|
1. And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the
city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all
the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple
and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did
they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus
imperator with the greatest acclamations of joy. And now all
the soldiers had such vast quantities of the spoils which they
had gotten by plunder, that in Syria a pound weight of gold was
sold for half its former value. But as for those priests that
kept themselves still upon the wall of the holy house, there
was a boy that, out of the thirst he was in, desired some of the
Roman guards to give him their right hands as a security for his
life, and confessed he was very thirsty. These guards
commiserated his age, and the distress he was in, and gave him
their right hands accordingly. So he came down himself, and drank
some water, and filled the vessel he had with him when he came to
them with water, and then went off, and fled away to his own
friends; nor could any of those guards overtake him; but still
they reproached him for his perfidiousness. To which he made this
answer: "I have not broken the agreement; for the security I had
given me was not in order to my staying with you, but only in
order to my coming down safely, and taking up some water; both
which things I have performed, and thereupon think myself to have
been faithful to my engagement." Hereupon those whom the child
had imposed upon admired at his cunning, and that on account of
his age. On the fifth day afterward, the priests that were pined
with the famine came down, and when they were brought to Titus by
the guards, they begged for their lives; but he replied, that the
time of pardon was over as to them, and that this very holy
house, on whose account only they could justly hope to be
preserved, was destroyed; and that it was agreeable to their
office that priests should perish with the house itself to which
they belonged. So he ordered them to be put to death.
2. But as for the tyrants themselves, and those that were with
them, when they found that they were encompassed on every side,
and, as it were, walled round, without any method of escaping,
they desired to treat with Titus by word of mouth. Accordingly,
such was the kindness of his nature, and his desire of preserving
the city from destruction, joined to the advice of his friends,
who now thought the robbers were come to a temper, that he placed
himself on the western side of the outer [court of the] temple;
for there were gates on that side above the Xystus, and a bridge
that connected the upper city to the temple. This bridge it was
that lay between the tyrants and Caesar, and parted them; while
the multitude stood on each side; those of the Jewish nation
about Sinran and John, with great hopes of pardon; and the Romans
about Caesar, in great expectation how Titus would receive their
supplication. So Titus charged his soldiers to restrain their
rage, and to let their darts alone, and appointed an interpreter
between them, which was a sign that he was the conqueror, and
first began the discourse, and said, "I hope you, sirs, are now
satiated with the miseries of your country, who have not bad any
just notions, either of our great power, or of your own great
weakness, but have, like madmen, after a violent and
inconsiderate manner, made such attempts, as have brought your
people, your city, and your holy house to destruction. You have
been the men that have never left off rebelling since Pompey
first conquered you, and have, since that time, made open war
with the Romans. Have you depended on your multitude, while a
very small part of the Roman soldiery have been strong enough for
you? Have you relied on the fidelity of your confederates? And
what nations are there, out of the limits of our dominion, that
would choose to assist the Jews before the Romans? Are your
bodies stronger than ours? nay, you know that the [strong]
Germans themselves are our servants. Have you stronger walls than
we have? Pray, what greater obstacle is there than the wall of
the ocean, with which the Britons are encompassed, and yet do
adore the arms of the Romans. Do you exceed us in courage of
soul, and in the sagacity of your commanders? Nay, indeed, you
cannot but know that the very Carthaginians have been conquered
by us. It can therefore be nothing certainly but the kindness of
us Romans which hath excited you against us; who, in the first
place, have given you this land to possess; and, in the next
place, have set over you kings of your own nation; and, in the
third place, have preserved the laws of your forefathers to you,
and have withal permitted you to live, either by yourselves, or
among others, as it should please you: and, what is our chief
favor of all we have given you leave to gather up that tribute
which is paid to God with such other gifts that are
dedicated to him; nor have we called those that carried these
donations to account, nor prohibited them; till at length you
became richer than we ourselves, even when you were our enemies;
and you made preparations for war against us with our own money;
nay, after all, when you were in the enjoyment of all these
advantages, you turned your too great plenty against those that
gave it you, and, like merciless serpents, have thrown out your
poison against those that treated you kindly. I suppose,
therefore, that you might despise the slothfulness of Nero, and,
like limbs of the body that are broken or dislocated, you did
then lie quiet, waiting for some other time, though still with a
malicious intention, and have now showed your distemper to be
greater than ever, and have extended your desires as far as your
impudent and immense hopes would enable you to do it. At this
time my father came into this country, not with a design to
punish you for what you had done under Cestius, but to admonish
you; for had he come to overthrow your nation, he had run
directly to your fountain-head, and had immediately laid this
city waste; whereas he went and burnt Galilee and the neighboring
parts, and thereby gave you time for repentance; which instance
of humanity you took for an argument of his weakness, and
nourished up your impudence by our mildness. When Nero was gone
out of the world, you did as the wickedest wretches would have
done, and encouraged yourselves to act against us by our civil
dissensions, and abused that time, when both I and my father were
gone away to Egypt, to make preparations for this war. Nor were
you ashamed to raise disturbances against us when we were made
emperors, and this while you had experienced how mild we had
been, when we were no more than generals of the army. But when
the government was devolved upon us, and all other people did
thereupon lie quiet, and even foreign nations sent embassies, and
congratulated our access to the government, then did you Jews
show yourselves to be our enemies. You sent embassies to those of
your nation that are beyond Euphrates to assist you in your
raising disturbances; new walls were built by you round your
city, seditions arose, and one tyrant contended against another,
and a civil war broke out among you; such indeed as became none
but so wicked a people as you are. I then came to this city, as
unwillingly sent by my father, and received melancholy
injunctions from him. When I heard that the people were disposed
to peace, I rejoiced at it; I exhorted you to leave off these
proceedings before I began this war; I spared you even when you
had fought against me a great while; I gave my right hand as
security to the deserters; I observed what I had promised
faithfully. When they fled to me, I had compassion on many of
those that I had taken captive; I tortured those that were eager
for war, in order to restrain them. It was unwillingly that I
brought my engines of war against your walls; I always prohibited
my soldiers, when they were set upon your slaughter, from their
severity against you. After every victory I persuaded you to
peace, as though I had been myself conquered. When I came near
your temple, I again departed from the laws of war, and exhorted
you to spare your own sanctuary, and to preserve your holy house
to yourselves. I allowed you a quiet exit out of it, and security
for your preservation; nay, if you had a mind, I gave you leave
to fight in another place. Yet have you still despised every one
of my proposals, and have set fire to your holy house with your
own hands. And now, vile wretches, do you desire to treat with me
by word of mouth? To what purpose is it that you would save such
a holy house as this was, which is now destroyed? What
preservation can you now desire after the destruction of your
temple? Yet do you stand still at this very time in your armor;
nor can you bring yourselves so much as to pretend to be
supplicants even in this your utmost extremity. O miserable
creatures! what is it you depend on? Are not your people dead? is
not your holy house gone? is not your city in my power? and are
not your own very lives in my hands? And do you still deem it a
part of valor to die? However, I will not imitate your madness.
If you throw down your arms, and deliver up your bodies to me, I
grant you your lives; and I will act like a mild master of a
family; what cannot be healed shall be punished, and the rest I
will preserve for my own use."
3. To that offer of Titus they made this reply: That they could
not accept of it, because they had sworn never to do so; but they
desired they might have leave to go through the wall that had
been made about them, with their wives and children; for that
they would go into the desert, and leave the city to him. At this
Titus had great indignation, that when they were in the case of
men already taken captives, they should pretend to make their own
terms with him, as if they had been conquerors. So he ordered
this proclamation to be made to them, That they should no more
come out to him as deserters, nor hope for any further security;
for that he would henceforth spare nobody, but fight them with
his whole army; and that they must save themselves as well as
they could; for that he would from henceforth treat them
according to the laws of war. So he gave orders to the soldiers
both to burn and to plunder the city; who did nothing indeed that
day; but on the next day they set fire to the repository of the
archives, to Acra, to the council-house, and to the place called
Ophlas; at which time the fire proceeded as far as the palace of
queen Helena, which was in the middle of Acra; the lanes also
were burnt down, as were also those houses that were full of the
dead bodies of such as were destroyed by famine.
4. On the same day it was that the sons and brethren of Izates
the king, together with many others of the eminent men of the
populace, got together there, and besought Caesar to give them
his right hand for their security; upon which, though he was very
angry at all that were now remaining, yet did he not lay aside
his old moderation, but received these men. At that time, indeed,
he kept them all in custody, but still bound the king's sons and
kinsmen, and led them with him to Rome, in order to make them
hostages for their country's fidelity to the Romans.
|
|