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1. Now, as Titus was upon his march into the enemy's
country, the auxiliaries that were sent by the kings marched
first, having all the other auxiliaries with them; after whom
followed those that were to prepare the roads and measure out the
camp; then came the commander's baggage, and
after that the other soldiers, who were completely armed to
support them; then came Titus himself, having with him
another select body; and then came the pikemen; after
whom came the horse belonging to that legion. All these
came before the engines; and after these engines came the
tribunes and the leaders of the cohorts, with their select
bodies; after these came the ensigns, with the eagle; and before
those ensigns came the trumpeters belonging to
them; next these came the main body of the army in their ranks,
every rank being six deep; the servants belonging to every legion
came after these; and before these last their baggage; the
mercenaries came last, and those that
guarded them brought up the rear. Now Titus, according to the
Roman usage, went in the front of the army after a
decent manner, and marched through Samaria to Gophna,
a city that had been formerly taken by his father, and was then
garrisoned by Roman soldiers; and when he had
lodged there one night, he marched on in the morning; and when
he had gone as far as a day's march, he pitched his camp at that
valley which the Jews, in their own tongue, call "the Valley of
Thorns," near a certain village called Gabaothsath, which
signifies "the Hill of Saul," being distant from Jerusalem about
thirty furlongs. There it was that he chose out six hundred
select horsemen, and went to
take a view of the city, to observe what strength it was of,
and how courageous the Jews were; whether, when they
saw him, and before they came to a direct battle, they
would be affrighted and submit; for he had been informed what
was really true, that the people who were fallen under the power
of the seditious and the robbers were greatly
desirous of peace; but being too weak to rise up against the
rest, they lay still.
2. Now, so long as he rode along the straight road which led to
the wall of the city, nobody appeared out of the
gates; but when he went out of that road, and declined
towards the tower Psephinus, and led the band of
horsemen obliquely, an immense number of the Jews
leaped out suddenly at the towers called the "Women's
Towers," through that gate which was over against the
monuments of queen Helena, and intercepted his horse;
and standing directly opposite to those that still ran along
the road, hindered them from joining those that had
declined out of it. They intercepted Titus also, with a few
other. Now it was here impossible for him to go forward, because
all the places had trenches dug in them from the wall, to
preserve the gardens round about, and were full of gardens
obliquely situated, and of many hedges; and to
return back to his own men, he saw it was also impossible, by
reason of the multitude of the enemies that lay between them;
many of whom did not so much as know that the king was in any
danger, but supposed him still among them. So he perceived that
his preservation must be wholly owing to his own courage, and
turned his horse about, and cried out aloud to those that were
about him to follow him, and ran with violence into the midst of
his enemies, in order to force his way through them to his own
men. And hence we may
principally learn, that both the success of wars, and the
dangers that kings are in, are under the providence of God;
for while such a number of darts were thrown at Titus, when he
had neither his head-piece on, nor his breastplate, (for, as I
told you, he went out not to fight, but to view the city,) none
of them touched his body, but went aside
without hurting him; as if all of them missed him on
purpose, and only made a noise as they passed by him. So he
diverted those perpetually with his sword that came on his side,
and overturned many of those that directly met him, and made his
horse ride over those that were
overthrown. The enemy indeed made a shout at the
boldness of Caesar, and exhorted one another to rush upon him.
Yet did these against whom he marched fly away, and go off from
him in great numbers; while those that were in the same danger
with him kept up close to him, though
they were wounded both on their backs and on their sides; for
they had each of them but this one hope of escaping, if they
could assist Titus in opening himself a way, that he might not be
encompassed round by his enemies before he
got away from them. Now there were two of those that
were with him, but at some distance; the one of which the enemy
compassed round, and slew him with their darts,
and his horse also; but the other they slew as he leaped down
from his horse, and carried off his horse with them. But Titus
escaped with the rest, and came safe to the
camp. So this success of the Jews' first attack raised their
minds, and gave them an ill-grounded hope; and this short
inclination of fortune, on their side, made them very
courageous for the future.
3. But now, as soon as that legion that had been at
Emmaus was joined to Caesar at night, he removed
thence, when it was day, and came to a place called
Seopus; from whence the city began already to be seen,
and a plain view might be taken of the great temple.
Accordingly, this place, on the north quarter of the city, and
joining thereto, was a plain, and very properly named
Scopus, [the prospect,] and was no more than seven
furlongs distant from it. And here it was that Titus ordered a
camp to be fortified for two legions that were to be together;
but ordered another camp to be fortified, at three furlongs
farther distance behind them, for the fifth legion; for he
thought that, by marching in the night, they might be tired, and
might deserve to be covered from the enemy, and with less fear
might fortify themselves; and as these were now beginning to
build, the tenth legion, who came through
Jericho, was already come to the place, where a certain
party of armed men had formerly lain, to guard that pass into
the city, and had been taken before by Vespasian.
These legions had orders to encamp at the distance of six
furlongs from Jerusalem, at the mount called the Mount of Olives
which lies over against the city on the east side, and is
parted from it by a deep valley, interposed between them, which
is named Cedron.
4. Now when hitherto the several parties in the city had been
dashing one against another perpetually, this foreign war, now
suddenly come upon them after a violent manner, put the first
stop to their contentions one against another; and as the
seditious now saw with astonishment the
Romans pitching three several camps, they began to think of an
awkward sort of concord, and said one to another,
"What do we here, and what do we mean, when we suffer
three fortified walls to be built to coop us in, that we shall
not be able to breathe freely? while the enemy is securely
building a kind of city in opposition to us, and while we sit
still within our own walls, and become spectators only of what
they are doing, with our hands idle, and our armor laid by, as if
they were about somewhat that was for our good and advantage. We
are, it seems, (so did they cry out,)
only courageous against ourselves, while the Romans are
likely to gain the city without bloodshed by our sedition."
Thus did they encourage one another when they were
gotten together, and took their armor immediately, and ran out
upon the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with great
eagerness, and with a prodigious shout, as they were fortifying
their camp. These Romans were caught in
different parties, and this in order to perform their several
works, and on that account had in great measure laid aside their
arms; for they thought the Jews would not have
ventured to make a sally upon them; and had they been
disposed so to do, they supposed their sedition would have
distracted them. So they were put into disorder
unexpectedly; when some of hem left their works they were
about, and immediately marched off, while many ran to
their arms, but were smitten and slain before they could turn
back upon the enemy. The Jews became still more
and more in number, as encouraged by the good success
of those that first made the attack; and while they had such
good fortune, they seemed both to themselves and to the
enemy to be many more than they really were. The
disorderly way of their fighting at first put the Romans also
to a stand, who had been constantly used to fight skillfully in
good order, and with keeping their ranks, and obeying the orders
that were given them; for which reason the
Romans were caught unexpectedly, and were obliged to
give way to the assaults that were made upon them. Now
when these Romans were overtaken, and turned back upon
the Jews, they put a stop to their career; yet when they did
not take care enough of themselves through the
vehemency of their pursuit, they were wounded by them;
but as still more and more Jews sallied out of the city, the
Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put to fight,
and ran away from their camp. Nay, things looked as though the
entire legion would have been in danger, unless Titus had been
informed of the case they were in, and had sent them succors
immediately. So he reproached them for their cowardice, and
brought those back that were running away, and fell himself upon
the Jews on their flank, with those select troops that were with
him, and slew a
considerable number, and wounded more of them, and put
them all to flight, and made them run away hastily down the
valley. Now as these Jews suffered greatly in the declivity of
the valley, so when they were gotten over it, they turned about,
and stood over against the Romans, having the
valley between them, and there fought with them. Thus did they
continue the fight till noon; but when it was already a little
after noon, Titus set those that came to the assistance of the
Romans with him, and those that belonged to the
cohorts, to prevent the Jews from making any more sallies, and
then sent the rest of the legion to the upper part of the
mountain, to fortify their camp.
5. This march of the Romans seemed to the Jews to be a
flight; and as the watchman who was placed upon the wall gave a
signal by shaking his garment, there came out a
fresh multitude of Jews, and that with such mighty violence,
that one might compare it to the running of the most terrible
wild beasts. To say the truth, none of those that opposed them
could sustain the fury with which they made their
attacks; but, as if they had been cast out of an engine, they
brake the enemies' ranks to pieces, who were put to flight, and
ran away to the mountain; none but Titus himself, and a few
others with him, being left in the midst of the acclivity. Now
these others, who were his friends, despised the
danger they were in, and were ashamed to leave their
general, earnestly exhorting him to give way to these Jews that
are fond of dying, and not to run into such dangers before those
that ought to stay before him; to consider what his fortune was,
and not, by supplying the place of a
common soldier, to venture to turn back upon the enemy so
suddenly; and this because he was general in the war, and lord of
the habitable earth, on whose preservation the
public affairs do all depend. These persuasions Titus
seemed not so much as to hear, but opposed those that
ran upon him, and smote them on the face; and when he
had forced them to go back, he slew them: he also fell
upon great numbers as they marched down the hill, and
thrust them forward; while those men were so amazed at
his courage and his strength, that they could not fly directly
to the city, but declined from him on both sides, and
pressed after those that fled up the hill; yet did he still
fall upon their flank, and put a stop to their fury. In the mean
time, a disorder and a terror fell again upon those that were
fortifying their camp at the top of the hill, upon their seeing
those beneath them running away; insomuch that the whole legion
was dispersed, while they thought that the sallies of the Jews
upon them were plainly insupportable, and that
Titus was himself put to flight; because they took it for
granted, that, if he had staid, the rest would never have fled
for it. Thus were they encompassed on every side by a kind of
panic fear, and some dispersed themselves one way,
and some another, till certain of them saw their general in the
very midst of an action, and being under great concern for him,
they loudly proclaimed the danger he was in to the entire legion;
and now shame made them turn back, and
they reproached one another that they did worse than run away,
by deserting Caesar. So they used their utmost force against the
Jews, and declining from the straight declivity, they drove them
on heaps into the bottom of the valley.
Then did the Jews turn about and fight them; but as they were
themselves retiring, and now, because the Romans
had the advantage of the ground, and were above the
Jews, they drove them all into the valley. Titus also pressed
upon those that were near him, and sent the legion again to
fortify their camp; while he, and those that were with him
before, opposed the enemy, and kept them from doing
further mischief; insomuch that, if I may be allowed neither to
add any thing out of flattery, nor to diminish any thing out of
envy, but to speak the plain truth, Caesar did twice
deliver that entire legion when it was in jeopardy, and gave
them a quiet opportunity of fortifying their camp.
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