gamala taken on the three and
twentieth day of the month Hyperberetens, [Tisri,] whereas the
city had first revolted on the four and twentieth day of the
month Gorpieus [Elul].
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