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1. Now the warlike men that were in the city, and the
multitude of the seditious that were with Simon, were ten
thousand, besides the Idumeans. Those ten thousand had
fifty commanders, over whom this Simon was supreme. The
Idumeans that paid him homage were five thousand, and
had eight commanders, among whom those of greatest
fame were Jacob the son of Sosas, and Simon the son of
Cathlas. Jotre, who had seized upon the temple, had six
thousand armed men under twenty commanders; the
zealots also that had come over to him, and left off their
opposition, were two thousand four hundred, and had the
same commander that they had formerly, Eleazar, together with
Simon the son of Arinus. Now, while these factions
fought one against another, the people were their prey on both
sides, as we have said already; and that part of the people who
would not join with them in their wicked
practices were plundered by both factions. Simon held the upper
city, and the great wall as far as Cedron, and as
much of the old wall as bent from Siloam to the east, and which
went down to the palace of Monobazus, who was
king of the Adiabeni, beyond Euphrates; he also held that
fountain, and the Acra, which was no other than the lower city;
he also held all that reached to the palace of queen Helena, the
mother of Monobazus. But John held the
temple, and the parts thereto adjoining, for a great way, as
also Ophla, and the valley called "the Valley of Cedron;" and
when the parts that were interposed between their
possessions were burnt by them, they left a space wherein they
might fight with each other; for this internal sedition did not
cease even when the Romans were encamped near
their very wall. But although they had grown wiser at the first
onset the Romans made upon them, this lasted but a while; for
they returned to their former madness, and
separated one from another, and fought it out, and did
everything that the besiegers could desire them to do; for they
never suffered any thing that was worse from the
Romans than they made each other suffer; nor was there
any misery endured by the city after these men's actions that
could be esteemed new. But it was most of all unhappy before it
was overthrown, while those that took it did it a greater
kindness for I venture to affirm that the sedition destroyed the
city, and the Romans destroyed the sedition, which it was a much
harder thing to do than to destroy the walls; so that we may
justly ascribe our misfortunes to our own people, and the just
vengeance taken on them to the
Romans; as to which matter let every one determine by the
actions on both sides.
2. Now when affairs within the city were in this posture, Titus
went round the city on the outside with some chosen horsemen, and
looked about for a proper place where he
might make an impression upon the walls; but as he was in doubt
where he could possibly make an attack on any side, (for the
place was no way accessible where the valleys
were, and on the other side the first wall appeared too
strong to be shaken by the engines,) he thereupon thought it
best to make his assault upon the monument of John the high
priest; for there it was that the first fortification was lower,
and the second was not joined to it, the builders neglecting to
build strong where the new city was not much inhabited; here also
was an easy passage to the third wall, through which he thought
to take the upper city, and,
through the tower of Antonia, the temple itself But at this
time, as he was going round about the city, one of his
friends, whose name was Nicanor, was wounded with a
dart on his left shoulder, as he approached, together with
Josephus, too near the wall, and attempted to discourse to those
that were upon the wall, about terms of peace; for he was a
person known by them. On this account it was that
Caesar, as soon as he knew their vehemence, that they
would not hear even such as approached them to persuade
them to what tended to their own preservation, was
provoked to press on the siege. He also at the same time gave
his soldiers leave to set the suburbs on fire, and
ordered that they should bring timber together, and raise banks
against the city; and when he had parted his army
into three parts, in order to set about those works, he
placed those that shot darts and the archers in the midst of
the banks that were then raising; before whom he placed
those engines that threw javelins, and darts, and stones, that
he might prevent the enemy from sallying out upon
their works, and might hinder those that were upon the wall
from being able to obstruct them. So the trees were now
cut down immediately, and the suburbs left naked. But now while
the timber was carrying to raise the banks, and the whole army
was earnestly engaged in their works, the Jews were not, however,
quiet; and it happened that the people of Jerusalem, who had been
hitherto plundered and
murdered, were now of good courage, and supposed they
should have a breathing time, while the others were very busy
in opposing their enemies without the city, and that they should
now be avenged on those that had been the
authors of their miseries, in case the Romans did but get the
victory.
3. However, John staid behind, out of his fear of Simon, even
while his own men were earnest in making a sally
upon their enemies without. Yet did not Simon lie still, for he
lay near the place of the siege; he brought his engines of war,
and disposed of them at due distances upon the
wall, both those which they took from Cestius formerly, and
those which they got when they seized the garrison that lay in
the tower Antonia. But though they had these engines in their
possession, they had so little skill in using them, that they
were in great measure useless to them; but a few
there were who had been taught by deserters how to use
them, which they did use, though after an awkward manner. So
they cast stones and arrows at those that were making the banks;
they also ran out upon them by companies, and fought with them.
Now those that were at work covered
themselves with hurdles spread over their banks, and their
engines were opposed to them when they made their
excursions. The engines, that all the legions had ready
prepared for them, were admirably contrived; but still more
extraordinary ones belonged to the tenth legion: those that threw
darts and those that threw stones were more forcible and larger
than the rest, by which they not only repelled the excursions of
the Jews, but drove those away that were
upon the walls also. Now the stones that were cast were of the
weight of a talent, and were carried two furlongs and further.
The blow they gave was no way to be sustained,
not only by those that stood first in the way, but by those
that were beyond them for a great space. As for the Jews, they at
first watched the coming of the stone, for it was of a white
color, and could therefore not only be perceived by the great
noise it made, but could be seen also before it came by its
brightness; accordingly the watchmen that sat upon the towers
gave them notice when the engine was let go, and the stone came
from it, and cried out aloud, in their own country language, The
Stone Cometh so those
that were in its way stood off, and threw themselves down upon
the ground; by which means, and by their thus
guarding themselves, the stone fell down and did them no harm.
But the Romans contrived how to prevent that by
blacking the stone, who then could aim at them with
success, when the stone was not discerned beforehand, as it had
been till then; and so they destroyed many of them at one blow.
Yet did not the Jews, under all this distress, permit the Romans
to raise their banks in quiet; but they shrewdly and boldly
exerted themselves, and repelled them both by night and by day.
4. And now, upon the finishing the Roman works, the
workmen measured the distance there was from the wall,
and this by lead and a line, which they threw to it from their
banks; for they could not measure it any otherwise,
because the Jews would shoot at them, if they came to
measure it themselves; and when they found that the
engines could reach the wall, they brought them thither. Then
did Titus set his engines at proper distances, so much nearer to
the wall, that the Jews might not be able to repel them, and gave
orders they should go to work; and when
thereupon a prodigious noise echoed round about from
three places, and that on the sudden there was a great
noise made by the citizens that were within the city, and no
less a terror fell upon the seditious themselves; whereupon both
sorts, seeing the common danger they were in,
contrived to make a like defense. So those of different
factions cried out one to another, that they acted entirely as
in concert with their enemies; whereas they ought however,
notwithstanding God did not grant them a lasting concord, in
their present circumstances, to lay aside their enmities one
against another, and to unite together against the
Romans. Accordingly, Simon gave those that came from
the temple leave, by proclamation, to go upon the wall;
John also himself, though he could not believe Simon was in
earnest, gave them the same leave. So on both sides
they laid aside their hatred and their peculiar quarrels, and
formed themselves into one body; they then ran round the walls,
and having a vast number of torches with them, they threw them at
the machines, and shot darts perpetually
upon those that impelled those engines which battered the wall;
nay, the bolder sort leaped out by troops upon the hurdles that
covered the machines, and pulled them to
pieces, and fell upon those that belonged to them, and beat
them, not so much by any skill they had, as principally by the
boldness of their attacks. However, Titus himself still sent
assistance to those that were the hardest set, and
placed both horsemen and archers on the several sides of the
engines, and thereby beat off those that brought the fire to
them; he also thereby repelled those that shot stones or darts
from the towers, and then set the engines to work in good
earnest; yet did not the wall yield to these blows, excepting
where the battering ram of the fifteenth legion moved the corner
of a tower, while the wall itself continued unhurt; for the wall
was not presently in the same danger with the tower, which was
extant far above it; nor could the fall of that part of the tower
easily break down any part of the wall itself together with it.
5. And now the Jews intermitted their sallies for a while; but
when they observed the Romans dispersed all abroad at
their works, and in their several camps, (for they thought the
Jews had retired out of weariness and fear,) they all at once
made a sally at the tower Hippicus, through an
obscure gate, and at the same time brought fire to burn the
works, and went boldly up to the Romans, and to their very
fortifications themselves, where, at the cry they made,
those that were near them came presently to their
assistance, and those farther off came running after them; and
here the boldness of the Jews was too hard for the
good order of the Romans; and as they beat those whom
they first fell upon, so they pressed upon those that were now
gotten together. So this fight about the machines was very hot,
while the one side tried hard to set them on fire, and the other
side to prevent it; on both sides there was a confused cry made,
and many of those in the forefront of the battle were slain.
However, the Jews were now too hard for the Romans, by the
furious assaults they made like
madmen; and the fire caught hold of the works, and both all
those works, and the engines themselves, had been in
danger of being burnt, had not many of these select
soldiers that came from Alexandria opposed themselves to
prevent it, and had they not behaved themselves with
greater courage than they themselves supposed they could have
done; for they outdid those in this fight that had
greater reputation than themselves before. This was the
state of things till Caesar took the stoutest of his horsemen,
and attacked the enemy, while he himself slew twelve of
those that were in the forefront of the Jews; which death of
these men, when the rest of the multitude saw, they gave way, and
he pursued them, and drove them all into the city, and saved the
works from the fire. Now it happened at this fight that a certain
Jew was taken alive, who, by Titus's order, was crucified before
the wall, to see whether the rest of them would be aftrighted,
and abate of their obstinacy. But after the Jews were retired,
John, who was commander of the Idumeans, and was talking to a
certain soldier of his acquaintance before the wall, was wounded
by a dart shot at him by an Arabian, and died immediately,
leaving the
greatest lamentation to the Jews, and sorrow to the
seditious. For he was a man of great eminence, both for his
actions and his conduct also.
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