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THE WORKS
OF
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS:
COMPRISING THE
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS;
A HISTORY OF THE JEWISH WARS;
AND
LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK,
By WILLIAM WHISTON, A.M.
PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
TOGETHER WITH NUMEROUS EXPLANATORY NOTES,
AND
CONCERNING
JESUS CHRIST, JOHN THE BAPTIST, JAMES THE JUST,
GOD'S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM, ETC.
FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION.
jSMBELLISHED with elegant engravings.
IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. II.
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY JAS. B. SMITH & CO.,
NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET.
1857.
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.— (Continued.)
BOOK XVI.
Containing an interval of twelve years.
FROM THE FINISHING OF THE TEMPLE BY nEROD,
TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBU-
LUS.
PAGE
Chap. I. Herod's law concerning thieves — Sa-
lome and Pheroras calumniate Alexander
and Aristobulus upon their return from
Rome 7
Chap. II. Agrippa visits Herod — Herod sails
after Agrippa, who confirms the laws of the
Ionian Jews S
Chap. III. Disturbances in Herod's family ou
his preferring Antipater before the rest 11
Chap. IV. Herod brings Alexander and Aris-
tobulus before Caesar — Alexander's defence,
and reconciliation to his father 13
Chap. V. Herod celebrates the games that
were to return every fifth year, on the build-
ing of Caesarea 17
Chap. VI. The Jews in Asia complain of the
Greeks to Caesar IS
Chap. VII. Herod removes part of the riches
from the tomb of David — sedition consequent
thereon 20
Chap. VIII. Continued dissensions in Herod's
family 23
Chap. IX. The Trachonites revolt — Sylleus
accuses Herod before Ctesar 26
Chap. X. Eurycles falsely accuses Herod's
son 28
Chap. XL Herod, by permission from Coesar,
accuses his sons before an assembly of judges
at Berytus — Death of the young men, and
their burial at Alexandrium 32
BOOK XVII.
Containing an interval of fourteen years.
FROM ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBULUS'S DEATHS TO
THE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS.
Chap. I. Antipater, hated by the Jewish na-
tion, endeavours to gain the good-will of the
Romans and Syrians by presents 36
Chap. II. Zamaris, a Babylonish Jew, as-
sumes the government of Batanea — his death
— Antipater plots against Herod 38
Chap. III. Enmity between Herod and Phe-
roras— Herod sends Antipater to Caesar —
Death of Pheroras 39
Chap. IV. Pheroras's wife accused of poison-
ing her husband — consequences of the accu-
sation 41
Chap. V. Antipater returns from Rome — ac-
cused by Nicolaus of Damascus — condemned
to die by Herod and Quintilius Varus 42
Chap. VI. Illness of Herod — the Jews raise a
sedition thereon — ??e discovered and pu-
nished 47
Chap. VII. Herod contemplates self-destruc-
tion—orders Antipater to be slain 50
Chap. VIII. Herod's death — his testament —
burial 51
Chap. IX. The people raise a sedition against
Archelaus, who sails to Rome 52
Chap. X. Sedition of the Jews against Sabi-
nus 56
Chap. XI. An Embassy of the Jews to Caesar
— Caesar confirms Herod's testament 60
chap. XII. Concerning a spurious Alexander 62
Chap. XIII. Anhelaus, upon a second accu-
sation, banished to Vienna 63
BOOK XVIII.
Containing an interval of thirty-two years.
FROM TnE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS To THE DE-
PARTURE OF THE JEWS FROM BABYLON.
Chap. I. Cyrenus sent by Caesar to tax Syria
and Judea; Coponius sent as procurator of
Judea — Judas of Galilee — sects among the
Jews 65
Chap. II. Herod and Philip build several cities
in honour of Cresar 67
Chap. III. Sedition of the Jews against Pon-
tius Pilate 69
Chap. IV. The Samaritans make a tumult —
Pilate destroys many of them — Pilate is
accused 72
Chap. V. Herod the tetrarch makes war with
Aretas, king of Arabia — is beaten by him —
Death of John the Baptist 74
Chap. VI. Agrippa visits Rome — accused be-
fore Tiberius Coesar — imprisoned — is set at
liberty by Caius, after the death of Tiberius 76
Chap. VII. Herod the tetrarch banished 83
Chap. VIII. Embassy of the Jews to Caius
— Caius sends Petronius into Syria, to make
war against the Jews 85
Chap. IX. Sedition among the Babylonish
Jews 89
BOOK XIX.
Containing an interval of three years and a half.
FROM THE JEWS' DEPARTURE OUT OF BABYLON TO
FADUS THE ROMAN PROCURATOR.
Chap. I. Caius (Caligula) slain by Cherca 95
Chap. II. The senators attempt the re-es-
tablishment of a democracy — Claudius chosen
emperor by the soldiers — Death of the wife
and daughter of Caius 106
Chap. III. Claudius seized on, and brought
to the camp — the senate sends an embassy
to him 110
Chap. IV. Claudius assisted by Agrippa, ob-
tains the sovereignty of Rome — executes
the murderers of Caius 112
Chap. V. Claudius restores to Agrippa his
grandfather's kingdom — augments his do-
minions ; and publishes an edict in behalf
of the Jews 114
Chap. VI. Conduct of Agrippa — Petronius
writes to the inhabitants of Doris on behalf
of the Jews 116
Chap. VII. Silas imprisoned by Agrippa —
Jerusalem encompassed by a wall — benefits
conferred on the inhabitants of Berytus by
Agrippa 117
Chap. VIII. Death of Agrippa 119
Chap. IX. The Emperor Claudius appoints
Cuspius Fadus procurator of Judea 120
3
CONTENTS.
BOOK XX.
Containing an interval of twenty-two years.
PROM KADIS THE PROCURATOR TO FLORUS.
Chap. I. Sedition of the Philadelphians
against the Jews 121
Chap. II. Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her
son Izates, embrace the Jewish religion —
Helena supplies the poor with corn during a
great famine at Jerusalem 122
Chap. III. Artabanus, king of Parthia,re-in-
Btated in his government by Izates — Barda-
nes denounces war against Izates 125
Chap. IV. Izates betrayed by his subjects,
ami is attacked by the Arabians, but eventu-
ally subdues them 126
Chap. V. Concerning Theudas and the sons
of Judas the Galilean — calamity of the Jews
on the day of the Passover 128
Chap. VI. A quarrel between the Jews and
the Samaritans — Claudius puts an end to
their differences 129
Chap. VII. Felix made procurator of Jndea
— concerning the younger Agrippa and his
sisters 130
Chap. VIII. Nero succeeds to the Roman
government — his cruelties — Felix and Fes-
tus procurators of Judea 131
Chap. IX. Albinus procurator of Judea — the
Apostle James slain — Edifices built by Agrippa 135
Chap. X. Enumeration of the high priests... 137
Chap. XL Florus the procurator compels the
Jews to take up arms against the Romans —
conclusion 138
WARS OF THE JEWS.
Preface,
141
BOOK I.
Containing an interval of 167 years.
PROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY ANTIOCHUS
EPIPHANES TO THE DEATH OF HEROD THE GREAT.
Chap. I. Jerusalem taken, and the temple pil-
laged [by Antiochus Epiphanes] — actions of
the Maccabees, Matthias and Judas — death
of Judas 144
Chap. II. Jonathan, Simeon, and John Hyr-
canus succeed Judas Maccabeus 145
Chap. III. Aristobulus changes the govern-
ment into a kingdom — destroys his mother
■■mil brother — -reigns one year 147
Chap. IV. Alexander Janneus succeeds to the
crown, and reigns 27 years 149
Chap. V. Alexander reigns nine years 150
Chap. VI. Hyrcanus resigns the kingdom in
favour of his brother Aristobulus — is induced
to reclaim it — Pompey arbitrates between the
two brothers 151
Chap. VII. Jerusalem surrendered to Pom-
pey, who seizes on the Temple by force 153
Chap. VIII. Alexander, son of Aristobulus,
makes an expedition against Hyrcanus — is
defeated by Gabinius — Aristobulus escapes
from Rome, is beaten by the Romans, and
sent back again 155
Chap. IX. Aristobulus poisoned by Pompey's
party — Scipio beheads Alexander — Antipa-
ter cultivates a friendship with Caosar, after
Pom] ley's death 157
Chap. X. Antipater, procurator of Judea —
appoints Phasaelus governor of Jerusalem,
ami Herod of Galilee — Sextus Ca;sar mur-
dered by Bassns 158
Chap. XL Herod made procurator of all
Syria 160
Chap. XII. Phasaelus too hard for Felix —
Herod overcomes Antigonus — the Jews ac-
cuse Herod and Phasaelus — Antonius acquits
them, and makes them tetrarchs 162
Chap. XIII. The Parthians bring Antigonus
back — Hyrcanus and Phasaelus imprisoned
— flight of Herod — the Parthians obtain pos-
sesion of Jerusalem — death of Phasaelus... 163
Chap. XIV. Herod rejected in Arabia — makes
hasteto Rome — Antony and Caesar unite their
interest to make him king of the Jews 166
Chap. XV. Antigonus besieges Massada — He-
rod compels him to raise the siege, and then
marches to Jerusalem 167
Chap. XVI. Herod takes Sepphoris — subdues
the robbers — avenges himself on Macheras
— joins Antony at Samosata 168
Chap. XVII. Death of Joseph — Herod's pre-
servation— beheads the slayer of his brother
— besieges Jerusalem and marries Mariamne 170
Chap. XVIII. Herod and Sosius take Jerusa-
lem by force— death of Antigonus — Cleopa-
tra's avarice 172
Chap. XIX. Antony, at the persuasion of
Cleopatra, sends Herod to fight against the
Arabians — great earthquake 174
Chap. XX. Herod is confirmed in his king-
dom by Casar — cultivates a friendship with
the emperor by magnificent presents — Cae-
sar returns Herod's kindness by enlarging
his territories 176
Chap. XXI. Of the [temple and] cities built
by Herod — his magnificence to foreigners... 178
Chap. XXII. Murder of Aristobulus and
Hyrcanus the high priests, and of Mariamne
the queen 180
Chap. XXIII. Calumnies against the sons of
Mariamne — Antipater preferred before them
— they are accused before Cfesar, and Herod
is reconciled to them 182
Chap. XXIV. Malice of Antipater and Doris
— Herod pardons Pheroras and Salome — He-
rod's eunuchs tortured — Alexander impri-
soned 184
Chap. XXV. Archelaus procures a reconcilia-
tion between Alexander, Pheroras, and He-
rod 187
Chap. XXVI. Eurycles calumniates the sons
of Mariamne — Euratus's apology has no ef-
fect 1S8
Chap. XXVII. Herod, by Cassar's directions,
accuses his sons at Berytus — they are con-
demned and sent to Sebaste, and strangled
shortly afterward 191
Chap. XXVIII. Antipater hated by all — the
king espouses the sons of those that had
been slain to his kindred — Antipater induces
him to change them for other women — He-
rod's marriages and children 192
Chap. XXIX. Intolerance of Antipater — he
is sent to Rome — Pheroras refuses to divorce
his wife , 194
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Chap. XXX. Herod inquires into the death
of Pheroras — consequences thereof 195
Chap. XXXI. Antipater, convicted by Ba-
thyllus, returns from Rome, and is brought
to trial by Herod 197
Chap. XXXII. Antipater accused before Va-
rus— is convicted — his punishment postponed
till the recovery of his father 199
Chap. XXXIII. The golden eagle cut to pieces
— Herod's barbarity — attempts to kill him-
self— commands Antipater to be slain — sur-
vives him five days 201
BOOK II.
Containing an interval of sixty-nine years.
FROM THE DEATH OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS
SENT TO SUBDUE THE JEWS BY NERO.
Chap. I. Archelaus makes a funeral feast —
a great tumult raised by the multitude — the
soldiers destroy about 3000 of them 204
Chap. II. Archelaus accused before Ciesar by
Autipater — is successfully defended by Nico-
laus 205
Cb.ap. III. Revolt of the Jews 207
Chap. IV. Herod's veteran soldiers become
tumultuous — robberies of Judas — Simon and
Athrongeus assume the name of king 208
Chap. V. Varus quells the tumults in Judea
— crucifies about two thousand of the sedi-
tious 209
Chap. VI. The Jews complain of Archelaus,
and desire that they may be made subject
to Roman governors 210
Chap. VII. History of the spurious Alexan-
der— banishment of Archelaus, and death
of Glaphyra 211
Chap. VIII. Archelaus's ethuarehy reduced
to a [Roman] province — sedition of Judas
of Galilee — the three sects of the Jews 212
Chap. IX. Death of Salome — Pilate occasions
disturbances — Tiberius puts Agrippa into
bonds — Caius frees him, and makes him king
— Herod Antipas banished 216
Chap. X. Caius commands that his statue
should be set up in the temple 217
Chap. XI. The government of Claudius, and
the reign of Agrippa — Death of Agrippa and
Herod 218
Chap. XII. Tumults under Cumanus — sup-
pressed by Quadratus — Felix procurator of
Judea — Agrippa advanced from Chalcis to
a larger kingdom 220
Chap. XIII. Nero adds four cities to Agrip-
pa's kingdom — disturbances raised by the
Sicarii, the magicians, and an Egyptian false
prophet 222
Chap. XIV. Festus, Albinus, and Florus suc-
cessively procurators of Judea — the Jews
resist the cruelties of Florus 223
Chap. XV. Bernice petitions Florus to spare
the Jews — cruelties and avarice of Florus... 226
Chap. XVI. Florus accuses the Jews of re-
volting from the Roman government — Agrip-
pa's speech to the Jews on their intended
war agiiinst the Romans 228
Chap. XVII. Commencement of the Jewish
war with the Romans — Manahem heads the
Jewish insurgents, who are defeated with
great slvughter 233
Chap. XV III. Dreadful slaughters and suf-
ferings of the Jews 237
Chap. XIX. Cestius besieges Jerusalem -re-
treats from the city — the Jews pursue nim,
and defeat him with great slaughter 241
Chap. XX. Cestius sends ambassadors to Ne-
21
PAQl
ro — the Damascenes destroy the Jews in
their cities — Jerusalem put in a state of de-
fence—Josephus made a general of the Jew-
ish forces 244
Chap. XXI. Josephus defeats tho plots of
John of Uischala, and recovers the revolted
cities 246
Chap. XXII. The Jews prepare for war 250
BOOK III.
Containing an interval of about one year.
from 'Vespasian's coming to subdue the jews
TO the taking of gamala.
Chap. I. Vespasian sent into Syria by Nero,
to make war with the Jews. 251
Chap. II. Slaughter of the Jews about Asca-
lon — Vespasian arrives at Ptolemais 252
Chap. III. Description of Galilee, Samaria,
and Judea 253
Chap. IV. Josephus makes an attempt upon
Sepphoris, but is repelled — Titus joins Ves-
pasian at Ptolemais 254
Chap. V. Description of tho Roman armies
and camps 255
Chap. VI. Placidus attempts to take Jolapa-
ta, but is repulsed — Vespasian marches into
Galilee 257
Chap. VII. Vespasian takes Gadara, and
marches to Jotapata, which is betrayed by a
deserter 258
Chap. VIII. Josephus discovered in a cave
— he delivers himself up to the Romans,
who bring him before Vespasian 270
Chap. IX. Joppa taken, and Tiberias deliver-
ed up. 273
Chap. X. Tarichea taken — a description of
the river Jordan, and of Geuesareth 276
BOOK IV.
Containing an interval of about one year.
FROM THE SIEGE OF GAMALA TO THE COMING Of
TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM.
Chap. I. The siege and taking of Gamala.... 280
Chap. II. The surrender of tho small city of
Gischala — John of Gischala flies to Jerusa-
lem 285
Chap. III. Concerning John of Gischala — the
Zealots and the high priest Ananus — the
Jews raise seditions one against another 287
Chap. IV. The Idumeans being sent for by
the Zealots, come immediately to Jerusalem 293
Chap. V. Cruelty of the Idumeans and the
Zealots — slaughter of Ananus, Jesus, and
Zacharias 297
Chap. VI. The Idumeans return home —
the Zealots continue their slaughter of the
citizens — Vespasian dissuades the Romans
from proceeding in tho Jewish war 300
Chap. VII. Tyranny of John— Massada plun-
dered by the Zealots — Vespasian takes Ga-
dara 302
Chap. VIII. Commotions in Gall [Galatia] —
Vespasian hastens to terminato the Jewish
war — description of Jericho, the Great Plain,
and the Lake Asphaltitis 305
Chap. IX. Vespasian makes preparations to
besiege Jerusalem — Death of Nero — an ac-
count of Simon of Gerasa 307
Chap. X. Vespasian proclaimed emperor by
the soldiers in Judea and Egypt — he libe-
rates Josephus 312
Chap. XI. Upon the conquest and slaughter
of Vitellius, Vespasian hastens to Rome, and
Titus returns to Jerusalem 315
CONTENTS.
PAOl
BOOK V.
Containing an interval of near six months.
FROM THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSA-
LKM. TO Tin: GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE
JEWS WEBB REDUCED.
Chap. I. Seditions at Jerusalem, and mise-
ries consequent thereon 317
Chap. II. Titus inarches to Jerusalem 320
Chap. III. The sedition again revived within
Jerusalem — the Jews contrive snares for the
Romans — Titus threatens his soldiers for
their ungovernable rashness 323
Chap. IV. Description of Jerusalem 325
Chap. V. Description of the Temple 328
Chap. VI. Titus continues the siege vigorously 332
Chap. VII. The Remans, after great slaugh-
ter, obtain possession of the first wall — trea-
cherous snares of the Jews..- 334
Chap. VIII. The Romans possess themselves
of the second wall 337
Chap. IX. Temporary cessation of the siege
— renewal of hostilities — Josephus sent to
offer peace 338
Chap. X. Many of the Jews endeavour to de-
sert to the Romans — severe famine in the
city 342
Chap. XI. The Jews crucified before the walls
of the city — Antiochus Epiphanes — the Jews
overthrow the banks raised by the Romans 344
Chap. XII. Titus encompasses the city round
with a wall — -the famine consumes the peo-
ple by whole houses and families 347
Chap. XIII. Great slaughter and sacrilege in
Jerusalem 349
BOOK VI.
Containing an interval of a'ljout one month.
FROM THE GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JV.WS
WERE REDUCED TO THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM
BY TITUS.
Chap. I. The miseries of the Jews increase
. — the Romans make an assault upon the
tower of Antonia 352
Chap. II. Titus orders the tower of Antonia
to bo destroyed — Josephus exhorts the Jews
to surrender 358
Chap. III. Stratagems of the Jews against
the Romans — further account of the famine
within the city 363
Chap. IV. Destruction of the Temple 365
Chap. V. Distress of the Jews upon the de-
struction of the Temple 368
Chap. VI. The Romans continue to plunder
and burn the city 371
Chap. VII. The seditious continue to resist
the Romans 374
Chap. VIII. Titus gains possession of the
whole city 375
Chap. IX. Titus examines the city — number
of captives and of the slain — the Romans
entirely destroy the walls 377
Chap. X. History of Jerusalem, and of its va-
rious sieges 378
BOOK VII.
Containing an interval of about three years.
FROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS, TO
THE SEDITION OF THE JEWS AT CYRENE.
Chap. I. Entire destruction of Jerusalem —
Titus rewards his soldiers, and dismisses
many of them 379
Chap. II. Titus exhibits shows at Cassarea
Philippi — capture of Simon 380
Chap. III. Titus celebrates his father's and
brother's birthday by slaughtering many of
the Jewish captives — the people of Antioch
accuse the Jews of sedition 381
Chap. IV. Vespasian's reception at Rome —
revolt of the German legion— the Samari-
tans overrun Myria, but are defeated 382
Chap. V. An account of the Sabbatic river
— the Antiochians petition Titus against the
Jews, but are rejected — description of the
triumphal shows of Vespasian and Titus... 3S4
Chap. VI. The city Macherus — Lucilius Bas-
sus takes the citadel, and other places 387
Chap. VII. Misfortunes of Antiochus, king
of Commagene — clemency of Vespasian —
the Alans ravage the countries of the Medes
and Armenians 391
Chap. VIII. Massada besieged by Flavius
Silva 392
Chap. IX. The inhabitants of the fortress, at
the instigation of Eleazar, destroy each other 399
Chap. X. The Siearii flee to Alexandria — de-
struction of the Jewish temple built by Onias 401
Chap. XL Conclusion 402
ADDENDA.
Flavins Josephus against Apion 404
An Extract out of Josephus's Discourse to the
Greeks concerning Hades 449
Dissertation I. The Testimonies concerning
Ju.mi^ Christ, John the Baptist, and James
the Just, vindicated 452
The ancient citations of the testimonies of Jo-
sephus from his own time till the end of the
fifteenth century 452
Observations from the foregoing evidence and
citations 459
Dissertation II. Concerning God's com-
mand to Abraham to offer up Isaac his son
for a sacrifice 464
Dissertation III. Tacitus's accounts of the
origin of the Jewish nation, and of the
particulars of the last Jewish War — that
the former was probably written in opposi-
tion to Josephus's Antiquities, and that the
latter was for certain almost all directly
taken from Josephus's History of the Jewish
War 473
Pliny's Epistle to Trajan 482
Trajan's Epistle to Pliny 484
Observations upon the passages taken out of
Tacitus 484
Table of Jewish Weights and Measures 486
°io
■ - .
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
BOOK XVI.
CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF TWELVE YEARS, FROM THE FINISHING
OF THE TEMPLE BY HEROD TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER AND
ARISTOBULUS.
CHAPTER I.
Herod's law concerning Thieves — Salome and Phe-
roras calumniate Alexander and Aristobulus upon
their return from Rome.
As King Herod was very zealous in the
administration of his entire government,
and desirous to put a stop to particular
acts of injustice which were done by
criminals about the city and country, he
made a law, noway like our original
laws, and which he enacted of himself, to
expose housebreakers to be ejected out of
his kingdom; which punishment was not
only grievous to be borne by the offenders,
but contained in it a dissolution of the
customs of our forefathers ; for this slavery
to foreigners, and such as did not live after
the manner of Jews, and this necessity that
they were under to do whatsoever such
men should command, was an offence
against our religious settlement, rather
than a punishment to such as were found
to have offended, such a punishment
being avoided in our original laws; for
those laws ordain, that the thief shall re-
store fourfold ; and that if he have not so
much, he shall be sold, indeed, but not to
foreigners, nor so that he be under per-
petual slavery, for he must have been re-
leased after six years. But this law, thus
enacted, in order to introduce a severe
and illegal punishment, seemed to be a
piece of insolence in Herod, when he did
not act as a king but as a tyrant, and thus
contemptuously, and without any regard
to his subjects, venture to introduce such
a punishment. Now, this penalty thus
brought into practice, was like Herod's
other actions, and became a part of his
accusation, and an occasion of the hatred
he lay under.
Now, at this time it was that he sailed
to Italy, as very desirous to meet with
Ca3sar, and to see his sons, who lived at
Rome : and Cfesar was not only very
obliging to him in other respects, but
delivered him his sons again, that he
might take them home with him, as hav-
ing already completed themselves in the
sciences; but as soon as the young men
were come from Italy, the multitude were
very desirous to see them, and they be-
came conspicuous among them all, as
adorned with great blessings of fortune,
and having the countenances of persons
of royal dignity. So they soon appeared
to be the objects of envy to Salome, the
king's sister, and to such as had raised
calumnies against Mariamne ; for they
were suspicious that when these came to
the government, they should be punished
for the wickedness they had been guilty
of against their mother; so they made
this very fear of theirs a motive to raise
calumnies against them also. They gave
it out that they were not pleased with
their father's company, because he had
put their mother to death, as if it were
not agreeable to piety to appear to con-
verse with their mother's murderer. Now,
by carrying these stories, that had indeed
a true foundation [in the fact,] but were
only built on probabilities as to the pre-
sent accusation, they were able to do them
mischief, and to make Herod take away
that kindness from his sons which he had
before borne to them, for they did not say
these things to him openly, but scattered
abroad such words among the rest of the
multitude; from which words when carried
to Herod, he was induced [at last] to hate
them, and which natural affection itself,
7
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVI
even in length of time, was not able to
overcome; jet was the king at that time
in a condition to prefer the natural affec-
tion of a father before all the suspicions
and calumnies his sons lay under; so he
respected them as he ought to do, and
married them to wives, now they were of
an age suitable thereto. To Aristobulus
he gave for a wife Bernice, Salome's
daughter; and to Alexander, Glaphyra,
the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cap-
padocia.
CHAPTER II.
Agrippa visits Herod — Herod sails after Agrippa,
who confirms the laws of the Ionian Jews.
When Herod had despatched these
affairs, and he understood that Marcus
Agrippa had sailed again out of Italy into
Asia, he made haste to him, and besought
him to come to him into his kingdom, and
to partake of what he might justly expect
from one that had been his guest, and
was his friend. This request he greatly
pressed, and to it Agrippa agreed, and
came into Judea : whereupon Herod
omitted nothing that might please him.
He entertained him in his newly built
cities, and showed him the edifices he
had built, and provided all sorts of the
best and most costly dainties for him and
his friends, and that at Sebaste and
Csesarea, about that port that he had
built, and at the fortresses which he had
erected at great expenses, Alexandrium,
and Herodium, and Hyrcania. He also
conducted him to the city Jerusalem,
where all the people met him in their
festival garments, and received him with
acclamations. Agrippa, also, offered a
hecatomb of sacrifices to God; and feasted
the people, without omitting any of the
greatest dainties that could be gotten.
He also took so much pleasure there, that
he abode many days with them, and would
williugly have stayed longer, but that the
season of the year made him haste away;
for, as winter was coming on, he thought
it not safe to go to sea later, and yet he
was of necessity to return again to Ionia.
So Agrippu went away, when Herod
had bestowed on him, and on the prin-
cipal of those that were with him, many
presents; but King Herod, when he had
passud the winter in his own dominions,
made haste to get to him again in the
spring, when he knew he designed to go a
campaign at the Bosphorus. So when he
had sailed by Rhodes and by Cos, he
touched at Lesbos, as thinking he should
have overtaken Agrippa there ; but he
was taken short here by a north wind,
which hindered his ship from going to
the shore ; so he continued many days at
Chius, and there he kindly treated a great
many that came to him, and obliged them
by giving them royal gifts. And when
he saw that the portico of the city had
fallen down, which as it was overthrown
in the Mithridatic war, and was a very
large and fine building, so was it not so
easy to rebuild that as it was the rest, yet
did he furnish a sum not only large
enough ■ for that purpose, but what was
more than sufficient to finish the building;
and ordered them not to overlook that
portico, but to rebuild it quickly, that so
the city might recover its proper orna-
ments. And when the high wimls were
laid, he sailed to Mitylene, and thence to
Byzantium ; and when he heard that
Agrippa had sailed beyond the Cyanean
rocks, he made all the haste possible to
overtake him, and came up with him
about Sinope, in Pontus. He was seen
sailing by the shipmen most unexpectedly,
but appeared to their great joy; and many
friendly salutations there were between
them, insomuch that Agrippa thought he
had received the greatest marks of the
king's kindness and humanity toward him
possible, since the king had come so long
a voyage, and at a very proper season for
his assistance, and had left the govern-
ment of his own dominions, and thought
it more worth his while to come to him.
Accordingly, Herod was all in all to
Agrippa, in the management of the war,
and a great assistant in civil affairs, and
in giving him counsel as to particular
matters. He was also a pleasant com-
panion for him when he relaxed himself,
and a joint partaker with him in all
things ; in troubles, because of his kind-
ness; and in prosperity, because of the
respect Agrippa had for him. Now, as
soon as those affairs of Pontus were
finished, for whose sake Agrippa was sent
thither, they did not think fit to return
by sea, but passed through Paphlagonia
and Cappadocia; they then travelled
thence over great Phrygia, and came to
Ephesus, and then they sailed from
Ephesus to Samos. And, indeed, the
king bestowed a great many benefits on
every city that he came to, according as
they stood in need of them; for, as for
Chap. II.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
those that wanted either money or kind
treatment, lie was not wanting to them ;
but he supplied the former himself out of
his own expenses : he also became an
intercessor with Agrippa for all such as
sought after his favour, and he brought
things so about, that the petitioners failed
in none of their suits to him, Agrippa
being himself of a good disposition, and
of great generosity, and ready to grant all
such requests as might be advantageous to
the petitioners, provided they were not to
the detriment of others. The inclination
of the king was of great weight also, and
still excited Agrippa, who was himself
ready to do good ; for he made a recon-
ciliation between the people of Ilium", at
whom he was angry, and paid what
money the people of Chius owed Caesar's
procurators, and discharged them of their
tributes; and helped all others, according
as their several necessities required.
But now, when Agrippa and Herod
were in Ionia, a great multitude of Jews,
who dwelt in their cities, came to them,
and laying hold of the opportunity and
the liberty now given them, laid before
them the injuries which they suffered,
while they were not permitted to use their
own laws, but were compelled to prosecute
their lawsuits, by the ill usuage of the
judges, upon their holy days, and were
deprived of the money they used to lay
up at Jerusalem, and were forced into the
army, and upon such other offices as
obliged them to spend their sacred money ;
from which burdens they always used to
be freed by Romans, who had still per-
mitted them to live according to their own
laws. When this clamour was made, the
king desired of Agrippa that he would
hear their cause, and assigned Nicolaus,
one of his friends, to plead for those their
privileges. Accordingly, when Agrippa
had called the principal of the Romans,
and such of the kings and rulers as were
there, to be his assessors, Nicolaus stood
up, and pleaded for the Jews, as follows : —
It is of necessity incumbent on such as
are in distress to have recourse to those
that have it in their power to free them
from those injuries they lie under; and for
those that now are complainants, they ap-
proach you with great assurance; for as
they have formerly often obtained your
favour, so far as they have even wished to
have it, they now only entreat that you,
who have been the donors, will take care
that those favours you have already granted
them may not he taken awa}' from them.
We have received these favours from you,
who alone have power to grant them, but
have them taken from us by such as are
no greater than ourselves, and by such as
we know are as much subjects as we are ;
and certainly, if we have been vouchsafed
great favours, it is to our commendation
who have obtained them, as having been
found deserving of such great favours;
and if those favours be but small ones, it
would he barbarous for the donors not to
confirm them to us; and for those that are
the hinderance of the Jews, and use them
reproachfully, it is evident that they affront
both the receivers, while they will not
allow those to be worthy men to whom
their excellent rulers themselves have
borne their testimony, and the donors,
while they desire those favors already
granted may be abrogated. Now if any
one should ask these Gentiles themselves,
which of the two things they would choose
to part with, their lives, or the customs of
their forefathers, their solemnities, their
sacrifices, their festivals, which they cele-
brate in honor of those they suppose to be
gods, I know very well that they would
choose to suffer any thing whatsoever rather
than a dissolution of any of the customs
of their forefathers; for a great many of
them have rather chosen to go to war on
that account, as very solicitous not to
transgress in those matters : and, indeed,
we take an estimate of that happiness
which all mankind do now enjoy by your
means from this very thing, that we are
allowed every one to worship as our own
institutions require, and yet to live [in
peace]; and although they would not be
thus treated themselves, yet do they en-
deavour to compel others to comply with
them, as if it were not as great an instance
of impiety, profanely to dissolve the reli-
gious solemnities of any others, as to be
negligent in the observation of their own
toward their gods. And let us now con-
sider the one of these practices : is there
any people, or city, or community of men,
to whom your government and the Roman
power does not appear to be the greatest
blessing? Is there any one that can de-
sire to make void the favours they have
granted ? No one, certainly, is so mad ;
for there are no men but such as have
been made partakers of their favours, both
public and private; and, indeed, those that
take away what you have granted, can have
no assurance, but every one )f their own
10
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVI.
grants made them by you may be taken
from them also; which grants of yours
can never be sufficiently valued ; for if
they consider the old governments under
kings, together with your present govern-
ment, besides the great number of benefits
which this government hath bestowed on
them, in order to their happiness, this is
instead of all the rest, that they appear to
be no longer in a state of slavery, but of
freedom. Now, the privileges we desire,
even when we are in the best circum-
stances, are not such as deserve to be en-
vied, for we are, indeed, in a prosperous
state by your means, but this is only in
common with others; and it is no more
than this which we desire, to preserve our
religion without any prohibition, which,
as it appears not in itself a privilege to be
envied us, so it is for the advantage of
those that grant it to us; for if the Di-
vinity delights in being honoured, he must
delight in those that permit him to be
honoured. And there are none of our
customs which are inhuman, but all tend-
ing to piety, and devoted to the preserva-
tion of justice; nor do we conceal those
injunctions of ours by which we govern
our lives, they being memorials of piety,
and of a friendly conversation among men.
And the seventh day we set apart from
labour; and it is dedicated to the learning
of our customs and laws, we think it pro-
per to reflect on them, as well as on any
[good] thing else, in order to our avoid-
ing of sin. If any one, therefore, examine
into our observances, he will find they are
good in themselves, and that they are an-
cient also, though some think otherwise,
insomuch that those who have received
them cannot easily be brought to depart
from them, out of that honour they pay to
the length of time they have religiously
enjoyed them and observed them. Now,
our adversaries take these our privileges
away in the way of injustice; they vio-
lently seize upon that money of ours which
is offered to God, and called sacred money,
and this openly, after a sacrilegious man-
ner; and they impose tributes upon us,
and bring us before tribunals on holy days,
and then require other like debts of us,
not because the contracts require it, and
for their own advantage, but because they
would put an affront ou our religion, of
which they are conscious as well as we,
and have indulged themselves in an unjust,
and to them involuntary hatred; for your
government over all is one, tending to the .
establishing of benevolence, and abolish-
ing of ill-will among such as are disposed
to it. This is, therefore, what we implore
from thee, most excellent Agrippa, that
we may not be ill treated ; that we may
not be abused; that we may not be hin-
dered from making use of our own cus-
toms, nor be despoiled of our goods; nor
be forced by these men to do what we
ourselves force nobody to do : for these
privileges of ours are not only according
to justice, but have formerly been granted
us by you ; and we are able to read to
you many decrees of the seuate, and the
tables that contain them, which are still
extant in the capitol, concerning these
things, which it is evident were granted
after you had experience of our fidelity
toward you, which ought to be valued,
though no such fidelity had been ; for you
have hitherto preserved what people were
in possession of, not to us only, but almost
to all men, and have added greater advan-
tages than they could have hoped for, and
thereby your government has become a
greater advantage to them. And if any
one were able to enumerate the prosperity
you have conferred on every nation, which
they possess by your means, he could never
put an end to his discourse; but that we
may demonstrate that we are not unworthy
of all those advantages we have obtained,
it will be sufficient for us to say nothing
of other things, but to speak freely of this
king who now governs us, and is now one
of thy assessors; aud, indeed, in what in-
stance of good-will hath he been deficient?
What mark of fidelity to it hath he omit-
ted ? What token of honour hath he not
devised? What occasion for his assistance
of you hath he not regarded at the very
first? What hiudereth, therefore, but that
your kindnesses may be as numerous as
his so great benefits to you have been?
It may also, perhaps, be fit not here to
pass over in silence the valour of his father,
Antipater, who, when Caesar made an ex-
pedition into Egypt, assisted him with
2000 armed men, and proved inferior to
none, neither in the battles on land, nor
in the management of the navy ; and what
need we say any thing of how great weight
those soldiers were at that juncture; or
how many, and how great presents they
were vouchsafed by Caesar ? And truly,
we ought before now to have mentioned
the epistles which Caesar wrote to the
senate ; and how Antipater had honours,
and the freedom of the city of Rome, be-
■nl
Chap. III.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
11
stowed upon him ; for these are demon-
strations both that we have received these
favours by our own deserts, and do on
that account petition thee for thy con-
firmation of them, from whom we had
reason to hope for them, though they had
not been given us before, both out of re-
gard to our king's disposition toward you,
and your disposition toward him; and
further, we have been informed by those
Jews that were there, with what kindness
thou earnest into our country, and how
thou didst offer the most perfect sacrifices
to God, and didst honour him with re-
markable vows, and how thou gavest the
people a feast, and didst accept of their
own hospitable presents to thee. We ought
to esteem all these kind entertainments
made both by our nation aud our city, to
a man who is the ruler and manager of so
much of the public affairs, as indications
of that friendship which thou hast re-
turned to the Jewish nation, and which
hath been procured them by the family of
Herod. So we put thee in mind of these
things in the presence of the king, now
sitting by thee, and make our request for
no more but this, that what you have given
us yourselves, you will not see taken
away by others from us."
When Nicolaus had made this speech,
there was no opposition made to it by the
Greeks, for this was not an inquiry made,
as in a court of justice, but au interces-
sion to prevent violence to be offered to
the Jews any longer; nor did the Greeks
make any defence of themselves, or deny
what it was supposed they had done.
Their pretence was no more than this, that
while the Jews inhabited in their country,
they were entirely unjust to them [in not
joining in their worship] ; but they de-
monstrated their generosity in this, that
though they worshipped according to their
own institutions, they did nothing that
ought to grieve them. So, when Agrippa
perceived that they had beeu oppressed by
violence, he made this answer: that, on
account of Herod's good-will aud friend-
ship, he was ready to grant the Jews what-
soever they should ask him, aud that their
requests seemed to him in themselves just;
and that if they requested any thing fur-
ther, he should not scruple to graut it
them, provided they were noway to the
detriment of the Roman government; but
that, while their request was no more than
this, that what privileges they had already
given them might not be abrogated, he
confirmed this to them, that they might
continue in the observation of their own
customs, without any one offering them
the least injury; and when he had said
thus, he dissolved the assembly; upon
which Herod stood up and saluted him,
and gave him thanks for the kind dispo-
sition he showed to them. Agrippa, also,
took this in a very obliging manner, and
saluted him again, aud embraced him in
his arms; after which he went away from
Lesbos; but the king determined to sail
from Samos to his own country ; and when
he had taken his leave of Agrippa, he
pursued his voyage, and landed at Oaisarea
in a few days' time, as having favourable
winds; from whence he went to Jerusa-
lem, aud there gathered all the people to-
gether to au assembly, not a few being
there out of the country also. So he
came to them, and gave them a par-
ticular account of all his journey, aud of
the affairs of all the Jews in Asia, how
by his means they would live without in-
jurious treatment for the time to come.
He also told them of the entire good for-
tune he had met with, aud how he had
administered the government, and had not
neglected any thing which was for their
advantage; aud, as he was very joyful,
he now remitted to them the fourth part
of their taxes for the last year. Accord-
ingly, the}' were so pleased with his favour
and speech to them, that they went their
ways with great gladness, and wished the
king all manuer of happiness.
CHAPTER III.
Disturbances in Herod's family on his preferring
Antipater before the rest.
But now the affairs in Herod's family
were in more and more disorder, and
became more severe upon him, by the
hatred of Salome to the young men
[Alexander and Aristobulus], which de-
scended as it were by inheritance [from
their mother Mariamne] : and as she bad
fully succeeded against their mother, so
she proceeded to that degree of madness
and insolence, as to endeavour that none
of her posterity might be left alive, who
might have it in their power to revenge
her death. The young men bad also
somewhat of a bold and uneasy disposition
toward their father, occasioned by the re-
membrance of what their mother had un-
justly suffered, aud by their own affec-
tation of dominion. The old grudge was
12
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVl.
also renewed ; and they cast reproaches
on Salome and Pheroras, who requited the
young men with malicious designs, and
actually laid treacherous snares for them.
Now, as for this hatred, it was equal on
both sides, but the manner of exerting
that hatred was different; for, as for the
young men, they were rash, reproaching
and affronting the others openly, and
were inexperienced enough to think it the
most generous to declare their minds in
that undaunted manner; but the others
did not take that method, but made use
of calumnies, after a subtile and a spiteful
manner, still provoking the young men,
and imagining that their boldness might
in time turn to the offering violence to
their father; for, inasmuch as they were
not ashamed of the pretended crimes of
their mother, nor thought she suffered
justly, these supposed that they might at
length exceed all bounds, and induce them
to think they ought to be avenged on their
father, though it were by despatching
him with their own hands. At length it
came to this, that the whole city was full
of their discourses, and, as is usual in
such contests, the unskilfulness of the
young men was pitied ; but the con-
trivance of Salome was too hard for them,
and what imputations she laid upon them
came to be believed, by means of their
own conduct; for they were so deeply
affected with the death of their mother,
that while they said both she and them-
selves were in a miserable case, they
vehemently complained of her pitiable
end, which indeed was truly such, and
said that they were themselves in a piti-
able case also, because they were forced to
live with those that had been her mur-
derers, and to be partakers with them.
These disorders increased greatly, and
the king's absence abroad had afforded a
fit opportunity for that increase; but as
soon as Herod had returned, and had
made the foremen tioned speech to the
multitude, Pheroras and Salome let fall
words immediately, as if he were in great
danger, and as if the youug men openly
threatened that they would not spare him
any longer, but revenge their mother's
death upon him. They also added another
circumstance, that their hopes were iixed
on Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia,
that they should be able by his means to
come to Caesar and accuse their father.
Upon hearing such things, Herod was
immediately disturbed ; and, indeed, was
the more astonished, because the same-
things were related to him by some others
also. He then called to mind his former
calamity, and considered that the dis-
orders in his family had hindered him
from enjoying any comfort from those
that were dearest to him, or from his
wife, whom he loved so well ; aud sus-
pecting that his future troubles would
soon be heavier and greater than those
that were past, he was in great confusion
of mind, for Divine Providence had, in
reality, conferred upon him a great many
outward advantages for his happiness,
even beyond his hopes, but the troubles
he had at home were such as he never
expected to have met with, and rendered
him unfortunate; nay, both sorts came
upon him to such a degree as no one could
imagine, and made it a doubtful question,
whether, upon the comparison of both, he
ought to have exchanged so great a success
of outward good things for so great mis-
fortune at home, or whether he ought not
to have chosen to avoid the calamities re-
lating to his family, though he had, for a
compensation, never been possessed of the
admired grandeur of a kingdom.
As he was thus disturbed and afflicted,
in order to depress these youug men, he
brought to court another of his sons, that
was born to him when he was a private
man; his name was Antipater; yet did
he not then indulge him as he did after-
ward, when he was quite overcome by
him, and let him do every thing as he
pleased, but rather with a design of de-
pressing the insolence of the sons of
Mariamne, and managing this elevation
of his son that it might be a warning to
them; for this bold behaviour of theirs
[he thought] would not be so great, if
they were once persuaded that the suc-
cession to the kingdom did not appertain
to them alone, or must of necessity come
to them. So he introduced Antipater as
their antagonist, and imagined that he
had made a good provision for discou-
raging their pride, and that after this was
done to the young men, there might be a
proper season for expecting these to be of
a better disposition : but the event proved
otherwise than he intended, for the young
men thought he did them a very great
injury; and as Antipater was a shrewd
man, when he had once obtained this de-
gree of freedom, and began to expect
greater things than he had before hoped
for, he had but one single design in his
Chap. IV. J
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWb.
;:
head, and that was to distress his brethren,
and not at all to yield to them the pre-
eminence, but to keep close to his father,
who was already alienated from them by
the calumnies he had heard about them,
and ready to be wrought upon in any way
his zeal against them should advise him to
pursue, that he might be continually more
and more -severe against them. Accord-
ingly, all the reports that were spread
abroad came from him, while he avoided
himself the suspicion, as if those dis-
coveries proceeded from him : but he
rather chose to make use of those persons
for his assistants that were unsuspected,
and such as might be believed to speak
truth by reason of the good-will they bore
to the king; and, indeed, there were
already not a few who cultivated a friend-
ship with An ti pater, in hopes of gaining
somewhat by him, and these were the men
who most of all persuaded Herod, because
they appeared to speak thus out. of their
good-will to him : and while these joint
accusations, which, from various founda-
tions, supported one another's veracity,
the young men themselves afforded fur-
ther occasions to Antipater also; for they
were observed to shed tears often, on
account of the injury that was offered
them, and had their mother in their
mouths; and among their friends they
ventured to reproach their father, as not
acting justly by them ; all which things
were, with an evil intention, reserved in
memory by Antipater against a proper
opportunity; and when they were told to
Herod, with aggravations, the disorder
increased so much, that it brought a great
tumult into the family; for while the
king was very angry at imputations that
were laid upon the sous of Mariamne, and
was desirous to humble them, he still
increased the honour that, he had bestowed
on Antipater, and was at last so overcome
by his persuasions, that he brought his
mother to court also. He also wrote fre-
quently to Caesar iu favour of him, and
more earnestly recommended him to his
care particularly. And when Agrippa
had returned to Rome, after he had
finished his ten year's government in
Asia,* Herod sailed from Judea; and
when he had met with him, he had none
with him but Antipater, whom he de-
* This interval of ten years for the duration of
Marcus Agrippa'a government in Asia, seems to be
true, and agreeable to the Roman history. See
Usher's Annals at A. M. 3392.
livcred to Agrippa, that he might take
him along with him, together with many
presents, that so he might become Caesar's
friend, insomuch that things already
looked as if he had all his father's favour,
and that the young men were already en-
tirely rejected from any hopes of the
kingdom.
CHAPTER IV.
Herod brings Alexander and Ari.-tobulus before
Cassar — Alexander's defence, and reconciliation
to his father.
And now what happened during Anti-
pater's absence augmented the honour to
which he had been promoted, and his
apparent eminence above his brethren ;
for he had made a great figure iu Eome,
because Herod had sent recommendations
of him to all his friends there ; only he
was grieved that he was not at home, nor
had proper opportunities of perpetually
calumniating his brethren ; and his chief
fear was, lest his father should alter his
mind, and entertain a more favourable
opinion of the sons of Mariamne; and as
he had this in his mind, he did not desist
from his purpose, but continually sent
from Rome any such stories as he
hoped might grieve and irritate his father
against his brethren, under pretence, in-
deed, of a deep concern for his preserva-
tion, but in truth, such as his malicious
mind dictated, in order to purchase a
greater hope of the succession, which yet
was already great in itself: and thus he
did till he had excited such a degree of
auger in Herod, that he had already be-
come very ill disposed toward the young
men ; but still while he delayed to ex-
ercise so violent a disgust against them,
and that he might not either be too re-
miss or too rash, and so offend, he thought
it best to sail to Rome, and there accuse
his sons before Ctcsar, and not indulge
himself in any such crime as might be
heinous enough to be suspected of im-
piety. But, as he was going up to Rome,
it happened that he made such haste as to
meet Cscsar at the city of Aquilei ; so
when he came to the speech of Ca>sar, he
asked for a time for hearing this great
cause, wherein " he thought himself very
miserable, and presented his sons there,
and accused them of their mad actions,
and of their attempts against him; that
they were enemies to him ; and, by all the
means they were able, did their endea«
14
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Hoof XVI.
vours to show their hatred to their own
father, and would take away his life, ami
bo obtain his kingdom, after the most
barbarous manner: that ho had power
from Caesar to dispose of it, not by neces-
sity, but by choice, to him who shall ex-
eroise the greatest piety toward him;
while these his sons are not so desirous of
ruling, as they are, upon a disappointment
:'. to expose their own life, if so
be they may but deprive their father of
his life; so wild and polluted has their
mind by time become, out of their hatred
to him : that whereas he had a long time
borne this his misfortune, he was now
compelled to lay it before Caasar, and to
pollute his ears with such language, while
he himself wanted to know what severity
they have ever Buffered from him, or what
hardships he had ever laid upon them to
make them complain of him; aud how
they can think it just that he should not
be lord of that kingdom which he, iu a
long time, and with great danger, had
gained, and n< t allow him to keep it aud
dispose of it to him who should deserve
best ; and this, with other advantages, he
prop, aes as a reward for the piety of such
an one as will hereafter imitate the care
he had taken of it. and that such an one
may gain so great a requital as that is:
and that it is an impious thing for them
to pretend to meddle with-it beforehand,
for he who hath ever the kingdom iu his
view, at the same time reckons upon pro-
curing the death of his father, because
otherwise he cannot come at the govern-
ment : that as for himself, he had hitherto
given them all that he was able, aud what
was agreeable to such as are subject to the
royal authority, and the sons of a kiug;
what ornaments they wanted, with ser-
vants and delicate fare ; and had married
them into the most illustrious families,
the one [Aristobulus] to his Bister's
daughter, but Alexander to the daughter
of King Arehelaus ; aud, what was the
greatest favour ol' all, when their crimes
- i wry bad, and he had authority to
punish them, yet had he not made use oi
_ . in.-t them, but had brought them
Caesar, their common benefactor,
and had not used the seventy which
either as a rather who had been impiously
abused, or as a king who had been as-
saulted treacherously, he might have
done, but made them staud upon the
level with him in judgment ; that, how-
9vcr, it was necessary that all this should
not be passed over without punishment,
nor himself live in the greatest fears;
nay, that it was not for their own ad-
vantage tii see the light of the sun after
what they had done, although they should
escape at this time, since they had done
the vilest things, and would certainly
sutler the greatest punishments that ever
were known among mankind.
These were the accusations which Herod
laid with great vehemeney against his
sons before Caesar. Now the young men,
both while he was speaking, and chiefly
at his concluding, wept, ami were in eon-
fusion. Now as to themselves, they knew
in their own consciences they were inno-
cent, but because they were accused by
their father, they were sensible, as the
truth was, that it was hard for them to
make their apology, since, though they
were at liberty to speak their minds freely,
as the occasion required, and might with
force and earnestness refute the accusation,
yet was it not now decent so to do. There
was, therefore, a difficulty how they should
be able to speak ; and tears, and at leugtb
a deep groan followed, while they were
afraid, that if they said nothing, they
should seem to be iu this difficulty from a
consciousness of guilt, nor had they any
defence ready, by reason of their youth,
and the disorder they were under j yet
was not Caesar unapprised, when he looked
upon them in the confusion they were in,
that their delay to make their defence did
not arise from any consciousness of their
great enormities, but from their uuskil-
I fulness and modest}-. They were also
commiserated by those that were there iu
particular; aud they moved their father's
affections in earnest, till he had much ado
to conceal them.
But when they saw there was a kind
. disposition arisen both iu him aud in Caesar,
and that every one of the rest did either
shed Ufirs, or at least did all grieve with
them, the one of them, whose name was
Alexander, called to his father, and, at-
tempted to answer his accusation, and said,
"0 father, the benevolence thou hast
showed to us is evident, even in this very
judicial procedure, for hadst thou any
pernicious intentions about us, thou hadst
not produced us here before the common
saviour of all, for it was in thy power,
both as a king and as a father, to punish
t lie guilty ; but by thus bringing us to
Rome, and making Ciesar himself a wit-
ness to what is done, thou intiinatest that
Chap. IV.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
15
thou intendest to Bare us; for no one that
hatli a design to alay B man will bring him
to the templet, and to the altars; yet are
our circumstances still worse, for we can-
not endure to live ourselves any longer, if
it he believed that we have injured such a
father; nay, perhaps it would be worse
for us to live with this suspicion upon us,
that we have injured him, than to die
without such guilt: and if our open de-
fence may be taken to be true, we shall
be happy, both in pacifying thee, and in
escaping the danger we are in ; but if
this calamity so prevails, it is more than
enough that we have seen the sun this
day; which, why should we see, if this
suspicion he fixed upon us? Now it is
easy to say of young men, that they desired
to reign; and to say further, that this evil
proceeds from the case of our unhappy
mother. This is abundantly sufficient to
produce our present misfortune out of the
former; but consider well, whether such
an accusation does not suit all such young
men, and may not be said of them all
promiscuously; for nothing can hinder
him that reigns, if he have children, and
their mother be dead, but the father may
have a suspicion upon all his sons, as in-
tending some treachery to him : but a
suspicion is not sufficient to prove such an
impious practice. Now let any man say,
whether we have actually and insolently
attempted any such thing, whereby actions
otherwise incredible used to be made credi-
ble ? Can anybody prove that poison
hath been prepared ? or prove a conspi-
racy of our equals, or the corruption of
servants, or letters written against thee ?
though, indeed, there are none of those
things hut have sometimes been pretended
by way of calumny, when they were never
done; for a royal family that is at variance
with itself is a terrible thing; and that
which thou callest a reward of piety, often
becomes, among very wicked men, such a
foundation of hope, as makes them leave
no sort of mischief untried. Nor does
any one lay any wicked practices to our
charge ; but as to calumnies by hearsay,
how can he put an end to them, who will
not hear what we have to say? have we
talked with too great freedom; yes, but
not against thee, for that would be unjust,
but against those that never conceal any
thing that is spoken to them. Hath
either of us lamented our mother? yes;
but not because she is dead, but because
she was evil spoken of by those that had
do reason so to do. Are we desii
that dominion which we know our I
i- possessed off For wbal reason can we
do so? If we already have royal ho-
nours, as we have, should not we labour in
vain ? And if we have them not, vet are
not we in hopes of them ? Or, Bnpposing
that we had killed thee, could we expect
toohtain thy kingdom? while neither the
earth would let us tread upon it, nor the
sea let us sail upon it, after snch an action
as that : nay, the religion of all your
subjects, and the piety of the whole nation,
would have prohibited parricides from as-
suming the government, and from entering
into that most holy temple which was
built by thee. * k>ut suppose we had
made light of other dangers, can any
murderer go off unpunished while I
is alive? We are thy sons, and not so
impious or so thoughtless as that eomes
to, though, perhaps, more unfortunate than
is convenient for thee, liut in case thou
ueither findest any cau.v s of complaint,
dot any treacherous designs, what suf-
ficient evidence hast thou to make such a
wickedness of ours credible ? Our mother
is dead, indeed, but then what befell her
might be an instruction to us to caution,
and not an incitement to wickedness. We
are willing to make a larger apology for
ourselves; but actions never done do not
admit of discourse; nay, we will make
this agreement with thee, and that before
Cujsar, the lord of all, who is now a medi-
ator between us, if thou, 0 father, canst
bring thyself by the evidence of truth, to
have a mind free from suspicion concerning
us, let us live, though even then we shall
live in an unhappy way, for to be accused
of great acts of wickedness, though falsely,
is a terrible thing; but if thou hast any
fear remaining, continue thou on in thy
pious life, we will give this reason for our
uwu conduct; our life is not so deniable
to us as to desire to have it, if it tend to
the harm of our father who gave it us."
* Since some prejudiced men have indulged a
wild suspicion, that Josephus's history of U
rebuilding the temple i- no better than a fable,
it way not be amiss to take notice of tin-
sioual clause in the speech of Alexander before his
father Herod, in his and his brother's vindication,
which mentions the temple as known by everybody
to have been built by Herod, Bee John iL 20. £ee
also another speech of Herod's own to the young
men that pulled down his golden eagle from the
front of the temple, where he takes notice bow the
building of the tempi.; cost him a vast sum: and
that the Asamoneans, in those 12a years they hi Id
the government, were not able to i erform .-o ^reat
a work to the honour of God as this was.
16
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVI.
When Alexander had thus spoken, Cae-
sar, who did not believe so gross a calumny,
was still more moved by it, and looked
intently upon Herod, and perceived he
was a little confounded : the persons there
present were under an anxiety about the
young men, and the fame that was spread
abroad made the king hated, for the very
incredibility of the calumny, and the com-
miseration of the flower of youth, the
beauty of body, which were in the young
men, pleaded strongly for assistance, and
the more so on this account, that Alex-
ander had made their defence with dexte-
rity and prudence : nay, they did not
themselves any longer continue in their
former countenances, which had been be-
dewed with tears and cast downward to
the ground, but now there arose in them
hope of the best : and the king himself
appeared not to have had foundation
enough to build such an accusation upon,
he having no real evidence wherewith to
convict them. Indeed, he wanted some
apology for making the accusation ; but
Caesar, after some delay, said, that although
the young men were thoroughly innocent
of that for which they were calumniated,
yet had they been so far to blame, that
they had not demeaned themselves toward
their father so as to prevent that suspicion
which was spread abroad concerning them.
He also exhorted Herod -to lay all such
suspicions aside, and to be reconciled to
his sons : for that it was not just to give
any credit to such reports concerning his
own children ; and that this repentance
on both sides might heal those breaches
that had happened between them, and
might improve their good-will toward one
another, whereby those on both sides, ex-
cusing the rashness of their suspicions,
might resolve to bear a greater degree of
affection toward each other than they had
before. After Ceesar had given them this
admonition, he beckoned to the young
men. When, therefore, they were dis-
posed to fall down, to make intercession
to their father, he took them up, and em-
braced them, as they were in tears, and
took each of them distinctly in his arms,
till not one of those that were present,
whether freeman or slave, but was deeply
affected at what they saw.
Then did they return thanks to Cassar,
and went away together; and with them
went Antipater, with an hypocritical pre-
tence that he rejoiced at this reconciliation.
And in the last days they were with Caesar,
Herod made him a present of 300 talents,
as he was then exhibiting shows and
largesses to the people of Rome : and
Caesar made him a present of half the
revenue of the copper-mines in Cyprus,
and committed the care of the other half
to him, and honoured him with other gifts
and incomes : and as to his own kingdom,
he left it in his power to appoint which
of his sons he pleased for his successor,
or to distribute it in parts to every one,
that the dignity might thereby come to
them all ; and when Herod was disposed
to make such a settlement immediately,
Caesar said he would not give him leave
to deprive himself, while he was alive, of
the power over his kingdom, or over his
sons.
After this, Herod returned to Judea
again; but during his absence, no small
part of his dominions about Trachon had
revolted, whom yet the commanders he
left there had vanquished, aud compelled
to a submission again. Now, as Herod
was sailing with his sons, and had come
over against Cilicia, to [the island] Eleusa,
which had now changed its name for Se-*
baste, he met with Archelaus, king of
Cappadocia, who received him kindly, as
rejoicing that he was reconciled to his
sons, and that the accusation against Alex-
ander, who had married his daughter, was
at an end. They also made one another
such presents as it became kings to make.
From thence Herod came to Judea and
to the temple, where he made a speech to
the people concerning what had been done
in this his journey : he- also discoursed
to them about Caesar's kindness to him,
and about as many of the particulars he
had done as he thought it for his advantage
other people should be acquainted with.
At last he turned his speech to the admo-
nition of his sons; and exhorted those
that lived at court, and the multitude, to
concord: and informed them that his sons
were to reign after him ; Antipater first,
and then Alexander and Aristobulus,
the sons of Mariamne ; but he desired
that at present they should all have re-
gard to himself, and esteem hiin king and
lord of all, since he was not yet hindered
by old age, but was in that period of life
when he must be the most skilful in go-
verning ; and that he was not deficient in
other arts of management that might
enable him to govern the kingdom well,
aud to rule over his children also. He
further told the rulers under him, and the
Chap. V.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
17
soldiery, that in case they would look upon
him alone, their life would be led in a
peaceable manner, and they would make
one another happy ; and when he had said
this, he dismissed the assembly. Which
speech was acceptable to the greatest part
of the audience, but not so to them all ;
for the contention among his sons, and
the hopes he had given them, occasioned
thoughts and desires of innovations among
them
CHAPTER V.
Herod celebrates the games that were to return
every fifth year on the building of Ciesarea.
ABOUT this time it was that Cresarea
Sebaste, which he had built, was finished.
The entire building being accomplished in
the tenth year, the solemnity of it fell
into the twenty-eighth year of Herod's
reign, and into the 192d Olympiad ;
there was accordingly a great festival, and
most sumptuous preparations made pre-
sently, in order to its dedication; for he
had appointed a contention in music, and
games to be performed naked ; he had
also gotten ready a great number of those
that tight single combats, and of beasts for
the like purpose; horse-races also, and the
most chargeable of such sports and shows
as used to be exhibited at Rome, and in
other places. He consecrated this combat
to Caasar, and ordered it to be celebrated
every fifth year. He also sent all sorts of
ornaments for it out of his own furniture,
that it might want nothing to make it de-
cent ; nay, Julia, Caesar's wife, sent a
great part of her most valuable furniture
[from Rome], insomuch, that he had no
want of any thing; the sum of them all
was estimated at 500 talents. Now, when
a great multitude had come to that city
to see the shows, as well as the ambassa-
dors whom other people sent, on account
of the benefits they had received [from
Herod], he entertained them all in the
public inns, and at public tables, and with
perpetual feasts; this solemnity having in
the day-time the diversions of the fights,
and in the night-time such merry meet-
ings as cost vast sums of money, and pub-
licly demonstrated the generosity of his
soul; for in all his undertakings he was
ambitious to exhibit what exceeded what-
soever had been done before of the same
kind ; and it is related that Caesar and
Agrippa often said, that the domiuions of
Herod were too small for the greatness of
Vol. II.— 2
his soul ; for that he deserved to have
both all the kingdom of Syria, and that
of Egypt also.
After this solemnity and these festivals
were over, Herod erected another city in
the plain called Capharsaba, where he
chose out a fit place, both for plenty of
water and goodness of soil, and proper for
the production of what was there planted,
where a river encompassed the city itself,
and a grove of the best trees for magnitude
was round about it: this he named Anti-
patris, from his father, Antipater. He
also built upon another spot of ground
above Jericho, of the same name with his
mother, a place of great security, and very
pleasant for habitation, and called it Cy-
prus. He also dedicated the finest monu-
ments to his brother Phasaelus, on account
of the great natural affection there had
been between them, by erecting a tower
in the city itself, not less than the tower
of Pharos, which he named Phasaelus,
which was at once a part of the strong
defences of the city, and a memorial for
him that was deceased, because it bore his
name. He also built a city of the same
in the valley of Jericho, as you go from
it northward, whereby he rendered the
neighbouring country more fruitful, by
the cultivation its inhabitants introduced ;
and this also he called Phasaelus.
But as for his other benefits, it is im-
possible to reckon them up, those which
he bestowed on cities, both in Syria and
in Greece, and in all the places he came
to in his voyages: for he seems to have
conferred, and that after a most plentiful
manner, what would minister to many
necessities, and the building of public
works, and gave them the money that was
necessary to such works as wanted it, to
support them upon the failure of their
other revenues; but what was the greatest
and most illustrious of all his works, he
erected Apollo's temple at Rhodes, at his
own expense, and gave them a great num-
ber of talents of silver for the repairs of
their fleet. He also built the greatest
part of the public edifices for the inhabit-
ants of Nicopolis, at Actium ;* and for
the Antiochians, the inhabitants of the
* Dr. Hudson here gives us the words of Sueto-
nius concern ing this Nicopolis, when Augustus re
built it: — "And that the memory of the victory at
Actium might be celebrated the more afterward,
he built Nicopolis at Actium, and appointed public
shows to be there exhibited every fifth year." In
Augus. sect. 18.
18
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVL
principal city of Syria, where a broad
street cuts through the place leugthways,
he built cloisters along it on both sides,
and laid the open road with polished stone,
which was of very great advantage to the
inhabitants; and as to the Olympic games,
which were in a very low condition, by
reason of the failure of their revenues, he
recovered their reputation, and appointed
revenues for their maintenance, and made
that solemn meeting more venerable, as
to the sacrifices and other ornaments ; and
by reason of this vast liberality, he was
generally declared in their inscriptions to
be one of the perpetual managers of those
games.
Now some there are, who stand amazed
at the diversity of Herod's nature and
purposes ; for when we have respect to his
magnificence, and the benefits which he
bestowed on all mankind, there is no pos-
sibility for even those who had the least
respect for him to deny, or not openly to
confess, that he had a nature vastly bene-
ficent ; but when any one looks upon the
punishments he inflicted, and the injuries
he did, not only to his subjects, but to his
nearest relations, and takes notice of his
severe and unrelenting disposition there,
he will be forced to allow that he was
brutish, and a stranger to all humanity;
insomuch that these men suppose his na-
ture to be different, and sometimes at
contradictions with itself; but I am my-
self of another opinion, and imagine that
the occasion of both these sorts of actions
was one and the same ; for, being a man
ambitious of honour, and quite overcome
by that passion, he was induced to be
magnificent, wherever there appeared any
hopes of a future memorial, or of reputa-
tion at present ; and, as his expenses were
beyond his abilities, he was necessitated
to be harsh to his subjects; for the per-
sons on whom he expended his money,
were so many, that they made him a very
bad procurer of it; and because he was
conscious that he was hated by those un-
der him, for the injuries he did them, he
thought it not an easy thing to amend his
offences, for that was inconvenient for his
revenue ; he therefore strove on the other
side to make their ill-will an occasion of
his gains. As to his own court, therefore,
if any one was not very obsequious to him
in his language, and would not confess
himself to be his slave, or but seemed to
think of any innovation in his govern-
ment, he was not able to contain himself,
but prosecuted his very kindred and
friends, and punished them as if they were
enemies ; and this wickedness he under-
took out of a desire that he might be
himself alone honoured. Now for this
my assertion about that passion of his, we
have the greatest evidence, by what he
did to honour C?esar and Agrippa, and
his other friends; for with what honours
he paid his respects to them who were his
superiors, the same did he desire to be
paid to himself; and what he thought
the most excellent present he could make
another, he discovered an inclination to
have the like presented to himself; but
now the Jewish nation is by their law
a stranger to all such things, and ac-
customed to prefer righteousness to glo-
ry ; for which reason that nation was not
agreeable to him, because it was out of
their power to flatter the king's ambi-
tion with statues or temples, or any other
such performances ; and this seems to me
to have been at once the occasion of He-
rod's crimes as to his own courtiers and
counsellors, and of his benefactions as to
foreigners and those that had no relation
to him.
CHAPTER VI.
The Jews in Asia complain of the Greeks to
Caesar.
Now the cities ill treated the Jews in
Asia, and all those also of the same na-
tion who lived in Libya, which joins to
Cyrene, while the former kings had given
them equal privileges with the other citi-
zens : but the Greeks affronted them at
this time, and that so far as to take away
their sacred money, and to do them mis-
chief on other particular occasions. When,
therefore, they were thus afflicted, and
found uo end of the barbarous treatment
they met with among the Greeks, they
sent ambassadors to Caesar on those ac-
counts; who gave them the same privi-
leges as they had before, and sent letters
to the same purpose to the governors of
the provinces, copies of which I subjoin
here, as testimonials of the aucient fa-
vourable disposition the Roman emperors
had toward us.
" Caesar Augustus, high priest and tri-
bune of the people, ordains thus : — Since
the nation of the Jews have been found
grateful to the Roman people, not only at
this time, but in times past also, and
chiefly Ilyrcanus the high priest, under
Chap. VI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
LS
my father,* Caesar the emperor, it seemed
good to me and my counsellors, according
to the sentence and oath of the people of
Rome, that the Jews have liberty to make
use of their own customs, according to
the laws of their forefathers, as the}' made
use of them under Hyrcanus, the high
priest of Almighty God; and that their
sacred money be not touched, but be sent
to Jerusalem, and that it be committed
to the care of the receivers at Jerusalem;
and that they be not obliged to go before
any judge on the Sabbath-day, nor on the
day of the preparation to it, after the
ninth hour,j but if any be caught stealing
their holy books, or their sacred money,
whether it be out of the synagogue or
public school, he shall be deemed a sacri-
legious person, and his goods shall be
brought into the public treasury of the
Romans. And I give order, that the tes-
timonial which they have given me, on
account of my regard to that piety which
I exercise toward all mankind, and out of
regard to Caius Marcus Censorinus, toge-
ther with the present decree, be proposed
in that most eminent place which hath
been consecrated to me by the community
of Asia at Ancyra. And if any one trans-
gress any part of what is above decreed,
he shall be severely punished." This was
inscribed upon a pillar in the temple of
Caesar.
"Caesar to Norbanus Flaccus, sendeth
greeting. Let those Jews, how many so-
ever they be, who have been used, accord-
ing to their ancient custom, to send their
sacred money to Jerusalem, do the same
freely." These were the decrees of Caesar.
Agrippa also did himself write, after
the maimer following, on behalf of the
Jews: — " Agrippa, to the magistrates, se-
nate, and people of the Ephesians, send-
eth greeting. I will that the care and
custody of the sacred money that is carried
to tha temple at Jerusalem be left to the
Jews of Asia, to do with it according to
their ancient custom ; and that such as
steal that sacred money of the Jews, and
fly to a sanctuary, shall be taken thence
and delivered to the Jews, by the same
law that sacrilegious persons are taken
* Augustus here calls Julius Cajsarhis "father,"
though by birth he was only his " uncle," or. ac-
count of his adoption by him.
| This is authentic evidence that the Jews, in
the days of Augustus, began to prepare for the cele-
bration of the Sabbath at the ninth hour on Friday,
as the tradition of the elders did, it seems, then re-
quire of them.
2K
thence. I have also written to Sylvanus
the praetor, that no one compel the Jews
to come before a judge on the Sabbath-
day."
"Marcus Agrippa to the magistrates,
senate, and people of Cyreue, seudeth
greeting. The Jews of Cyrene have in-
terceded with me for the performance of
what Agustus sent orders about to Flavius,
the then praetor of Libya, and to the other
procurators of that province, that the
sacred money may be sent to Jerusalem
freely, as hath been their custom from
their forefathers, they complaining that
they are abused by certain informers, aud
under pretence of taxes which were not
due, are hindered from sending them ;
which I command to be restored without
any diminution or disturbance given to
them : and if any of that sacred mouey in
the cities be taken from their proper re-
ceivers, I further enjoin that the same be
exactly returned to the Jews in that
place."
"Caius Norbanus Flaccus, proconsul,
to the magistrates of the Sardians, sendeth
greeting. Caesar hath written to me, and
commanded me not to forbid the Jews,
how many soever they be, from assembling
together, according to the custom of their
forefathers, nor from sending their money
to Jerusalem : I have therefore written to
you, that you may know that both Caasar
and I would have you act accordingly."
Nor did Julius Antouius, the proconsul,
write otherwise. "To the magistrates,
senate, aud people of the Ephesians/
sendeth greeting. As 1 was dispensing
justice at Ephesus, on the ides of Fe-
bruary, the Jews that dwell in Asia de-
monstrated to me that Augustas and
Agrippa had permitted them to use their
own laws and customs, and to offer those
their first fruits, which every one of them
freely offers to the Deity on account of
piety, aud to carry them in a company
together to Jerusalem without disturbance.
They also petitioned me, that I would con-
firm what had been granted by Augustus
and Agrippa by my owu sanetiou. I
would, therefore, have you take notice,
that according to the will of Augustus
aud Agrippa, I permit them to use and
do according to the customs of their fore-
fathers, without disturbance."
I have been obliged to set down these
decrees, because the present history of our
own acts will go generally among the
Greeks ; and I have hereby demonstrated
20
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVI
to them, that we have formerly been in
great esteem, and have not been pro-
hibited by those governors we were under
from keeping any of the laws of our fore-
fathers; nay, that we have been sup-
ported by them, while we followed our
own religion, and the worship we paid to
God : and I frequently make mention of
these decrees, in order to reconcile other
people to us, and to take away the causes
of that hatred which unreasonable men
bear to us. As for our customs, there is
no nation which always makes use of the
same, and in every city almost we meet
with them different from one another;
but natural justice is most agreeable to
the advantage of all men equally, both
Greeks and barbarians, to which our laws
have the greatest regard, and thereby
render us, if we abide in them after a
pure manner, benevolent and friendly to
all men : on which account we have rea-
son to expect the like return from others,
and to inform them that they ought not
to esteem difference of positive institutions
a sufficient cause of alienation, but [join
with us in] the pursuit of virtue and pro-
bity, for this belongs to all men in com-
mon, and of itself alone is sufficient for
the preservation of human life. I now
return to the thread of my history.*
CHAPTER VII.
Herod removes part of the riches from the tomb of
David — Sedition consequent thereon.
As for Herod, he had spent vast sums
about the cities, both without and within
his own kingdom : and as he had before
heard that Ilyrcanus, who had beeu king-
before him, had opened David's sepulchre,
and taken out of it 3000 talents of silver,
and that there was a much greater number
left behind, and, indeed, enough to suffice
all his wants, he had a great while an in-
tention to make the attempt; and at this
time he opened that sepulchre by night,
and went into it, and endeavoured that it
should not be at all known in the city,
*The concluding part of this chapter is re-
markable, as justly distinguishing natural justice,
religion, and morality, from positive institutions,
in all countries, and evidently preferring the former
before the latter, as did the true prophets of God
always under the Old Testament, and Christ and
his apostles always under the New: whence our
Josephus aeems to have been at this time nearer
Christianity than were the scribes and Pharisees
of his age; who, as we know from the New Testa-
ooent, wero entirely of a different opinion and
vactic}.
but took only his most faithful friends with
him. As for any money, he found none,
as Hyrcanus had done, but that furniture
of gold, and those precious goods that
were laid up there ; all which he took
away. However, he had a great desire to
make a more diligent search, and to go
further in, even as far as the very bodies
of David and Solomon, where two of his
guards were slain, by a flame that burst
out upon those that went in, as the report
was. So he was terribly affrighted, and
went out, and built a propitiatory monu-
ment of that fright he had been in ; and
this of white stone, at the mouth of the
sepulchre, and that at a great expense
also. And even Nicolaus* his historio-
grapher, makes mention of this monument
built by Herod, though he does not
mention his going down into the sepul-
chre, as knowing that action to be of ill
repute ; and many other things he treats
of in the same manner in his book ; for
he wrote in Herod's lifetime, and under
his reign, and so as to please him, and as
a servant to him, touching upon nothing
but what tended to his glory, and openly
excusing many of his notorious crimes,
and very diligently concealing them.
And as he was desirous to put handsome
colours on the death of Mariamne and her
sons, which were barbarous actions in the
king, he tells falsehoods about the incon-
tinence of Mariamne, and the treacherous
designs of his sons upon him; and thus
he proceeded in his whole work, making
a pompous encomium upon what just actions
he had done, but earnestly apologizing for
his unjust ones. Indeed, a man, as I
said, may have a great deal to say by way
of excuse for Nicolaus, for he did not so
properly write this as a history for others,
as somewhat that might be subservient to
the king himself. As for ourselves, who
come of a family nearly allied to the
Asamonean kings, and on that account
have an honourable place, which is the
priesthoood, we think it indecent to say
any thing that is false about them, and
accordingly, we have described their
actions after an unblemished and upright
* It is here worth our observation, how careful
Josephus was as to the discovery of truth in Herod's
historj', since he would not follow Nicolaus of Da-
mascus himself, so great an historian, where there
was great reason to suspect that he had flattered
Herod ; which impartiality in history Josephus hero
solemnly professes, and of which impartiality he
has given more demonstrations than almost any
other historian.
Chap VI.".]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
•21
maimer. And although we reverence
I many of Herod's posterity, who still
reign, yet do we pay a greater regard to
truth than to them, and this though it
sometimes happens that wc incur their dis-
pleasure by so doing.
And, indeed, Herod's troubles in his
family seemed to be augmented, by rea-
son of this attempt he made upon David's
sepulchre ; whether Divine vengeance in-
creased the calamities he lay under, in
order to make them incurable, or whether
fortune made an assault upon him, in
those cases, wherein the seasonableness of
the cause made it strongly believed that
the calamities came upon him for his im-
piety; for the tumult was like a civil war
in his palace; and their hatred toward
one another was like that where each one
strove to exceed another in calumnies.
However, Antipater used stratagems per-
petually against his brethren, and that
very cunningly : while abroad he loaded
them with accusations, but still took upon
him frequently to apologize for them, that
his apparent benevolence to them might
make him be believed, and forward his
attempts against them; by which means
he, after various manners, circumvented
his father, who believed that all he did
was for his preservation. Herod also
recommended Ptolemy, who was a great
director of the affairs of his kingdom, to
Antipater ; and consulted with his mother
about the public affairs also. And, indeed,
these were all in all, and did what they
pleased, and made the king angry against
any other persons, as he thought it might
be to their own advantage : but still the
sons of Mariamne were in a worse and
worse condition perpetually; and while
they were thrust out, and set in a more
dishonourable rank, who yet by birth
were the most noble, they could not bear
the dishonour. And for the women,
Glaphyra, Alexander's wife, the daughter
of Archelaus, hated Salome, both because
of her love to her husband, and because
Glaphyra seemed to behave herself some-
what insolently toward Salome's daughter,
who was the wife of Aristobulus, which
equality of hers to herself Glaphyra took
very impatiently.
Now, besides this second contention
that had fallen among them, neither did
the king's brother Pheroras keep himself
out of trouble, but had a particular found-
ation for suspicion and hatred ; for he wTas
overcome with the charms of his wife, to
L.
such a degree of madness, that be despised
the king's daughter, to whom he had beec
betrothed, and wholly bent his mind to
the other, who had been but a servant.
Herod also was grieved by the dishonour
that was done him, because he had be-
stowed many favours upon him, and ba 1
advanced him to that height of power that
he was almost a partner with him in the
kingdom ; and saw that he had not made
him a due return for his favours, and
esteemed himself unhappy on that ac-
count. So, upon Pheroras's unworthy
refusal, he gave the damsel to Phasaelus's
son ; but after some time, when he
thought the heat of his brother's affection
was over, he blamed him for his former
conduct, and desired him to take his
second daughter, whose name was Cypros.
Ptolemy, also, advised him to leave off
affronting his brother, and to forsake her
whom he had loved, for that it was a base
thing to be so enamoured of a servant, as
to deprive himself of the king's good-will
to him, and become an occasion of his
trouble, and make himself hated by him.
Pheroras knew that this advice would be
for his own advantage, particularly be-
cause he had been accused before, and
forgiven ; so he put his wife away,
although he already had a son by her,
and engaged to the king that he would
take his second daughter, and agreed that
the thirtieth day after should be the day
of marriage; and swore he would have no
further conversation with her whom he
had put away; but when the thirty days
were over, he was such a slave to his
affections, that he no longer performed
any thing he had promised, but continued
still with his former wife. This oc-
casioned Herod to grieve openly, and
made him angry, while the king dropped
one word or other against Pheroras peF-
petually; and many made the king's
auger an opportunity fir raising calumnies
against him. Nor had the king any
longer a single quiet day or hour, but
occasions of one fresh quarrel or another
arose among his relations, and those that
were dearest to him ; for Salome was of a
harsh temper, and ill-natured to Mariamne's
sous; nor would she suffer her uwu
daughter, who was the wife of Aristo-
bulus, one of those young men, to bear a
good-will to her husbaud, but persuaded
her to tell her if he said any thing to her
in private, and when any misunderstand:
ings happened, as is common, she raised
22
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
Book XVI.
a great many suspicions out of it : by
which means she learned all their con-
cerns, and made the damsel ill-natured to
the young man. And in order to gratify
her mother, she often said that the young
men used to mention Mariamne when
they were by themselves; and that they
hated their father, and were continually
threatening, that if they had once got the
kingdom, they would make Herod's sons
by his other wives country schoolmasters,
for that the present education which was
given them, and their diligence in learn-
ing, fitted them for such an employment.
And as for the women, whenever they
saw them adorned with their mother's
clothes, they threatened, that instead of
their present gaudy apparel, they should
be clothed in sackcloth, and confined so
closely that they should not see the light
of the sun. These stories were presently
carried by Salome to the king, who was
troubled to hear them, and endeavoured
to make up matters : but these suspicions
afflicted him, and becoming more and
more uneasy, he believed everybody against
everybody. However, upon his rebuking
his sons, and hearing the defence they
made for themselves, he was easier for a
while, though a little afterward much
worse accidents came upon him.
For Pheroras came to Alexander, the
husband of Glaphyra, who was the daughter
of Archelaus, as we have already told you,
and said that he had heard from Salome,
that Herod was enamoured of Glaphyra,
and that his passion for her was incurable.
When Alexander heard that, he was all
on fire, from his youth and jealousy; and
he interpreted the instances of Herod's
obliging behaviour to her, which were
very frequent, for the worse, which came
from those suspicions he had on account
of that word which fell from Pheroras;
nor could he conceal his grief at the
thing, but informed him what words Phe-
roras had said. Upon which Herod was
in a greater disorder than ever; and not
bearing such a false calumny, which was
to his shame, was much disturbed at it,
and often did he lament the wickedness
of his domestics, and how good he had
been to them, and how ill the requitals
they had made him. So he sent for Phe-
roras, and reproached him, and said,
"Thou vilest of all men! art thou come
to that unmeasurable and extravagant
degree of ingratitude, as not only to sup-
nose such thiugs of mc, but to speak of
them? I now, indeed, perceive what thy
intentions are : it is not only thy aim to
reproach me, when thou usest such words
to my son, but thereby to persuade him
to plot against me, and get me destroyed
by poison ; and who is there, if he had
not a good genius at his elbow, as hath
my son, that would bear such a suspicion
of his father, but would revenge himself
upon him ? Dost thou suppose that thou
hast only dropped a word for him to think
of, and not rather hast put a sword into
his hand to slay his father ? And what
dost thou mean, when thou really hatest
both him and his brother, to pretend
kiudness to them, only in order to raise a
reproach against me, and talk of such
things as no one but such an impious
wretch as thou art could either devise in
their mind, or declare in their words ?
Begone, thou that art such a plague to thy
benefactor and thy brother; and may that
evil conscience of thine go along with
thee ; while I still overcome my relations
by kindness, and am so far from avenging
myself of them, as they deserve, that I
bestow greater benefits upon them than
they are worthy of."
Thus did the king speak. Whereupon
Pheroras, who was caught in the very act
of his villany, said that "it was Salome
who was the framer of this plot, and that
the words came from her;" but as soon
as she heard that, for she was at hand,
she cried out, like one that would be
believed, that no such thing ever came
out of her mouth; that they all earnestly
endeavoured to make the' king hate her,
and to make her away, because of the
good-will she bore to Herod, and because
she always foresaw the dangers that were
coming upon him, and that at present
there were more plots against him than
usual : for while she was the only person
who persuaded her brother to put away
the wife he now had, and to take the
king's daughter, it was no wonder if she
was hated by him. As she said this, and
often tore her hair, and often beat her
breast, her countenance made her detail
to be believed, but the perverseuess of her
manners declared at the same time her
dissimulation in these proceedings; but
Pheroras was caught between them, and
had nothing plausible to offer in his own
defence, while he confessed that he had
said what was charged upon him, but was
not believed when he said he had heard it
from Salome ; so the confusion among
Chap. VIIT.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
23
them was increased, and their quarrelsome
words one to another. At last the king,
out of his hatred to his brother and sister,
sent them both away; and when he had
commended the moderation of his son,
and that he had himself told him of the
report, he went in the evening to refresh
himself. After such a contest as this had
fallen out among them, Salome's reputa-
tion suffered greatly, since she was sup-
posed to have first raised the calumny;
and the king's wives were grieved at her,
as knowing she was a very ill-natured
woman, and would sometimes be a friend,
and sometimes an enemy, at different sea-
sons; so they perpetually said one thing
or another against her; and somewhat
that now fell out, made them the bolder
in speaking against her.
There was one Obodas, king of Arabia,
an inactive and slothful man in his nature ;
but Sylleus managed most of his affairs
for him. He was a shrewd man, although
ce was but young, and was handsome
withal. This Sylleus, upon some occasion
coming to Herod, and supping with him,
saw Salome, and set his heart upon her :
and understanding that she was a widow,
he discoursed with her. Now, because
Salome was at this time less in favour
with her brother, she looked upon Sylleus
with some passion, and was very earnest
to be married to him ; and on the days
following there appeared many, and those
very great, indications of their agreement
together. Now the women carried this
news to the king, and laughed at the in-
decency of it; whereupon Herod inquired
about it further of Pheroras, and desired
him to observe them at supper, how their
behaviour was one toward another; who
told him, that by the signals that came
from their heads and their eyes, they both
were evidently in love. After this, Syl-
leus the Arabian, being suspected, went
away, but came again in two or three
months afterward, as it were on that very
design, and spoke to Herod about it, and
desired that Salome might be given him
to w7ife ; for that his affinity might not
be disadvantageous to his affairs, by a
union with Arabia, the government of
which country was already in effect under
his power and more evidently would be
his hereafter, Accordingly, when Herod
discoursed with his sister about it, and
asked her whether she was disposed to
this match, she immediately agreed to it;
but wheu Sylleus was desired to come
over to the Jewish religion, and then he
should marry her, and that it was iiii;>'>s-
sible to do it on any other terms, he could
not bear that proposal, and went his way ;
fur he said, that if he should do so, he
should be stoned by the Arabs. Then
did Pheroras reproach Salome for her in-
continency, as did the women much more;
and said that Sylleus had debauched her.
As for that damsel which the king had
betrothed to his brother Pheroras, but he
had not taken her, as I have before related,
because he was enamoured of his former
wife, Salome desired of Herod she might
be given to her son by Costobarus : which
match be was very willing to, but was
dissuaded from it by Pheroras, who plead-
ed, that this young man would not be
kind to her, since her father had been
slain by him, and that it was more just
that his son, who was to be his successor
in the tetrarchy, should have her; so he
begged his pardon, and persuaded him to
do so. Accordingly the damsel, upon this
change of her espousals, was disposed of
to this young man, the son of Pheroras,
the king giving for her portion 100 talents.
CHAPTER VIII.
Continued dissensions in Herod's family.
But still the affairs of Herod's family
were no better, but perpetually more trou-
blesome. Now this accident happened,
which arose from no decent occasion, hut
proceeded so far as to bring great difficult
ties upon him. There were certain eu-
nuchs which the king had, and on account
of their beauty was very fond of them ;
and the care of bringing him drink was
intrusted to one of them ; of bringing
him his supper-, to another; and of put-
ting him to bed, to a third, who also
managed the principal affairs of the go-
vernment; and there was one told the kiuo-
that these eunuchs were corrupted by
Alexander, the king's son, by great sums
of money; and when they were asked
whether Alexander had had criminal con-
versation with them, they confessed it,
but said they knew of no further mischief
of his against his father; but when they
were more severely tortured, and were in
the utmost extremity, and the tormentors,
out of compliance with Antipater, stretch-
ed the rack to the very utmost, they said
that Alexander bore great ill-will and in-
nate hatred to his father; and that he
24
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Bock. XVI
told them that Herod despaired to live
much Linger; and that, in order to cover
his great age, he coloured Lis hair black,
and endeavoured to conceal what would
disi vt'i' how old he was; but that if he
would apply himself to him, when he
should attain the kingdom, which, in spite
of his father could come to no one else, he
should quickly have the first place in that
kingdom under him, for that he was now
ready to take the kingdom, not only as
his birthright, but by the preparations he
had made for obtaining it, because a great
many of the rulers, and a great many of
his friends, were of his side, and those no
ill men cither, ready both to do and to
suffer whatsoever should come on that ac-
count.
When Herod heard this confession, he
was all over anger and fear, some parts
seeming to him reproachful, and some
made him suspicious of dangers that at-
tended him, insomuch, that on both ac-
counts he was provoked, and bitterly
afraid, lest some more heavy plot was laid
against him than he should be then able
to escape from; whereupon he did not
now make an open search, but sent about
spies to watch such as he suspected, for
he was now overrun with suspicion and
hatred against all about him; and in-
dulging abundance of those suspicions, in
order to his preservation, he continued- to
suspect those that were guiltless : nor did
he set any bounds to himself; but sup-
posing that those who stayed with him
had the most power to hurt him, they
were to him very frightful ; and for those
that did not use to come to him, it seemed
enough to name them [to make them sus-
pected], and he thought himself safer
when they were destroyed: and at last
his domestics were come to that pass, that
being noway secure of escaping them-
selves, they fell to accusing one another,
and imagining that he who first accused
another, was most likely to save himself;
yet when any had overthrown others,
they were hated; and they were thought
to suffer justly, who unjustly accused
Others; and they only thereby prevented
their own accusation ; nay, they now ex-
ecuted their own private enmities by this
means, and when they were caught, they
were punished in the same way. Thus
these men contrived to make use of this
opportunity as an instrument and a snare
against their enemies; yet when they tried
it, were themselves caught also in the
same snare which they laid for others :
aud the king soon repented of what he had
done, because he had no clear evidence of
the guilt of those whom he had slain ; and
yet what was still more severe in him, he
did not make use of his repentance, in
order to leave off doing the like again, but
in order to inflict the same punishment
upon their accusers.
And in this state of disorder were the
affairs of the palace ; and he had already
told many of his friends directly, that
they ought not to appear before him, noi
come into the palace ; and the reason of
this injunction was, that [when they were
there] he had less freedom of acting, or a
greater restraint on himself on their ac-
count; for at this time it was, that he
expelled Andromachus and Gemellus, men
who had of old been his friends, and been
very useful to him in the affairs of bis
kingdom, and been of advantage to his
family, by their embassies and counsels;
and had been tutors to his sons, and had in
a manner the first degree of freedom with
him. He expelled Andromachus, because
his son Demetrius was a companion to
Alexander ; and. Gemellus, because he
knew that he wished him well, which
arose from his having been with him in
his youth, when he was at school, and
absent at Rome. These he expelled out
of his palace, and was willing enough to
have done worse by them ; but that he
might not seem to take such liberty against
men of so great reputation, he contented
himself with depriving them of their dig-
nity, and of their power to hinder his
wicked proceedings.
Now, it was Autipater who was the
cause of all this; who, when he knew
what a mad and licentious way of acting
his father was in, and had been a great
while one of his counsellors, he hurried
him on, and then thought he should bring
him to do somewhat to the purpose, when
every one that could oppose him was taken
away. When, therefore, Andromachus
and his friends were driven away, and had
no discourse nor freedom with the king
any longer, the king, in the first place,
examined by torture all whom he thought
to be faithful to Alexander, whether they
knew any of his attempts against him ;
but these died without having any thing
to say to that matter, which made the king
more zealous [after discoveries], when he
could not find out what evil proceedings
he suspected them of. As for Autipater,
Chap. VIII.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
25
he was very sagacious to raise a calumny
against those that were really innocent, as
if their denial was only their constancy
and fidelity [to Alexander], and thereupon
provoked Herod to discover by the torture
of great numbers, what attempts were still
concealed. Now, there was a certain per-
son among the many that were tortured,
who said that he knew that the young
man had often said, that when he was
commended as a tall man in his body,
and a skilful marksman, aud that in his
other commendable exercises he exceeded
all men, these qualifications, given him by
nature, though good in themselves, were
not advantageous to him, because his
father was grieved at them, and envied
him for them ; and that when he walked
along with his father, he endeavoured
to depress and shorten himself, that he
might not appear too tall; and that when
he shot at any thing as he was hunt-
ing, when his father was by, he miss-
ed his mark on purpose ; for he knew
how ambitious bis father was of being su-
perior in such exercises. So when the
man was tormented about this saying, and
had ease given his body after it, he added,
that he had his brother Aristobulua for
his assistance, and contrived to lie in wait
for their father, as they were hunting, and
kill him; aud when they had done so, to
fly to Home, and desire to have the king-
dom given them. There were also letters
of the young man found, written to his
brother; wherein he complained that his
father did not act justly in giving Anti-
pater a country, whose [yearly] revenues
amounted to 1000 talents. Upon these
confessions Herod presently thought he
had somewhat to depend on, in his own
opinion, as to his suspicion about his sons :
so he took up Alexander, aud bound him;
yet did he still continue to be uneasy,
and was not quite satisfied of the truth of
what he had heard; and when he came to
recollect himself, he found that they had
only made juvenile complaints and con-
tentions, and that it was an incredible
thing, that when his son should have
slain him, he should openly go to Home
[to beg the kingdom]; so he was desirous
to have some surer mark of his son's
wickedness, and was very solicitous about
it, that he might not appear to have
condemned him to be put in prison too
rashly; so he tortured the principal of
Alexander's friends, and put not a few of
them to death, without getting any of the
things out of them which In !.
And while Herod was very busy about this
matter, and the palace was full of terror
and trouble, one of the younger sort, when
he was in the utmost agony, confessed that
Alexander had sent to his friends at
Rome, and desired that he might be
quickly invited thither by Caesar, aud that
he could discover a plot against him; that
Mithridates, the king of Parthia, was
joined in friendship with his father against
the Romans; and that he had a poisonous
potion ready prepared at Askelon.
To these accusations Herod gave credit,
and enjoyed hereby, in his miserable case,
some sort of consolation, in excuse of his
rashness, as flattering himself with finding
things in so bad a condition ; but as for
the poisonous potion, which he laboured
to find, he could find none. As fir Alex-
ander, he was very desirous to aggravate
the vast misfortunes he was under, so he
preteuded not to deny the accusations, but
punished the rashness of his father with
a greater crime of his own; aud perhaps
he was willing to make his father ashamed
of his easy belief of such calumnies: he
aimed especially, if he could gain belief
to his stoiy, to plague him and his whole
kingdom ; for he wrote four letters aud
sent them to him, that "he did not need
to torture any more persons, for he had
plotted against him; and that he bad for
his partners, Pheroras and the most faith-
ful of his friends; and that Salome came
in to him by night, and that she lay with
him whether he would or not; and that
all men were come to be of one mind to
make away with him as soon as they could,
and so get clear of the continual fear they
were in from him Among these were
accused Ptolemy and Sapinnius, who were
the most faithful friends to the king. And
what more can be said, but that those who
before were the most intimate friends,
were become wild beasts to one another,
as if a certain madness had fallen upon
them, while there was no room for defence
or refutation, in order to the discovery of
the truth, but all were at random doomed
to destruction! so that some lamented
those that were in prison, some those that
were put to death, and others lamented
that they were in expectation of the same
miseries; and a melancholy solitude ren-
dered the kingdom deformed, and quite
the reverse to that happy state it was
formerly in. Herod's own life also was
entirely disturbed; and, because he could
26
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVI.
trust nobody, he was sorely punished by
the expectation of further misery; for he
often fancied in his imagination, that his
son had fallen upon him, or stood by him
with a sword in his hand; and thus was
his mind night and day intent upon this
thing, and revolved it over and over, and
no otherwise than if he were under a dis-
traction. And this was the sad condition
Herod was now in.
But when Archelaus, king of Cappado-
cia, heard of the state that Herod was in,
and being in great distress about his
daughter, and the young man [her hus-
band], and grieving with Herod, as with
a man that was his friend, on account of
so great a disturbance as he was under,
he came [to Jerusalem] on purpose to
compose their differences ; and, when he
found Herod in such a temper, he thought
it wholly unseasonable to reprove him, or
to pretend that he had done any thing
rashly, for that he should thereby natu-
rally bring him to dispute the point with
him, and by still more and more apolo-
gizing for himself to be the more irritated :
he went, therefore, another way to work,
in order to correct the former misfortunes,
and appeared angry at the young man,
and said that Herod had been so very
mild a man that he had not acted a rash
part at all. He also said he would dis-
solve his daughter's marriage with Alex-
ander, nor could in justice spare his own
daughter, if she were conscious of any
thing, and did not inform Herod of it.
Winn Archelaus appeared to be of this
temper, and otherwise than Herod ex-
pected or imagined, and for the main took
Herod's part, and was angry on his ac-
count, the king abated of his harshness,
and took occasion from his appearing to
have acted justly hitherto, to come by
degrees to put on the affection of a father,
and was on both sides to be pitied; for
when some persons refuted the calumnies
that were laid on the young man, he was
thrown into a passion; but when Arche-
laus joined in the accusation, he was dis-
solved into tears and sorrow after an
affectionate manner. Accordingly, he de-
sired that he would not dissolve his son's
marriage, and became not so angry as
before for his offences. So when Arche-
laus had brought him to a more moderate
temper, he transferred the calumnies upon
his friends; and said it must be owing to
them that so young a man, and one un-
acquainted with malice, was corrupted;
and he supposed that there was more rea-
son to suspect the brother than the son.
Upon which, Herod was very much dis-
pleased at Pheroras, who, indeed, had now
no one that could make a reconciliation
between him and his brother. So, when
he saw that Archelaus had the greatest
power with Herod, he betook himself to
him in the habit of a mourner, and like
one that had all the signs upon him of an
undone man. Upon this, Archelaus did
not overlook the intercession he made to
him, nor yet did he undertake to change
the king's disposition toward him imme-
diately ; and he said that it was better for
him to come himself to the king, and con-
fess himself the occasion of all; that this
would make the king's anger not so ex-
travagant toward him, and that then he
would be present to assist him. When
he had persuaded him to this, he gained
his point with both of them ; and the
calumnies raised against the young man
were, beyond all expectation, wiped off.
And Archelaus, as soon as he had made
the reconciliation, went then away to Cap-
padocia, having proved at this juncture of
time the most acceptable person to Herod
in the world; on which account he gave
him the richest presents, as tokens of his
respect to him, and being on other occa-
sions magnanimous, he esteemed him one
of his dearest friends. He also made an
agrt.v ment with him that he would go to
Rome, Veause he had written to Caesar
about theso affairs; so they went together
as far as Antioch, and there Herod ma le
a reconciliation between Archelaus and
Titus, the president of Syria, who had
been greatly at variance, and so returned
back to Judea.
CHAPTER IX.
The Trachonites revolt — Sylleus accuses Herod be-
fore Caesar.
When Herod had been at Rome, and
was come back again, a war arose between
him and the Arabians, on the occasion fol-
lowing:— The inhabitants of Trachonitis,
after Caesar had taken the country away
from Zenodorus, and added it to Herod,
had not now power to rob, but were forced
to plough the laud, and to live tjuietly,
which was a thing they did not like; and
when they did take that pains, the ground
did not produce much fruit for them.
However, at the first the king would not
permit them to rob; and so they abstained
Chap. IX.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
27
from that unjust way of living upon their
neighbours, which procured Herod a grout
reputation for his care. But when he was
sailing to Rome, it was at that time when
he went to accuse his son Alexander, and
to commit Antipater to Cesar's protec-
tion, the Trachonites spread a report as
if he were dead, and revolted from his
dominion, and betook themselves again to
their accustomed way of robbing their
neighbours; at which time the king's
commanders subdued them during his
absence : but about forty of the principal
robbers, being terrified by those that had
been taken, left the country, and retired
into Arabia, Sylleus entertaining them,
after he had missed of marrying Salome,
and gave them a place of strength, in
which they dwelt. So they overran not
only Judea, but all Celesyria also, and
carried off the prey, while Sylleus afforded
them places of protection and quietness
during their wicked practices. But when
Herod came back from Rome, he per-
ceived that his dominions had greatly suf-
fered by them, and since he could not
reach the robbers themselves, because of
the secure retreat they had in that coun-
try, and which the Arabian government
afforded them, and yet, being very uneasy
at the injuries they had done him, he
went all over Trachonitis, and slew their
relation?; whereupon these robbers were
more angry than before, it being a law
among them to be avenged on the mur-
derers of their relations by all possible
means ; so they continued to tear and
rend every thing under Herod's dominion
with impunity ; then did he discourse
about these robberies to Saturninus and
Volumnius, and required that they should
be punished; upon which occasion they
still the more confirmed themselves in
their robberies, and became more nume-
rous, and made very great disturbances,
laying waste the countries and villages
that belonged to Herod's kingdom, and
killing those men whom they caught, till
these unjust proceedings came to be like a
real war, for the robbers were now become
above 1000; at which Herod was sore dis-
pleased, and required the robbers, as well
as the money which he had lent Obodas,
by Sylleus, which was sixty talents, and
since the time of payment was now past,
he desired to have it paid him: but Syl-
leus, who had laid Obodas aside, and
managed all by himself, denied that the
robbers were in Arabia, and put off the
payment of the money ; about which
there was a. hearing before Saturninus
and Volumnius, who were then the presi-
dents of Syria.* At last, he, by their
means, agreed, that within thirty days'
time Herod should be paid his money, anil
that each of them should deliver up the
other's subjects reciprocally. Now, as to
Herod, there was not one of the other's
subjects found in his kingdom, either as
doiug any injustice, or on any other ac-
count ; but it was proved that the Ara-
bians had the robbers among them.
When the day appointed for payment
of the money was past, without Sylleus's
performing any part of his agreement, and
he was gone to Rome, Herod demanded
the payment of the money, and that the
robbers that were in Arabia should be
delivered up ; and, by the permission of
Saturninus and Volumnius, executed the
judgment himself upon those that were
refractory. He took an army that he had,
and led it into Arabia, and in three days'
time marched seven mansions; and when
he came to the garrison wherein the rob-
bers were, he made an assault upon them,
and took them all, and demolished the
place, which was called Raepta, but did
no harm to any others. But as the Ara-
bians came to their assistance, under Xa-
ceb their captain, there ensued a battle,
wherein a few of Herod's soldiers, and
Naceb, the captain of the Arabians, and
about twenty of his soldiers fell, while the
rest betook themselves to flight. So when
he had brought them. to punishment, he
placed 3000 Idumeans in Trachonitis, and
thereby restrained the robbers that were
there. He also sent an account to the
captains that were about Phoenicia, and
demonstrated that he had done nothing
but what he ought to do, in punishing the
refractory Arabians, which, upon an exact
inquiry, they found to be no more than
what was true.
However, messengers were hasted away
to Sylleus, to Rome, and informed him
what had been done, and, as is usual, ag-
gravated every thing. Now Sylleus had
already insinuated himself iuto the know-
ledge of Cassar, anil was then about the
palace; and as soon as he heard of these
things, he changed his habit to black, and
went in, and told Csesar that Arabia was
* These joint presidents <>f Syria, Saturninus
and Volumnius, were nut, perhaps, <>!' equal au-
thority, but the latter like a procurator an
former.
28
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVI
afflicted with war, and that all his king-
dom was in great confusion, upon Herod's
laying it waste with his army ; and he
said, with tears in his eyes, that 2500 of
the principal men among the Arabians
had been destroyed, and that their cap-
tain, Nacebus, his familiar friend and
kinsman, was slain ; and that the riches
that were at Raepta were carried off; and
that Obodas was despised, whose infirm
state of body rendered him unfit for war;
on which account neither he nor the
Arabian army were present. When
Sylleus said so, and added invidiously,
that he would not himself have come out
of the country, unless he believed that
Caesar would have provided that they
should all have peace one with another,
and that, had he been there, he would
have taken care that the war should not
have been to Herod's advantage. Caesar
was provoked when this was said, and
asked no more than this one question, both
of Herod's friends that were there, and of
his own friends who were come from Syria,
whether Herod had led an army thither?
And when they were forced to confess so
much, Caesar, without staying to hear for
what reason he did it, and how it was done,
grew very angry, and wrote to Herod
sharply. The sum of his epistle was
this, that whereas of old he had used him
as his friend, he should now use him as his
subject. Sylleus also wrote an account
of this to the Arabians ; who were so
elevated with it, that they neither deliver-
ed up the robbers that had fled to them,
nor paid the money that was due ; they re-
tained those pastures also which they
had hired, and kept them without paying
their rent, and all this because the king
of the Jews was now in a low condition,
by reason of Caesar's anger at him. Those
of Trachonitis, also, made use of this op-
portunity, and rose up against the Tdumean
garrison, and followed the same way of rob-
bing with the Arabians, who had pillaged
their country, and were more rigid in their
unjust proceedings, not only in order to get
by it, but by way of rcveuge also.
Now Herod was forced to bear all this,
that confidence of his being quite gone
with which Caesar's favour used to inspire
him ; for Caesar would not admit so much
as an embassy from him, to make an
apology for him; and when they came
again, he sent them away without success :
so he was cast into sadness and fear; and
Sylleus's circumstances grieved him ex-
ceedingly, who was now believed by
Caesar, and was present at Home, nay,
sometimes aspiring higher. Now it came
to pass that Obodas was dead : and iEneas,
whose name was afterward changed to
Aretas,* took the government, for Sylleus
endeavoured by calumnies to get him
turned out of his principality, that he
might himself take it; with which de-
sign he gave much money to the cour-
tiers, and promised much money to Caesar,
who, indeed, was angry that Aretas had
not sent to him first before he took the
kingdom, yet did ^Encas send an epistle
and presents to Caesar, and a crown of
gold, of the weight of many talents. Now
that epistle accused Sylleus as having been
a wicked servant, and having killed Obo-
das by poison ; and that while he was
alive, he had governed him as he pleased;
and had also debauched the wives of the
Arabians ; and had borrowed money, in
order to obtain the dominion for himself:
yet did not Caesar give heed to these accu-
sations, but sent his ambassadors back,
without receiving any of his presents. But
in the mean time, the affairs of Judea and
Arabia became worse and worse, partly
because of the anarchy they were under,
and partly because, bad as they were,
nobody had power to govern them ; for of
the two kings, the one was not yet con-
firmed in his kingdom, and so had not
authority sufficient to restrain the evil-
doers ; aud as for Herod, Caesar was
immediately angry at him for having
avenged himself, and so he was compelled
to bear all the injuries that were offered
him. At length, when he saw no end of
the mischief that surrounded him, he re-
solved to send ambassadors to Rome again,
to see whether his friends had prevailed to
mitigate Caesar, aud to address themselves
to Caesar himself; and the ambassador he
sent thither was Nicolaus of Damascus.
CHAPTER X.
Eurycles falsely accuses Herod's sons.
The disorders about Herod's family and
children about this time grew much worse;
for it now appeared certain, nor was it un-
foreseen beforehand, that fortune threaten-
ed the greatest and most insupportable
* This name of Aretas had now become so es-
tablished for the kings of Arabia [at Petra and
Damascus], that when the crown came to this
tineas, he changed his name to Aretas.
Chap. X.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
29
calamities possible to his kingdom. Its
progress and augmentation at this time
arose on the occasion following: — One
Eurycles, a Lacedemonian, (a person of
note there, but a man of perverse mind,
and so cunning in his ways of voluptuous-
ness and flattery, as to indulge both, and
yet seein to indulge neither of them,) came
in his travels to Herod, and made him
presents, but so that he received more
presents from him. He also took such
proper seasons for insinuating himself
into his friendship, that he became one
of the most intimate of the king's friends.
He had his lodging in Antipater's house;
but he had not only access, but free con-
versation with Alexander, as pretending
to him that he was in great favour with
Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia ;
whence he pretended much respect, to
Glaphyra, and, in an occult manner, culti-
vated a friendship with them all, but al-
ways attending to what was said and done,
that he might be furnished with calumnies
to please them all. In short, he behaved
himself so to everybody in his conversation,
as to appear to be his particular friend, and
he made others believe that his being any-
where was for that person's advantage.
So he won upon Alexander, who was but
young; and persuaded him that he might
open his grievances to him, with assurance,
and with nobody else. So he declared
his grief to him, how his father was alien-
ated from him. He related to him also
the affairs of his mother, and of Antipater;
that he had driven them from their proper
dignity, and had the power over every thing
himself; that no part of this was tolera-
ble, since his father had already come to
hate them ; and he added, that he would
neither admit them to his table nor to
his conversation. Such were the com-
plaints, as was but natural, of Alexander
about the things that troubled him : and
these discourses Eurycles carried to Anti-
pater, and told him he did not inform
him of this on his own account, but that
being overcome by his kindness, the great
importance of the thing obliging him to
do it : and he warned him to have a care
of Alexander, for that what he said was
spoken with vehemency, and that, in con-
sequence of what he said, he would cer-
tainly kill him with his own hand.
A\ hereupon, Antipater, thinking him to
be his friend by this advice, gave him
presents upon all occasions, and at length
persuaded him to inform Herud of what
he had heard. So when he related to the
king Alexander's ill temper, as discovered
by the words he had heard him speak,
he was easily believed by him ; and In;
thereby brought the king to that pass,
turning him about by his words, and irri-
tating him, till ho increased his hatred to
him, and made him implacable, which ho
showed at that very time, for he imme-
diately gave Eurycles a present of fifty
talents; who, when he had gotten them,
went to Archelaus, kiug of Cappadocia,
and commended Alexander before him,
and told him that he had been many ways
of advantage to him, in making a recon-
ciliation between him and his father. So
he got money from him also, and went
away, before his pernicious practices were
found out; but when Eurycles had re-
turned to Lacedemon, he did not leave
off doing mischief; and so, for his many
acts of injustice, he was banished from
his own country.
Cut as for the king of the Jews, he
was not now in the temper he was in
formerly toward Alexander and Aristo-
bulus, when he had been content with
the hearing their calumnies when others
told him of them, but he was now come
to that pass as to hate them himself, and
to urge men to speak against them, though
they did not do it of themselves. He
also observed all that was said, and put
questions, and gave ear to every one that
would but speak, if they could but say
any thing against them, till at length he
heard that Euaratus of Cos was a con-
spirator with Alexander ; which thing to
Herod was the most agreeable and sweet-
est news imaginable.
But still a greater misfortune came
upon the young men ; while the calumnies
against them were continually increased,
and, as a man may say, one would think
it was every one's endeavour to lay some
grievous thing to their charge, which
might appear to be for the king's preserva-
tion. There were two guards of Herod's
body, who were in great esteem for their
great strength and tallncss, Jucundus and
Tyranuus ; these men had been cast off by
Herod, who was displeased at them ;
these now used to ride along with Alex-
ander, and for their skill in their exercises
were in great esteem with him, and had
some gold and other gifts bestowed upon
them. Now the king, having an imme-
diate suspicion of these men, had them
tortured ; who endured the torture cou-
30
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVI
rageously for a long time ; but at last
confessed that Alexander would have per-
suaded them to kill Herod when he was
in pursuit of the wild beasts, that it
might lie said he foil from his horse, and
was run through with his own spear, for
that he had onee such a misfortune for-
merly. They also showed where there
was money hidden in the stable, under
ground ; and these convicted the king's
chief hunter, that he had given the young
men the royal hunting-spears and weapons
to Alexander's dependants, and at Alex-
ander's command.
After these, the commander of the
garrison of Alexandrium was caught and
tortured ; for he was accused to have pro-
mised to receive the young men into his
fortress, and to supply them with that
money of the king's which was laid up in
that fortress, yet did not he acknowledge
any thing of it himself, but his son came
in, and said it was so, and delivered up
the writing, which, so far as could be
guessed, was in Alexander's hand. Its
contents were these: — "When we have
finished, by God's help, all that we have
proposed to do, we will come to you ; but
do your endeavours, as you have promised,
to receive us into your fortress." After this
writing was produced, Herod had no doubt
about the treacherous designs of his sons
against him ; but Alexander said that
Diophantus, the scribe, had imitated his
hand, and that the paper was maliciously
drawn up by Antipater; for Diophantus
appeared to be very cunning in such prac-
tices; and as he was afterward convicted
of forging other papers, he was put to
death for it.
So the king produced those that had been
tortured before the multitude at Jericho, in
order to have them accuse the young men,
which accusers many of the people stoned to
death ; and when they were going to kill
Alexander and Aristobulus likewise, the
king would not permit them to do so, but
restrained the multitude by means of Pto-
lemy and Pheroras. However, the young
men were put under a guard, and kept in
custody, that nobody might come at them ;
and all that they did or said was watched,
and the reproach and fear they were
in was little or nothing different from
those of condemned criminals ; and one of
them, who was Aristobulus, was so deeply
affected, that he brought Salome, who was
his aunt, and his mother-in-law, to lament
with him for his calamities, and to hate
him w7ho had suffered things to come tc
that pass; when he said to her, ''Art thou
not in danger of destruction also, while
the report goes that thou hadst disclosed
beforehand all our affairs to Sylleus, when
thou wast in hopes of being married to
him V Bat she immediately carried those
words to her brother : upon this he was
out of patience, and gave command to
bind him ; and enjoined them both, now
they were kept separate one from the
other, to write down all the ill things they
had done against their father, and bring
their writings to him. So when this was
enjoined them, they wrote this : that they
had laid no treacherous designs, nor made
any preparations agsinst their father, but
that they had intended to fly away : and
that by the distress the}7 were in, their
lives being now uncertain and tedious to
them.
About this time, there came an ambas-
sador out of Cappadocia from Archelaus,
whose name was Melas: he was one of
the principal rulers under him. So Herod
being desirous to show Archelaus's ill-
will to him, called for Alexander, as he
was in his bonds, and asked him again
concerning his flight, whether and how
they had resolved to retire. Alexander
replied, to Archelaus, who had promised
to send them away to Pome; but that
they had no wicked or mischievous designs
against their father, and that nothing of
that nature which their adversaries bad
charged upon them was true; and that
their desire was, that he might have ex-
amined Tyrannus and Jucundus more
strictly, but that they had been suddenly
slain by the means of Antipater, who put
his own friends among the. multitude [for
that purpose].
When this was said, Herod commanded
that both Alexander and Melas should be
carried to Glaphyra, Archelaus's daughter,
and that she should be asked, whether she
did not know somewhat of Alexander's
treacherous designs against Herod ? Now
as soon as they were come to her, and she
saw Alexander in bonds, she beat her
head, and in great consternation, gave a
deep and moving groan. The young man,
also, fell into tears. This was so mi-
serable a spectacle to those present, that,
for a great while, they were not able to
say or to do any thing; but at length
Ptolemy, who was ordered to bring Alex-
ander, bade him say whether his wife was
conscious of his actions. He replied,
Coap. X.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
31
"How is it possible that she, whom I
love better than my own soul, and by
whom I have had children, should not
know what I do ?" Upon which she cried
out, that she knew of no wicked designs
of his; but that yet, if her accusing her-
self falsely would tend to his preserva-
tion, she would confess it all. Alexan-
der replied, "There is no such wick-
edness as those (who ought the least of
all so to do) suspect, which either I have
imagined, or thou knowest of, but this
only, that we had resolved to retire to
Archelaus, and thence to Home." Which
she also confessed. Upon which Herod,
supposing that Archelaus's ill-will to him
was fully proved, sent a letter by Olympus
and Volumnius; and bade them, as they
sailed by, to touch at Eleusa of Cilicia,
and give Archelaus the letter. And that
when they had expostulated with him,
that he had a hand in his sons' treacherous
design against him, they should from
thence sail to Home ; and that, in case they
found Nicolaus had gained auy ground,
and that Csesar was no longer displeased
at him, he should give him his letters,
and the proof which he had ready to show
against the young men. As to Archelaus,
he made this defence for himself, that he
had promised to receive the young men
because it was both for their own and
their father's advantage so to do, lest
some too severe procedure should be gone
upon in that anger and disorder they were
in, on occasion of the present suspicions;
but that still he had not promised to send
them to Caesar, and that he had not pro-
mised any thing else to the young men
that could show auy ill-will to him.
When these ambassadors had come to
Rome, they had a fit opportunity of de-
livering their letters to Caesar, because
they found him reconciled to Herod; for
the circumstances of Nicolaus' s embassy
had been as follows : — As soon as he had
come to Rome, and was about the court,
he did not first of all set about what he
was come for only, but he thought fit also
to accuse Sylleus. Now, the Arabians,
even before he came to talk with them,
were quarrelling one with another ; and
some of them left Sylleus's party, and
joiuing themselves to Nicolaus, informed
him of all the wicked things that had been
done; and produced to him evident de-
monstrations of the slaughter of a great
number of Obodas's friends by Sylleus;
for when these men left Sylleus, they had
carried off with them those letters whereby
they could convict him. When Nicolaus
saw such an opportunity afforded him, he
made use of it, in order to gain his own
point afterward, and endeavoured imme-
diately to make a reconciliation between
Caesar and Herod; for he was fully sa-
tisfied that if he should desire to make a
defence for Herod directly, he should not
be allowed that liberty; but that if lie !
desired to accuse Sylleus, there would an
occasion present itself of speaking on He-
rod's behalf. So when the cause was
ready for a hearing, and the day was
appointed, Nicolaus, while Aretas's am-
bassadors were present, accused Sylleus,
and said that he imputed to him the de-
struction of the king [ObodasJ, and of
many others of the Arabians : that he
had borrowed money for no good design;
and he proved that he had been guilty of
adultery, not only with the Arabian, but
Roman women also. And he added, that
above all the rest, he had alienated Caesar
from Herod ; and that all that he had said
about the actions of Herod were falsities.
When Nicolaus had come to this topic,
Caesar stopped him from going on, and
desired him only to speak to this affair of
Herod, and to show that he had not led
an army into Arabia, nor slain 2500 men
there, nor taken prisoners, nor pillaged
the country. To which Nicolaus made
this answer: — "I shall principally de-
monstrate, that either nothing at all, or
but a very little, of those imputations are
true, of which thou hast been informed}
for had they been true, thou mightest
justly be still more angry at llerod." At
this strange assertion, Caesar was very at-
tentive; and Nicolaus said, that there was
a debt due to Herod of 500 talents, and a
bond, wherein was written, that if tlie
time appointed be elapsed, it should be
lawful to make a seizure out of any part
of his country. "As for the pretended
army," he said, "it was no army, but a
party sent out to require the just payment
of the money : that this was not sent im-
mediately, nor so soon as the bond allow-
ed, but that Sylleus had frequently come
before Saturuinus, and Votumnius, the
presidents of Syria : and that at la.-t he
had sworn at Rerytus, by thy fortune,*
that he would certainly pay the money
* This oath, "by tho fortune of Cajsar," was put
to Polyearp, a bishop of Smyrna, by the Roman
governor, to try whether he was a Christian, as they
were then esteemed who refused to swear that oatli.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVL
within thirty days, and deliver up the fu-
gitives that were under his dominion.
And that when Sylleus had performed
nothing of this, Herod came again before
the presidents; and upon their permission
to make a seizure for his money, he, with
difficulty, went out of his country with a
party of soldiers for that purpose. And
this is all the war which these men so
tragically describe; and this is the affair
of the expedition into Arabia. And how
can this be called a war, when thy presi-
dents permitted it, the covenants allowed
it, and it was not executed till thy name,
0 Cfesar, as well as that of the other
gods, had been profaned ? And now I
must speak in order about the captives.
There were robbers that dwelt in Tracho-
nitis : at first their number was no more
than forty, but they became more after-
ward, and they escaped the punishment
Herod would have inflicted on them, by
making Arabia their refuge. Sylleus re-
ceived them, and supported them with
food, that they might be mischievous to
all mankind; and gave them a country to
inhabit, and himself received the gains
they made by robbery; yet did he promise
that he would deliver up these men, and
that by the same oaths and same time
that he swore and fixed for payment of his
debt : nor can he by any means show that
any other persons have at this time been
taken out of Arabia besides these, and,
indeed, not all these either, but only so
many as could not conceal themselves.
And thus does the calumny of the captives,
which hath been so odiously represented,
appear to be no better than a fiction and
a lie, made on purpose to provoke thy in-
dignation; for I venture to affirm, that
when the forces of the Arabians came upon
us, and one or two of Herod's party fell,
he then only defended himself, and there
fell Nacebas their general, and in all about
twenty-five others, and no more; when
Sylleus, by multiplying every single sol-
dier to a hundred, he reckons the slain to
have been two thousand five hundred.
This provoked Caesar more than ever:
so he turned to Sylleus full of rage, and
asked him how many of the Arabians were
slain Hereupon he hesitated, and said
he had been imposed upon. The cove-
nants were also read about the money he
had borrowed, and the letters of the presi-
dents of Syria, and the complaints of the
several cities, so many as had been injured
by the robbers. The conclusion was this,
that Sylleus was condemned to die, and
that Caesar was reconciled to Herod, and
owned his repentance for what severe
things he had written to him, occasioned
by calumny, insomuch that he told Syl-
leus, that lie had compelled him, by his
lying account of things, to be guilty of
ingratitude against a man that was his
friend. At the last, all came to this,
Sylleus was sent away to answer Herod's
suit, and to repay the debt that he owed,
and after that to be punished [with death] ;
but still Cresar was offended with Aretas,
that he had taken upon himself the govern-
ment, without his consent first obtained,
for he had determined to bestow Arabia
upon Herod ; but that the letters he had
sent hindered him from so doing ; for
Olympus and Volumnius, perceiving that
Cassar had now become favourable to He-
rod, thought fit immediately to deliver him
the letters they were commanded by He-
rod to give him concerning his sons.
When Cassar had read them, he thought
it would not be proper to add another
government to him, now he was old, and
in an ill state with relation to his sons, so
he admitted Aretas's ambassadors; and
after he had just reproved him for his
rashness, in not tarrying till he received
the kingdom from him, he accepted of his
presents, and confirmed him in his go-
vernment.
CHAPTER XI.
Herod, by permission from Ctesar, accuses bis sons
before an assembly of judges at Berytus — Death
of the young men, and their burial at Alexan-
drium.
So Caasar was now reconciled to Herod,
and wrote thus to him : that he was griev-
ed for him on account of his sons; and
that in case they had been guilty of any
profane and insolent crimes agaiust him,
it would behoove him to punish them as
parricides, for which he gave him power
accordingly ; but if they had only con-
trived to fly away, he would have him
give them an admonition, and not proceed
to extremity with them. He also advised
him to get au assembly together, and to
appoint some place near Berytus, which
is a city belonging to the Romans, aud to
take the presidents of Syria, and Arche-
laus, king of Cappadocia, and as many
more as he thoug'nt to be illustrious for
their friendship to him, and the dignities
they were in, and determine what should
be done by their approbation. These were
Chap. XL]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
83
the directions that Caesar gave him. Ac- | [to do what he thought fit]. He also
L
cordingly Herod, when the letter was
brought to him, was immediately very
glad of Caesar's reconciliation to him, and
very glad also that he had a complete
authority given him over his sons. And
it strangely came about, that whereas be-
fore, in his adversity, though he had,
indeed, shown himself severe, yet had he
not been very rash, nor hasty, in procur-
ing the destruction of his sons; he now,
in his prosperity, took advantage of this
change for the better, and the freedom he
now had, to exercise his hatred against
them, after an unheard-of manner; he
therefore sent and called as many as he
thought fit to this assembly, excepting
Arehelaus ; for as for him, he either hated
him, so that he would not invite him, or
thought he would be an obstacle to his
de.-igns.
When the presidents, and the rest that
belonged to the cities, had come to Be-
rytus, he kept his sons in a certain village
belonging to Sidon, called Piatana, but
near to this city, that if they were called
he might produce them, for he did not
think fit to bring them before the assem-
bly : and when there were 150 assessors
present, Herod came by himself alone,
and accused his sons, and in such a way
as if it were not a melancholy accusation,
aud not made but out of necessity, and
upon the misfortunes he was under; in-
deed, in such a way as was very indecent
for a father to accuse his sons, for he was
very vehement and disordered when he
came to the demonstration of the crime
they were accused of, and gave the great-
est signs of passion and barbarity: nor
would he suffer the assessors to consider
of the weight of the evidence, but asserted
them to be true by his own authority,
after a manucr most indecent in a father
against his sons, and read himself what
they themselves had written, wherein there
was no confession of any plots or contri-
vances against him, but only how they
had contrived to fly away, and containing
withal certain reproaches against him, on
account of the ill-will he bore them; aud
when he came to those reproaches, he
cried out most of all, and exaggerated
what they said, as if they had confessed
the design against him, and took his oath
that he would rather lose his life thau
hear such reproachful words. At last he
said that he had sufficient authority, both
by nature and by Caesar's grant to him,
Vol. II.— 3
Ided an allegation of a law of their coun-
try, which enjoined this: — that if parents
laid their hands on the head of him that
was accused, the standers-by were obliged
to cast stones at him, and thereby to slay
him ; which though he were ready to do
in his own country and kingdom, yet did
he wait for their determination ; and yet
they came thither not so much as judges,
to condemn them for such manifest designs
against him, whereby he had almost pe-
rished by his sons' means, but as persons
that had an opportunity of showing their
detestation of such practices, and declaring
how unworthy a thing it must be in any,
even the most remote, to pass over such
treacherous designs [without punishment].
When the kiug had said this, and the
young men had not been produced to
make any defence for themselves, the as-
sessors perceived there was no room for
equity and reconciliation, so they eon-
firmed his authority. And in the first
place, Saturninus, a person that had been
consul, and one of great dignity, pro-
nounced his sentence, but with great
moderation and trouble ; aud said that he
condemned Herod's sons; but did not
think they should be put to death. He
had sons of his own; and to put one's son
to death is a greater misfortune than any
other that could befall him by their means.
Alter him Saturninus'fl sons, for he had
three sons that followed him, and were
his legates, pronounced the same sentence
with their father. Ou the contrary,
Volumnius's sentence was to inflict death
on such as had been so i m piously. undu-
tiful to their father; and the greatest part
of the rest said the same, insomuch that
the conclusion seemed to be, that the
young men were condemned to die. Im-
mediately after this, Herod came away
from thence, aud took his sons to Tyre,
where Nicolaus met him in his voyage
from Home; of whom he inquired, after
he had related to him what had passed at
Berytus, what his sentiments were about
his sons, and what his friends at Rome
thought of that matter. His answer
was — "That what they had determined
to do to thee was impious, and that thou
oughtest to keep them in prison : aud if
thou thinkestany thing further necessary,
thou mayest, indeed, so punish them, that
thou mayest not appear to indulge thy
anger more than to govern thyself by
judgment; but if thou inclinest to the
34
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book X\ [
milder side, thou rnayest absolve them,
lest, perhaps, thy misfortunes be rendered
incurable : and this is the opinion of the
greatest part of thy friends at Home also."
Whereupon Herod was silent, and in great
thoughtt'ulness, and bade Nicolaus sail
along with him.
Now as they came to Csesarea, every-
body was there talking of Herod's sons ;
and the kingdom was in suspense, and the
people in great expectation of what would
become of them, for a terrible fear seized
upon all men, lest the ancient disorders of
the family should come to a sad con-
clusion, and they were in great trouble
about their sufferings; nor was it. without
danger to say any rash thing about this
matter, nor even to hear another saying
it, but men's pity was forced to be shut
up in themselves, which rendered the
excess of their sorrow very irksome, but
very silent; yet was there an old soldier
of Herod's, whose name was Tero, who
had a son of the same age as Alexander,
and his friend, who was so very free as
openly to speak out what others silently
thought about that matter; and was forced
to cry out often among the multitude, and
said, in the most unguarded manner, that
truth was perished, and justice taken away
from men, while lies and ill-will prevailed,
and brought such a mist before public
affairs, that the offenders were not able to
see the greatest mischiefs that can befall
men. And as he was so bold, he seemed
not to have kept himself out of danger,
by speaking so freely ; but the reasonable-
ness of what he said moved men to regard
him as having behaved himself with great
manhood, and this at a proper time also,
for which reason every one heard what he
said with pleasure: and although they
first took care of their own safety by keep-
ing silent themselves, yet did they kindly
receive the great freedom he took; for the
expectation they were in of so great an
affliction, put a force upon them to speak
of Tero whatsoever they pleased.
This man had thrust himself into the
king's presence with the greatest freedom,
and desired to speak with him by himself
alone, which the king permitted him to
do; where he said this: — "Since I am
not able, 0 king, to bear up under so
great a concern as I am under, I have
preferred the use of this bold liberty that
I now take, which may be for thy ad-
vantage, if thou mind to get any protit by
it, before my own safety. Whither is thy
understandinggone and left thy soul emptv ?
Whither is that extraordinary sagacity of
thine gone, whereby thou hast performed
so many and such glorious actions ?
Whence comes this solitude, and de-
sertion of thy friends and relations ? Of
which I cannot but determine that they
are neither thy friends nor relations,
while they overlook such horrid wicked-
ness in thy once happy kingdom. Dost
thou not perceive what is doing ? Wilt
thou slay these two young men, born of
thy queen, who are accomplished with
every virtue in the highest degree, and
leave thyself destitute in thy old age, but
exposed to one son, who hath very ill
managed the hopes thou hast given him,
and to relations, whose death thou hast so
often resolved on thyself ? Dost thou not
take notice, that the very silence of the
multitude at once sees the crime, and
abhors the fact? The whole army and
the officers have commiseration on the
poor unhappy youths, and hatred to those
who are the actors in this matter." These
words the king heard, and, for some time,
with good temper. But what can one
say ? When Tero plainly touched upon
the bad behaviour and perhdiousness of
his domestics, he was moved at it ; but
Tero went on further, and, by degrees,
used an unbounded military freedom of
speech, nor was he so well disciplined as
to accommodate himself to the time: so
Herod was greatly disturbed, and seemed
to be rather reproached by this speech,
than to be hearing what was for his ad-
vantage, while he learned thereby that
both the soldiers abhorred the thing he
was about, and the officers had indig-
nation at it, he gave order that all whom
Tero had named, and Tero himself, should
be bound, and kept in prison.
When this was over, one Trypho, who
was the king's barber, took the oppor-
tunity, and came and told the king that
Tero would often have persuaded him,
when he trimmed him with a razor, to cut
his throat, for that by this means he
should be among the chief of Alexander's
friends, and receive great rewards from
him. When he had said this, the king
gave order that Tero, and his son, and
the barber should be tortured, which was
done accordingly; but while Tero bore up
himself, his son, seeing his father already
in a sad case, and with no hope of deliver-
ance, and perceiving what would be the
consequence of his terrible sufferings,
:J
Book XVI. Chap. XI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
35
said, that if the king would free him and
his father from these torments for what
he should say, he would tell the truth.
And when the king had given his word
to do so, he said that there was an agree-
ment made, that Tero should lay violent
hands on the king, because it was easy
for him to come when he was alone; and
that if, when he had done the thing, he
should suffer death for it, as was not un-
likely, it would be an act of generosity
done in favour of Alexander. This was
what Tero's son said, aud thereby freed
his father from the distress he was in;
but uncertain it is whether he had been
thus forced to speak what was true, or
whether it were a contrivance of his in
order to procure his own and his father's
deliverance from their miseries.
As for Herod, if he before had any
doubt about the slaughter of his sons,
there was now no longer any room left in
his soul for it ; but he had banished away
whatsoever might afford him the least sug-
gestion of reasoning better about this
matter, so he already made haste to bring
his purpose to a conclusion. He also
brought out 300 of the officers that were
under an accusation, as also Tero and his
son, and the barber that accused them,
before an assembly, and brought an ac-
cusation against them all ; whom the
multitude stoned with whatsoever came
to hand, and thereby slew them. Alex-
ander, also, and Aristobulus were brought
to Sebaste, by their father's command,
and there strangled ; but their dead
bodies were, in the night-time, carried to
Alexandrium, where their uncle by their
mother's side, aud the greatest part of
their ancestors, had been deposited.
*And now, perhaps, it may not seem
unreasonable to some, that such an inve-
terate hatred might increase so much [on
both sides], as to proceed further, and
overcome nature; but it may justly de-
serve consideration, whether it be to be
laid to the charge of the young men, that
they gave such an occasion to their father's
anger, and led him to do what he did, and
by going on long in the same way, put
things past remedy, aud brought him to
use them so unmercifully ; or whether it
be to be laid to the father's charge, that
* This portion ia entirely wanting in the old
Latin version, nor is there any other reason for it,
than the great difficulty of an exact translation.
Whiston, however, preserves it entire in his trans-
lation.
2 L
he was so hard-hearted, and so very tender
in the desire of government, and of other
things that would tend to his glory, that
he would take no one into a partnership
with him, that so, whatsoever he would
have done himself might continue im-
movable; or, indeed, whether fortune
has not greater power than all prudent
reasonings : whence we are persuaded that
human actions are thereby determined
beforehand by an inevitable necessity, and
we call her Fate, because there is nothing
which is not done by her; wherefore, I
suppose, it will be sufficient to compare
this notion with that other, which at-
tributes somewhat to ourselves, and ren-
ders men not unaccountable for the dif-
ferent conducts of their lives ; which
notion is no other than the philosophical
determination of our ancient law. x\.c-
cordingly, of the two other causes of this
sad event, anybody may lay the blame on
the young men, who acted by youthful
vanity, and pride of their royal birth,
that they should bear to hear the ca-
lumnies that were raised against their
father, while certainly they were not
equitable judges of the actions of his life,
but ill-natured in suspecting, and intem-
perate in speaking of it, and, on both
accounts, easily caught by those that
observed them, and revealed them to gain
favour ; yet cannot their father be thought
worthy of excuse, as to that horrid im-
piety which he was guilty of about them,
while he ventured, without any certain
evidence of their treacherous designs
against him, and without any proofs that
they had preparations for such an attempt,
to kill his owu sons, who were of very
comely bodies, and the great darlings of
other men, and noway deficient in their
conduct, whether it were in hunting, or
in warlike exercises, or in speaking upon
occasional topics of discourse; for in all
these they were very skilful, and espe-
cially Alexander, who was the eldest; for
certainly it had been sufficient, even
though he had condemned them, to have
kept them alive in bonds, or to let them
live at a distance from his dominions in
banishment, while he was surrounded by
the lioman forces, which were a strong
security to him, whose help would prevent
his suffering any thing by a sudden onset,
or by open force ; but for him to kill them
on the sudden, in order to gratify a passion
that governed him, was a demonstration
of insufferable impiety. He also was
3G
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII. Chap. 1
guilty of as great a crime in his older
age : nor will the delays that he made,
and the length of time in which the thing
was done, plead at all for his excuse; for
when a man is on a sudden amazed, and
in commotion of mind, and then commits
a wicked action, although this be a heavy
crime, jet it is a thing that frequently
happens; but to do it upon deliberation,
and after frecpuent attempts, and as fre-
quent puttings-off, to undertake it at last,
and accomplish it, was the action of a
murderous mind, and such as was not
easily moved from that which was evil :
and this temper he showed in what he did
afterward, when he did not spare those
that seemed to be the best beloved of his
friends that were left, wherein, though
the justice of the punishment caused those
that perished to be the less pitied, yet was
the barbarity of the man here equal, in
that he did not abstain from their slaughter
also. But of those persons we shall have
occasion to discourse more hereafter.
BOOK XVII.
CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF FOURTEEN YEARS, FROM ALEXANDER AND
ARISTOBULUS'S DEATHS TO THE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS.
CHAPTER I.
Antipater, hated by the Jewish nation, endeavours
to gain the good-will of the Romans and Syrians
by presents.
When Antipater had thus taken off"
his brethren, and had brought his father
into the highest degree of impiety, till he
was haunted with furies for what he had
done, his hopes did not succeed to his
mind, as to the rest of his life; for al-
though he was delivered from the fear of
his brethren being his rivals as to the
government, yet did he find it a very hard
thing, and almost impracticable to come
at the kingdom, because the hatred of the
nation against him on that account had
become very great; and, besides this very
disagreeable circumstance, the affairs of
the soldiery grieved him still more, who
were alienated from him, from which yet
these kings derived all the safety which
they had, whenever they found the nation
desirous of innovation : and all this danger
was drawn upon him by the destruction
of his brethren. However, he governed
the nation jointly with his father, being,
indeed, no other than a king already; and
he was for that very reason trusted, and
the more firmly depended on, for which
he ought himself to have been put to
death, as appearing to have betrayed his
brethren out of his concern for the pre-
servation of Herod, and not rather out of
his ill-will to them, and, before them, to
his father himself; and this was the ac-
cursed state he was in. Now, all Antipa-
ter's contrivances tended to make his way
to take off Herod, that he might have
nobody to accuse him in the vile practices
he was devising; and that Herod might
have no refuge, nor any to afford him
their assistance, since they must thereby
have Antipater for their open enemy; in-
somuch, that the very plots he had laid
against his brethren, were occasioned by
the hatred he bore his father. But at
this time, he was more than ever set upon
the execution of his attempts against
Herod, because, if he were once dead, the
government would then be firmly secured
to him; but if he were suffered to live any
longer, he should be in danger, upon a
discovery of that wickedness of which he
had been the contriver, and his father
would then of necessity become his enemy.
And on this very account it was, that he
became very bountiful to his father's
friends, and bestowed great sums on se-
veral of them, in order to surprise men
with his good deeds, and take off their
hatred against them. And he sent great
presents to his friends, at Rome particu-
larly, to gain their good-will; and, above
all, to Saturninus, the president of Syria.
He also hoped to gain the favour of Satur-
ninus's brother with the large presents he
bestowed on him; as also he used the
same art to [Salome] the king's sister,
who had married one of Herod's chief
Chap. I.}
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
:)1
1
friends. And, when lie counterfeited
friendship to those with whom he eon-
versed, he was very subtle in gaining their
belief, and very cunning to hide his hatred
against any that he really did hate. Blit-
he could not impose upon his aunt, who
understood him of a long time, and was a
woman not easily to be deluded, especially
while she had already used all possible
caution ia preventing his pernicious de-
signs. Although Antipatcr's uncle, by
the mother's side, was married to her
daughter, and this by his own connivance
and management, Avhilc she had before
been married to Aristobulus, and while
Salome's other daughter by that husband
was married to the son of Calleas; yet
that marriage was no obstacle to her, who
knew how wicked he was, iu her discover-
ing his designs, as her former kindred to
him could not prevent her hatred of
him. Now Herod had compelled Salome,
while she was in love with Sylleus, the
Arabian, and had taken a fondness to him,
to marry Alexas; which match was by her
submitted to at the instance of Julia, who
persuaded Salome not to refuse it, lest, she
should herself be their open enemy, since
Herod had sworn that he would never be
friends with Salome if she would not ac-
cept of Alexas for her husband ; so she
submitted to Julia, as being CVesar's wife ;
and besides that, she advised her to nothing
but what was very much for her own ad-
vantage. At this time, also, it was, that
Herod sent back King Archelaus's daugh-
ter, who had been Alexander's wife, to
her father, returning the portion he had
with her out of his own estate, that there
might be no dispute between them about it.
Now Herod brought up his sons' chil-
dren with great care; for Alexander had
two sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus
had three sons by Bcrnice, Salome's daugh-
ter, and two daughters ; and, as his friends
were once with him, he presented the
children before them ; and deploring the
hard fortune of his own sons, he prayed
that no such ill fortune would befall these
who were their children, but that they
might improve in virtue, and obtain what
they justly deserved, and might make him
amends for his care of their education.
He also caused them to be betrothed
against they should come to the proper
age of marriage ; the elder of Alexander's
sons to Pheroras's daughter, and Antipa-
ter's daughter to Aristobulus's eldest sou.
He also allotted one of Aristobulus's daugh-
ters to Antipatcr's son, and Aristobulus's
other daughter to Ik-rod, a son of his own,
who was born to him by the high priest's
daughter: for it is the ancient practice
among us to have many wives at the
time. Now, the king made these es] >u-
sals for the children, out of commiserati >n
of them now they were fatherless, as en-
deavouring to render Antipater kind to
them by these intermarriages. But Anti-
pater did not fail to bear the same temper
of mind to his brother's children which
he had borne to his brothers themselves;
aud his father's concern about them pro-
voked his indignation against them upon
his supposition that they would become
greater than ever his brothers had been ;
while Archelaus, a king, would support
his daughter's sons, and Pheroras, a te-
trarch, would accept of one of the daugh-
ters as a wife to his son. What provoked
him, also, was this, that all the multitude
would so commiserate these fatherless
children, and so hate him [for making
them fatherless], that all would come out,
since they were no strangers to his vile
disposition toward his brethren. He • -
trived, therefore, to overturn his father's
settlements, as thinking it a terrible thing
that they should be so related to him, and
be so powerful withal. So Herod yielded
to him, and changed his resolution at his
entreaty; and the determination now was,
that Antipater himself should marry Aris-
tobulus's daughter, and Antipatcr's son
should marry Pheroras's daughter. So
the espousals for the marriages wore
changed after this manner, even without
the king's real approbation.
Now Herod, the king, had at this time
nine wives; one of them Antipater'a
mother, and another the high priest's
daughter, by whom he had a son of his
own name. He had, also, one who was
his brother's daughter, and another his
sister's daughter; which two had no
children. One of his wives, also, was of
the Samaritan nation, whose sons were
Antipas and Archelaus, audwdiose daugh-
ter was Olympias; which daughter was
afterward married to Joseph, the king's
brother's son; but Archelaus and Antipas
were brought up with a certain private
man at Rome. Herod had also to wife
Cleopatra of Jerusalem, and by her he had
his sous Herod and Philip; which last,
was also brought up at Rome : Pallas
also, was one of his wives, who bore him
his son Phasaelus; and besides these, he
33
ANTIQUITIES JIF THE JEWS.
[BookXVII
Lad for his wives, Phedra and Elpis, by
■whom he had his daughters lloxana and
Salome. As for his eldest daughters by
the same mother with Alexander and
Aristobulus, and whom Pheroras neglected
to marry, he gave the one in marriage to
Antipater, the king's sister's son, and the
other to Phasaelus, his brother's son; and
this was the posterity of Herod.
CHAPTER II.
Zamaris, a Babylonish Jew, assumes the govern-
ment of Batanea — his death — Antipater plots
against Herod.
And now it was that Herod, being de-
sirous to secure himself on the side of the
Trachonites, resolved to build a village as
large as a city for the Jews, in the middle
of that country, which might make his
own country difficult to be assaulted, and
whence he might be at hand to make sal-
lies upon them, and do them a mischief.
Accordingly, when he understood that
there was a man that was a Jew come out
of Babylon, with 500 horsemen, all of
whom could shoot their arrows as they
rode on horseback, and with 100 of his
relations had passed over Euphrates, and
now abode at Antioch by Daphne of Syria,
where Saturninus, who was then president,
had given them a place for habitation,
called Valatha, he sent for this man, with
the multitude that followed him, and pro-
mised to give him land in the toparchy*
called Batanea, which country is bounded
with Trachonitis, as desirous to make that
his habitation a guard to himself. He
also engaged to let him hold the country
free from tribute, and that they should
dwell entirely without paying such cus-
toms as used to be paid, and gave it him
tax free.
The Babylonian was induced by these
offers to come thither ; so he took posses-
sion of the land, and built in it fortresses
and a village, and named it Bathyra.
Whereby this man became a safeguard to
the inhabitants against the Trachonites,
and preserved those Jews who came out
of Babylon, to offer their sacrifices at
Jerusalem, from being hurt by the Tracho-
nite robbers ; so that a great number came
to him from all those parts where the
ancient Jewish laws were observed, and
the country became full of people, by rea-
son of their universal freedom from taxes.
* A small district.
This continued during the life of Herod ;
but when Philip, who was [tetrarch] aftei
him, took the government, he made them
pay some small taxes, and that for a little
while only; and Agrippa the Great, and
his son of the same name, although they
harassed them greatly, yet would they not
take their liberty away. From whom,
when the Romans had now taken the
governments into their own hands, they
still gave them the privilege of their free-
dom, but oppress them entirely with the
imposition of taxes. Of which matter I
shall treat more accurately in the progress
of this history.*
At length Zamaris the Babylonian, to
whom Herod had given the country for a
possession, died; having lived virtuously,
and left children of a good character be-
hind him; one of whom was Jacim, who
was famous for his valour, and taught his
Babylonians how to ride their horses; and
a troop of them were guards to the fore-
mentioned kings; and when Jacim was
dead in his old age, he left a son, whose
name was Philip, one of great strength
in his hands, and in other respects also
more eminent for his valour than any of
his contemporaries ; on which account
there was a confidence and firm friendship
between him and King Agrippa. He had
also an army which he maintained, as
great as that of a king; which he exer-
cised and led wheresoever he had occasion
to march.
When the affairs of Herod were in the
condition I have described, all the public
affairs depended upon Antipater ; and his
power was such, that he could do good
turns to as many as he pleased, and this
by his father's concession, in hopes of his
good-will and fidelity to him ; and this
till he ventured to use his power still
further, because his wicked designs were
concealed from his father, and he made
him believe every thing he said. He was
also formidable to all, not so much on
account of the power and authority he had,
as for the shrewdness of his vile attempts
beforehand ; but he who principally culti-
vated a friendship with him was Pheroras,
who received the like marks of his friend-
ship ; while Antipater had cunningly en-
compassed him about by a company of
women, whom he placed as guards about
him ; for Pheroras was greatly enslaved
to his wife, and to her mother, and to her
* This is now wanting.
Chap. III.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
3G
sister; and this, notwithstanding the ha-
tred he bore them for the indignities
they had offered to his virgin daughters.
Yet did he bear them; and nothing was
to be done without the women, who had
got this man into their circle, and con-
tinued still to assist each other in all
things, insomuch that Antipater was en-
tirely addicted to them, both by himself
and by his mother; for these four women*
said all one and the same thing; but the
opinions of Pheroras and Anripater were
different in some points of no consequence.
But the king's sister [Salome] was their
antagonist, who for a good while had
looked about all their affairs, and was
apprized that this their friendship was
made, in order to do Herod some mischief,
and was disposed to inform the king of it ;
and since these people knew that their
friendship was very disagreeable to Herod,
as tending to do him a mischief, they con-
trived that their meetings should not be
discovered ; so they pretended to hate one
another, and abuse one another when time
served, and especially when Herod was
present, or when any one was there that
would tell him ; but still their intimacy
was firmer than ever, when they were
private ; and this was the course they
took. But they could not conceal from
Salome neither their first contrivance,
when they set about these their intentions,
nor when they had made some progress in
them ; but she searched out every thing,
and, aggravating the relations to her bro-
ther, declared to him, as well their secret
assemblies and compotations, as their
counsels taken in a clandestine manner,
which, if they were not in order to de-
stroy him, they might well enough have
been open and public; but "to appear-
ance they are at variance, and speak about
one another as if they intended one an-
other a mischief, but agree so well toge-
ther when they are out of the sight of the
multitude; for when they are alone by
themselves they act in concert, and pro-
fess that they will never leave off their
friendship, but will fight against those
from whom they conceal their designs :"
and thus did she search out these things,
and get a perfect knowledge of them, and
then told her brother of them, who under-
stood also of himself a great deal of what
she said, but still durst not depend upon
it, because of the suspicions he had of his
■ Pheroras's wife, and her mother arid sister,
and Doris, Autijiakrs mother.
sister's calumnies; for there was a certain
sect of men that were Jews, who valued
themselves highly upon the exact skill
they had in the law of their fathers, and
made men believe they were highly fa-
voured by God, by whom this set of women
were inveigled. These are those that are
called the sect of the Pharisees, who were
in a capacity of greatly opposing kings.
A cunning sect they were, and soon ele-
vated to a pitch of open fighting and doing
mischief. Accordingly, when all the peo-
ple of the Jews gave assurance of their
good-will to Cresar, and to the king's go-
vernment, these very men did not swear,
being above G000; and when the king
imposed a fine upon them, Pheroras's wife
paid their fine for them. In order to re-
quite which kindness of hers, since they
were believed to have the foreknowledge
of things to come by divine inspiration,
they foretold how God had decreed that
Herod's government should cease, and his
posterity should be deprived of it; but
that the kingdom should come to her and
Pheroras, and to their children. These
predictions were not concealed from Sa-
lome, but were told the king; as also how
they had perverted some persons about
the palace itself. So the king slew such
of the Pharisees as were principally ac-
cused, and Bagoas the eunuch, and one
Carus, who exceeded all men of that time
in comeliness, and much beloved by He-
rod. He slew also all those of his own
family who had consented to what the
Pharisees foretold; and for Bagoas, be
had been puffed up by them, as though
he should be named the father and the
benefactor of him who, by the prediction,
was foretold to be their appointed king ;
for that this king would have all things
in his power, and would enable Bagoas to
marry, and to have children of his own
body begotten.
CHAPTER IH.
Enmity between Herod and Pheroras — Herod sends
Antipater to Cajsar — Death of Pheroras.
When Herod had punished those Pha-
risees who had been convicted of the fore-
going crimes, he gathered an assembly
together of his friends, and accused
Pheroras's wife ; and ascribing the abuses
of the virgins to the impudence of that
woman, brought an accusation against her
for the dishonour she had brought upon
40
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII.
them : that she had studiously introduced
a quarrel between him and his In-other;
and, by her ill temper, had brought them
into a state of war, both by her words and
actions : that the .fines which he had laid
had not been paid, and the offenders had
escaped punishment by her means ; and
that nothing which had of late been
done, had been done without her: "for
which reason Pberoras would do well, if
he would of his own accord, and by his
own command, and not at my entreaty,
or as following my opinion, put this bis
wife away, as one that will still be the oc-
casion of war between thee and me. And
now, Pheroras, if thou valuest thy relation
to me, put this wife of thine away ; for
by this means thou wilt continue to be a
brother to me, and wilt abide in thy love
to me." Then said Pheroras, (although
he was pressed hard by the former words,)
that as he would not do so unjust a thing
as tn renounce his brotherly relation to
him, so would he not leave off bis affec-
tion for his wife; that he would rather
choose to die, than to live and be deprived
of a wife that was so dear unto him.
Hereupon Herod put off his anger against
Pheroras on these accounts, although he
himself thereby underwent a very uneasy
punish men t. However, he forbade An-
tipater and his mother to have any con-
versation with Pheroras, and bade them
to take care and avoid the assemblies of
the women : which they promised to do,
but still got together when occasion
served; and both Pheroras and Antipater
had their own merry meetings. The re-
port went also, that Antipater had crimi-
nal conversation with Pheroras's wife, and
that they were brought together by An-
tipater's mother.
But Antipater had now a suspicion of
his father, and was afraid that the effects
of his hatred to him might increase ; so
he wrote to his friends at Koine, and
ba<!e them send to Herod, that he would
immediately send Antipater to Caesar;
which, when it was done, Herod sent An-
tipater thither, and sent most noble
presents along with him : as also bis tes-
tament, wherein Antipater was appointed
to lie his successor : and that if Antipater
should die first, his son [Herod Philip],
by the high-priest's daughter, should suc-
ceed. Ami, together with Antipater,
there went to Rome, SylleuS the Arabian,
although he had done nothing of all that
'Ja'sar had enjoined him. Antipater also
accused him of the same crimes of which
he had been formerly accused by Herod.
Sylleua was also accused by Aretas,
that without his consent he had slaiu
many of the chief of the Arabians at
Petra ; and particularly Soemus, a man
that deserved to be honoured by all men,
and that he had slain Fabatus, a servant of
Caesar. These were the things of which Syl-
leus was accused, and that on the occasion
following: — There was one Corinthus, be-
longingto Herod, of theguardsof tbeking's
body, and one who was greatly trusted by
him. Sylleus had persuaded this man,
with the offer of a great sum of money, to
kill Herod, and he had promised to do it.
When Fabatus had been made acquainted
with this, for Sylleus had himself told
him of it, he informed the king of it;
who caught Corinthus, and put him to
the torture, and thereby got out of him
the whole conspiracy. He also caught
two other Arabians, who were discovered
by Corinthus ; the one the head of a
tribe, and the other a friend to Sylleus,
who both were by the king brought to
the torture, and confessed that they were
come to encourage Corinthus not to fail
of doing what he had undertaken to do;
and to assist him with their own hands in
the murder, if need should require their
assistance. So Saturninus, upon Herod's
discovering the whole to him, sent them
to Rome.
At this time, Herod commanded Phe-
roras, that since he wras so obstinate in his af-
fection for his wife, he should retire into his
own tetrarchy ; which he did very willingly,
and sware many oaths that he would not
come again till he heard that Herod was
dead. And indeed, when, upon a sickuess
of the king, he was desired to come to
him before he died, that he might intrust
him with some of his injunctions, he had
such a regard to his oath, that he wrould
not come to him ; yet did not Herod so
retain his hatred to Pheroras, but remitted
of his purpose [not to see him] which he
before had, and that for such great causes
as have been already mentioned : but as
soon as he began to be ill, he came to him,
and this without being sent for; and when
he was dead he took care of his funeral,
and had his body brought to Jerusalem,
and buried there, and appointed a solemn
mourning for him. This death [of Phe-
roras] became the origin of Antipater's
misfortunes, although he had already
sailed for Home, God now being about to
Chap. IV.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
11
punish him for the murder of his brethren.
I will explain the history of this matter
very distinctly, that it may be for a warn-
ing to mankind, that they take care of
conducting their whole lives by the rules
of virtue.
CHAPTER IV.
Pheroras's wife accused of poisoning her husband —
Consequences of the accusation.
As soon as Pheroras was dead, and his
funeral was over, two of Pheroras's f reed-
men, who were much esteemed by him,
came to Herod, aud entreated him not to
leave the murder of his brother without
avenging it; but to examine into such an
unreasonable and unhappy death. When
he was moved with these words, for they
seemed to him to be true, they said that
Pheroras supped with his wife the day
before he fell sick, and that a certain
potion was brought him in such a sort of
food as he was not used to eat; but that
when he had eaten he died of it : that this
potion was brought out of Arabia by a
woman, under pretence, indeed, as a love-
potion, for that was its name, but in
reality to kill Pheroras; for that the
Arabian women are skilful in making
such poisons; and the woman to whom
they ascribe this was confessedly a most
intimate friend of one of Sylleus's mis-
tresses; and that both the mother and the
sister of Pheroras's wife had been at the
place where she lived, and had persuaded
her to sell them this potion, and had come
back and brought it with them the day
before that of his supper. Hereupon the
kino- was provoked, and put the women-
slaves to the torture, and some that were
free with them; and as the fact did not
yet appear, because none of them would
confess it, at length one of them, under
the utmost agonies, said no more but
this, that she prayed that God would send
the like agonies upon Antipater's mother,
who had been the occasion of these
miseries to all of them. This prayer in-
duced Herod to increase the women's tor-
tures, till thereby all was discovered:
their merry meetings, their secret assem-
blies, aud the disclosing of what he had
said to his son alone unto Pheroras's*
women. (Now what Herod had charged
Autipater to conceal, was the gift of one
hundred talents to him, not to have
any conversation with Pheroras.) And
what hatred he bore to his father; and
that he complained to his mother how
very long his father lived; aud that he
was himself almost an old man, inso-
much, that if the kingdom should come
to him, it would not afford him any great
pleasure ; and that there were a great
many of his brothers, or brothers' chil-
dren, bringing up, that might have hopes
of the kingdom as well as himself; all
which made his own hopes of it uncertain;
for that even now, if he should himself
not live, Herod had ordained that the go-
vernment should be conferred, not on his
son, but rather on a brother. He also
accused the king of great barbarity, and
of the slaughter of his sons; aud that it
was out of the fear he was under, lest he
should do the like to him, that made him
contrive this his journey to Rome, and
Pheroras contrive to go to his own
tetrarchy.*
These confessions agreed with what his
sister had told him, and tended greatly to
corroborate her testimony, and to free her
from the suspicion of her unfaithfulness
to him. So the king having satisfied him-
self of the spite which Doris, Antipater's
mother, as well as himself, bore to him,
took away from her all her fine ornaments,
which were worth many talents, and then
sent her away, and entered into friendship
with Pheroras's women. But he who
most of all irritated the king against his
sou, was one Autipater, the procurator of
Antipater, the king's son, who, when he
was tortured, among other things, said
that Antipater had prepared a deadly po-
tion, aud given it to Pheroras, with his
desire that he would give it to his father
during his absence, and when he was too
remote to have the least suspicion cast
upon him thereto relating; that Anti-
philus, one of Antipater's friends, brought
that potion out of Egypt; and that it was
seut to Pheroras by Theudion, the brother
of the mother of Antipater, the king's
son, and by that means came to Pheroras's
* It seems by this whole story put together, that
Pheroras was not himself poisoned, as is commonly
supposed; for Antipater had persuaded him to poison
Herod, (chap, v.,) which would fall to the ground if
he were himself poisoned: nor could the poisoning
of Pheroras serve any design that appears non-
going forward : it was only the supposition of two
of his freedmen, that this love-potion, or poison,
which they knew was brought to Pheroras's wife,
was made use of for poisoning him-, wh
appears to have been brought for her husband to
poison Herod withal, as the future examinations
demonstrate.
42
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII
wife, her husband having given it her to
keep. And when the king asked her
about it, she confessed it ; and as she was
running to fetch it, she threw herself
down from the house-top, yet did she not
.kill herself, because she fell upon her feet :
by which means, when the king had com-
forted her, and bad promised her and her
domestics pardon, upon condition of their
concealing nothing of the truth from him,
but had threatened her with the utmost
miseries if she proved ungrateful [and
concealed any thing]; so she promised
him, and swore that she would speak out
every thing, and tell after what manner
every thing was done; and said what
many took to be entirely true, that the
potion was brought out of Egypt by An-
tiphilus, and that his brother, who was a
physician, had procured it; and that,
" wlien Tbeudion brought it us, I kept it,
upon Pheroras's committing it to me;
and that it was prepared by Antipater
for thee. When, therefore, Pheroras had
fallen sick, and thou earnest to him and
tookest care of him, and when he saw the
kindness thou hadst for him, his mind
was overborne thereby. So he called me
to him, and said to me, '0 woman! An-
tipater hath circumvented me in this affair
of his father and my brother, by per-
suading me to have a murderous intention
to him, and procuring a potion to be sub-
servient thereto : do thou, therefore, go
and fetch my potion (since my brother
appears to have still the same virtuous
dispositiou toward me which he had for-
merly, and 1 do not expect to live long
myself, and that I may not defile my fore-
fathers by the murder of a brother) and
burn it before my face :' that, accordingly,
she immediately brought it, and did as
her husband bade her ; and that she burnt
the greatest part of the potion ; but that
a little of it was left, that if the king,
after Pheroras's death, should treat her
ill, she might poison herself, and thereby
get clear of her miseries." Upon her
saying thus, she brought out the potion,
and the box in which it was, before them
all. Nay, there was another brother of
Antiphilus, and his mother also, who, by
the extremity of pain and torture, con-
fessed the same things, and owned the
box [to be that which had been brought
out of Egypt]. The high priest's daugh-
ter also, who was the king's wife, was
accused to have been conscious of all this,
and had resolved to conceal it; for which
reason Herod divorced her, and blotted
her son out of his testament, wherein he
had been mentioned as one that was to
reign after him; and he took the high-
priesthood away from his father-in-law,
Simeon, the sou of Boethus, and appointed
Matthias, the son of Theophilus, who was
born at Jerusalem, to be high priest in
his room.
While this was doing, Bathyllus also,
Antipater's freedman, come from Rome,
and, upon the torture, was found to have
brought another potion, to give it into the
hands of Antipater's mother, and of Phe-
roras, that if the former potion did not
operate upon the king, this at least, might
carry him off. There came also letters
from Herod's friends at Rome, by the ap-
probation and at the suggestion of Anti-
pater, to accuse Archelaus and Philip, as
if they calumniated their father on account
of the slaughter of Alexander and Aristo-
bulus, and as if they commiserated their
deaths, and as if, because they were sent for
home, (for their father had already recalled
them,) they concluded they were them-
selves also to be destroyed. These letters
had been procured by great rewards, by
Antipater's frieuds; but Antipater him-
self wrote to his father about them, and
laid the heaviest things to their charge;
yet did he entirely excuse them of any
guilt, and said they were but young men,
and so imputed their words to their youth.
Put he said, that he had himself been
very busy in the affair relating to Sylleus,
and in getting interest among the great
men ; and, on that account, he had bought
splendid ornaments to present them withal,
which cost him 200 talents. Now, one
may wonder how it came about, that while
so many accusations were laid against him
in Judca, during seven months before this
time, he was not made acquainted with
any of them. The causes of which were,
that the roads were exactly guarded, and
that men hated Antipater; for there was
nobody who would run any hazard him-
self, to gain him any advantage.
CHAPTER V.
Antipater returns from Rome — accused by Nico-
laua of Damascus — condemned to die by Herod
and Quintilius Varus.
Now Herod, upon Antipater's writing
to him that having done all that he was
to do, and this in the manner he was to
do it, he would suddenly come to him,
concealed his anger against him, and wrote
Chap. V.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
43
back to him, and bade bim not delay his
journey, lest any barm should befall him-
self in his absence. At the same time,
also, he made some little complaint about
his mother, but promised that he would
lay those complaints aside when be should
return. He withal expressed his entire
affection for him, as fearing lest he should
have some suspicion of him, and defer his
journey to him; and lest, while he lived
at Rome, he should lay plots for the king-
dom, and, moreover, do somewhat against
himself. This letter Antipater met with
in Cilicia; but had received an account
of Phororas's death before at Tarentum.
This last news affected him deeply; not
out of any affection for Pheroras, but be-
cause be was dead without having mur-
dered his father, which he had promised
him to do. And when he was at Celen-
dris in Cilicia, he began to deliberate with
himself about his sailing home, as being
much grieved with the ejection of his
mother. Now, some of his friends advised
him that he should tarry awhile some-
where, in expectation of further informa-
tion. But others advised him to sail
home without delay; for that if he were
once come thither, he would soon put an
end to all accusations, and that nothing
afforded any weight to his accusers at
present but his absence. He was per-
suaded by these last, and sailed on, and
landed at the haven called Sebastus, which
Herod had built at vast expenses in ho-
nour of Caesar, and called Sebastus. And
now was Antipater evidently in a miserable
condition, while nobody came to him nor
saluted him, as they did at his going away,
with good wishes or joyful acclamations;
nor was there any thing to hinder them
from entertaining him, on the contrary,
with bitter curses, while they supposed he
Was come to receive his punishment for
the murder of his brethren.
Now Quintilius Varus was at this time
at Jerusalem, being sent to succeed Sa-
turniuus as president of Syria, and had
come as an assessor to Herod, who had
desired his advice in his present affairs;
and as they were sitting together, Anti-
pater came upon them, without knowing
any thing of the matter; so he came into
the place clothed in purple. The porters,
indeed, received him in, but excluded his
friends. And now he was in great dis-
order, and presently understood the con-
dition he was in, while, upon his goiu" to
salute his father, he was repulsed by him,
j who called him a murderer of his bre-
| thren, and a plotter of destruction against
himself, and told him that Varus should
be his auditor and his judge the very next
day; so he found that what misfortunes
he now heard of was already upon him,
with the greatness of which he went away
in confusion; upon which his mother and
his wife met him, (which wife was the
daughter of Antigonus, who was king of
the Jews before Herod,) from whom he
learned all circumstances which concerned
him, and then prepared himself for his
trial.
On the next day Varus and the king
sat together in judgment, and both their
friends were also called in, as also the
king's relations, with his sister Salome,
and as many as could discover any thing,
and such as had been tortured; and be-
sides these, some slaves of Antipater's
mother, who were taken up a little before
Antipater's coming, and brought with
them a written letter, the sum of which
was this : that he should not come back,
because all had come to his father's know-
ledge : and that Cfesar was the only refuge
he had left to prevent both his and her
delivery into his father's hands. Then
did Antipater fall dowu at his father's
feet, and besought him not to prejudge
his cause, but that he might be first heard
by his father, and that his father would
keep himself still unprejudiced. So He-
rod ordered him to be brought into the
midst, and then lamented himself about
his children, from whom he had suffered
such gieat misfortunes; and because An-
tipater fell upon him in his old age. He
also reckoned up what maintenance, and
what education he had given them ; and
what seasonable supplies of wealth be had
afforded them, according to their own de-
sires; none of which favours had hindered
them from contriving against him, and
from bringing his very life into danger in
order to gain his kingdom, after an im-
pious manner, by taking away his life
before the course of nature, their father's
wishes, or justice required that the king-
dom should come to them; and that he
wondered what hopes could elevate Anti-
pater to such a pass as to he hardy enough
to attempt such things; that he had by
his testament in writing declared him his
successor in the government; and while
he was alive, he was in no respect inf rior
to him, either in his illustrious dignity, oj
in power and authority, he having no less
u
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII.
than fifty talents for his yearly income,
and had received for his journey to Rome
no fewer than thirty talents. He also
objected to him the case of his brethren
whom he had accused; and if they were
guilty, he had imitated their example;
and if not, he had brought him ground-
less accusations against his near relations;
for that he had been acquainted with all
those things by him, and by nobody else,
and had done what was done by his ap-
probation, and whom he now absolved
from all that was criminal, by becoming
the inheritor of the guilt of such their
parricide.
When Herod had thus spoken, he fell
weeping, and was not able to say any
more ; but at his desire Nicolaus of
Damascus, being the king's friend, and
always conversaut with him, and acquaint-
ed with whatsoever he did, and with the
circumstances of his affairs, proceeded to
what remained, and explained all that
concerned the demonstrations and evi-
dences of the facts. Upon which Anti-
pater, in order to make his legal defence,
turned himself to his father, and enlarged
upon the many indications he had given
of his good-will to him; and instanced in
the honours that had been done him,
which yet had not been done, had he not
deserved them by his virtuous concern
about him ; for that he had made pro-
vision for every thing that was fit to be
foreseen beforehand, as to giving him his
wisest advice; and wheuever there was
occasion for the labour of his own hands,
he had not grudged any such pains for
him. And that it was almost impossible
that he, who had delivered his father
from so many treacherous contrivances
laid against him, should be himself in the
plot against him, and so lose all the re-
putation he had gained for his virtue, by
his wickedness which succeeded it; and
this, while he had nothing to prohibit
him, who was already appointed his suc-
cessor, to enjoy the royal honour with his
father also at present; and that there was
no likelihood that a person who had the
one-half of that authority without any
danger, and with a good character, should
hunt after the whole with infamy and
danger, and this when it was doubtful
whether he could obtain it or not; and
when he saw the sad example of his
brethren before him, and was both the
informer and the accuser against them, at
a time when they might not otherwise
have been discovered; nay, was the au
thor of the punishment inflicted upon
them, when it appeared evidently that
they were guilty of a wicked attempt
against their father; and that even the
contentions that were in the king's family
were indications that he had ever managed
affairs out of the sincerest affection to his
father. And as to what he had done at
Rome, Csesar was a witness thereto, who
was yet no more to be imposed upon than
God himself; of whose opinions his" let-
ters sent hither are sufficient evidence :
and that it was not reasonable to prefer
the calamities of such as proposed to raise
disturbances, before those letters ; the
greatest part of which calumnies had been
raised during his absence, which gave
scope to his enemies to forget them, which
they had not been able to do if he had
been there. Moreover, he showed the
weakness of the evidence obtained by tor-
ture, which was commonly false; because
the distress men are in under such tor-
tures, naturally obliges them to say many
things in order to please those that govern
them. He also offered himself to the
torture.
Hereupon there was a change observed
in the assembly, while they greatly pitied
Autipater, who, by weepiug, and putting
on a countenance suitable to his sad case,
made them commiserate the same ; inso-
much that his very enemies were moved
to compassion ; and it appeared plainly
that Herod himself was affected in his
own mind, although he was not willing it
should be taken notice • of. Then did
Nicolaus begin to prosecute what the king
had begun, and that with great bitter-
ness; and summed up all the evidence
which arose from the tortures, or from the
testimonies. He principally and largely
commended the king's virtues, which he
had exhibited in the maintenance and
education of his sous ; while he never
could gain any advantage thereby, but
still fell from one misfortune to another.
Although he owned that he was not so
much surprised with that thoughtless
behaviour of his former sons, who were
but young, and were besides corrupted by
wicked counsellors, who were the occasion
of their wiping out of their minds all the
righteous dictates of nature, aud this out
of a desire of coming to the government
sooner than they ought to do; yet that he
could not but justly stand amazed at the
horrid wickedness of Antipater, who,
Chap. V.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
45
although lie had not only had great bene-
fits bestowed on him by his father, enough
to tame bis reason, yet could not be more
tamed than the most envenomed serpents;
whereas, even those creatures admit of
some mitigation, aud will not bite their
benefactors, while Antipater hath not let
the misfortunes of his brethren be any bin-
derance to him, but he hath gone on to imi-
tate their barbarity notwithstanding. "Yet
wast thou, 0 Autipater ! (as thou hast thy-
self confessed) the informer as to what
wicked actions they had done, and the
searcher out of the evidence against, them,
and the author of the punishment they
underwent upon their detection. Nor do
we say this as accusing thee for being so
zeal. iiis in thy anger against them, but
are astonished at thy endeavours to imi-
tate their profligate behaviour; and we
discover thereby, that thou didst not act
thus for the safety of thy father, but for
the destruction of thy brethren, that by
such outside hatred of their impiety thou
mightest be believed a lover of thy father,
aud mightest thereby get thee power
enough to do mischief with the greatest
impunity; which design, thy actions, in-
deed, demonstrate. It is true, thou tookest
thy brethren off, because thou didst con-
vict them of their wicked designs; but
thou didst not yield up to justice those
who were their partners; and thereby
didst make it evident to all men that thou
madest a covenant with them against thy
father, when thou chosest to be the accuser
of thy brethren, as desirous to gain to
thyself alone this advantage of laying-
plots to kill thy father, and so to enjoy
double pleasure, which is truly worthy of
thy evil disposition, which thou hast
openly shown against thy brethren; on
which account thou didst rejoice, as hav-
ing done a most famous exploit, nor was
that behaviour unworthy of thee; but if
thy intention were otherwise, thou art
worse than they: while thou didst con-
trive to hide thy treachery against thy
father, thou didst hate them ; not as
plotters against thy father, for in that
case thou hadst not thyself fallen upon
the like crime, but as successors of his
dominions, aud more worthy of that suc-
cession thau thyself. Thou wouldst kill
thy father after thy brethren, lest thy lies
raised against them might be detected ;
and lest thou shouldst sutler what punish-
ment thou hast deserved, thou hadst a
mind to exact that punishment of thy un-
happy father, and didst devise such a sort
of uncommon parricide as the world never
yet saw; for thou who art his son didst not
only lay a treacherous design against thy
father, and didst, it while he loved thee,
and had been thy benefactor, had made
thee iu reality his partner in the kingdom,
and had openly declared thee his successor,
while thou was not forbidden to taste the
sweetness of authority already, aud hadst
the Arm hope of what was future by thy
father's determination, aud the security
of a written testament; but for certain,
thou didst uot measure these things ac-
cording to thy father's various dispositions,
but according to thy own thoughts and in-
clinations; and wast desirous to take the
part that remaiued away from thy too
indulgent father, and soughtest to destroy
him with thy deeds, whom thou in words
pretendest to preserve. Nor wast thou
content to be wicked thyself, but thou
fllledst thy mother's head with thy de-
vices, and raisedst disturbance among thy
brethren, and hadst the boldness to call
thy father a wild beast ; while thou hadst
thyself a mind more cruel than any ser-
pent, whence thou sentest out that poison
among thy nearest kindred and greatest
benefactors, and invitedst them to assist
thee and guard thee, and didst hedge thy-
self in on all sides by the artifices of both
men and women, against an old man, as
though that mind of thine was not suffi-
cient of itself to support so great a hatred
as thou barest to him ; aud here thou
appearest, after the torture of freemen, of
domestics, of men and women, which have
been examined on thy account, aud after
the informations of thy fellow-conspirators,
as making haste to contradict the truth;
aud hast thought on ways not only how to
take thy father out of the world, but to
disannul that written law which is against
thee, and the virtue of Varus, aud the
nature of justice; nay, such is that impu-
dence of thine on which thou confidest,
that thou desirest to be put to the torture
thyself, while thou allegest that the tor-
tures of those already examined thereby
have made them tell lies; that those that
have been the deliverers of thy father may
not be allowed to have spoken the truth;
but that thy tortures may be esteemed the
discoverers of truth. Wilt not thou, 0
Varus! deliver the king from the injuries
of his kiudred? Wilt not thou destroy
this wicked wild beast, which hath pre-
tended kindness to his father, in order tc
46
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII.
destroy his brethren ; while yet he is him-
self alone ready to carry off the kingdom
immediately, and appears to be the most
bloody butcher to him of them all? for
thou art sensible that parricide is a gene-
ral injury both to nature and to common
life ; and that the intention of parricide is
not inferior to its perpetration; and he
who does not puuish it, is injurious to
nature itself."
Nicolaua added further what belonged
to Antipater's mother, and whatsoever she
had prattled like a woman; as also about
the predictions and the sacrifices relat-
ing to the king; and whatsoever Anti-
pater had done lasciviously in his cups,
and his amours among Pheroras's women;
the examination upon torture ; and what-
soever concerned the testimonies of the
witnesses, which were many, and of various
kinds; some prepared beforehand, and
others were sudden answers, which further
declared and confirmed the foregoing evi-
dence. For those men who were not
acquainted with Antipater's practices, but
had concealed them out of fear, when they
saw that he was exposed to the accusations
of the former witnesses, and that his great
good fortune, which had supported him
hitherto, had now evidently betrayed him
into the hands of his enemies, who were
now insatiable in their hatred to him, told
all they knew of him ; and his ruin was
now hastened, not so much by the enmity
of those who were his accusers, as by his
gross, impudent, and wicked contrivances,
and by his ill-will to his father and his
brethren; while he had filled their house
with disturbance, and caused them to
murder one another; and was neither
fair in his hatred nor kind in his friend-
ship, but just so far as served his own
turn. Now, there were a great number
who for a long time beforehand had seen
all this, and especially such as were
naturally disposed to judge of matters by
the rules of virtue, because they were
used to determine about affairs without
passion, but had been restrained from
makiug any open complaints before;
these, upon the leave now given them,
produced all that they knew before the
public. The demonstrations, also, of
these wicked facts could noway be dis-
proved; because the many witnesses there
were, did neither speak out of favour to
Herod, nor were they obliged to keep
what they had to say silent, out of sus-
picion of any danger they were in ; but
they spake what they knew, because they
thought such actions very wicked, and
that An ti pater deserved the greatest pu-
nishment; and, indeed, not so much for
Herod's safety, as on account of the man's
own wickedness. Many things were also
said, and those by a great number of
persons, who were noway obliged to say
them : insomuch that Antipater, who
used generally to be very shrewd in his
lies and impudence, was not able to say
one word to the contrary. When Nicolaus
had left off speaking, and had produced the
evidence, Varus bade Antipater to betake
himself to the making of his defence, if
he had prepared any thing whereby it
might appear that he was not guilty of
the crimes he was accused of; for that, a8
he was himself desirous, so did he know
that his father was in like manuer de-
sirous also to have him found entirely
innocent; but Antipater fell down on his
face, and appealed to God and to all men,
for. testimonials of his innocency, desiring
that God would declare, by some evident
signals, that he had not laid any plot
against his father. This being the usual
method of all men destitute of virtue, that,
when they set about any wicked under-
takings, they fall to work according to
their own inclinations, as if they believed
that God was unconcerned in human
affairs ; but when once they are found
out, and are in danger of undergoing the
punishment due to their crimes, they en-
deavour to overthrow all the evidence
against them, by appealing to God; which
was the very thing which Antipater now
did ; for whereas he had done everything
as if there was no God in the world, when
he was on all sides distressed by justice,
and when he had no other advantage to
expect from any legal proofs, by which
he might disprove the accusations laid
against him, he impudently abused the
majesty of God, and ascribed it to his
power, that he had been preserved hither-
to; and produced before them all what
difficulties he had ever undergone in his
bold acting for his father's preservation.
So when Varus, upon asking Antipater
what he had to say for himself, found that
he had nothing to say besides his appeal
to God, and saw that there was uo end of
that, he bade them bring the potion
before the court, that he might see what
virtue still remained in it; and when it
was brought, and one that was condemned
to die had drunk it by Varus's command,
Chap VI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
47
he died presently. Then Varus got up, | married to Sylleus. Do thou, therefore,
and departed out of the court, and went tear this letter in pieces, that 1 may not
away the day following to Autioch, where come into danger of my life." Now Acme
his usual residence was, because that was had written to Autipater himself, ami
the place of the Syrians; upon which informed him, that in compliance with
Herod laid his son in bonds; but what his command, she had both herself written
were Yarus's discourses to Herod, was
not known to the generality, and upon
what words it was that he went away ;
to Herod, as if Salome had laid a sudden
plot entirely against him, and had herself
sent a copy of an epistle, as coming from
though it was also generally supposed, that . Salome to her lady. Now, Acme was a
whatsoever Herod did afterward about j Jew by birth, and a servant to Julia,
his son, was done with his approbation
but when Herod had bound his son, he
sent letters to Rome to Csesai about him,
and such messengers withal as should, by
word of mouth, inform Caesar of Anti-
pater's wickedness. Now, at this very
time, there was seized a letter of Anti-
philus, written to Antipater out of Egypt,
(for he lived there ;) and, when it was
opened by the king, it was found to con-
tain what follows: — "I have sent thee
Acme's letter, and hazarded my own life ;
for thou kuowest that I am in danger
from two families if I be discovered. I
wish thee good success in thy affair."
These were the contents of this letter;
but the king made inquiry about the
other letter also, for it did not appear ;
and Antiphilus's slave, who brought that
letter which had been read, denied that he
had received the other : but while the
king was in doubt about it, one of Herod's
friends, seeing a seam upon the inner coat
of the slave, and a doubling of the cloth,
(for he had two coats on,) he guessed that
the letter might be within that doubling;
which accordingly proved to be true. So
they took out the letter ; aud its contents
were these: — "Acme to Autipater. I
have written such a letter to thy father
as thou desirest me. I have also taken a
copy and seut it, as if it came from Salome,
to my lady [Livia] ; which when thou
readest, I know that Herod will punish
Salome, as plotting agaiust him." Now,
this pretended letter of Salome to her
lady was composed by Antipater, in the
name of Salome, as to its meaning, but in
the words of Acme. The letter was
this: — "Acme to King Herod. I have
done my endeavour that nothing that is
done against thee should be concealed
from thee. So, upon my finding a letter
of Salome's, written to my lady against
thee, I have written out a copy and seut
Caesar's wife, and did this out of her
friendship for Antipater, as having been
corrupted by him with a large present of
money, to assist in his pernicious designs
against his father and his auut.
Hereupon Herod was so amazed at the
prodigious wickedness of Antipater, that
he was ready to have ordered him to be
slain immediately, as a turbuleut person
in the most important concerns, and as
one that had laid a plot not only against
himself, but against his sister also ; and
even corrupted Caesar's own domestics.
Salome also provoked him to it, beating
her breast, and bidding him kill her, if
he could produce any credible testimony
that she had acted in that manner. Herod
also sent for his son, and asked him about
this matter, and bade him contradict it if
he could, and not suppress any thing he
had to say for himself; and when he had
not one word to say, he asked him, since
he was every way caught iu his villany,
that he would make no further delay, but
discover his associates in these his wicked
designs. So he laid all upon Antiphilus;
but discovered nobody else. Hereupon
Herod was in such great grief, that he
was ready to send his son to Rome to
Caesar, there to give an account of these
his wicked contrivances. But he soon
became afraid, lest he might there, by the
assistance of his friends, escape the danger
he was in : so he kept him hound as be
fore, and sent more ambassadors and let-
ters [to Rome] to accuse his son, aud an
account of what assistance Acme had
given him in his wicked designs, with
copies of the epistles before mentioned.
CHAPTER VI.
Illness of Herod — The Jews raise a sedition there-
on— are discovered and punished.
Now Herod's ambassadors made haste
it to thee; with hazard to thyself, but for to Rome; but sent, as instructed before-
thy advantage. The reason why she wrote hand, what answers they were to make to
it was this, that she had a mind to be the questions put to them. They also
48
ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS.
[Book XVII.
carried the epistles with them. But He-
rod now fell into a distemper, and made
his will, and bequeathed his kingdom to
[Antipas,] his youngest son; and this nut
of that hatred to Archelaus and Philip
which the calumnies of Antipater had
raised against them. He also bequeathed
1000 talents to Cresar, and 500 to Julia,
Cassar's wife, to Caesar's children, and
friends and frecdmen. He also distributed
among his sons and their sons, his money,
his revenues, and his lands. He also
made Salome, his sister, very rich, be-
cause she had continued faithful to him
in all his circumstances, and was never so
rash as to do him any harm. And as he
despaired of recovering, for he was about
the seventieth year of his age, he grew
fierce, and indulged the bitterest anger
upon all occasions; the cause whereof was
this, that he thought himself despised,
and that the nation was pleased with his
misfortunes; besides which, he resented a
sedition which some of the lower sort of
men excited against him, the occasion of
which was as follows : —
There was one Judas, the son of Sari-
pheus, and Matthias, the son of Margalo-
thus, two of the most eloquent men among
the Jews, and the most celebrated inter-
preters of the Jewish laws, and men well
beloved by the people, because of their
education of their youth ; " for all those
that were studious of virtue frequented
their lectures every day. These men,
when they found that the king's distemper
was incurable, excited the young men that
they would pull down all those works
which the king had erected contrary to
the law of their fathers, and thereby ob-
tain the rewards which the law will confer
on them for such actions of piety : for that
it was truly on account of Herod's rash-
ness in making such things as the law had
forbidden, that his other misfortunes, and
this distemper also, which was so unusual
among mankind, and with which he was
now afflicted, came upon him : for Herod
had caused such things to be made, which
were contrary to the law, of which he was
accused by Judas and Matthias; for the
king had erected over the great gate of
the temple a large golden eagle, of great
value, and had dedicated it to the temple.
Now, the law forbids those that propose
to live according to it, to erect images, or
representations of any living creature. So
these wise men persuaded [their scholars]
to pull down the golden eagle : alleging,
that although they should incur any danger
which might bring them to their deaths,
the virtue of the action now proposed to
them would appear much more advan-
tageous to them than the pleasures of life;
since they would die for the preservation
and observation of the law of their fathers ;
since they would also acquire an everlast-
ing fame and commendation ; since they
would be both commended by the present
generation, and leave an example of life
that would never be forgotten to posterity ;
since that common calamity of dying can-
not be avoided by our living so as to es-
cape any such dangers : that, therefore, it
is a right thing for those who are in love
with a virtuous conduct, to wait for that
fatal hour by such a behaviour as may
carry them out of the world with praise
and honour; and that this will alleviate
death to such a degree, thus to come at it
by the performance of brave actions, which
bring us into danger of it; and, at the
same time, to leave that reputation behind
them to their children, and to all their
relations, whether they be men or women,
which will be of great advantage to them
afterward.
And with such discourses as this did
these men excite the young men to this
action; and a report being come to them
that the king was dead, this was an addi-
tion to the wise men's persuasions; so, in
the very middle of the day, they got upon
the place, they pulled down the eagle, and
cut it into pieces with axes, while a great
number of the people were in the temple.
And now the king's captain, upon hearing
what the undertaking was, and supposing
it was a thing of a higher nature than it
proved to be, came up thither, having a
great band of soldiers with him, such as
was sufficient to put a stop to the multi-
tude of those who pulled down what was
dedicated to God : so he fell upon them
unexpectedly, and as they were upon this
bold attempt, in a foolish presumption
rather than a cautious circumspection, as
is usual with the multitude, and while
they were in disorder, and incautious of
what was for their advantage, so he caught
no fewer than forty of the young men,
who had the courage to stay behind wheu
the rest ran away, together with the au-
thors of this bold attempt, Judas and
Matthias, who thought it an ignominious
thing to retire upon his approach, and led
them to the king. And when they had
come to the king, and he had asked them
Chap. VI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
4b
if they had been so bold as to pull down
what he had dedicated to God, " Yes,
(said they,) what was contrived we con-
trived, and what hath been performed, we
performed it; and that with such a virtu-
ous courage as becomes men ; fir we have
given our assistance to those things which
were dedicated to the majesty of God, and
we have provided for what we have learned
by hearing the law: and it ouuht not to
be wondered at, if we esteem those laws
which Muses had suggested to him, and
were taught him by God, and which he
wrote and left behind him, more worthy
of observation than thy commands. Ac-
cordingly, we will undergo death, and all
sorts of punishments which thou canst
inflict upon us, with pleasure, since we
are conscious to ourselves that we shall
die, not for any unrighteous actions, but
for our love to religion." And thus they
all said, and their courage was still equal
to their profession, and equal to that with
which they readily set about this under-
taking. And when the king had ordered
them to be bound, he sent them to Jeri-
cho, and called together the principal men
among the Jews; and when they were
come, he made them assemble in the thea-
tre, and because he could not himself
stand, he iay upon a couch, and enume-
rated the many labours that he had long
endured on their account, and his build-
ing of the temple, and what a vast charge
that was to him; while the Asamoneans,
during the 125 years of their government,
had not been able to perform any so great
a work fir the honour of God as that was :
that he had also adorned it with very
valuable donations: on which account he
hoped that he had left himself a memorial,
and procured himself a reputation after
his death. He then cried out, that these
men had not abstained from affronting
him, even in his lifetime, but that, in the
very daytime, and in the sight of the
multitude, they had abused him to that
degree, as to fall upon what he had dedi-
cated, and in that way of abuse, had pulled
it down to the ground. They pretended,
indeed, that they did it to affront him ;
but if any one consider the thing truly,
they will find that they were guilty of
sacrilege against God therein.
But the people, on account of Herod's
barbarous temper, and for fear he should
be so cruel as to inflict punishment on
them, said, what was done, was done with-
out approbation, and that it seemed to
Vol. II.— 4
them that the actors might well he pu-
nished for what they had done. Hut as
for Herod, he dealt more mildly with
others [of the assembly] ; but he deprived
Matthias of the high-priesthood, as in part
an occasion of this action, and made Joa-
zer, who was Matthias's wife's brother,
high priest in his stead. Now it happened,
that during the time of the higb-priest-
hood of this Matthias, there was another
person made high priest for a single day,
that very day which the Jews observed as
a fast. The occasion was this : — This
Matthias the high priest, on the night
before that day when the fast was to be
celebrated, seemed, in a dream,* to have
conversation with his wife ; and because
he could not officiate himself on that ac-
count, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his
kinsman, assisted him in that sacred office.
But Herod deprived this Matthias of the
high-priesthood, and burnt the other Mat-
thias, who bad raised the sedition, with
his companions, alive. And that very
night there was an eclipse of the moon.f
But now Herod's distemper greatlv in-
creased upon him after a severe manner,
and this by God's judgment upon him
for his sins : for a fire glowed in him
slowly, which did not so much appear to
the touch outwardly, as it augmented his
pains inwardly; for it brought upon him
a vehement appetite for eating, which he
could not avoid to supply with one sort of
food or other. His intestines were also
ulcerated, and the chief violence of his
pain lay on the colon ; an aqueous and
transparent liquor had likewise settled
itself about his feet, and a like matter
afflicted him at the bottom of his belly.
Nay, further, his privy member was putre-
fied, and produced worms; and when he
sat upright he had a difficulty of breath-
ing, which was very loathsome, on account
of the stench of his breath, and the
quickness of its returns; he had also
c nvulsions in all parts of his body, which
:;: This fact, that one Joseph was made high
priest f'li- a single day, on occasion of the action
here specified, that befell Matthias, the real high
priest, in his sleep, the night before the great day
of expiation, is attested to both in the Mishna and
Talmud, as Dr. Hudson here informs us.
f This eclipse of the moon (which is the only
eclipse of either of the luminaries mentioned by
our Josepbus in any of his writings) is of the great-
est consequence for the determination of the time
for the death of Herod and Antrpater, and fur the
birth and entire chronology of Jesus Christ. It
happened March 13th, in the year of the Julian
period 4710, and the fourth year before the Chris-
tian era.
50
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Cook XVII.
increased Lis stench to an insufferable
degree. It was said by those who pre-
tended to divine, and who were endued
with wisdom to foretell such things, that
God inflicted this punishment on the king
on account of his great impiety; yet was
he still in hopes of recovering, although
his afflictions seemed greater than any one
could bear. He also sent for physicians,
and did not refuse to follow what they
prescribed for his assistance; and went
beyond the river Jordan, and bathed him-
self in warm baths that were at Callirrhoe,
which, besides their other general virtues,
were also fit to drink; which water runs
into the lake called Asphaltitis. And
when the physicians once thought fit to
have him bathed in a vessel full of oil, it
was supposed that he was just dying ; but
upon the lamentable cries of his domes-
tics, he revived; and having no longer the
least hopes of recovering, he gave order
that every soldier should be paid fifty
drachmas; and he also gave a great deal
to their commanders, and to his friends,
and came again to Jericho, where he grew
so choleric, that it brought him to do all
things like a madman; and, though he
was near his death, he contrived the fol-
lowing wicked designs. He commanded
that all the principal men of the entire
Jewish nation, wheresoever they lived,
should be called to him. Accordingly,
there were a great number that came, be-
cause the whole nation was called, and all
men heard of this call, and death was the
penalty of such as should despise the
epistles that were sent to call them. And
now the king was in a wild rage against
them all, the innocent as well as those that
afforded him ground for accusations; and
when they had come, he ordered them all
to be shut up in the hippodrome,* and
sent for his sister Salome, and her husband
Alexas, and spake thus to them : — " I shall
die in a little time, so great are my pains;
which death ought to be cheerfully borne,
and to be welcomed by all men; but what
principally troubles me is this, that I shall
die without being lamented, and without
such mourning as men usually expect at a
king's death." For that he was not un-
acquainted with the temper of the Jews,
that his death would be a thing very de-
sirable, and exceedingly acceptable to
them; because during his lifetime they
were ready to revolt from him, and to
* A place for the horse-races.
abuse the donations he had dedicated to
God : " that it, therefore, was their business
to resolve to afford him some alleviation of
his great sorrows on this occasion; for that
if they do not refuse him their consent in
what he desires, he shall have a great
mourning at his funeral, and such as never
any king had before him; for then the
whole nation would mourn from their very
soul, which otherwise would be done in
sport and mockery only. He desires,
therefore, that as soon as they see he hath
given up the ghost, they shall place soldiers
round the hippodrome, while they do not
know that he is dead ; and that they shall
not declare his death to the multitude till
this is done, but that they shall give orders
to have those that are in custody shot with
their darts; and that this slaughter of
them all will cause that he shall not miss
to rejoice on a double account; that as he
is dying, they will make him secure that
his will shall be executed in what he
charges them to do; and that he shall
have the honour of a memorable mourning
at his funeral." So he deplored his con-
dition, with tears in his eyes, and obtested
them by the kindness due from them, as
of his kindred, and by the faitli they owed
to God, and begged of them that they would
not hinder him of this honourable mourn-
ing at his funeral. So they promised him
not to transgress his commands.
Now, any one may easily discover the tem-
per of this man's mind, which not only took
pleasure in doing what he had done for-
merly against his relations, out of the love
of life, but by those commands of his which
savoured of no humanity; since he took
care, when he was departing out of this
life, that the whole nation should be put
into mourning, and, indeed, made desolate
of their dearest kindred, when he gave
order that one out of every family should
be slain, although they had done nothing
that was unjust or against him, nor were
they accused of any other crimes; while
it is usual for those who have any regard
to virtue, to lay aside their hatred at such
a time, even with respect to those they
justly esteemed their enemies.
CHAPTER VII.
Herod contemplates self-destruotion — orders Anti-
pater to be slain.
As he was giving these commands to his
relations, there came letters from his am-
bassadors, who had been sent to Home, unto
Chap. VIII.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
51
1!
Crcsar, which, when they were read, their
purport was this : that Acme was slain by
Caesar, out of his indignation at what hand
she had in Antipater's wicked practices ;
and that, as to Antipater himself, Ca;sar
left it to Herod to act as became a father
and a king, and either to banish him or to
take away his life, which he pleased. When
Herod heard this, he was somewhat better,
out of the pleasure he had from the con-
tents of the letters, and was elevated at the
death of Acme, and at the power that was
given him over his son; but as his pains
had become very great, he was now ready
to faint for want of something to eat; so
he called for an apple and a knife; for it
was his custom formerly to pare the apple
himself, and soon afterward to cut it, and
eat it. When he had got the kuife, he
looked about, and had a mind to stab him-
self with it; and he had done it, had not
his first cousin, Achiabus, prevented him,
and held his hand, and cried out loudly.
Whereupon a woful lamentation echoed
through the palace, and a great tumult
was made, as if the king were dead. Upon
which Antipater, who verily believed his
father was deceased, grew bold in his dis-
course, as hoping to be immediately and
entirely released from his bonds, and to
take the kingdom into his hands, without
any more ado : so he discoursed with the
jailer about letting him go, and, in that
case, promised him great things, both now
and hereafter, as if that were the only thing
now in question; but the jailer did not
only refuse to do what Antipater would have
him, but informed the king of his inten-
tions, and how many solicitations he had
had from him [of that nature]. Hereupon
Herod, who had formerly no affection nor
good-will toward his son to restrain him,
when he heard what the jailer said, he
cried out, and beat his head, although he
was at death's door, and raised himself
upon his elbow, and sent for some of his
guards, and commanded them to kill An-
tipater without any further delay, and to
do it presently, and to bury him in an ig-
noble manner at Hyrcania.
CHAPTER VIII.
Herod's death — his tesUinent — burial.
And now Herod altered his testament
upon the alteration of his mind; for he
appointed Antipas, to whom he had before
left the kingdom, to be tetrarch of Ga-
2M
lilee and Berea, and granted the kingdom
to Archclaus. He also gave Gaulonitis,
and Trachonitis, and Paneas to Philip,
who was his son, but own brother to Ar-
chelaus, by the name of a tetrarchy; and
bequeathed Jamnia, and Ashdodj and
Phasaelis, to Salome, his sister, with
500,000 [drachma;] of silver that wag
coined. He also made provision for all
the rest of his kindred, by giving them
sums of money and annual revenues, and
so left them all in a wealthy condition.
He bequeathed also to Caasar 10,000,000
[of drachma;] of coined money; besides
both vessels of gold and silver, and gar-
ments exceedingly costly, to Julia, Caesar's
wife; and to certain others, 5,000,000.
When he had done those things, he died,
the fifth day after he had caused Antipater
to be slain; having reigned, since he had
procured Antigonus to be slain, thirty-four
years; but since he had been declared king
by the Romans, thirty-seven years. A man
he was of great barbarity toward all men
equally, and a slave to his passions; but
above the consideration of what was right;
yet was he favoured by fortune as much as
any man ever was, for, from a private man,
he became a king; and though he was en-
compassed with ten thousand dangers, he
got clear of them all, and continued his
life till a very old age; but then, as to the
affairs of his family and children, in which,
indeed, according to his own opinion, he.
was also very fortunate, because he was
able to conquer his enemies; yet, in my
opinion, he was herein very unfortunate.
But then Salome and Alexa^, before the
king's death was made known, dismissed
those that were shut up in the hippodrome,
and told them that the king ordered them
to go away to their own lands, and take
care of their own affairs, which was esteem-
ed by the nation a great benefit; and now
the king's death was made public, when
Salome and Alexas gathered the soldiery
together in the amphitheatre at Jericho;
and the first thing they did was, they read
Herod's letter, written to the soldiery,
thanking them for their fidelity and good-
will to him, and exorting them to afford
his son Archelaus, whom he had appointed
for their king, like fidelity and good-will.
After which Ptolemy, who had the king's
seal intrusted to him, read the king's tes-
tament, which was to be of force no other-
wise than as it should stand when C;e>;ir
had inspected it; so there was presently
an acclamation made to Archelaus, asking.
52
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII
and the soldiers came by bands, and their
commanders with them, and promised the
same good-will to him, and readiness to
serve him, which they had exhibited to
Herod ; and they prayed God to be assist-
ant to him.
After this was over, they prepared for
his funeral, it being Archelaus's care that
the procession to his father's sepulchre
should be very sumptuous. Accordingly,
he brought out all his ornaments to adorn
the pomp of the funeral. The body was
carried upon a golden bier, embroidered
with very precious stones of great variety,
and it was covered over with purple, as
well as the body itself; he had a diadem
upon his head, and above it a crown of
gold; he also had a sceptre in his right
hand. About the bier were his sons, and
his numerous relations; next to these were
the soldiery, distinguished according to their
several countries and denominations ; and
they were put in the following order : first
of all went his guards; then the band of
Thracians; and after them the Germans;
and next, the band of Galatians, every
one in their habiliments of war; and be-
hind these marched the whole army in
the same manner as they used to go out to
war, and as they used to be put in array
by their muster-masters and centurions :
these were followed by five hundred of his
domestics, carrying spices. So they went
eight furlongs,* to Herodium; for there,
by his own command, he was to be buried;
— and thus did Herod end his life.
Now Archelaus paid him so much re-
spect as to continue his mourning till the
seventh day; for so many days are ap-
pointed for it by the law of our fathers;
and when he had given a treat to the
multitude, and left off his mourning, he
went up into the temple; he had also ac-
clamations and praises given him, which
way soever he went, every one striving
with the rest who should appear to use
the loudest acclamations. So he ascended
a high elevation made for him, and took
his seat on a throne made of gold, and
spake kindly to the multitude, and de-
clared with what joy he received their
acclamations, and the marks of the good-
will they showed to him : and returned
them thanks that they did not remember
* At eitcht stadia (or furlongs) a day, as here,
Herod's funeral, conducted to Herodium. (which lay
at the distance from Jericho, where he died, of 200
stadia, or furlongs,) must have taken up no less than
twenty-five days.
the injuries his father had done them, to
his disadvantage ; and promised them he
would endeavour not to be behindhand
with them in rewarding their alacrity in
his service, after a suitable manner; but
that he should abstain at present from the
name of king; and that he should have
the honour of that dignity, if Caesar
should confirm and settle that testament
which his father had made; and that it
was on this account, that when the army
would have put the diadem on him at
Jericho, he would not accept of that ho-
nour, which is so usually so much desired,
because it was not yet evident that he
who was to be principally concerned in
bestowing it would give it him; although,
by his acceptance of the government, he
should not want the ability of rewarding
their kindness to him; and that it should
be his endeavour, as to all things wherein
they were concerned, to prove in every
respect better than his father. Where-
upon the multitude, as it is usual with
them, supposed that the first days of those
that enter upon such governments, declare
the intentions of those that accept them ;
and so, by how much Archelaus spake the
more gently and civilly to them, by so
much did they more highly commend him,
and made application to him for the grant
of what they desired. Some made a cla-
mour that he would ease them of some of
their annual payments ; but others desired
him to release those that were put into
prison by Herod, who were many, and
had been put there at several times ;
others of them required that he would
take away those taxes which had been
severely laid upon what was publicly sold
and bought. So Archelaus contradicted
them in nothing, since he pretended to do
all things so as to get the good-will of the
multitude to him, as looking upon that
good-will to be a great step toward his
preservation of the government. Here-
upon he went and offered sacrifice to God,
and then betook himself to feast with his
friends.
CHAPTER IX.
The people raise a sedition against Archelaus, who
sails to Home.
At this time also it was, that some of
the Jews got together, out of a desire of
innovation. They lamented Matthias, and
those that were slain with him by Herod,
who had not any respect paid them by a
Chap. IX.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
funeral mourning, out of the fear men
were in of that man; tliey were those who
had been condemned for pulling down the
gulden eagle. The people made a great
clamour and lamentation hereupon, and
cast out some reproaches against the ting
also, as if that tended to alleviate the
miseries of the deceased. The people as-
sembled together, and desired of Arche-
laus that, in way of revenge on their
account, he would inflict punishment on
those who had been honoured by Herod;
and that, in the first and principal place,
he would deprive that high-priest whom
Herod had made, and would choose one
more agreeable to the law, and of greater
purity, to officiate as high-priest. This
was granted by Archelaus, although he
was mightily offended at their importunity, j
because he proposed to himself to go to
Rome immediately, to look after Caesar's
determination about him. However, he
sent the general of his forces to use per-
suasions, and to tell them that the death
which was inflicted on their friends, was
according to the law ; and to represent to
them, that their petitions about these
things were carried to a great height of
injury to him ; that the time was not now
proper for such petitions, but required
their unanimity until such time as he
should be established in the government
by the consent of Ca?sar, and should then
be come back to them ; for that he would
then consult with them in common con-
cerning the purport of their petitions;
but that the}7 ought at present to be quiet,
lest they should seem seditious persons.
So when the king had suggested these
things, and instructed his general in what
he was to say, he sent him away to the
people; but they made a clamour, and
would not give him leave to speak, and put
him in danger of his life, and as many more
as were desirous to venture upon saying
openly any thing which might reduce them
to a sober mind, and prevent their going
on in their present courses, because they
had more concern to have all their own
wills performed than to yield obedience to
their governors; thinkiug it to be a thing
insufferable that, while Herod was alive,
they should lose those that were the most
dear to them, and that when he was dead
they could not get the actors to be pu-
nished. So they went on with their de-
signs after a violent manner, and thought
all to be lawful and right which tended to
please them, and being unskilful in fore-
seeing what dangers they incurred ; and
when they had suspicion of such a thing,
yet did the present pleasure they took in
the punishment of those they deemed
their enemies overweigh all such consi-
derations j and although Archelaus sent
many to speak to them, yet they treated
them not as messengers sent by him, but
as persons that came of their own accord
to mitigate their anger, and would not let
one of them speak. The sedition, also,
was made by such as were in a great pas-
sion ; and it was evident that they were
proceeding further in seditious practices, by
the multitude running so fast upon them.
Now, upon the approach of that feast
of unleavened bread, which the law of
their fathers had appointed for the Jews
at this time, which feast is called the
Passover,* and is a memorial of their de-
liverance out of Egypt, (when they offer
sacrifices with great alacrity; and when
they are required to slay more sacrifices
in number than at any other festival; and
when an innumerable multitude came
thither out of the country, nay, from
beyond its limits also, in order to worship
God,) the seditious lamented Judas and
Matthias, those teachers of the law, and
kept together in the temple, and had
plenty of food, because these seditious
persons were not ashamed to beg it. And
as Archelaus was afraid lest some terrible
thing should spring up by meaus of these
men's madness, he sent a regiment of
armed men, and jvith them a captain of a
thousand, to suppress the violent efforts
of the seditious, before the whole multi-
tude should be infected with the like
madness; and gave them this charge, that
if they found any much more openly
seditious than others, and more busy in
tumultuous practices, they should bring
them to him. But those that were sedi-
tious on account of those teachers of the
law, irritated the people by the noise and
clamour they used to encourage the people
in their designs ; so they made an assault
upon the soldiers, and came up to them,
and stoned the greatest part of them, al-
though some of them ran away wounded,
and their captain among them; and when
they had thus done, they returned to the
sacrifices which were already in their
hands. Now, Archelaus thought there
* This passover, when the sedition here men-
tinned was moved against Archelaus, was not one.
but thirteen months, alter the eclirse of the muun
already mentioned.
51
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII
■was no way to preserve the entire go-
vernment, but by cutting off those who
made this attempt upon it; so he sent out
the whole army upon them ; and sent the
horsemen to prevent those that had their
tents without the temple, from assisting
those that were within the temple, and to
kill such as ran away from the footmen
when they thought themselves out of dan-
ger ; which horsemen slew 8000 men,
while the rest went to the neighbouring
mountains. Then did Archelaus order
proclamation to be made to them all, that
they should retire to their own homes ; so
they went away, and left the festival, out
of fear of somewhat worse which would
follow, although they had been so bold by
reason of their want of instruction. So
Archelaus went down to the sea with his
mother, and took with him Nicolaus and
Ptolemy, and many others of his friends,
and left Philip, his brother, as governor of
all things belonging both to his own family
and to the public. There went out also with
him Salome, Herod's sister, who took with
her her children, and many of her kindred
were with her; which kindred of hers went,
as they pretended, to assist Archelaus in
gaining the kingdom, but in reality to
oppose him, and chiefly to make loud com-
plaints of what he had done in the temple.
But Sabinus, Caesar's steward for Syrian
affairs, as he was making haste into Judea,
to preserve Herod's effects, met with Ar-
chelaus at Caesarea; but Varus (presi-
dent of Syria) came at that time, and
restrained him from meddling with them,
for he was there as sent for by Archelaus,
by the means of Ptolemy. And Sabinus,
out of regard to Varus, did neither seize
upon any of the castles that were among
the Jews, nor did he seal up the treasures
in them, but permitted Archelaus to have
them, until Caesar should declare his reso-
lution about them; so that, upon this his
promise, he tarried still at Caesarea. But
after Archelaus had sailed for Borne, and
Varus had removed to Antioch, Sabinus
went to Jerusalem, and seized on the
king's palace. He also sent for the keep-
ers of the garrisons, and for all those that
had the charge of Herod's effects, and
declared publicly that he should require
them to give an account of what they had;
and he disposed of the castles in the man-
ner he pleased : but those who kept them
did not neglect what Archelaus had given
them in command, but continued to keep
all tilings in the manner that had been
enjoined them; and their pretence was,
that they kept them all for Caesar.
At the same time also, did Antipas,
another of Herod's sons, sail to Borne, in
order to gain the government; being
buoyed up by Salome with promises that
he should take that government; and that
he was a much more honest and more fit
man than Archelaus for that authority,
since Herod had, in his former testament,
deemed him the worthiest to be made
king ; wdiich ought to be esteemed more
valid than his latter testament. Antipas
also brought with him his mother, and
Ptolemy, the brother of Nicolaus, one that
had been Herod's most honoured friend,
and was now zealous for Antipas ; but it
was Ireneus the orator, and one who, on
account of his reputation for sagacity, was
iutrusted with the affairs of the kingdom,
who most of all encouraged him to at-
tempt to gain the kingdom; by whose
means it was that, when some advised him
to yield to Archelaus, as to his elder bro-
ther, and who had been declared king by
their father's last will, he would not sub-
mit so to do. And when he had come to
Borne, all his relations revolted to him ;
not out of their good-will to him, but out
of their hatred to Archelaus ; though, in-
deed, they were most of all desirous of gain-
ing their liberty, and to be put under a Bo-
man governor; but if there were too great
an opposition made to that, they thought
Antipas preferable to Archelaus, and so
joined with him, in order to procure the
kingdom for him. Sabinus also, by let-
ters, accused Archelaus to' Caesar.
Now when Archelaus had sent in his
papers to Caesar, wherein he pleaded his
right to the kingdom and his father's tes-
tament, with the accounts of Herod's
money, and with Ptolemy, who brought
Herod's seal, he so expected the event;
but when Caesar had read these papers,
and Varus's and Sabinus's letters, with
the accounts of the money, and what were
the annual incomes of the kingdom, and
understood that Antipas had also sent
letters to lay claim to the kingdom, he
summoned his friends together, to know
their opinions, and with them Caius, the
son of Agrippa, and of Julia his daugh-
ter, whom he had adopted, and took him,
and made him sit first of all, and desired
such as pleased to speak their minds
about the affairs now before them. Now
Antipater, Salome's son, a very subtle
orator, and bitter enemy to Archelaus,
Chap IX.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
55
spake first to this purpose : that, it was
ridiculous in Arehelaus to plead now to
have the kingdom given him, since he
had, in reality, taken already the power
over it to himself, hefore Caesar had grant-
ed it to him ; and appealed to those bold
actions of his, in destroying so many at
the Jewish festival; and, if the men had
acted unjustly, it was but fit the punish-
ing of them should be reserved to those
that were out of the country, but had the
power to punish them, and not been exe-
cuted by a man that, if he pretended to be
a king, he did an injury to Cassar, by
usurping that authority before it was de-
termined for him by Caesar; but, if he
owned himself to be a private person, his
case was much worse, since he who was
putting in for the kingdom, could by no
means expect to have that power granted
him of which he had already deprived
Caesar [by taking it to himself]. He also
touched sharply upon him, and appealed
to his changing the commanders in the
army, and his sitting in the royal throne
beforehand, and his determination of law-
suits; all done as if he were no other
than a king. He appealed also to his
concessions to those that petitioned him
on a public account, and, indeed, doing
such things, than which he could devise
no greater if he had been already settled
in the kingdom by Cassar. He also as-
cribed to him the releasing of the prison-
ers that were in the hippodrome, and
many other things, that either had been
certainly done by him, or were believed to
be done, and easily might be believed to
have been done, because they were of such
a nature as to be usually done by young
men, and by such as, out of a desire of
ruling, seize upon the government too
soon. He also charged him with his
neglect of the funeral mourning for his
father, and with having merry meetings
the very night in which he died; and
that it was thence the multitude took the
handle of raising a tumult; and if Arehe-
laus could thus recpuite his dead father,
who had bestowed such great benefits
upon him, and bequeathed such great
things to him, by pretending to weep for
him in the daytime, like an actor on the
stage, but every night making mirth for
having gotten the government, he would
appear to be the same Arehelaus with re-
gard to Cajsar, if he granted him the
kingdom, which he had been to his father;
since he had then dancing and singing, as
though an enemy of his were fallen, and
not as though a man were carried to his
funeral that was so nearly related, and
had been so great a benefactor to him.
But he said that the greatest crime of all
was this, that he came now before Caesar
to obtain the government by his grant,
while he had before acted in all things as
he could have acted if Caesar himself, who
ruled all, had fixed him firmly iu the
government. And what he most aggra-
vated in his pleading, was the slaughter
of those about the temple, and the impiety
of it, as done at the festival ; and how
they were slain like sacrifices themselves,
some of whom were foreigners, and others
of their own country, till the temple was
full of dead bodies: and all this was done,
not by an alien, but by one who pre-
tended to the lawful title of a king, that
he might complete the wicked tyranny
which his nature prompted him to, and
which is hated by all men. On which
account, his father never so much as
dreamed of making him his successor in
the kingdom, when he was of a sound
mind, because he knew his disposition ;
and, in his former and more authentic
testament, he appointed his antagonist
Antipas to succeed; but that Arehelaus
was called by his father to that dignity,
when he was in a dying condition, both
of body and mind; while Antipas was
called when he was ripest in judgment,
and of such strength of body as made him
capable of managing his own affairs : and
if his father had the like notion of him
formerly that he had now shown, yet hath
he given a sufficient specimen what a king
he is likely to be when he hath [in effect]
deprived Caesar of that power of disposing
of the kingdom, which he justly hath, and
hath not abstained from making a terrible
slaughter of his fellow-citizens in the tem-
ple, while he was but a private person.
So when Antipater had made this
speech, and had confirmed what he had
said by producing many witnesses from
among Archelaus's own relations, he made
an end of his pleading. Upon which
Nicolaus arose up to plead for Arehelaus,
and said, " That what had been done at
the temple was rather to be attributed to
the mind of those that had been killed,
than to the authority of Arehelaus; for
that those who were the authors of such
things, are not only wicked in the injuries
they do of themselves, but in forcing
sober persons to avenge themselves upon
50
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS
[Book XY11
them. Now, it is evident that what these
did in way of opposition was done under
pretence, indeed against Archelaus, but in
reality against Caesar himself, for they,
after au injurious wanner, attacked and
slew those who were sent by Archelaus,
and who came only to put a stop to their
doings. They had no regard, either to
God or to the festival, whom Antipater
yet is not ashamed to patronize, whether
it be out of his indulgence of an enmity
to Archelaus, or out of his hatred of virtue
and justice. For as to those who begin
such tumults, and first set about such un-
righteous actions, they are the men who
force those that punish them to betake
themselves to arms even against their
will. So that Antipater in effect ascribes
the rest of what was done to all those who
were of counsel to the accusers; for nothing
which is here accused of injustice has been
done, but what was derived from them as
its authors: nor are those things evil in
themselves, but so represented only, in
oider to do harm to Archelaus. Such is
these wen's- inclination to do an injury to
a man that is of their kindred, their
father's benefactor, and familiarly ac-
quainted with them, and that hath ever
lived in friendship with them; for that,
as to this testament, it was made by the
king when he was of a sound mind, and
so ought to be of more authority than his
former testament; and that for this reason,
because Caesar is therein left to be judge
and disposer of all therein contained; and
for Caesar, he will not, to be sure, at all
imitate the unjust proceedings of those
men, who, during Herod's whole life, had
on all occasions been joint partakers of
power with him, and yet, do zealously
endeavour to injure his determination,
while they have not themselves had the
same regard to their kinsman [which
Archelaus had]. Caesar will not there-
fore disannul the testament of a man
whom he had entirely supported, of his
friend and confederate, and that which is
committed to him in trust to ratify; nor
will Caesar's virtuous and upright dis-
position, which is known and uncontested
through all the habitable world, imitate
the wickedness of these men iu condemn-
ing a king as a madman, and as having
lost his reason, while he hath bequeathed
the succession to a good son of his, and to
one who flies to Caesar's upright deter-
mination for refuge. Nor cau Herod at
auy time have been nristaken in his judg-
ment about a successor, while he showed
so much prudence as to submit all to
Caesar's determination.
Now when Nicolaus had laid these
things before Ciosar, he ended his plea;
whereupon Caesar was so obliging to
Archelaus, that he raised him up when
he had cast himself down at his feet, and
said, that he well deserved the kingdom :
and he soon let them know that he was so
far moved in his favour, that be would
not act otherwise than his father's testa-
ment directed, and that was for the ad-
vantage of Archelaus. However, while
he gave this encouragement to Archelaus
to depend on him securely, he made no
full determination about him; and, when
the assembly was broken up, he con-
sidered by himself whether he should con-
firm the kingdom to Archelaus, or whether
he should part it among all Herod's pos-
terity; and this because they all stood in
need of much assistance to support them.
CHAPTER X.
Sedition of tho Jews against Sabinus.
But before these things could be
brought to a settlement, Malthace, Arche-
laus'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
Archelaus 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 Antioch, 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 sedi-
tion, for, after Varus was gone away,
Sabinus, Caesar's procurator, stayed 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 dis-
turbance, that at length they rebelled;
for he used force in seizing the citadels,
and zealously pressed on the search after
the king's money, iu order to seize upon
it by force, on accouut of his love of gain
and his extraordinary covetousness.
But on the approach of Pentecost,
Chap. X.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
57
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 fes-
tival, 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 in-
habited those parts. This wliole multi-
tude 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 them-
selves into three bands, and encamped
themselves into 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 llomans, and to enclose
them on all sides. Now Sabinus was
afraid of the number of men, 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 dan-
ger, 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 Rhasaelus, which had been
built in honour of Phasuelus, Herod's
brother, and called so when the Parthians
had brought him to his death. So Sabi-
nus 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 them-
selves first to die on account of his avarice.
However, the llomans ventured to make
a sally out of the place, and a terrible
battle ensued; wherein, though it is true
the llomans beat their adversaries, yet
were not the Jews daunted in their reso-
lutions, 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 encom-
passed the outer court of the temple,
where a great fight was still continued,
and thoycast stones at the llomans, partly
with their hands, and partly with
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 upward, these
arrows could not reach them, insomuch
that the Jews were easily too hard fir
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 who were gotten
upon them did not perceive it. This
fire, bciug fed by a great deal of com-
bustible 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 unex-
pectedly 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 own 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 the}' were
destitute of armour, 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 de-
posited ; a great part of which was stolen
by the soldiers; aud Sabinus got opeuly
400 talents.
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. Accord-
ingly, that body of them which continued
58
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS
[Book XVII.
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 de-
serted to them, while Rufus and Gratus,
who had 3000 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 Rufus, which itself went
over to the Romans also. However, the
Jews went on with the siege, and dug
mines under the palace walls, and be-
sought 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.
Now, at this time there were ten thou-
sand 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,
2000 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 moun-
tainous parts by the military skill of
those men, he kept himself in the fast-
nesses that were there, and saved what he
could.
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 difficulty been caught by
Herod. This Judas, having gotten to-
gether 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 car-
ried away what money was left there; and
he became terrible to all men, by tearing
and rending those that came ne;ir 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 in-
juries.
There was also Simon, who had been a
slave to Herod the king, but in other re-
spects 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 others
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 skil-
ful manner, were destroyed; and although
Simon had saved himself by flying away
through a certain valley, yet Gratus over-
took 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 Simou. 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 avari-
cious management of their affairs.
Rut because Athronges, a person neither
eminent by the dignity of 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 l>y any-
body; yet, because he was a tall man, and
excelled others in the strength of his
Chap. XI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
59
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 them-
selves, 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 nu-
merous. 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 his Romans and of the king's forces,
and managed matters with the like hatred
to each of them. The king's forces they
fell upon, because of the licentious con-
duct they had been allowed under Herod's
government; and they fell upon the Ro-
mans, because of the injuries they had so
lately received from them. But in pro-
cess 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 command-
ed the company, and shot forty of the best
of his foot-soldiers; but the rest of them
were affrighted at their slaughter, and left
their dead behind them, but saved them-
selves 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 afterward 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 others' n.isfortune,
and saw so plainly that he had no way now
left to save himself, his army being worn
away with sickness and continual hibours,
that he also delivered himself up to Arche-
laus, upon his promise and oath to God to
[preserve his life.] But these things came
to pass a good while afterward.
And now Judea was full of robberies ;
and, as the several companies of the sedi-
tious 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 iudeed, and
in small matters, hurtful to the Romans,
but the murders they committed upon
their own people lasted a long while.
As soon as Varus was once informed
of the state of Judea, by Sabinus's writ-
ing 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 1500 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 fa-
vour of the Romans, sent him no small
assistance, besides their footmen and
horsemen : and, when he had now col-
lected 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 neighbour-
hood of Ptolemais ; who made an attack
upon the enemy, and put them to flight,
and took Sepphoris and made its inhabit-
ants slaves, and burnt the city. But
Varus himself pursued his march to Sa-
maria with his whole army: yet did not
he meddle with the city of that name, be-
cause it had not at all joined with the sedi-
tious, 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 Ara-
bians plundered and burnt, although it
was a fortified and strong place ; and all
60
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII
along this march nothing escaped them,
but all places were full of fire and slaugh-
ter. Emmnus 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 bit-
terly for what had been done, they cleared
themselves of the accusation ; and alleged
that the conflux of the people was occa-
sioned 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 be-
sieged 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 be-
sieged : but Sabinus did not come into
Varus's presence, but stole out of the city
privately, and went to the seaside.
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 pu-
nished some of them that were most guilty,
and some he dismissed; now the number
of those that were crucified on this ac-
count were 2000 : after which he disband-
ed his army, which he found nowise 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 mis-
chief they did. As for himself, when he
was informed that 10,000 Jews had got-
ten 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 kin-
dred.
CHAPTER XT.
An Embassage of the Jews to Cresar — Csesar con-
firms Herod's testament.
So when Varus had settled these affairs,
and had placed the former legion at Jeru-
salem, he returned back to Antioch ; but
as for Archelaus, he had new sources of
trouble come upon him at Rome, on the
occasions following : — For an embassage
of the Jews was come to Rome, Varus
having permitted the nation to send it,
that they might petition for the liberty of
living by their own laws. Now, the num-
ber of the ambassadors that were sent by
the authority of the nation were fifty, to
which they joined above 8000 of the Jews
that were at Rome already. Hereupon
Caesar assembled his friends, and the chief
men among the Romans, in the temple of
Apollo, which he had built at a vast charge ;
whither the ambassadors came, and a mul-
titude of the Jews that were there already
came with them, as did also Archelaus
and his friends ; but as for the several
kinsmen which Archelaus had, they would
not join themselves with him, out of their
hatred to him; and yet they thought it
too gross a thing for them to assist the
ambassadors [against him], as supposing
it would be a disgrace to them in Caesar's
opinion to think of thus acting in oppo-
sition to a man of their own kindred :
Philip* also was come hither out of Syria,
by the persuasion of Varus, with this
principal intention to assist his brother
[Archelaus] ; for Varus was his great
friend : but still so, that if there should
any change happen in the form of govern-
ment, (which Varus suspected there would,)
and if any distribution should be made on
account of the number that desired the
liberty of living by their own laws, that
he might not be disappointed, but might
have his share in it.
Now, upon the liberty that was given to
the Jewish ambassadors to speak, they who
hoped to obtain a dissolution of kingly
government, betook themselves to accuse
Herod of his iniquities; and they declared
that he was indeed in name a king, but
that he had taken to himself that uncon-
trollable authority which tyrants exercise
over their subjects, and had made use of
that authority for the destruction of the
Jews, and did not abstain from making
many innovations among them besides.
* He was tetrarch afterward
Chap. XL]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
Gl
1
according to his own inclinations; and
that whereas there were a great many who
perished by that destruction he brought
upon them, so many indeed as no other
history relates, they that survived were
far more miserable than those that suf-
fered under him, not only by the anxiety
they were in from his looks and disposition
toward them, but from the danger then-
estates were in of being taken away by him.
That he did never leave off adorning these
cities that lay in their neighbourhood, but
were inhabited by foreigners; but so that
the cities belonging to his own government
were ruined, and utterly destroyed: that
whereas, when he took the kingdom, it
was in an extraordinary flourishing condi-
tion, he had filled the nation with the ut-
most degree of poverty; and when, upon
unjust pretences, he had slain any of the
nobility, he took away their estates : and
when he permitted any of them to live, he
condemned them to the forfeiture of what
they possessed. And, besides the annual
impositions which he laid upon every one
of them, they were to make liberal presents
to himself, to his domestics and friends, and
to such of his slaves as were vouchsafed the
favour of being his tax-gatherers; because
there was no way of obtaining a freedom
from unjust violence, without giving either
gold or silver for it. That they would say
nothing of the corruption of the chastity
of then- virgins, and the reproach laid on
their wives for ineontinency, and those
things acted after an insolent and inhuman
manner; because it was not a smaller
pleasure to the sufferers to have such
things concealed, than it would have been
not to have suffered them. That Herod
had put such abuses upon them as a wild
beast would not have put on them, if he
had power given him to rule over us : and
that although their nation had passed
through many subversions and alterations
of government, their history gave no ac-
couut of any calamity they had ever been
under, that could be compared with this
which Herod had brought upon their
nation ; that it was for this reason that they
thought they might justly and gladly salute
Archelaus as kiug, upon this supposition,
that whosoever should be set oyer their
kingdom, he would appear more mild to
them than Herod had been; and that they
had joined with him in the mourning for
his father, in order to gratify him, and
were ready to oblige him in other points
also, if they could meet with any degree
of moderation from him; but that he
seemed to be afraid lest he should not be
deemed Herod's own son; and so, without
any delay, he immediately let the nation
understand his meaning, and this before
his dominion was well established, since
the power of disposing of it belonged to
Csesar, who could either give it to him or
not as he pleased. That he had given a
specimen of his future virtue to his sub-
jects, and with what kind of moderation
and good administration he would govern
them, by that his first action which con-
cerned them, his own citizens, and God
himself also, when he made the slaughter
of 3000 of his own countrymen at the
temple. How, then, could they avoid the
just hatred of him, who, to the rest of his
barbarity, hath added this as one of our
crimes, that we have opposed and contra-
dicted him in the exercise of his autho-
rity? Now, the main thing they desired
was this: that they might be delivered
from kingly and other forms of govern-
ment, and might be added to Syria, and
be put under the authority of such presi-
dents of theirs as should be sent to them;
for that it would thereby be made evident,
whether they be really a seditious people,
and generally fond of innovations, or
whether they would live in an orderly
manner, if they might have governors of
any sort of moderation set over them.
Now when the Jews had said this, Ni-
colaus vindicated the kings from those ac-
cusations, and said, that as for Herod, since
he had never been thus accused all the
time of his life, it was not fit for those that
might have accused him of lesser crimes
than those now mentioned, and might
have procured him to be punished during
his lifetime, to bring an accusation against
him now he is dead. He also attributed
the actions of Archelaus to the Jews' in-
juries to him, who, affecting to govern
contrary to the laws, and going about to
kill those that would have hindered them
from acting unjustly, wheu they were by
him punished for what they had done,
made their complaints against him; so he
accused them of their attempts for inno-
vation, and of the pleasure they took in
sedition, by reason of their not having
learned to submit to justice and to the
laws, but still desiriug to be superior in
all things. This was the substance ot
what Nicolaus said.
When Caesar had heard these pleadings,
he dissolved the assembly; but a few days
62
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVII
afterward he appointed Archelaus, not in-
deed to be the king of the whole country,
but ethnarch of one-half of that which had
been subject to Herod, and promised to give
him the royal dignity hereafter, if he go-
verned his part virtuously. But as for the
other half, he divided it into two parts, and
gave it to two other of Herod's sons, to
Philip and to Antipas; that Antipas who
disputed with Arehelausfor the whole king-
dom. Now, to him it was that Perea and
Galilee paid their tribute, which amounted
annually to two hundred talents,* while Ba-
tanea with Trachonitis, as well as Auraui-
tis, with a certain part of what was called
the House of Zenodorus, paid the tribute
of one hundred talents to Philip; but
Idumea, and Judea, and the country of
Samaria, paid tribute to Archelaus, but
had now a fourth part of that tribute taken
off by the order of Caesar, who decreed
them that mitigation, because they did not
join in this revolt with the rest of the
multitude. There were also certain of the
cities which paid tribute to Archelaus : —
Strato's Tower and Sebaste, with Joppa
and Jerusalem ; for as to Gaza, Gadara,
and Hippos, they were Grecian cities,
which Caesar separated from his govern-
ment, and added them to the province of
Syria. Now the tribute-money that came
to Archelaus every year from his own do-
minions amounted to six hundred talents.
And so much came to Herod's sons
from their father's inheritance; but Sa-
lome, besides what her brother left her
by his testament, which were Jamnia,
Ashdod, and Phasaelis, and 500,000
* Josephus here informs us that Archelaus had
one-half of the kingdom of Herod, and presently
informs us further, that Archelaus's annual income,
after an abatement of one-quarter for the present,
was six hundred talents: we may therefore gather
pretty nearly Herod's yearly income — about 1600
talents, which at the known value of 3000 shekels
to a talent, and about 2s. l()d. to a shekel, amounts
to £680,000 sterling per annum; which income,
though great in itself, bearing no proportion to his
vast expenses everywhere visible in Josephus, and
to the vast sums he left behind him in his will, the
rest must have risen either from his confiscation of
those great men's estates whom he put to death, or
made to pay fine for the saving of their lives, or from
some other heavy method of oppression which such
savage tyrants usually exercise upon their misera-
ble subjects; or rather from these several methods
put together, all which yet seem very much too
small for his expenses, being drawn from no larger
nation than that of the Jews, which was very popu-
lous, but without the advantage of trade to bring
them riches : leaving room to suspect that no small
part of this wealth arose from another source ; pro-
bably from the vast sums he took out of David's
lepulchre, but concealed from the people.
[drachmae] of coined silver, Caesar made
her a present of a royal habitation at As-
kelon : in all, her revenues amounted to
sixty talents by the year, and her dwell-
ing house was within Archelaus's govern-
ment. The rest also of the king's relations
received what his testament allotted them.
Moreover, Caosar made a present to each
of Herod's two virgin daughters, besides
what their father left them, of 250,000
[drachmae] of silver, and married them to
Pheroras's sons: he also granted all that
was bequeathed to himself to the king's
sons, which was 1500 talents, excepting a
few of the vessels, which he reserved for
himself; and they were acceptable to him,
not so much for the great value they were
of, as because they were memorials of the
king to him.
CHAPTER XII.
Concerning a spurious Alexander.
When these affairs had been thus settled
by Caesar, a certain young man, by birth
a Jew, but brought up by a Roman freed-
man in the city of Sidon, ingrafted him-
self into the kingdom of Herod, by the
resemblance of his countenance, which
those that saw him attested to be that of
Alexander, the son of Herod, whom he
had slain ; and this was an incitement to
him to endeavour to obtain the govern-
ment; so he took to him as an assistant
a man of his own country, (one that was
well acquainted with the affairs of the
palace, but, on other accounts, an ill man,
and one whose nature made him capable of
causing great disturbances to the public,
and one that became a teacher of such a
mischievous contrivance to the other,) and
declared himself to be Alexander, and the
son of Herod, but stolen away by one of
those that were sent to slay him, who, in
reality, slew other men, in order to de-
ceive the spectators, but saved both him
and his brother Aristobulus. Thus was
this man elated, and able to impose on
those that came to him ; and when he had
come to Crete, he made all the Jews that
came to discourse with him believe him to
be [Alexander]. And when he had gotten
much money which had been presented to
him there, he passed over to Melos, where
he got much more money than he had
before, out of the belief they had that he
was of the royal family, and their hopes
that he would recover his father's princi-
pality, and reward his benefactors; so he
Chap. XIII. ]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
63
made haste to Rome, and was conducted
thither by those strangers who entertained
him. He was also so fortunate as, upon
his landing at Picearchia, to bring the
Jews that were there into the same delu-
sion; and not only other people, but also
all those who had been great with Herod,
or had a kindness for him, joined them-
selves to this man as to their king. The
cause of it was this, that men were glad
of his pretences, which were seconded by
the likeness of his countenance, which
made those that had been acquainted with
Alexander strongly to believe that he was
no other but the very same person, which
they also confirmed to others by oath ; in-
somuch that when the report went about
him that he was coming to Rome, the
whole multitude of the Jews that were
there went out to meet him, ascribing it
to Divine Providence that he had so un-
expectedly escaped, and being very joyful
on account of his mother's family. And
when he was come, he was carried in a
royal litter through the streets ; and all
the ornaments about him were such as
kings are adorned withal ; and this was
at the expense of those that entertained
him. The multitude also flocked about
him greatly, and made mighty acclama-
tions to him, and nothing was omitted
which could be thought suitable to such
as had been so unexpectedly preserved.
When this thing was told Ctesar, he
did not believe it, because Herod was not
easily to be imposed upon in such affairs
as were of great concern to him ; yet,
having some suspicion it might be so, he
sent one Celadus, a freedman of his, and
one that had conversed with the young
men themselves, and bade him bring Alex-
ander into his presence : so he brought
him, being no more accurate in judgment
about him than the rest of the multitude.
Yet did not he deceive Caesar; for al-
though there was a resemblance between
him and Alexander, yet it was not so
exact as to impose on such as were pru-
dent in discerning j for this spurious Alex-
ander had his hands rough, by the labours
he had been put to ; and instead of that
softness of body which the other had, and
this as derived from his delicate and ge-
nerous education, this man, for the con-
trary reason, had a rugged body. When,
therefore, Caesar saw how the master aud
the scholar agreed in this lying story, and
in a bold way of talking, lie inquired
about Aristobulus, and asked what became
of him, who (it seems) was stolen awaji
together with him, and for what reason it
was that he did not come along with him,
and endeavour to recover that dominion
which was due to his high birth also.
And when he said that he had been left
in the Isle of Crete, for fear of the dangers
of the sea, that, in case any accident should
come to himself, the posterity of Mariamne
might not utterly perish, but that Aristo-
bulus might survive, and punish those
that laid such treacherous designs against
them ; and when he persevered in his
affirmations, and the author of the impos-
ture agreed in supporting it, Caesar took
the young man by himself, and said to
him, "If thou wilt not impose upon me,
thou shalt have this for thy reward, that
thou shalt escape with thy life ; tell me,
then, who thou art, and who it was that
had boldness enough to contrive such a
cheat as this. For this contrivance is too
considerable a piece of villany to be under-
taken by one of thy age." Accordingly,
because he had no other way to take, he
told Coesar the contrivance, and after what
manner, and by whom, it was laid toge-
ther. So Ctesar, upon observing the
spurious Alexander to be a strong, active
man, and fit to work with his hands, that
he might not break his promise to him,
put him among those that were to row
among the mariners, but slew him that
induced him to do what he had done; for
as for the people of Melos, he thought
them sufficiently punished, in having
thrown away so much of their money
upon this spurious Alexander. And such
was the ignominious conclusion of this
bold contrivance about the spurious Alex-
ander.
CHAPTER XIII.
Archelaus, upon a second accusation, banished to
Vienna.
When Archelaus had entered on his
ethnarchy; and had come into Judea, he
accused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of as-
sisting the seditious, and took away the
high-priesthood from him, and put Pleazar
his brother in his place. He also magnifi-
cently rebuilt the royal palace that had
been at Jericho, and he diverted half the
water with which the village of Neara used
to be watered, and drew oft' that water
into the plain, to water those palm-trees
which he had there planted : he also Im'lt
04
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII. Chap. XIII.
a village, anrl put his own name upon it,
and called it Archelais. Moreover, he
transgressed the law of our fathers, and
married Glaphyra, the daughter of Arche-
laus, who had been the wife of his brother
Alexander, which Alexander had three
children by her,* while it was a thing
detestable among the Jews to marry the
brother's wife. Nor did this Eleazar
abide long in the high-priesthood, Jesus,
the sou of Sie, being put in his room
while he was still living.
But m the tenth year of Archelaus's
government, both his brethren and the
principal men of Judea and Samaria, not
being able to bear his barbarous and ty-
rannical usage of them, accused him be-
fore Caesar, and that especially because
they knew he had broken the commands
of Caesar, which obliged him to behave
himself with moderation among them.
Whereupon Caesar, when he heard it, was
very angry, and called for Archelaus's
steward, who took care of his affairs at
Rome, and whose name was Archelaus
also; and thinking it beneath him to write
to Archelaus, he bade him sail away as
soon as possible, aud bring him to Rome;
so the man made haste in his voyage, and
when he came into Judea he found Arche-
laus feasting with his friends; so he told
him what Caesar had sent him about, and
hastened him away. And when he had
come [to Rome], to Caesar, upon hearing
what certain accusers of his had to say,
and what reply he could make, both ba-
nished him, and appointed Vienna, a city
of Gaul, to be the place of his habitation,
and took his money away from him.
Now, before Archelaus was gone up to
Rome upon this message, he related this
dream to his friends : that he saw cars of
corn, in number ten, full of wheat, per-
fectly ripe; which ears, as it seemed to
him, were devoured by oxen. And when
he was awake and gotten up, because the
vision appeared to be of great importance
to him, he sent for the diviners, whose
study was employed about dreams. And
while some were of one opinion and some
of another, (for all their interpretations
did not agree.) Simon, a man of the sect
of the Essenes, desired leave to speak his
mind freely, and said, that the vision de-
* Spanheim seasonably observes here, that it
was forbidden the Jewa to marry their brother's
wife when she bad children by her first husband:
and that Zenoras (cites, or) interprets the clause
before us accordingly.
noted a change in the affairs of Archelaus.
and that not for the better; that oxen,
because that animal takes uneasy pains in
his labours, denoted afflictions; and indeed
denoted, further, a change of affairs, be-
cause that land which is ploughed by oxen
cannot remain in its former state; and
that the ears of corn being ten, determined
the like number of years, because an ear
of corn grows in one year; and that the
time of Archelaus's government was over.
And thus did this man expound the dream.
Now, on the fifth day after this dream
came first to Archelaus, the other Arche-
laus, that was sent to Judea by Caesar to
call him away, came hither also.
The like accident befell Glaphvra his
wife, who was the daughter of King Ar-
chelaus, who, as I said before, was mar-
ried, while she was a virgin, to Alexander,
the son of Herod, and brother of Arche-
laus ; but since it fell out so that Alex-
ander was slain by his father, she was
married to Juba, the king of Libya; and
when he was dead, and she lived in widow-
hood in Cappadociawith her father, Arche-
laus divorced his former wife Mariamne,
and married her, so great was his affection
for her ; who, during her marriage to him,
saw the following dream : — She thought
she saw Alexander standing by her; at
which she rejoiced, and embraced him
with great affection; but that he com-
plained of her, and said, " 0 G-laphyra !
thou provest that saying to be true, which
assures us that women are not to be trusted.
Didst thou not pledge thy faith to me?
and wast thou not married to me when
thou wast a virgin? and had we not chil-
dren between us ? Yet hast thou forgotten
the affection I bare to thee, out of desire
of a second husband. Nor hast thou been
satisfied with that injury thou didst me,
but thou hast been so bold as to procure
thee a third husband to lie by thee, and
in an indecent and imprudent manner
hast entered into my house, and hast been
married to Archelaus, thy husbaud and
my brother. However, I will not forget
thy former kind affection for me ; but will
set thee free from every such reproachful
action, and cause thee to be mine again,
as thou once wert." When she had re-
lated this to her female companions, in a
few days' time she departed this life.
Now, I did not think these histories
improper for the present discourse, both
because my discourse now is concerning
kings, and otherwise also on account of
1?ook XVIII. Chap. I.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
~ 1
Go
the advantage hence to he drawn, as well
for the confirmation of the immortality of
the soul, as of the providence of God over
human affairs, I thought them fit to be
set down ; hut if any one does not believe
such relations, let him indeed enjoy his
own opinion, but let him not hinder an-
other that would thereby encourage him-
self in virtue. So Archelaus's country
was laid to the province of Syria; and
Cyrenius, one that had been consul, was
sent by Caesar to take account of people's
effects in Syria, and to sell the house of
Archelaus.
BOOK XVIII.
CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF THIRTY-TWO YEARS, FROM THE BANISH-
MENT OF ARCHELAUS TO THE DEPARTURE OF THE JEWS FROM
BABYLON.
CHAPTER I.
Cyrenius sent by Cresar to tax Syria and Judea;
Coponius sent as procurator of Judea — Judas of
Galilee — Sects among the Jews.
Now Cyrenius, a Roman senator, and
one who had gone through other magis-
tracies, and had passed through them till
he had been consul, and one who, on other
accounts, was of great dignity, came at
this time into Syria, with a few others,
being sent by Caesar to be a judge of that
nation, and to take an account of their
substance : Coponius al^o, a man of the
equestrian order, was sent together with
him, to have the supreme power over the
Jews. Moreover, Cyrenius came himself
into Judea, which was now added to the
province of Syria, to take an account of
their substance, and to dispose of Arche-
laus's money; but the" Jews, although at
the beginning they took the report of a
taxation heinously, yet did they leave off
any further opposition to it, by the per-
suation of Joazar, who was the son of
Boethus, and high priest. So they, being
overpersuaded by Joazar's words, gave
an account of their estates, without any
dispute about it ; yet there was one Judas,
a Gaulonite, of a city whose name was
Gamala, who, taking with him Saddue,*
a Pharisee, became zealous to draw them
to a revolt, who both said that this taxa-
tion was no better than an introduction
* It seems not very improbable that this Saddue,
the Pharisee, was the very same man of whom the
rabbins speak, as the unhappy but undesigning oc-
casion of the impiety or infidelity of the Sadducees ;
nor perhaps had the men this name of Sadducees
till tli is very time, though they were a distinct sect
long before.
Vol. II.— 5
to slavery, and exhorted the nation to
assert their liberty ; as if they could pro-
cure them happiness and security for what
they possessed, and an assured enjoyment
of a still greater good, which was that of
the honour and glory they would thereby
acquire for magnanimity. They also said
that, God would not otherwise be assisting
to them, than upon their joining with one
another in such counsels as might be suc-
cessful, and for their own advantage; and
this especially, if they would set about
great exploits, and not grow weary in
executing the same; so men received what
they said with pleasure, and this bold at-
tempt proceeded to a great height. All
sorts of misfortunes also sprang from
these men, and the nation was infected
with this doctrine to an incredible degree;
one violent war came upon us after another,
and we lost our friends who used to alle-
viate our pains ; there were also very great
robberies and murders of our principal
men. This was done in pretence indeed
for the public welfare, but in reality for
the hopes of gain to themselves;, whence
arose seditions, and from them murders of
men, which sometimes fell on those of their
own people, (by the madness of these men
toward one another, while their desire was
that none of the adverse party might be
left,) and sometimes on their enemies ; a
famine also coming upon us, reduced us
to the last degree of despair, as did also
the taking and demolishing of cities ; nay,
the sedition at last increased so high, that
the very temple of God was burnt down
by their enemies' fire. Such were the
consequences of this, that the custoni3 of
our fathers were altered, and such a change
66
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII
was made, as added a mighty weight to-
ward briri'nnfj all to destruction, which
these men occasioned by thus conspiring
together; for Judas and Sadduc, who ex-
cited a fourth philosophic sect among us,
and had a great many followers therein,
failed our civil government with tumults
at present, and laid the foundation of our
future miseries, by this system of philo-
sophy, which we were before unacquainted
withal; concerning which I shall discourse
a little, and this the rather, because the
infection which spread thence among the
younger sort, who were zealous for it,
brought the public to destruction.
The Jews had for a great while three
sects of philosophy peculiar to themselves ;
the sect of the Essenes, and the sect of
the Sadducees, and the third soit of opi-
nions was that of those called Pharisees;
of which sects, although I have already
spoken in the second book of the Jewish
War, yet will I a little touch upon them
now.
Now, for the Pharisees, they live mean-
ly, and despise delicacies in diet ; and they
follow the conduct of reason, and what
that prescribes to them as good for them,
they do; and they think they ought earn-
estly to strive to observe reason's dictates
for practice. They also pay a respect to
such as are in years ; nor are they so bold
as to contradict them in any thing which
they have introduced ; and, when they
determine that all things are done by fate,
they do not take away from men the free-
dom of acting as they think fit; since
their notion is, that it hath pleased God
to make a temperament whereby what he
wills is done, but so that the will of nK'n
can act virtuously or viciously. They also
believe that souls have an immortal vigour
in them, and that under the earth there
will be rewards or punishments, according
as they have lived virtuously or viciously
in this life ; and the latter are to be de-
tained in an everlasting prison, but that
the former shall have power to revive and
live again ; on account of which doctrines,
they are able greatly to persuade the body
of the people ; and whatsoever they do
about divine worship, prayers, and sacri-
fices, they perform them according to their
direction; insomuch that the cities gave
great attestations to them on account of
their entire virtuous conduct, both in the
actions of their lives and their discourses
also.
But the doctrine of the Sadducees is
this : — That souls die with the bodies ; nor
do they regard the observation of any
thing besides what the law enjoius them;
for they think it an instance of virtue to
dispute with those teachers of philosophy
whom they frequent; but this doctrine is
received but by a few, yet by those of the
greatest dignity ; but they are able to do
almost nothing of themselves; for when
they become magistrates, as they are un-
willingly and by force sometimes obliged
to be, they addict themselves to the no-
tions of the Pharisees, because the multi-
tude would not otherwise bear them.
The doctrine of the Essenes is this : —
That all things are best ascribed to God.
They teach the immortality of souls, and
esteem that the rewards of righteousness
are to be earnestly striven for ; and when
they send what they have dedicated to
God into the temple, they do not offer
sacrifices, because they have more pure
lustrations of their own ; on which ac-
count they are excluded from the common
court of the temple, but offer their sacri-
fices themselves ; yet is their course of
life better than that of other men; and
they entirely addict ^themselves to hus-
bandry. It also deserves our admiration,
how much they exceed all other men that
addict themselves to virtue, and this in
righteousness : and indeed to such a de-
gree, that as it hath never appeared among
any other men, neither Greeks nor bar-
barians, no, not for a little time, so hath
it endured a long time among them. This
is demonstrated by that institution of
theirs, which will not suffer any thing to
hinder them from having all things in
common; so that a rich man enjoys no
more of his own wealth than he who hath
nothing at all. There are about 4000 men
that live in this way, and neither marry
wives, nor are desirous to keep servants;
as thinking the latter tempts men to be
unjust, and the former gives the handle
to domestic quarrels; but as they live by
themselves, they minister one to another.
They also appoint certain stewards to re-
ceive the incomes of their revenues, and
of the fruits of the ground; such as are
good men and priests, who are to get their
corn and their food ready for them. They
none of them differ from others of the
Essenes in their way of living, but do the
most resemble those Dacae who are called
Polistae [dwellers in cities].
But of the fourth sect of Jewish philo-
sophy, Judas the Galilean was the author,
Chap. II.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
67
These men agree in all other things with
the Pharisaic notions; but they have an
inviolable attachment to liberty ; and say
that God is to be their only Ruler and
Lord. • They also do not value dying any
kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed
the deaths of their relations and friends,
nor can any such fear make them call any
man lord; and since this immovable reso-
lution of theirs is well known to a great
many, I shall speak uo further about that
matter; nor am I afraid that any thing I
have said of them should be disbelieved,
but rather fear that what I have said is
beneath the resolution they show when
they undergo pain; and it was in Gessius
Florus's time that the nation began to
grow mad with this distemper, who was
our procurator, and who occasioned the
Jews to go wild with it by the abuse of
his authority, and to make them revolt
from the Romans ; aud these are the sects
of Jewish philosophy.
CHAPTER II.
Herod and Philip build several cities in honour of
Csesar.
When Cyrenius had now disposed of
Archelaus's money, and when the taxings
were come to a conclusion, which were
made in the thirty-seventh year of Caesar's
victory over Antony at Aetiuni, he de-
prived Joazar of the high-priesthood, which
dignity had been conferred on him by the
multitude, and he appointed Ananus, the
son of Seth, to be high priest ; while
Herod and Philip had each of them re-
ceived their own tetrarchy, aud settled the
affairs thereof. Herod also built a wall
about Sepphoris, (which is the security of
all Galilee,) and made it the metropolis
of the country. He also built a wall
round Betharamphtha, which was itself a
city also, and called it Julias, from the
name of the emperor's wife. When Philip,
also, bad built Paneas, a city at the foun-
tains of Jordan, he named it Cesarea. He
also advanced the village Bethsaida, situate
at the lake of Gennesareth, unto the dig-
nity of a city, both by the number of
inhabitants it contained, and its other
grandeur, and called it by the name of
Julias, the same name with Caesar's daugh-
ter.
As Coponius, who we told you was sent
along with Cyreuius, was exercising his
office of procurator, and governing Judea,
the following accidents happened : — As
2N
the Jews were celebrating the feast of un-
leavened bread, which we call the Pass-
over, it was customary for the priests to
open the temple-gates just after midnight.
When, therefore, those gates were first,
opened, some of the Samaritans came
privately into Jerusalem, and threw about
dead men's bodies in the cloisters; on
which account the Jews afterward ex-
cluded them out of the temple, which
they had not used to do at such festivals;
and on other accounts also they watched
the temple more carefully than they had
formerly done. A little after which ac-
cident, Coponius returned to Rome, and
Marcus Ambivius came to be his successor
in that government ; under whom Salome,
the sister of King Herod, died, and left
to Julia [Caesar's wife], Jamnia, all its
toparchy, and Phasaelis in the plain, and
Archelaus, where is a great plantation of
palm-trees, and their fruit is excellent in
its kind. After him came Annius Rufus,
under whom died Cojsar, the second em-
peror of the Romans, the duration of
whose reign was fifty-seven years, besides
six months and two days, (of which time
Antonius ruled together with him four
teen years; but the duration of his life
was seventy-seven years;) upon whose
death Tiberius Nero, his wife Julia's son,
succeeded. He was now the third em-
peror; and he sent Valerius Gratus to be
procurator of Judea, and to succeed An-
nius Rufus. This man deprived Ananus
of the high-priesthood, and appointed Is-
mael, the son of Phabi, to be high priest.
He also deprived him in a little time, and
ordained Eleazar, the son of Ananus, who
had been high priest before, to be high
priest : which office, when he had held for
a year, Gratus deprived him of it, and
gave the high-priesthood to Simou, the
son of Camithus ; and, when he had pos-
sessed that dignity no longer than a year,
Joseph Caiaphas was made his success r.
When Gratus had done those things, he
went back to Rome, after he had tarried
in Judea eleven years, when Pontius Pi-
late came as his successor.
And now Herod the tetrarch, who was
in great favour with Tiberius, built a city
of the same name with him, and called it
Tiberias. He built it in the best part of
Galilee, at the lake of Gennesareth. There
are warm baths at a little distance from
it, in a village named Emmaus. Strangers
came aud inhabited this city; a great
number of the inhabitants were Galileans
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII
also ; and many were necessitated by He-
rod to come thither out of the country
belonging to him, and were by force com-
pelled to be its inhabitants; some of them
were persons of condition. He also ad-
mitted poor people, such as those that
were collected from all parts, to dwell in
it. Nay, some of them were not qui-te
freemen ; and these he was a benefactor
to, and made them free in great numbers;
but obliged them not to forsake the city,
by building them very good houses at his
own expenses, and by giving them land
also; for he was sensible, that to make
this place a habitation was to transgress
the Jewish ancient laws, because many
sepulchres were to be here taken away, in
order to make room for the city Tiberias ;*
whereas our law pronounces, that such
inhabitants are unclean for seven days.f
About this time died Phraates, king of
tbe Parthians, by the treachery of Phra-
ataces, his son, upon the occasion follow-
ing: — When Phraates had had legitimate
sons of his own, he had also an Italian
maidservant whose name was Thermusa,
who had formerly been sent to him by
Julius Caesar, among otber presents. He
first made her his concubine; but he being
a great admirer of her beauty, in process
of time having a son by her, whose name
was Phraataces, he made her his legiti-
mate wife, and had a great respect for
her. Now she was able to persuade him
to do any thing that she said, and was
earnest in procuring the government of
Parthia for her son ; but still she saw that
her endeavours would not succeed, unless
she could contrive how to remove Phra-
ates's legitimate sons [out of the king-
dom] ; so she persuaded him to send those
his sons as pledges of his fidelity to Home;
and they were sent to Pome accordingly,
because it was not easy for him to con-
tradict her commands. Now, while Phra-
ataces was alone brought up in order to
succeed in the government, he thought it
very tedious to expect that government
by his father's donation [as his successor] ;
he therefore formed a treacherous design
against his father, by his mother's assist-
ance, with whom, as the report went, he
had criminal conversation also. So he
was hated for both these vices, while his
subjects esteemed this [wicked] love of
* After the death of Herod the Great, and the
succession of Arehelaus, Jbsephus is very brief in
his accounts of Judca, till near his own time.
f Num. six. 11-14.
his mother to be noway inferior to his
parricide ; and he was by them, in a sedi-
tion, expelled out of the country before
he grew too great, and died. But, as the
best sort of Parthians agreed together
that it was impossible they should be go-
verned without a king, while also it was
their constant practice to choose one of
the family of Arsaces [nor did their law
allow of any others; and they thought
this kingdom had been sufficiently injured
already by the marriage with an Italian
concubine, and by her issue], they sent
ambassadors, and called Orodes [to take
the crown] ; for the multitude would not
otherwise have borne them; and though
he was accused of very great cruelty, and
was of an untractable temper, and prone
to wrath, yet still he was one of the family
of Arsaces. However, they made a con-
spiracy against him, and slew him, and
that, as some say, at a festival, and among
their sacrifices, (for it is the universal
custom there to carry their swords with
them ;) but as the more general report is,
they slew him when they had drawn him
out a-hunting. So they sent ambassadors
to Rome and desired they would send one
of those that were there as pledges, to be
their king. Accordingly, Vonones was
preferred before the rest, and sent to them,
(for he seemed capable of such great for-
tune, which two of the greatest kingdoms
under the sun now offered him, his own
and a foreign one.) However, the bar-
barians soon changed their minds, they
being naturally of a mutable disposition,
upon the supposition that this man was
not worthy to be their governor ; for they
could not think of obeying the commands
of one that had been a slave, (for so they
called those that had been hostages,) nor
could they bear the ignominy of that
name; and this was the more intolerable,
because then the Parthians must have
such a king set over them, not by right
of war, but in time of peace. So they
presently invited Artabanusj king of Me-
dia, to be their king, he being also of the
race of Arsaces. Artabanus complied with
the offer that was made him, and came to
them with an army. So Vonones met
him, and at first the multitude of the
Parthians stood on his side, and he put
his army in array; but Artabanus was
beaten, and fled to the mountains of Media.
Yet did he a little after gather a great
army together, and fought with Vonones,
and beat him ; whereupon Vonones fled
Chap. III.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
6S
away on horseback, with a few of his at-
tendants about him, to Selucia [upon Ti-
gris]. So when Artabanus had slain a
great number, and this, after he had gotten
the victory by reason of the very great
dismay t lie barbarians were in, he retired
to Ctesiphon with a great number of his
people ; and so he now reigned over the
Parthians. But Vonones fled away to
Armenia; and as soon as he came thither,
he had an inclination to have the govern-
ment of the country given him, and sent
ambassadors to Rome [for that purpose].
But, because Tiberius refused it him, and,
because he wanted courage, and because
the Parthian king threatened him, and
sent ambassadors to him to denounce war
against him if he proceeded, and because
he had no way to take to regain any other
kingdom, (for the people of authority
among the Armenians about Niphates
joined themselves to Artabanus,) he de-
livered up himself to Silanus, the presi-
dent of Syria, who, out of regard to his
education at Rome, kept him in Syria,
while Artabanus gave Armenia to Orodes,
one of his own sons.
At this time died Antiochus, the king
of Comrnagene; whereupon the multitude
contended with the nobility, and both sent
ambassadors [to Rome] ; for the men of
power were desirous that their form of
government might be changed into that
of a [Roman] province ; as were the mul-
titude desirous to be under kings, as their
fathers had been. So the senate made a
decree, that Germanicus should be sent to
settle the affairs of the east, fortune here-
by taking a proper opportunity for de-
priving him of his life; for when he had
been in the east, and settled all affairs
there, his life was taken away by the
poison which Piso gave him, as hath been
related elsewhere.*
CHAPTER III.
Sedition of the Jews against Pontius Pilate.
But now Pilate, the procurator of Ju-
dea, removed the army from Cesarca to
Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters
there, in order to abolish the Jewish laws.
So he introduced Cffisair's effigies, which
were upon the ensigus, and brought them
into the city; whereas our law forbids us
the very making of images; on which
* This citation is now wanting.
account the former procurators were wont
to make their entry into the city with
such ensigns as had not those ornaments.
Pilate was the "first who brought those
images to Jerusalem, and set them up
there; which was done without the know-
ledge of the people, because it was done
in the night-time; but as soon as they
knew it, they came in multitudes to Ce-
sarca, and interceded with Pilate many
days, that he would remove the images ;
and when he would not grant their re-
quests, because it would tend to the
injury of Caesar, while yet they persevered
in their request, on the sixth day ho
ordered his soldiers to have their weapons
privately, while he came and sat upon
his judgment-seat, which seat was so
prepared in the open place of the city,
that it concealed the army that lay ready
to oppress them ; and when the Jews
petitioned him again, he gave a signal to
the soldiers to encompass them round,
and threatened that their punishment
should be no less than immediate death,
unless they would leave off disturbing
him, and go their waj's home. But they
threw themselves upon the ground, and
laid their necks bare, and said they would
take their death very willingly, rather
than the wisdom of their laws should be
transgressed ; upon which Pilate was deep-
ly affected with their firm resolution to
keep their laws inviolable, and presently
commanded the images to be carried back
from Jerusalem to Cesarea.
But Pilate undertook to bring a cur-
rent of water to Jerusalem, and did it
with the sacred money, and. derived the
origin of the stream from the distance of
200 furlongs. However, the Jews* were
* These Jews, as they are here called, whose
blood Pilate shed on this occasion, may very well
be those very Galilean Jews, "whose blood Pilate
had mingled with their sacrifices/' (Luke xiii. 1,2:)
these tumults being usually excited at some of the
Jews' great festivals, when they slew abuu'daiiee of
sacrifices, and th«' Galileans being commonly much
more busy in such tumults than those of Judea and
Jerusalem, as we learn from the history of Arche-
laus, (Antiq. b. xvii. chap. ix. and chap, x ; | though,
indeed, Josephus's present copies say not on
of "those eighteen upon whom the tower in SUoam
fell, and slew them,'' which the -ttli verse of the
same loth chapter of St. Luke informs us of: but
since the gospel teaches as (Luke xxiii. 6, 7) that
"when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether
Jesus was a Galilean? And as soon as he knew
that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent
him to liennl :" and (ver. \2) "the same day Pilate
and Herod were made friends together; P
they had been at enmity between themselves ;'' take
ihe'very probable key of this matter in the words
of the learned Noldius, do Herod. .No. 2-19. "The
•o
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII
not pleased with what had been done
about this water; and many ten thou-
sands of the people got together, and
made a clamour against him, and insisted
that he should leave off that design.
Some of them, also, used reproaches, and
abused the man, as crowds of such people
usually do. So he habited a great num-
ber of his soldiers in their habit, who
carried daggers under their garments, and
sent them to a place where they might
surround them. So he bade the Jews
himself go away; but they boldly casting
reproaches upon him, he gave the soldiers
that signal which had been beforehand
agreed on ; who laid upon them much
greater blows than Pilate had commanded
them, and equally punished those that
were tumultuous and those that were not,
nor did they spare them in the least; and
since the people were unarmed, and were
caught by men prepared for what they
were about, there were a great number of
them slain by this means, and others of
them ran away wounded.; and thus an end
was put to this sedition.
Now, there was about this time Jesus,
a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a
man, for he was a doer of wonderful
works, — a teacher of such men as receive
the truth with pleasure. He drew over
to him both many of the Jews and many
of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ;
and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men among us, had condemned
him to the cross,* those that loved him
at the first did not forsake him, for he
appeared to them alive again the third
day,f as the divine prophets had foretold
these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him ; and the tribe of
Christians, so named from him, are not
extinct at this day.
About the same time, also, another sad
calamity put the Jews into disorder; and
certain shameful practices happened about
the temple of Isis that was at Rome. I
will now first take notice of the wicked at-
tempt about the temple of Isis, and will
then give an account of the Jewish affairs.
There was at Rome a woman whose name
was Paulina — one who, on account of the
cause of the enmity .between Herod and Pilate
(says he) seems to have been this, that Pilate had
intermeddled with the tetrarch's jurisdiction, and
had slain some of his Galilean subjects, (Luke xiii.
1 ;) and, as he was willing to correct that error, he
sent Christ to Herod at this time."
* A. D. 33, April 3.
■j- April 3.
dignity of her ancestors, and by the regu-
lar conduct of a virtuous lire, had a great
reputation : she was also very rich ; and,
although she was of a beautiful counte-
nance, and in that flower of her age
wherein women are the most gay, yet did
she lead a life of great modesty. She
was married to Saturninus, one that was
every way answerable to her in an excel-
lent character. P/ecius Mundus fell in
love with this woman, who was a man
very high in the equestrian order; and as
she was of too great dignity to be caught
by presents, aud had aheady rejected
them, though they had beeu sent in great
abundance, he was still more inflamed with
love to her, insomuch that he promised
to give her 200,000 Attic drachmae for
one night's lodging; and when this would
not prevail upon her, and he was not able
to bear this misfortune in his amours, he
thought it the best way to famish himself
to death for want of food, on account of
Paulina's sad refusal ; and he determined
with himself to die after such a manner,
and he went on with his purpose accord-
ingly. Now, Mundus had a freed-woman,
who had been made free by his father,
whose name was Ide, one skilful in all
sorts of mischief. This woman was very
much grieved at the young man's resolu-
tion to kill himself, (for he did not conceal
his intentions to destroy himself from
others,) and came to him, and encouraged
him by her discourse, and made him to
hope, by some promises she gave him,
that he might obtain a night's lodging
with Paulina; and when he joyfully
hearkened to her entreaty, she said she
wanted no more than 50,000 drachmae
for the entrapping of the woman. So
when she had encouraged the young man,
and gotten as much money as she re-
quired, she did not take the same methods
as had been taken before, because she
perceived that the woman was by no
means to be tempted by money; but as
she knew that she was very much given
to the worship of the goddess Isis, she
devised the following stratagem: she went
to some of Isis's priests, and, upon the
strongest assurances of [concealment], she
persuaded them by words, but chiefly by
the offer of money, of 25,000 drachmae in
hand, and as much more when the thing
had taken effect; and told them the pas-
sion of the young man, and persuaded
them to use all means possible to beguile
the woman. So they were drawn in to
Chap. III.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
71
promise so to do, by that large sum of
gold they were to have. Accordingly,
tin' uldest of them went immediately to
Paulina; and, upon his admittance, he
desired to speak with her by herself.
When that was granted him, he told her
that he was sent by the god Anubis, who
had fallen in love with her, and enjoined
her to come to him. Upon this, she took
the message very kindly, and valued her-
self greatly upon this condescension of
Anubis ; and told her husband that she
had a message sent her, and was to sup
and lie with Anubis ; so he agreed to her
acceptance of the offer, as fully satisfied
with the chastity of his wife. Accord-
ingly, she went to the temple ; and after
she had supped there, and it was the hour
to go to sleep, the priest shut the doors of
the temple; when, in the holy part of it,
the lights were also put out. Then did
Mundus leap out (for he was hidden
therein) and did not fail of enjoying her,
who was at his service all the night long,
as supposing he was the god; and when
he had gone away, which was before those
priests who knew nothing of this strata-
gem were stirring, Paulina came early to
her husband, and told him how the god
Anubis had appeared to her. Among
her friends, aLo, she declared how great
a value she put upon this favour, who
partly disbelieved the thing, when they
reflected on its nature, and partly were
amazed at it, as having no preteuce for
not believing it, when they considered
the modesty and the dignity of the per-
son ; but now, on the third day after
what had been done, Mundus met Pau-
lina, and said, "Nay, Paulina, thou hast
saved me 200,000 drachma?, which sum
thmi mightest have added to thy own
family: yet hast thou not failed to be at
my service in the manner I invited thee.
As for the reproaches thou hast laid upon
Mundus, I value not the business of
names; but I rejoice in the pleasure I
reaped by what I did, while I took to
myself the name of Anubis." When he
had said this, he went his way : but now
she began to come to the sense of the gross-
uess of what she had done, and rent her
garments, aud told her husband of the
horrid nature of this wicked contrivance,
and prayed him not to neglect to assist
her in this case. So he discovered the
fact to the emperor; whereupon Tiberius
inquired into the matter thoroughly, by
examining the priests about it, and order-
ed them to be crucified, as well as Ide,
who was the occasion of their perdition,
and who had contrived the whole matter,
which was so injurious to the woman.
He also demolished the temple of Isis,
and gave order that her statue should be
thrown into the river Tiber; while ho
only banished Mundus, but did no more
to him, because he supposed that what
crime he had committed was done out of
the passion of love ; and these were the
circumstances which concerned the temple
of Isis, and the injuries occasioned by her
priests. I now return to the relation of
what happened about this time to the
Jews at llome, as I formerly told you I
would.
There was a man who was a Jew, but
had been driven away from his owu coun-
try by an accusation laid against him for
transgressing their laws, and by the fear
he was under of punishment for the same ;
but in all respects a wicked man : — he then
living at Home, professed to instruct men
in the wisdom of the laws of Moses. He
procured also three other men, entirely of
the same character with himself, to be his
partners. These men persuaded Fulvia,
a woman of great dignity, and one that
had embraced the Jewish religion, to
send purple and gold to the temple at
Jerusalem; and, when they had gotten
them, they employed them for their own
uses, and spent the money themselves;
on which account it was that they at
first required it of her. Whereupon Ti-
berius, who had been informed of the
thing by Saturninus, the husband of
Fulvia, who desired inquiry might, be
made about it, ordered all the Jews to be
banished out of Rome; at which time
the consuls listed 4000 men out of them,
and sent them to the island Sardiuia; but
punished a greater number of them, who
were unwilling to become soldiers on ac-
count of keeping the laws of their fore-
fathers.* Thus were the Jews banished
• Of the banishment of these 4000 Jews into
Sardinia by Tiberius, see Suetonius in Tiber, sect.
36. But as for Mr. Keland's note here, which sup-
poses that Jews could not, consistently with their
laws, be soldiers, it is contradicted by one branch
of the history before us, and contrary to innumera-
ble instances of their lighting, and proving excel-
lent soldiers in war ; and, indeed, many of the best
of them, and even under heathen kings themselves,
did so ; those who allowed them their rest on the
Sabbath-da}r and other solemn festivals, and let
them live according to their own laws, as Alexan-
der the Great and the Ptolemies of Egypt did. It
is true, they could not always obtain these privi-
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII
out of the city by the ■wickedness of four
men.
CHAPTER IV.
The Samaritans make a tumult — Pilate destroys
many of them — ?\late is accused.
But the nation of the Samaritans did
not escape without tumults. The man who
excited them to it was one who thought
lying a thing of little consequence, and
who contrived every thing so, that the
multitude might be pleased; so he bade
them get together upon Mount Gerizzim,
which is by them looked upon as the most
holy of all mountains, and assured them
that when they had come thither, he
would show them those sacred vessels
•which were laid under that place, because
Moses put them there. So they came
thither armed, and thought the discourse
of the man probable ; and as they abode
at a certain village, which 'was called
Tirathaba, they got the rest together to
them, and desired to go up the mountain
in a great multitude together. But Pilate
prevented their going up, by seizing upon
the roads with a great band of horsemen
and footmen, who -fell upon those that had
gotten together in the village ; and when
they came to. an action, some of them
they slew, and others of. them they put
to flight, and took a great many alive, the
principal of whom, and also the most
potent of those that fled away, Pilate or-
dered to be slaiu.
But when this tumult was appeased, the
Samaritan senate sent an embassy to Vi-
tellius, a man that had been consul, and
who was now president of Syria, and ac-
cused Pilate of the murder of those that
were killed ; for that they did not go to
Tirathaba in order to revolt from the
Romans, but to escape the violence of
Pilate. So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a
friend of his, to take care of the affairs of
Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to Rome,
to answer before the emperor to the accu-
sation of the Jews. So Pilate, when he
had tarried ten years in Judea, made
haste to Rome, and this, in obedience to
the orders of Vitellius, which he durst
not contradict j but, before he could get
to Rome, Tiberius was dead.
leges, and then they got excused as well as they
could, or sometimes absolutely refused to fight,
which seems to have been the case here, as to the
major part of the Jews cow banished, but nothing
more. See several of the Romas decrees in their
favour as to *uch metiers, b. aiv. chap. x.
But Vitellius came into Judea, and
went up to Jerusalem; it was at the time
of that festival which is. called the Pass-
over. Vitellius was there magnificently
received, and released the inhabitants of
Jerusalem from all the taxes upon the
fruits that were bought and sold, and
gave them leave to have the care of the
high priest's vestments, with all their
Ornaments, and to have them under the
custody of the priests in the temple ;
which power they used to have formerly,
although at this time they were laid up in
the tower of Antonia, the citadel so
called, and that on the occasion follow-
ing : — There was one of the [high] priests,
named Hyrcanus, and as there were many
of that name, he was the first of them ;
this man built a tower near the temple,
and when he had so done, he generally
dwelt in it, and had these vestments with
him ; because it was lawful for him alone
to put them on, and he had them there
deposited when he went down into the
city, and took his ordinary garments; the
same things were continued to be done by
his sons, and by their sons after them ; but
when Herod came to be king, he rebuilt this
tower, which was very conveniently situ-
ated, in a magnificent manner ; and be-
cause he was a friend to Antonius, he
called it by the name of Antonia, and as
he found these vestments lying there, he
retained them in the same place, as be-
lieving that, while he had them in his
custody, the people would make no in-
novations against him. The like to what
Herod did was done by his son Archelaus,
who was made king after him ; after
whom the Romans, when they entered on
the government, took possession of these
vestments of the high priest, and had
them deposited in a stone chamber, under
the seal of the priests, and of the keepers
of the temple, the captain of the guard
lighting a lamp there every day; and,
seven days before a festival* they were
delivered to them by the captain of the
guard, when the high priest having puri-
fied them, and made use of them, laid
them up again in the same chamber where
they had been laid up before, and this,
the very next day after the feast was
over. This was the practice at the three
* This mention of the high priest* s sacred gar-
ments, received seven days before a festival, and
purified in those days against a festival, as having
been polluted by being in the custody of heathens,
in Josephus, agrees with the traditions of the Tal-
mudists.
CflAP. IV.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
73
yearly festivals, and on the fast-day;
but Vitellius put those garments iuto our
own power, as in the days of our fore-
fathers, and ordered the captain of the
guard not to trouble himself to inquire
where they were laid, or when they were
to be used ; and this he did as an act of
kindness to oblige the nation to him.
Besides which, he also deprived Joseph,
who was called Caiaphas, of the high-
priesthood, and appointed Jonathan, the
son of Ananus, the former high priest, to
succeed him. After which, he took his
journey back to Antiocli.
Moreover, Tiberius sent a letter to Vi-
tellius, and commanded him to make a
league of friendship with Artabanus, the
king of Parthia ; for, while he was his
enemy, he terrified him because he had
taken Armenia away from him, lest he
should proceed farther, and told him he
should not otherwise trust him than upon
his giving him hostages, and especially his
son Artabanus. Upon Tiberius's writing
thus to Vitellius, by the offer of great
presents of money, he persuaded both the
king of Iberia and the king of Albania to
make no delay, but to fight against Arta-
banus : and, although they would -not do
it themselves, yet did they give the Scy-
thians a passage through their country,
and opened the Caspian gates to them,
and brought them upon Artabanus. So
Armeuia was again taken from the Par-
thians, and the country of Parthia was
filled with war, and the principal of their
men were slain, and all things were in
disorder among them : the king's son also
himself fell in these wars, together with
many ten thousands of his army. Vitel-
lius had also sent such great sums of
money to Artabauus's father's kinsmen
and friends, that he had almost procured
him to be slain by the means of those
bribes which they had taken. And when
Artabanus perceived that the plot laid
against him was not to be avoided, because
it was laid by the principal men, and
those a great many in number, and that
it would certainly take effect, — when he
had estimated the number of those that
were truly faithful to him, as also of
those who were already corrupted, but
were deceitful in the kindness they pro-
fessed to him, and were likely, upon
trial, to go over to his enemies, he made
his escape to the upper provinces, where
he afterward raised a great army out
of the Dahae and Sacae, and fought with
his enemies, and retained his princi-
pality.
When Tiberius had heard of these
things, he desired to have a league of
friendship made between him and Artaba^
nus ; and wheu, upon this invitation, he
received the proposal kindly, Artabanus
and Vitellius went to Euphrates, and, as
a bridge was laid over the river, they each
of them came with their guards about
them, and met one another on the midst
of the bridge. And wheu they had agreed
upon the terms of peace, Herod the te-
trach erected a rich teut on the midst of
the passage, and made them a feast there.
Artabanus also, not long afterward, sent
his son Darius as an hostage, with many
presents, among which there was a man
seven cubits tall — a Jew he was by birth,
and his name was Eleazar, who, for his
tallness, was called a giant. After which,
Vitellius went to Antioch, and Artabanus
to- Babylon; but Herod [the tetrarch],
being desirous to give Caesar the first
information that they had obtained host-
ages, sent posts with letters, wherein he
had accurately described all the particu-
lars, and had left nothing for the consular
Vitellius to inform him of. Put when
Vitellius's letters were sent, and Ctesar
had let him know that he was acquainted
with the affairs already, because Herod
had given him an account of them before,
Vitellius was very much troubled at it;
and supposing that he had been thereby
a greater sufferer than he really was, he
kept up a secret anger upon this occasion,
till he could be revenged on him, which
he was after Caius had taken the govern-
ment.
About this time it was that Philip,
Herod's brother, departed this life, in the
twentieth year of the reign of Tiberius,*
after be had been tetrarch of Trachouitis,
and Gaulonitis, and of the nation of the
Bataneans also, thirty-seven years. He
had shown himself a person of modera-
tion and quietness in the conduct of his
life and government; he constantly lived
in that country which was subject to him;
he used to make his progress with a few
chosen friends; his tribunal also, on which
he sat in judgment, followed him in his
progress; and when any one met him who
wanted his assistance, he made no delay,
but had his tribuual set down immediately,
* Herod died about September, in the fourth
year before the Christian era, and Tiberius began
to reign August 19, A. D. 1-1.
74
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIIL
, wheresoever he happened to be, and sat
down upon it, and heard the complaint;
he there ordered the guilty that were con-
victed to be punished, and absolved those
that were accused, unjustly. He died at
Julias; and when he was carried to that
monument which he had already erected
for himself beforehand, he was buried
with great pomp. His principality Ti-
berius took (for he left no sons behind
him) and added it to the province of
Syria, but gave order that the tributes
which arose from it should be collected,
and laid up in his tetrarchy.
CHAPTER V.
Herod the tetrarch makes war with Aretas, king of
Arabia — is beaten by him — Death of John the
Baptist.
About this time Aretas (the king of
Arabia Petrea) and Herod had a quarrel,
on the account following : — Herod the te-
trarch had married the daughter of Aretas,
and had lived with her a great while;
but when he was once at Rome, he lodged
with Herod, who was his brother, indeed,
but not by the same mother; for this
Herod was the son of the high-priest
Simon's daughter. However, he fell in
love with Herodias, this last Herod's wife,
who was the daughter of Aristobulus their
brother, and the sister of Agrippa the
Great. This man ventured to talk to her
about a marriage between them ; which
address when she admitted, an agreement
was made for her to change her habita-
tion, aud come to him as soon as he
should return from Rome: one article of
this marriage also was this, that he should
divorce Aretas's daughter. So Antipas,
when he had made this agreement, sailed
to Rome; but when he had done there
the business he went about, and had re-
turned again, his wife having discovered
the agreement he had made with Herodias,
and having learned it before he had notice
of her knowledge of the whole design,
she desired him to send her to Macherus,
which is a place on the borders of the do-
minions of Aretas and Herod, without
informing him of any of her intentions.
Accordingly Herod sent her thither, as
thinking his wife had not perceived any
thing ; now she had sent a good while
before to Macherus, which was subject to
her father, and so all things necessary for
her journey were made ready for her by
the general of Aretas's arm}'; and by
that means she soon came into Arabia,
under the conduct of the several generals,
who carried her from one another suc-
cessively ; and she soon came to her
father, and told him of Herod's intentions.
So Aretas made this the first occasion of
his enmity between him and Herod, who
had also some quarrel with him about
their limits at the country of Gamalitis.
So they raised armies on both sides, and
prepared for war, and sent their generals
to fight instead of themselves; and, when
they had joined battle, all Herod's army
was destroyed by the treachery of some
fugitives, who, though they were of the
tetrarchy of Philip, joined with Aretas's
army. So Herod wrote about these affairs
to Tiberius; who, being very angry at
the attempt made by Aretas, wrote to Vi-
tellius to make war upon him, and either
to take him alive, and bring him to him
in bonds, or to kill him, and send him
his' head. This was the charge that Ti-
berius gave to the president of Syria.
Now some of the Jews thought that
the destruction of Herod's army came from
God, and that very justly, as a punish-
ment of what he did against John, that
was called the Baptist; for Herod slew
him, who was a good man, and commanded
the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to
righteousness toward one another, and
piety toward God, and so to come to bap-
tism; for that the washing [with water]
would be acceptable to him, if they made
use of it, not in order to' the putting away
[or the remission] of some sins [only], but
for the purification of the body : suppos-
ing still that the soul was thoroughly pu-
rified beforehand by righteousness. Now,
when [many] others came in crowds about
him, for they were greatly moved [or
pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who
feared lest the great influence John had
over the people might put it into his power
and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for
they seemed ready to do any thing he
should advise,) thought it best, by put-
ting him to death, to prevent any mis-
chief he might cause, and not bring
himself into difficulties, by sparing a man
who might make him repent of it when
it should be too late. Accordingly, he
was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's sus-
picious temper, to Macherus, the castle I
before mentioned, and was there put to
death. Now the Jews had an opinion that
the destruction of this army was sent as a
Chap. V.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
punishment upon Herod, and a mark of
God's displeasure against him. y/
So Vitellius prepared to make war with
Aretas, having with him two legions of
armed men ; he also took with him all
those of light armature, and of the horse-
men which belonged to them, and were
drawn out of those kingdoms which were
under the Romans, and made haste for
Petra, and came to Ptolemais. But as he
was marching very busily, and leading his
army through Judea, the principal men
met him, and desired that he would not
thus march through their land ; for that
the laws of their country would not per-
mit them to overlook those images which
were brought into it, of which there were
a great many in their ensigns ; so he was
persuaded by what they said, and changed
that resolution of his, which he had before
taken in this matter. Whereupon he
ordered the army to march along the
Great Plain, while he himself, with Herod
the tetrarch, and his friends, went up to
Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an
ancient festival of the Jews being then
just approaching; and when he had been
there, and been honourably entertained by
the multitude of the Jews, he made a stay
there for three days, within which time he
deprived Jonathan of the high-priesthood,
and gave it to his brother Theophilus ;
but when on the fourth day letters came
to him, which informed him of the death
of Tiberius, he obliged the multitude to
take an oath of fidelity to Caius ; he also
recalled his army, and made them every
one go home, and take their winter-quar-
ters there, since, upon the devolution of
the empire upon Caius, he had not the
like authority of making this war which
he had before. It was also reported, that
when Aretas heard of the coming of Vitel-
lius to fight him, he said, upon his consult-
ing the diviners, that it was impossible
that this army of Vitellius's could enter
Petra; for that one of the rulers would
die, either he that gave orders for the war,
or he that was marching at the other's
desire, in order to be subservient to his
will, or else he against vvhom this army is
prepared. So Vitellius truly retired to
Antioch; but Agrippa, the son of Aristo-
bulus, went up to llome, a year before
the death of Tiberius, in order to treat of
.some affairs with the emperor, if he might
be permitted so to do. I have now a mind
to describe Herod and his family, how it
fared with them, partly because it is suit-
able to this history to fpeak of that matter,
and partly because this thing is a demon-
stration of the interposition of Providence ;
how a multitude of children is of no
advantage, no more than any other strength
that mankind set their hearts upon, besides
those acts of piety which are done toward
God ; for it happened, that within the
revolution of 100 years, the posterity of
Herod, who were a great. many in number,
were, excepting a few, utterly destroyed.
One may well apply this for the instruc-
tion of mankind, and learn thence how
unhappy they were : it will also show us
the history of Agrippa, who, as he was a
person most worthy of admiration, so was
he from a private man, beyond all the
expectation of those that knew him, ad-
vanced to great power aud authority. I
have said something of them formerly;
but I shall now also speak accurately
about them.
Herod the Great had two daughters by
Mariamne, the [grand] daughter of Hyr-
canus; the one was Salampsio, who was
married to Phasaelus, her first cousin, who
was himself the son of Phasaelus, Herod's
brother, her father making the match :
the other was Cypros,. who was herself
married also to her first cousin Antipater,
the son of Salome, Herod's sister. Pha-
saelus had five children by Salampsio —
Antipater, Herod, and Alexander, and
two daughters, Alexandra and Cypros;
which last, Agrippa, the son of Aristobu-
lus, married ; and Timius of Cyprus mar-
ried Alexandra; he was a man of note,
but had by her no children. Agrippa had
by Cypros two sons aud three daughters,
which daughters were named Bernice, Ma-
riamne, and Drusilla; but the' names of the
sons were Agrippa and Drusus, of which
Drusus died before he came to the years
of puberty; but their father, Agrippa,
was brought up with his other brethren,
Herod and Aristobulus, for these were
also the sons of the son of Herod the
Great by Bernice; but Bernice was the
daughter of Costobarus and of Salome,
who was Herod's sister. Aristobulus left
these infants when he was slain by his
father, together with his brother Alexan-
der, as we have already related ; but when
they had arrived at the years of puberty,
this Herod, the brother of Agrippa, mar-
ried Mariamne, the daughter of Olympias,
who was the daughter of Herod the king,
and of Joseph, the son of Joseph, who
was brother to Herod the king, and had
76
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII
by her a son, Aristobulus; but Aristobu-
lus, the third brother of Agrippa, married
Jotape, the daughter of Sampsigeramus,
king of Eraesaj* they had a daughter
■who was deaf, whose name also was Jo-
tape ; and these hitherto were the children
of the male line ; but Herodias, their
sister, was married to Herod [Philip], the
son of Herod the Great, who was born of
Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the
high priest, who had a daughter, Salome ;
after whose birth Herodias took upon her
to confound the laws of our country, and
divorce herself from her husband while he
was alive, aud was married to Herod [An-
tipas], her husband's brother by the fa-
ther's side ; he was tetrarch of Galilee ;
but her daughter, Salome, was married to
Philip, the son of Herod, and tetrarch of
Trachonitis; and, as he died childless,
Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother
of Agrippa, married her; they had three
sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus ;
and this was the posterity of Phasaelus
and Salampsio ; but the daughter of An-
tipater by Cypros, was Cypros, whom
Alexas Selcias, the son of Alexas, married;
they had a daughter, Cypros ; but Herod
and Alexander, who as we told you were
the brothers of Antipater, died childless.
As to Alexander, the son of Herod the
king, who was slain by his father, he had
two sons, Alexander aud Tigranes, by the
daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappado-
cia. Tigranes, who was king of Armenia,
was accused at Home, aud died childless ;
Alexander had a son of the same name
with his brother Tigranes, and was sent to
take possession of the kingdom of Arme-
nia by Nero ; he had a son, Alexander,
who married Jotape,f the daughter of
Antiochus, the king of Commagena; Ves-
spasian made him king of an island in
Cilicia. But these descendants of iUex-
ander, soon after their birth, deserted the
Jewish religion, and went over to that of
the Greeks ; but for the rest of the daugh-
ters of Herod the king, it happened that
they died childless; and as these descend-
ants of Herod, whom we have enume-
rated, were in being at the same time that
Agrippa the Great took the kingdom, and
I have now given an account of them, it
now remains that I relate the several hard
fortunes which befell Agrippa, and how
* There are coins still extant of this Emesa.
f Spanhoim also informs us of a coin still ex
tant of this Jotape, daughter of the king of Com-
magena.
he got clear of them, and was advanced ta
the greatest height of dignity and powei.
CHAPTER VI.
Agrippa visits Rome — accused before Tiberius Cre-
sar — imprisoned — -is set at liberty by Caius, after
the death of Tiberius.
A little before the death of Herod
the king, Agrippa lived at Rome, and was
generally brought up and conversed with
Drusus, the Emperor Tiberius's son, and
contracted a friendship with Antouia, the
wife of Drusus the Great, who had his
mother Bernice in great esteem, and was
very desirous of advancing her son. Now,
as Agrippa was by nature magnanimous
and generous in the presents he made
while his mother was alive, this inclination
of his mind did not appear, that he might
be able to avoid her anger for such his
extravagance; but when Bernice was dead,
and he was left to his own conduct, he
spent a great deal extravagantly in his
daily way of living, and a great deal in
the immoderate presents he made, and
those chiefly among Caesar's freed-men, in
order to gain their assistance, insomuch
that he was in a little time reduced to
poverty, aud could not live at Rome
any longer. Tiberius, also, forbade the
friends of his deceased son to come into
his sight, because, on seeing them, he
should be put in mind of his son, and hia
grief would thereby be revived.
For these reasons, he went away from
Rome and sailed to Judea, but in evil cir-
cumstances, being dejected with the loss
of that money which he once had, and
because he had not wherewithal to pay his
creditors, who were many in number, aud
such as gave no room for. escaping them.
Whereupon he knew not what to do ; so,
for shame of his present condition, he re-
tired to a certain tower, at Malatha, in
Idumea, aud had thoughts of killing him-
self; but his wife Cypros perceived his
intentions, and tried all sorts of methods
to divert him from his taking such a
course : so, she sent a letter to his sister
Herodias, who was now the wife of Herod
the tetrarch, and let her know Agrippa's
present design, and what necessity it was
which drove him thereto, and desired her,
as a kinswoman of his, to give him her
help, and to engage her husband to do the
same, since she saw how she alleviated
these her husband's troubles all she could;
Chap. VL]
ANTIQUITIES OF THF. JEWS.
77
although she had not tlie like wealth to do
it withal. So they sent for him, and
allotted him Tiberias for his habitation,
and appointed him some income of money
for his maintenance, and made him a ma-
gistrate of that city, by way of honour to
him. Yet did not Herod long continue in
that resolution of supporting him, though
even that support was not sufficient for
him; for, as once they were at a feast at
Tyre, and in their cups, and reproaches
were cast upon one another, Agrippa
thought that was not to be borne, while
1 hit him in the teeth with his po-
verty, and with his owing his necessary
food to him. So he went to Flaccus, one
that had been consul, and had been a very
great friend to him at Rome formerly, and
was now president of Syria.
Hereupon Flaccus received him kindly,
and he lived with him. Flaccus had also
with him there Aristobulus, who was
indeed Agrippa's brother, but was at vari-
ance with him; yet did not their enmity
to one another hinder the friendship of
Flaccus to them both ; but still they were
honourably treated by him. However,
Aristobulus did not abate of his ill-will to
Agrippa, till at length he brought him
into ill terms with Flaccus; the occasion
of bringing on which estrangement was
this : — The Damascenes were at difference
with the Sidonians about their limits, and
when Flaccus was about to hear the
cause between them, they understood that
Agrippa had a mighty influence upon
him; so they desired that he would be
of their side, and for that favour pro-
mised him a great deal of money; so
that he was zealous in assisting the Dama-
scenes as far as he was able. Now, Aris-
tobulus had gotten intelligence of this
promise of money to him, aud accused
him to Flaccus of the same; and when,
upon a thorough examination of the mat-
ter, it appeared plainly so to be, he rejected
Agrippa out of the number of his friends.
So he was reduced to the utmost necessity,
and came to Ptolemais ; and, because he
knew not where else to get a livelihood,
be thought to sail to Italy ; but as he was
restrained from so doing by want of money,
he desired Marsyas, who was his freed-
man, to find some method for procuring
him so much as he wanted for that
purpose, by borrowing such a sum of some
person or other. S.0 Marsyas desired of
Peter, who was the freedman of Bernice,
Agrippa's mother, and by the right of her
testament was bequeathed to Antonia, to
lend so much upon Agrippa's own bund
and security: but he accused Agrippa of
having defrauded him of certain sum- of
money, and so obliged Marsyas, when he
made the bond of 20,000 Attic drachmae,
to accept of 2500 drachmas less than
what he desired; which the other allowed
of, because he could not help it. Upon
the receipt of this money, Agrippa came
to Anthedon, and took shipping, and was
going to set sail; but Herenniua Capito,
who was the procurator of Jamni .
a band of soldiers to demand of him
300,000 drachmae of silver, which were
by him owing to Caesar's treasury while
he was at Rome, and so forced him to
stay. He then pretended he would do as
he bade him; but when night came on,
he cut his cables, and went off, and Bailed
to Alexandria, where he desired Alexan-
der the alabarch to lend him 200,000
drachmas; but he said he would not lend
it to him, but would not refuse it to Cy-
pros, as greatly astonished at her affection
to her husband, and at the other instances
of her virtue ; so she undertook to repay
it. Accordingly, Alexander paid them
five talents at Alexandria, and promis 1 to
pay them the rest of that sum at Dicearchia
[Puteoli]; and this he did out of the fear
he was in that Agrippa would soon spend
it. So this Cypros set her husband free,
and dismissed him to go on with his navi-
gation to Italy, while she and her chil-
dren departed for Judea.
And now Agrippa came to Puteoli,
whence he wrote a letter to Tiberius
Caesar, who then lived at Caprcae. and
told him that he had come so far, in
order to wait on him, and to pay him a
visit; and desired that he would give him
leave to come over to Capreas : so Tibe-
rius made no difficulty, but wrote to him
in an obliging way in other respects; and
withal told him he was glad of his safe
return, and desired him to come to
Capreae: and when he had come, he did
not fail to treat him as kindly as he had
promised him in his letter to do. But
the next day came a letter to Caesar from
Herennius Capito, to inform him that
Agrippa had borrowed 300,000 drachmas,
and not paid it .at the time appointed;
but, when it was demanded of him, he
ran away like a fugitive, out of the
places under his government, and put it
out of his power to get the money of him
When Caesar had read this letter, he was
78
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII.
much troubled at it, and gave order that
Agrippa should be excluded from his pre-
sence until he had paid that debt : upon
which he was noway daunted at Caesar's
anger, but entreated Antonia, the mother
of Germanicus, and of Claudius, who was
afterward Caesar himself, to lend him
those 300,000 drachma), that he might
not be deprived of Tiberius's friendship;
so, out of regard to the memory of Ber-
nice his mother, (for those two women
were very familiar with one another,)
and out of regard of his and Claudius's
education together, she lent him the
money; and, upon the payment of this
debt, there was nothing to hinder Tibe-
rius's friendship to him. After this,
Tiberius Caesar recommended to him his
grandson,* and ordered that he should
always accompany him when he went
abroad. But, upon Agrippa's kind re-
ceptiou by Antonia, he betook himself to
pay his respects .to Caius, who was her
grandson, and in very high reputation by
reason of the good-will they bore his
father. f Now, there was one Thallus, a
freed man of Caesar, of whom he borrowed
1,000,000 of drachmae, and thence repaid
Antonia the debt he owed her; and by
spending the overplus in paying his court
to Caius, became a person of great autho-
rity with him.
Now, as the friendship which Agrippa
had for Caius had come to a great height,
there happened some words to pass be-
tween them, as they once were in a
chariot together, concerning Tiberius;
Agrippa praying [to God] (for they two
sat by themselves) that Tiberius might
soon go off the stage, and leave the
government to Caius, who was in every
respect more worthy of it. Now, Euty-
chus, who was Agrippa's freedman, and
drove his chariot, heard these words, and
at -that time said nothing of them ; but
when Agrippa accused him of stealing
some garments of his, (which was cer-
tainly true,) he ran away from him ; but
when he was caught, and brought before
Piso, who was governor of the city, and
the man was asked why he ran away, he
replied, that he had somewhat to say to
Caesar, that tended to his security and
preservation : so Piso bound him, and
sent him to Capreae. But Tiberius, ac-
cording to his usual custom, kept him
still in bonds, being a delayer of affairs,
* Tiberius junior.
•j- Germanicus.
if ever there was any other king or tyrant
that was so ; for he did not admit ambas-
sadors quickly, and no successors were
despatched away to governors or procu-
rators of the provinces that had been
formerly sent, unless they were dead;
whence it was that he was so negligent
in hearing the causes of prisoners ; inso-
much that when he was asked by his
friends what was the reason of his delay
in such cases, he said that he delayed to
hear ambassadors, lest, upon their quick
dismission, other ambassadors should be
appointed, and return upon him ; aud so
he should bring trouble upon himself in
the public reception and dismission : that
he permitted those governors who had
been sent once to their governments, [to
stay there a great, while,] out of regard
to the subjects that were under them ;
for that all governors are naturally dis-
posed to get as much as they can; and
that those who are not to fix there, but to
stay a short time, and that at an uncer-
tainty when they shall be turned out, do
the more severely hurry themselves on to
fleece the people; but that, if their go-
vernment be long continued to them,
they are at last satiated with the spoils,
as having gotten a vast deal, and so be-
come at length less sharp in their pil-
laging ; but that, if successors are sent
quickly, the poor subjects who are ex-
posed to them as a prey will not be able
to bear the new ones, while they shall
not have the same time allowed them
wherein their predecessors had filled
themselves, and so grow more uncon-
cerned about getting more ; and this be-
cause they are removed before they have
had time [for their oppressions]. He
gave them an example to show his mean-
ing : — A great number of flies came about
the sore places of a man that had been
wounded ; upon which one of the standers-
by pitied the man's misfortune, and think-
ing he was not able to drive away those
flies himself, was going to drive them
away for him; but he prayed him to let
them alone. The other, by way of reply,
asked him the reason of such a prepos-
terous proceeding, in preventing relief
from his present misery ; to which he
answered, "If thou drivest these flies
away, thou wilt hurt me worse; for as
these are already full of my blood, they
do not crowd about me, nor pain me so
much as before, but are sometimes more
remiss, while the fresh ones that come,
Chap. VI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
F9
almost famished, and find me quite tired
down already, will be my destruction.
For this cause, therefore, it is that I am
myself careful not to send such new
governors perpetually to those my sub-
jects, who are already sufficiently harassed
by many oppressions, as may, like tbese
flies, further distress them ; and so, be-
sides their natural desire of gain, may
have this additional incitement to it, that
they expect to be suddenly deprived of
that pleasure which they take in it." And,
as a further attestation to what I say of
the dilatory nature of Tiberius, I appeal
to this his practice itself; for, although he
was emperor twenty-two years, he sent
in all but two procurators to govern
the nation of the Jews, — G-ratus, and his
successor in the government, Pilate. Nor
was he in one way of acting with respect
to the Jews, and in another with respect
to the rest of his subjects. He further
informed them, that even in the hearing
of the causes of prisoners, he made such
delays-, because immediate death to those
that must be condemned to die would be
an alleviation of their present miseries,
while those wicked wretches have not de-
served any favour; but I do it, " that by
being harassed with the present calamity,
they may undergo greater misery."
On this account it was that Eutychus
could not obtain a hearing, but was kept
still in prison. However, some time after-
ward, Tiberius came from Capreae to Tus-
culanum, which is about 100 furlongs
from Rome. Agrippa then desired of
Antonia that she would procure a hearing
for Eutychus, let the matter whereof he
accused him prove what it would. Now,
Antonia was greatly esteemed by Tiberius
on all accounts, from the dignity of her
relation to him, who had been his brother
Drusus's wife, and from her eminent chas-
tity ; for though she was still a young
woman, she continued in her widowhood,
and refused all other matches, although
Augustus had enjoined her to be married
to somebody else; yet did she all along
preserve her reputation free from reproach.
She had also been the greatest benefactress
to Tiberius, when there was a very dan-
gerous plot laid against him by Sejanus,
a man who had been her husband's friend,
and who had the greatest authority, because
he was general of the army, and when
many members of the senate, and many
of the freedmen, joined with hinf, and
the soldiery were corrupted, and the plot
had come to a great height. Now, Seja-
nus had certainly gained his point, had
not Antonia's boldness been more wisely
conducted than Sejanus's malice ; for,
when she had discovered his di
against Tiberius, she wrote him an
account of the whole, and gave the letter
to Pallas, the most faithful of her servant-,
and sent him to Capreae to Tiberius, who,
when he understood it, slew Sejanus and
bis confederates ; so that Tiberius, who
had her in great esteem before, now looked
upon her with still greater respect, and de-
pended upon her in all things. So, when
Tiberius was desired by this Antonia to
examine Eutychus, he answered, " If,
indeed, Eutychus hath falsely accused
Agrippa in what he hath said of him, he
hath had sufficient punishment by what
I have done to him already; but, if upon
examination, the accusation appears to be
true, let Agrippa have a care, lest, out of
desire of punishing this freedman, he
does not rather bring a punishment upon
himself." Now, when Antonia told Agrip-
pa of this, he was still much more press-
ins that the matter might be examined
into; so Antonia, upon Agrippa's lying
hard at her continually to beg this favour,
took the following opportunity : — As Tibe-
rius lay once at his ease upon his sedan,
and was carried about, and Caius, her
grandson, and Agrippa, were before him
after dinner, she walked by the sedan, and
desired him to call Eutychus, and have
him examined ; to which he replied,
" 0 Antonia ! the gods are my witnesses
that I am induced to do what I am going
to do, not by my own inclination, but
because I am forced to do it by thy
prayers." "When he had said this, he
ordered Marco, who succeeded Sejanus,
to bring Eutychus to him ; accordingly,
without any delay, he was brought. Then
Tiberius asked him what he had to
say against a man who had given him his
liberty. Upon which he said, " 0 my
lord! this Caius, and Agrippa with him,
were once riding in a chariot, when I sat
at their feet, and, among other discourses
that passed, Agrippa said to Caius, < Oh that
the day would once come when this old
fellow will die, and name thee for the
governor of the habitable earth : for then
this Tiberius, his grandson, would be nc
hinderance, but would be taken off by thee,
and that earth would be happy, and I
happy also.'" Now, Tiberius took these
to be truly Agrippa's words, and bearing
80
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII.
a grudge withal at Agrippa, because, when
he had commanded him to pay his respects
to Tiberius, his grandson, and the son of
Drusus, Agrippa had not paid him that
respect, but had disobeyed his commands,
and transferred all his regard to Caius;
he said to Marco, "Bind this man." But
Marco, not distinctly knowing which of
them it was whom he bade him bind, and
not expecting that he would have any such
thing done to Agrippa, he forbore, and
came to ask more distinctly what it was that
he said. But when Ccesar had gone round
the hippodrome, he found Agrippa stand-
ing . " For certain," said he, " Marco,
this is the man I meant to have bound ;"
and when he still asked, " Which of these
is to be bound?" he said Agrippa. Upon
which Agrippa betook himself to make
supplication for himself, putting him in
mind of his son, with whom he was
brought up, and of Tiberius [his grand-
son], whom he had educated, but all to no
purpose, for they led him about bound even
in his purple garments. It was also very
hot weather, and they had but little wine
to their meal, so that he was very thirsty;
he was also in a sort of agony, and took
this treatment of him heinously : as he
therefore saw one of Caius's slaves, whose
name was Thaumastus, carrying some
water in a vessel, he desired that he would
let him drink; so the servant gave him
some water to drink ; and he drank heart-
ily, and said : " 0 thou boy ! this service
of thine to me will be for thy advantage ;
for, if I once get clear of these bonds, I
will soon procure thee thy freedom from
Caius, who has not been wanting to minis-
ter to me now I am in bonds, in the same
manner as when I was in my former state
and dignity." Nor did he deceive him in
what he promised him, but made him
amends for what he had now done ; for,
when afterward Agrippa had come to the
kingdom, he took particular care of Thau-
mastus, and got him his liberty from Caius,
and made him the steward over his own
estate; and when he died, he left him to
Agrippa his son, and to Bernice his
daughter, to miuistcr to them in the same
capacity. The man also grew old in that
honourable post, and therein died. But
all this happened a good while later.
Now, Agrippa stood in his bonds be-
fore the royal palace, and leaned on a
certain tree for grief, with many others,
who were in bonds also; and as a certain
bird sat upon the tree on which Agrippa
leaned, (the Romans called this bird bu-
bo,) [an owl], one of those that were
bound, a German by nation, saw him, and
asked a soldier who that man in purple
was; and when he was informed that his
name was Agrippa, and that he was by
nation a Jew, and one of the principal
men of that nation, he asked leave of the
soldier to whom he was bound,* to let
him come near to him, to speak with him;
for that he had a mind to inquire of him
about some things relating to his country;
which liberty, when he had obtained, as
he stood near him, be said thus to him by
an interpreter: — "This sudden change of
thy condition, 0 young man ! is grievous
to thee, as bringing on thee a manifold
and very great adversity; nor wilt thou
believe me, when I foretell how thou wilt
get clear of this misery which thou art
now under, and how Divine Provideuce
will provide for thee. Know, therefore,
(and I appeal to my own country gods, as
well as to the gods of this place, who
have awarded these bonds to us,) that all
I am going to say about thy concerns
shall neither be said for favour nor bribe-
ry, nor out of any endeavour to make
thee cheerful .without cause ; for such
predictions, when they come to fail, make
the grief at last, and in earnest, more
bitter than if the party had never heard
of any such thing. However, though I
run the hazard of my ownself, I think it
fit to declare to thee the prediction of the
gods. It cannot be that thou shouldst
long continue in these bonds; but thou
wilt soon be delivered from them, and
wilt be promoted to the highest dignity
and power, and thou wilt be envied by all
those who now pity thy hard fortune; and
thou wilt be happy till thy death, and
wilt leave thine happiness to the children
whom thou shalt have. But, do thou
remember, when thou seest this bird
again, that thou wilt then live but five
days longer. This event will be brought
to pass by that God who hath sent this
bird hither to be a sign unto thee. And
I cannot but think it unjust to conceal from
thee what I know concerning thee, that,
by thy knowing beforehand what happiness
is coming upon thee, thou mayest not re-
gard thy present misfortunes. But, when
this happiness shall actually befall thee, do
* Dr. Hudson here takes notice, out of Seneca,
epistle v., that this was the custom of Tiberius, to
couple the prisoner and the soldier that guarded
him together in the same chain.
Cn.\r. VI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
81
not forget what misery I am in myself, but
endeavour to deliver me." So when the
German had said this, he made Agrippa
laugh at him, as much as he afterward ap-
peared worthy of admiration. But now
Antonia took Agrippa's misfortune to
heart; however, to speak to Tiberius on
his behalf, she took to be a very difficult
thing, ami, indeed, quite impracticable, as
to any hope of success ; yet did she procure
of Marco that the soldiers that kept him
should be of a gentle nature, and that the
centurion who was over them, and was to
diet with him, should be of the same dis-
position, and that he might have leave to
bathe himself every day, and that his
freedmen and friends might come to
him, and that other things that tended
to ease him might be indulged him. So
his friend Silas came in to him, and two
of his freedmen, Marsyas and Stechus,
brought him such sorts of food as he was
fond of, and, indeed, took great care of
him ; they also brought him garments,
under pretence of selling them, and, when
night came on, they laid them under him;
and the soldiers assisted them, as Marco
had given them order to do beforehand.
And this was Agrippa's condition for six
months' time; and in this case were his
affairs.
But as for Tiberius, upon his return to
Caprea;, he fell sick. At first his distem-
per was but gentle ; but, as that distemper
increased upon him, he had small or no
hopes of recovery. Hereupon he bade
Euodus, who was the freedman whom he
most of all respected, to bring the children
to him, for that he wanted to talk to
them before he died. Now, he had at
present no sons of his own alive; for
Drusus, who was his only son, was dead :
but Drusus' s son Tiberius was still living,
whose additional name was Gemellus;
there was also living Caius, the son of
Germanicus, who was the son of his bro-
ther [Drusus]. He was now grown up,
and had had a liberal education, and
was well improved by it, and was in
esteem and favour with the people, on
account of the excellent character of his
father Germanicus, who had attained the
highest honour among the multitude, by
the firmness of his virtuous behaviour, by
the easiness and agreeableness of his con-
versing with the multitude, and because
the dignity he was in did not hinder his
familiarity with them all, as if they were
not only greatly esteemed by the people
and the senate, but by every one of those
nations that were subject to the Romans;
some of whom were affected, when they
came to him, with the gracefulness of
their reception by him; and others were
affected in the same manner by the report
of the others that had been with him;
and, upon his death, there was a lamenta-
tion made by all men ; not such an oue
as was to be made in way of flattery to
their rulers, while they did but counter-
feit sorrow, but such as was real ; while
everybody grieved at his death, as if they
had lost one that was near to them. And,
truly, such had been his easy conversation
with men, that it turned greatly to the ad-
vantage of his son among all; and, among
others, the soldiery were so peculiarly af-
fected to him, that they reckoned it an eli-
gible thing, if need were, to die themselves,
if he might but attain to the government.
But wdien Tiberius had given order to
Euodus to bring the children to him the
next day in the morning, he prayed to
his country gods to show him a manifest
signal which of those children should
come to the government; being very de-
sirous to leave it to his son's son, but still
depending upon what God would fore-
show concerning them, more than upon
his own opinion and inclination ; so he
made this to be the omen, that the go-
vernment should be left to him who
should come to him first the next day.
When he had thus resolved within him-
self, he sent to his grandson's tutor, and
ordered him to bring the child to him
early in the morning, as supposing that
God would permit him to be made em-
peror. But God proved opposite to his
designation; for, while Tiberius was thus
contriving matters, and, as soon as it was
at all day, he bade Euodus to call in that
child which should be there ready. So
he went out, and found Caius before the
door, for Tiberius had not yet come, but
stayed waiting for his breakfast ; for Euo-
dus knew nothing of what his lord in-
tended; so he said to Caius, "Thy father
calls thee," and then brought him in.
As soon as Tiberius saw Caius, and not
before, he reflected on the power of God,
and how the ability of bestowing the
government on whom he would was en-
tirely taken from him ; and thence he
was not able to establish what he had
intended. So he greatly lamented that
his equals; by which behaviour he was his power of establishing what he hud
Vol. II.— 6. 2 0
82
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII
before contrived was taken from him, and
that his grandson Tiberius was not only
to lose the Roman empire by his fatality,
but his own safety also; because his
preservation would now depend upon such
as would be more potent than himself,
who would think it a thing not to be
borne that a kinsman should live with
them, and so his relation would not be
able to protect him : but he would be
feared and hated by him who had the
supreme authority, partly on account of
his being next to the empire, and partly
on account of his perpetually contriving
to get the government, both in order to
preserve himself, and to be at the head of
affairs also. Now, Tiberius had been very
much given to astrology,* and the calcula-
tion of nativities; and had spent his life
in the esteem of what predictions had
proved true, more than those whose pro-
fession it was. Accordingly, when he
once saw Galba coming in to him, he said
to his most intimate friends, that there
came in a man that would one day have
the dignity of the Roman empire. So
that this Tiberius was more addicted to all
ouch sorts of diviners than any other of
the Roman emperors, because he had
found them to have told the truth in his
own affairs; and, indeed, he was now in
great distress upon this accident that had
befallen him, and was very much grieved
at the destruction of his son's son, which
he foresaw, and complained of himself,
that he should have made use of such a
method of divination beforehand, while it
was in his power to have died without
grief by this knowledge of futurity ;
whereas he was now tormented by his
foreknowledge of the misfortune of such
as were dearest to him, and must die
under that torment. Now, although he
was disordered at this unexpected revolu-
tion of the government to those for whom
he did not intend it, he spake thus to
Caius, though unwillingly, and against
his own inclination: — "0 child, although
Tiberius be nearer related to me than
thou art, I by my own determination, and
the conspiring suffrage of the gods, do
give, and put into thine hand, the Roman
empire; and I desire thee never to be un-
mindful when thou comest to it, either of
my kindness to thee, who set thee in so
high a dignity, or of thy relation to
* This is a known thing among the Roman histo-
rians and poets, that Tiberius was greatly given to
astrology and divinatit u.
Tiberius: but as thou knowest that I am,
together with and after the gods, the
procurer of so great happiness to thee, so
I desire that thou wilt make me a return
for my readiness to assist thee, and wilt
take care of Tiberius, because of his near
relation to thee. Besides which, thou art
to know, that, while Tiberius is alive, he
will be a security to thee, both as to em-
pire and as to thy own preservation ; but,
if he die, that will be but a prelude to thy
own misfortunes; for to be alone under
the weight of such vast affairs, is very
dangerous; nor will the gods suffer those
actions which are unjustly done, contrary
to that law which directs men to do other-
wise, to go off unpunished." This was
the speech which Tiberius made; which
did not persuade Caius to act accordingly,
although he had promised so to do; but,
when he was settled in the government,
he took off this Tiberius, as was predicted
by the other Tiberius; as he was also
himself, in no long time afterward, slain
fcy a secret plot laid against him.
So when Tiberius had at this time ap-
pointed Caius to be his successor, he out-
lived but a few days, and then died, after
he had held the government twenty-two
years, five months, and three days. Now
Caius was the fourth emperor ; but when
the Romans understood that Tiberius was
dead, they rejoiced at the good news, but
had not courage to believe it; not be-
cause they were unwilling it should be
true, for they would have given large
sums of money that it might be so, but
because they were afraid that, if they had
showed their joy when the news proved
false, their joy should be openly known,
and they should be accused for it, and be
thereby undone ; for this Tiberias had
brought a vast number of miseries on the
best families of the Romans, since he was
easily inflamed with passion in all cases,
and was of such a temper as rendered his
anger irrevocable, till he had executed
the same, although he had taken a hatred
against men without reason; for he was
by nature fierce in all the sentences he
gave, and made death the penalty for the
slightest offences; insomuch, that when
the Romans heard the rumour about his
death gladly, they were restrained from
the enjoyment of that pleasure by the
dread of 6" ch miseries as they foresaw
would follow, if their hopes proved ill-
grounded Now Marsjas, Agrippa's freed-
man, as soon as he heard of Tiberius'd
Chap. TIL]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
S3
death, came running to tell Agrippa the
news; and finding him going out to the
bath, he gave him a nod, and said, in the
Hebrew tongue, "The lion is dead;"
who, understanding his meaning, and
being overjoyed at the news, "Nay,"
said he, "but all sorts of thanks and hap-
piness attend thee for this news of thine :
only I wish that what thou sayest may
prove true." Now the centurion who
was set to keep Agrippa, when he saw
with what haste Marsyas came, and what
joy Agrippa had from what he said, he
had a sudden suspicion that his words
implied some great innovation of affair?,
and he asked them about what was said.
They at first diverted the discourse ; but
upon his further pressing, Agrippa, with-
out more ado, told him, for he had al-
ready become his friend; so he joined
with him in that pleasure which this news
occasioned, because it would be fortunate
to Agrippa, and made him a supper: but,
as they were feasting, and the cups went
about, there came out one who said, that
Tiberius was still alive, and would return
to the city in a few days. At which news
the centurion was exceedingly troubled,
because he had done what might cost him
his life, to have treated so joyfully a
prisoner, and this upon the news of the
death of Caesar; so he thrust Agrippa
from the couch whereon he lay, and said,
"Dost thou think to cheat me by a lie
about the emperor without punishment?
and shalt not thou pay for this thy mali-
cious report at the price of thine head?"
When he had so said, he ordered Agrippa
to be bound again, (for he had loosed him
before,) and kept a more severe guard over
him than formerly, and in that evil condi-
tion was Agrippa that night; but the
next day the rumour increased in the city,
and confirmed the news that Tiberius was
certainly dead ; insomuch, that men durst
now openly and freely talk about it; nay
some offered sacrifices on that account.
Several letters also came from Caius ; one
of them to the senate, which informed
them of the death of Tiberius, and of his
own entrance on the government ; another
to Piso, the governor of the city, which
told him the same thing. He also gave
order that Agrippa should be removed
out of the camp, and go to that house
where he lived before he was put in
prison; so that he was now out of fear as
to his own affairs; for, although he was
still in custody, yet, it was with ease to
his own affairs. Now, as soon as Caiua
had come to Rome, and had brought Tibc-
rius's dead body with him, and had made
a sumptuous funeral for him, according to
the laws of his country, he was much dis-
posed to set Agrippa at liberty that very
day; but Antouia hindered him, not out
of any ill-will to the prisoner, but out of
regard to decency in Caius, lest that
should make men believe that he received
the death of Tiberius with pleasure, when
he loosed one whom he had bound imme-
diately. However, there did not many
days pass ere he sent for him to his
house, and had him shaved, and made
him change his raiment; after which he
put a diadem upon his head, and ap-
pointed him to be king of the tetrarch^
of Philip. He also gave him the te-
trarchy of Lysanias,* and changed his
iron chain for a golden one of equal
weight. He also sent Marullus to be
procurator of Judea.
Now, in the second year of the reign
of Caius Caesar, Agrippa desired leave to
be given him to sail home and settle the
affairs of his government; and he pro-
mised to return again when he had put
the rest in order, as it ought to be put.
So, upon the emperor's permission, he
came into his own country, and appeared
to them all unexpectedly as a king, and
thereby demonstrated to the men that saw
him, the power of fortune, when they
compared his former poverty with his
present happy affluence; so some called
him a happy man; and others could not
well believe that things were so much
changed with him for the better.
CHAPTER VII.
IlcruJ the tetrarch banished.
But Hcrodias, Agrippa's sister, who
now lived as wife to that Herod who was
tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, took this
authority of her brother in an envious
manner, particularly when she saw that
he had a greater dignity bestowed on him
than her husband had; since, when he
ran away, he was not able to pay his
debts; and now he had come back, it was
because he was in a way of diguity and
of great fortune. She was therefore griev-
ed and much displeased at so great a
* Although Cains now promised to give Agrippa
(.he tetrarchy ol* Lysanias, yet it was not actually
conferred upon him till the reign of Claudius.
84
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIIL
mutation of his affairs; and chiefly when
she saw him marching among the multitude
with the usual ensigns of royal authority,
she was not able to conceal how miserable
she was by reason of the envy she had
toward him; but she excited her hus-
band, and desired that he would sail to
Home, to court honours equal to his; for
she said, that she could not bear to live
any longer, while Agrippa, the son of that
Ari>tobulus who was condemned to die
by his father, one that came to her hus-
band in such extreme poverty, that the
necessaries of life were forced to be en-
tirely supplied him day by day; and
when he fled away from his creditors by
sea, he now returned a king: while he
was himself the son of a king, and while
the near relation he bore to royal autho-
rity called upon him to gain the like
dignity, he sat still, and was contented
with a more private life. "But then,
Herod, although thou wast formerly not
concerned to be in a lower condition than
thy father, from whom thou wast derived,
had been, yet do thou now seek after the
dignity which thy kinsman hath attained
to ; and do not thou bear this contempt,
that a man who admired thy riches should
be in greater honour than thyself, nor
suffer his poverty to show itself able to
purchase greater things- than our abun-
dance ; nor do thou esteem it other than a
shameful thing to be inferior to one who,
the other day, lived upon thy charity.
But let us go to Rome, and let us spare
no pains nor expenses, either of silver or
gold, since they cannot be kept for any
better use than for the obtaining of a
kingdom."
But for Herod, he opposed her request at
this time, out of the love of ease, and hav-
ing a suspicion of the trouble he should
have at Rome; so he tried to instruct her
better. But the more she saw him draw
back, the more she pressed him to it, and
desired him to leave no stone unturned in
order to be king : and, at last, she left
not off till she engaged him, whether he
would or not, to be of her sentiments,
because he could no otherwise avoid her
importunity. So, he got all things ready,
after as sumptuous a manner as he was
able, and spared for nothing, and went up
to Rome, and took Herodias aloug with
him. But Agrippa, when he was made
sensible of their intentions and prepara-
tions, he also prepared to go thither; and,
as Boon as he heard they set sail, he sent
Fortunatus, one of his freedmen, to
Rome, to carry presents to the emperor,
and letters against Herod, and to give
Caius a particular account of those mat-
ters, if he should have any opportunity.
This man followed Herod so quick, and
had so prosperous a voyage, and came so
little after Herod, that while Herod was
with Caius, he came himself, and deli-
vered his letters ; for they both sailed to
Dicearchia, and found Caius at Baiae,
which is itself a little city of Campania, at
the distance of about five furlongs from
Dicearchia. There are in that place royal
places, with sumptuous apartments, every
emperor still endeavouring to outdo his
predecessor's magnificence ; the palace
also affords warm baths, that spring out
of the ground of their own accord, which
are of advantage for the recovery of the
health of those that make use of them;
and, besides, they minister to men's
luxury also. Now Caius saluted Herod,
for he first met with him, and then look-
ed upon the letters which Agrippa had
sent him, and which were written in
order to accuse Herod; wherein he ac-
cused him, that he had been in confe-
deracy with Sejanus, against Tiberius's
government, and that he was now confe-
derate with Artabanus, the king of Parthia,
in opposition to the government of Caius;
as a demonstration of which, he alleged
that he had armour sufficient for 70,000
men, ready in his armoury. Caius was
moved at this information, and asked
Herod whether what was said about the
armour was true; and when he confessed
there was such armour there, for he could
not deny the same, the truth of it being
too notorious, Caius took that to be a
sufficient proof of the accusation that he
intended to revolt. So he took away
from him his tetrarchy, and gave it by
way of addition to Agrippa's kingdom;
he also gave Herod's money to Agrippa,
and, by way of punishment, awarded him
a perpetual banishment, and appointed
Lyons, a city of Gaul, to be his place of
habitation. But when he was informed
that Herodias was Agrippa's sister, he
made her a present of what money was
her own, and told her that it was her
brother who prevented her being put
under the same calamity with her hus-
band. But she made this reply : —
''Thou, indeed, 0 emperor! actest after
a magnificent manner, and as becomes
thyself, in what thou offerest me; but
Chap. VIII.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
85
the kindness which I have for my hus-
band hinders me from partaking of the
favour of thy gift: for it is not just that
1, who have been made a partner in his
prosperity, should forsake him in his
misfortunes." Hereupon Caius was an-
gry at her, and sent her with Herod
into banishment, and gave her estate to
Agrippa. And thus did God punish Hc-
rodias for her envy at her brother, and
Herod also for giving ear to the vain
discourses of a woman. Now, Caius
managed public affairs with great mag-
nanimity during the first and second
years of his reign, and behaved himself
with such moderation that he gained the
good-will of the Romans themselves, and
of his other subjects. But, in process of
time, he went beyond the bounds of
human nature in his conceit of himself,
and, by reason of the vastness of his do-
minions, made himself a god, and took
upon himself to act in all things to the
reproach of the Deity itself.
CHAPTER VIII.
Embassy of the Jews to Caius — Caius sends Petro-
nius into Syria to make war against the Jews.
There was now a tumult arisen at Alex-
andria, between the Jewish inhabitants
and the Greeks; and three ambassadors
were chosen out of each party that were
at variance, who came to Caius. Now,
one of these ambassadors from the people
of Alexandria was Apion, who uttered
many blasphemies against the Jews; and,
among other things that he said, he
charged them with neglecting the ho-
nours that belonged to Caesar; for that
while all who were subject to the Roman
empire built altars and temples to Caius,
and, in other regards, universally received
him as they received the gods, these Jews
alone thought it a dishonourable thing
for them to erect statues in honour of
him, as well as to swear by his name.
Many of these severe things were said by
Apion, by which he hoped to provoke
Caius to anger at the Jews, as he was
likely to be. But Philo, the principal of
the Jewish embassy, a man eminent on
all accounts, brother to Alexander the
alabarch, and one not unskilful* in philo-
* Alexander, the alahareh, or governor of the
Jews, at Alexandria, and brother to Philo. is
i. by Bishop Pearson, to be the same with
xander who is mentioned by Si. Luke as
of the kindred of the high priests. Acts iv. 0.
Sophy, was ready to betake himself to
make his defence against those accusa-
tions; but Caius prohibited him, and bade
him begone: he was also in such a rage,
that it openly appeared he was about to
do them some very great mischief. So
Philo, being thus affronted, went out, and
said to those Jews who were about him,
that they should be of good courage,
since Caius's words indeed showed anger
at them, but in reality had already set
God against himself.
Hereupon Caius, taking it very hei-
nously that he should be thus despised
by the Jews alone, sent Petronius to be
president of Syria, and successor in the
government to Vitellius, and gave him
order to make an invasion into Judea, with
a great body of troops, and, if they would
admit of his statue willingly, to erect it
in the temple of God ; but, if they were
obstinate, to conquer them by war, and
then to do it. Accordingly, Petronius
took the government of Syria, and made
haste to obey Csesar's epistle. He got
together as great a number of auxiliaries
as he possibly could, and took with him
two legions of the Roman army, and came
to Ptolemais, and there wintered, as in-
tending to set about the war in the spring.
He also wrote word to Caius what he had
resolved to do; who commended him for
his alacrity, and ordered him to go on, and
to make war with them, in case the}' would
not obey his commands. But there came
many ten thousands of the Jews to Petro-
nius, to Ptolemais, to offer their petitions
to him, that he would not compel them to
transgress and violate the law of their
forefathers; "but if," said they, "thou
art entirely resolved to bring this statue,
and erect it, do thou first kill us, and then
do what thou hast resolved on; for, while
we are alive, we cannot permit such things
as are forbidden us to be done by the au-
thority of our legislator, and by our fore-
fathers' determination that such prohibi-
tions are instances of virtue." But Petro-
nius was angry at them, and said, "If,
indeed, I were myself emperor, and were
at liberty to follow my own inclination,
and then had designed to act thus, these
your words would be justly spoken to me;
but now Ccesar hath sent to me, I am
under the necessity of being subservient
to his decrees, because a disobedience
to them will bring upon me inevitable
destruction." Then the Jews replied,
"Since, therefore, thou art so disposed, O
8G
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII.
Petrouius! that thou wilt not disobey
Caius'a epistles, neither will we transgress
the commands of our law; and as we de-
pend upon the excellency of our laws, and,
by the labours of our ancestors, have con-
tinued bitherto without suffering them to
be transgressed, we dare not by any means
suffer ourselves to be so timorous as to
transgress those laws out of the fear of
death, which God hath determined are for
our advantage; and, if we fall into mis-
fortunes, we will bear them, in order to
preserve our laws, as knowing that those
wbo expose themselves to dangers have
good hope of escaping them, because God
will stand on our side when, out of regard
to him, we undergo afflictions, and sus-
tain the uncertain turns of fortune. But,
if we should submit to thee, we would
be greatly reproached for our cowardice,
as thereby showing ourselves ready to
transgress our law; and we should incur
the great anger of God also, who, even thy-
self being judge, is superior to Caius."
When Petronius saw by their words
that their determination was hard to be
removed, and that, without a war, he
should not be able to be subservient to
Cuius in the dedication of his statue, and
that there must be a great deal of blood-
shed, he took his friends, and the servants
that were about him, and hasted to Tibe-
rias, as wanting to know in what posture
the affairs of the Jews were ; and many
ten thousands of the Jews met Petronius
again, when he had come to Tiberias.
These thought they must run a mighty
hazard if they should have a war with the
Romans, but judged that the transgression
of the law was of much greater conse-
quence, and made supplication to him
that he would by no means reduce them
to such di.-tresses, nor defile their city with
the dedication of the statue. Then Petro-
nius said to them, " Will you then make
war with Caesar, without considering his
great preparations for war, and your own
weakness?" They replied, "We will not
by any means make war with him; but
still we will die before we see our laws
transgressed." So they threw themselves
down upon their faces, and stretched out
their throats, and said they were ready to
be slain ; and this they did for forty days
together, and, in the mean time, left off
the tilling of their ground, and that while
the season of the year required them to
sow it. Thus they continued linn in their
resolution, and proposed to themselves to
die willingly, rather than to see the dedi-
cation of the statue.
When matters were in this state, Aris-
tobulus, King Agrippa's brother, and
Helcias the Great, and the other principal
men of that family with them, went in
unto Petronius, and besought him, that,
since he saw the resolution of the multi-
tude, he would not make any alteration,
and thereby drive them to despair; but
would write to Caius, that the Jews had
an insuperable aversion to the reception
of the statue, and how they continued with
him, and left off the tillage of their ground :
that they were not williug to go to war
with him, because they were not able to
do it, but were ready to die with pleasure,
rather than suffer their laws to be trans-
gressed : and how, upon the land's con-
tinuing unsown, robberies would grow up,
on the inability they would be under of
paying their tributes; and that perhaps
Caius might be thereby moved to pity,
and not order any barbarous action to be
done to them, nor think of destroying the
nation : that if he continues inflexible in
his former opinion to bring a war upon
them, he may then set about it himself.
And thus did Aristobulus, and the rest
with him, supplicate Petronius. So Pe-
tronius,* partly on account of the pressing
instances which Aristobulus and the rest
with him made, and because of the great
consequence of what they desired, and the
earnestness wherewith they made their
supplication, partly on account of the firm-
ness of the opposition made by the Jews,
which he saw, while he thought it a hor-
rible thing for him to be such a slave to
the madness of Caius, as to slay so many
ten thousand men, only because of their
religious disposition toward God, and after
that to pass his life in expectation of pu-
nishment ; Petronius, I say, thought it
much better to send to Caius, and to let
him know how intolerable it was to him
to bear the anger he might have against
him for not serving him sooner, in obe-
dience to his epistle, for that perhaps he
might persuade him; and that if this mad
resolution continued, he might then begin
the war against them ; nay, that in case
he should turn his hatred against himself,
* This Publius Petronius was after this still pre-
sident of Syria, under Claudius, and, at the desire
of Agrippa, published a severe decree against the
inhabitants of Dora, who, in a sort of imitation of
Cams, had set up a statue of Claudius in a Jewish
synagogue there.
Chap. VIII.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
it was fit for virtuous persons even to die
for the sake of such vast multitudes of
men. Accordingly, he determined to
hearken to the petitioners in this matter.
lie then called the Jews together to
Tiberias, who came many ten thousands
in number; he also placed that army he
now bad with him opposite to them; but
did not discover his own meaning, but the
commands of the emperor, and told them
that his wrath would, without delay, be
executed on such as had the courage to
disobey what he had commanded, and this
immediately ; and that it was fit for him
who had received so great a dignity by
his grant, not to contradict him in any
thing: "Yet (said he) I do not think it
just to have such a regard to my own
safety and honour, as to refuse to sacrifice
them for your preservation, who are so
many in number, and endeavour to pre-
serve the regard that is due to your law ;
which, as it hath come down to you from
your forefathers, so do you esteem it
worthy of your utmost, contention to pre-
serve it : nor, with the supreme assistance
and power of God, will T be so hardy as
to suffer your temple to fall into contempt
by the means of the imperial authority.
I will therefore send to Caius, and let
him know what your resolutions are, and
will assist your suit as far as 1 am able,
that you may not be exposed to suffer on
account of the honest designs you have
proposed to yourselves; and may God be
your assistant, for his authority is beyond
all the contrivances and power of men ;
and may he procure you the preservation
of your ancient laws, and may not he be
deprived, though without your consent,
of his accustomed honours. But if Caius
be irritated, and turn the violence of his
rage against me, I will rather undergo all
that danger and affliction that may come
either on my body or my soul, than see so
many of you perish, while you are acting
in so excellent a manner. Do you, there-
fore, every one of you, go your way about
your own occupations, and fall to the cul-
tivation of your ground ; I will myself
send to Home, and will not refuse to serve
you in all things, both by myself and by
my friends."
When Petronius had said this, and had
dismissed the assembly of the Jews, he
desired the principal of them to take care
of their husbandry, and to speak kindly
to the people, and encourage them to have
good hope of their affairs. Thus did he
readily bring the multitude to be cl
again. And now did God show his pre-
sence f" Petronius, and signify to him
that he would afford him his assistance in
his whole design ; for he had no sooner
finished the speech that lie made to the
Jews, but God sent down great showers
of rain, contrary to human expectation;
for that day was a clear day, and gave no
sign, by the appearance iff the sky, of any
rain ; nay, the whole year had been sub-
ject to a great drought, and made men
despair of any water from above, even
when at any time they saw the heavens
overcast with clouds ; insomuch, that
when such a great quantity of rain came,
and that in an unusual manner and with-
out any other expectation of it, the Jews
hoped that Petronius would by no means
fail in his petition for them. But as to
Petronius, be was mightily surprised when
he perceived that God evidently took care
of the Jews, and gave very plain signs
of his appearance, and this to such a de-
gree, that those that were in earnest much
inclined to the contrary, had no power
left to contradict it. This was also among
those other particulars which he wrote to
Oaius, which all tended to dissuade him,
and by all means to entreat him not to
make so many ten thousands of these men
go distracted; whom, if he should slay,
(for without war they would by no means
suffer the laws of their worship to be set
aside,) he would lose the revenue they
paid him, and would be publicly cursed
by them for all future ages. Moreover,
that God who was their governor, had
shown his power most evidently on their
account, and that such a power of his as
left no room for doubt about it; — and this
was the business that Petronius was now
engaged in.
But King Agrippa, who now lived at
Rome, was more and more in the favoui
of Caius; and when he had once made
him a supper, and was careful to exceed
all others, both in expenses and in such
preparations as might contribute most to
his nlcasure ; nay, it was so far from the
ability of others, that Caius himself could
never equal, much less exceed it, (such
care had he taken beforehand to exceed all
men, and particularly to make all ag
ble to Caesar;) hereupon Caius admired
his understanding ami magnificence, that
he should force himself to do all to please
him, even beyond such expenses as he
could bear, and wa^ dc-sirous not to bo
ss
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII.
behind Agrippa in that generosity which
he exerted, in order to please him. So
Cains, when he had drunk wine plenti-
fully, and was merrier than ordinary, said
thus during the feast, when Agrippa had
drunk to him : — "I knew before now how
great a respect thou hast had for me, and
how great kindness thou hast shown me,
though with those hazards to thyself,
which thou underwentest under Tiberius
on that account; nor hast thou omitted
any thing to show thy good-will toward
us, even beyond thy ability; whence it
would be a base thing for me to be con-
quered by thy affection. I am, therefore,
desirous to make these amends for every
thing in which I have been formerly de-
ficient ; for all that I have bestowed on
thee, that may be called my gifts, is but
little. Every thing that may contribute
to thy happiness shall be at thy service,
and that cheerfully, and so far as my
ability will reach;"* — and this was what
Cains said to Agrippa, thinking he would
ask for some large country, or the reve-
nues of certain cities; but, although he
had prepared beforehand what he would
ask, yet had he not discovered his inten-
tions, but made this answer to Caius im-
mediately, that it was not out of any
expectation of gain tbat he formerly paid
his respects to him, contrary to the com-
mands of Tiberius, nor did" he now do any
thing relating to him out of regard to his
own advantage, and in order to receive
any thing from him : that the gifts he had
already bestowed upon him were great,
and beyond the hopes of even a craving
man; for, although they may be beneath
thy power [who art the donor], yet are
they greater than my inclination and
diguity, who am the receiver; — and, as
Caius was astonished at Agrippa's incli-
nations, and still the more pressed him to
make his request for somewhat which he
might gratify him with, Agrippa replied,
"Since thou, 0 my lord, declarest such
is thy readiness to grant, that I am worthy
of thy gifts, I will ask nothing relating to
my own felicity; for what thou hast al-
ready bestowed on me has made me excel
therein ; but I desire somewhat which
may make thee glorious for piety, and
render the Divinity assistant to thy de-
signs, and may be for an honour to me
* This behaviour of Caius to Agrippa is very
like that of Herod Antipas, his uncle, to Herodias,
Agrippa's sister, about John the Baptist. Matt.
xiv. 6-11.
among those that inquire about it, a?
showing that I never once fail of obtain-
ing what I desire of thee ; for my petition
is this, that thou wilt no longer think of
the dedication of that statue which thou
hast ordered to be set up in the Jewish
temple by Petronius."
And thus did Agrippa venture to cast
the die upon this occasion, so great was
the affair in his opinion, and in reality,
though he knew how dangerous a thing
it was to speak; for, had not Caius ap-
proved it, it had tended to no less than
the loss of his life. So Caius, who was
mightily taken with Agrippa's obliging
behaviour, and, on other accounts, think-
ing it a dishonourable thing to be guilty
of falsehood before so many witnesses, in
points wherein he had with such alacrity
forced Agrippa to become a petitioner,
and that it would look as if he had
already repented of what he had said,
and, because he greatly admired Agrippa's
virtue, in not desiring him at all to aug-
ment his own dominions, either with
larger revenue or other authority, but
took care of the public tranquillity, of the
laws, and of the Divinity itself, he granted
him what he requested. He also wrote
thus to Petronius, commending him for
his assembling his army, and then con-
sulting him about these affairs. " If,
therefore," said he, " thou hast already
erected my statue, let it stand ; but if thou
hast not yet dedicated it, do not trouble
thyself further about it, but dismiss thy
army, go back, and take care of those
affairs which I sent thee about at first; for
I have now no occasion for the erection
of that statue. This I have granted as a
favour to Agrippa, a man whom I honour
so very greatly, that I am not able to con-
tradict what he would have, or what he
desired me to do for him." And this
was what Caius wrote to Petronius, which
was before he received his letter inform-
ing him that the Jews were very ready to
revolt about this statue, and that they
seemed resolved to threaten war against
the Romans, and nothing else. When,
therefore, Caius was much displeased that
any attempt should be made against his
government, as he was a slave to base and
vicious actions on all occasions, and had
no regard to what was virtuous and
honourable, and against whomsoever he
resolved to show his anger, and that for
any cause whatsoever, he suffered not
himself to be restrained by any admo-
Chap. IX.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
89
nition, but thought the indulging his
anger to be a real pleasure, he wrote thus
to Petronius : — " Seeing thou esteemest
the presents made thee by the Jews to
be of greater value than my commands,
and art grown insolent enough to be sub-
servient to their pleasure, I charge thee
to become thy own judge, and to consider
what thou art to do, now thou art under
my displeasure, for I will make thee an
example to the present and to all future
ages, that they may not dare to contradict
the commands of their emperor."
This was the epistle which Gains wrote
to Petronius; but Petronius did not re-
ceive it while Caius was alive, that ship
which carried it sailed so slow, the other
letters came to Petronius before this, by
which he understood that Caius was dead,
for God would not forget the dangers Pe-
tronius had undertaken on account of the
Jews, and of his own honour. But when
he had taken Caius away, out of his indig-
nation of what he had so insolently at-
tempted, in assuming to himself divine
worship, both Home and all that dominion
conspired with Petronius, especially those
that were of the senatorian order, to give
Caius his due reward, because he had
been unmercifully severe to them ; for he
died not long after he had written to Pe-
tronius that epistle which threatened him
with death. But as for the occasion of
his death, and the nature of the plot
against him, I shall relate them in the
progress of this narration. Now, that
epistle which informed Petronius of Caius's
death came first; and, a little afterward,
came that which commanded him to kill
himself with his own hands. Whereupon
he rejoiced at this coincidence as to the
death of Caius, and admired God's pro-
vidence, who, without the least delay,
and immediately, gave him a reward for
the regard he had to the temple, and the
assistance he afforded the Jews for avoid-
ing the dangers they were in. And by
this means Petrouius escaped that danger
of death which he could not foresee.
CHAP. IX.
Sedition among the Babylonian Jews.
A very sad calamity now befell the
Jews that were iu Mesopotamia, and
especially those that dwelt in Babylonia.
Inferior it was to none of the calamities
which had gone before, and came toge-
ther with a great slaughter of them, and
that greater than any upon record before:
concerning all which 1 shall speak more
accurately, and shall explain the occasions
whence these miseries came upon them.
There was a city of Babylonia called
Neerda; not only a very populous one,
but oue that had a good and large ter-
ritory about it; and, besides its other ad-
vantages, full of men also. It was,
besides, not easily to be assaulted by
enemies, from the river Euphrates en-
compassing it all round, and from the
walls that were built about it. There
was also the city Nisibis, situate on the
same current of the river. For which
reason the Jews, depending on the natural
strength of these places, deposited in
them that half shekel which every one,
by the custom of our country, offers uuto
God, as well as they did other things de-
voted to him ; for they made use of these
cities as a treasury, whence, at a proper
time, they were transmitted to Jerusa-
lem ; and many ten thousand men under-
took the carriage of those donations, out
of fear of the ravages of the Parthians, to
whom the Babylonians were then subject.
Now, there were two men, Asineus and
Anileus, of the city Neerda by birth, and
brethren to one another. They were des-
titute of a father; and their mother put
them to learn the art of weaving curtains,
it not being esteemed a disgrace among
them for men to be weavers of cloth.
Now, he that taught them that art, and
was set over them, complained that they
came too late to their work, and punished
them with stripes; but they took this just
punishment as au affront, and carried oil'
all the weapons which were kept in that
house, which were not a few, and went
into a certain place where was a partition
of the rivers, atid was a plaee naturally
very fit for the feeding of cattle, and for
preserving such fruits as are usually laid
up against winter. The poorest sort of
the young men also resorted to them,
whom they armed with the weapons they
had gotten, and became their captains,
and nothing hindered them from being
their leaders into mischief; for, as aoou
as they had become invincible, and had
built themselves a citadel, they scut to
such as fed cattle, and ordered them to
pay them so much tribute out of them as
might be sufficient for their maintenance,
proposing also, that they would be their
friends, if they would submit to them,
90
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XYII1.
and that they would defend them from all
their other enemies on every side; but
that they would kill the cattle of those
that refused to obey them. So, they
hearkened to their proposals, (for they
could do nothing else,) and sent them as
many sheep as were required of them;
whereby their forces grew greater, and
they became lords over all they pleased,
because they marched suddenly, and did
them a mischief, insomuch that every-
body who had to do with them chose to
pay them respect; aud they became for-
midable to such as came to assault them,
until the report about them came to the
ears of the king of Parthia himself.
But when the governor of Babylonia
understood this, and had a mind to put a
stop to them before they grew greater,
and before greater mischiefs should arise
from them, he got together as great an
army as he could, both of Parthians and
Babylonians, and marched against them,
thinking to attack them and destroy them,
before any one should carry them the
news that he had got an army together.
He then encamped at a lake, and lay
still ; but, on the next day (it was the
Sabbath, which is among the Jews a day
of rest from all sorts of work) he supposed
that the enemy would not dare to fight
him thereon, but that he would take them
and carry them away prisoners, without
fighting. He therefore proceeded gradu-
ally, and thought to fall upon them on
the sudden. Now Asineus was sitting
with the rest, and their weapons lay by
them ; upon which he said, " Sirs, I hear
a neighing of horses; not of such as are
feeding, but such as have men on their
backs ; I also hear such a noise of their
bridles, that I am afraid that some
enemies are coming upon us to encompass
us round. However, let somebody go to
look about, and make report of what
reality there is in the present state of
things; and may what I have said prove
a false alarm I" And when he had said
this, some of them went to spy out what
was the matter; and they came again
immediately, and said to him, that
"neither hast thou been mistaken in
telling us what our enemies were doing,
nor will those enemies permit us to be
injurious to people any longer. We are
caught by their intrigues like brute beasts,
and there is a large body of cavalry march-
ing upon us, while we are destitute of
hands to defend ourselves withal, because
we are restrained from doing it, by the
prohibition of our law, which obliges us
to rest [on this day]. But Asineus did
not by any means agree with the opinion
of his spy as to what was to be done, but
thought it more agreeable to the law to
pluck up their spirits in this necessity
they had fallen into, and break their law
by avenging themselves, although they
should die in the action, than, by doing
nothing, to please their enemies in sub-
mitting to be slain by them. Accord-
ingly, he took up his weapons, and in-
fused courage into those that were with
him, to act as courageously as himself.
So they fell upon their enemies, and slew
a great many of them, because they de-
spised them, and came as to a certain
victory, and put the rest to flight.
But when the news of this fight came
to the king of Parthia, he was surprised
at the boldness of these brethren, and was
desirous to see them, and speak with
them. He therefore sent the most trusty
of all his guards to say thus to them : —
" The King Artabanus, although he had
been unjustly treated by you, who have
made an attempt against his government,
yet hath he more regard to your courage-
ous behaviour than to the anger he bears
to you, and hath sent me to give you his
right hand* and security; and he permits
you to come to him safely, aud without
any violence upon the road, as he wants
to have you address yourselves to him as
friends, without meaning any guile or
deceit to you. He also promises to make
you presents, and to pay you those re-
spects which will make an addition of his
power to your courage, and thereby be of
advantage to you." Yet did Asineus
himself put off his journey thither, but
sent his brother Anileus with all such
presents as he could procure. So he
went, and was admitted to the king's
presence; and when Artabanus saw Ani-
leus coming along, he inquired into the
reason why Asineus avoided to come along
with him ; and when he understood that
he was afraid, and stayed by the lake, he
took an oath by the gods of his country,
that he would do them no harm, if they
came to him upon the assurances he gave
them, and gave him his right hand. This
is of the greatest force there with all these
barbarians, aud affords a firm security to
* The joining of the right hands was esteemed
iniong tho Persians [and Parthians] m particular
a mot;t inviolable obligation to fidelity.
Chap. K.]
ANTIQUITIES OF Till', JEWS.
91
those who converse with them ; for none
of them will deceive you when once they
have '/wen you their right hands, nor
will any one donbt their fidelity, when
that is once given, even though they
were bi fore suspected of injustice. When
Artabanus had done this, he sent away
Anileus to persuade his brother to come
to him. Now this the king did, because
he wanted to curb his own governors of
provinces by the courage of these Jewish
brethren, lest they should make a league
with them; for they were ready for a re-
volt, and were disposed to rebel, had they
been sent on an expedition against them.
He was also afraid, lest, when he was
engaged in a war, in order to subdue
those governors of provinces that had re-
volted, the party of Asineus and those in
Babylonia should be augmented, and
either make war upon him when they
should hear of that revolt, or, if they
should be disappointed in that case, they
would not fail of doing further mischief
to him.
When the king had these intentions,
ne sent away Anileus'; and Anileus pre-
vailed on his brother [to come to the king],
when he had related to him the king's
go id-will, aud the oath that he had taken.
Accordingly, they made haste to go to
Artabauus, who received them, when they
had come, with pleasure, and admired
Asineus's courage in the actions be had
done, and this, because he was a little man
to see to, and, at first, sight, appeared con-
temptible also, and such as one might
deem a person of no value at all. He also
said to his friends, how, upon the compa-
rison, he showed his soul to be, in all re-
spects, superior to his body ; and when,
as they w7ere drinking together, he once
showed Asineus to Abdagases, one of the
geuerals of his army, and told him his
name, and described the great courage he
was of in war, and Abdagases had desired
leave to kill him, and thereby to inflict
upon him a punishment for those injuries
he had done to the Parthian government,
the king replied, "I will never give thee
leave to kill a man who hath depended on
my faith, especially not, after I have sent
him my right hand, and endeavoured to
gain his belief by oaths made by the gods.
But, if thou be a truly warlike man, thou
Btandest not in need of my perjury. Go
thou, then, and avenge the Parthian go-
vernment; attack this man, when he has
returned back, aud conquer him by the
forces that are under thy command, with-
out my privity." Hereupon the king called
for Asineus, and said to him, "It is time
for thee, 0 thou young man ! to return
home, and not provoke the indignation of
my generals in this place any further, lest
they attempt to murder thee, and that
without my approbation. I commit to
thee the country of Babylonia in trust,
that it may, by thy care, be preserved free
from robbers, and from other mischiefs.
I have kept my faith inviolable to thee,
and that not in trifling affairs, but in those
that concerned thy safety, and do there-
fore deserve thou shouldst be kind to me."
When he had said this, and given Asineus
some presents, he sent him away imme-
diately; who, when he had come home,
built fortresses, aud became great in a
little time, and managed things with such
courage and success, as no other person,
that had uo higher a beginning, ever did
before him. Those Parthian governors,
also, who were sent that way, paid him
great respect; and the honour that was
paid him by the Babylonians seemed to
them too small, aud beneath his deserts,
although he was in no small dignity aud
power there : nay, indeed, all the affairs
of Mesopotamia depended upon him; and
he more and more flourished in this happy
condition of his for fifteen years.
But as their affairs were in so flourish-
ing a state, there sprang up a calamity
among them on the following occasion: —
When once they had deviated from that
course of virtue whereby they had gained
so great power, they affronted and trans-
gressed the laws of their forefathers, and
fell under the dominion of their lusts aud
pleasures. A certain Parthian, who came
as general of an army into those parts,
had a wife following him, who had a vast
reputation for other accomplishments, and
particularly was admired above all other
women for her beauty. Anileus, the
brother of Asineus, either heard of that
her beauty from others, or perhaps saw
her himself also, and so became at once
her lover and her enemy ; partly because
he could not hope to enjoy this woman
but by obtaining power over her as a cap-
tive, and partly because he thought he
could not couquer his inclinations for bcr.
As soon, therefore, as h'er husband had
been declared an enemy to them, and haJ
fallen in the battle, the widow of the de-
ceased was married to this her lover.
However, this woman did not come into
92
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XVIII.
their house without producing great mis-
fortunes, both to Anileus himself, and to
Asineus also; but brought great mischiefs
upon them, on the occasion following: —
Since she was led away captive, on the
death of her husband, she concealed the
images of those gods which were their
country gods, common to her husband
and to herself: now, it is the custom* of
that country, for all to have the idols they
worship in their own houses, and to carry
them along with them when they go into
a foreign land; agreeably to which custom
of theirs, she carried her idols with her.
Now, at first she performed her worship
to them privately, but when she had be-
come Anileus's married wife, she wor-
shipped them in her accustomed manner,
and with the same appointed ceremonies
which she used in her former husband's
days; upon which their most esteemed
friends blamed him at first, that he did
not act after the manner of the Hebrews,
nor perform what was agreeable to their
laws, in marrying a foreign wife, and one
that transgressed the accurate appoint-
ments of their sacrifices and religious
ceremonies; that he ought to consider,
j(est, by allowing himself in many pleasures
of the body, he might lose his principality,
on account of the beauty of a wife, and
that high authority which, by God's bless-
ing, he had arrived at. But when they
prevailed not at all upon him, he slew
one of them for whom he had the greatest
respect, because of the liberty he took with
him ; who, when he was dying, out of re-
gard to the laws, imprecated a punishment
upon his murderer Anileus, and upon
Asineus also, and that all their compa-
nions might come to a like end from their
enemies; upon the two first as the prin-
cipal actors of this wickedness, and upon
the rest as those that would not assist him
when he suffered in the defence of their
laws. Now these latter were sorely grieved,
yet did they tolerate these doings, because
they remembered that they had arrived at
their present happy state by no other
means than their fortitude. But when
they also heard of the worship of those
gods whom the Parthians adore, they
thought the injury that Anileus offered to
their laws was to he borne no longer; and
a greater number of them came to Asi-
* This custom of the Mesopotarnians to carry
tlieir household gods along with them wherever
they travelled, is as old as the days of Jacob. Gen.
sxxi. 19, 30-35.
neus, and loudly complained of Anileus,
and told him, that it had been well that
he had of himself seen what was advan-
tageous to them ; but that, however, it
was now high time to correct, what had
been done amiss, before the crime that
had been committed proved the ruin of
himself and all the rest of them. They
added, that the marriage of this woman
was made without their consent, and with-
out a regard to tlieir old laws ; and that
the worship which this woman paid [to
her gods] was a reproach to the God
whom they worshipped. Now was Asineus
sensible of his brother's offence, that it
had been already the cause of great mis-
chiefs, and would be so for the time to
come; yet did he tolerate the same from
the good-will he had to so near a relation,
and forgiving it to him, on account that
his brother was quite overborne by his
wicked inclinations. But as more and
more still came about him every day, and
the clamours about it became greater, he
at length spoke to Anileus about these
clamours, reproving him for his former
actions, and desiring him for the future
to leave them off, and send the woman
back to her relations. But nothing was
gained by these reproofs; for, as the
woman perceived what a tumult was made
among the people on her account, and was
afraid for Anileus, lest he should come to
any harm for his love to her, she infused
poison into Asineus's food, and thereby
took him off, and was now secure of pre-
vailing, when her lover was to be judge
of what should be done about her.
So Anileus took the government upon
himself alone, and led his army against
the villages of Mi thri dates, who was a
man of principal authority in Parthia, and
had married King Artabanus's daughter:
he also plundered them, and among that
pre}7 was found much money, and many
slaves, as also a great number of sheep,
and many ' other things, which, when
gained, make men's condition happy.
Now, when Mithridates, who was there at
this time, heard that his villages were
taken, he was very much displeased to
find that Anileus had first begun to injure
him, and to affront him in his present
dignity, when he had not offered any in-
jury to him beforehand; and he got to-
gether the greatest body of horsemen he
was able, and those out of that number
which were of an age fit for war, and came
to fight Anileus; and when he had arrived
Chap. IX. |
ANTIQUITIES OF THE .JEWS.
03
at a certain village of his own, he lay still
there, as intending to tight him on the day
following, because it was the Sabbath, the
day on which the Jews rest. And when
Anileus was informed of this by a Syrian
stranger of another village, who not only
gave him an exact accouut of other cir-
cumstances, but told him where Mithri-
dates would have a feast, he took bis
supper at a proper time, and marched by
night, with au intent of falling upon the
Parthians while they were unapprised
what they should do; so he fell upon
them about the fourth watch of the night;
and some of them he slew while they were
asleep, and others he put to flight, and
took Mithridates alive, and set him naked
upon an ass,* which, among the Parthians,
is esteemed the greatest reproach possible.
And when he had brought him into a
wood with such a resolution, and his
friends desired him to kill Mithridates,
he soon told them his own mind to the
contrary, and said, that it was not right
to kill a man who was one of the princi-
pal families among the Parthians, and
greatly honoured with matching into the
royal family; that so far as they had
hitherto gone was tolerable; for, although
they had injured Mithridates, yet, if they
preserved his life, this benefit would be
remembered by him to the advantage of
those that gave it him; but that if he
were once put to death, the king would
not be at rest till he had made a great
slaughter of the Jews that dwelt at Baby-
lon; "to whose safety we ought to have
a regard, both on account of our relation
to them, and because, if any misfortune
befall us, we have no other place to retire
to, since he hath gotten the flower of their
youth under him." By this thought, aud
this speech of his made in council, he per-
suaded them to act accordingly; so Mith-
ridates was let go. But, when he had
got away, his wife reproached him, that
although he was son-in-law to the king,
he neglected to avenge himself on those
that had injured him, while he took no
care about it, but was contented to have
been made a captive by the Jews, and to
have escaped them; and she bade him
either to go back like a man of courage,
or else she sware by the gods of their
* This custom in Syria and Mesopotamia, of set-
ting men upon an ass, by way of disgrace, is still
kept up <tt Damascus in Sj'ria ; where, in order to
show their despite against the Christians, the Turks
will not suffer theui to hire horses, but asses only.
royal family, that she n-ould certainly dis-
solve her marriage with bim. Upon which,
partly because he could not bear the daily
trouble of her taunts, and partly because
he was afraid of her insolence, lest she
should in earnest dissolve their marriage,
he unwillingly, and against his inclina-
tions, got together again as great an army
as he could, and marched along with
them, as himself thinking it a thing not
to be borne any longer, that he, a Par-
thian, should owe his preservation to the
Jews, when they had been too hard for
him in the war.
But, as soon as Anileus understood
that Mithridates was marching with a
great army against him, he thought it too
ignominious a thing to tarry about the
lakes, and not to take the first opportu-
nity of meeting his enemies, and he hoped
to have the same success, and to beat
their enemies as they did before ; as also
he ventured boldly upon the like at-
tempts. Accordingly, he led out his
army; and a great many more joined
themselves to that army, in order to
betake themselves to plunder the people,
aud in order to terrify the enemy again
by their numbers. But when they had
marched ninety furlongs, while the road
had been through dry [and sandy] places,
and about the midst of the day, they
were become very thirsty ; aud Mithri-
dates appeared, and fell upon them, as
they were in distress for want of water,
on which account, and on account of the
time of the day, they were not able to
bear their weapons. So Anileus and his
men were put to an ignominious rout,
while men in despair were to attack those
that were fresh, and in good plight: so a
great slaughter was made, aud many ten
thousand men fell. Now Anileus, and
all that stood firm about him, ran away,
as fast as they were able, into a wood,
aud afforded Mithridates the pleasure of
having gained a great victory over them.
But there now came unto Anileus a con-
flux of bad men, who regarded tlnir own
lives very little, if they might but gain
some present ease, insomuch that they,
by thus coming to him, compensated the
multitude of those that perished in the
tight. Yet were not these men like to
those that fell because they were rash,
and unexercised in war; however, with
these he came upon the villages of the
Babylonians, and a mighty devastation of
all things was made there by tie injuries
di
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII. Chap. IX.
that Anileus did them. So the Babylo-
nians, and those that had already been in
the war, sent to Neerda to the Jews there,
and demanded Anileus. But, although
they did not agree to their demands, (for
if they had been willing to deliver him
up, it was not in their power so to do,)
yet did they desire to make peace with
them. To which the other replied, that
they also wanted to settle conditions of
peace with them, and sent men together
with the Babylonians, who discoursed
with Anileus about them. But the Baby-
lonians, upon taking a view of his situa-
tion, and having learned where Anileus
and his men ]ay, fell secretly upon them
as they were drunk and fallen asleep,
and slew all that they caught of them,
without any fear, and killed Anileus
himself also.
The Babylonians were now freed from
Anileus's heavy incursions, which had
been a great restraint to the effects of
that hatred they bore to the Jews; for
they were almost always at variance, by
reason of the contrariety of their laws;
and which party soever grew boldest be-
fore the other, they assaulted the other :
and at this time in particular it was, that
upon the ruin of Anileus's party, the
Babylonians attacked the Jews ; which
made these Jews so vehemently to resent
the injuries they received from the Baby-
lonians, that, being neither able to fight
them, nor bearing to live with them, they
went to Seleucia, the principal city of
those parts, which was built by Seleucus
Nicator. It was inhabited by many of
the Macedonians, but by more of the
Grecians; not a few of the Syrians also
dwelt there ; and thither did the Jews
fly, and lived there five years without any
misfortunes. But, on the sixth year, a
pestilence came upon these at Babylon,
which occasioned new removals of men's
habitations out of that city; and because
they came to Seleucia, it happened that a
still heavier calamity came upon them on
that account, which I am going to relate
immediately.
Now, the way of living of the people of
Seleucia, who were Greeks and Syrians,
was commonly quarrelsome, and full of
discords, though the Greeks were too
\ hard for the Syrians. When, therefore,
j the Jews had come thither, and dwelt
among them, there arose a sedition ; and
the Syrians were too hard for the other,
by the assistance of the Jews, who are
men that despise dangers, and very ready
to fight upon any occasion. Now, when
the Greeks had the worst in this sedition,
and saw that they had but one way of
recovering their former authority, and
that was, if they could prevent the agree-
ment between the Jews and Syrians, they
every one discoursed with such of the
Syrians as were formerly of their ac-
quaintance, and promised they would be
at peace and friendship with them. Ac-
cordingly, they gladly agreed so to do;
and when this was done by the principal
men of both nations, they soon agreed to
a reconciliation; and when they were so
agreed, they both knew that the great
design of such their union would be
their common hatred to the Jews. Ac-
cordingly, they fell upon them, and slew
about 50,000 of them; nay, the Jews
were all destroyed, excepting a few who
escaped, either by the compassion which
their friends or neighbours afforded them
in order to let them fly away. These
retired to Ctesiphon, a Grecian city, and
situated near to Seleucia, where the king
[of Parthia] lives in winter every year,
and where the greatest part of his riches
are deposited; but the Jews had here no
certain settlement, those of Seleucia hav-
ing little concern for the king's honour.
Now the whole nation of the Jews were
in fear both of the Babylonians and of
the Seleucians, because all the Syrians
that live in those places agreed with the
Seleucians in the war against the Jews;
so the most of them gathered themselves
together, and went to Neerda and Nisibis,
and obtained security there by the strength
of those cities; besides which, their in-
habitants, who were a great many, were
all warlike men. And this was the state
of the Jews at this time in Babylon.
Book XLX. Ciiap. I.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
95
BOOK XIX.
CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF THREE YEARS AND A HALF, FROM THE
JEWS' DEPARTURE OUT OF BABYLON TO FADUS, THE ROMAN PRO-
CURATOR.
CHAPTER I.
Caius (Caligula) slain by Chorea.
Now this Caius did not demonstrate
his madness in offering injuries only to
the Jews at Jerusalem, or to those that
dwelt in the neighbourhood, but suffered
it to extend itself through all the earth and
sea, so far as it was in subjection to the
Romans, and filled it with ten thousand
mischiefs; so many, indeed, in number,
as no former history relates. But Rome
itself felt the most dismal effects of what
he did, while he deemed that not to be
any more honourable than the rest of the
cities; but he pulled and hauled its other
citizens, but especially the senate, and
particularly the nobility, and such as had
been dignified by illustrious ancestors;
he also had ten thousand devices against
such of the equestrian order, as it was
styled, who were esteemed by the citi-
zens equal in dignity and wealth with the
senators, because out of them the senators
were themselves chosen; these he treated
after an ignominious manner, and re-
moved them out of his way, while they
were at once slain, and their wealth plun-
dered; because he slew men generally, in
order to seize on their riches. He also
asserted his own divinity, and insisted on
greater honours to be paid him by his
subjects than are due to mankind. He
also frequented that temple of Jupiter
which they style the Capitol, which is
with them the most holy of all temples,
and had boldness enough to call himself
the brother of Jupiter. And other pranks
he did like a madman; as when he laid a
bridge from the city of Dicearchia, which
belongs to Campania, to Misenum, ano-
ther city upon the seaside, from one
promontory to another, of the length of
thirty furlongs, as measured over the sea.
Aud this was done, because he esteemed
it to be a most tedious thing to row
over in a small ship, and thought withal
that it became him to make that bridge,
as he was lord of the sea, and might
oblige it to give marks of obedience as
well as the earth; so he enclosed the
whole bay within his bridge, and drove
his chariot over it; and thought, that
as he was a god, it was fit for him
to travel over such roads as this was.
Nor did he abstain from the plunder of
any of the Grecian temples, aud gave
order that all the engravings and sculp-
tures, and the rest of the ornaments of
the statues and donations therein dedi-
cated, should be brought to him, saying,
that the best things ought to be set no-
where but iu the best place, and that the
city of Rome was that best place. He
also adorned his own house aud his gar-
dens with the curiosities brought from
those temples, together with the houses
he lay at when he travelled all over Italy;
whence he did not scruple to give a com-
mand that the statue of Jupiter Olympus,
so called because he was honoured at the
Olympian games by the Greeks, which
was the work of Phidias, the Athenian,
should be brought to Rome. Yet did he
not compass his end, because the archi-
tects told Memmius Regulus, who was
commanded to remove that statue of
Jupiter, that the workmanship was such
that would be spoiled, and would uot bear
removal. It was also reported that Mem-
mius, both on that account, and ou ac-
count of some such mighty prodigies as
are of an incredible nature, put oil' the
taking dowu, and wrote to Caius those
accounts as an apology for not having
done what his epistle required of him;
and that when he was thence in danger
of perishing, he was saved by Cuius being
dead himself, before he had put him to
death.
Nay, Caius's madness came to this
height, that when he had a daughter born,
he carried her into the capitol, and put
her upon the knees of the statue, and said
that the child was common to him and to
Jupiter, and determined that she had two
96
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX.
fathers, but which of these fathers was
the greatest, he left undetermined; and
yet mankind bore him in such his pranks.
He also gave leave to slaves to accuse
their masters of any crimes whatsoever
they pleased; for all such accusations
were terrible, because they were in great
part made to please him, and at his sug-
gestion, insomuch that Pollux, Claudius's
slave, had the boldness to lay an accu-
sation against Claudius himself; and
Caius was not ashamed to be present at
his trial of life and death, to hear that
trial of his own uncle, in hopes of being
able to take him off, although he did not
succeed to his mind : but when he had
filled the whole habitable world which
he governed, with false accusations and
miseries, and had occasioned the greatest
insults of slaves against their masters,
who, indeed, in a great measure, ruled
them, there were many secret plots now
laid against him; some in anger, and in
order for men to revenge themselves, on
account of the miseries they had already
undergone from him; and others made
attempts upon him, in order to take him
off before they should fall into such great
miseries, while his death came very for-
tunately for the preservation of the laws
of all men, and had a great influence upon
the public welfare : and this happened
most happily for our nation in particular,
which had almost utterly perished if he
had not been suddenly slain; and I con-
fess I have a mind to give a full account
of this matter particularly, because it will
afford great assurance of the power of
God, and great comfort to those that are
under afflictions, and wise caution to those
who think their happiness will never end,
nor bring them at length to the most
lasting miseries, if they do not conduct
their lives by the principles of virtue.
Now, there were three several con-
spiracies made, in order to take off Caius,
and each of these three were conducted
by excellent persons. Emilius Regulus,
born at Corduba in Spain, got some men
together, and was desirous to take Caius
off, either by them or by himself. Ano-
ther conspiracy there was laid by them,
under the conduct of Cherea Cassius, the
tribune [of the praetorian baud] ; Minu-
cianus Anuius was also one of great conse-
quence among those that were prepared
to oppose his tyranny. Now the several
occasions of these men's several hatred and
conspiracy against Cuius were these : — lle-
gulus had indignation and hatred against
all injustice, for he had a mind naturally
angry, and bold, and free, which made
him not conceal his counsels; so he com-
municated them to many of his friends,
and to others who seemed to him per-
sons of activity and vigour. Minucianus
entered into this conspiracy, because of
the injustice done to Lepidus, his particu-
lar friend, and one of the best character
of all the citizens, whom Caius had slain,
as also because he was afraid of himself,
since Caius's wrath tended to the slaugh-
ter of all alike : and for Cherea, he came
in, because he thought it a deed worthy
of a free, ingenious man to kill Caius, and
was ashamed of the reproaches he lay
under from Caius, as though he were a
coward; as also because he was himself
in danger every day from his friendship
with him, and the observance he paid him.
These men proposed this attempt to all
the rest that were concerned, who saw the
injuries that were offered them, and were
desirous that Caius's slaughter might suc-
ceed by their mutual assistance of one
another, that they might themselves
escape being killed by the taking off
Caius; that perhaps they should gain
their point, and that it would be a happy
thing if they should gain it, to approve
themselves to so many excellent persons as
earnestly wished to be partakers with
them in their design, for their delivery
of the city and of the government, even
at the hazard of their own lives ; but
still Cherea was the most zealous of them
all, both out of a desire- of gaining him-
self the greatest name, and also by reason
of his access to Caius's presence with less
danger, because he was tribune, and could
therefore the more easily kill him.
Now, at this time came on the horse-
races [Circensian games] ; the view of
which games was eagerly desired by the
people of Rome, for they come with great
alacrity into the hippodrome [circus] at
such times, and petition their emperors,
iu great multitudes, for what they stand
in need of; who usually did not think fit
to deny them their requests, but readily
and gratefully granted them. Accord-
ingly, they most importunately desired
that Cuius would now ease them in their
tributes, and abate somewhat of the
rigour of the taxes imposed upon them;
but he would not hear their petition ;
and, when their clamours increased, he
sent soldiers, some one way and some
J
Chap. I.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
another, and gave order that they should
lay hold on those that made the clamours,
and without any more ado, bring them
out and put them to death. These were
Caius's commands, and those who were
commanded executed the same ; and the
number of those who were slain on this
occasion was very great. Now, the people
saw this, and bore it so far, that they left
off clamouring, because they saw with
their own eyes, that this petition to be
relieved, as to the payment of their
money, brought immediate death upon
them. These things made Cherea more
resolute to go on with his plot, in order to
put an end to this barbarity of Caius
against men. He then, at several times,
thought to fall upon Caius as he was feast-
ing, yet did he restrain himself by some
considerations ; not that he had any
doubt on him about killing him, but as
watching for a proper season, that the at-
tempt might not be frustrated, but that
he might give the blow so as might cer-
tainly gain his purpose.
Cherea had been in the army a long
time, yet was he not pleased with con-
versing so much with Caius : but Caius
had set him to require the tributes, and
other dues, which, when not paid in due
time, were forfeited to Cresar's treasury ;
and he had made some delays in requiring
them, because those burdens had been
doubled ; and had rather indulged his
own mild disposition than performed
Caius's command ; nay, indeed, he pro-
voked Caius to anger by his sparing men,
and pitying the hard fortunes of those
from whom he demanded the taxes; and
Caius upbraided him with his sloth and
effeminacy iu being so long about collect-
ing the taxes; and, indeed, he did not
only affront him in other respects, but
when he gave him the watchword of the
day, to whom it was to be given by his
place, he gave him feminine words, and
those of a nature very reproachful ; and
these watchwords he gave out, as having
been initiated in the secrets of certain
mysteries, which he had been himself the
author of. Now, although he had some-
times put on womeu's clothes, and had
been wrapt in some embroidered garments
to them belonging, and done a great many
other things in order to make the com-
pany mistake him for a woman ; yet did
he, by way of reproach, object to the like
womanish behaviour to Cherea. But when
Cherea received the watchword from him,
Vol. II.— 7. 2 P
he had indignation at it, but had greater
indignation at the delivery of it to others,
as being laughed at by those that received
it; insomuch, that his fellow-tribunes
made him the subject of their drollery;
for they would foretell that he would bring
them some of his usual watchwords when
he was about to take the watchword from
Caesar, and would thereby make him
ridiculous ; on which account he took the
courage of assuming certain partners to
himself, as haviug just reasons for his
indignation against Caius. Now there
was one Pompedius, a senator, and one
who had gone through almost all posts in
the government, but otherwise an Epi-
curean, and for that reason, loved to lead
an inactive life. Now Timidius, an
enemy of his, had informed Caius that he
had used indecent reproaches against him,
and he made use of Quintilia for a witness
to them : a woman she was, much beloved
by many that frequented the theatre, and
particularly by Pompedius, on account of
her great beauty. Now, this woman
thought it a horrible thing to attest to an
accusation that touched the life of her
lover, which was also a lie. Timidius,
however, wanted to have her brought to
the torture. Caius was irritated at this
reproach upon him, and commanded
Cherea, without any delay, to torture
Quintilia, as he used to employ Cherea in
such bloody matters, and thos» that re-
quired the torture, because he thought he
would do it the more barbarously, in
order to avoid that imputation of effemi-
nacy which he laid upon him. But
Quintilia, when she was brought to the
rack, trod upon the foot of one of her asso-
ciates, and let him know that he might be
of good courage, and not be afraid of the
consequences of her tortures, for that she
would bear them with magnanimity.
Cherea tortured this woman after a cruel
manner; unwillingly, indeed, but because
he could not help it. He then brought
her, without being in the least moved at
what she had suffered, into the presence
of Caius, and that in such a state as was
sad to behold ; and Caius, being some-
what affected with the sight of Quintilia,
who had her body miserably disordered
by the pains she had undergone, freed
both her and Pompedius of the crime laid
to their charge. He also gave her money
to make her an honourable amends, and
comfort her for that maiming of her body
which she had suffered, and for her
98
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX.
glorious patience under such unsuffer.ible
torments.
This matter sorely grieved Cherea, as
having been the cause, as far as he could,
or the instrument, of those miseries to
men, which seemed worthy of consolation
to Caius himself; on which account he
said to Clement and to Papinius, (of
whom Clement was general of the army,
and Papinius was a tribune :) — " To be
sure, 0 Clement, we have no way failed
in our guarding the emperor; for as to
those that have made conspiracies against
his government, some have been slain by
our care and pains, and some have been
by us tortured, and this to such a degree,
that he hath himself pitied them. How
great then is our virtue in submitting to
conduct his armies !" Clement held his
peace, but showed the shame he was
under in obeying Caius's orders, both by
his eyes and his blushing countenance,
while he thought it by no means right to
accuse the emperor in express words, lest-
their own safety should be endangered
thereby. Upon which Cherea took cou-
rage, and spake to him without fear of
the dangers that were before him, and
discoursed largely of the sore calamities
under which the city and the government
then laboured, and said, "We may indeed
pretend in words, that Caius is the person
unto whom the cause of such miseries
ought to be imputed ; but, in the opinion
of such as are able to judge uprightly, it
is I, O Clement ! and this Papinius, and,
before us, thou thyself, who bring these
tortures upon the Romans, and upon all
mankind. It is not done by our being
subservient to the commands of Caius,
but it is done by our own consent; for
whereas it is in our power to put an end
to the life of this man, who hath so ter-
ribly injured the citizens, and his subjects,
we are his guard in mischief, and his exe-
cutioners, instead of his soldiers, and are
the instruments of his cruelty. We bear
these weapons, not for our liberty, not for
the Roman government, but only for his
preservation, who hath enslaved both their
bodies and their minds; and we are every
day polluted with the blood that we shed,
and the torments we inflict upon others;
and this we do, till somebody becomes
Caius's instrument in bringing the like
miseries upon ourselves. Nor does he
thus employ us because he hath a kind-
ness for us, but rather because he hath a
suspicion of us ; as also because, when
abundance more have been killed, (for
Caius will set no bounds to his wrath,
since he aims to do all, not out of regard
to justice, but to his own pleasure,) we
shall also ourselves be exposed to his
cruelty; whereas we ought to be the
means of confirming the security and
liberty of all, and, at the same time, to
resolve to free ourselves from dangers."
Hereupon, Clement openly commended
Cherea's intentions, but bade him hold
his tongue ; for, in that case his words
would get out among many, and such
things would be spread abroad as were fit
to be concealed, the plot would come to
be discovered before it was executed, and
they should be brought to punishment;
but that they should leave all to futurity,
and the hope which thence arose that
some fortunate event would come to their
assistance: that, as for himself, his age
would not permit him to make any at-
tempt in that case. "However, although
perhaps I could not suggest what may be
safer than what thou, Cherea, hast con-
trived and said, yet, how is it possible for
any one to suggest what is more for thy
reputation ?" So Clement went his way
home with deep reflections on what he had
heard, and what he had himself said.
Cherea also was under a concern, and went
quickly to Cornelius Sabinus, who was
himself one of the tribunes, and whom
he otherwise knew to be a worthy man,
and a lover of liberty, and, on that ac-
count, very uneasy at the present manage-
ment of public affairs, he being desirous
to come immediately to the execution of
what had been determined, and thinking
it right for him to propose it to the other,
and afraid lest Clement should discover
them, and, besides, looking upon delays
and puttings off to be the next to desisting
from the enterprise.
But as all was agreeable to Sabinus,
who had himself, equally with Cherea,
the same design, but had been silent for
want of a person to whom he could safely
communicate that design; so, having now
met with one, who not only promised to
conceal what he heard, but who had al-
ready opened his mind to him, he was
much more encouraged, and desired of
Cherea that no delay might be made
therein. Accordingly, they went to Mi-
nucianus, who was as virtuous a man and
as zealous to do glorious actions as them-
selves, and suspected by Caius on occasion
of the slaughter of Lepidus; for Minu-
Chap. I.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
99
cianus and Lepidus were intimate friends,
and both in fear of the dangers that they
were under; for Caius was terrible to all
the great, men, as appearing ready to act
a mad part toward each of them in par-
ticular, and toward all of them in general ;
and these men were afraid of one another,
while they were yet uneasy at the posture
of affairs, but avoided to declare their
mind and their hatred against Caius to
one another, out of fear of the dangers
they might be in thereby, although they
perceived by other means their mutual
hatred against Caius, and, on that account,
were not averse to a mutual kindness one
toward another.
When Minucianus and Cherca had met
together, and saluted one another, (as they
had been used in former conversations to
give the upper hand to Minucianus, both
on account of his eminent, dignity, for he
was the noblest of all the citizens, and
highly commended by all men, especially
when he made speeches to them,) Minu-
cianus began first, and asked Cherea,
what was the watchword he had received
that day from Caius? for the affront which
was offered Cherea in giving the watch-
words was famous over the city. But
Cherea made no delay so long as to reply
to that question, out of the joy he had
that Minucianus would have such confi-
dence in him as to discourse with him.
''But do thou," said he, "give me the
watchword of liberty. And I return thee
my thanks that thou hast so greatly en-
couraged me to exert myself after an ex-
traordinary manner; nor do I stand in
need of many words to encourage me,
since both thou and I are of the same
mind, and partakers of the same resolu-
tions, and this before we have conferred
together. I have, indeed, but one sword
girt on, but this one will serve us both.
Come on, therefore, let us set about the
work. Do thou go first, if thou hast a
mind, and bid me follow thee; or else I
will go first, and thou shalt assist me, and
we will assist one another, and trust one
another. Nor is there a necessity for even
one sword to such as have a mind disposed
to such works, by which mind the sword
uses to be successful. I am zealous about
this action, nor am I solicitous for what I
may myself undergo; for I am not at
leisure to consider the danger that may
come upon myself, so deeply am I trou-
bled at the slavery our once free country
is now under, and at the contempt cast
upon our excellent laws, and at the de-
struction which hangs over all men, by
the means of Caius. I wish that I may
be judged by thee, and that thou mayest
esteem me worthy of credit in these mat-
ters, seeing we are both of the same opi-
nion, and there is herein no difference
between us."
When Minucianus saw the vehemency
with which Cherea delivered himself, he
gladly embraced him, and encouraged him
in his bold attempt, commending him,
and embracing him ; so he let him go with
his good wishes; and some affirm that he
thereby confirmed Minucianus in the pro-
secution of what had been agreed among
them ; for, as Cherea entered into the
court, the report runs, that a voice came
from among the multitude to encourage
him, which bade him finish what he was
about, and take the opportunity that Pro-
vidence offered ; and that Cherca at first
suspected that some one of the conspira-
tors had betrayed him, and he was caught ;
but at length perceived that it was by way
of exhortation. Whether somebody, that
was conscious of what he was about, gave
a signal for his encouragement, or whether
it was God himself, who looks upon the
actions of men, that encouraged him to go
on boldly in his design, is uncertain. The
plot was now communicated to a great
many, and they were all in their armour;
some of the conspirators being senators,
and some of. the equestrian order, and as
many of the soldiery as were made ac-
quainted with it; for there was not one
of them who would not reckon it a part of
his happiness to kill Caius; and, on that
account, they were all very zealous in the
affair, by what means soever any one could
come at it, that he might not be behind-
hand in these virtuous designs, but might
be ready with all his alacrity or power,
both by words and actions, to complete
this slaughter of a tyrant. And besides
these, Callistus also, who was a freedman
of Caius's, and was the only man that had
arrived at the greatest degree of power
under him, — such a power, indeed, as was
in a manner equal to the power of the
tyrant himself; by the dread that all men
had of him, and by the great riches he
had acquired ; for he took bribes most
plenteously, and committed injuries with-
out bounds ; and was more extravagant in
the use of his power in unjust proceedings
than any other. He also knew the dispo-
sition of Caius to be implacable, and never
100
ANTIQUITIES UF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX.
to be turned from what he had resolved
on. He had withal many other reasons
why he thought himself in danger, and
the vastness of his wealth was not one of
the least of them : on which account, he
privately ingratiated himself with Clau-
dius, and transferred his courtship to him,
out of this hope, that in case, upon the
removal of Caius, the government should
come to him, his interest in such changes
should lay a foundation for his preserving
his dignity under him, since he laid in
beforehand a stock of merit, and did
Claudius good offices in his promotion.
He also had the boldness to pretend that
he had been persuaded to make away with
Claudius, by poisoning him; but had still
invented ten thousand excuses for delay-
ing to do it. But it seems probable to
me that Callistus only counterfeited this,
in order to ingratiate himself wTith Clau-
dius ; for if Caius had been in earnest
resolved to take off Claudius, he would
not have admitted Callistus' s excuses, nor
would Callistus, if he had been enjoined
to do such an act as was desired by Caius,
have put it off, nor, if he had disobeyed
those injunctions of his master, had he
escaped immediate punishment; while
Claudius was preserved from the madness
of Caius by a certain divine providence,
and Callistus pretended to such a piece
of merit as he no way deserved.
However, the execution of Cherea's de-
sign was put off from day to day, by the
sloth of many therein concerned ; for as to
Cherea himself, he would not willingly
make any delay in that execution, think-
ing every time a fit time for it, for fre-
quent opportunities offered themselves;
as when Caius went up to the capitol to
sacrifice for his daughter, or when he stood
upon his royal palace, and threw gold and
silver pieces of money among the people,
he might be pushed down headlong, be-
cause the top of the palace, that looks to-
ward the market-place, was very high ;
and also when he celebrated the mysteries,
which he had appointed at that time; for
he was then noway secluded from the peo-
ple, but solicitous to do every thing care-
fully and decently ; and was free from all
suspicion that he should be then assaulted
by anybody ; and, although the gods
should afford him no divine assistance to
enable him to take away his life, yet had
he strength himself sufficient to despatch
Caius, even without a sword. Thus was
Cherea angry at his fellow-conspirators,
for fear they should suffer a proper oppor-
tunity to pass by ; and they were them-
selves sensible that he had just cause to
be angry at them, and that his eagerness
was for their advantage ; yet did they
desire he would have a little longer pa-
tience, lest, upon any disappointment they
might meet with, they should put the city
into disorder, and an inquisition should
be made after the conspiracy, and should
render the courage of those that were to
attack Caius without success, while he
would then secure himself more carefully
than ever against them ; that it would,
therefore, be the best to set about the
work when the shows were exhibited in
the palace. These shows were acted in
honour of that Caesar* who first of all
changed the popular government, and
transferred it to himself; galleries being
fixed before the palace, where the Romans
that were patricians became spectators,
together with their children and their
wives, and Caesar himself was also to be a
spectator ; and they reckoned, among those
many ten thousands who would there be
crowded into a narrow compass, they
should have a favourable opportunity to
make their attempt upon him as he came
in ; because his guards that should protect
him, if any of them should have a mind
to do it, would not here be able to give
him any assistance.
Cherea consented to this delay; and
when the shows were exhibited, it was
resolved to do the work the first day. But
fortune, which allowed a further delay to
his slaughter, was too hard for their fore-
going resolution : and, as three days of the
regular time for these shows were now
over, they had much ado to get the busi-
ness done on the last day. Then Cherea
called the conspirators together, and spake
thus to them: — "So much time passed
away without effect is a reproach to us, as
delaying to go through such a virtuous
design as we are engaged in; but more
fatal will this delay prove if we be dis-
covered, and the design be frustrated ; for
Caius will then become more cruel in his
unjust proceedings. Do not we see how
long we deprive all our friends of their
liberty, and give Caius leave still to ty-
rannize over them ? while we ought to
have procured tbem security for the fu-
ture, and, by laying a foundation for the
* Josephus supposes that it was Augustus, and not
Julius Csesar, who first changed the Roman com-
monwealth into a monarchy.
Chap. I.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
101
happiness of others, gain to ourselves
great admiration and honour for all time
to come." Now, while the conspirators
had nothing tolerable to say by way of
contradiction, and yet did not quite relish
what they were doing, but stood silent
and astonished, he said further, aO my
brave comrades ! why do we make such
delays? Do not you see that this is the
last day of these shows, and that Caius is
about to go to sea? for he is preparing to
sail to Alexandria, in order to see Egypt.
Is it, therefore, for your honour to let a
man go out of your hands who is a re-
proach to mankind, and to permit him to
go after a pompous manner, triumphing
both at land and sea? Shall not we be
justly ashamed of ourselves if we give
leave to some Egyptian or other, who
shall think his injuries insufferable to
freemen, to kill him? As for myself, I
will no longer bear your slow proceedings,
but will expose myself to the dangers of
the enterprise this very day, and bear
cheerfully whatsoever shall be the conse-
quence of the attempt ; nor, let them be
ever so great, will I put them off any
longer: for, to a wise and courageous
man, what can be more miserable than
that, while I am alive, any one else should
kill Caii'.s, and deprive me of the honour
of so virtuous an action ?"
When Chorea had spoken thus, he zeal-
ously set about the work,' and inspired
courage into the rest to go on with it ; and
they were all eager to fall to it without
further delay. So he was at the palace
in the morning, with his equestrian sword
girt on him; for it was the custom that
the tribunes should ask for the watchword
with their swords on, and this was the day
on which Cherea was by custom to receive
the watchword; and the multitude were
already come to the palace, to be soon
enough for seeing the shows, and that in
great crowds, and one tumultuously crush-
ing another; while Caius was delighted
with this eagerness of the multitude; for
which reason there was no order observed
in the seating men, nor was any peculiar
place appointed, for the senators, or for
the equestrian order ; but they sat at ran-
dom, men and women together, and free-
men were mixed with the slaves. So
Caius came out in a solemn manner, and
offered sacrifice to Augustus Cassar, in
whose honour, indeed, these shows were
celebrated. Now it happened, upon the
fall of a certain priest, that the garment
of Asprenas, a senator, was filled with
blood, which made Caius laugh, although
this was an evident omen to Asprenas, for
he was slain at the same time with Caius.
It is also related, that Caius was that day,
contrary to his usual custom, so very
affable and good-natured in his conversa-
tion, that every one of those that were
present were astonished at it. After the
sacrifice was over, Caius betook himself to
see the shows, and sat down for that pur-
pose, as did also the principal of his friends
sit near him. Now, the parts of the
theatre were so fastened together, as it
used to be every year, in the manner fol-
lowing:— It had two doors; the one led
to the open air, the other was for going
into, or going out of, the cloisters, that
those within the theatre might not be
thereby disturbed ; but out of one gallery
there went an inward passage, parted into
partitions also, which led into another
gallery, to give room to the combatants
and to the musicians to go out as occasion
served. When the multitude were set
down, and Cherea, with the other tribunes,
were set down also, and the right corner
of the theatre was allotted to Cajsar, one
Vatinius, a senator, commander of the
prretorian band, asked of Cluvius, one
that sat by him, and was of consular
dignity also, whether he had heard any
thing of the news or not? but took care
that nobody should hear what he said ;
and when Cluvius replied that he had
heard no news — "Know, then," (said
Vatinius,) "that the game of the slaugh-
ter of tyrants is to be played this day."
But Cluvius replied, "O brave comrade!
hold thy peace, lest some other of the
Achaians hear thy tale." And as there
was abundance of autumnal fruit thrown
among the spectators, and a great number
of birds, that were of great value to such
as possessed them, on account of. their
rarity, Caius was pleased with the birds
fighting for the fruits, and with the vio-
lence wherewith the spectators seized upon
them : and here he perceived two prodigies
that happened there; for an actor was
introduced, by whom a leader of robbers
was crucified, and the pantomime brought
in a play called Cinyras, wherein he him-
self was to be slain, as well as his daughter
Myrrha, and wherein a great deal of ficti-
tious blood was shed, both about him that
was crucified, and also about Cinyras. It
is also confessed, that this was the sama
day wherein Pausauias, a friend of Philip,
102
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX.
the son of Ainyntas, who was king of
Macedonia, slew him as he was entering
into the theatre. And now Caius was in
doubt whether he should tarry to the end
of the shows, because it was the last day,
or whether he should not go first to the
bath, and to dinner, and then return and
sit down as before. Hereupon Minucia-
nus, who sat over Caius, and was afraid
that the opportunity should fail them, got
up, because he saw Cherea had already
gone out, and made haste out, to confirm
him in his resolution; but Caius took hold
of his garment in an obliging way, and
said to him, "0 brave man! whither art
thou going ?" Whereupon, out of reve-
rence to Caesar, as it seemed, he sat down
again ; but his fear prevailed over him,
and, in a little time, he got up again, and
then Caius did no way oppose his going
out, as thinking that he went out to per-
form some necessities of nature. And
Asprenas, who was one of the confede-
rates, persuaded Caius to go out to the
bath, and to dinner, and then to come in
again ; as desirous that what had been
resolved on might be brought to a conclu-
sion immediately.
So Cherea's associates placed them-
selves in order, as the time would permit
them, and they were obliged to labour
hard, that the place which was appointed
them should not be left by them; but
they had an indignation at the tedious-
ness of the delays, and that what they
were about should be put off any longer,
for it was already about the ninth* hour
of the day; and Cherea, upon Caius's
tarrying so long, had a great mind to go
in, and fall upon him in his seat, although
he foresaw that this could not be done
without much bloodshed, both of the
senators and of those of the equestrian
order that were present; and although he
knew this must happen, yet had he a
great mind to do so, as thinking it a
right thing to procure security and free-
dom to all, at the expense of such as
might perish at the same time. And as
they were just going back into the en-
trance to the theatre, word was brought
them that Caius had arisen, whereby a
tumult was made : hereupon the conspira-
tors thrust away the crowd, under pre-
tence as if Caius was angry at them,
but in reality as desirous to have a quiet
* Suetonius says Caius was slain about the se-
venth hour of the day ; Josephus, about the ninth.
The series of the narration favours Josephus.
place, that should have none in it to de-
fend him, while they set about Caius's
slaughter, Now Claudius, his uncle, had
gone out before, and Marcus Vinicius, his
sister's husband, as also Valerius of Asia;
whom, though they had had such a mind
to put out of their places, the reverence
to their dignity hindered them so to do;
then followed Caius, with Paulus Arrun-
tius : and because Caius had now gotten
within the palace, he left the direct road,
along which those servants stood that
were in waiting, and by which road Clau-
dius had gone out before ; Caius turned
aside into a private narrow passage, in
order to go to the place for bathing, as
also to take a view of the boys that came
out of Asia, who were sent thence partly
to sing hymns in these mysteries which
were now celebrated, and partly to dance
in the Pyrrhic way of dancing upon the
theatres. So Cherea met him, and asked
him for the watchword; upon Caius's giv-
ing him one of his ridiculous words, he
immediately reproached him, and drew
his sword and gave him a terrible stroke
with it : yet was not this stroke mortal.
And although there be those that say it
was so contrived on purpose by Cherea,
that Caius should not be killed at one
blow, but should be punished more se-
verely by a multitude of wounds, yet does
this story appear to be incredible; be-
cause the fear men are under in such
actions does not allow them to use their
reason. And if Cherea was of that mind,
I esteem him the greatest of all fools, in
pleasing himself in his spite against Caius,
rather than immediately procuring safety
to himself and his confederates from the
dangers they were in; because there
might many things still happen for help-
ing Caius's escape, if he had not already
given up the ghost; for certainly Cherea
would have regard, not so much to the
punishment of Caius, as to the affliction
himself and his friends were in, while it was
in his power, after such success, to keep
silent, and to escape the wrath of Caius's
defenders, and not leave it to uncertainty
whether he should gain the end he aimed
at or not, and after an unreasonable
manner to act as if he had a mind to ruin
himself, and lose the opportunity that lay
before him. But everybody may guess as
he pleases about this matter. However,
Caius was staggered with the pain that
the blow gave him; for the stroke of the
sword, falling in the middle, between the
Chap. I.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
103
shoulder and the neck, was hindered by
the first bone of the breast from proceed-
ing any farther. Nor did he either cry
out, (in such astonishment was he,) nor
did he call out for any of his friends;
whether it was that he had no confidence
in them, or that his mind was otherwise
disordered, but he groaned under the pain
he endured, and presently went forward
and fled, when Cornelius Sabinus, who
was already prepared so to do, thrust him
down upon his knee, where many of them
stood round about him, and struck him
with their swords, and they cried out, and
encouraged one another all at once to
6trike him again; but all agreed that
Aquila gave him the finishing stroke,
which directly killed him. But one may
justly ascribe this act to Cherea; for
although many concurred in the act itself,
yet was he the first contriver of it, and
began long before all the rest to prepare
for it; and was the first man that boldly
epake of it to the rest; and upon their
admission of what he said about it, he got
the dispersed conspirators together; he
prepared every thing after a prudent
manner, and, by suggesting good advice,
6howed himself far superior to the rest,
aud made obliging speeches to them,
insomuch that he even compelled them
all to go on, who otherwise had not cou-
rage enough for that purpose; and, when
opportunity served to use his sword in
hand, he appeared first of all ready so to
do, and gave the first blow in this virtu-
ous slaughter; he also brought Caius
easily into the power of the rest, and
almost killed him himself, insomuch that
it is but just to ascribe all that the rest
did to the advice, aud bravery, and
labours of the bands of Cherea.
Tbus did Caius come to his end, and
lay dead, by the many wounds which had
been given him. Now Cherea and his
associates, upon Caius's slaughter, saw
that it was impossible for them to save
themselves, if they should all go the same
way, partly on account of the astonish-
ment they were under; for it was no
6mall danger they had incurred by killing
an emperor, who was honoured and loved
by the madness of the people, especially
when the soldiers were likely to make a
bloody inquiry after his murderers. The
passages also were narrow wherein the work
was done, which were also crowded with
8- great multitude of Caius's attendants,
and of such of the soldiers as were of the
emperor's guard that day; whence it was
that they went by other ways, and came
to the house of Germanicus, the father of
Caius, whom they had now killed, (which
house adjoined to the palace; for while
the edifice was one, it was built in its
several parts by those particular persons
who had been emperors, and those parts
bore the names of those that built them,
or the name of him who had begun to
build any of its parts.) So they got away
from the insults of the multitude, and
then were for the present out of danger,
that is, so long as the misfortune which
had overtaken the emperor was not known.
The Germans were the first who perceived
that Caius was slain. These Germans
were Caius's guard, and carried the name
of the country whence they were chosen,
and composed the Celtic legion. The
men of that country are naturally passion-
ate, which is commonly the temper of
some other of the barbarous nations also,
as being not used to consider much about
what they do; they are of robust bodies,
and fall upon their enemies as soon as
ever they are attacked by them; and
which way soever they go, they perform
great exploits. When, therefore, these
German guards understood that Caius
was slain, they were very sorry for it,
because they did not use their reason in
judging about public affairs, but measured
all by the advantages they received, Caius
being beloved by them because of the
money he gave them, by which he had
purchased their kindness to him ; so they
drew their swords, and Sabinus led them
on. He was one of the tribunes, not
by the means of the virtuous actions of
his progenitors, for he had been a gladia-
tor, but he had obtained that post in the
army by his having a robust body. So
these Germans marched along the houses
in quest of Caesar's murderers, and cut
Aspenas to pieces, because he was the
first man they fell upon, and whose gar-
ment it was that the blood of the sacri-
fices stained, as I have said already, and
which foretold that this his meeting the
soldiers would not be for his good. Then
did Norbanus meet them, who was one of
the principal nobility of the city, and
could show many generals of armies
among his ancestors; but they paid no
regard to his dignity; }-et was he of such
great strength, that he wrested the sword
of the first of those that assaulted him out
of his hands, and appeared plainly not tc
104
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX
be willing to die without a struggle for
his life, until he was surrounded by a
great number of assailants, and died by
the multitude of the wounds which they
gave him. The third man was Anteius, a
senator, and a few others with him. He
did not meet with these Germans by
chance, as the rest did before, but came
to show bis hatred to Caius, and because
he loved to see Caius lie dead with his
own eyes, and took a pleasure in that
sight; for Caius had banished Anteius's
father, who was of the same name with
himself, and, being not satisfied with that,
he sent out his soldiers, and slew him; so
he had come to rejoice at the sight of him,
now he was dead. But as the house was
now all in a tumult, when he was aiming
to hide himself, he could not escape that
accurate search which the Germans made,
while they barbarously slew those that
were guilty, and those that were not
guilty, and this equally also. And thus
were these [three] persons slain.
But when the rumour that Caius was
slain reached the theatre, they were asto-
nished at it, and could not believe it;
even some that entertained his destruction
with great pleasure, and were more desi-
rous of its happening than almost any
other satisfaction that could come to them,
were under such a fear, that they could
not believe it. There were also those
who greatly distrusted it, because they
were unwilling that any such thing should
come to Caius, nor could believe it, though
it were ever so true, because they
thought no man could possibly have so
much power as to kill Caius. These were
the women, and the children, and the
slaves, and some of the soldiery. This
last sort had taken his pay, and, in a
manner, tyrannized with him, and had
abused the best of the citizens, in being
subservient to his unjust commands, in
order to gain honours and advantages to
themselves; but for the women and the
youth, they had been inveigled with
shows, and the fightings of the gladiators,
and certain distributions of flesh-meat
among them, which things in pretence
were designed for the pleasing of the
multitude, but in reality to satiate the
barbarous cruelty and madness of Caius.
The slaves also were sorry, because they
were by Caius allowed to accuse and to
despise their masters, as they could have
recourse to his assistance when they had
unjustly affronted them; for he was very
easy in believing them against their mas-
ters, even when they accused them falsely;
and, if they would discover what money
their masters had, they might soon obtain
both riches and liberty, as the rewards of
their accusations, because the reward of
these informers was the eighth* part of the
criminal's substance. As to the nobles,
although the report appeared credible to
some of them, either because they knew
of the plot beforehand, or because they
wished it might be true; however, they
concealed not only the joy they had at
the relation of it, but that they had heard
any thing at all about it. These last
acted so, out of the fear they had that if
the report proved false, they should be
punished for having so soon let men
know their minds. But those that knew
Caius was dead, because they were part-
ners with the conspirators, they concealed
all still more cautiously, as not knowing
one another's minds; and fearing lest
they should speak of it to some of those
to whom the continuance of tyrauny was
advantageous ; and, if Caius should prove
to be alive, they might be informed
against, and punished. And another re-
port went about,' that although Caius had
been wounded indeed, yet was not he
dead, but alive still, and under the phy-
sician's hands. Nor was any one looked
upon by another as faithful enough to be
trusted, and to whom any one would open
his mind ; for he was either a friend to
Caius, and therefore suspected to favour
his tyranny, or he was one that hated him,
who therefore might be suspected to de-
serve the less credit, because of his ill-will
to him. Nay, it was said by some (and
this indeed it was that deprived the no-
bility of their hopes, and made them sad)
that Caius was in a condition to despise
the dangers he had been in, and took no
care of healing his wounds, but had gotten
away into the market-place, and, bloody
as he was, was making an harangue to the
people. And these were the conjectural
reports of those that were so unreasonable
as to endeavour to raise tumults, which
they turned different ways, according to
the opinions of the hearers. Yet did
they not leave their seats, for fear of being
accused, if they should go out before the
rest; for they should not be sentenced
according to the real intention with which
* This reward proposed by the Roman laws to
informers was sometimes an eighth part of tho
criminal's goods, and sometimes a fourth part.
Chap. I.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
105
tbey went out, but according to the
suppositions of the accusers, and of the
judges.
But now a multitude of Germans had
•surrounded the theatre with their swords
drawn : all the spectators looked for no-
thing but death ; and at every one's coming
in, a fear seized upon them, as if they
were to be cut in pieces immediately; and
in great distress they were, as neither
having courage enough to go out of the
theatre, nor believing themselves safe
from dangers if they tarried there. And
when the Germans came upon them, the
cry was so great, that the theatre rang
again with the entreaties of the spectators
to the soldiers, pleading that they were
entirely ignorant of every thing that re-
lated to such seditious contrivances, and
if there were any sedition raised, they
knew nothing of it ; they therefore begged
that they would spare them, and not pu-
nish those that had not the least hand in
such bold crimes as belonged to other
persons, while they neglected to search
after such as had really done whatsoever
it be that hath been done. Thus did
these people appeal to God, and deplore
their infelicity with shedding of tears and
beating their faces, and said every thing
that the most imminent danger and the
utmost concern for their lives could dic-
tate to them. This brake the fury of the
soldiers, and made them repent of what
they minded to do to the spectators, which
would have been the greatest instance of
cruelty. And so it appeared to even these
savages, when they had once fixed the
heads of those that were slain with As-
prenas upon the altar; at which sight the
spectators were sorely afflicted, both upon
the consideration of the dignity of the
persons, and out of a commiseration of
their sufferings; nay, indeed, they were
almost in as great disorder at the prospect
of the danger themselves were in, seeing
it was still uncertain whether they should
entirely escape the like calamity. Whence
it was that such as thoroughly and justly
hated Caius, could yet noway enjoy the
pleasure of his death, because tbey were
themselves in jeopardy of perishing to-
gether with him ; nor had they hitherto
any firm assurance of surviving.
There was at this time, one Euaristus
Arruntius, a puJblic crier in the market,
and therefore of a strong and audible
voice, who vied in wealth with the richest
of the Romans, and was able to do what
he pleased in the city, both then and after-
ward. This man put himself into the
most mournful habit he could, although
he had a greater hatred against Cains than
any one else: his fear and his wise con-
trivance to gain his safety taught him so
to do, and prevailed over his present, plea-
sure; so he put on such a mournful dress
as he would have done had he lost his
dearest friends in the world : this man
came into the theatre, and informed them
of the death of Caius, and by this means
put an end to that state of ignorance the
men had been in. Arruntius also went
round about the pillars, and called out to
the Germans, as did the tribunes with
him, bidding them put up their swords,
and telling them that Caius was dead;
and this proclamation it was plainly which
saved those that were collected together in
the theatre, and all the rest who anyway
met the Germans; for while they had
hopes that Caius had still any breath in
him, they abstained from no sort of mis-
chief; and such an abundant kindness
they still had for Caius, that they would
willingly have prevented the plot against
him, and procured his escape from so sad
a misfortune, at the expense of their own
lives; but now they left off the warm zeal
they had to punish his enemies, now they
were fully satisfied that Caius was dead,
because it was now in vain for them to
show their zeal and kindness to hi in, when
he who should reward them had perished.
They were also afraid that they should be
punished by the senate, if they should go
on in doing such injuries, that is, in case
the authority of the supreme governor
should revert to them ; and thus at length
a stop was put, though not without diffi-
culty, to that rage which possessed the
Germans on account of Caius's death.
But Cherea was so much afraid for
Miuucianus, lest he should light upon the
Germans, now they were in their fury,
that he went and spake to every one of
the soldiers, and prayed them to take care
of his preservation, and made himself
great inquiry about him, lest he should
have been slain : and for Clement, he let
Minucianus go when he was brought to
him, and, with many other of the senators,
affirmed the action was right, and com-
mended the virtue of those that contrived
it, and had courage enough to execute it;
and said, " that tyrants do indeed please
themselves and look big for a while, upon
having the power to act unjustly; but do
106
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX.
not, however, go happily out of the world,
because they are hated by the virtuous ;
and that Cains, together with all his un-
happiness, had become a conspirator against
himself, before these other men who at-
tacked him did so; and, by becoming in-
tolerable, in setting aside the wise provi-
sion the laws had made, taught his dearest
friends to treat him as an enemy; inso-
much, that although in common discourse
these conspirators were those that slew
Caius, yet that, in reality, he lies now
dead as perishing by his own self."
Now by this time the people in the
theatre had arisen from their seats, and
those that were within made a very great
disturbance: the cause of which was this,
that the spectators were too hasty in get-
ting away. There was also one Aleyon,
a physician, who hurried away, as if to
cure those that were wounded, and, under
that pretence, he sent those that were with
him to fetch what things were necessary
for the healing of the wounded persons,
but in reality to get them clear of the
present dangers they were in. Now the
senate, during this interval, had met, and
the people also assembled together in the
accustomed form, and were both employed
in searching after the murderers of Caius.
The people did it very zealously, but the
senate in appearance only} for there was
present Valerius of Asia, one that had
been consul ; this man went to the people,
as they were in disorder, and very uneasy
that they could not yet discover who they
•were that had murdered the emperor; he
was then earnestly asked by them all, who
it was that had done it? He replied, "I
wish I had been the man." The consuls*
also published an edict, wherein they ac-
cused Caius, and gave order to the people
then got together, and to the soldiers, to
go home, and gave the people hopes of the
abatement of the oppressions they lay
under ; and promised the soldiers, if they
lay quiet as they used to do, and would
not go abroad to do mischief unjustly,
that they would bestow rewards upon
them ; for there was reason to fear lest
the city might suffer barm by their wild
and ungoveruable behaviour, if they should
once betake themselves to spoil the citi-
zens, or plunder the temples. And now
the whole multitude of the senators were
assembled together, and especially those
* Ihese consuls are named in the War of the
Jews, Sentius Satunriuus and Poniponius Secun-
dum
that had conspired to take away the life
of Caius, who put on at this time an air
of great assurance, and appeared with
great magnanimity, as if the administra-
tion of public affairs had already devolved
upon them.
CHAPTER II.
The senators attempt the re-establishment of a
democracy — Claudius chosen emperor by the
soldiers — Death of the wife and daughter of
Caius.
When the public affairs were in this
posture, Claudius was on the sudden hur-
ried away out of his house; for the sol-
diers had a meeting together; and, when
they had debated about what was to be
done, they saw that a democracy was in-
capable of managing such a vast weight
of public affairs ; and that if it should be
set up, it would not be for their advan-
tage ; and, in case any one of those already
in the government should obtain the su-
preme power, it would in all respects be
to their grief, if they were not assisting
to him in this advancement : that it. would,
therefore, be right for them, while the
public affairs were unsettled, to choose
Claudius emperor, who was uncle to the
deceased Caius, and of a superior dignity
and worth to every one of those who were
assembled together in the senate, both on
account of the virtues of his ancestors,
and of the learning he had acquired in his
education ; and who, if once settled in the
empire, would reward them according to
their deserts, and bestow, largesses upon
them. These were their consultations,
and they executed the same immediately.
Claudius was therefore seized upon sud-
denly by the soldiery. But Cneus Sen-
tius Saturninus, although he understood
that Claudius was seized, and that he in-
tended to claim the government, unwil-
lingly, indeed, in appearance, but in real-
ity by his own free consent, stood up in
the senate, and, without being dismayed,
made an exhortatory oration to them, and
such an one, indeed, as was fit for men of
freedom and generosity, and spake thus :
"Although it be a thing incredible, O
Romans ! because of the great length of
time, that so unexpected an event hath
happened, yet are we now in possession
of liberty. How long indeed this will
last is uncertain, and lies at the disposal
of the gods, whose grant it is; yet such
it is as is sufficient to make us rejoice,
and be happy for the present, although
Chap. II.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
107
1
we may soon be deprived of it; for one
hour is sufficient to those who are exer-
cised in virtue, wherein we may live with
a mind accountable only to ourselves, in
our own country, now free, and governed
by such laws as this country once flou-
rished under. As for myself, I cannot
remember our former time of liberty, as
being born after it was gone; but I am
beyond measure filled with joy at the
thoughts of our present freedom. I also
esteem those that were born and brought
up in that our former liberty, happy meu,
and that those men are worthy of no less
esteem than the gods themselves, who
have given us a taste of it in this age;
and I heartily wish that this quiet enjoy-
ment of it, which we have at present,
might continue to all ages. However, this
single day may suffice for our youth, as
well as for us that are in years. It will
seem an age to our old men, if they might
die during its happy duration : it may also
be for the instruction of the younger sort,
what kind of virtue those men, from
whose loins we are derived, were exercised
in. As for ourselves, our business is,
during the space of time, to live virtu-
ously, than which, nothing can be more
to our advantage; which course of virtue
it is alone that can preserve our liberty;
for, as to out ancient state, I have heard
of it from the relations of others ; but as to
our later state, during my lifetime, I have
known it by experience, and learned there-
by what mischief tyrannies have brought
upon this commonwealth, discouraging all
virtue, and depriving persons of magna-
nimity of their liberty, and proving the
teachers of flattery aud slavish fear, be-
cause it leaves the public administration
not to be governed by wise laws, but by
the humour of those that govern. For
since Julius Cassar took it into his head
to dissolve our democracy, and, by over-
bearing the regular system of our laws, to
bring disorders into our administration,
and to get above right aud justice, aud to
be a slave to his own inclinations, there
is no kind of misery but what hath tended
to the subversion of this city; while all
those that have succeeded him have striven
one with another, to overthrow the ancient
laws of their country, and have left it des-
titute of such citizens as were of generous
principles; because they thought it tended
to their safety to have vicious men to con-
verse withal, and not only to break the
spirits of those that were best esteemed
for their virtue, but to resolve jpon their"
utter destruction. Of all which emperors,
who have been many iu number, and whc
laid upon us insufferable hardships, during
the times of their government, this Caius,
who hath been slain to-day, hath brought
more terrible calamities upon us than did
all the rest, not only by exercising his
ungoverned rage upon his fellow-citizens,
but also upon his kindred and friends,
and alike upon all others, and by inflicting
still greater miseries upon them, as pu-
nishments, which they never deserved, he
being equally furious against men and
against the gods; for tyrants are not con-
tent to gain their sweet pleasure, and this
by acting injuriously, and in the vexation
they bring both upon men's estates and
their wives, but they look upon that to be
their principal advantage, when they can
utterly overthrow the entire families of
their enemies; while all lovers of liberty
are the enemies of tyranny. Nor can
those that patiently endure what miseries
they bring on them gain their friendship;
for as they are conscious of the abundant
mischiefs they have brought on these men,
and how magnanimously they have borne
their hard fortunes, they cannot but be
sensible what evils they have done, and
thence only depend on security from what
they are suspicious of, if it may be in their
power to take them quite out of the world.
Since, then, we are now gotten clear of
such great misfortunes, aud are only ac-
countable to one auother, (which form of
government affords us the best assurance
of our present concord, and promises us
the best security from all evil designs, and
will be most for our own glory in settling
the city in good order,) you ought, every
one of you in particular, to make provi-
sion for his own, and iu general for the
public utility: or, on the contrary, they
may declare their dissent to such things
as have been proposed, and this without
any hazard of danger to come upon them,
because they have now no lord set over
them, who, without fear of punishment,
could do mischief to the city, and had an
uncontrollable power to take off those that
freely declared their opinions. Nor has
any thing so much contributed to this in-
crease of tyranny of late as sloth, and a
timorous forbearance of contradicting the
emperor's will; while men had an over-
great inclination to the sweetuess of peace,
and had learned tolive like slaves; and as
many of us as either heard of intolerable
103
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX
•calamities that happened at a distance
from us, or saw the miseries that were
near us, out of the dread of dying virtu-
ously, endured a death joined with the
utmost infamy. We ought, then, in the
first place, to decree the greatest honours
we are able to those that have taken off
the tyrant, especially to Cherea Cassius;
for this one man, with the assistance of
the gods, hath, by his counsel and by his
actions, been the procurer of our liberty.
Nor ought we to forget him now we have
recovered our liberty, who, under the fore-
going tyranny, took counsel beforehand,
and beforehand hazarded himself for our
liberties; but ought to decree him proper
honours, and thereby freely declare, that
he, from the beginning, acted with our
approbation. And certainly it is a very
excellent thing, and what becomes free-
men, to requite their benefactors, as this
man hath been a benefactor to us all,
although not at all likeCassius and Brutus,
who slew Caius Julius [Cassar] ; for those
men laid the foundations of sedition and
civil wars in our city; — but this man, to-
gether with his slaughter of the tyrant,
hath set our city free from all those sad
miseries which arose from the tyranny."*
And this was the purport of Sentius's
oration, which was received with pleasure
by the senators, and by as many of the
equestrian order as were -present. And
now one Trebellius Maximus rose up
hastily, and took from Sentius's finger a
ring, which had a stone, with the image
of Caius engraven upon it, and which, in
his zeal in speaking, and his earnestness
in doing what he was about, as it was
supposed, he had forgotten to take off
himself. This sculpture was broken im-
mediately. But as it was now far in the
night, Cherea demanded of the consuls
the watchword, who gave him this word,
" Liberty." These facts were the subjects
of admiration to themselves, and almost
incredible ; for it was 100 yearsf since the
* In this oration of Sentius Saturninus'3, we may
see the gnat value virtuous men put upon public
liberty, and the sad misery they underwent while
they were tyrannized over by such emperors as
Caius. See Josephus's own short but pithy reflec-
tion at the end of the chapter: "So difficult, " says
he, " it is for those to obtain the virtue that is ne-
cessary to a wise man, who have the absolute power
to do what they please without control."
■f Hence we learn that, in the opinion of Satur-
ninus, the sovereign authority of the consuls and
senate had been taken away just 100 years before
the death of Caius, A. D. 41 ; or the sixtieth year
before the Christian era, when the first triumvirate
began und«r Ctesar, Poinpey, and Crassus.
democracy had been laid aside, when this
giving the watchword returned to the con-
suls; for, before the city was subject to
tyrants, they were the commanders of the
soldiers. But when Cherea received the
watchword, he delivered it to those on the
senate's side, which were four regiments,
who esteemed the government without
emperors to be preferable to tyranny. So
these went away with their tribunes. The
people also now departed very joyful, full
of hope and of courage, as having recovered
their former democracy, and no longer
under an emperor: and Cherea was in
very great esteem with them.
And now Cherea was very uneasy that
Caius's daughter and wife were still alive,
and that all his family did not perish with
him, since whosoever was left of them
must be left for the ruin of the city and
of the laws. Moreover, in order to finish
this matter with the utmost zeal, and, in
order to satisfy his hatred of Caius, he
sent Julius Lupus, one of the tribunes, to
kill Caius's wife and daughter. They pro-
posed this office to Lupus, as to a kinsman
of Clement, that he might be so far a
partaker of this murder of the tyrant, and
might rejoice in the virtue of having as-
sisted his fellow-citizens, and that he
might appear to have been a partaker with
those that were first in their designs against
him; yet did this action appear to some
of the conspirators to be too cruel, as tc
this using such severity to a woman, be-
cause Caius did more iudulge his own ill
nature than use her advice in all that he
did; from which ill nature it was that the
city was in so desperate a condition with
the miseries that were brought on it, and
the flower of the city was destroyed; but
others accused her of giving her consent
to these things; nay, they ascribed all
that Caius had done to her as the cause
of it, and said she had given a potion to
Caius, which had made him obnoxious to
her, and had tied him down to love her
by such evil methods; insomuch that she,
haviug rendered him distracted, had be-
come the author of all the mischiefs that
had befallen the Romans and that habita-
ble world which was subject to them. So
that at length it was determined that she
must die; nor could those of the contrary
opinion at all prevail to have her saved ;
and Lupus was sent accordingly. Nor
was there any delay made in executing
what he went about, but he was subser-
vient to those that sent him on the first
Chap. II.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
10<
opportunity, as desirous to bo noway
blamable in what might be done for the
advantage of the people. So, when he
had come into the palace, he found Ccso-
nia, who was Caius's wife, lying by her
husband's dead body, which also lay on
the ground, and destitute of all such things
as the law allows to the dead, and all over
herself besmeared with the blood of her
husband's wounds, and bewailing the great
affliction she was under, her daughter lying
by her also; and nothing else was heard
in- these her circumstances but her com-
plaint of Caius, as if he had not regarded
what she had often told him of before-
hand; which words of hers were taken in
a different sense even at that time, and
are now esteemed equally ambiguous by
those that hear of them, and are still in-
terpreted according to the different incli-
nations of people. Now some said that
the words denoted that she had advised
him to leave off his mad behaviour and
his barbarous cruelty to the citizens, and
to govern the public with moderation and
virtue, lest he should perish by the same
way, upon their using him as he had used
them. But some said, that as certain
words had passed concerning the conspira-
tors, she desired Caius to make no delay,
but immediately to put them all to death ;
and this, whether they were guilty or not,
and that thereby he would be out of the
fear of any danger; and that this was
what she reproached him for when she
advised him so to do, but he was too slow
and tender in the matter. And this was
what Cesonia said; and what the opinions
of men were about it. But when she saw
Lupus approach, she showed him Caius's
dead body, and persuaded him to come
nearer, with lamentation and tears; and,
as she perceived that Lupus was in dis-
order, and approached her in order to
execute some design disagreeable to him-
self, she was well aware for what purpose
he came, and stretched out her naked
throat, and that very cheerfully to him,
bewailing her case, like one utterly de-
spairing of her life, and bidding him not
to waver at finishing the tragedy they had
resolved upon relating to her. So she
boldly received her death's wound at the
hand of Lupus, as did the daughter after
her. So Lupus made haste to inform
Cherea of what he had done.
This was the end of Caius, after he had
reigned four years, within four months.
He was, even before he came to be em-
peror, ill naturcd, and one that had arrived
at the utmost pitch of wickedness ; a slave
to his pleasures, and a lover of calumny;
greatly affected by every terrible accident,
and, on that account, of a very murderous
disposition where he durst show it. ETe
enjoyed his exorbitant power to this only
purpose, to injure those who least de-
served it, with unreasonable insolence, and
got his wealth by murder and injustice.
He laboured to appear above regarding
either what was divine or agreeable to the
laws, but was a slave to the commenda-
tions of the populace ; and whatsoever the
laws determined to be shameful, and pu-
nished, that he esteemed more honourable
than what was virtuous. He was unmind-
ful of his friends, how intimate soever,
and though they were persons of the high-
est character; and, if he was once angry
at any of them, he would inflict punish-
ment upon them on the smallest occasions;
and esteemed every man that endeavoured
to lead a virtuous life his enemy ! And
whatsoever he commanded, he would not
admit of any contradiction to his inclina-
tions; whence it was that he had criminal
conversation with his own sister; from
which occasion chiefly it was also that a
bitter hatred first sprang up against him
among the citizens, that sort of incest not
having been known of a long time ; aud
so this provoked men to distrust him, and
to hate him that was guilty of it. And
for any great or royal work that he ever
did, which might be for the present and
for future ages, nobody can name any
such, but only the haven that he made
about Bhegium and Sicily, for the recep-
tion of the ships that brought corn from
Egypt; which was, indeed, a work with-
out dispute very great in itself, and of very
great advantage to the navigation. Yet
was not this work brought to perfection
by him, but was the one-half of it left
imperfect, by reason of his want of appli-
cation to it ; the cause of which was this,
that he employed his studies about use-
less matters, and that, by spending his
money upon such pleasures as concerned
no one's benefit but his own, he could not
exert his liberality in things that were
undeniably of great consequence. Other-
wise, he was an excellent orator, and
thoroughly acquainted with the Greek
tongue, as well as with his own country
or Boman language. He was also able,
offhand and readily, lo give answers to
compositions made by others, of consider-
110
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX.
able _ength and accuracy. He was also
more skilful in persuading others to very
great things than any one else, and this
from a natural affability of temper, which
had been improved by much exercise and
painstaking : for as he was the grandson*
of the brother of Tiberius, whose suc-
cessor he was, this was a strong induce-
ment to his acquiring of learning, because
Tiberius aspired after the highest pitch
of that sort of reputation : and Caius as-
pired after the like glory for eloquence,
being induced thereto by the letters of
his kinsman and his emperor. He was
also among the first rank of his own citi-
zens. But the advantages he received
from his learning did not countervail the
mischief he brought upon himself in the
exercise of his authority; so difficult it is
for those to obtain the virtue that is ne-
cessary for a wise man, who have the
absolute power to do what they please
without control. At the first he got him-
self such friends as were in all respects
the most worthy, and was greatly beloved
by them, while he imitated their zealous
application to the learning and to the glo-
rious actions of the best men ; but when
he became insolent toward them, they laid
aside the kindness they had for him, and
began to hate him ; from which hatred
came that plot which they raised against
him, and wherein he perished.
CHAPTER III.
Claudius seized on, and brought to the camp — The
senate send an embassy to him.
Now Claudius, as I said before, went
out of that way along which Caius had
gone; and, as the family was in a mighty
disorder upon the sad accident of the
murder of Caius, he was in great distress
how to save himself, and was found to
have hidden himself in a certain narrow
place, though he had no other occasion fur
suspicion of any dangers besides the
dignity of his birth ; for while he was a
private man, he behaved himself with
moderation, and was contented with his
present fortune, applying himself to learn-
ing, and especially to that of the Greeks,
and keeping himself entirely clear from
every thing that might bring on any dis-
turbance. But at this time the multitude
*" This Caius was the son of Gormanicus, who
was the son of Drusus, the brother of Tiberius the
emperor.
were under a consternation, and the whola
palace was full of the soldiers' madness,
and the very emperor's guards seemed
under the like fear and disorder with
private persons, the band called Praetorian,
which was the purest part of the army,
was in consultation what was to be done
at this juncture. Now all those that were
at this consultation had little regard to
the punishment Caius had suffered, be-
cause he justly deserved such his fortune;
but they were rather considering their own
circumstances, how they might take the
best care of themselves, especially while
the Germans were busy in punishing the
murderers of Caius; which yet was rather
done to gratify their own savage temper,
than for the good of the public ; all which
things disturbed Claudius, who was afraid
of his own safety, and this particularly
because he saw the heads of Asprenas and
his partners carried about. His station
had been on a certain elevated place,
whither a few steps led him, and whither
he had retired in the dark by himself.
But when Gratus, who was one of the
soldiers that belonged to the palace, saw
him, but did not well know by his coun-
tenance who he was, because it was dark,
though he could well judge that it was a
man who was privately there on some
design, he came near to him; and when
Claudius desired that he would retire, he
discovered who he was, and owned him to
be Claudius. So he said to his followers,
"This is a Germanicus;* come on, let us
choose him for our emperor !" But when
Claudius saw they were making prepara-
tions for taking him away by force, and
was afraid they would kill him, as they
had killed Caius, he besought them to
spare him, putting them in mind how
quietly he had demeaned himself, and
tbat he was unacquainted with what had
been done. Hereupon Gratus smiled
upon him, and took him by the right
hand, and said, "Leave off, sir, these low
thoughts of saving yourself, while you
ought to have greater thoughts, even of
obtaining the empire, which the gods, out
of their concern for the habitable world,
by taking Caius out of the way, commit
to thy virtuous conduct. Go to, therefore,
and accept of the throne of thy ancestors."
So they took him up and carried him, be-
cause he was not then able to go on foot,
* The surname of Germanicus was bestowed
upon Drusus, and his posterity also.
Chap. III.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
Ill
Bucb was his dread and his joy at what
was told him.
Now there was already gathered toge-
ther about Gratus, a great number of the
guards; and when they saw Claudius
carried off, they looked with a sad counte-
nance, as supposing that he was carried
to execution for the mischiefs that had
been lately done; while yet they thought
him a man who never meddled with pub-
lic affairs all his life long, and one that
had met with no contemptible dangers
under the reign of Caius; and some of
them thought it reasonable that the con-
suls should take cognisance of these mat-
ters; and, as still more and more of the
soldiery got together, the crowd about him
ran away, and Claudius could hardly go
on, his body was then so weak ; and those
who carried his sedan, upon an inquiry
that was made about his being carried off,
ran away, and saved themselves, as de-
spairing of their lord's preservation. But,
when they had come into the large court
of the palace, (which, as the report goes
about it, was inhabited first of all the
parts of the city of Rome,) and had just
reached the public treasury, many more
soldiers came about him, as glad to see
Claudius's face, and thought it exceeding
right to make him emperor on account of
their kindness for Germanicus, who was
his brother, and had left behind him a
vast reputation among all that were ac-
quainted with him. They reflected, also,
on the covetous temper of the leadiug men
of the senate, and what great errors they
had been guilty of when the senate had
the government formerly; they also con-
sidered the impossibility of such an under-
taking, as also what dangers they should
be in if the government should come to
a single person, and that such an one
should possess it as they had no hand in
advancing, and not to Claudius, who
would take it as their grant, and as gained
by their good-will to him, and would re-
member the favours they had done him,
and would make them a sufficient recom-
pense for the same.
These were the discourses the soldiers
had one with another by themselves, and
they communicated them to all such as
came in to them. Now those that in-
quired about this matter, willingly em-
braced the invitation that was made them
to join with the rest : so they carried
Claudius into the camp, crowding about
him as his guard, and encompassing him
2Q
about, one chairman still succeeding an-
other, that their vehement endeavours
might not be hindered. But as to the
populace and senators, they disagreed in
their opinions. The latter were very de-
sirous to recover their former dignity, and
were zealous to get clear of the slavery
that had been brought ou them by the
injurious treatment of the tyrants, which
the present opportunity afforded them;
but for the people, who were envious
against them, and knew that the emperors
were capable of curbing their covetous
temper, and were a refuge from them,
they were very glad that Claudius had
been seized upon, and brought to them,
and thought, that if Claudius were made
emperor, he would prevent a civil war,
such as there was in the days of Pompey.
But when the senate knew that Claudius
was brought into the camp by the soldiers,
they sent to him those of their body
which had the best character for their
virtues, that they might inform him that
he ought to do nothing by violence, in
order to gain the government; that he
who was a single person, one either al-
ready, or hereafter to be a member of
their body, ought to yield to the senate,
which consisted of so great a number;
that he ought to let the law take place in
the disposal of all that related to the pub-
lic order, and to remember how greatly
the former tyrants had afflicted their city,
and what dangers both he and they had
escaped under Caius; and that he ought
not to hate the heavy burden of tyranny,
when the injury is done by others, while
he did himself wilfully treat his country
after a mad and insolent manner; that if
he would comply with them, and demon-
strate that his firm resolution was to live
quietly and virtuously, he would have the
greatest honours decreed to him that a
free people could bestow; aud, by sub-
jecting himself to the law, would obtain
this branch of commendation, that he
acted like a man of virtue, both as a ruler
and a subject; but that if he would act
foolishly, aud learn no wisdom by Caius's
death, they would not permit him to go
on ; that a great part of the army was got
together for them, with plenty of weapons,
and a great number of slaves, which they
could make use of; that good hope was a
great matter in such cases, as was also
good fortune ; and that the gods would
never assist any others but those that un-
dertook to act with virtue and goodness,
112
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
"Boo
k XVITI.
who can be no other than such as fight for
the liberty of their country.
Now the ambassadors, Veranius and
Broechus, who were both of them tribunes
of the people, made this speech to Clau-
dius; and falling down upon their knees,
they begged of him that be would not
throw the city into wars and misfortunes;
but when they saw what a multitude of
soldiers encompassed and guarded Clau-
dius, and that the forces that were with
the consuls were, in comparison of them,
perfectly inconsiderable, they added, that
if he did desire the government, he should
accept of it as given by the senate ; that
he would prosper better, and be happier
if he came to it, not by the injustice, but
by the good-will of those that would be-
stow it upon him.
CHAPTER IV.
Claudius, assisted by Agrippa, obtains the sove-
reignty of Rome — executes the murderers of
Caius.
Now Claudius, though he was sensible
after what an insolent manner the senate
had sent to him, yet did he, according to
their advice, behave himself for the pre-
sent with moderation; but not so far that
he could not recover himself out of his
fright; so he was encouraged [to claim
the government] partly by the boldness
of the soldiers, and partly by the per-
suasion of King Agrippa, who exhorted
him not to let such a dominion slip out of
his hands, when it came thus to him of
its own accord. Now this Agrippa, with
relation to Caius, did what became one
that had been so much honoured by him;
for he embraced Caius's body after it was
dead, and laid it upon a bed, and covered
it as well as he could, and went out to the
guards, and told them that Caius was still
alive ; but he said that they should call
for physicians, since he was very ill of his
wounds. But when he had learned that
Claudius was carried away violently by
the soldiers, he rushed through the crowd
to him, and when he found that he was in
disorder, and ready to resign up the go-
vernment to the senate, he encouraged him,
and desired him to keep the government;
but when he had said this to Claudius, he
retired home. And, upon the senate's
sending for him, he anointed his head
with ointment, as if he had lately accom-
panied with his wife, and had dismissed
her, and then came to them : he also asked
of the senators what Claudius did; whc
told him the present state of affairs, and
then asked his opinion about the settle-
ment of the public. He told them in
words, that he was ready to lose his life for
the honour of the senate, but desired them
to consider what was for their advantage,
without any regard to what was most agree-
able to them; for that those who grasp at
government will stand in need of weapons
and soldiers to guard them, unless they will
set up, without any preparation for it, and
so fall into danger. And when the senate
replied, that they would bring in weapons
in abundance, and money, and that as to
an army, a part of it was already collect-
ed together for them, and they would
raise a larger one by giving the slaves their
liberty, Agrippa made answer, "0 sena-
tors! may you be able to compass what
you have a mind to; yet will I imme-
diately tell you my thoughts, because they
tend to your preservation. Take notice,
then, that the army which will fight for
Claudius hath been long exercised in
warlike affairs; but our army will be no
better than a rude multitude of raw men,
and those such as have been unexpectedly
made free from slavery, and ungovernable;
we must then fight against those that are
skilful in war, with men who know not so
much as how to draw their swords. So
that my opinion is, that we should send
some persons to Claudius, to persuade him
to lay down the government; aud I am
ready to be one of your ambassadors."
Upon this speech of Agrippa's, the se-
nate complied with him, and he was sent
among others, and privately informed
Claudius of the disorder the senate was
in, and gave him instructions to answer
them in a somewhat commanding strain,
and as one invested with dignity and au-
thority. Accordingly, Claudius said to
the ambassadors that he did not wonder
the senate had no mind to have an emperor
over them, because they had been harass-
ed by the barbarity of those that had
formerly been at the head of their affairs;
but that they should taste of an equitable
government under him, and moderate
times, while he should only be their ruler
in name, but the authority should be
equally common to them all; and since he
hud passed through many and various
scenes of life before their eyes, it would
be good for them not to distrust him. So
the ambassadors, upon their hearing this
his answer, were dismissed. But Claudius
Chap. IV.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
113
discoursed with the army which was there
gathered together, who took oaths that
they would persist in their fidelity to him;
upon which he gave the guards, to every
man 5000* drachmae, and a proportiona-
ble quantity to their captains, and promised
to give the same to the rest of the armies,
wheresoever they were.
And now the consuls called the senate
together into the temple of Jupiter the
Conqueror, while it was still night ; but
some of those senators concealed them-
selves in the city, being uncertain what to
do, upon the hearing of this summons;
and some of them went out of the city to
their own farms, as foreseeing whither the
public affairs were going, and despairing
of liberty; nay, these supposed it much
better for them to be slaves without dan-
ger to themselves, and to live a lazy and
iuactive life, than, by claiming the dignity
of their forefathers, to run the hazard of
their own safety. However, 100, and
no more, had gotten together; and as they
were in consultation about the present
posture of affairs, a sudden clamour was
made by the soldiers that were on their
side, desiring, that the senate would
choose them an emperor, and not bring the
government into ruin by setting up a mul-
titude of rulers. So, they fully declared
themselves to be for the giving of the
government not to all, but to one ; but
they gave the senate leave to look out for
a person worthy to set over them, inso-
much, that now the affairs of the senate
were much worse than before; because
they had not only failed in the recovery
of their liberty, which they boasted them-
selves of, but were in dread of Claudius
also. Yet there were those that hankered
after the government, both on account of
the dignity of their families, and that ac-
cruing to them by their marriages; for
Marcus Minucianus was illustrious, both
by his own nobility, and by his having
married Julia, the sister of Caius, who,
accordingly, was very ready to claim the
government, although the consuls dis-
couraged him, and made one delay after
another iu proposing it : that Minucianus
also, who was one of Caius's murderers,
restrained Valerius of Asia from thinking
of such things; and a prodigious slaughter
* This number of drachma; to be distributed to
each private soldier, 5000 drachmae, equal to 20,000
sesterces, or £161 sterling, seems much too large,
and directly contradicts Suetonius, who makes
them in all but 15 sesterces, or 2«. id.
Vol. II.— 8
there had been, if leave had been given to
these men to set up for themselves, and
oppose Claudius. There were also a con-
siderable number of gladiators besidos,
and those soldiers who kept watch by night
in the city, and rowers of ships, who all
ran into the camp; insomuch, that of
those who put in for the government, some
left, off their pretensions in order to spare
the city, and others out of fear for their
own persons.
But as soon as ever it was day, Cherea.
and those that were with him, came into
the senate, and attempted to make speeches
to the soldiers. However, the multitude
of those soldiers, when they saw that they
were making signals for silence with their
hands, and were ready to begin to speak
to them, grew tumultuous, aud would not
let them speak at all, because they were
all zealous to be under a monarchy ; and
they demanded of the senate one for their
ruler, as not enduring any longer delays.
But the senate hesitated about either their
own governing, or how they should them-
selves be governed, while the soldiers
would not admit them to govern; and the
murderers of Caius would not permit the
soldiers to dictate to them. When they
were in these circumstances, Cherea was
not able to contain the anger he had, and
promised that if they desired an emperor,
he would give them one, if any one would
bring him the watchword from Eutychus.
Now, this Eutychus was charioteer of the
green-band faction, styled Prasine, and a
great friend of Caius, wTho used to harass
the soldiery with building stables for the
horses, and spent his time in ignominious
labours, which occasioned Cherea to re-
proach them with him, and to abuse them
with much other scurrilous language; and
told them that he would bring them the
head of Claudius; and that it was an
amazing thing that, after their former
madness, they should commit their go-
vernment to a fool. Yet were they not
moved with his words, but drew their
swords, and took up their ensigns, and
went to Claudius, to join in taking the
oath of fidelity to him. So, the senate
were left without anybody to defend
them ; and the very consuls differed no-
thing from private persons. They were
also under consternation and sorrow, meu
not knowing what would become of them,
because Claudius was very angry at them ;
so they fell to reproaching one another,
and repented of what they had done. At
114
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Bcok XIX
■which juncture, Sabinus, one of Caius's
murderers, threatened that he would soon-
er come into the midst of them and kill
himself, than consent to make Claudius
emperor, and see slavery returning upon
them ; he also abused Cherea for loving
his life too well, while he who was the first
in his contempt of Caius, could think it a
good thing to live, when even by all that
they had done for the recovery of their
liberty, they had found it impossible to
do it. But Cherea said he had no manner
of doubt upon him about killing himself;
yet he would first sound the intentions of
Claudius before he did it.
These were the debates [about the se-
nate] ; but in the camp everybody was
crowding on all sides to pay their court to
Claudius; and the other consul, Quintus
Pompouius, was reproached by the soldiery
as having rather exhorted the senate to
recover their liberty ; whereupon they
drew their swords, and were going to
assault him, and they had done it, if
Claudius had not hindered them, who
snatched the consul out of the danger he
was in, and set him by him. But he did
not receive that part of the senate which
was with Quintus in the like honourable
manner; nay, some of them received
blows, and were thrust away as they came
to salute Claudius; nay, Aponius went
away wounded, and they were all in dan-
ger. However, King Agrippa went up to
Claudius, and desired he would treat the
senators more gently; for if any mischief
should come to the senate, he would have
no others over whom to rule. Claudius
complied with him, and called the senate
together into the palace, and was carried
thither himself through the city, while
the soldiery conducted him, though this
was to the great vexation of the multi-
tude; for Cherea and Sabinus, two of
Caius's murderers, went in the forefront
of them, in an open manner, while Pollio,
whom Claudius, a little before, had made
captain of his guards, had sent them
an epistolary edict, to forbid them to
appear in public. Then did Claudius,
upon his coming to the palace, get his
friends together, and desired their suffrages
about Cherea. They said that the work
he had done was a glorious one ; but they
accused him that he did it of perfidious-
ness, and thought it just to inflict the
punishment [of death] upon him, to dis-
countenance such actions for the time
to come. So Cherea was led to his execu-
tion, and Lupus a«d many other Romans
with him. Now, it is reported that Che-
rea bore his calamity courageously ; and
this not only by the firmness of his own
behaviour under it, but by the reproaches
he laid upon Lupus, who fell into tears;
for when Lupus had laid his garment
aside, and complained of the cold,* he
said, that cold was never hurtful to Lupus
[that is, a wolf]. And as a great many
men went along with them to see the sight,
when Cherea came to the place, he asked
the soldier who was to be their executioner,
whether this office was what he was used
to, or whether this was the first time of
his using his sword in that manner; and
desired him to bring him that very sword
with which he himself slew Caius. So
he was happily killed at oue stroke. But
Lupus did not meet with such good for-
tune in going out of the world, since he
was timorous, and had many blows levelled
at his neck, because he did not stretch it
out boldly [as he ought to have done].
Now, a few days after this, as the Pa-
rental Solemnities were just at hand, the
Roman multitude made their usual obla-
tions to their several ghosts, and put
portions into the fire in honour of Cherea,
and besought him to be merciful to them,
and not continue his anger against them
for their ingratitude. And this was the
end of the life that Cherea came to. But
for Sabinus, although Claudius not only
set him at liberty, but gave him leave to
retain his former command in the army,
yet did he think it would be unjust in him
to fail of performing his obligations to his
fellow-confederates; so he fell upon his
sword, and killed himself, the wound
reaching up to the very hilt of the sword.
CHAPTER V.
Claudius restores to Agrippa his grandfather's
kingdoms — augments his dominions; and pub-
lishes an edict in behalf of the Jews.
Now, when Claudius had taken out of
the way all those soldiers whom he sus-
pected, which he did immediately, he
published an edict, and therein confirmed
that kingdom to Agrippa which Caius had
given him, and therein commended the
* This piercing cold here complained of by Lu-
pus, agrees well to the time of the year that
Claudius began his reign; it being for certain
about the months of November, December, or
January, and most probably a few days after the
24th of January, and a few days before the Ro«
mau Parentalia.
Chap. V.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
115
king highly. He also made an addition
to it of all that country over which Herod,
who was his grandfather, had reigned,
that is, Judea and Samaria; and this he
restored to him as due to his family. But
for Abila of Lysanias, and all that lay at
Mount Libamis, he bestowed them upon
him, as out of his own territories. He
also made a league with this Agrippa, con-
firmed by oaths, in the middle of the
forum, in the city of Rome: he also took
away from Antiochus that kingdom which
he was possessed of, but gave him a certain
part of Cilicia and Commagena : he also
set Alexander Lysimachus, the alabarch,
at liberty, who had been his old friend,
and steward to his mother Antonia, but
had been imprisoned by Caius, whose son
[Marcus] married Bernice, the daughter
of Agrippa. But when Marcus, Alexan-
der's son, was dead, who had married her
when she was a virgin, Agrippa gave her
in marriage to his brother Herod, and
begged for him of Claudius the kingdom
of Chalcis.
Now, about this time there was a sedition
between the Jews and the Greeks, at the
city of Alexandria ; for, when Caius was
dead, the nation of the Jews, which had
been very much mortified under the reign
of Caius, and reduced to very great dis-
tress by the people of Alexandria, reco-
vered itself, and immediately took up arms
to fight for themselves. So Claudius sent
an order to the president of Egypt to
quiet that tumult; he also sent an edict,
at the request of King Agrippa aud King
Herod, both to Alexandria and to Syria,
whose contents were as follows: — "Tibe-
rius Claudius Cre-ar Augustus Germani-
cus, high priest and tribune of the people,
ordains thus: Since I am assured that the
Jews at Alexandria, called Alexandrians,
have been joint inhabitants in the earliest
times with the Alexandrians, and have
obtained from their kings equal privileges
with them, as is evident by the public
records that are in their possession, and
the edicts themselves; and that after
Alexandria had been subjected to our
empire by Augustus, the rights and privi-
leges have been preserved by those presi-
dents who have at divers times been sent
thither; and that no dispute had been
raised about these rights and privileges,
even when Aquila was governor of Alex-
andria ; and that when the Jewish ethnarch
was dead, Augustus did not prohibit the
making such ethnarchs, as willing that all
men should be so subject [to the Romans]
as to continue in the observation of their
own customs, and not to be forced to
transgress the ancient rules of their own
country religion; but that, in the time of
Caius, the Alexandrians became insolent
toward the Jews that were among them,
which Caius, out of his great madness and
want of understanding, reduced the nation
of the Jews very low, because they would
not transgress the religious worship of
their country, and call him a god : I will,
therefore, that the nation of the Jews be
not deprived of their rights and privileges,
on account of the madness of Caius; but
that those rights and privileges, which
they formerly enjoyed, be preserved to
them, and that they may continue in their
own customs. And I charge both parties
to take very great care that no troubles
may arise after the promulgation of this
edict."
And such were the contents of this edict
on behalf of the Jews, that were sent to
Alexandria. But the edict that was sent
into the other parts of the habitable earth
was this which follows: — "Tiberius Clau-
dius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, high
priest, tribune of the people, chosen consul
the second time, ordains thus: Upon the
petition of King Agrippa and King Herod,
who are persons very dear to me, that
I would grant the same rights and privi-
leges should be preserved to the Jews
which are in all the Roman empire, which
I have granted to those of Alexandria, I
very willingly comply therewith; and this
grant I make, not only for the sake of the
petitioners, but as judging those Jews for
whom I have been petitioned, worthy of
such a favour, on account of their fidelity
and friendship to the Romans. I think it
also very just that no Grecian city should
be deprived of such rights and privileges,
since they were preserved to them under
the great Augustus. It will, therefore,
be fit to permit the Jews, who are in all
the world under us, to keep their ancient
customs without being hindered so to do.
And I do charge them also to use this my
kindness to them with moderation, and
not to show a contempt of the superstitious
observances of other nations, but to keep
their own laws only. And I will, that
this decree of mine be engraven on tables
by the magistrates of the cities and colo-
nies, and municipal places, both those
within Italy and those without it, both
kings and governors, by the means of the
11(3
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX.
ambassadors, and to Lave them exposed to
tlie public for full 80 days, in such a
place, whence it may be plainly read from
the ground."*
CHAPTER Vi.
Conduct of Agrippa — Petronius writes to the inha-
bitants of Doris on behalf of the Jews.
Now Claudius Caesar, by these decrees
of his which were sent to Alexandria and
to all the habitable earth, made known
what opinion he had of the Jews. So,
he soon sent away Agrippa to take his
kingdom, now he was advanced to a more
illustrious dignity than before, and sent
letters to the presidents and procurators of
the provinces, that they should treat him
very kindly. Accordingly, he returned in
haste, as was likely he would, now he
returned in much greater prosperity than
he had before. He also came to Jerusa-
lem, and offered all the sacrifices that be-
longed to him, and omitted nothing which
the law required; on which accouut, he
ordered that many of the Nazarites should
have their heads shorn. And for the
golden chain which had been given him
by Caius, of equal weight with that iron
chain wherewith his royal hands had been
bound, he hung it up within the limits of
the temple, over the treasury, f that it
may be a memorial of the severe fate
he had lain under, and a testimony of his
change for the better; that it might be a
demonstration how the greatest prosperity
may have a fall, and that God sometimes
raises what is fallen down; for this chain
thus dedicated afforded a document to all
men, that King Agrippa had been once
bound in a chain for a small cause, but
recovered his former dignity again, and,
a little while afterward, got out of his
bonds, and was advanced to be a more
illustrious king than he was before.
Whence men may understand, that all
that partake of human nature, how great
soever they are, may fall; and that those
that fall may gain their former illustrious
dignity again.
* This form was so known and frequent among
the Romans, that it used to be represented at the
bottom of their edicts by the initial letters only,
I . D. P. It. L. P., Unde De Piano Kecte Lege
Possit: " Whence it may be plainly read from the
ground."
f This treasury-chamber seems to have been
the same in which Christ taught, and where the
people offered their charity-money for the repairs
or other uses of the temple. Mark xii. 41, &c.;
Luke xxii. 1 ; John viii. 20.
And when Agrippa bad entirely finished
all the duties of the divine worship, he
removed Theophilus, the son of Ananus,
from the high-priesthood, and bestowed
tbat honour on his son Simon, the son of
Boethus, whose name was also Cantheras,
whose daughter King Herod had married,
as I have related before. Simon, there-
fore, had the [high] priesthood with his
brethren, and with his father, in like
manner as the sons of Simon, the son of
Onias, who were three, had it formerly
under the government of the Macedonians,
as we have related in a former book.
When the king had settled the high-
priesthood after this manner, he returned
the kindness which the inhabitants of
Jerusalem had shown him; for he released
them from the tax upon houses, every one
of whom paid it before, thinking it a good
thing to requite the tender affection of
those that loved him. He also made
Silas the general of his forces, as a man
who had partaken with him in many of
his troubles. But after a very little while
the young men of Doris, preferring a rash
attempt before piety, and being naturally
bold and insolent, carried a statue of
Csesar into a synagogue of the Jews, and
erected it there. This procedure of theirs
greatly provoked Agrippa; for it plainly
tended to the dissolution of the laws of
his country. So he came without delay
to Publius Petronius, who was then presi-
dent of Syria, and accused the people of
Doris. Nor did he less resent what was
done than did Agrippa; for he judged
it a piece of impiety -to transgress the
laws that regulate the actions of men.
So, he wrote the following letter to the
people of Doris, in an angry strain: —
"Publius Petronius, the president under
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Ger-
manicus, to the magistrates of Doris,
ordains as follows: Since some of you
have had the boldness, or madness rather,
after the edict of Claudius Coosar Augustus
Germanicus was published for permitting
the Jews to observe the laws of their
country, not to obey the same, but have
acted in entire opposition thereto, as for-
bidding the Jews to assemble together in
the synagogue, by removing Caesar's
statue, and setting it up therein, and
thereby have offended not only the Jews,
but the emperor himself, whose statue is
more commodiously placed in his own
temple than in a foreign one, where is
the place of assembling together; while
I'k* VIL]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
117
it is but a part of natural justice, that
every one should have the power over the
place belonging peculiarly to themselves,
according to the determination of Caesar,
to say nothing of my own determination,
which it would be ridiculous to mention
after the emperor's edict, which gives the
Jews leave to make use of their own cus-
toms, as also gives order that they enjoy
equally the rights of citizens with the
Greeks themselves, I therefore ordain,
that Proculus Vitellius, the centurion,
bring those men to me, who, contrary to
Augustus's edict, have been so insolent
as to do this thing, at which those very
men who appear to be of principal repu-
tation among them have an indignation
also, and allege for themselves, that it
was not done with their consent, but by
the violence of the multitude, that they
may give an account of what hath been
done. I also exhort the principal magis-
trates among them, unless they have a
mind to have this action esteemed to be
done with their consent, to inform the
centurion of those that were guilty of it,
and take care that no handle be hence
taken for raising a sedition or quarrel
among them ; which those seem to me to
hunt after, who encom-age such doings ;
while botli I myself, and King Agrippa,
for whom I have the highest honour, have
nothiug more under our care than that the
nation of the Jews may have no occasion
given them of getting together, under the
pretence of avenging themselves, and be-
come tumultuous. And that it may be
more publicly known what Augustus hath
resolved about this whole matter, I have
subjoined those edicts which he hath lately
caused to be published at Alexandria, and
which, although they may be well known
to all, yet did King Agrippa, for whom I
have the highest honour, read them at that
time before my tribunal, and pleaded that
the Jews ought not to be deprived of
those rights which Augustus hath granted
them. 1 therefore charge you, that you
do not, for the time to come, seek for any
occasion of sedition or disturbance, but
that every one be allowed to follow their
own religious customs."
Thus did Petronius take care of this
matter, that such a breach of the law
might be corrected, and that no such
thing might be attempted afterward
against the Jews. And now King Agrippa
took the [high] priesthood away from Si-
mon Cantheras, and put Jonathan, the
son of Ad anus, into it again, and owned
that he was more worthy of that dignity
than the other. ]>ut this was not a thing
acceptable to him, to recover that his
former dignity. So he refused it, and
said, " 0 king ! I rejoice in the honour that
thou hast for me, and take it kindly that
thou wouldst give me such a dignity of
thy own inclinations, although God hath
judged that I am not at all worthy of the
high-priesthood. I am satisfied with hav-
ing once put on the sacred garments; for
I then put them on after a more holy
manner than I should now receive them
again. But, if thou desirest that a person
more worthy than myself should have
this honourable employment, give me
leave to name thee such an one. I have
a brother that is pure from all sin against
God, and of all offences against thyself;
I recommend him to thee, as one that is
fit for this dignity." So the king was
pleased with these words of his, and
passed by Jonathan, and, according to
his brother's desire, bestowed the high-
priesthood upon Matthias. Nor was it
long before Mai-cus succeeded Petronius
as president of Syria.
CHAPTER VII.
Silas imprisoned by Agrippa — Jerusalem encom-
passed by a wall— Benefits conferred on the in-
habitants of Berytus hf Agrippa.
Now Silas, the general of the king's
horse, because he had been faithful to him
under all his misfortunes, and had never
refused to be a partaker with him in any
of his dangers, but had oftentimes under-
gone the most hazardous dangers for him,
was full of assurance, and thought he
might expect a sort of equality with the
king, on account of the firmness of the
friendship he had shown to him. Accord-
ingly, he would nowhere let the king sit
as his superior, and took the like liberty
in speaking to him upon all occasions, till
he became troublesome to the king, when
they were merry together, extolling him-
self beyond measure, and often putting
the king in mind of the severity of for-
tune he had undergone, that he might, by
way of ostentation, demonstrate what
zeal he had shown in his service; and was
continually harping upon this string,
what pains he had taken for him, and
much enlarged still upon that subject.
The repetition of this so frequently
seemed to reproach the king, insomuch,
that he took this ungovernable libertv of
113
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XIX
talking very ill at his hands. For the
commemoration of times, when men have
been under ignominy, is by no means
agreeable to them; and he is a very silly
man who is perpetually relating to a per-
son what kindness he had done him. At
last, therefore, Silas had so thoroughly
provoked the king's indignation, that he
acted rather out of passion than good con-
sideration, aud did not only turn Silas
out of his place, as general of his horse,
but sent him in bonds to his own country.
But the edge of his anger wore off by
length of time, and made room for more
just reasonings as to his judgment about
this man; and he considered how many
labours he had undergone for his sake.
So when Agrippa was solemnizing his
birthday, and he gave festival entertain-
ments to all his subjects, he sent for
Silas, on the sudden, to be his guest.
But, as he was a very frank man, he
thought he had now a just handle given
him to be angry ; which he could not
conceal from those that came for him, but
said to them, u What honour is this the
king invites me to, which I conclude will
soon be over ! For the king hath not let
me keep those original marks of the good-
will I bore him, which I once had from
him; but he hath plundered me, and that
unjustly also. Does he think that I can
leave off that liberty of "speech, which,
upon the consciousness of my deserts, I
shall use more loudly than before, and
shall relate how many misfortunes I have
delivered him from? how many labours I
have undergone for him, whereby I pro-
cured him deliverance and respect? as a
reward for which I have borne the hard-
ships of bonds and a dark prison ! I
shall never forget this usage. Nay, per-
haps, my very soul, when it is departed
out of my body, will not forget the glori-
ous actions I did on his account." This
was the clamour he made ; and he ordered
the messengers to tell it to the king. So
he perceived that Silas was incurable in
his folly, and still suffered him to lie in
prison.
As for the walls of Jerusalem that
were adjoining to the new city [Bezetha],
he repaired them at the expense of the
public, and built them wider in breadth
and higher in altitude; aud he had made
lhem too strong for all human power to
demolish, unless Marcus, the then presi-
dent of Syria, had by letter informed
Olaudius Caesar of what he was doing.
And when Claudius had some suspicion
of attempts for innovation, he sent to
Agrippa to leave off the building of those
walls presently. So he obeyed, as not
thinking it proper to contradict Claudius
Now this king was by nature very
beneficent, and liberal in his gifts, and
very ambitious to oblige people with such
large donations; and he made himself
very illustrious by the many chargeable
presents he made them. He took delight
in giving, and rejoiced in living with good
reputation. He was not at all like that
Herod who reigned before him ; for that
Herod was ill-natured, and severe in his
punishments, and had no mercy on them
that he hated; and every one perceived
that he was more friendly to the Greeks
than to the Jews; for he adorned foreign
cities with large presents in money; with
building them baths and theatres besides;
nay, in some of those places, he erected
temples, aud porticos in others; but he
did not vouchsafe to raise one of the least
edifices in any Jewish city, or make them
any donation that was worth mentioning.
But Agrippa's temper was mild, and
ecpually liberal to all men. He was hu-
mane to foreigners, and made them sensi-
ble of his liberality. He was in like
manner rather of a gentle and compas-
sionate temper. Accordingly, he loved
to live continually at Jerusalem, and was
exactly careful in the observances of the
laws of his country. He therefore kept
himself entirely pure; nor did any day
pass over his head without its appointed
sacrifice.
However, there was a certain man of
the Jewish nation at Jerusalem, who ap-
peared to be very accurate in the know-
ledge of the law. His name was Simon.
This man got together an assembly,
while the king was absent at Cesarea, and
had the insolence to accuse him as not
living holily, and that he might justly be
excluded out of the temple, since it be-
longed only to native Jews. But the
general of Agrippa's army informed him
that Simon had made such a speech to
the people. So the king sent for him;
and, as he was then sitting in the theatre,
he bade him sit down by him, aud said to
him with a low and gentle voice, " What
is there done in this place that is contrary
to the law?" But he had nothing to say
for himself, but begged his pardon. So
the king was more easily reconciled to
him than one could have imagined, as
Chap. VIII.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
119
esteeming mildness a better quality in a
king than anger; and knowing that mode-
ration is more becoming in great men
than passion. So he made Simon a small
present, and dismissed him.
Now, as Agrippa was a great builder
in many places, he paid a peculiar regard
to the people of Berytus: for he erected
a theatre for them, superior to many
others of that sort, both in sumptuous-
ness and elegance, as also an amphithea-
tre, built at vast expense; and, besides
these, he built them baths and porticos,
and spared for no costs in any of his edi-
fices, to render them both handsome and
large. He also spent a great deal upon
their dedication, and exhibited shows upon
them, and brought thither musicians of all
sorts, and such as made the most delight-
ful music, of the greatest variety. He
also showed his magnificence upon the
theatre, in his great number of gladiators;
and there it was that he exhibited the
several antagonists, in order to please the
spectators; no fewer, indeed, than 700
men to fight with 700 other men ;* and
allotted all the malefactors he had for this
exercise, that both the malefactors might
receive their punishment, and that this
operation of war might be a recreation in
peace. And thus were these criminals all
destroyed at once.
CHAPTER VIII.
Death of Agrippa.
"Wiien Agrippa bad finished what I
have above related, at Berytus, he removed
to Tiberias, a city of Galilee. Now, he
was in great esteem among other kings.
Accordingly there came to him Antiochus,
king of Commagena, Sampsigeramus, king
of Emesa, and Cotys, who was king of
the Lesser Armenia, and Polemo, who
was king of Pontus, as also Herod his
brother, who was king of Chalcis. All
these he treated with agreeable entertain-
ments, and after an obliging manner, and
so as to exhibit the greatness of his mind,
and so as to appear worthy of those
respects which the kings paid to him by
coming thus to see him. However, while
these kings stayed with him, Marcus, the
president of Syria, came thither. So the
king, in order to preserve the respect that
* A strange number of condemned criminals to
be under sentence of death at once; no fewer, it
seems, than 1400 !
was due to the Romans, went oat of tho
city to meet him, as far as seven furlongs.
But this proved to be the beginning of a
difference between him and Marcus ; for
he took with him in his chariot those
other kings as his assessors. But Marcus
had a suspicion what the meaning could
be of so great a friendship of these kings
one with another, and did not think so
close an agreement of so many potentates
to be for the interest of the Romans. He
therefore sent some of his domestics to
every one of them, and enjoined them to
go their ways home without further delay.
This was very ill taken by Agrippa, who,
after that, became his enemy. And now
he took the high-priesthood away from
Matthias, and made Elioneus, the son of
Cantheras, high priest in his stead.
Now when Agrippa had reigned three
years over all Judea, he came to the city
of Cesaroa, which was formerly called
Strato's Tower; and there he exhibited
shows in honour of Ca;sar, upon his being
informed that there was a certain festival
celebrated to make vows for his safety.
At which festival, a great multitude had
gotten together of the principal persous,
and such as were of dignity through his
province. On the second day of which
shows, he put on a garment made wholly
of silver, and of a contexture truly won-
derful, and came into the theatre early in
the morning; at which time the silver of
his garment being illuminated by the
fresh reflection of the sun's rays upon it,
shone out after a surprising manner, and
was so resplendent as to spread a horror
over those that looked intently upon him :
and presently his flatterers cried out, one
from one place, and another from another,
(though not for his good,) that he was a
god : and they added, " Be thou merciful
to us; for although we have hitherto
reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall
we henceforth own thee as sup. rior to mor-
tal nature." Upon this the king did nei-
ther rebuke them nor reject their impious
flattery. But, as he presently afterward
looked up, he saw an owl sitting upon a
certain rope over his head, aud imme-
diately understood that this bird was the
messenger of ill tidings, as it had once
been the messenger of good tidings to
him; and fell into the deepesl sorrow.
A severe pain also arose in his belly, aud
began in a most violent manner. Ho
therefore looked upon his friends and said,
"I, whom you call a god, am commanded
=ri
120
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XIX. Chap. IX
presently to depart this life ; while Pro-
vidence thus reproves the lying words you
have just now said to me; and I, who was
by you called immortal, am immediately
to be hurried away by death. But I am
bound to accept of what Providence allots,
as it pleases God : for we have by no
means lived ill, but in a splendid and hap-
py manner." When he had said this, his
pain had become violent. Accordingly,
he was carried into the palace; and the
rumour went abroad everywhere that he
would certainly die in a little time. But
the multitude presently sat in sackcloth,
with their wives and children, after the
law of their country, and besought God
for the king's recovery. All places were
also full of mourning and lamentations.
Now, the king rested in a high chamber,
and as he saw them below lying prostrate
on the ground, he could not himself for-
bear weeping. And when he had been
quite worn out by the pain in his belly
for five days, he departed this life, being
in the 54th year of his age, and in the
seventh year of his reign; for he reigned
four years under Caius Caesar, three of
them were over Philip's tetrarchy only,
and, on the fourth, he had that of Herod
added to it ; and he reigned, besides those,
three years under the reign of Claudius
Csesar : in which tima he reigned over
the forementioned countries, and had Ju-
dea added to them, as also Samaria and
Cesarea. The revenues that he received
out of them were very great, no less than
12,000,000 of drachma}.* Yet did he
borrow great sums from others; for he
was so very liberal, that his expenses ex-
ceeded his incomes; and his generosity
was boundless. f
But before the multitude were made
acquainted with Agrippa's being expired,
Herod, the king of Chalcis, and Helcias,
the master of the horse, and the king's
friend, sent Aristo, one of the king's most
faithful servants, and slew Silas, who had
been their enemy, as if it had been done
by the king's own command.
* This sum of 12,000,000 of drachma;, which is
equal to 3,000,000 of shekels, t. e. at 2*. lOd. a
shekel, equal to £425,000 sterling, was Agrippa's
yearly income, or about three-fourths of his grand-
father Herod's income, he having abated the tax
upon houses at Jerusalem; neither was he so tyran-
nical as Herod had been to the Jews.
f Reland takes notice here, that Josephus omits
the reconciliation of this Herod Agrippa to the Ty-
rians and Sidonians, by the means of Blastus the
king's chamberlain. Acts xii. 20.
CHAPTER IX.
The Emperor Claudius appoints Cuspius Fadtu
procurator of Judea.
And thus did King Agrippa depart this
life. But he left behind him a son, Agrip-
pa by name, a youth in the seventeenth
year of his age, and three daughters, one
of whom, Bernice, was married to Herod,
his father's brother, and was sixteen years
old; the other two, Mariamne and Dru-
silla, were still virgins; the former was
ten years old, and Drusilla six. Now,
these his daughters were thus espoused by
their father: Mariamne to Julius Arche-
laus Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, the
son of Cheleias; and Drusilla to the king
of Commagena. But when it was known
that Agrippa had departed this life, the in-
habitants of Cesarea and of Sebaste forgot
the kindnesses he had bestowed on them,
and acted the part of the bitterest ene-
mies; for they cast such reproaches upon
the deceased as are not fit to be spoken of:
and so many of them as were then sol-
diers, which were a great number, went
to his house, and hastily carried off the
statues* of the king's daughters, and all
at once carried them into the brothel-
houses, and when they had set them on
the tops of those houses, they abused
them to the utmost of their power, and did
such things to them as are too indecent to
be related. They also laid themselves
down in public places, and celebrated ge-
neral feastings with garlands on their
heads, and with ointments and libations
to Charon, and drinking to one another
for joy that the king had expired. Nay,
they were not only unmindful of Agrippa,
who had extended his liberality to them
in abundance, but of his grandfather He-
rod also, who had himself rebuilt their
cities, and had raised them havens and
temples at vast expense.
Now Agrippa, the son of the deceased,
was at Rome, and brought up with Clau-
dius Caesar. And when Caesar was in-
formed that Agrippa was dead, and that
the inhabitants of Sebaste and Cesarea
had abused him, he was sorry for the first
news, and was displeased with the ingrati-
tude of those cities. He was therefore
disposed to send Agrippa junior away
presently to succeed his father in the king-
dom, and was willing to confirm him in
* Photius says, they were not the statues or
images, but the ladies themselves, who were thus
basely abused by the soldiers.
Book XX Chap. 1.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
121
it by his oath. But tbose freed men and
friends of his who had the greatest au-
thority with him, dissuaded him from it,
and sail] that it was a dangerous experi-
ment to permit so large a kingdom to come
under the government of so very young a
man, and one hardly yet arrived at the
years of discretion, who would not be able
to take sufficient care of its administration ;
while the weight of a kingdom is heavy
enough for a grown man. So Ccesar
thought what they said to be reasonable.
Accordingly, he sent Cuspius Fadus to be
procurator of Judea, and of the entire king-
dom, and paid that respect to the deceased,
as not to introduce Marcus, who had been
at variance with him, into his kingdom.
But he determined, in the first place, to
send orders to Fadus, that he should chas-
tise the inhabitants of Cesareaaud Sebaste
for those abuses they had offered to him
that was deceased, and their madnOBS
inward bis daughters that were still alive;
and that he should remove that body of
soldiers that were at Cesarea and Sebaste,
with the five regiments, into Pontus, that
they might do their military duty there,
and that he should choose au equal num-
ber of soldiers out of the Roman legions
that were in Syria, to supply their place.
Yet were not those that had such orders
actually removed ; for by sending ambas-
sadors to Claudius, they pacified him, and
got leave to abide in Judea still ; and
these were the very men that became the
source of very great calamities to the
Jews in after times, and sowed the seeds
of that war which began under Floras;
whence it was that, when Vespasian had
subdued the country, he removed them
out of his provinces, as we shall relate
hereafter.*
BOOK XX.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF TWENTY-TWO YEARS, FROM FADUS
THE PROCURATOR TO FLORUS.
CHAPTER I.
Sedition of the Philadelphians against the Jews.
Upon the death of King Agrippa, which
we have related in the foregoing book,
Claudius Ccesar sent Cassius Longinus as
successor to Marcus, out of regard to the
memory of King Agrippa, who had often
desired of him by letters, while he was
alive, that he would not suffer Marcus to
be any longer president of Syria. But
Fadus, as soon as he had come as procura-
tor in Judea, found quarrelsome doings
between the Jews that dwelt in Pereaand
the people of Philadelphia, about their
borders, at a village called Mia, that was
filled with men of a warlike temper; for
the Jews of Perea had taken up arms
without the consent of their principal men,
and had destroyed many of the Philadel-
phians. "When Fadus was informed of
this procedure, it provoked him very much
that they had not left the determination
of the matter to him, if they thought that
the Philadelphians had done them any
wrong, brt had rashly taken up arms
against them. So he seized upon three of
their principal men, who were also the
causes of this sedition, and ordered them
to be bound, and afterward had one of
them slain, whose name was Hannibal ;
and he banished the other two, Amram
and Eleazar ; Tholomy also, the arch-rob-
ber, was, after some time, brought to him
bound, and slain, but not till he had done
a world of mischief to Idumea and the
Arabians. And indeed, from that time,
Judea was cleared of robberies by the
care and providence of Fadus. He also
at this time sent for the high priests and
the principal citizens of Jerusalem, and
this at the command of the emperor, and
admonished them, that they should lay up
the long garment and the sacred vestment,
which it is customary for nobody but the
high priest to wear, in the tower of Auto-
nia, that it might be under the power of
the Romans, as it had been formerly.
Now, the Jews durst not contradict what
he had said, bufdesired Fabius, however,
Thifl history is now wanting.
122
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX
and Longinus, (which last had come to
Jerusalem, and had brought a great army
with him, out of a fear that the [rigid]
injunctions of Fadus should force the Jews
to rebel,) that they might, in the first
place, have leave to send ambassadors to
Caesar, to petition him that they might
have the holy vestments under their own
power; and that, in the next place, they
would tarry till they knew what answer
Claudius would give to their request. So
they replied, that they would give them
leave to send their ambassadors, pro-
vided they would give them their sons as
pledges [for their peaceable behaviour].
And when they had agreed so to do, and
had given them the pledges they desired,
the ambassadors were sent accordingly.
But when, upon their coming to Rome,
Agrippa junior, the son of the deceased,
understood the reason why they came, (for
he dwelt with Claudius Caesar, as we said
before), he besought Caesar to grant the
Jews their request about the holy vest-
ments, and to send a message to Fadus
accordingly. •
Hereupon Claudius called for the am-
bassadors, and told them that he granted
their request; and bade them to return
their thanks to Agrippa for this favour,
which had been bestowed on them upon
his entreaty. And, besides these answers
of his, he sent the following letter by
them: — "Claudius Caesar Germanicus, tri-
bune of the people the fifth time, and
designed consul the fourth time, and im-
perator the tenth time, the father of his
country, to the magistrates, senate, and
people, and the whole nation of the Jews,
sendeth greeting. Upon the representa-
tion of your ambassadors to me by Agrip-
pa my friend, whom I have brought up,
and have now with me, and who is a per-
son of very great piety, who are come to
give me thanks for the care I have taken
of your nation, and to entreat me, in an
earnest and obliging manner, that they
may have the holy vestments, with the
crown belonging to them, under their
power, I grant their request, as that excel-
lent person Vitellius, who is very dear to
me, had done before me. And I have
complied with your desire, in the first
place, out of regard to that piety which
I profess, and because I would have every
one worship God according to the laws of
their own country ; and this I do also, be-
cause I shall hereby highly gratify King
Herod and Agrippa junior, whose sacred
regards to me, and earnest good-will to
you I am well acquainted with, and with
whom I have the greatest friendship, and
whom I highly esteem, and look on as a
person of the best character. Now, I have
written about these affairs to Cuspius Fa-
dus my procurator. The names of those
that brought me your letter are Cornelius,
the son of Cero, Trypho, the son of Theu-
dio, Dorotheus, the son of Nathaniel, and
John, the son of John. This is dated be-
fore the fourth of the calends of July,
when Rufus and Pompeius Sylvanus are
consuls."
Herod also, the brother of the deceased
Agrippa, who was then possessed of the
royal authority over Chalcis, petitioned
Claudius Caesar for the authority over the
temple, and the money of the sacred trea-
sure, and the choice of the high priests,
and obtained all that he petitioned for.
So after that time this authority continued
among all his descendants till the end of
the war.* Accordingly, Herod removed
the last high priest, called Cantheras, and
bestowed that dignity on his successor
Joseph, the son of Cananus.
CHAPTER II.
Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates,
embrace the Jewish religion — Helena supplies
the poor with corn during a great famine at
Jerusalem.
About this time it was that Helena,
queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates,
changed their course of life, and embraced
the Jewish customs, and this on the occa-
sion following : — Monobazus, the king of
Adiabene, who had also the name of Ba-
zeus, fell in love with his sister Helena,
and took her to be his wife, and begat her
with child. But as he was in bed with her
one night, he laid his hand upon his wife,
and fell asleep, and seemed to hear a voice,
which bade him take his hand from off of
her, and not to hurt the infant that was
within the womb, and which by God's pro-
vidence, would be safely born, and have a
happy end. This voice put him into dis-
order; so he awaked immediately, and told
the story to his wife; and when his son
was born, he called him Izates. He bad
indeed Monobazus, his elder brother, by
* Here is some error in the copies, or mistakes
in Josephus; for the power of appointing high
priests, after Herod king of Chalcis was dead, and
Agrippa junior was made king of Chalcis in his
room, belonged to him ; and he exercised ihe same
all along till Jerusalem was destroyed.
CiiAr. II.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
1:
Helena also, and he had other sons by
other wives besides. Yet did he openly
place all his affections on this only begot-
ten* son Izates, which was the origin of
that envy which his other brethren, by
the same father, bore to him ; while on
this account they hated him more and
more, and were all under great affliction
that their father should prefer Izates be-
fore them all. Now, although their father
was very sensible of these their passions,
yet did he forgive them, as not indulging
those passions out of an ill disposition,
but out of a desire each of them had to
be beloved by their father. However, he
sent Izates, with many presents, to Aben-
nerig, the king of Charax-Spasini, and
that out of the great dread he was in
about him, lest he should come to some
misfortune by the hatred his brethren bore
him; and committed his son's preserva-
tion to him. Upon which Abennerig
gladly received the young man, and had a
great affection for him, and married him to
his own daughter, whose name was Sama-
cha : he also bestowed a country upon him,
from which he received large revenues.
But when Monobazus had grown old,
and saw that he had but a little time to
live, he had a mind to come to the sight
of his son before he died. So he sent for
him, and embraced him after the most
affectiouate manner, and bestowed on him
the country called Came : it was a soil
that bore ammonium in great plenty : there
are also in it the remains of that ark,
wherein it is related that Noah escaped
the deluge, and where they are still shown
to such as are desirous to see them. Ac-
cordingly, Izates abode in that country
until his father's death. But the very
day that Monobazus died, Queen Helena
sent for all the grandees and governors of
the kingdom, and for those that had the
armies committed to their command ; and
when they had come, she made the fol-
lowing speech to them : — " I believe you
are not unacquainted that my husband
was desirous that Izates should succeed
him in the government, and I thought
him worthy so to do. However, I wait
your determination ; for happy is he who
raceives a kingdom, not from a single
person only, but from the willing suffrages
of a great many." This she said, in order
to try those that were invited, and to dis-
cover their sentiments. Upon the hearing
* Or best beloved.
of which, they first of all paid their
homage to the queen, as their custom was,
and then they said that they confirmed
the king's determination, and would sub-
mit to it; and they rejoiced that Izates's
father had preferred him before the rest
of his brethren, as being agreeable to all
their wishes : but that tht:y were desirous,
first of all, to slay his brethren and kins-
men, that so the government might come
securely to Izates; because if they were
once destroyed, all that fear would be over
which might arise from their hatred and
envy to him. Helena replied to this, that
she returned them her thanks for their
kindness to herself and to Izates ; but
desired that they would, however, defer
the execution of this slaughter of Izates's
brethren, till he should be there himself,
and give his approbation to it. So since
these men had not prevailed with her
when they advised her to slay them, they
exhorted her at least to keep them in
bonds till he should come, and that for
their own security; they also gave her
counsel to set up some one whom she
could put the greatest trust in, as governor
of the kingdom in the mean time. So
Queen Helena complied with this counsel
of theirs, and set up Monobazus, the eldest
son, to be king, and put the diadem upon
his head, and gave him his father's ring,
with its signet; as also the ornament
which they called Sampser, and exhorted
him to administer the affairs of the king-
dom till his brother should come; who
came suddenly, upon hearing that his
father was dead, and succeeded his bro-
ther Monobazus, who resigned up the
government to him.
Now, during the time that Izates abode
at Charax-Spasini, a certain Jewish mer-
chant, whose name was Ananias, got
among the women that belonged to the
king, and taught them to worship. God
according to the Jewish religion. He,
moreover, by their means became known
to Izates; and persuaded him, in like
manner, to embrace that religion; he also,
at the earnest entreaty of Izates, accom-
panied him when he was sent for by his
father to come to Adiabeue; it also hap-
pened that Helena, about the same time,
was instructed by a certain other Jew, and
went over to them. But when Izates
had taken the kingdom, and had come to
Adiabene, aud there saw his brethren and
other kinsmen in bonds, he was displeased
at it ; and as he thought it ua instance of
124
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX.
impiety cither to slay or imprison them,
but still thought it a hazardous thing for
to let them have their liberty, with the
remembrance of the injuries that had been
offered them, he sent some of them and
their children for hostages to Rome, to
Claudius Cresar, and sent the others to
Artabanus, the king of Parthia, with the
like intentions.
And when he perceived that his mother
was highly pleased with the Jewish cus-
toms, he made haste to change, and to
embrace them entirely; and as he sup-
posed that he could not be thoroughly a
Jew unless he were circumcised, he was
ready to have it done. But when his mo-
ther understood what he was about, she
endeavoured to hinder him from doing it,
and said to him that this thing would
bring him into danger; and that as he
was a king, he would hereby bring him-
self into great odium among his subjects,
when they should understand that he was
so fond of rites that were to them strange
and foreign ; and that they would never
bear to be ruled over by a Jew. This it
was that she said to him, and, for the pre-
sent, persuaded him to forbear. And
when he had related what she had said to
Ananias, he confirmed what his mother
had said ; and when he had also threat-
ened to leave him, unless he complied
with him, he went away from him; and
said that he was afraid lest such an action
being once become public to all, he should
himself be in danger of punishment for
having been the occasion of it, and having
been the king's instructor in actions that
were of ill reputation ; and he said, that
he might worship God without being cir-
cumcised, even though he did resolve to
follow the Jewish law entirely ; which
worship of God was of a superior nature
to circumcision. He added, that God
would forgive him, though he did not per-
form the operation, while it was omitted
out of necessity, and for fear of his sub-
jects. So the king at that time complied
with these persuasions of Ananias. But
afterward, as he had not quite left off his
desire of doing this thing, a certain other
Jew that came out of Galilee, whose name
was Eleazar, and who was esteemed very
skilful in the learning of his country, per-
suaded him to do the thing; for as he
entered into his palace to salute him, and
found him reading the law of Moses, he
said to him, "Thou dost not consider, 0
king! that thou unjustly breakest the
principal of those laws, and art injurious
to God himself [by omitting to be cir-
cumcised]; for thou oughtest not only to
read them, but chiefly to practise what
they enjoin thee. How long wilt thou
continue uncircumcised? but, if thou hast
not yet read the law about circumcision,
and dost not know how great impiety thou
art guilty of by neglecting it, read it
now." When the king had heard what
he said, he delayed the thing no longer,
but retired to another room, and sent for
a surgeon, and did what he was command-
ed to do. He then sent for his mother,
and Ananias his tutor, and informed them
that he had done the thing ; upon which
they were presently struck with astonish-
ment and fear, and that to a great degree,
lest the thing should be openly discovered
and censured, and the king should hazard
the loss of his kingdom, while his subjects
would not bear to be governed by a man
who was so zealous in another religion;
and lest they should themselves run some
hazard, because they would be supposed
the occasion of his so doing. But it was
God himself who hindered what they
feared from taking effect ; for he preserved
both Izatcs himself and his sons when they
had fallen into mauy dangers, and pro-
cured their deliverance when it seemed to
be impossible, and demonstrated thereby
that the fruit of piety does not perish as
to those that have regard to him, and fix
their faith upon him only : but the events
we shall relate hereafter.
But as to Helena, the king's mother,
when she saw that the affairs of Izates's
kingdom were in peace, and that her son
was a happy man, and admired among all
men, and even among foreigners, by the
means of God's providence over him, she
had a mind to go to the city of Jerusalem,
in order to worship at that temple of God
which was so very famous among all men,
and to offer her thank-offerings there. So
she desired her son to give her leave to
go thither : upon which he gave his con-
sent to what she desired very willingly,
and made preparations for her dismission,
and gave her a great deal of money, and
she went down to the city of Jerusalem,
her son conducting her on her journey a
great way. Now, her coming was of very
great advantage to the people of Jerusa-
lem ; for whereas a famine did oppress
them at that time, and many people died
for want of what was necessary to procure
food withal, Queen Helena sent some of
Chap. III.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
125
1
her servants to Alexandria with money to
buy a great quantity of corn, and others of
them to Cyprus, to bring a cargo of dried
figs; and as soon as the}- had come back,
and had brought those provisions, which
was done very quickly, she distributed
food to those that were in want of it, and
left a most excellent memorial behind her
of this benefaction, which she bestowed on
our whole nation ; and when her son
Izates was informed of this famine, he
sent great sums of money to the principal
men in Jerusalem. However, what fa-
vours this queen and king conferred upon
our city Jerusalem shall be further related
hereafter.*
CHAPTER III.
Artabanus, king of Parthia, reinstated in his go-
vernment by Izates — Bardanes denounces war
against Izates.
But now Artabanus, king of the Par-
thians, perceiving that the governors of
the provinces had framed a plot against
him, did not think it safe for him to con-
tinue among them ; but resolved to go to
Izates, in hopes of finding some way for
his preservation by his means, and, if pos-
sible, for his return to his own dominions.
So he came to Izates, and brought 1000
of his kindred aud servants with him, and
met him upon the road, while he well
knew Izates, but Izates did not know him.
When Artabanus stood near him, and, in
the first place, worshipped him according
to the custom, he then said to him, "0
king ! do not thou overlook me thy ser-
vant, nor do thou proudly reject the suit
I make thee; for as I am reduced to a low
estate, by the change of fortune, and, of a
king, am become a private man, I stand
* This further account of the benefactions of
Izates and Helena to the Jerusalem Jews which
Josephus here promises, is nowhere performed by
him in his present works ; but of this terrible fa-
mine itself in Judea, Dr. Hudson says this is that
famine foretold by Agabus, Acts xi. 28 ; which
happened when Claudius was consul the fourth time ;
and not that other which happened when Claudius
was consul the second time, and Csesina was his
colleague. Now, when Josephus has said a little
afterward, that " Tiberius Alexander succeeded
Cuspius Fadusaa procurator," he immediately sub-
joins, that " under these procurators there happened
a great famine in Judea." Whence it is plain that
this famine continued for many years, on account
of its duration under those two procurators. Now,
Fadus was not sent to Judea till alter the death of
King Agrippa, t. e. toward the latter end of tbe -Jth
year of Claudius: so that this famine foretold by
Agabus happened upon the 5th, 6th, and 7th years
of Claudius.
in need of thy assistance. Have r
therefore, unto the uncertainty of fortune,
and esteem the care thou shalt take of me
to be taken of thyself also; for if I bo
neglected, aud my subjects go off unpu-
nished, many other subjects will become
the more insolent toward other kings
also." And this speech Artabanus made
with tears in his eyes, and with a dejected
countenance. Now, as soon as Izates
heard Artabanus's name, and saw him
stand as a supplicant before him, he
leaped down from his horse immediately,
and said to him, "Take courage, 0 king!
nor be disturbed at thy present calamity,
as if it were incurable; for the change of
thy sad condition shall be sudden ; for
thou shalt find me to be more thy friend
and thy assistant than thy hopes can pro-
mise thee; for I will either re-establish
thee in the kingdom of Parthia, or lose
my own."
When he had said this, he set Artaba-
nus upon his horse, and followed him on
foot, in honour of a king whom he owned
as greater than himself; which, when
Artabanus saw, he was very uneasy at it,
and sware by his present fortune and
honour, that he would get down from his
horse, unless Izates would get upon his
horse and go before him. So he complied
with his desire, and leaped upon his horse ;
and, when he had brought him to his
royal palace, he showed him all sorts of
respect when they sat together, and he
gave him the upper place at festivals also,
as regarding not his present fortune, but
his former dignity; and that upon this
consideration also, that the changes of for-
tune are common to all men. He also
wrote to the Parthians, to persuade them
to receive Artabanus again; and gave
them his right hand and his faith, that he
should forget what was past and done, and
that he would undertake for this as a medi-
ator between them. Now the Parthians
did not themselves refuse to receive him
again, but pleaded that it was not now in
their power so to do, because they had
committed the government to another per-
son, who had accepted of it, and whose
name was Cinnamus; and that they were
afraid lest a civil war should arise on this
account. When Cinnamus understood
their intentions, he wrote to Artabanus
himself, for he had been brought up by
him, and was of a nature good and gentle
also, aud desired him to put confidence in
him, and to come and take his own do-
12G
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX
minions again. Accordingly, Artabanus
trusted him, and returned home, when
Cinnamus met him, worshipped him, and
saluted him as a king, and took the dia-
dem off his own head, and put it on the
head of Artabanus.
And thus was Artabanus restored to his
kingdom again by the means of Izates,
when he had lost it by the means of the
grandees of the kingdom. Nor was he
unmindful of the benefits he had conferred
upon him, but rewarded him with such
honours as were of the greatest esteem
among them ; for he gave him leave to
wear his tiara upright, and to sleep upon
a golden bed, which are privileges and
marks of honour peculiar to the kings of
Parthia. He -also cut off a large and
fruitful country from the king of Armenia,
and bestowed it upon him. The name of
the country is Nisibis, wherein the Mace-
donians had formerly built that city which
they called Antioch of Mygodonia. And
these were the honours that were paid
Izates by the king of the Parthians. But
in no loug time Artabanus died, and left
his kingdom to his son Bardanes. Now,
this Bardanes came to Izates, and would
have persuaded him to join him with his
army, and to assist him in the war he was
preparing to make with the Bomans; but
he could not prevail with him. For Izates
so well knew the strength and good for-
tuue of the Bomans, that he took Bar-
danes to attempt what was impossible to
be done; and having besides sent his sons,
five in number, and they but young also,
to learn accurately the language of our
nation, together with our learning, as well
as he had sent his mother to worship at
our temple, as I have said already, was
the more backward to a compliance; and
restrained Bardanes, telling bim perpe-
tually of the great armies and famous
actions of the Bomans, and thought there-
by to terrify him, and desired thereby to
hinder him from the expedition. But the
Parthian king was provoked at this his
behaviour, and denounced war immediate-
ly against Izates. Yet did he gain no
advantage by this war, because God cut
off all his hopes therein ; for the Par-
thiaus, perceiving Bardanes's intention,
and how he had determined to make war
with the Bomans. slew bim, and gave his
kingdom to his brother Gotarzes. He
also, in no long time, perished by a plot
made against him, and Vologases, his
brother, succeeded him, who committed
two of his provinces to two of his brothers
by the same father ; that of the Medes to
the elder, Pacorus; and Armenia to the
younger, Tiridates.
CHAPTER IV.
Izates betrayed by bis subjects, and is attacked by
tbe Arabians, but eventually subdues tbem.
Now, when the king's brother, Mono-
zabus, and his other kindred, saw how
Izates, by his piety to God, had become
greatly esteemed by all men, they also
had a desire to leave the religion of their
country, and to embrace the customs of
the Jews; but that act of theirs was disco-
vered by Izates's subjects. Whereupon the
grandees were much displeased, and could
not contain their anger at them, but had
an intention, when they should find a
proper opportunity, to inflict a punish-
ment upon them. Accordingly, they
wrote to Abia, king of the Arabians, and
promised him great sums of money, if
he would make an expedition against their
king : and they further promised him,
that, on the first onset, they would desert
their king, because they were desirous to
punish him, by" reason of the hatred he
had to their religious worship ; then they
obliged themselves by oaths to be faithful
to each other, and desired that he would
make haste in his design. The king of
Arabia complied with their desires, and
brought a great army into the field, and
marched against Izates; and, in the be-
ginning of the first onset, and before they
came to a close fight, those grandees, as if
they had a panic terror upon them, all
deserted Izates, as they had agreed to do,
and, turning their backs upon their ene-
mies, ran away. Yet was not Izates dis-
mayed at this; but when he understood
that the grandees had betrayed him, he
also retired into his camp, and made
inquiry into the matter; and, as soon as
he knew who they were that made this
conspiracy with the king of Arabia, he
cut off those that were found guilty ; and,
renewing the fight on the next day, he
slew the greatest part of his enemies, and
forced all the rest to betake themselves to
flight. He also pursued their king, and
drove him into a fortress called Arsamus,
and, following on the siege vigorously, he
took that fortress. And, when he had
plundered it of all the prey that was in it,
which was not small, he returned to Adia«
bene; yet did not he take Abia alive;
Chap. IV.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
127
because, when he found himself encom-
passed upon every side, he slew himself.
But although the grandees of Adiabene
had failed in their first attempt, as being
delivered up by God into their king's
hands, yet would they not even then be
quiet, but wrote again to Vologases, who
was then king of Parthia, and desired
that he would kill Izates, and set over
them some other potentate, who should be
of a Parthian family ; for they said that
they hated their own king for abrogating
the laws of their forefathers, and embrac-
ing foreign customs. When the king of
Parthia heard this, he boldly made war
upon Izates; and, as he had no just
pretence for this war, he sent to him, and
demanded back those honourable privileges
which had been bestowed on him by his
father, and threatened, on his refusal, to
make war upon him. Upon hearing of
this, Izates was under no small trouble of
mind, as thinking it would be a reproach
upon him to appear to resign those pri-
vileges that had been bestowed upon him
out of cowardice, yet, because he knew,
that though the king of Parthia should
receive back those honours, yet would he
not be quiet, he resolved to commit himself
to God, his protector, in the present
danger he was in of his life ; and, as he
esteemed him to be his principal assistant,
he intrusted his children and his wives to
a very strong fortress, and laid up his corn
in citadels, and set the hay and the grass
on fire. And when he had thus put things
in order, as well as he could, he awaited
the coming of the enemy. And when the
king of Parthia had come with a great
army of footmen and horsemen, which he
did sooner than was expected, (for he
marched in great haste,) and had cast up
a bank at the river that parted Adiabene
from Media, Izates also pitched his camp
not far off, having with him 6000 horse-
men. But there came a messenger to
Izates, sent by the king of Parthia, who
told him how large his dominions were, as
reaching from the river Euphrates to
Bactria, and enumerated the king's sub-
jects; he also threatened him that he
should be punished, as a person ungrateful
to his lords ; and said that the God whom
he worshipped could not deliver him out
of the king's hands. When the messen-
ger had delivered this his message, Izates
replied, that he knew the king of Parthia' s
power was much greater than his own;
but that he knew also that God was much
2R
more powerful than all men. And when
he had returned him this answer, he betook
himself to make supplications to God, and
threw himself on the ground, and put
ashes upon his head, in testimony of his
confession, and fasted, together with his
wives and children.* Then he called upon
God, and said, " 0 Lord and Governor,
if I have not in vain committed myself to
thy goodness, but have justly determined
that thou only art the Lord and Principal
of all beings, come now to my assistance,
and defend me from my enemies, not only
on my own account, but on account of
their insolent behaviour with regard to
thy power, while they have not feared to
lift up their proud and arrogant tongue
against thee." Thus did he lament and
bemoan himself, with tears in his eyes;
whereupon God heard his prayer. And
immediately that very night Vologases
received letters, the contents of which
were these, that a great band of Dahae and
Sacas, despising him, now he was gone so
long a journey from home, had made an
expedition, and laid Parthia waste ; so that
he [was forced to] retire back, without
doing any thing. And thus it was that
Izates escaped the threatenings of the
Parthians, by the providence of God.
It was not long ere Izates died, when
he had completed 55 years of his life, and
had ruled his kingdom 24 years. He left
behind him 24 sons and 24 daughters.
However, he gave order that his brother
Monobazus should succeed in the govern-
ment, thereby requiting him, because while
he was himself absent, after their father's
death, he had faithfully preserved the
government for him. But when Helena,
his mother, heard of her son's death, she
was in great heaviness, as was but natural,
upon her loss of such a most dutiful son ;
yet was it a comfort to her that she heard
the succession came to her eldest son.
Accordingly, she went to him in haste ;
and when she had come into Adiabene,
she did not long outlive her son Izates.
But Monobazus sent her bones, as well as
those of Izates, his brother, to Jerusalem,
and gave order that they should be buried
at the pyramids'}" which their mother had
* This mourning, and fasting, and praying, used
by Izates, with prostration of his body, and ashea
upon his head, are plain signs that he had become
either a Jew or an Ebionite Christian, who, indeed,
differed not much from proper Jews.
I [These pyramids or pillars, erected by Helena,
queon of Adiabene, near Jerusalem, three in num-
128
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX
erected ; they were three in number, and
distant no more than three furlongs from
the city of Jerusalem. But for the actions
of Monobazus the king, which he did
during the rest of his life, we will relate
them hereafter.*
CHAPTER V.
Concerning Theudas and the sons of Judas the
Galilean — calamity of the Jews on the day of
the Passover.
Now, it came to pass, while Fadus was
procurator of Judea, that a certain ma-
gician, whose name was Theudas, "j" per-
suaded a great part of the people to take
their effects with them, and follow him to
the river Jordan ; for he told them he
was a prophet, and that he would, by his
own command, divide the river, and afford
them an easy passage over it; and many
were deluded by his words. However,
Fadus did not permit them to make any
advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a
troop of horsemen out against them ; who,
falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many
of them and took many of them alive.
They also took Theudas alive, and cut off
his head, and carried it to Jerusalem.
This was what befell the Jews in the time
of Cuspius Fadus's government.
Then came Tiberius Alexander, as suc-
cessor to Fadus; he was the sou of
Alexander, the alabarch of Alexandria;
which Alexander was a principal person
among all his contemporaries, both for
his family and wealth ; he was also more
eminent for his piety than this his son
Alexander, for he did not continue in the
religion of his country. Under these
procurators that great famine happened in
Judea, in which Queen Helena bought
corn in Egypt at a great expense, and
distributed it to those that were in want,
as I have related already ; and, besides
this, the sons of Judas of Galilee were now
sh.iu ; I mean of that Judas who caused
the people to revolt, when Cyrenius came
to take an account of the estates of the
Jevvs, as we have shown in a foregoing
book. The names of those sons were
James and Simon, whom Alexander com-
ber, are mentioned by Eusebius. They are also
mentioned by Pausanias. Reland guesses that that
now called Absalom's pillar may be one of them.
* This account is now wanting.
-f- This Theudas who arose under Fadus the
procurator, about A. D. 45 or 40, could not be that
Theudas who arose in the days of the taxing, under
Cy. enius, or about A. D. 7. Acts v. 36, 37.
manded to be crucified; but now Herodj
king of Chalcis, removed Joseph, the son
of Camydus, from the high-priesthood,
and made Ananias, the son of Nebedeus,
his successor ; and now it was that Cumanus
came as successor to Tiberius Alexander;
as also that Herod, brother of Agrippa
the great king, departed this life in the
eighth year of the reign of Claudius Caesar.
He left behind him three sons, Aristobulus,
whom he had by his first wife, with
Bernicianus and Hyrcanus, both of whom
he had by Bernice, his brother's daughter;
but Claudius Caesar bestowed his domi-
nions on Agrippa junior.
Now, while the Jewish affairs were
under the administration of Cumanus,
there happened a great tumult at the city
of Jerusalem, and many of the Jews
perished therein ; but I shall first explain
the occasion whence it was derived. When
that feast which is called the Passover
was at hand, at which time our custom
is to use unleavened bread, and a great
multitude were gathered together from all
parts to that feast, Cumanus was afraid
lest some attempt of innovation should
then be made by them ; so he ordered that
one regiment of the army should take their
arms, and stand in the temple cloisters, to
repress any attempts at innovation, if
perchance any such should begin ; and
this was no more than what the former
procurators of Judea did at such festivals;
but on the fourth day of the feast, a
certain soldier let down his breeches, and
exposed his privy members to the multi-
tude, which put those that saw him into
a furious rage, and made them cry out that
this impious action was not done to repoach
them, but God himself; nay, some of them
reproached Cumanus, and pretended that
the soldier was set on by him ; which,
when Cumanus heard, he was also himself
not a little provoked at such reproaches
laid upon him; yet did he exhort them to
leave off such seditious attempts, and not
to raise a tumult at the festival; but when
he could not induce them to be quiet, for
they still went on in their reproaches to
him, he gave order that the whole army
should take their entire armour, and come
to Antonia, which was a fortress, as we
have said already, which overlooked the
temple; but when the multitude saw the
soldiers there, they were affrighted at
them, and ran away hastily ; but as the
passages out were but narrow, and as they
thought their enemies followed them, they
Chap VI.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
129
were crowded together in their flight, and
a great number were pressed to death in
those narrow passages; nor, indeed, was
the number fewer than 20.000 that pe-
rished in this tumult. So, instead of a
festival, they had at last a mournful day
of it; and they all of them forgot their
prayers and sacrifices, and betook them-
selves to lamentation and weeping; so
great an affliction did the impudent obseene-
ness of a single soldier bring upon them.*
Now, before this their first mourning
was over, another mischief befell them
also; for some of those that raised the
foregoing tumult, when they were travel-
ling along the public road, about 100
furlongs from the city, robbed Stephanus,
a servant of Caesar, as he was journeying,
and plundered him of all that he had with
him ; which things when Cumanus heard
of, he sent soldiers immediately, and
ordered them to plunder the neighbouring
villages, and to bring the most eminent
persons among them in bonds to him.
Now, as this devastation was making, one
of the soldiers seized the Laws of Moses,
that lay in one of those villages, and
brought them out before the eyes of all
present, and tore them to pieces; and this
was done with reproachful language, and
much scurrility; which things when the
Jews heard of, they ran together, and
that in great numbers, and came down to
Caesarea, where Cumanus then was, and
besought him that he would avenge, not
themselves, but God himself, whose laws
had been affronted; for that they could
not bear to live any longer, if the laws of
their forefathers must be affronted after
this manner. Accordingly, Cumanus, out
of fear lest the multitude should go into
a sedition, and by the advice of his friends
also, took care that the soldier who had
offered the affront to the laws should be
beheaded ; and thereby put a stop to the
sedition which was ready to be kindled a
second time.
CHAPTER VI.
A quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans —
Claudius puts an end to their differences.
Now, there arose a quarrel between the
Samaritans and the Jews on the occasion
* This and many more tumults and seditions,
which arose at the Jewish festivals, in Josephus,
illustrate the cautious procedure of the Jewish
governors, when they said — Matt xxvi. 5 — " Let us
not take Jesus on the feast-day, lest there be an
uproar among the people."
Vol. II. — 9
following: — It was the custom of the Gali-
leans, when they came to the holy city at
the festivals, to take their journeys through
the country of the Samaritans;* and at
this time there lay, in the road they took,
a village that was called Ginea, which
was situated in the limits of Samaria and
the great plain, where certain persons
thereto belonging fought with the Gali-
leans, and killed a great many of them;
but when the principal of the Galileans
were informed of what had been done,
they came to Cumanus, and desired him
to avenge the murder of those that were
killed ; but he was induced by the Sama-
ritans, with money, to do nothing in the
matter; upon which the Galileans were
much displeased, and persuaded the mul-
titude of the Jews to betake themselves
to arms, and to regain their liberty, saying,
that slavery was in itself a bitter thing,
but that, when it was joined with direct
injuries, it was perfectly intolerable. And
when their principal men endeavoured to
pacify them, and promised to"endeavour to
persuade Cumanus to avenge those that
were killed, they would not hearken to
tbem, but took their weapons, and entreat-
ed the assistance of Eleazar, the son of
Dineus, a robber, who had many years
made his abode in the mountains, with
which assistance they plundered many
villages of the Samaritans. When Cuma-
nus heard of this action of theirs, he took
the band of Sebaste, with four regiments
of footmen, and armed the Samaritans,
and marched out against the Jews, and
caught them, and slew many of them,
and took a great number of them alive;
whereupon those that were the most emi-
nent persons at Jerusalem, and that both
in regard to the respect that was paid
them, and the families they were of, as
soon as they saw to what a height things
were gone, put on sackcloth, and heaped
ashes upon their heads, and by all possible
means besought the seditious, and per-
suaded them that they would set before
their eyes the utter subversion of their
country, the conflagration of their temple,
and the slavery of themselves, their wives,
and children, which would be the conse-
quences of what they were doing, and
would alter their minds, would cast away
their weapons, and for the future be quiet,
* This constant passage of the Galileans through
the country of Samaria, as they went t<> Judea and
Jerusalem, illustrates several passages in the Gos-
pels to the same purpose. See Luke xvii.; John iv. 4.
130
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX
and return to their own homes. These
persuasions of theirs prevailed upon them.
So the people dispersed themselves, and
the robbers went away again to their
places of strength ; and, after this time,
all Judea was overrun with robberies.
But the principal of the Samaritans
went to Ummidius Quadratus, the presi-
dent of Syria, who at that time was at
Tyre, and accused the Jews of setting
their villagos on fire, and plundering them ;
and said withal, that they were not so
much displeased at what they had suffered,
as they were at the contempt thereby
shown to the Romans ; while if they had
received any injury, they ought to have
made them the judges of what had been
done, and not presently to make such
devastation, as if they had not the Ro-
mans for their governors ; on which ac-
count they came to him, in order to obtain
that vengeance they wanted. This was
the accusation which the Samaritans
brought against the Jews. But the Jews
affirmed that the Samaritans were the
authors of this tumult and fighting; and
that, in the first place, Cumanus had been
corrupted by their gifts, and passed over
the murder of those that were slain in
silence; which allegations when Quadra-
tus heard, he put off the hearing of the
cause, and promised that he would give
sentence when he should come into Judea,
and should have a more exact knowledge
of the truth of that matter. So these
men went away without success. Yet was
it not long ere Quadratus came to Sa-
maria; where upon hearing the cause, he
supposed that the Samaritans were the
authors of that disturbance. But when
he was informed that certain of the Jews
were making innovations, he ordered
those to be crucified whom Cumanus had
taken captives. From whence he came to
a certain village called Lydda, which was
not less than a city in largeness, and there
heard the Samaritan cause a second time
before his tribunal, and there learned from
a certain Samaritan, that one of the chief
of the Jews, whose name was Dortus, and
Borne other innovators with him, four in
number, persuaded the multitude to a
revolt from the Romans; whom Quadra-
tus ordered to be put to death : but still
he sent away Ananias the high priest, and
Ananus the commander [of the temple],
in bonds to Rome, to give an account of
what they had done to Claudius Caesar.
He also ordered the principal men, both of
the Samaritans and of the Jews, as also'
Cumanus, the procurator, and Celer, the
tribune, to go to Italy to the emperor,
that he might hear their cause, and de-
termine their differences one with another.
But he came again to the city of Jerusa-
lem, out of his fear that the multitude of
the Jews should attempt some innova-
tions; but he found the city in a peace-
able state, and celebrating one of the usual
festivals of their country to God. So he
believed that they would not attempt any
innovations, and left them at the celebra-
tion of the festival, and returned to
Antioch.
Now Cumanus and the principal of the
Samaritans, who were sent to Rome, bad
a day appointed them by the emperor,
whereon they were to have pleaded their
cause about the quarrels they had one
with another. But now Ctesar's freedmen
and his friends were very zealous on the
behalf of Cumanus and the Samaritans;
and they had prevailed over the Jews,
unless Agrippa junior, who was then at
Rome, had seen the principal of the Jews
hard set, and had earnestly entreated
Agrippina, the emperor's wife, to persuade
her husband to hear the cause, so as was
agreeable to his justice, and to condemn
those to be punished who were really the
authors of this revolt from the Roman
government: whereupon Claudius was so
well disposed beforehand, that when he
had heard the cause, and found that the
Samaritans had been the ringleaders in
those mischievous doings, he gave order
that those who came up to him should be
slain, and that Cumanus should be banish-
ed. He also gave order that Celer the
tribune should be carried back to Jerusa-
lem, and should be drawn through the
city in the sight of all the people, and
then should be slain.
CHAPTER VII.
Felix made procurator of Judea — Concerning the
younger Agrippa and his sisters.
So Claudius sent Felix, the brother of
Pallans, to take care of the affairs of
Judea; and when he bad already com-
pleted the twelfth year of his reign, he be-
stowed upon Agrippa the tetrarchy of
Philip, and Batanea, and added thereto
Trachonitis, with Abila; which last had
been the tetrarchy of Lysanius; but he
took from him Chalcis, when he had been
governor thereof four years. And when
Chap. VIII. ]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
131
Agrippa had received these countries as
the gift of Cajsar, he gave his sister Bru-
silla in marriage to Azizus, king of Emesa,
upon his consent to be circumcised j for
Epiphanes, the son of King Antiochus,
had refused to marry her, because, after
he had promised her father formerly to
come over to the Jewish religion, he
would not now perform that promise. He
also gave Mariamne in marriage to Ar-
chelaus, the son of Helcias, to whom she
had formerly been betrothed by Agrippa
her father; from which marriage was de-
rived a daughter, whose name was Bernice.
But for the marriage of Brasilia with
Azizus, it was in no long time afterward
dissolved, upon the following occasion:
While Felix was procurator of Judea, he
saw this Brasilia, and fell in love with
her; for she did exceed all other women
in beauty ; and he sent to her a person
whose name was Simon,* one of his
friends; a Jew he was, and by birth a
Cypriot, and one who pretended to be a
magician ; and endeavoured to persuade
her to forsake her present husband, and
marry him ; and promised that if she
would not refuse him, he would make her
a happy woman. Accordingly, she acted
ill, and, because she was desirous to avoid
her sister Bernice's envy, for she was very
ill treated by her on account of her
beauty, was prevailed upon to transgress
the laws of her forefathers, and to marry
Felix; and when he had had a son by her,
he named him Agrippa. But after what
manner that young man, with his wife,
perished at the conflagration of the moun-
tain Vesuvius, in the days of Titus Caesar,
shall be related hereafter.f
But as for Bernice, she lived a widow a
long while after the death of Herod, [king
of Chalcis,] who was both her husband
and her uncle. But, when the report
went that she had criminal conversation
with her brother, [Agrippa junior,] she
persuaded Polemo, who was king of Cili-
cia, to be circumcised, and to marry her,
as supposing that by this means she should
prove those calumnies upon her to be false;
and Polemo was prevailed upon, and that
chiefly on account of her riches. Yet did
* This Simon, a friend of Felix, a Jew, born in
Cyprus, though he pretended to be a magician,
could hardly be that famous Simon the magician,
in tho Acts of the Apostles, (viii. 9, Ac.) The Si-
mon mentioned in the Acts was not properly a Jew,
but a Samaritan, of the town of Gittae, in the
country of Samaria.
■j" This is now wanting.
not this matrimony endure long; but Ber
nice left Polemo, and, as was said, with
impure intentions. So he forsook at onc6
this matrimony and the Jewish religion:
and, at the same time, Mariamne put away
Archelaus, and was married to Bemetrius,
the principal man among the Alexandrian
Jews, both for his family and his wealth;
and, indeed, he was then their alabarch.
So she named her son whom she had by
him Agrippinus. But of all these par-
ticulars we shall hereafter treat more
exactly.*
CHAPTER VIII.
Nero succeeds to the Roman government — his cru-
elties— Felix and Festus procurators of Judea.
Now, Claudius Caesar died when he
had reigned thirteen year", eight months,
and twenty days ; and a report went about
that he was poisoned by his wife Agrip-
pina. Her father was Germanicus, the
brother of Caesar. Her husband was
Bomitius iEnobarbus, one of the most
illustrious persons that were in the city of
Rome ; after whose death, and her long
continuance in widowhood, Claudius took
her to wife. She brought along with her
a son, Bomitius, of the same name with his
father. He had before this slain his wife
Messalina, out of jealousy, by whom he
had his children Britannicus and Octavia;
their eldest sister was Antonia, whom he
had by Pelina his first wife. He also
married Octavia to Nero; for that was the
name that Csesar gave him afterward,
upon his adopting him for his son.
But now Agrippina was afraid, lest,
when Britannicus should come to mau's
estate, he should succeed his father in the
government, and desired to seize upon the
principality beforehand for her own son
[Nero] ; upon which the report went that
she thence compassed the death of Clau-
dius. Accordingly, she sent Burrhus, tho
general of the army, immediately, and
with him the tribunes, and such also of
the freedmeu as were of the greatest au-
thority, to bring Nero away into the camp,
and to salute him emperor. And when
Nero had thus obtained the government,
he got Britannicus to be so poisoned that
the multitude should not perceive it;
although he publicly put his own mother
to death not long afterward, making her
this requital, not only for being born of
* Thii also it now muting
132
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX
her, but for bringing it so about by her
contrivances that he obtained the Romas
empire. He also slew Octavia, his own
wife, and many other illustrious persons,
under this pretence, that they plotted
against him.
But I omit any further discourse about
these affairs ; for there have been a great
many who have composed the history of
Nero; some of whom have departed from
the truth of facts, out of favour, as having
received benefits from him ; while others,
out of hatred to him, and the great ill-will
which they bore him, have so impudently
raved against him with their lies, that
they justly deserve to be condemned.
Nor do I wonder at such as have told lies
of Nero, since they have not in their
writings preserved truth of history as to
those facts that were earlier than his time,
even when the actors could have noway
incurred their hatred, since those writers
lived a longtime after them; but as to
those that have no regard to truth, they
may write as they please, for in that they
take delight: but as to ourselves, who
have made the truth our direct aim, we
shall briefly touch upon what only belongs
remotely to this undertaking, but shall
relate what hath happened to us Jews
with great accuracy, and shall not grudge
our pains in giving an account both of the
calamities we have suffered and of the
crimes we have been guilty of. I will
now, therefore, return to the relation of
our own affairs.
For, in the first year of the reign of
Nero, upon the death of Azizus, king of
Emesa, Soemus, his brother, succeed-
ed in his kingdom, and Aristobulus,
the son of Herod, king of Chalcis, was
intrusted by Nero with the government
of the Lesser Armenia. Caesar also .be-
stowed on Agrippa a certain part of Gali-
lee, Tiberias and Tarickege, and ordered
them to submit to his jurisdiction. He
gave him also Julias, a city of Perea, with
fourteen villages that lay about it.
Now, as for the affairs of the Jews, they
grew worse and worse continually ; for
the country was again filled with robbers
and impostors, who deluded the multitude.
Yet did Felix catch and put to death
many of those impostors every day, to-
gether with the robbers. He also caught
Eleazar, the son of Dineus, who had
gotten together a company of robbers ; and
this he did by treachery ; for he gave him
assurance that he should suffer no harm,
and thereby persuaded him to come tc
him; but when he came, he bound him,
and sent him to Rome. Felix also bore
an ill-will to Jonathan, the high priest,
because he frequently gave him admoni-
tions about governing the Jewish affairs
better than he did, lest he should himself
have complaints made of him by the
multitude, since he it was who had de-
sired Caesar to send him as procurator of
Judea. So Felix contrived a method
whereby he might get rid of him, now he
had become so continually troublesome to
him ; for such continual admonitions are
grievous to those who are disposed to act
unjustly. "Wherefore Felix persuaded one
of Jonathan's most faithful friends, a
citizen of Jerusalem, whose name was
Doras, to bring the robbers upon Jonathan,
in order to kill him ; and this he did by
promising to give him a great deal of
money fox so doing. Doras comjjlied with
the proposal, and contrived matters so,
that the robbers might murder him after
the following manner : — Certain of those
robbers went up to the city, as if they
were going to worship God, while they
had daggers under their garments; and,
by thus mingling themselves among the
multitude, they slew Jonathan ; and, as
this murder was never avenged, the rob-
bers went up with the greatest security at
the festivals after this time; and having
weapons concealed in like manner as be-
fore, and mingling themselves among the
multitude, they slew certain of their own
enemies, and were subservient to other
men for money; and slew others not only
in remote parts of the city, but in the
temple itself also; for they had the bold-
ness to murder men there, without think-
ing of the impiety of which they were
guilty. And this seems to have been the
reason why God, out of his hatred to these
men's wickedness, rejected our city ; and
as for the temple, he no longer esteemed
it sufficiently pure for him to inhabit
therein, but brought the Romans upon us,
and threw a fire upon the city to purge
it ; and brought upon us, our wives, and
children, slavery, as desirous to make us
wiser by our calamities.*
* This treacherous and harharous murder of the
high priest Jonathan, by the contrivance of Felix,
was the immediate occasion of the ensuing murders
by the "sicarii," or ruffians, and one great cause
of the horrid cruelties and miseries of the Jewish
nation. Subjoined is a list of the last twenty-eight
high priests : —
Chap. VIII ]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
133
These works that wore done by the
robbers, filled the city with impiety. And
now these impostors and deceivers per-
suader! the multitude to follow them into
the wilderness, and pretended that they
would exhibit manifest wonders and signs,
that should be performed by the provi-
dence of God. And many that were
prevailed on by them suffered the punish-
ments of their folly; for Felix brought
them back, and then punished them.
Moreover, there came out of Egypt about
this time to Jerusalem, one that said he
was a prophet, and advised the multitude
of the common people to go along with
him to the Mount of Olives, as it was
called, which lay over against the city,
and at the distance of five furlongs. He
said further, that he would show them
from hence, how at his command, the
walls of Jerusalem would fall down ; and
he promised them that he would procure
them an entrance into the city through
those walls, when they had fallen down.
Now when Felix was informed of these
things, he ordered his soldiers to take
their weapons, and came against them
with a great number of horsemen and
footmen, from Jerusalem, and attacked
the Egyptian and the people that were
with him. He also slew 400 of them,
and took 200 alive. But the Egyptian
himself escaped out of the fight, but did
not appear any more. And again the
robbers stirred up the people to make war
with the Romans, and said they ought not
to obey them at all ; and when any persons
would not comply with them, they set
fire to their villages, and plundered them.
And now it was that a great sedition
Ananelus.
Aristobulus.
Jesus, son of Fabus.
Simon, son of Boethus.
Matthias, son of Theo-
pfailus.
Joazar, son of Boethus.
Eleazar, son of Boethus.
Jesusyson of Sic.
[Annas, or] Ananus, son
of Seth.
Ismael, son of Fabus.
Eleazar, son of Ananus.
Simon, son of Camithus.
Josephus Caiaphas, son-
in-law to Ananus.
Jonathan, son of Ananus.
Theophilus, his brother,
and son of1 Ananus.
Simon, son of Boethus.
Matthias, brother of Jo-
nathan, and son of
Ananus.
Aljoneus.
Josephus, son of Caniy-
dus.
Ananias, son of Nebe-
deus.
Jonathas.
Ismael, son of Fabi.
Joseph Cabi, son of Si-
mon.
Ananus, son of Ananus.
Jesus, son of Damneus.
Jesus, son of Gamaliel.
Matthias, son of Theo-
philus.
Phannias, son of Samuel.
Ananus and Joseph Caiaphas were the Annas
and Caiaphas so often mentioned in the four Gos-
pels ; and Ananias, the son of Nebedeus, was the
high jriest before whom St Paul pleaded his own
cause, Acts xxiv.
arose between the Jews that inhabited
Cesarea, and the Syrians who dwelt there
also, concerning their equal right to tho
privileges belonging to the citizens; for the
Jews claimed the pre-eminence, because
Herod their king was the builder of
Cesarea, and because he was by birth a
Jew. Now the Syrians did not deny what
was alleged about Herod; but they said
that Cesarea was formerly called Strato's
Tower, and that then there was not oDe
Jewish inhabitant. When the presidents
of that country heard of these disorders,
they caught the authors of them on both
sides, and tormented them with stripes,
and, by that means, put a stop to the
disturbance for a time. But the Jewish
citizens, depending on their wealth, and,
on that account, despising the Syrians,
reproached them again, and hoped to pro-
voke them by such reproaches. However,
the Syrians, though they were inferior
in wealth, yet valuing themselves highly
on this account, that the greatest part of
the Roman soldiers that were there, were
either of Cesarea or Sebaste, they also for
some time used reproachful language to
the Jews also; and thus it was, till at
length they came to throwing stones at
one another; and several were wounded,
and fell on both sides, though still the
Jews were the conquerors. But when
Felix saw that this quarrel had become a
kind of war, he came upon them on the
sudden, and desired the Jews to desist;
and when they refused so to do, he armed
his soldiers, aud sent them out upon them,
and slew many of them, and took more
of them alive, and permitted his soldiers
to plunder some of the houses of the
citizens, which were full of riches. Now,
those Jews that were more moderate, and
of principal dignity among them, were
afraid of themselves, and desired of Felix
that he would sound a retreat to his
soldiers, and spare them for the future,
and afford them room for repentance for
what they had done ; and Felix was pre-
vailed upon to do so.
About this time King Agrippa gave the
high-priesthood to Ismael, who was the
son of Fabi. And now arose a sedition
between the high priests and the principal
men of the multitude of Jerusalem; each
of whom got them a company of the
boldest sort of men, and of those that
loved innovations; about them, and became
leaders to them ; and when they struggled
together, they did it by casting reproach-
134
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX.
ful words against one another, and by
throwing stones also. And there was
nobody to reprove them ; but these dis-
orders were done after a licentious manner
in the city, as if it had no government
over it. And such was the impudence
and boldness that had seized on the high-
priests, that they had the hardness to
send their servants into the threshing-
floors, to take away those tithes that were
due to the priests, insomuch that it so
fell out that the poorer sort of the priests
died for want. To this degree did the
violence of the seditious prevail over all
right and justice.
Now, when Porcius Festus was sent as
successor to Felix by Nero, the principal
of the Jewish inhabitants of Cesarea went
up to Rome to accuse Felix ; and he had
certainly been brought to punishment,
unless Nero had yielded to the importunate
solicitations of his brother Pallas, who
was at that time held in the greatest
honour by him. Two of the principal
Syrians in Cesarea persuaded Burrhus,
who was Nero's tutor, and secretary for
his Greek epistles, by giving him a great
sum of money, to disannul that equality
of the Jewish privileges of citizens which
they hitherto enjoyed. So Burrhus, by
his solicitations, obtained leave of the
emperor that an epistle should be written
to that purpose. This epistle became
the occasion of the following miseries that
befell our nation ; for, when the Jews of
Cesarea were informed of the contents
of this epistle to the Syrians, they were
more disorderly than before, till a war
was kindled.
Upon Festus's coming into Judea, it
happened that Judea was afflicted by the
robbers, while all the villages were set on
fire, and plundered by them. And then it
was that the " sicarii," as they were called,
who were robbers, grew numerous. They
made use of small swords, not much
different in length from the Persian
"acinacas," but somewhat crooked, and
like the Roman " sicae" [or sickles], as
they were called ; and from these weapons
these robbers got their denomination; and
with these weapons they slew a great
many ; for they mingled themselves among
the multitude at their festivals, when they
were come up in crowds from all parts to
the city to worship God, as we said before,
and easily slew those that they had a
mind to slay. They also came frequently
upon the villages belonging to their ene-
mies, with their weapons, and plundered
them, and set them on fire. So Festus
sent forces, both horsemen and footmen,
to fall upon those that had been seduced
by a certain impostor, who promised them
deliverance and freedom from the miseries
they were under, if they would but fol-
low him as far as the wilderness. Ac-
cordingly, these forces that were sent
destroyed both him that had deluded them,
and those that were his followers also.
About the same time King Agrippa
built himself a very large dining-room in
the royal palace at Jerusalem, near to
the portico. Now, this palace had been
erected of old by the children of Asamo-
neus, and was situate upon an elevation,
and afforded a most delightful prospect to
those that had a mind to take a view of
the city, which prospect was desired by
the king; and there he could lie down,
and eat, and thence observed what was
done in the temple : which thing, when
the chief men of Jerusalem saw, they
were very much displeased at it ; for it
was not agreeable to the institutions of
our country or law that what was done in
the temple should be viewed by others,
especially what belonged to the sacrifices.
They therefore erected a wall upon the
uppermost building which belonged to the
inner court of the temple toward the
west ; which wall, when it was built, did
not only intercept the prospect of the
dining-room in the palace, but also of the
western cloisters that belonged to the
outer court of the temple also, where it
was the Romans kept guards for the
temple at the festivals. At these doings
both King Agrippa, and principally Festus
the procurator, were much displeased ;
and Festus ordered them to pull the wall
down again : but the Jews petitioned him
to give them leave to send an embassy
about this matter to Nero; for they said
they could not endure to live if any part
of the temple should be demolished ; and
when Festus had given them leave so to
do, they sent ten of their principal men
to Nero, as also Ismael the high priest,
and Helcias, the keeper of the sacred
treasure. And when Nero had heard
what they had to say, he not only forgave
them what they had already done, but
also gave them leave to let the wall they
had built stand. This was granted them
in order to gratify Poppea, Nero's wife,
who was a religious woman, and had re-
quested these favours of Nero, and wha
Chai\ IX.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
13?
gave order to the ten ambassadors to go
their way home; but retained Helcias
and Ismael as hostages with himself. As
soon as the king heard this news, he gave
the high-priesthood to Joseph, who was
called Cabi, the son of Simoa, formerly
high priest.
CHAPTER IX.
Albinus procurator of Judea— the Apostle James
slain— Edifices built by Agrippa.
And now Caesar, upon hearing of the
death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea,
as procurator; but the king deprived Jo-
seph of the high-priesthood, and bestowed
the succession to that dignity on the son
of Ananus, who was also himself called
Auanus. Now the report goes, that this
elder Ananus proved a most fortunate
man ; for he had five sons, who had all
performed the office of a high priest to
God, and he had himself enjoyed that
dignity a long time formerly, which had
never happened to any other of our high
priests; but this younger Ananus, who,
as we have told you already, took the
high-priesthood, was a bold man in his
temper, and very insolent; he was also
of the sect of the Sadducees,* who are
very rigid in judging offenders, above all
the rest of the Jews, as we have already
observed;1 when, therefore, Ananus was
of this disposition, he thought he had
now a proper opportunity [to exercise his
authority]. Festus was now dead, and
Albinus was but upon the road; so he
assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and
brought before them the brother of Je-
sus, who was called Christ, whose name
was James, and some others [or some of
his companions] ; and, when he had form-
ed an accusation against them as breakers
of the law, he delivered them to be
stoned : but as for those who seemed the
most equitable of the citizens, and such
as were the most uneasy at the breach
of the laws, they disliked what was done;
they also sent to the king [Agrippa], de-
siring him to send to Ananus that he
should act so no more, for that what he
had already done was not to be justified^
nay, some of them went also to meet At1
binus, as he was upon his journey from
Alexandria, and informed him that it was
not lawful for Ananus to assemble a san-
hedrim without his consent :* whereupon
Albinus complied with what they said,
and wrote in anger to Ananus, and threat-
tened that he would bring him to punish-
ment for what he had done; on which
King Agrippa took the high-priesthood
from him, when he had ruled but three
months, and made Jesus, the son of
Damneus, high priest.
Now, as soon as Albinus had come to
the city of Jerusalem, he used all his en-
deavours and care that the country might
be kept in peace, and this by destroying
many of the "sicariij" but as for the
high priest Ananias, he increased in glory
every day, and this to a great degree,
and had obtained the favour aud esteem
of the citizens in a signal manner; for
he was a great hoarder up of money .
he therefore cultivated the friendship of
Albinus, and of the high priest [Jesus],
by making them presents; he also had
servants who were very wicked, who join-
ed themselves to the boldest sort of the
people, aud went to the threshing-floors,
and took away the tithes that belonged
to the priests by violence, and did not
refrain from beating such as would not
give these tithes to them. So the other
high priests acted in like manner, as did
those his servants, without any one being
able to prohibit them ; so that [some of
the] priests, that of old were wont to be
supported with those tithes, died for want
of food.
But now the "sicarii" went into the
city by night, just before the festival,
which was now at hand, and took the
scribe belonging to the governor of the
temple, whose name was Eleazar, who
was the son of Auanus (Ananias) the
high priest, and bound him, aud carried
him away with them; after which they
sent to Ananias, and said tbey would send
the scribe to him, if he would persuade
Albinus to release ten of those prisoners
which he had caught of their party ; sc
Ananias was plainly forced to persuade
Albinus, and gained his request of him.
This was the beginning of greater calami-
ties ; for the robbers perpetually contrived
* It appears that Sadducees might be high
priests in the days of Josephus, and that these
Sadducees were usually very severe and inexo-
rable judges, while the Pharisees were much mild-
er and more mercifuL
• The sanhedrim condemned Christ, but could
not put him to death without the approbation of
the Roman procurator; nor could, therefore, An-
anias and his sanhedrim do more here, since they
never had Albinus's approbation for putting thi»
James to death.
13G
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX.
to catch some of Ananias' s servants; and
when they had taken them alive, they
would not let them go till they thereby
recovered some of their own " sicarii :"
and as they were. again become no small
number, they grew bold, and were a great
affliction to the whole country.
About this time it was that Agrippa
built Cesarea Philippi larger than it was
before, and, in honour of Nero, named it
Nerouias ; and, when he had built a
theatre at Berytus, with vast expenses,
he bestowed on them shows, to be exhibit-
ed every year, and spent therein many
ten thousand [drachmae]; he also gave
the people a largess of corn, and dis-
tributed oil among them, and adorned the
entire city with statues of his own dona-
tion, and with original images made by
ancient hands; nay, he almost transferred
all that was most ornamental in his own
kingdom thither. This made him more
than ordinarily hated by his subjects ;
because he took those things away that
belonged to them, to adorn a foreign city;
and now Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, be-
came the successor of Jesus, the son of
Danmeus, in the high-priesthood, which
the king had taken from the other; on
which account a sedition arose between
the high priests, with regard to one an-
other; for they got together bodies of
the boldest sort of the people, and fre-
quently came, from reproaches, to throw-
ing of stones at each other; but Ananias
was too hard for the rest, by his riches,
which enabled him to gain those that
were most ready to receive. Costobarus,
also, and Saulus, did themselves get to-
gether a multitude of wicked wretches,
and this because they were of the royal
family ; and so they obtained favour
among them because of their kindred to
Agrippa : but still they used violence
with the people, and were very ready to
plunder those that were weaker than
themselves. And from that time it
principally came to pass, that our city
was greatly disordered, and that all
things grew worse and worse among us.
But when Albinus heard that Gessius
Florus was coming to succeed him, he
was desirous to appear to do somewhat
that might be grateful to the people of
Jerusalem; so he brought out all those
prisoners who seemed to him to be the
most plainly worthy of death, and order-
ed them to be put to death accordingly.
But as to those who had been put into
prison on some trifling occasion, he took
money of them, and dismissed them; by
which means the prisons were indeed
emptied, but the country was filled with
robbers.
Now, as many of the Levites,* which
is a tribe of ours, as were singers of
hymns, persuaded the king to assemble
a sanhedrim, and to give them leave to
wear linen garments, as well as the
priests; for they said that this would be
a work worthy the times of his govern-
ment, that he might have a memorial of
such a novelty, as being his doing. Nor
did they fail of obtaining their desire;
for the king, with the suffrages of those
that came into the sanhedrim, granted
the singers of hymns this privilege, that
they might lay aside their former gar-
ments, and wear such a linen one as they
desired; and as a part of this tribe mi-
nistered in the temple, he also permitted
them to learn those hymns as they had
besought him for. Now all this was con-
trary to the laws of our country, which,
whenever they have been transgressed,
we have never been able to avoid the
punishment of such transgressions.
And now it was that the temple was
finished. So when the people saw that
the workmen were unemployed, who
were above 18,000, and that they, receiv-
ing no wages, were in want, because they
had earned their bread by their labours
about the temple; and while they were
unwilling to keep them by the treasures
that were there deposited, out of fear
of [their being carried away by] the Ro-
mans; and while they had a regard to
the making provision for the workmen,
they had a mind to expend those treasures
upon them ; for if any one of them did
but labour for a single hour, he received
his pay immediately ; so they persuaded
him to rebuild the eastern cloisters.
These cloisters belonged to the outer
court, and were situated in a deep valley,
and had walls that reached 400 cubits
[in length], and were built of square and
very white stones, the length of each of
which stones was twenty cubits, and their
height six cubits. This was the work of
King Solomon, who first of all built the
;s This insolent petition of some of the Levites
to wear the sacerdotal garments when they sung
hymns to God in the temple, was very probably
owing to the great depression and contempt the
haughty high priests had now brought their bre-
thren the priests into.
Chap. X.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
137
entire temple. But King Agrippa, who
had the care of the temple committed to
him by Claudius Caesar, considering that
it is easy to demolish any building, but
hard to build it up again, and that it was
particularly hard to do it in those clois-
ters, which would require a considerable
time, and great sums of money, he de-
nied the petitioners their request about
that matter; but he did not obstruct them
when they desired the city might be
paved with white stone. He also de-
prived Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, of the
high-priesthood, and gave it to Matthias,
the son of Theophilus, under whom the
Jews' war with the Romans took its be-
ginning.
CHAPTER X.
Enumeration of the High Priests.
And now I think it proper, and agree-
able to this history, to give an account
of our high priests; how they began, who
those are that are capable of that dignity,
and how many of them there had been
at the end of the war. In the first place,
therefore, history informs us that Aaron,
the brother of Moses, officiated to God
as a high priest; and that, after his death,
his sons succeeded him immediately; and
that this dignity hath been continued
down from them all to their posterity.
"Whence it is a custom of our country,
that no one should take the high-priest-
hood of God, but he who is of the blood
of Aaron, while every one that is of an-
other stock, though he were a king, can
never obtain that high-priesthood. Ac-
cordingly, the number of all the high
priests from Aaron, of whom we have
spoken already as of the first of them,
until Phanas, who was made high priest
during the war by the seditious, was
eighty-three; of whom thirteen officiated
as high priests in the wilderness, from
the days of Moses, while the tabernacle
was standing, until the people came into
Judea, when King Solomon erected the
temple to God; for at first they held the
high-priesthood till the end of their life,
although afterward they had successors
while they were alive. Now, these thir-
teen, who were the descendants of two
of the sons of Aaron, received this digni-
ty by succession, one after another; for
their form of government was an aristo-
cracy, and after that a monarchy, and, in
the third place, the government was regal.
Now, the number of years during the
rule of these thirteen, from the day when
our fathers departed out of Egypt, under
Moses their leader, until the building of
the temple which King Solomon erected
at Jerusalem, were six hundred and
twelve. After those thirteen high priests,
eighteen took the high-priesthood at Je-
rusalem, one in succession to another,
from the days of king Solomon until
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made
an expedition against that city, and burnt
the temple, and removed our nation into
Babylon, and then took Josadek, the
high priest, captive; the times of these
high priests were four hundred and sixty-
six years six months and ten days, while
the Jews were still under the regal go-
vernment. But after the term of seventy
years' captivity under the Babylonians,
Cyrus, king of Persia, sent the Jews
from Babylon to their own land again,
and gave them leave to rebuild their
temple ; at which time Jesus, the son of
Josadek, took the high-priesthood over
the captives when they had returned
home. Now he and his posterity, who
were in all fifteen, until King Antiochus
Eupator, were under a democratical go-
vernment for four hundred and fourteen
years; and then the forementioned An-
tiochus, and Lysias the general of his
army, deprived Onias, who was also call-
ed Menelaus, of the high-priesthood, and
slew him at Berea; and, driving away
the son [of Onias the third], put Jacimus
into the high priest's place, one that was,
indeed, of the stock of Aaron, but not
of the family of Onias. Ou which ac-
count Onias, who was the nephew of
Onias that was dead, and bore the same
name with his father, came into Egypt,
and got into the friendship of Ptolemy
Philometor, and Cleopatra his wife, and
persuaded them to make him the high
priest of that temple which he built to
God in the prefecture of Heliopolis, and
this in imitation of that at Jerusalem;
but as for that temple which was built in
Egypt, we have spoken of it frequently
already. Now, when Jacimus had re-
tained fhe priesthood three years, he
died, and there was no one that succeeded
him, but the city continued seven years
without a high priest. But then the
posterity of the sons of Asamoneus, who
had the government of the nation con-
ferred upon them, when they had beaten
the Macedonians in war, appointed Jona-
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX.
than to be their high priest, who ruled
over them seven years. And when he
had been shun by the treacherous con-
trivance of Trypho, as we have related
somewhere, Simon his brother took the
high-priesthood ; and when he was de-
stroyed at a feast by the treachery of his
son-in-law, his own son, whose name was
Hyrcanus, succeeded him, after he had
held the high-priosthood one year longer
than his brother. This Hyrcanus en-
joyed that dignity thirty years, and died
an old man, leaving the succession to
Judas, who was also called Aristobulus,
whose brother, Alexander, was his heir;
which Judas died of a sore distemper,
after he had kept the priesthood, together
with the royal authority, (for this Judas
was the first that put on his head a
diadem), for one year. And when Alex-
ander had been both king and high-
priest twenty-seven years, he departed
this life, and permitted his wife Alexan-
dra to appoint him that should be high
priest; so she gave the high-priesthood
to Hyrcanus, but retained the kingdom
herself nine years, and then departed
this life. The like duration [and no
longer] did her son Hyrcanus enjoy the
high-priesthood; for after her death his
brother Aristobulus fought against him,
and beat him, and deprived him of his
principality ; and he did himself both
reign and perform the office of high priest
to God. But when he had reigned three
years, and as many months, Pompey came
upon him, and not only took the city of
Jerusalem by force, but put him and his
children in bonds, and sent them to
Rome. He also restored the high-priest-
hood to Hyrcanus, and made him govern-
or of the nation, but forbade him to wear
a diadem. This Hyrcanus ruled, besides
his first nine years, twenty-four years
more, when Barzapharnes and Pacorus,
the generals of the Parthians, passed
over Euphrates, and fought with Hyrca-
nus, and took him alive, and made Anti-
gonus, the son of Aristobulus, king; and
when he had reigned three years and
three months, Sosius and Herod besieged
him, and took him, when Antony had
him brought to Antioch, and slain there.
Herod was then made king by the Ro-
mans, but did no longer appoint high
priests out of the family of Asamoneus ;
but made certain men to be so that were
of no eminent families, but barely of
those that were priests, excepting that
he gave that dignity to Aristobulus; for
when he had made this Aristobulus, the
grandson of that Hyrcanus who was then
taken by the Parthians, and had taken his
sister Mariamne to wife, he thereby aimed
to win the good-will of the people, who
had a kind remembrance of Hyrcanus
[his grandfather]. Yet did he afterward,
out of his fear lest they should all bend
their inclinations to Aristobulus, put him
to death, and that by contriving how to
have him suffocated, as he was swimming
at Jericho, as we have already related
that matter; but, after this man, he
never intrusted the high-priesthood to the
posterity of the sons of Asamoneus.
Archelaus, also, Herod's son, did like
his father in the appointment of the high
priests, as did the Romans also, who took
the government over the Jews into their
hands afterward. Accordingly, the num-
ber of the high priests, from the days of
Herod until the day when Titus took the
temple and the city, and burnt them,
were in all twenty-eight; the time, also,
that belonged to them was 107 years.
Some of these were the political govern-
ors of the people under the reign of He-
rod, and under the reign of Archelaus
his son, although, after their death, the
government became an aristocracy, and
the high priests were intrusted with a do-
minion over the nation. And thus much
may suffice to be said concerning our
high priests.
CHAPTER XL
Floras the procurator compels the Jews to take up
arms against, the Romans — Conclusion.
Now, Gessius Florus, who was sent as
successor to Albinus by Nero, filled Ju-
dea with abundance of miseries. He was
by birth of the city of Clazomenae, and
brought along with him his wife Cleopa-
tra, (by whose friendship with Poppea,
Nero's wife, he obtained this govern-
ment,) who was by no way different from
him in wickedness. This Florus was so
wicked, and so violent in the use of his
authority, that the Jews took Albinus to
have been [comparatively] their benefac-
tor; so excessive were the mischiefs that
he brought upon them. For Albinus con-
cealed his wickedness, and was careful
that it might not be discovered to all men ;
but Gessius Florus, as though he had
been sent on purpose to show his crimes
to everybody, made a pompous ostenta-
Chap. XL]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
139
tion of them to our nation, as never omit-
ting any sort of violence, nor any sort of
unjust punishment; for he was not to be
moved by pity, and never was satisfied
with any degree of gain that came in his
way; nor had he any more regard to great
than to small acquisitions, but became a
partner with the robbers themselves; for
a great many fell then into that practice
without fear, as having him for their se-
curity, and depending on him that he
would save them harmless in their particu-
lar robberies; so that there were no bounds
set to the nation's miseries; but the un-
happy Jews, when they were not able to
bear the devastations which the robbers
made among them, were all under a ne-
cessity of leaving their own habitations,
and of flying away, as hoping to dwell
more easily anywhere else in the world
among foreigners (than in their own coun-
try.) And what need I say more upon
this head? since it was this Florus who
compelled us to take up arms against the
Romans, while we thought it better to be
destroyed at once, than by little and little.
Now this war began in the second year of
the government of Florus, and the twelfth
year of the reign of Nero. But then
what actions we were forced to do, or
what miseries we were enabled to suffer,
may be accurately known by such as will
peruse those books which I have written
about the Jewish war.
I shall now, therefore, make an end
here of my Antiquities; after the conclu-
sion of which events, I began to write
thataccouut of the War ; and these Antiqui-
ties contain what hath been delivered
down to us from the original creation of
man, until the twelfth year of the reign
of Nero, as to what hath befallen the
Jews, as well in Egypt as in Syria and
in Palestine, and what we have suffered
from the Assyrians and Babylonians, and
what afflictions the Persians and Macedo-
nians, and after them the Romans, have
brought upon us; for I think I may say
that I have composed this history with
sufficient accuracy in all things. I have
attempted to enumerate those high priests
that we have bad during the interval of
2000 years ; I have also carried down the
succession of our kings, and related their
actions and political administration, with-
out [considerable] errors; as also the
power of our monarchs; and all according
to what is written in our sacred books; for
this it was that I promised to do iu the
beginning of this history. And I am so
bold as to say, now I have so completely
perfected the work I proposed to myself
to do, that no other person, whether he
were a Jew or a foreigner, had he ever
so great an inclination to it, could so ac-
curately deliver these accounts to the
Greeks as is done in these books. For
those of my own nation freely acknow-
ledge that I far exceed them iu the learn-
ing belonging to the Jews : I have also
taken a great deal of pains to obtain the
learning of the Greeks, and understand
the elements of the Greek language, al-
though I have so long accustomed myself
to speak our own tongue, that I cannot
pronounce Greek with sufficient exact-
ness; for our nation does not encourage
those that learn the languages of many
nations, and so adorn their discourses
with the smoothness of their periods; be-
cause they look upon this sort of accom-
plishment as common, not only to all
sorts of freemen, but to as many of the
servants as please to learn them. But
they give him the testimony of being a
wise man who is fully acquainted with
our laws, and is able to interpret their
meaning; on which account, as there have
been many who have done their endea-
vours with great patience to obtain this
learning, there have yet hardly been so
many as two or three that have succeeded
therein, who were immediately well re-
warded for their pains.
And now it will be, perhaps, an in-
vidious thing, if I treat briefly of my own
family, and of the actions of my own
life,* while there are still living such as
can either prove what I say to be false,
or can attest that it is true; with which
accounts I shall put an end to these An-
tiquities, which are contained in 20 books,
and 60,000 verses. And, if Godf permit
* The Life of Josephus will be found at the be-
ginning of the volume.
f What Josephus here declares his intention to
do, " if God permitted,"' to give the public " again an
abridgment of the Jewish War," " and to add what
befell them further to that very day," the 13th of
Domitian, or A. D. 93, is not taken distinct notice
of by any one; nor do wo hear of it elsewhere,
whether he performed what he now intended or not.
Some of the reasons of this design of his might
possibly be, his observation of the many errors he
had been guilty of, in the two first books of those
seven books of the War which was written when
he was comparatively young, and less acquainted
with the Jewish antiquities than he now was, and
in which abridgment we might have hoped to find
those many passages which himself, as well as
those several passagos which others refer to, as
written by him, but which are not extant in hi*
=n
140
me, I will briefly run over this war again,
with what befell us therein to this very
day, which is the 13th year of the reign
of Caesar Domitian, and the 56th of my
owd life. I have also an intention to
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[Book XX.
present works. However, since many of his own
references to what he had written elsewhere, as
well as most of his own errors, belong to such
early times as could not well come into this abridg-
ment of the Jewish War; and since none of those
that quote things not now extant in his work, in-
cluding himself as well as others, ever cite any
such abridgment, I am forced rather to suppose that
he never did publish any such work at all; I mean,
as distinct from his own Life, written by himself,
for an appendix to these Antiquities, and this at
least seven years after these Antiquities were
finished. Nor, indeed, does it appear that Josephus
ever published that other work here mentioned, as
intended by him for the public also. I mean the
write three books concerning our Jewish
opinions about God and his essence, and
about our laws ; why, according to them,
some things are permitted us to do, and
others are prohibited.
three or four books "concerning God and his Es-
sence," and concerning the "Jewish Laws;" "why,
according to them, some things were permitted the
Jews, and others prohibited;" which last seems to
be the same work which Josephus had also pro-
mised, " if God permitted," at the conclusion of his
Preface to these Antiquities ; nor do I suppose that
he ever published any of them. The death of all
his friends at court, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian,
and the coming of those he had no acquaintance
with to the crown, I mean Nerva and Trajan, to-
gether with his removal from Rome to Judea, with
what followed it, might easily interrupt such his in-
tentions, and prevent his publication of those
works. — Whiston.
END OF THE ANTIQUITIES.
WARS OF THE JEWS;
OR,
HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
PREFACE.
*Whereas the war which the Jews
made with the Romans hath been the
greatest of all those, not only that have
been in our times, but, in a manner, of
those that ever were heard of; both of
those wherein cities have fought against
cities, or nations against nations; while
some men, who were not concerned in the
affairs themselves, have gotten together
vain and contradictory stories by hearsay,
and have written them down after a so-
phistical manner; and while those that
were there present have given false ac-
counts of things, and this either out of a
humour of flattery to the Romans, or of
hatred toward the Jews; and while their
writings contain sometimes accusations,
and sometimes encomiums, but nowhere
the accurate truth of the facts, I have
proposed to myself, for the sake of such
as live under the government of the Ro-
mans, to translate those books into the
Greek tongue, which I formerly composed
in the language of our country, and sent
* The History of the Jewish War was Jose-
phus's first work, and published about A. D. 75,
•when he was but thirty-eight years of age ; at that
time he was not thoroughly acquainted with seve-
ral circumstances of history, from the days of
Antiochus Epiphanes, with which it begins, till
near his own times, contained in the first and
former part of the second book, and thus commit-
ted many involuntary errors therein. lie pub-
lished his Antiquities eighteen years afterward, in
the* thirteenth of Domitian, A. D. 93, when he was
more completely acquainted with those ancient
times, and after he had perused the first book of
Maccabees, and the Chronicles of the Priesthood
of John Hyrcanus, &c. He then reviewed those
parts of this work, and gave the public a more
faithful, complete, and accurate account of the
fads therein related, and honestly corrected the
errors he had before run into.
to the Upper Barbarians;* I, Joseph, the
son of Matthias, by birth a Hebrew, a
priest also, and one who at first fought
against the Romans myself, and was forced
to be present at what was done afterward,
[am the author of this work.]
Now, at the time when this great con-
cussion of affairs happened, the affairs of
the Romans themselves were in great dis-
order. Those Jews, also, who were for
innovations, then arose when the times
were disturbed ; they were also in a flou-
rishing condition for strength and riches,
insomuch that the affairs of the East were
then exceeding tumultuous, while some
hoped for gain, and others were afraid of
loss in such troubles ; for the Jews hoped
that all of their nation which were beyond
Euphrates would have raised an insurrec-
tion together with them. The Gauls also,
in the neighbourhood of the Romans, were
in motion, and the Celtae were not quiet ;
but all was in disorder after the death of
Nero. And the opportunity now offered
induced many to aim at the royal power ;
and the soldiery affected change, out of
the hopes of getting money. I thought
it, therefore, an absurd thing to see the
truth falsified in affairs of such great con-
sequence, aud to take no notice of it;
but to suffer those Greeks and Romans
that were not in the wars to be ignorant
of these things, and to read either flatte-
ries or fictions, while the Parthians, and
the Babylonians, and the remotest Ara-
bians, aud those of our nation beyond
• These Upper Barbariaus, remote from the sea,
were the Parthians and Babylonians, and remote
Arabians [or the Jews among them]; besides the
I Jews beyond Euphrates, and the Assyrians
141
142
PREFACE.
Euphrates, with the Adiabeni, by my
means, knew accurately both whence the
war began, what miseries it brought upon
us, and after what manner it ended.
It is true, these writers have the con-
fidence to call their accounts histories ;
wherein yet they seem to me to fail of
their own purpose, as well as to relate
nothing that is sound ; for they have a
mind to demonstrate the greatness of the
Romans, while they still diminish and
lessen the actions of the Jews, as not dis-
cerning how it cannot be that those must
appear to be great who have only con-
quered those that were little ; nor are
they ashamed to overlook the length of
the war, the multitude of the Roman
forces who so greatly suffered in it, or the
might of the commanders, whose great
labours about Jerusalem will be deemed
inglorious, if what they achieved be reck-
oned but a small matter.
However, I will not go to the other ex-
treme, out of opposition to those men
who extol the Romans, nor will I deter-
mine to raise the actions of my country-
men too high ; but I will prosecute the
actions of both parties with accuracy.
Yet shall I suit my language to the pas-
sions I am under, as to the affairs I de-
scribe, and must be allowed to indulge
some lamentations upon the miseries un-
dergone by my own country ; for that
it was a seditious temper of our own that
destroyed it; and that they were the ty-
rants among the Jews who brought the
Roman power upon us, who unwillingly
attacked us, and occasioned the burning
of our holy temple ; Titus Cnesar, who de-
stroyed it, is himself a witness, who, dur-
ing the entire war, pitied the people who
were kept under by the seditious, and did
often voluntarily delay the taking of the
city, and allowed time to the siege, in
order to let the authors have opportunity
for repentance. But if any one makes
an unjust accusation against us, when we
speak so passionately about the tyrants,
or the robbers, or sorely bewail the mis-
fortunes of our country, let him indulge
my affections herein, though it be contrary
to the rules for writing history ; because
it had so come to pass, that our city Jeru-
salem had arrived at a higher degree of
felicity than any other city under the
Roman government, and yet at last fell
into the sorest of calamities again. Ac-
cordingly, it appears to me that the mis-
fortunes of all men from the beginning
of the world, if they be compared to these
of the Jews,* are not so considerable sa
they were ; while the authors of there
were not foreigners either. This make?
it impossible for me to contain my la-
mentations. But, if any one be inflexi-
ble in his censures of me, let him attri-
bute the facts themselves to the historical
part, and the lamentations to the writer
himself only.
However, I may justly blame the
learned men among the Greeks, who,
when such great actions have been done
in their own times, which, upon the com-
parison, quite eclipse the old wars, do yet
sit as judges of those affairs, and pass bit-
ter censures upon the labours of the best
writers of antiquity; which moderns, al-
though they may be superior to the old
writers in eloquence, yet are they inferior
to them in the execution of what they
intended to do. While these also write
new histories about the Assyrians and
Medes, as if the ancient writers had not
described their affairs as they ought to
have done; although these be as far in-
ferior to them in abilities as they are dif-
ferent in their notions from them ; for of
old every one took upon them to write
what happened in his own time, where
their immediate concern in the actions
made their promises of value, and where
it must be reproachful to write lies, when
they must be known by the readers to be
such. But then, an undertaking to pre-
serve the memory of what hath not been
before recorded, and to represent the af-
fairs of one's own time to those that come
afterward, is really worthy of praise and
commendation. Now, he is to be esteemed
to have taken good pains in earnest, not
who does no more than change the dispo-
sition and order of other men's works,
but he who not only relates what had not
been related before, but composes an en-
tire body of history of his own : accord-
ingly, I have been at great charges, and
have taken very great pains [about this
history], though I be a foreigner ; and
so dedicate this work, as a memorial of
great actions, both to the Greeks and to
the Barbarians. But, for some of our
own principal men, their mouths are wide
open, and their tongues loosed presently
for gain and lawsuits, but quite muzzled
up when they are to write history, where
they must speak truth and gather facts
* See Matt. xxiv. 21 ; Mark xiii. 19 ; Luke xxi,
23, 24.
PREFACE.
143
together with i great deal of pains ; and
so they leave the writing such histories to
weaker people, and to such as are not ac-
quainted with the actions of princes. Yet
shall the real truth of historical facts be
preferred by us, how much soever it be
neglected among the Greek historians.
To write concerning the Antiquities
of the Jews, who they were [originally],
and how they revolted from the Egyp-
tians, and what countries they travelled
over, and what countries they seized upon
afterward, and how they were removed
out of them, I think this not to be a fit
opportunity, and, on other accounts, also
superfluous ; and this, because many Jews
before me have composed the histories of
our ancestors very exactly ; as have some
of the Greeks done it also, and have trans-
lated our histories into their own tongue,
and have not much mistaken the truth
in their histories. But then, where the
writers of these affairs and our prophets
leave off, thence shall I take my rise and
begin my history. Now, as to what con-
cerns that war which happened in my
own time, I will go over it very largely,
and with all the diligence I am able; but,
what preceded mine own age, that I shall
run over briefly.
[For example, I shall relate] how An-
tiochus, who was named Epiphanes, took
Jerusalem by force, and held it three
years and three months, and was then
ejected out of the country by the sons of
Asamoneus; after that, how their pos-
terity quarrelled about the government,
and brought upon their settlement the
Romans and Pompey; how Herod also,
the son of Antipater, dissolved their go-
vernment, and brought Socius upon them;
as also how our people made a sedition
upon Herod's death, while Augustus was
the Roman emperor, and Quintilius Va-
rus was in that country ; and how the war
broke out in the twelfth year of Nero,
with what happened to Cestius ; and
what places the Jews assaulted in a hos-
tile manner in the first sallies of the war.
As also, [I shall relate] how they built
walls about the neighbouring cities; and
how Nero, upon Cestius's defeat, was in
fear of the entire event of the war, and
thereupon made Vespasian general in this
war ; and how this Vespasian, with the
elder of his sons [Titus], made an ex-
pedition into the country of Judea; what
was the number of the Roman army that
he made use of; and how many of his
2S
auxiliaries were cut off in all Galilee ;
and how he took some of its cities en-
tirely, and by force, and others of them
by treaty, and on terms. Now, when I
am come so far, I shall describe the good
order of the Romans in war, and the
discipline of their legions: the amplitude
of both the Galilees, with its nature, and
the limits of Judea. And, besides this,
I shall particularly go over what is pecu-
liar to the country, the lakes and foun-
tains that are in them, and what miseries
happened to every city as they were
taken ; and all this with accuracy, as I
saw the things done, or suffered in them;
for I shall not conceal any of the calami-
ties I myself endured, since I relate them
to such as know the truth of them.
After this [I shall relate] how, when
the Jews' affairs had become very bad,
Nero died; and Vespasian, when he was
going to attack Jerusalem, was called
back to take the government upon him;
what signs happened to him relating to
his gaining that government, and what
mutations of government then happened
at Rome, and how he was unwillingly
made emperor by his soldiers; and how,
upon his departure to Egypt, to take upon
him the government of the empire, the
affairs of the Jews became very tumul-
tuous; as also how the tyrants rose up
against them, and fell into dissensions
among themselves.
Moreover, [I shall relate] how Titus
marched out of Egypt into Judea the
second time ; as also how and where, and
how many forces he got together ; and in
what state the city was, by means of the
seditious, at his coming ; what attacks he
made, and how many ramparts he cast
up; of the three walls that encompassed
the city, and of their measures ; of the
strength of the city, and the structures
of the temple and holy house; and. besides,
the measures of those edifices, and of the
altar, and all accurately determined. A
description, also, of certain of their fes-
tivals, and seven purifications or days of
purity, and the sacred ministrations of the
priests, with the garments of the priests,
and of the high-priests; and of the nature
of the most holy place of the temple;
without concealing any thing, or adding
any thing to the known truth of things.
After this, I shall relate the barbarity
of the tyrants toward the people of their
own nation, as well as the indulgence of
the Romans, in sparing foreigners ; and
144
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
bow often Titus, out of his desire to pre-
serve the city and the temple, invited the
seditious to come to terms of accommo-
dation. I shall also distinguish the suffer-
ings of the people, and their calamities;
how far they were afflicted by the sedition,
and how far by the famine, and at length
were taken. Nor shall I omit to mention
the misfortunes of the deserters, nor the
punishment inflicted on the captives; as
also, how the temple was burnt, against
the consent of Caesar; and how many
sacred things that had been laid up in the
temple were snatched out of the fire; the
destruction also of the entire city, with
the signs and wonders that went before
it; and the taking the tyrants captive, and
the multitude of those that were made
slaves, and into what different misfortunes
they were every one distributed. More-
over, what the Romans did to the remains
of the wall; and how they demolished the
strongholds that were in the country; and
how Titus went over the whole country,
and settled its affairs ; together with his
return to Italy, and his triumph.
I have comprehended all these things
in seven books, and have left no occasion
for complaints or accusation to such as
have been acquainted with this war; and
I have written it down for the sake of
those that love truth, but not for those
that please themselves [with fictitious
relations]. And I will begin my account
of these things, vicfi tnat I call my first
chapter.
BOOK I.
CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF 167 YEARS, FitOM THE TAKING OF
JERUSALEM BY ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES TO '£HE DEATH OF HEROD
THE GREAT.
CHAPTER I.
Jerusalem taken, and the temple pillaged [byAnti-
ochus Epiphanes] — Actions "of the Maccabees,
Matthias and Judas — Death of Judas.
At the same time that Antiochus, who
was called Epiphanes, had a quarrel with
the sixth Ptolemy about his right to the
whole country of Syria, a great sedition
fell among the men of power in Judea,
and they had a contention about obtain-
ing the government; while each of those
that were of dignity could not endure to
be subject to their equals. However,
Onias, one of the high priests, got the
better, and cast the sons of Tobias out of
the city; who fled to Antiochus, and
besought him to make use of them for
his leaders, and to make an expedition
into Judea. The king being thereto dis-
posed beforehand, complied with them,
and came upon the Jews with a great
army, and took their city by force, and
slew a great multitude of those that fa-
voured Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers
to plunder them, without mercy. He
also spoiled the temple, and put a stop to
the constant practice of offering a daily
sacrifice of expiation, for three years
and six months. But Onias, the high
priest, fled to Ptolemy, and received a
place from him in the Nomus of Helio-
polis, where he built a city resembling
Jerusalem, and a temple that was like its
temple ; concerning which we shall speak
more in its proper place hereafter.
Now, Antiochus was not satisfied either
with his unexpected taking the city, or
with its pillage, with the great slaughter
he had made there; but being overcome
with his violent passions, and remember-
ing what he had suffered during the siege,
he compelled the Jews to dissolve the
laws of their country, and to keep their
infants uncircumcised, and to sacrifice
swine's flesh upon the altar; agunst
which they all opposed themselves, and
the most approved among them were put
to death. Bacchides also, who was sent
to keep the fortresses, having these wicked
commands, joined to his own natural
barbarity, indulged all sorts of the extrem-
est wickedness, and tormented the wor-
thiest of the inhabitants, man by man, and
threatened their city every day with open
destruction; till at length he provoked
the poor sufferers, by the extremity of his
wicked doings, to avenge themselves.
Accordingly, Matthias, the son of Asa-
0
Chap. II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
145
nioneus, one of the priests, who lived in
a village called Modiu, armed himself,
together with his whole family, which had
five sons of his in it, and slew Bacchides
with daggers; and thereupon, out of the
fear of the many garrisons [of the enemy],
he fled to the mountains; and so many
of the people followed him, that he was
encouraged to come down from the moun-
tains, aud to give battle to Antiochus's
generals, when he beat them, and drove
them out of Judea. So he came to the
government by this his success, aud be-
came the prince of his own people by
their own free consent, and then died,
leaving the government to Judas, his
eldest son.
Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus
would not lie still, gathered an army out
of his own countrymen, and was the first
that made a league of friendship with the
Romans, and drove Epiphanes out of the
country when he had made a second
expedition into it, and this by giving
him a great defeat there ; and when he
was warmed by this great success, he
made an assault upon the garrison that
was in the city, for it had not been cut
off hitherto ; so he ejected them out of
the upper city, and drove the soldiers into
the lower, which part of the city was
called the citadel. He then got the
temple under his power, and cleansed the
whole place, and walled it round about,
and made new vessels for sacred ministra-
tions, and brought them into the temple,
because the former vessels had been pro-
faned. He also built another altar, and
began to offer the sacrifices; and when
the city had already received its sacred
constitution again, Antiochus died; whose
son Antiochus succeeded him in the king-
dom, and in his hatred to the Jews also.
So that Antiochus got together 50,000
footmen, and 5000 horsemen, and 80
elephants, and marched through Judea
into the mountainous parts. He then
took Bethsura, which was a small city;
but at a place called Bethzacharias, where
the passage was narrow, Judas met him
with his army. However, before the forces
joined battle, Judas's brother, Eleazar,
seeing the very highest of the elephants
adorned with a large tower, and with mili-
tary trappings of gold to guard him, and
supposing that Autiochus himself was
upon him, he ran a great way before his
own army, and, cutting his way through
the enemies' troops, he got up to the
elephant; yet could not reach him who
seemed to be the king, by reason of his
being so high ; but still he ran his weapon
into the belly of the beast, and brought
him down upon himself, and was crashed
to death, having done no more than at-
tempted great things, and showed that he
preferred glory before life. Now, he that
governed the elephant was but a private
man ; but had he proved to be Antiochus,
Eleazar had done nothing more by this
bold stroke than it might appear he
chose to die, when he had the bare hope
of thereby doing a glorious action ; nay,
this disappointment proved an omen to
his brother [Judas] how the entire battle
would end. It is true that the Jews
fought it out bravely for a long time ; but
the king's forces, being superior in num-
ber, and having fortune on their side,
obtained the victory ; and when a great
many of his men were slain, Judas took
the rest with him, and fled to the toparchy
of Gophna. So Antiochus went to Je-
rusalem, and stayed there but a few days,
for he wanted provisions, and so he went
his way. He left, indeed, a garrison be-
hind him, such as he thought sufficient
to keep the place ; but drew the rest of
his army off, to take their winter-quarters
in Syria.
Now, after the king had departed,
Judas was not idle ; for as many of his
own nation came to him, so did he gather
those that had escaped out of the battle
together, and gave battle again to Anti-
ochus's generals at a village called Adasa ;
and, being too hard for his enemies in
the battle, and killing a great number of
them, he was at last himself slain also.
Nor was it many days afterward that his
brother John had a plot laid against him
by Antiochus's party, and was slain by
them.
CHAPTER II.
Jonathan, Simeon, and John Hyrcanus succeed
Judas Maccabeus.
AViien Jonathan, who was Judas's bro-
ther, succeeded him, he behaved himself
with great circumspection in other re-
spects, with relation to his own people ;
and he corroborated his authority by pre-
serving his friendship with the Romans.
He also made a league with Antiochus
the son. Yet all this was not sufficient
for his security; for the tyrant Trypho,
who was guardian to Antiochus's sou,
146
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
laid a plot against him ; and, besides that,
endeavoured to take off his friends, and
caught Jonathan by a wile, as he was
going to Ptolemais to Antiochus, with a
few persons in his company, and put
them in bonds, and then made an expe-
dition against the Jews ; but when he
was afterward driven away by Simeon,
who was Jonathan's brother, and was
enraged at his defeat, he put Jonathan to
death.
However, Simeon managed the public
affairs after a courageous manner, and
took Gazara and Joppa, and Jamnia, which
were cities in the neighbourhood. He
also got the garrison Under, and demo-
lished the citadel. He was afterwars an
auxiliary to Antiochus, against Trypho,
whom he besieged at Dora, before he
went on his expedition against the Medes;
yet could not he make the king ashamed
of his ambition, though he had assisted
him in killing Trypho; for it was not
long ere Antiochus sent Cendebeus, his
general, with an army, to lay waste Judea,
and to subdue Simeon ; yet he, though
he was now in years, conducted the war
as if he were a much younger man. He
also sent his sons with a band of strong
men against Antiochus, while he took
part of the army with him, and fell upon
him from another quarter;- he also laid a
great many men in ambush in many
places of the mountains, and was superior
in all his attacks upon them. And when
he had been conqueror after so glorious a
manner, he was made high priest, and
also freed the Jews from the dominion of
the Macedonians; after 170 years of the
empire [of Seleucus].
This Simeon had also a plot laid against
him, and was slain at a feast by his son-
in-law, Ptolemy, who put his wife and
two sons into prison, and sent some per-
sons to kill John, who was also called
Hyrcanus. But when the young man
was informed of their coming beforehand,
he made much haste to get to the city, as
having a very great confidence in the
people there, both on account of the
memory of the glorious actions of his
father, and of the hatred they could not
but bear to the injustice of Ptolemy.
Ptolemy also made an attempt to get into
the city by another gate, but was repelled
by the people, who had just then admitted
Hyrcanus ; so he retired presently to one
of the fortresses that was above Jericho,
which was called Dagon. Now, when
Hyrcanus had received the high-priest-
hood, which his father had held before,
and offered sacrifice to God, he made
great haste to attack Ptolemy, that he
might afford relief to his mother and
brethren.
So he laid siege to the fortress, and
was superior to Ptolemy in other respects,
but was overcome by him as to the just
affection [he had for his relations] ; for
when Ptolemy was distressed, he brought
forth his mother and his brethren, and
set them upon the wall, and beat them
with rods in everybody's sight, and
threatened, that, unless he would go
away immediately, he would throw them
down headlong; at which sight, Hyrca-
nus's commiseration and concern were too
hard for his anger. But his mother was
not dismayed, neither at the stripes she
received, nor at the death with which she
was threatened, but stretched out her
hands, and prayed her son not to be
moved with the injuries that she suffered,
to spare the wretch ; since it was to her
better to die by the means of Ptolemy
than to live ever so long, provided he
might be punished for the injuries he
had done to their family. Now, John's
case was this : when he considered the
courage of his mother, and heard her
entreaty, he set about his attacks; but
when he saw her beaten, and torn to
pieces with the stripes, he grew feeble,
and was entirely overcome by his affec-
tions. And as the siege was delayed by
this means, the year of rest came on,
upon which the Jews rest every seventh
year as they do on every seventh day.
On this year, therefore, Ptolemy was
freed from being besieged, and slew the
brethren of John, with their mother, and
fled to Zeno, who was also called Cotylas,
who was the tyrant of Philadelphia.
And now Antiochus was so angry at
what he had suffered from Simeon, that
he made an expedition into Judea, and
sat down before Jerusalem, and besieged
Hyrcanus; but Hyrcanus opened the se-
pulchre of David, who was the richest of
all kings, and took thence about 3000
talents in money, and induced Antiochus
by the promise of three thousand talents,
to raise the siege. Moreover, he was the
first of the Jews that had money enough,
and began to hire foreign auxiliaries also.
However, at another time, when Antio-
chus had gone upon an expedition against
the Medes, and so gave Hyrcanus an
Chai\ III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
147
opportunity of being avenged upon him,
he immediately made an attack upon the
cities of Syria, as thinking, what proved
to be the case with them, that he should
find them empty of good troops. So he
took Medaba and Samea, with the towns
in their neighbourhood, as also Shechem
and Gerizzim ; and besides these, [he
subdued] the nation of the Cutheans, who
dwelt round about that temple which was
built in imitation of the temple at Jeru-
salem : he also took a great many other
cities of Idumea, with Adoreon and
Marissa.
He also proceeded as far as Samaria,
where is now the city Sebaste, which was
built by Herod the king, and encompassed
it all round with a wall, and set his sons,
Aristobulus and Antigonus, over the
siege ; who pushed it on so hard, that a
famine so far prevailed within the city,
that they were forced to eat what never
was esteemed food. They also invited
Antiochus, who was called Cyzicenus, to
come to their assistance; whereupon he
got ready, and complied with their invita-
tion, but was beaten by Aristobulus and
Antigonus ; and, indeed, he was pursued
as far as Scythopolis by these brethren,
and fled away from them. So they re-
turned back to Samaria, and shut the
multitude again within the wall ; and
when they had taken the city they de-
molished it, and made slaves of its in-
habitants. And, as they had still great
success in their undertakings, they did
not suffer their zeal to cool, but marched
with an army as far as Scythopolis, and
made an incursion upon it, and laid waste
all the country that lay within Mount
Carmel.
But then, these successes of John and
of his sons made them be envied, and oc-
casioned a sedition in the country; and
many there were who got together, and
would not be at rest till they broke out
into open war, in which war they were
beaten. So John lived the rest of his
life very happily, and administered the
government after a most extraordinary
manner, and this for thirty-three entire
years together. He died, leaving five
sons behind him. He was certainly a
very happy man, and afforded no occasion
to have any complaint made of fortune
on his account. He it was, who alone
had three of the most desirable things in
the world, — the government of his nation,
and the high-priesthood, and the gift of
prophecy; for the Deity conversed with
hiin, and he was not ignorant of any
thing that was to- come afterward; inso-
much that he foresaw and foretold that
his two eldest sons would not continue
masters of the government : and it will
highly deserve our narration to describe
their catastrophe, and how far inferior
these men were to their father in felicity.
CHAPTER III.
Aristobulus changes the government into a king-
dom— destroys his mother and brother — reigns
one year.
For, after the death of their father,
the elder of them, Aristobulus, changed
the government into a kingdom, and was
the first that put a diadem upon his head,
four hundred and seventy-one years and
three months after our people came down
into this country, when they were set free
from the Babylonian slavery. Now, of
his brethren, he appeared to have an af-
fection for Antigonus, who was next to
him, and made him his equal; but, for
the rest, he bound them and put them in
prison. He also put his mother in bonds
for her contesting the government with
him ; for John had left her to be the go-
verness of public affairs. He also pro-
ceeded to that degree of barbarity as to
cause her to pine to death in prison.
But vengeance circumvented him in
the affair of his brother Antigonus, whom
he loved, and whom he made his partner
in the kingdom ; for he slew him by the
means of the calumnies which ill men
about the palace contrived agaiust him.
At first, indeed, Aristobulus would not
believe their reports, partly out of the
affection he had for his brother, and
partly because he thought that a great
part of these tales were owing to the envy
of their relaters : however, as Antigonus
came once in a splendid manner from tho
army to that festival wherein our ancient
custom is to make tabernacles for God, it
happened in those days that Aristobulus
was sick, and that, at the conclusion of
the feast, Antigonus came up to it, with
his armed men about him, and this when
he was adorned in the finest manner pos-
sible; and that, in a great measure, to
pray to God on the behalf of his brother.
Now, at this very time it was that these
ill men came to the king, and told him in
what a pompous manner the armed men
148
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
came, and with what insolence Antigonus
marched, and that such his insolence was
too great for a private person, and that,
accordingly, he had come with a great
band of men to kill him; for that he
could not endure this bare enjoyment of
royal honour, when it was in his power to
take the kingdom himself.
Now Aristobulus, by degrees, and un-
willingly, gave credit to these accusa-
tions; and, accordingly, he took care not
to discover his suspicion openly, though
he provided to be secure against any inci-
dents; so he placed the guards of his
body in a certain dark subterraneous pas-
sage ; for he lay sick in a certain place
called formerly the Citadel, though, after-
ward, its name was changed to Antonia;
and he gave orders that, if Antigonus
came unarmed, they should let him alone;
but, if he came to him in his armour,
they should kill him. He also sent some
to let him know beforehand that he should
come unarmed. But, upon this occasion,
the queen very cunningly contrived the
matter with those that plotted his ruin,
for she persuaded those that were sent to
conceal the king's message; but to tell
Antigonus how his brother had heard he
had got a very fine suit of armour, made
with fine martial ornaments in Galilee ;
and, because his present sickness hindered
him from coming and seeing all that
finery, he very much desired to see him
now in his armour, because, said he, in a
little time thou art going away from me.
As soon as Antigonus heard this, the
good temper of his brother not allowing
him to suspect any harm from him, he
came along with his armour on to show it
to his brother; but when he was going
along that dark passage, which was called
Strato's Tower, he was slain by the body-
guards, and became an eminent instance
bow calumny destroys all good-will and
natural affection, and how none of our
good affections are strong enough to resist
envy perpetually.
And truly, any one would be surprised
at Judas upon this occasion. He was of
the sect of the Essenes, and had never
failed or deceived men in his predictions
before. Now, this man saw Antigonus
as he was passing along by the temple,
and cried out to his acquaintance, (they
were not a few who attended upon his
scholars,) " Oh, strange !" said he ; " it
is good for me to die now, since truth is
dead before me, and somewhat that I
have foretold hath proved false ; for this
Antigonus is this day alive, who ought to
have died this day ; and the place where
he ought to be slain, according to that
fatal decree, was Strato's Tower, which is
at the distance of six hundred furlongs
from this place, and yet four hours of this
day are over already; which point of time
renders the prediction impossible to be
fulfilled." And, when the old man had
said this, he was dejected in his mind,
and so continued. But, in a little time,
news came that Antigonus was slain in
a subterraneous place, which was itself
also called Strato's Tower, by the same
name with that Cesarea which lay by the
seaside ; and this ambiguity it was which
caused the prophet's disorder. •
Hereupon Aristobulus repented of the
great crime he had been guilty of, and
this gave occasion to the increase of his
distemper. He also grew worse and worse,
and his soul was constantly disturbed at
the- thought of what he had done, till his
very bowels being torn to pieces by the
intolerable grief he was under, he threw
up a great quantity of blood. And, as
one of those servants that attended him
carried out that blood, he, by some super-
natural providence, slipped and fell down
in the very place where Antigonus had
been slain ; and so he spilt some of the
murderer's blood upon the spots of the
blood of him that had been murdered,
which still appeared. Hereupon a la-
mentable cry arose among the spectators,
as if the servant had spilled the blood on
purpose in that place ; and, as the king
heard that cry, he inquired what was the
cause of it; and, while nobody durst tell
him, he pressed them so much the more
to let him know what was the matter;
so, at length, when he had threatened
them and forced them to speak out,
they told ; whereupon he burst into tears
and said, " So I perceive I am not like to
escape the all-seeing eye of God as to the
greatest crimes I have committed; but
the vengeance of the blood of my kins-
man pursues me hastily. 0 thou most
impudent body ! how long wilt thou re-
tain a soul that ought to die, on account
of that punishment it ought to suffer for
atnother and a brother slain ? How long
shall I myself spend my blood drop by
drop ? — let them take it all at once ; and
let their ghosts no longer be disappointed
by a few parcels of my bowels offered tc
them." As soon as he had said these
Chap. IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
119
words, he presently died, when he had
reigned m longer than a year-
CHAPTER IV.
Alexander Jnnncus succeeds to the crown, and
reigns twenty-seven years.
And now the king's wife loosed the
king's brethren, and made Alexander
king, who appeared both elder in age and
more moderate in his temper than the
rest ; who, when he came to the govern-
ment, slew one of his brethren, as affect-
ing to govern himself; but had the other
of them in great esteem, as loving a quiet
life, without meddling with public affairs.
Now it happened that there was a bat-
tle between him and Ptolemy, who was
called Lathyrus, who had taken the city
Asochis. He, indeed, slew a great many
of his enemies; but the victory rather
inclined to Ptolemy. But when this
Ptolemy was pursued by his mother Cleo-
patra, and retired into Egypt, Alexander
besieged Gadara, and took it ; as also he
did Amathus, which was the strongest of
all the fortresses that were about Jordan,
and therein were the most precious of all
the possessions of Theodorus, the son of
Zeno. Whereupon Theodorus marched
against him, and took what belonged to
himself, as well as the king's baggage,
and slew 10,000 of the Jews. However,
Alexander recovered this blow, and turned
his force toward the maritime parts, and
took Eaphia and Gaza, with Anthedon
also, which was afterward called Agrip-
pias by King Herod.
But when he had made slaves of the
citizens of all these cities, the nation of
Jews made an insurrection against him at a
festival ; for at those feasts seditions were
generally begun: and it looked as if he
should not be able to escape the plot they
had laid for him, had not his foreign
auxiliaries, the Pisidians and Cilicians as-
sisted him ; for, as to the Syrians, he never
admitted them among his mercenary
troops, on account of their innate enmity
against the Jewish nation. And when he
had slain more than 6000 of the rebels, he
made an incursion into Arabia, and when
he had taken that country, together with
the Gileadites and Moabites, he enjoined
them to pay him tribute, and returned to
Amathus; and as Theodorus was surprised
at his great success, he took the fortress,
and demolished it.
However, when he fought with Obodas,
king of the Arabians, who had laid an
ambush for him near Golan, and a plot
against him, he lost his entire army, which
was crowded together in a deep valley, and
broken to pieces by the multitude of
camels; and when he had made his escape
to Jerusalem, he provoked the multitude,
who hated him before, to make an insur-
rection against him, and this on account of
the greatness of the calamity that he was
under. However, he was then too hard
for them ; and in the several battles that
were fought on both sides, he slew no
fewer than 50,000 of the Jews in the in-
terval of six years. Yet had he no reason
to rejoice in these victories, since he did
but consume his own kingdom; till at
length he left off fighting, and endeavoured
to come to a composition with them, by
talking with his subjects; but this muta-
bility and irregularity of his conduct made
them hate him still more; and when he
asked them why they so hated him, and
what he should do, in order to appease
them, they said, by killing himself; for
that it would be then all they could do, to
be reconciled to him who had done such
tragical things to them, even when he was
dead. At the same time they invited
Demetrius, who was called Eucerus, to
assist them ; and, as he readily complied
with their request, in hopes of great
advantages, and <came with his army, the
Jews joined with those their auxiliaries
about Shechem.
Yet did Alexander meet both these
forces with 1000 horsemen and 8000 mer-
cenaries that were on foot. He had also
with him that part of the Jews which
favoured him, to the number of 10,000;
while the adverse party had 3000 horse-
men and 14,000 footmen. Now, before
they joined battle, the kings made procla-
mation, and endeavoured to draw off each
other's soldiers and make them revolt;
while Demetrius hoped to induce Alex-
ander's mercenaries to leave him, — and
Alexander hoped to induce the Jews that
were with Demetrius to leave him; but,
since neither the Jews would leave off
their rage, nor the Greeks prove unfaith-
ful, they came to an engagement, and to a
close fight with their weapons. In which
battle Demetrius was the conqueror, al-
though Alexander's mercenaries showed
the greatest exploits, both in soul and
body. Yet did the upshot of this battle
prove different from what was expected,
as to both of them; for neither did those
150
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I
that invited Demetrius to come to them
continue firm to him, though he was con-
queror; and 6000 Jews, out of pity to the
change of Alexander's condition, when be
had fled to the mountains, came over to
him. Yet could not Demetrius bear this
turn of affairs; but supposing tbat Alex-
ander was already become a match for
him again, and that all the nation would
[at length] run to him, he left the coun-
try, and went his way.
However, tbe rest of tbe [Jewish] mul-
titude did not lay aside their quarrels with
him, when the [foreign] auxiliaries were
gone; but they had a perpetual war with
Alexander, until he had slain the greatest
part of them, and driven the rest into the
city Bemeselis; and when he had demo-
lished that city, he carried the captives to
Jerusalem. Nay, his rage was grown so
extravagant, that his barbarity proceeded
to a degree of impiety ; for when he had
ordered 800 to be hung upon crosses in
the midst of the city, he had the throats
of their wives and children cut before
their eyes; and these executions he saw
as be was drinking and lying down with
his concubines. Upon which so deep a
surprise seized on the people, tbat 8000 of
his opposers. fled away tbe very next night
out of all Judea, whose flight was only ter-
minated by Alexander's death; so at last,
though not till late, and with great difficul-
ty, he, by such actions, procured quiet to
his kingdom, and left off fighting any more.
Yet did that Antiochus, who was also
called Dionysius, become an origin of trou-
bles again. This man was the brother of
Demetrius, and the last of the race of the
Seleucidoe.* Alexander was afraid of
him, when he was marching against the
Arabians; so he cut a deep trench be-
tween Antipatris, which was near the
mountains, and the shores of Joppa; he
also erected a high wall before the trench,
and built wooden towers, in order to hin-
der any sudden approaches; but still he
was not able to exclude Antiochus, for he
burnt the towers, and filled up the trenches,
and marched on with his army; and as
he looked upon taking his revenge on
Alexander for endeavouring to stop him,
as a thing of less consequence, he marched
directly against the Arabians, whose king
* Josephus here calls this Antiochus the last of
the Seleucidaj, although there remained still a sha-
dow of another king of that family, Antiochus
Asiaticus, or Commagenus, who reigned, or rather
.ay hid, till Pompey turned him out.
retired into such parts of the country as
were fittest for engaging the enemy, and
then on the sudden made his horse turn
back, who were in number 10,000, and
fell upon Antiochus's army while they
were in disorder, and a terrible battlG
ensued. Antiochus's troops, so long as
he was alive, fought it out, although a
mighty slaughter was made among them
by the Arabians ; but when he fell, for ho
was in the forefront, in the utmost danger,
in rallying his troops, they all gave
ground, and the greatest part of his army
was destroyed, either in the action or the
flight ; and for the rest, who fled to the
village of Cana, it happened that they
were all consumed by want of necessaries,
a few only excepted.
About this time it was that the people
of Damascus, out of their hatred to Ptole-
my, the son of Menneus, invited Aretas
[to take the government], and made him
king of Celesyria. This man also made
an expedition against Judea, and beat
Alexander in battle; but afterward re-
tired by mutual agreement. But Alex-
ander, when he had taken Pella, marched
to Grerasa again, out of the covetous desire
he had of Theodorus's possessions; and
when he had built a triple wall about the
garrison, he took the place by force. He
also demolished Golan, and Seleucia, and
what was called the Valley of Antiochus ;
besides which, he took the strong fortresses
of G-amala, and stripped Demetrius, who
was governor therein, of what he had, on
account of the many crimes laid to his
charge, and then returned into Judea,
after he had been three whole years in
this expedition ; and now he was kindly
received of the nation, because of the good
success he had. So, when he was at rest
from war, he fell into a distemper; for he
was afflicted with a quartan ague, and
supposed that, by exercising himself again
in martial affairs, he should get rid of this
distemper; but by making such expedi-
tion at unseasonable times, and forcing
his body to undergo greater hardships
than it was able to bear, he brought him-
self to his end. He died, therefore, in
the midst of his troubles, after he had
reigned 27 years.
CHAPTER V.
Alexandra reigns nine years.
Now Alexander left the kingdom to
Alexandra his wife, and depended upon it
Chap. III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
151
that the Jews would now very readily
submit to her ; because she had been very
averse to such cruelty as he had treated
them with, and had opposed his violation
of their laws, and had thereby gained the
good-will of the people. Nor was he mis-
taken as to his expectations; for this
woman kept the dominion, by the opinion
that the people had of her piety ; for she
chiefly studied the ancient customs of her
country, and cast those men out of the
government that offended against their
holy laws. And as she had two sons by
Alexander, she made Hyrcanus, the elder,
high priest, on account of his age ; as
also, besides that, on account of his inac-
tive temper noway disposing him to dis-
turb the public. But she retained the
younger, Aristobulus, with her as a private
person, by reason of the warmth of his
temper.
And now the Pharisees joined them-
selves to her, to assist her in the govern-
ment. There are a certain sect of the
Jews that appear more religious than
others, and seem to interpret the laws
more accurately. Now Alexandra heark-
ened to them to an extraordinary degree,
as being herself a woman of great piety
toward God. But these Pharisees art-
fully insinuated themselves into her favour
by little and little, and became them-
selves the real administrators of the public
affairs : they banished and reduced whom
they pleased; they bound and loosened
[men] at their pleasure;* and, to say all
at once, they had the enjoyment of the
royal authority, while the expenses and
the difficulties of it belonged to Alex-
andra. She was a sagacious woman in the
management of great affairs, and intent
always upon gathering soldiers together;
so that she increased the army the one-
half, and procured a great body of foreign
troops, till her own nation not only be-
came very powerful at home, but terrible
also to foreign potentates, while she go-
verned other people, and the Pharisees
governed her.
Accordingly they themselves slew Dio-
genes, a person of figure, and one that
had been a friend to Alexander; and
accused him as having assisted the king
with his advice, for crucifying the 800
men [before mentioned]. They also pre-
vailed with Alexandra to put to death the
rest of those who had irritated him
* Matt. xvi. 19; xviii. 18.
against them. Now, she was so supersti-
tious as to comply with their des res, and
accordingly they slew whom they pleased
themselves. But the principal of those
that were in danger fled to Aristobulus, .
who persuaded his mother to spare the
men on account of their dignity, but to
expel them out of the city, unless she took
them to be innocent; so they were suffered
to go unpunished, and were dispersed all
over the country. But, when Alexandra
sent out her army to Damascus, under
pretence that Ptolemy was always oppress-
ing that city, she got possession of it;
nor did it make any considerable resistance.
She also prevailed with Tigranes, king of
Armenia, who lay with his troops about
Ptolemais, and besieged Cleopatra,* by
agreements and presents, to go away.
Accordingly, Tigranes soon arose from the
siege, by reason of those domestic tumults
which happened upon Lucullus's expedi-
tion into Armenia.
In the mean time, Alexandra fell sick,
and Aristobulus, her younger son, took
hold of this opportunity, with his domes-
tics, of which he had a great many, who
were all of them his friends, on account of
the warmth of their youth, and got pos-
session of all the fortresses. He also used
the sums of money he found in them, to
get together a number of mercenary sol-
diers, and made himself king; and be-
sides this, upon Hyrcanus's complaint to
his mother, she compassioned his case,
and put Aristobulus's wife and sous under
restraint in Antonia, which was a fortress
which joined to the north part of the tem-
ple. It was, as I have already said, of old
called the Citadel, but afterward got the
name of Antonia, when xVntony was lord
[of the East], just as the other cities, Se-
baste and Agrippias, had their names
changed, and these given them from Sebas-
tus and Agrippa. But Alexandra died
before she could punish Aristobulus for
his disinheriting his brother, after she had
reigned nine years.
CHAPTER VI.
Hyrcanus resigns the kingdom in favour of his
brother Aristobulus — is induced to reclaim it. —
Pompey arbitrates between "the two brothers.
Now Hyrcanus was heir to the king-
dom, and to him did his mother commit
* Cleopatra was besieged by Tigranes, not in
Ptolemais, but after she had loft ryria. in Selcucia,
a citadel in Mesopotamia,
152
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book L
it before she d'ed : but Aristobulus was
superior to him in power and magnani-
mity; and when there was a battle be-
tween them, to decide the dispute about
the kingdom, near Jericho, the greatest
part deserted Hyrcanus, and went over to
Aristobulus : but Hyrcanus, with those
of his party who stayed with him, fled to
Antonia, and got into his power the host-
ages that might be for his preservation,
(which were Aristobulus's wife, with her
children;) but they came to an agreement
before things should come to extremities,
that Aristobulus should be king, and
Hyrcanus should resign that up, but re-
tain all the rest of his dignities, as being
the king's brother. Hereupon they were
reconciled to each other in the temple,
and embraced one another in a very kind
manner, while the people stood round
about them : they also changed their
houses; while Aristobulus went to the
royal palace, and Hyrcanus retired to the
house of Aristobulus.
Now, those other people who were at
variance with Aristobulus were afraid,
upon his unexpectedly obtaining the go-
vernment; and especially this concerned
Antipater, whom Aristobulus hated of old.
He was by birth an Idumean, and one of
the principal of that nation, on account
of his ancestors and riches, and other
authority to him belonging: he also per-
suaded Hyrcanus to fly to Aretas, the
king of Arabia, and to lay claim to the
kingdom ; as also he persuaded Aretas to
receive Hyrcanus, and to bring him back
to his kingdom ; he also cast reproaches
upon Aristobulus, as to his morals, and
gave great commendations to Hyrcanus,
and exhorted Aretas to receive him, and
told him how becoming a thing it would
be for him, who ruled so great a kingdom,
to afford his assistance to such as are
injured ; alleging that Hyrcanus was treat-
ed unjustly, by being deprived of that
dominion which belonged to him by the
prerogative of his birth. And when he
had predisposed them both to do what he
would have them, he took Hyrcanus by
night, and ran away from the city ; and,
continuing his flight with great swiftness,
he escaped to the place called Petra,
which is the royal seat of the king of
Arabia, where he put Hyrcanus into Are-'
tas's hands; and by discoursing much
with him, and gaining upon him with
many presents, he prevailed with him to
give him an army that might restore him
to his kingdom. This army consisted of
50,000 footmen and horsemen, against
which Aristobulus was not able to make
resistance, but was deserted in his first
onset, and was driven to Jerusalem : he
also had been taken at first by force, if
Scaurus, the Roman general, had not
come and seasonably interposed himself,
and raised the siege. This Scaurus was
sent into Syria from Armenia by Pompey
the Great, when he fought against Tigra-
nes : so Scaurus came to Damascus, which
had been lately taken by Metellus and
Lollius, and caused them to leave the
place; and, upon his hearing how the
affairs of Judea stood, he made haste thi-
ther as to a certain booty.
As soon, therefore, as he was come into
the country, there came ambassadors from
both the brothers, each of them desiring
his assistance; but Aristobulus's 300
talents had more weight with him than
the justice of the cause; which sum,
when Scaurus had received, he sent a
herald to Hyrcanus and the Arabians, and
threatened them with the resentment of
the Romans and of Pompey, unless they
would raise the siege. So Aretas was
terrified, and " retired out of Judea to
Phikdeljmia, as did Scaurus return to
Damascus again : nor was Aristobulus
satisfied with escaping [out of his brother's
hands], but gathered all his forces to-
gether and pursued his enemies, and
fought them at a place called Papyron,
and slew above 6000 of them, and, to-
gether with them, Antipater's brother
Phalion.
When Hyrcanus and Antipater were
thus deprived of their hopes from the
Arabians, they transferred the same to
their adversaries; and because Pompey
had passed through Syria, and was come
to Damascus, they fled to him for assist-
ance ; and, without any bribes, they made
the same equitable pleas that they had
used to Aretas, and besought him to hate
the violent behaviour of Aristobulus, and
to bestow the kingdom upon him to whom
it justly belonged, both on accouut of
his good character, and on account of his
superiority in age. However, neither was
Aristobulus wanting to himself in this
case, as relying on the bribes that Scaurus
had received; he was also there himself,
and adorned himself after a manner the
most agreeable to royalty that he was
able. But he soon thought it beneath
him to come in such a servile manner,
Chap. VII. ]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
151
and could not endure to serve his own
ends in a way so much more abject than
he was used to; so he departed from
Diospolis.
At this his behaviour Pompey had
great indignation : Hyrcanus also and his
friends made great intercession to Pom-
pey; so he took not only his Roman
forces, but many of his Syrian auxiliaries,
and marched against Aristobulus. But
when he had passed by Pella and Scy-
thopolis, and was come to Corea, where
you enter into the country of Judea, when
you go up to it through the Mediterranean
parts, he heard that Aristobulus was fled
to Alexandrium, which is a stronghold,
fortified with the utmost magnificence,
and situated upon a high mountain, and
he sent to him, and commanded him to
come down. Now his inclination was to
try his fortune in a battle, since he was
called in such an imperious manner, rather
than to comply with that call. However,
he saw the multitude were in great fear,
and his friends exhorted him to consider
what the power of the Romans was, and
how it was irresistible; so he complied
with their advice, and came' down to
Pompey ; and when he had made a long
apology for himself, and for the justness
of his cause in taking the government, he
returned to the fortress. And when his
brother invited him again [to plead his
cause], he came down and spake about
the justice of it, and then went away
without any hinderance from Pompey : so
he was between hope and fear. And
when he came down, it was to prevail
with Pompey to allow him the government
entirely; and when he went up to the
citadel, it was that he might not appear
to debase himself too low. However,
Pompey commanded him to give up his
fortified places, and forced him to write
to every one of their governors to yield
them up ; they having had this charge
given them, to obey no letters but what
were of his own handwriting. According-
ly, he did what he was ordered to do;
but had still an indignation at what was
done, and retired to Jerusalem, and pre-
pared to fight with Pompey.
Rut Pompey did not give time to make
any preparations [for a siege], but fol-
lowed him at his heels; he was also
obliged to make haste in his attempt, by
the death of Mithridates, of which he
was informed about Jericho. Now here
is the most fruitful country of Judea,
which bears a vast number of palm-trees,
besides the balsam-tree, whose sprouts
they cut with sharp stones, and at the
incisions they gather the juice, which
drops down like tears. So Pompey pitch-
ed his camp in that place one night, and
then hasted away the next morning to
Jerusalem ; but Aristobulus was so af-
frighted at his approach, that he came
and met him by way of supplication. He
also promised him money, and %that he
would deliver up both himself and the
city unto his disposal ; and thereby he
mitigated the anger of Pompey. Yet did
not he perform any of the conditions he
had agreed to; for Aristobulus's party
would not so much as admit Gabinius
into the city, who was sent to receive the
money that he was promised.
CHAPTER VII.
Jerusalem surrendered to Pompey, who seizes on
the Temple by force.
At this treatment Pompey was very
angry, and took Aristobulus into custody;
and when he had come to the city he
looked about where he might make his
attack ; for he saw the walls were so firm
that it would be hard to overcome them,
and that the valley before the walls was
terrible; and that the temple, which was
within that valley, was itself encompassed
with a very strong wall, insomuch that
if the city were taken, the temple would
be a second place of refuge for the enemy
to retire to.
Now, as he was long in deliberating
about this matter, a sedition arose among
the people within the city ; Aristobulus's
party being willing to fight, and to set
their king at liberty, while the party of
Hyrcanus were for opening the gates to
Pompey; and the dread people were in,
occasioned these last to be a very nu-
merous party, when they looked upon the
excellent order the Roman soldiers were
in. So Aristobulus's party was worsted,
and retired into the temple, and cut off
the communication between the temple
and the city, by breaking down the bridge
that joined them together, and prepared
to make an opposition to the utmost ; but
as the others had received the Romans
into the city, and had delivered up the
palace to him, Pompey sent Piso, one of
his great officers, into that palace with an
army, who distributed a garrison about
the city, because he could not persuade
154
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I,
any one of those that had fled to the
temple to come to terms of accommoda-
tion; he then disposed all things that
were round about them so as might favour
their attacks, as having Hyrcanus's party
very ready to afford them both counsel
and assistance.
But Pompey himself filled up the ditch
that was on the north side of the temple,
and the entire valley also, the army itself
being obliged to carry the materials for
that purpose. And indeed it was a hard
thing to fill up that valley, by reason of
its immense depth, especially as the Jews
used all the means possible to repel them
from their superior station ; nor had the
Romans succeeded in their endeavours,
had not Pompey taken notice of the
seventh days, on which the Jews abstain
from all sorts of work on a religious
account, and raised his bank, but restrain-
ed his soldiers from fighting on those
days ; for the Jews only acted defensively
on sabbath days. But as soon as Pom-
pey had filled up the valley, he erected
high towers upon the bank, and brought
those engines which they had fetched
from Tyre near to the wall, and tried to
batter it down ; and the slingers of stones
beat off those that stood above them, and
drove them away ; but the towers on this
side of the city made very great resist-
ance, and were indeed extraordinary both
for largeness and magnificence.
Now, here it was that upon the many
hardships which the Romans underwent,
Pompey could not but admire not only
at the other instances of the Jews' forti-
tude, but especially that they did not at
all intermit their religious services, even
when they were encompassed with darts
on all sides ; for, as if the city were in
full peace, their daily sacrifices and puri-
fications, and every branch of their re-
ligious worship, were still performed to
God with the utmost exactness. Nor in-
deed, when the temple was actually taken,
and they were every day slain about the
altar, did they leave off the instances of
their divine worship that were appointed
by their law; for it was in the third
month of the siege before the Romans
could even with great difficulty overthrow
one of the towers, and get into the
temple.
Now he that first of all ventured to get
over the wall, was Faustus Cornelius, the
son of Sylla; and next after him were
two centurions, Furius and Fabius; and
every one of these was followed by a
cohort of his own, who encompased the
Jews on all sides, and slew them; some
of them as they were running for shelter
to the temple, and others as they, for a
while, fought in their own defence.
And now did many of the priests, even
when they saw their enemies assailing
them with swords in their hands, without
any disturbance, go on with their divine
worship, and were slain while they were
offering their drink-offerings and burning
their incense, as preferring the duties
about their worship to God before their
own preservation. The greatest part of
them were slain by their own countrymen
of the adverse faction, and an innumera-
ble multitude threw themselves down
precipices; nay, some there were who
were so distracted among the insuperable
ble difficulties they were under, that they
set fire to the buildings that were near
to the wall, and were burnt together
with them. Now of the Jews were slain
12,000 ; but of the Romans very few
were slain, but a greater number were
wounded.
But there was nothing that affected the
nation so much, in the calamities they
were then under, as that their holy place,
which had been hitherto seen by none,
should be laid open to strangers ; for
Pompey, and those that were about him,
went into the temple itself, whither it
was not lawful for any. to enter but the
high priest, and. saw what was reposited
therein, the candlestick .with its lamps,
and the table, and the pouring vessels,
and the censers, all made entirely of gold,
as also a great quantity of spices heaped
together, with 2000 talents of sacred
money. Yet did not he touch the mouey,
nor any thing else that was there repo-
sited; but he commanded the ministers
about the temple, the very next day after
he had taken it, to cleanse it, and to per-
form their accustomed sacrifices. More-
over, he made Hyrcanus high priest, as
one that not only in other respects had
shown great alacrity on his side, during
the siege, but as he had been the means
of hindering the multitude that was in
the country from fighting for Aristobulus,
which they were otherwise very ready to
have done; by which means he acted the
part of a good general, and reconciled the
people to him more by benevolence than
by terror. Now amcng the captives,
Aristobulus's father-in-law was taken, who
B=
Chap. VIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
L5S
was also his uncle, so those that were the
most guilty he punished with decollation ;
but rewarded Faustus, and those with
him that had fought so bravel}7, with
glorious presents; and laid a tribute upon
the country, and upon Jerusalem itself.
He also took away from the nation all
those cities they had formerly taken, and
that belonged to Celesyria, and made them
subject to him that was at that time appoint-
ed to be the Roman president there, and re-
duced Judea within its proper bounds.
He also rebuilt Gadara, that had been de-
molished by the Jews, in order to gratify
one Demetrius, who was of Gadara, and
was one of his own freedmen. He also
made other cities free from their dominion,
that lay in the midst of the country, —
such, I mean, as they had not demolished
before that time; Hippos, and Scythopo-
lis, as also Pella, and Samaria, and ]Ma-
rissa ; and besides these, Ashdod, and
Jamnia, and Arethusa; and in like man-
ner dealt he with the maritime cities,
Gaza and Joppa, and Dora, and that which
was anciently called Strato's Tower, but
was afterward rebuilt with the most mag-
nificent edifices, and had its name changed
to Cesarea, by King Herod. All which
he restored to their own citizens, and put
them under the province of Syria; which
province, together with Judea, and the
countries as far as Egypt and Euphrates, he
committed to Scaurus, as their governor,
and gave him two legions to support him;
while he made all the haste he could him-
self to go through Cilicia, in his way to
Rome, having Aristobulus and his chil-
dren along with him, as his captives.
They were two daughters and two sons;
the one of which sons, Alexander, ran
away as he was going; but the younger,
Antigouus with his sisters, were carried
to Rome.
CHAPTER VIII.
Alexander, son of Aristobulus, makes an expedi-
tion against Hyrcanus — is defeated by Gabinius
— Aristobulus escapes from Rome — is beaten by
the Romans, and sent back again.
In the mean time, Scaurus made an ex-
pedition into Arabia, but was stopped by
the difficulty of the places about Petra.
However, he laid waste the country about
Pella, though even there he was under
great hardship, for his army was afflicted
with famine. In order to supply which
want, Hyrcanus afforded him some assist-
ance, and sent him provisions by the means
2T
of Antipater; whom also Scauruts sent to
Aretas, as one well acquainted with him,
to induce him to pay him money to buy
his peace. The king of Arabia complied
with the proposal, and gave him 300 ta-
lents; upon which Scauius drew his army
out of Arabia.*
Rut as for Alexander, that son of Aris-
tobulus who ran away from Pompey, in
some time he got a considerable band of
men together, and lay heavy upon Hyr-
canus, and overran Judea, and was likely
to overturn him quickly; and indeed he
had come to Jerusalem, and had ventured
to rebuild its wall that was thrown down
by Pompey, had not Gabinius, who was
sent as successor to Scaurus into Syria,
shown hid bravery, as in many other
points, so in making an expedition against
Alexander, who, as he was afraid that he
would attack him, so he got together a
large army, composed of 10,000 armed
footmen, and 1500 horsemen. He also
built walls about proper places— Alexan-
drium, and Hyrcanium, and Macherus,
that lay upon the mountains of Arabia.
However, Gabinius sent before him
Marcus Antonius, and followed himself
with his whole army; but for the select
body of soldiers that were about Antipa-
ter, and another body of Jews under
the command of Malichus and Pithola«s,
these joined themselves to those captains
that were about Marcus Antonius, and
met Alexander; to which body'came Ga-
binius with his main army soon afterward ;
and as Alexander was not able to sustain
the charge of the enemies' forces, now
they were joined, he retired. Rut when
he was come near to Jerusalem, he was
forced to fight, and lost 6000 men in the
battle; 3000 of whom fell down dead, and
3000 were taken alive; so he fled with
the remainder to Alexandrium.
Now, when Gabinius had come to Alex-
andrium, because he found a great many
there encamped, he tried, by promising
them pardon for their former offences, to
induce them to come over to him before it
came to a fight; but when they would
* Take the like attestation to the truth of this
submission of Aretas, king of Arabia, to Scaurus,
the Roman general, in the words of Dean Aldrich.
'•Hence (says he) is derived that old and famous
denarius belonging to the Euiilian family, [repre-
sented in Havercamp's edition,] wherein Aretas ap-
pears in a posture of supplication, and taking
hold of a camel's bridle with his left hand, and
with his right hand presenting a branch of the
frankincense-tree, with this inscription : M. SCAU-
RUS EX S. C; and beneath, REX ARETAS."
156
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
hearken tc no terms of accommodation,
he slew a great number of them, and
shut up a great number of them in the
citadel. Now Marcus Antonius, their
leader, signalized himself in this battle,
who, as he always showed great courage,
so did he never show it so much as now;
but Gabinius, leaving forces to take the
citadel, went away himself, and settled
the cities that had not been demolished,
and rebuilt those that had been destroyed.
Accordingly, upon his injunction, the fol-
lowing cities were restored : — Scythopolis,
Samaria, Anthedon, Apollonia, Jamnia,
Raphia, Marissa, Adoreus, Gamala, Ash-
dod, and many others; while a great
number of men readily ran to each of
them, and became their inhabitants.
When Gabinius had taken care of these
cities, he returned to Alexandrium, and
pressed on the siege. So when Alexan-
der despaired of ever obtaining the go-
vernment, he sent ambassadors to him,
and prayed him to forgive what he had
offended him in, and gave up to him the
remaining fortresses, Hyrcanium and Ma-
cherus, as he put Alexandrium into his
hands afterward : all which Gabinius de-
molished, at the persuasion of Alexander's
mother, that they might not be recepta-
cles of men in a second war. She was
now there, in order to mollify Gabinius,
out of her concern for her relations that
were captives at Rome, which Were her
husband and her other children. After
this, Gabinius brought Hyrcanus to Jeru-
salem, and committed the care of the
temple to him; but ordained the political
government to be by an aristocracy. He
also parted the whole nation into five con-
ventions, assigning one portion to Jerusa-
lem, another to Gadara, that another
should belong to Amathus, a fourth to
Jericho, and to the fifth division was al-
lotted Sepphoris, a city of Galilee. So
the people were glad to be thus freed from
monarchical government, and were govern-
ed for the future by an aristocracy.
Yet did Aristobulus afford a new found-
ation for other disturbances. He fled
away from Rome, and got together many
of the Jews that were desirous of a
chaugc, such as had borne an affection to
him of old ; and when he had taken Alex-
andrium in the first place, he attempted
to build a wall about it ; but as soon as
Gabinius had sent an army against him
under Sisenna, Antonius, and Sirvilius,
he was aware of it; and retreated to
Macherus. And as for the unprofitable
multitude, he dismissed them, and only
marched on with those that were armed,
being to the number of 8000, among
whom was Pitholaus, who had been the
lieutenant at Jerusalem, but deserted to
Aristobulus with 1000 of his men ; so
the Romans followed him, and when it
came to a battle, Aristobulus's party for
a long time fought courageously ; but at
length they were overborne by the Ro-
mans, and of them 5000 fell dead, and
about 2000 fled to a certain little hill ;
but the 1000 that remained with Aristo-
bulus broke through the Roman army,
and marched together to Macherus; and,
when the king had lodged the first night
on its ruins, he was in hopes of raising
another army, if the war would but cease
awhile; accordingly he fortified that strong-
hold, though it was done after a poor
manner. But the Romans falling upon
him, he resisted, even beyond his abili-
ties, for two days, and then was taken,
and brought a prisoner to Gabinius, with
Antigonus his son, who had fled away
together with him from Rome ; and from
Gabinius he was carried to Rome again.
Wherefore the senate put him under con-
finement, but returned his children back
to Judea, because Gabinius informed
them by letters, that he had promised
Aristobulus's mother to do so, for her de-
livering the fortresses up to him.
But now as Gabinius was marching to
the war against the Parthians, he was
hindered by Ptolemy, whom, upon his
return from Euphrates,' he brought back
into Egypt, making use of Hyrcanus and
Antipater to provide every thing that was
necessary for this expedition ; for Antipa-
ter furnished him with money, and wea-
pons, and corn, and auxiliaries; he also
prevailed with the Jews that were there
and guarded the avenues at Pelusium, to
let them pass. But now, upon Gabinius's
absence, the other part of Syria was in
motion, and Alexander, the son of Aris-
tobulus, brought the Jews to revolt again.
Accordingly, he got together a very great
army, and set about killing all the Ro-
mans that were in the country ; hereupon
Gabinius was afraid, (for he had come
back already out of Egypt, and obliged
to come back quickly by these tumults,)
and sent Antipater, who prevailed with
some of the revolters to be cpiiet. How-
ever, 30,000 still continued with Alexan-
der, who was himself eager to fight also ;
Chap. IX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
157
accordingly, Gabinius went out to fight,
when the Jews met him ; and, as the bat-
tle was fought near Mount Tabor, 10,000
of them were slain, and the rest of the
multitude dispersed themselves and fled
away. So Gabinius came to Jerusalem,
and settled the government as Antipater
would have it ; thence he marched, and
fought and beat the Nabateans : as for
Mithridates and Orsanes, who fled out of
Parthia, he sent them away privately,
but gave it out among the soldiers that
they had run away.
In the mean tine, Crassus came as suc-
cessor to Gabinius in Syria. He took
away all the rest of the gold belonging
to the temple of Jerusalem, in order to
furnish himself for his expedition against
the Parthians. He also took away the
2000 talents which Pompey had not
touched ; but when he had passed over
Euphrates, he perished himself, and his
army with him ; concerning which affairs
this is not a proper time to speak [more
largely].
But now Cassius, after Crassus, put a stop
to the Parthians, who were marching, in
order to enter Syria. Cassius had fled
into that province, and when he had taken
possession of the same, he made a hasty
march into Judea ; and, upon his taking
Tarichae, he carried 30,000 Jews into
slavery. He also slew Pitholaus, who
had supported the seditious followers of
Aristobulus ; and it was Antipater who ad-
vised him so to do. Now this Antipater
married a wife of an eminent family
among the Arabians, whose name was
Cvpros, and had four sons born to him
by her, Phasaelus and Herod, who was
afterward king, and besides, Joseph and
Pheroras; and he had a daughter whose
name was Salome. Now, as he made
himself friends among the men of power
everywhere, by the kind offices he did
them, and the hospitable manner that he
treated them ; so did he contract the
greatest friendship with the king of Ara-
bia, by marrying his relation ; insomuch
that when he made war with Aristobulus,
he sent and intrusted his children with
him. So, when Cassius had forced Alex-
ander to come to terms and to be quiet,
he returned to Euphrates, in order to
prevent the Parthians from repassing it ;
concerning which matter we shall speak
elsewhere.*
CHAPTER IX.
* This citation is now wanting.
Aristobulus poisoned by Pompey's party — Scipio
beheads Alexander — Antipater cultivates a
friendship with Cicsar after Pompey's death.
Now, upon the flight of Pompey and
of the senate beyond the Ionian Sea, Cae-
sar got Rome and the empire under his
power, and released Aristobulus from his
bonds. He also committed two legions
to him, and sent him in haste into Syria,
as hoping that by his means he should
easily conquer that country, and the parts
adjoining to Judea. But envy prevented
any effect of Aristobulus's alacrity and
the hopes of Ca3sar ; for he was taken
off by poison given him by those of Pom-
pey's party; and, for a long while, he
had not so much as a burial vouchsafed
him in his own country; but his dead
body lay [above ground], preserved in
honey, until it was sent to the Jews by
Antony, in order to be buried in the royal
sepulchres.
His son Alexander also was beheaded
by Scipio at Antioch, and that by the
command of Pompey, and upon an accu-
sation laid against him before his tribu-
nal, for the mischiefs he had done to the
Romans. But Ptolemy, the son of Men-
neus, who was then ruler of Chalcis, un-
der Libanus, took his brethren to him by
sending his son Philippio for them to As-
calon ; who took Antigonus, as well as
his sisters, away from Aristobulus's wife,
and brought them to his father; and, fall-
ing in love with the younger daughter, he
married her, and was afterward slain by
his father on her account; for Ptolemy
himself, after he had slain his son, mar-
ried her, whose name was Alexandria ;
on account of which marriage he took the
greater care of her brother and sister.
Now, after Pompey was dead, Antipa-
ter changed sides, and cultivated a friend-
ship with Caesar. And, since Mithridates
of Pergamus, with the forces he led
against Egypt, was excluded from the
avenues about Pelusium, and was forced
to stay at Ascalon, he persuaded the Ara-
bians among whom he had lived to assist
him, and came himself to him at the
head of 3000 men. He also encouraged
the men of power in Syria to come to his
assistance ; as also of the inhabitants of
Libanus, Ptolemy, and Jamblicus, and
another Ptolemy ; by which means the
cities of that country came readily into
this war; insomuch that Mithridates ven-
tured now, in dependence upon the addi-
158
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
fcional strength that he had gotten by An-
tipater, to march forward to Pelusium ;
and, when they refused him a passage
through it, he besieged the city; in the
attack of which place Antipater princi-
pally signalized himself, for he brought
down that part of the wall which was
over against him, and leaped first of all
into the city with the men that were
about him.
Thus was Pelusium taken. But still,
as they were marching on, those Egyptian
Jews that inhabited the country, called
the country of Onias, stopped them.
Then did Antipater not only persuade
them not to stop them, but to afford pro-
visions for their army; on which account
even the people about Memphis would
not fight against them, but, of their own
accord, joined Mithridates. Whereupon
he went round about Delta, and fought
the rest of the Egyptians at a place called
.the Jews' Camp : nay, when he was in
danger in the battle with all his right
wirig, Antipater wheeled about and came
along the bank of the river to him ; for
he had beaten those that opposed him as
he led the left wing. After which suc-
cess he fell upon those that pursued Mith-
ridates, and slew a great many of them,
and pursued the remainder so far that he
took their camp, while he lost no more
than fourscore of his own men ; as Mith-
ridates lost, during the pursuit that was
made after him, about 800. He was also
himself saved unexpectedly, and became
an irreproachable witness to Caesar of the
great actions of Antipater.
Whereupon Caesar encouraged Antipater
to undertake other hazardous enterprises
for him, and that by giving him great com-
mendations and hopes of reward. In all
which enterprises he readily exposed him-
self to many dangers, and became a most
courageous warrior; and had many wounds
all over his body, as demonstrations of his
valour. And when Caesar had settled the
affairs of Egypt, and was returning into
Sjria again, he gave him the privilege of
a Roman citizen, and freedom from taxes,
and rendered him an object of admiration
by the honours and marks of friendship
he bestowed upon him. On this account
it was that he also confirmed Hyrcanus in
the high-priesthood.
CHAPTER X.
Antipater procurator of Judea — appoints Phasae-
lus governor of Jerusalem, and Herod of Gali-
lee— Sextus Cassar murdered by Bassus.
About this time it was that Antigonus,
the son of Aristobulus, came to Caesar,
and became, in a surprising manner, the
occasion of Antipater's further advance-
ment; for, whereas he ought to have la-
mented that his father appeared to have
been poisoned on account of his quarrels
with Pompey, and to have complained of
Scipio's barbarity toward his brother, and
not to mix any invidious passion when
suing for mercy ; instead of those things,
he came before Caesar, and accused Hyr-
canus and Antipater, how they had driven
him and his brethren entirely out of their
native country, and had acted in a great
many instances unjustly and extrava-
gantly with regard to their nation ; and
that as to the assistance they had sent
him into Egypt, it was not done out of
good-will to him, but out of the fear they
were in from former quarrels, and in
order to gain pardon for their friendship
to [his enemy] Pompey.
Hereupon Antipater threw away his
garments, and showed the multitude of
the wounds he had, and said, that, as to
his good-will to Caesar, he had no occa-
sion to say a word, because his body cried
aloud, though he said nothing himself;
that he wondered at Antigonus's boldness,
while he was himself no other than the
son of an enemy to the Romans, and of a
fugitive, and had it by. inheritance from
his father to be fond of innovations and
seditions, that he should undertake to
accuse other men before the Roman go-
vernor, and endeavour to gain some ad-
vantages to himself, when he ought to be
contented that he was suffered to live ;
for that the reason of his desire of go-
verning public affairs, was not so much
because he was in want of it, but because,
if he could once obtain the same, he
might stir up a sedition among the Jews,
and use what he should gain from the
Romans to the disservice of those that
gave it him.
When Caesar heard this, he declared
Hyrcanus to be the most worthy of the
high-priesthood, and gave leave to Anti-
pater to choose what authority he pleased;
but he left the determination of such dig-
nity to him that bestowed the dignity
upon him ; so he was constituted pro-
curator of all Judea, and obtained leave,
Chap. X.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
159
1
moreover, to rebuild those walls of his
country that had been thrown down.
These honorary grants Caesar sent orders
to have engraved in the capitol, that
they might stand there as indications of
his own justice, and of the virtue of
An ti pater.
But, as soon as Antipater had con-
ducted Caesar out of Syria, he returned
to Judea, and the first thing he did was
to rebuild that wall of his own country
[Jerusalem], which Pompey had over-
thrown, and then to go over the country,
and to quiet the tumults that were there-
in ; where he partly threatened and partly
advised every one, and told them that, in
case they would submit to Hyrcanus, they
would live happily and peaceably, and
enjoy what they possessed, and that with
universal peace and quietness ; but that,
in case they hearkened to such as had
some frigid hopes, by raising new trou-
bles, to get themselves some gain, they
should then find him to be their lord, in-
stead of their procurator, and find Hyr-
canus to be a tyrant, instead of a king, —
and both the Romans and Caesar to be
their enemies, instead of rulers ; for that
they would not suffer him to be removed
from the government, whom they had
made their governor; and, at the same
time that he said this, he settled the af-
fairs of the country by himself, because
he saw that Hyrcanus was inactive, and
not fit to manage the affairs of the king-
dom. So he constituted his eldest son,
Phasaelus, governor of Jerusalem, and
of the parts about it; he also sent his
next son, Herod, who was very young,
with equal authority into Galilee.
Now Herod was an active man, and
soon found proper materials for his active
spirit to work upon. As therefore he
found that Hezekias, the head of the rob-
bers, ran over the neighbouring parts of
Syria with a great band of men, he caught
him and slew him, and many more of the
robbers with him; which exploit was
chiefly grateful to the Syrians, insomuch
that hymns were sung in Herod's com-
mendation, both in the villages and in the
cities, as having procured their quietness,
and having preserved what they possessed
to them ; on which occasion he became
acquainted with Sextus Caesar, a kinsman
of the great Caesar, and president of
Syria. A just emulation of his glorious
actions excited Phasaelus also to imitate
him. Accordingly, he procured the good-
will of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by
his own management of the city affairs,
and did not abuse his power in any disa-
greeable macner; whence it came to pass
that the nation paid Antipater the re-
spects that were due only to a king, and
the honours they all yielded him were
equal to the honours due to an absolute
lord ; yet did he not abate any part of
that good-will or fidelity which he owed
to Hyrcanus.
However, he found it impossible to
escape envy in such his prosperity ; for
the glory of these young men affected
even Hyrcanus himself already privately,
though he said nothing of it to anybody;
but what he principally was grieved at
was the great actions of Herod, and that
so many messengers came one before
another, and informed him of the great
reputation he got in all his undertakings.
There were also many people in the royal
palace itself who inflamed his envy at
him ; those, I mean, who were obstructed
in their designs by the prudence either
of the young men or of Antipater. These
men said, that, by committing the public
affairs to the management of Antipater
and of his sons, he sat down with nothing
but the bare name of a king, without any
of its authority ; and they asked him
how long he would so far mistake him-
self as to breed up kings against his own
interest ; for that they did not now con-
ceal their government of affairs any
longer, but were plainly lords of the na-
tion, and had thrust him out of his autho-
rity; that this was the case when Herod
slew so many men without his giving him
any command to do it, either by word of
mouth or by his letter, and this in contra-
diction to the law of the Jews ; who,
therefore, in case he be not a king, but a
private man, still ought to come to his
trial, and answer it to him, and to the
laws of his country, which do not permit
any one to be killed till he had been
condemned in judgment.
Now, Hyrcanus was by degrees in-
flamed with these discourses, and at length
could bear no longer, but summoned
Herod to take his trial. Accordingly, by
his father's advice, and as soon as the
affairs of Galilee would give him leave,
he came up [to Jerusalem], when he had
first placed garrisons in Galilee ; however,
he came with a sufficient body of soldiers,
— so many, indeed, that he might not ap-
pear to have with him an army able to
160
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I
overthrow Hyrcanus's government, nor
yet so few as to expose him to the insults
of those that envied him. However, Sex-
tus Csesar was in fear for the young man,
lest he should be taken by his enemies,
and brought to punishment ; so he sent
some to denounce expressly to Hyrcanus,
that he should acquit Herod of the capi-
tal charge against him ; who acquitted him
accordingly, as being otherwise inclined
also so to do, for he loved Herod.
But Herod, supposing that he had es-
caped punishment without the consent of
the king, retired to Sextus, to Damascus,
and got every thing ready in order not
to obey him if he should summon him
again; whereupon those that were evil
disposed irritated Hyrcanus, and told him
that Herod had gone away in anger, and
was prepared to make war upon him ;
and as the king believed what they said,
he knew not what to do, since he saw his
antagonist was stronger than he was him-
self; and now, since Herod was made
general of Celesyria and Samaria by Sex-
tus Caesar, he was formidable, not only
from the good-will which the nation bore
him, but by the power he himself had ;
insomuch that Hyrcanus fell into the ut-
most degree of terror, and expected he
would presently march against him with
his army.
Nor was he mistaken in the conjecture
he made ; for Herod got his army together,
out of the anger he bore him for his
threatening him with the accusation in a
public court, and led it to Jerusalem, in
order to throw Hyrcanus down from his
kingdom ; and this he had soon done, un-
less his father and brother had gone out
together and broken the force of his fury,
and this by exhorting him to carry his re-
venge no further than to threatening and
affrighting, but to spare the king, under
whow he had been advanced to such a de-
gree of power ; and that he ought not to
be so much provoked at his being triedj as
to forget to be thankful that he was ac-
quitted; nor so long to think upon what
was of a melancholy nature, as to be un-
grateful for his deliverance; and if we
ought to reckon that God is the arbitra-
tor of success in war, an unjust cause is
of more disadvantage than any army cau
be of advantage; and that therefore he
ought not to be entirely confident of suc-
cess in a case where he is to fight against
his king, his supporter, and one that had
often been his benefactor, and that had
never been severe to him any otherwise
than as he had hearkened to evil counsel-
lors, and this no further than by bringing a
shadow of injustice upon him. So Herod
was prevailed upon by these arguments,
and supposed that what he had already
done was sufficient for his future hopes,
and that he had enough shown his power
to the nation.
In the mean time, there was a disturb-
ance among the Romans about Apamia,
and a civil war occasioned by the treacher-
ous slaughter of Sextus Caesar,* by Ce-
cilius Bassus, which he perpetrated out
of his good-will to Pompey; he also took
the authority over his forces; but, as the
rest of Caesar's commanders attacked Bas-
sus with their whole army, in order to
punish him for the murder of Caesar, An-
tipater also sent them assistance by his
sons, both on account of him that was
murdered, and on account of that Caesar
who was still alive, both of whom were
their friends ; aud as this war grew to be
of a considerable length, Marcus came out
of Italy as successor to Sextus.
CHAPTER XL
Herod made procurator of all Syria.
There was at this time a mighty war
raised among the Romans, upon the sud-
den and treacherous slaughter of Caesar
by Cassius and Brutus, after he had held
the government for three years and seven
months. Upon this murder there were
very great agitations, and the great men
were mightily at difference one with
another, and every one betook himself to
that party where they had the greatest
hopes of advancing themselves. Accord-
ingly, Cassius came into Syria, in order
to receive the forces that were at Apamia,
where he procured a reconciliation be-
tween Bassus aud Marcus, and the legions
which were at difference with him : so he
raised the siege of Apamia, and took upon
him the command of the army, and went
about exacting tribute of the cities, and
demanding their money to such a degree
as they were not able to bear.
So he gave command that the Jews
should bring in 700 talents : whereupon
Antipater, out of his dread of Cassius's
threats, parted the raising of this sum
among his sons, and among others of his
* Many writers of the Roman history give an
account of this murder of Sextus Ctesar, and of
the war of Apauiia upon that occasion.
Chap. XL]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
acquaintance, and to be done immediately;
and among them he required one Mali-
clius, who was at enmity with him, to do
his part also, which necessity forced him
to do. Now Herod, in the first place,
mitigated the passion of Cassius, by
bringing his share out of Galilee, which
was 100 talents, on which account he was
in the highest favour with him ; and when
he reproached the rest for being tardy, he
was angry at the cities themselves ; so he
made slaves of Gophna and Emmaus,
and two others of less note : nay, he pro-
ceeded as if he would kill Malichus, be-
cause he had not made greater haste in
exacting his tribute; but Antipater pre-
vented the ruin of this man, and of the
other cities, and got into Cassius's favour
by bringing in 100 talents immediately.*
However, when Cassius was gone, Mali-
chus forgot the kindness that Antipater
had done him, and laid frequent plots
against him that had saved him, as mak-
ing haste to get him out of the way, who
was an obstacle to his wicked practices ;
but Antipater was so much afraid of the
power aud cunning of the man, that he
went beyond Jordan, in order to get an
army to guard himself against his treach-
erous designs; but when Malichus was
caught in his plot, he put upon Antipater's
sons by his impudence, for he thoroughly
deluded Phasaelus, who was the guardian
of Jerusalem, and Herod who wa3 in-
trusted with the weapons of war, and
this by a great, many excuses and oaths,
and persuaded them to procure his recon-
ciliation to his father. Thus was he pre-
served again by Antipater, who dissuaded
Marcus, the then president of Syria, from
his resolution of killing Malichus, on ac-
count of his attempts for innovation.
Upon the war between Cassius and Bru-
tus on one side, against the younger
Caesar [Augustus] and Antony on the
other, Cassius and Marcus got together an
army out of Syria; and because Herod
was likely to have a great share in pro-
viding necessaries, they then made him
procurator of all Syria, and gave him an
• It appears evidently by Josephus's accounts,
both here and in bis Antiquities, (b. xiv. chap, xi.,)
that this Cassius, one of CsBsar's murderers, was a
bitter oppressor and exacter of tribute in Judea.
These 70U talents amount to about 300,000 pounds
sterling, and were abont half the yearly revenues
of King Herod afterward. It also appears that
Galilee then paid no more than 100 talents, or the
seventh part of the sum to be levied in all the
country.
Vol. II —11
army of foot and horse. Cassius pro-
mised him also, that after the war was over,
he would make him king of Judea; but
it so happened, that the power and hopes
of his son became the cause of his per-
dition ; for, as Malichus was afraid of this,
he corrupted one of the king's cup-bear-
era with money, to give a poisoned potion
to Antipater; so he became a sacrifice to
Malichus's wickedness, and died at a feast.
He was a man, in other respects, active in
the management of affairs, and one that
recovered the government to Hyrcanus,
and preserved it in his hands.
However, Malichus, when he was sus-
pected of poisoning Antipater, and when
the multitude was angry with him for it,
denied it, and made the people believe he
was not guilty. He also prepared to
make a greater figure, and raised soldiers;
for he did not suppose that Herod would
be quiet, who indeed came upon him with
an army presently, in order to revenue
his father's death; but, upon hearing the
advice of his brother Phasaelus, not to
punish him in an open manner, lest the
multitude should fall into a sedition, he
admitted of Malichus's apology, and pro-
fessed that he cleared him of the suspi-
cion ; he also made a pompous funeral for
his father.
So Herod went to Samaria, which was
then in a tumult, and settled the city in
peace ; after which, at the [Pentecost]
festival, he returned to Jerusalem, having
his armed men with him ; hereupon Hyr-
canus, at the request of Malichus, who
feared his approach, forbade them to in-
troduce foreigners to mix themselves with
the people of the country, while they
were purifying themselves; but Herod
despised the pretence, and him that gave
that command, and came in by night.
Upon which Malichus came to him, and
bewailed Antipater; Herod also made
him believe [he admitted his lamentation
as real], although he had much ado to
restrain his passion at him ; however, he
did himself bewail the murder of his
father in his letters to Cassius, who, on
other accounts, also hated Malichus. Cas-
sius sent him word back that he should
avenge his father's death upon him, and
privately gave order to the tribunes that
were under him, that they should assist
Herod in a righteous action he was about
And because, upon the taking of Lao-
dicea by Cassius, the men of power were
gotten together from all quarters with
162
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I
presents and crowns in their hands, Herod
allotted this time for the punishment of
Malichua. When Malichus suspected that,
and was at Tyre, he resolved to withdraw
his son privately from among the Tyrians,
who was an hostage there, while he got
ready to fly away into Judea ; the despair
he was in of escaping, excited him to
think of greater things; for he hoped
that he should raise the nation to a revolt
from the Romans, while Cassius was
busy about the war against Antony, and
that he should easily depose Hyrcanus,
and get the crown for himself.
But fate laughed at the hopes he had,
for Herod foresaw what he was so zealous
about, and invited both Hyrcanus and
him to supper; but calling one of the
principal servants that stood by him to
him, he sent him out, as though it were
to get things ready for supper, but in
reality to give notice beforehand about the
plot that was laid against him ; according-
ly, they called to mind what orders Cas-
sius had given them, and went out of the
city with their swords in their hands upon
the seashore, where they encompassed
Malichus round about, and killed him
with many wounds. Upon which Hyr-
canus was immediately affrighted, till he
swooned away, and fell down at the sur-
prise he was in ; and it was with difficulty
that he was recovered, when he asked
who it was that had killed Malichus. And
when one of the tribunes replied that it
was done by the command of Cassius,
"Then," said he, "Cassius hath saved
both me and my country, by cutting off
one that was laying plots against them
both." Whether he spake according to
his own sentiments, or whether his fear
was such that he was obliged to com-
mend the action by saying so, is uncer-
tain ; however, by this method Herod
inflicted punishment upon Malichus.
CHAPTER XII.
Phasaelus too hard for Felix — Herod overcomes
Antigonus — the Jews accuse Herod and Phasae-
lus— Antonius acquits thein, and makes them
tetrarchs.
When Cassius had gone out of Syria,
another sedition arose at Jerusalem,
wherein Felix assaulted Phasaelus with an
army, that he might revenge the death
of Malichus upon Herod, by falling upon
his brother. Now Herod happened then
to be with Fabius, the governor of Da-
mascus, and as he was going to his bro-
ther's assistnnce, he was detained by sick-
ness; in the mean time, Phasaelus was by
himself too hard for Felix, and reproached
Hyrcanus on account of his ingratitude,
both for what assistance he had afforded
Malichus, and for overlooking Malichus's
brother, when he possessed himself of
the fortresses ; for he had gotten a great
many of them already, and among them
the strongest of them all, Masada.
However, nothing could be sufficient
for him against the force of Herod, who,
as soon as he had recovered, took the
other fortresses again, and drove him out
of Masada in the posture of a supplicant ;
he also drove away Marion, the tyrant of
the Tyrians, out of Galilee, when he had
already possessed himself of three forti-
fied places; but as to those Tyrians whom
he had caught, he preserved them all
alive ; nay, some of them he gave presents
to, and so sent them away, and thereby
procured good-will to himself from the
city, and hatred to the tyrant. Marion
had indeed obtained that tyrannical power
of Cassius, who set tyrants over all
Syria ;* and out of hatred to Herod it
was that he assisted Antigonus, the son of
Aristobulus, and principally on Fabius's
account, whom Antigonus had made his
assistant by money, and had him accord-
ingly on his side when he made his de-
scent ; but it was Ptolemy, the kinsman
of Antigonus, that supplied all that he
wanted.
When Herod had fought against these
in the avenues of Judea, he was conqueror
in the battle, and drove away Antigonus,
and returned to Jerusalem, beloved by
everybody for the glorious action he had
done; for those who did not before favour
him, did join themselves to him now, be-
cause of his marriage into the family of
Hyrcanus ; for as he had formerly mar-
ried a wife out of his own country of no
ignoble blood, who was called Doris, of
whom he begat Antipater, so did he now
marry Mariamne, the daughter of Alex-
ander, the son of Aristobulus, and the
grand-daughter of Hyrcanus, and was
become thereby a relation of the king.
But when Caesar and Antony had slain
Cassius near Philippi, and Caesar was
gone to Italy, and Antony to Asia;
* Here we see that Cassius set tyrants over all
Syria; so that his assisting to destroy Caesar doea
not seem to have proceeded from his true zeal For
public liberty, but from a desire to be a tyrant
himself.
ClIAP. VIII.}
WARS OF THE JEWS.
i ;3
among the rest of the cities which sent
ambassadors to Antony unto Bithynia,
the great men of the Jews came also, and
accused Phasaelus and Herod, that they
kept the government by force, and that
Hyrcanus had no more than an honourable
name. Herod appeared ready to answer
this accusation ; and, having made Anto-
ny his friend by the large sums of mo-
ney he gave him, he brought him to such
a temper as not to hear the others speak
against him ; and thus did they part at
this time. However, after this there came
100 of the principal men among the
Jews to Daphne by Antioch, to Antony,
who was already in love with Cleopatra to
the degree of slavery ; these Jews put
those men that were the most potent,
both in dignity and eloquence, foremost,
and accused the brethren.* But Mes-
sala opposed them, and defended the bre-
thren, and that while Hyrcanus stood by
him, on account of his relation to them.
When Antony had heard both sides, he
asked Hyrcanus which party was the tit-
test to govern; he replied that Herod and
his party were the fittest. Antony was
glad of that answer, for he had been for-
merly treated in a hospitable and obliging
mauner by his father Antipater, when he
marched into Judea with Gabinius; so he
constituted the brethren tetrarchs, and com-
mitted to them the government of Judea.
But when the ambassadors had indigna-
tion at this procedure, Antony took fifteen
of them and put them into custody, whom
he was also going to kill presently, and
the rest he drove away with disgrace; on
which occasion a still greater tumult arose
at Jerusalem; so they sent again 1000
ambassadors to Tyre, where Antony now
abode, as he was marching to Jerusalem :
upon these men who made a clamour, he
sent out the governor of Tyre, and ordered
him to punish all that he could catch of
them, and to settle those in the adminis-
tration whom he had made tetrarchs.
But before this, Herod and Hyrcanus
went out upon the seashore, and earnestly
desired of these ambassadors that they
would neither bring ruin upon themselves,
nor war upon their native country, by
their rash contentions; and when they
grew still more outrageous, Antony sent
gut armed men, and slew a great many,
and wounded more of them : of whom
those that were slain were buried bv
Hyrcanus, as were the wounded put under
the care of physicians by him; yet would
not those that had escaped be quiet still,
but put the affairs of the city into such
disorder, and so provoked Antony, that
he slew those whom he had put in bonds
also.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Parthiana bring Antigonus back — Hyrcanus
and Phasaelus imprisoned — flight of Herod —
the Parthiana obtain possession of Jerusalem — ■
Death of Phasaelus.
Now two years afterward, when Bar-
zapharnes, a governor among the Par-
thians, and Pacorus, the king's son, had
possessed themselves of Syria, and when
Lysanias had already succeeded, upon the
death of his father Ptolemy, the son of
Menneus, in the government [of Chalcis],
he prevailed with the governor, by a pro-
mise of 1000 talents and 500 women, to
bring back Antigonus to his kingdom,
and to turn Hyrcanus out of it. Paco-
rus was by these means induced so to do,
and marched along the seacoast, while
he ordered Barzapharnes to fall upon the
Jews as he went along the Mediterranean
part of the country ; but of the maritime
people, the Tyrians would not receive
Pacorus, although those of Ptolemais and
Sidon had received him ; so he committed
a troop of his horse to a certain cup-
bearer belonging to the royal family, of
his own name [Pacorus], and gave him
orders to march into Judea, in order to
learn the state of affairs among their
enemies, and to help Antigonus when he
should want his assistance.
Now, as these men were ravaging Car-
mel, many of the Jews ran together to
Antigonus, and showed themselves ready
to make an incursion into the country; so
he sent them before into that place called
Drymus [the woodland],* to seize upon
the place ; whereupon a battle was fought
between them ; and they drove the enemy
away, and pursued them, and ran after
them as far as Jerusalem, and as their
numbers increased, they proceeded as far
as the king's palace ; but as Hyrcanus
and Phasaelus received them with a strong
body of men, there happened a battle in
the market-place, in which Herod's party
beat the enemy, and shut them up in the
* This large and noted wood, or woodland, lie-
longing to Carmel, called Drumos by the Septu-
agint, is mentioned in the Old Testament, 2 Kings
xix. 23, and Isa. xxxvii. 24.
164
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I>
temple, and set sixty men in the houses
adjoining as a guard on them. But the
people that were tumultuous against the
brethren came in and burnt those men ;
while Herod, in his rage for killing them,
attacked and slew many of the people,
till one party made incursions on the
other by turns, day by day, in the way
of ambushes; and slaughters were made
continually among them.
Now, when that festival which we call
Pentecost was at hand, all the places
about the temple, and the whole city, was
full of a multitude of people that were
come out of the country, and who were
the greatest part of them armed also, at
which time Phasaelus guarded the wall,
and Herod, with a few, guarded the royal
palace ; and when he made an assault
upon his enemies, as they were out of
their ranks, on the north quarter of the
city, he slew a very great number of them,
and put them all to flight; and some of
them he shut up within the city, and
others within the outward rampart. In
the mean time, Antigonus desired that
Pacorus might be admitted to be a re-
conciler between them; and Phasaelus
was prevailed upon to admit the Parthian
into the city with 500 horse, and to treat
him in a hospitable manner, who pre-
tended that he came to quell the tumult,
but in reality he came to assist Antigo-
nus ; however, he laid a plot for Phasae-
lus, and persuaded him to go as an
ambassador to Barzapharnes, in order to
put an end to the war, although Herod
was very earnest with him to the contrary,
and exhorted him to kill the plotter, but
not expose himself to the snares he had
laid for him, because the barbarians are
naturally perfidious. However, Pacorus
went out and took Hyrcanus with him,
that he might be less suspected ; he also
left some of the horsemen, called the
Freemen, with Herod, and conducted
Phasaelus with the rest.
But now, when they were come to
Galilee, they fouud that the people of that
country had revolted, and were in arms,
who came very cunningly to their leader,
and besought him to conceal his treach-
erous intentions by an obliging beha-
viour to them ; accordingly, he at first
made them presents, and afterward, as
they went away, laid ambushes for them;
and, when they were come to one of the
maritime cities called Ecdippon, they per-
ceived that a plot was laid for them ; for
they were there informed of the promise
of 1000 talents, and how Antigonus had
devoted the greatest number of the wo-
men that were there with them, among
the 500, to the Parthians; they also
perceived that an ambush was always laid
for them by the barbarians in the night
time ; they had also been seized on before
this, unless they had waited for the
seizure of Herod first at Jerusalem, be-
cause, if he were once informed of this
treachery of theirs, he would take care of
himself; nor was this a mere report, for
they saw the guards already not far off
them.
Nor would Phasaelus think of forsaking
Hyrcanus and flying away, although
Ophellius earnestly persuaded him to do
it; for this man had learned the whole
scheme of the plot from Saramalla, the
richest of all the Syrians. But Phasaelus
went up to the Parthian governor, and
reproached him to his face for laying his
treacherous plot against them, and chiefly
because he had done it for rfroney ; and
he promised him, that he would give him
more money for their preservation, than
Antigonus had promised to give for the
kingdom. But the sly Parthian endea-
voured to remove all his suspicion by
apologies and by oaths, and then went to
[the other] Pacorus ; immediately after
which those Parthians who were left, and
had it in charge, seized upon Phasaelus
and Hyrcanus, who could do no more
than curse their perfidiousness and their
perjury.
In the mean time the cupbearer was
sent [back], and laid a plot how to sewe
upon Herod, by deluding him, and getting
him out of the city, as he was commanded
to do. But Herod suspected the bar-
barians from the beginning; and having
then received intelligence that a messen-
ger, who was to bring him the letters that
informed him of the treaohery intended,
had fallen among the enemy, he would
not go out of the city ; though Pacorus
said very positively, that he ought to go
out, and meet the messengers that brought
the letters, for that the enemy had not
taken them, and that the contents of them
were not accounts of any plots upon them,
but of what Phasaelus had done; yet
had he heard from others that his brother
was seized ; and Alexandra,* the shrewd-
est woman in the world, Hyrcanus's
* Mariarune here, in the copies.
Chaf. XIII.;]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
165
daughter, begged of him that he would
not go out, nor trust himself to those bar-
barians, who now were come to make an
attempt upon him openly.
Now, as Pacorus and his friends were
considering how they might bring their
plot to bear privately, because it was not
possible to circumvent a man of so great
prudence by openly attacking him, Herod
prevented them, and went off with the
persons that were the most nearby related
to him by night, and this without their
enemies being apprized of it. But, as
soon as the Parthians perceived it, they
pursued after them : and as he gave orders
for his mother, and sister, and the young
woman who was betrothed to him, with
her mother, and his youngest brother, to
make the best of their way, he himself,
with his servants, took all the care they
could to keep off the barbarians ; and
when, at every assault, he had slain a
great many of them, he came to the strong-
hold of Masada.
Nay, he found by experience that the
Jews fell more heavily upon him than
did the Parthians, and created him trou-
bles perpetually, and this ever since he
was gotten sixty furlongs from the city;
these sometimes brought it to a sort of a
regular battle. Now, in the place where
Herod beat them, and killed a great
number of them, there he afterward built
a citadel, in memory of the^great actions
he did there, and adorned it with the
most costly palaces, and erected very
strong fortifications, and called it, from
his own name, Herodium. Now, as they
were in their flight, many joined them-
selves to him every day : and at a place
called Thressa of Idumea, his brother
Joseph met him, and advised him to
ease himself of a great number of- his
followers; because Masada would not con-
tain so great a multitude, which were
above 9000. Herod complied with his ad-
vice, and sent away the most cumbersome
part of his retinue, that they might go
into Idumea, and gave them provisions
for their journey; but he got safe to the
fortress with his nearest relations, and
retained with him only the stoutest of his
followers; and there it was that he left
800 of his men as a guard for the wo-
men, and provisions sufficient for a siege;
but he made haste himself to Petra of
Arabia.
As for the Parthians in Jerusalem, they
betook themselves to plundering, and fell
upon the houses of those that were fled,
and upon the king's palace, ami spired
nothing but ITyrcanus's money, which
was not above 300 talents. They lighted
on other men's money also, but not so
much as they hoped for; for Herod,
having a long while had a suspicion of
the perfidiousness of the barbarians, had
taken care to have what was most Bplendid
among his treasures conveyed into Idu-
mea, as everyone belonging to him had in
like manner done also. But the Parthians
proceeded to that degree of injustice, as
to fill all the country with war without
denouncing it, and to demolish the city
Marissa; and not only to set up Antigonus
for king, but to deliver Phasaelua ami
Hyrcanus bound into his hands, in order
to their being tormented by him. Antigo-
nus himself also bit off Hyrcanus's ears
with his own teeth, as he fell down upon
his knees to him, that so he might never
be able, upon any mutation of affairs, to
take the high-priesthood again ; fur the
high priests that officiated were to be
complete, and without blemish.
However, he failed in his purpose of
abusing Phasaelus, by reason of his cou-
rage, for though he neither had the com-
mand of his sword nor of his hands, he
prevented all abuses by dashing his head
against a stone; so he demonstrated him-
self to be Herod's own brother,' and
Hyrcanus a most degenerate relation, and
died with great bravery, and made the
end of his life agreeable to the action of
it. There is also another report about
his end, that he recovered of that stroke,
and that a surgeon, who was sent by
Antigonus to heal him, filled the Wound
with poisonous ingredients, and so killed
him. Whichsoever of these deaths he
came to, the beginning of it was glorious.
It is also reported, that before he expired,
he was informed by a certain poor woman
how Herod had escaped out of their hands,
and that he said thereupon, " I now die
with comfort, since I leave behind me
one alive that will avenge me of mine
enemies."
This was the death of Phasaelus ; but
the Parthians, although they had failed
of the women they chiefly desired, yet
did they put the government of Jerusalem
into the hands of Autigonus, and took
away Hyrcanus, and bound him, and
carried him to Parthia.
16G
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
CHAPTER XIV.
Herod rejected in Arabia — makes haste to Rome —
Antony and Csbsbx unite their interest to make
him king of tho Jews.
Now Herod did the more zealously
pursue his journey into Arabia, as making
haste to get mouey of the king, while
his brother was yet alive ; by which
money alone it was that he hoped to pre-
vail upon the covetous temper of the
barbarians to spare Phasaelus ; for he
reasoued thus with himself: that if the
Arabian king was too forgetful of his
father's friendship with him, and was too
covetous to make him a free gift, he
would however borrow of him as much
as might redeem his brother, and put
into his hands, as a pledge, the son of
him that was to be redeemed. . Accord-
ingly, he led his brother's son along with
him, who was of the age of seven years.
Now he was ready to give 300 talents
for his brother, and intended to desire
the intercession of the Tyrians, to get
them accepted; however, fate had been
too quick for his diligence; and since
Phasaelus was dead, Herod's brotherly
love was now in vain. Moreover, he was
not able to find any lasting friendship
among the Arabians; for their king,
Malichus, sent to him immediately and
commanded him to return back out of his
country, and used the name of the Par-
tisans as a pretence for so doing, as though
these had denounced to him by their am-
bassadors to cast Herod out of Arabia;
while in reality they had a mind to keep
back what they owed to Antipater, and
not be obliged to make requital to his
sons for the free gifts the father had made
them. He also took the imprudent ad-
vice of those who, equally with himself,
were willing to deprive Herod of what
Antipater had deposited among them;
and these men were the most potent of
all whom he had in his kingdom.
So when Herod had found that the
Arabians were his enemies, and this for
those very reasons- wheuce he hoped they
would have been the most friendly, and
had given them such an answer as his
passion suggested, he returned back and
went for Egypt. Now he lodged the first
evening at one of the temples of that
country, in order to meet with those
whom he left behind; but on the next
day word was brought him, as he was
going to Rhinocurura, that his brother
was dead, and how he came by his death;
and when he had lamented him as much
as his present circumstances could bear,
he soon laid aside such cares, and pro-
ceeded on his journey. But now, after
some time, the king of Arabia repented
of what he had done, and sent presently
away messengers to call him back. Herod
had prevented them, and had come to
Pelusium, where he could not obtain a
passage from those that lay with the fleet,
so he besought their captains to let him
go by them; accordingly, out of the
reverence they bore to the fame and
dignity of the man, they conducted him
to Alexandria; and when he came into
the city, he was received by Cleopatra
with great splendour, who hoped he might
be persuaded to be commander of her
forces in the expedition she was now
about. But he rejected the queen's soli-
citations, and being neither affrighted at
the height of that storm which then hap-
pened, nor at the tumults that were now
in Italy, he sailed for Rome.
But as he was in peril about Pamphy-
lia, and obliged to cast out the greatest
part of the ship's lading, he, with diffi-
culty, got safe to Rhodes, a place which
had been grievously harassed in the war
with Cassius. He was there received by
his friends, Ptolemy and Sappinius; and,
although he was then in want of money,
he fitted up a three-decked ship of very
great magnitude, wherein he and his
friends sailed to Brundusium,* and went
to Rome with all speed; where he first
of all went to Antony, on account of the
friendship his father had with him, and
laid before him the calamities of himself
and his family ; and that he had left his
nearest relations besieged in a fortress,
and had sailed to him through a storm,
to make supplication to him for assistance.
Hereupon Antony was moved to com-
passion at the change that had been
made in Herod's affairs, and this both
upon his calling to mind how hospitably
he had been treated by Antipater, but
more especially on account of Herod's
own virtue; so he then resolved to get
him made king of the Jews, whom he
had formerly made tetrarch. The con-
test also that he had with Antigonus was
another inducement, and that of no less
weight than the great regard he had for
Herod; for he looked upon Antigonus
* Brentesium or Brundusium has ooins still
preserved.
Chap. XV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
1G7
as a seditious person, and an enemy of
the Romans; and as for Caesar, Herod
found him better prepared than Antony,
as remembering very fresh the wars he
had gone through together with his
father, the hospitable treatment he had
met with from him, and the entire good-
will he had shown to him; besides the
activity which he saw in Herod himself.
So he called the senate together, wherein
Messalas, and after him Atratinus, pro-
duced Herod before them, and gave a full
account of the merits of his father, and
his own good-will to the Romans. At
the same time they demonstrated that
Antigonus was their enemy, not only be-
cause he soon quarrelled with them, but
because he now overlooked the Romans,
and took the government by the means
of the Parthians. These reasons greatly
moved the senate; at which juncture
Antony came in, and told them that it
was for their advantage in the Parthian
war that Herod should be king; so they
all gave their votes for it. And when
the senate was separated, Antony and Cae-
sar went out, with Herod between them;
while the consul and the rest of the ma-
gistrates went before them, in order to
offer sacrifices, and to lay the decree in the
capitol. Antony also made a feast for
Herod on the first day of his reign.
CHAPTER XV.
Antigonus besieges Masada — Herod compels him
to raise the siege, and then marches to Jeru-
salem.
Now during this time, Antigonus be-
sieged those that were in Masada, who
had all other necessaries in sufficient
quantity, but were in want of water; on
which account Joseph, Herod's brother,
was disposed to run away to the Arabians,
with 2 (JO of his own friends, because he
had heard that Malichus repented of his
offences with regard to Herod; and he
had been so quick as to have been gone
out of the fortress already, unless, on
that very night when he was going away,
there had fallen a great deal of rain, inso-
much that his reservoirs were full of
water, and so he was under no necessity
of running away. After which, there-
fore, they made an irruption upon Antigo-
nus's party, and slew a great many of
them, some in open battles, and some in
private ambush; nor had they always
success in their attempts, for sometimes
they were beaten, and ran away. In
the mean time, Ventidius, the Roman ge-
neral, was sent out of Syria, to restrain
the incursions of the Parthians; and
after he had done that, he came into
Judea, in pretence indeed to assist Joseph
and his party, but in reality to get money
of Antigonus; and when he had pitched
his camp very near to Jerusalem, as soon
as he had got money enough, he went
away with the greatest part of his forces;
yet still did he leave Silo with some part
of them, lest if he had taken them all
away, his taking of bribes might have
been too openly discovered. Now Anti-
gonus hoped that the Parthians would
come again to his assistance, and there-
fore cultivated a good understanding with
Silo in the mean time, lest any interrup-
tion should be given to his hopes.
Now by this time Herod had sailed out
of Italy, and was come to Ptolemais;
and as soon as he had gotten together no
small army of foreigners, and of his own
countrymen, he marched through Galilee
against Antigonus, wherein he was assist-
ed by Ventidius and Silo, both whom
Dellius,* a person sent by Antony, per-
suaded to bring Herod [into his kingdom].
Now Ventidius was at this time among
the cities, and composing the disturbances
which had happened by means of the
Parthians, as was Silo in Judea corrupted
by the bribes that Antigonus had given
him; yet was not Herod himself desti-
tute of power, but the number of his
forces increased every day as he went
along, and all Galilee, with few excep-
tions, joined themselves to him. So he
proposed to himself to set about his most
necessary enterprise, and that was Ma-
sada, in order to deliver his relations from
the siege they endured. Rut still Joppa
stood in his way, and hindered his going
thither : for it was necessary to take that
city first, which was in the enemies'
hands, that when he should go to Jeru-
salem, no fortress might be left in the
enemies' power behind him. Silo also
willingly joined him, as having now a
plausible occasion of drawing off his
forces [from Jerusalem] ; and when the
Jews pursued him, and pressed upon him
[in his retreat], Herod made an excur-
sion upon them with a small body of his
men, and soon put them to flight, and
saved Silo when he was in distress.
* This Dellius is famous, or rather infamous, 'n
the history of Mark Antony.
168
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
After this, Herod took Joppa, and
then made haste to Masada to free his re-
lations. Now, as he was inarching, many
came in to him; some induced by their
friendship to his father, some by the re-
putation he had gained himself, and some,
in order to repay the benefits they had
received from them both; but still what
engaged the greatest number on his side,
was the hopes from him when he should
be established in his kingdom; so that
he had gotten together already an army
hard to be conquered. But Antigonus
laid an ambush for him as he marched
out, in which he did little or no harm to
his enemies. However, he easily reco-
vered his relations again that were in Ma-
sada, as well as the fortress Ressa, and
then marched to Jerusalem, where the
soldiers that were with Silo joined them-
selves to his own, as did many out of the
city, from a dread of his power.
Now, when he had pitched his camp
on the west side of the city, the guards
who were there shot their arrows and
threw their darts at them, while others
ran out in companies, and attacked those
in the forefront ; but Herod commanded
proclamation to be made at the wall, that
he was come for the good of the people
and the preservation of the city, without
any design to be revenged on his open
enemies, but to grant oblivion to them,
though they had been the most obstinate
against him. Now the soldiers that were
for Antigonus made a contrary clamour,
and did neither permit anybody to hear
that proclamation nor to change their
party; so Antigonus gave order to his
forces to beat the enemy from the walls:
accordingly, they soon threw their darts
at them from the towers, and put them to
flight.
And here it was that Silo discovered
he had taken bribes; for he set many of
the soldiers to clamour about their want
of necessaries, and to require their pay,
in order to buy themselves food, and to
demand that he would lead them into
places convenient for their winter quar-
ters ; because all the parts about the city
were laid waste by the means of Anti-
gonus's army, which had taken all things
away. By this he moved the army, and
attempted to get them off the siege; but
Herod went to the captains that were
under Silo, and to a great many of the
soldiers, and begged of them not to leave
hira, who was sent thither by Caesar and
Antony, and the senate; for that he would
take care to have their wants supplied
that very day. After the making of
which entreaty, he went hastily into the
country, and brought thither so great an
abundance of necessaries, that he cut off
all Silo's pretences; and, in order to pro-
vide that for the following days they
should not want supplies, he sent to the
people that were about Samaria (which
city had joined itself to him) to bring
corn, wine, and oil, and cattle to Jericho.
When Antigonus heard of this, he sent
some of his party with orders to hinder,
and lay ambushes for these collectors of
corn. This command was obeyed, and a
great multitude of armed men were
gathered together about Jericho, and lay
upon the mountains, to watch those that
brought the provisions. Yet was Herod
not idle, but took with him ten cohorts, —
five of them were Roman, and five were
Jewish cohorts, together with some mer-
cenary troops intermixed among them,
and besides those a few horsemen, and
came to Jericho; and when he came he
found the city deserted, but that there
were 500 men, with their wives and chil-
dren, who had "taken possession of the
tops of the mountains; these he took,
and dismissed them, while the Romans
fell upon the rest of the city, and plun-
dered it, having found the houses full of
all sorts of good things. So the king
left a garrison at Jericho, and came back,
and sent the Roman army into those
cities which were come over to him, to
take their winter quarters there, into Ju-
dea [or Idumea], and Galilee, and Sama-
ria. Antigonus also, by bribes, obtained
[permission] of Silo to let a part of his
army be received at Lydda, as a com-
pliment to Antouius.
CHAPTER XVI.
Herod takes Sepphoriss — subdues the robbers —
avenges himself on Macheras — joins Antony at
Samosata.
So the Romans lived in plenty of all
things and rested from war. However,
Herod did not lie at rest, but seized npon
Idumea, and kept it, with 2000 footmen,
and 400 horsemen; and this he did by
sending his brother Joseph thither, that
no innovation might be made by Anti-
gonus. He also removed his mother,
and all his relations, who had been in
Masada, to Samaria; and when he had
=)1
Chap. XVI.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
169
=?
settled thorn securely, he marched to take
the remaining parts of Galilee, and to
drive away the garrisons placed there by
An ti go mis.
But when Herod had reached Seppho-
ris,* in a very great snow, he took the
city without any difficulty, the guards that
should have kept it flying away before it
was assaulted ; where he gave an opportu-
nity to his followers that had been in
distress to refresh themselves, there being
in that city a great abundance of necessa-
ries. After which he hasted away to the
robbers that were in the caves, who over-
ran a great part of the country, and did
as great mischief to its inhabitants as a
war itself could have done. Accordingly,
he sent beforehand three cohorts of foot-
men, and one troop of horsemen, to the
village Arbela, and came himself forty
days afterward with the rest of his forces.
Yet were not the enemy affrighted at his
assault, but met him in arms; for their
skill was that of warriors, but their bold-
ness was the boldness of robbers : when,
therefore, it came to a pitched battle, they
put to flight Herod's left wing with their
right one : but Herod, wheeling about on
the sudden from his own right wing, came
to their assistance, and both made his
own left wing return back from its flight,
and fell upon the pursuers, and cooled
their courage, till they could not bear the
attempts that were made directly upon
them, and so turned back and ran away.
But Herod followed them, and slew
them as he followed them, and destroyed
a great part of them, till those that re-
mained were scattered beyond the river
[Jordan] ; and Galilee was freed from the
terrors they had been under, excepting
from those that remained and lay con-
cealed in caves, which required longer
time ere they could be conquered. In
order to which, Herod, in the first place,
distributed the fruits of their former la-
bours to the soldiers, and gave every one
of them 150 drachmas of silver, and a
great deal more to their commanders, and
sent them into their winter quarters. He
also sent to his youngest brother, Pheroras,
to take care of a good market for them,
where they might buy themselves provi-
sions, and build a wall about Alexan-
drium; who took care of both those in-
junctions accordingly.
* Sepphoris, the metropolis of Galilee, so often
mentioned by Josephus, has coins still remaining.
2U
In the mean time, Antony abode at
Athens, while Ventidius called for Silo
and Herod to come to the war against the
Parthians, but ordered them first to settle
the affairs of Judea; so Hemd willingly
dismissed Silo to go to Ventidius; but lie
made an expedition himself against those
that lay in the caves. Now these caves
were in the precipices of craggy moun-
tains, and could not be come at from any
side, since they had only some winding
pathways, very narrow, by which they
got up to them; but the rock that lay on
their front had beneath it valleys of a
vast depth, and of an almost perpendicu-
lar declivity; insomuch that the king was
doubtful for a long time what to do, by
reason of a kind of impossibility there
Was of attacking the place. Yet did he
at length make use of a contrivance that
was subject to the utmost hazard ; for he
let down the most hardy of his men in
chests, and set them at the mouths of the
dens. Now these men slew the robbers
and their families, and when they made
resistance, they sent iu fire upon them,
[and burnt them]; and as Herod was de-
sirous of saving some of them, he had
proclamation made, that they should come
and deliver themselves up to him ; but
not one of them came willingly to him;
and of those that were compelled to come,
many preferred death to captivity. And
here a certain old man, the father of seven
children, whose children, together with
their mother, desired him to give them
leave to go out, upon the assurance and
right hand that was offered them, slew
them after the following manner: he or-
dered every one of them to go out, while
he stood himself at the cave's mouth, and
slew that son of his perpetually who went
out. Herod was near enough to see this
sight, and his bowels of compassion were
moved at it, and he stretched out his right
hand to the old man, and besought him to
spare his children ; yet did not he relent
at all upon what he said, but over and
above reproached Herod on the lowness
of his descent, and slew his wife as well
as his children ; and when he had thrown
their dead bodies down the precipice, he
at last threw himself down after them.
By this means Herod subdued these
caves, and the robbers that were in them.
He then left there a part of his army, as
many as he thought sufficient to prevent
any sedition, and made Ptolemy their ge-
neral, and returned to Samaria; he led
170
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
also with him 3000 armed footmen and
600 horsemen against Antigonus. Now
here those that used to raise tumults in
Galilee, having liberty so to do upon his
departure, fell unexpectedly upon Ptole-
my, the general of his forces, and slew
him : they also laid the country waste,
and then retired to the bogs, and to places
not easily to be found ; but when Herod
was informed of this insurrection, he
came to the assistance of the country im-
mediately, and destroyed a great number
of the seditious, and raised the sieges of
all those fortresses they had besieged ; he
also exacted the tribute of 100 talents of
his enemies, as a penalty for the mutation
they had made in the country.
By this time (the Parthians being
already driven out of the country, and
Pacorus slain) Ventidius, by Antony's
command, sent 1000 horsemen and two
legions as auxiliaries to Herod against
Antigonus. Now Antigonus besought
Macheras, who was their general, by letter,
to come to his assistance, and made a
great many mournful complaints about
Herod's violence, and about the injuries
he did to the kingdom ; and promised to
give him money for such his assistance :
but he complied not with his invitation to
betray his trust, for he did not contemn
him that sent him, especially while Herod
gave him more money [than the other
offered]. So he pretended friendship to
Antigonus, but came as a spy to discover
his affairs, although he did not herein
comply with Herod, who dissuaded him
from so doing; but Antigonus perceived
what his intentions were beforehand, and
excluded him out of the city, and defend-
ed himself against him as an enemy,
from the walls ; till Macheras was ashamed
of what he had done, and retired to Em-
maus to Herod; and, as he was in a rage
at his disappointment, he slew all the
Jews whom he met with, without sparing
those that were for Herod, but using them
all as if they were for Antigonus.
Hereupon Herod was very angry at
him, and was going to fight against Ma-
cheras as his enemy ; but he restrained
his indignation, and marched to Antony
to accuse Macheras of mal-administration ;
but Macheras was made sensible of his
offences, and followed after the king im-
mediately, and earnestly begged and ob-
tained that he would be reconciled to him.
However, Herod did not desist from his
resolution of going to Antony ; but when
he heard that he was besieging Samosata*
with a great army, which is a strong city
near to Euphrates, he made the greater
haste ; as observing that this was a proper
opportunity for showing at once his cou-
rage, and for doing what would greatly
oblige Antony. Indeed, when he came,
he soon made an end of that siege, and
slew a great number of the barbarians,
and took from them a large prey; inso-
much, that Antony, who admired his
courage formerly, did now admire it still
more. Accordingly he heaped many more
honours upon him, and gave him more
assured hopes that he should gain his
kingdom : and now King Antiochus was
forced to deliver up Sainosata.
CHAPTER XVII.
Death of Joseph — Herod's preservation — beheads
the slayer of his brother — besieges Jerusalem,
and marries Mariamne.
In the mean time Herod's affairs in
Judea were in an ill state. He had left
his brother Joseph with full power, but
had charged him to make no attempts
against Antigonus till his return; for that
Macheras would not be such an assistant
as he could depend on, as it appeared by
what he had done already; but as soon as
Joseph heard that his brother was at a
very great distance, he neglected the
charge he had received, and marched to-
ward Jericho with five cohorts, which
Macheras sent with him. This movement
was intended for seizing on the corn, as it
was now in the midst of summer; but
when his enemies attacked him in the
mountains, and in places which were diffi-
cult to pass, he was both killed himself,
as he was very bravely fighting in the
battle, and the entire Roman cohorts were
destroyed; for these cohorts were new-
raised men, gathered out from Syria, and
there was no mixture of those called
veteran soldiers among them, who might
have supported those that were unskilful
in war.
This victory was not sufficient for Anti-
gonus; but he proceeded to that degree
of rage as to treat the dead body of Jo-
seph barbarously ; for when he had got-
ten possession of the bodies of those that
* This Samosata, the metropolis of Commngena,
is well known from its coins. Dean Aldrich con-
firms what Josephus here notes, that Herod was a
great means of taking the city by Antony, and
that from Plutarch and Dio.
Chap. XVII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
171
were slain, he cut off his head, although
his brother Pheroras would have given
50 talents as a price of redemption for it.
And now the affairs of Galilee were put
into such disorder after this victory of
Antigonus, that those of Antigonus's
party brought the principal men that were
on Herod's side to the lake, and there
drowned them. There was a great change
made also in Idumea, where Macheras
was building a wall about one of the fort-
resses, that was called Gittha. But He-
rod had not yet been informed of these
things; for after the taking of Samosata,
and when Antony had set Sosius over
the affairs of Syria, and given him orders
to assist Herod against Antigonus, he
departed into Egypt. But Sosius sent
two legions before him into Judea, to
assist Herod, and followed himself soon
after with the rest of his army.
Now when Herod was at Daphne, by
Antioch, he had some dreams which clear-
ly foreboded his brother's death; and as
he leaped out of his bed in a disturbed
manner, there came messengers that ac-
quainted him with that calamity. So
when he had lamented this misfortune for
awhile, he put off the main part of his
mourning, and made haste to march
against his enemies; and when he had
performed a march that was above his
strength, and had gone as far as Libanus,
he got 800 men of those that lived near
to that mountain, as his assistants, and
joined with them one Roman legion, with
which, before it was day, he made an
irruption into Galilee, and met his ene-
mies, and drove them back to the place
which they had left. He also made an
immediate and conditioned attack upon
the fortress. Yet was he forced, by a
most terrible storm, to pitch his camp in
the neighbouring village before he could
take it. But when, after a few days' time,
the second legion, that came from Antony,
joined themselves to him, the enemy were
affrighted at his power, and left their
fortifications in the night-time.
After he marched through Jericho, as
making what haste he could to be avenged
on his brother's murderers ; where hap-
pened to him a providential sign, out of
which when he had unexpectedly escaped,
he had the reputation of being very dear
to God; for that evening there feasted
with him many of the principal men : and
after that feast was over, and all the guests
were gone out, the house fell down imme-
diately. And as he judged this to bo a
common signal of what dangers he should
undergo, and how he should escape them in
the war that he was going about, he in the
morning set forward with his army, when
about G000 of his enemies came running
down from the mountains, and began to
fight with those in the forefront ; yet
durst they not be so veiy bold as to en-
gage the Romans hand to hand, but threw
stones and darts at them at a distance, by
which means they wounded a considerable
number; in which action Herod's own
side was wounded with a dart.
Now as Antigonus had a mind to
appear to exceed Herod, not only in the
courage, but in the number of his men,
he sent Pappus, one of his companions,
with an army against Samaria, whose
fortune it was to oppose Macheras. But
Herod overran the enemies' country, and
demolished five little cities, and destroyed
2000 men that were in them, and burned
their houses, and then returned to his
camp ; but his head-quarters were at the
village called Cana.
Now a great multitude of Jews resorted
to him every day, both out of Jericho and
the others parts of the country. Some
were moved so to do out of their hatred
to Antigonus, and some out of regard to
the glorious actions Herod had done; but
others were led on by an unreasonable
desire of change ; so he fell upon them
immediately. As for Pappus and his
party, they were not terrified either at
their number or at their zeal, but marched
out with great alacrity to fight them; and
it came to a close fight. Now other parts
of their army made resistance for a while :
but Herod, running the utmost hazard,
out of the rage he was in at the murder
of his brother, that he might be avenged
on those that had been the authors of it,
soon beat those that opposed him ; and,
after he had beaten them, he always
turned his forces against those that stood
to it still, and pursued them all; so that
a great slaughter was made, while some
were forced back into that village whence
they came out; he also pressed hard upon
the hindermost, and slew a vast number
of them ; he also fell into the village with
the enemy, where every house was filled
with armed men, and the upper rooms
were also crowded with soldiers for their
defence; and when he had beaten those
that were on the outside, he pulled the
houses to pieces, and plucked out those
172
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[BookI
that were within ; upon many he had the
roofs shaken down, whereby they perished
by heaps; and as for those that fled out
of the ruins, the soldiers received them
with their swords in their hands; and the
multitude of those slain and lying in
heaps was so great that the conquerors
could not pass along the roads. Now the
enemy could not bear this blow, so that
when the multitude of them which was
gathered together saw that those in the
village were slain, they dispersed them-
selves and fled away; upon the confidence
of which victory, Herod had marched
immediately to Jerusalem, unless he had
been hindered by the depth of winter
[coming on]. This was the impediment
that lay in the way of this his entire
glorious progress, and was what hindered
Antigonus from being now conquered,
who was already disposed to forsake the
city.
Now when at the evening Herod had
already dismissed his friends to refresh
themselves after their fatigue, and when
he had gone himself, while he was still
hot in his armour, like a common soldier,
to bathe himself, and before he had gotten
into the bath, one of the enemies met
him in the face with a sword in his hand,
and then a second, and then a third, and
after that more of them ; these were men
who had run away out of the battle into
the bath in their armour, and they had
lain there for some time in great terror,
and in privacy; and when they saw the
king, they trembled for fear, and ran by
him in a fright, although he was naked,
and endeavoured to get off into the public
road. Now there was by chance nobody
else at hand that might seize upon these
men ; and for Herod, he was contented
to have come to no harm himself, so that
they all got away in safety.
But on the next day Herod had Pap-
pus's head cut off, who was the general
for Antigonus, and was slain in the battle,
and sent it to his brother Pheroras, by
way of punishment for their slain bro-
ther; for he was the man that slew Joseph.
Now as winter was going off, Herod
marched to Jerusalem, and brought his
army to the wall of it; this was the third
year since he had been made king at
Rome ; so he pitched his camp before the
temple, for on that side it might be be-
sieged; and there it was that Pompey
iook the city. So he parted the work
among the army, and demolished the
suburbs, and raised three banks, and gave
orders to have towers built upon those
banks, and left the most laborious of his
acquaintance at the works. But he went
himself to Samaria, to take the daughter
of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, to
wife, who had been betrothed to him
before, as we have already said ; and thus
he accomplished this by the by, during
the siege of the city, for he had his
enemies in great contempt already.
When he had thus married Mariamne,
he came back to Jerusalem with a greater
army. Sosius also joined him with a
large army, both of horsemen and foot-
men, which he sent before him through
the midland parts, while he marched him-
self along Phoenicia ; and when the whole
army was gotten together, which were 11
regiments of footmen, and 6000 horse-
men, besides the Syrian auxiliaries, which
were no small part of the army, they
pitched their camp near to the north wall.
Herod's dependence was upon the decree
of the senate, by which he was made
king; and Sosius relied upon Antony,
who sent the army that was under him to
Herod's assistance.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Herod and Sosius take Jerusalem by force — death
of Antigonus — Cleopatra's avarice.
Now the multitude of the Jews that
were in the city were divided into several
factions, for the people that crowded about
the temple, being the weaker part of
them, gave it out that, as the times were,
he was the happiest and most religious
man who should die first. But as to the
more bold and hardy men, they got toge-
ther in bodies, and fell to robbing others
after various manners, and these parti-
cularly plundered the places that were
about the city, and this because there was
no food left either for the horses or the
men; yet some of the warlike men, who
were used to fight regularly, were appoint-
ed to defend the city during the siege,
and these drove those that raised the
banks away from the wall ; and these were
always inventing one engine or another
to be a hinderance to the engines of the
enemy; nor had they so much success any
way as in the mines under ground.
Now, as for the robberies which were
committed, the king contrived that am-
bushes should be so laid, that they might
Chap. XVIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
17:5
restrain their excursions; and as for the
want of provisions, he provided that they
should be brought to them from great
distances. He was also too hard for the
Jews, by the Romans' skill in the art of
war : although they were bold to the
utmost degree, now they durst not come
to a plain battle with the Romans, which
was certain death ; but through their
mines under ground they would appear
in the midst of them on the sudden, and
before they could batter down one wall,
they built them another. in its stead; and
to sum up all at once, they did not show
any want either of painstaking or of con-
trivance, as having resolved to hold out to
the very last. Indeed, though they had
so great an army lying round about them,
they bore a siege of five months, till some
of Herod's chosen men ventured to get
upon the wall, and fell into the city, as
did Sosius's centurions after them ; and
now the first of all seized upon what was
about the temple; and upon the pouring
in of the army, there was slaughter of
vast multitudes everywhere, by reason of
the rage the Romans were in at the length
of the siege, and by reason that the Jews
that were about Herod earnestly endea-
voured that none of their adversaries
might remain; so they were cut to pieces
by great multitudes, and as they were
crowded together in narrow streets, and
in houses, or were running away to the
temple; nor was there any mercy shown
either to infants, or to the aged, or to the
weaker sex; insomuch, that although the
king sent about and desired them to spare
the people, nobody could be persuaded to
withhold their right liand from slaughter,
but they slew people of all ages, like
madmen. Then it was that Antigonus,
without any regard to his former or to his
present fortune, came down from the
citadel and fell down at Sosius's feet, who,
without pitying him at all, upon the
change of his condition, laughing at him
beyond measure, and called him Anti-
goua [or woman]. Yet did he not treat
him like a woman, or let him go free,
but put him into bonds, and kept him in
custody.
But Herod's concern at present, now
he had gotten his enemies under his pow-
er, was to restrain the zeal of his foreign
auxiliaries ; for the multitude of the
strange people were very eager to see the
temple, and what was sacred in the holy
house itself; but the king endeavoured to
restrain them, partly by his exhortation,
partly by his threatening, nay, partly by
force, as thinking the victory worse than
a defeat to him, if any thing that ought
not to be seen were seen by them. He
also forbade, at the same time, the spoiling
of the city, asking Sosius in the most
earnest manner, whether the Romans, by
thus emptying the city of money and
men, had a mind to leave him king of a
desert; and told him that he judged the
dominion of the habitable earth too small
a compensation for the slaughter of so
many citizens. And when Sosius said,
that it was but just to allow the soldiers
this plunder, as a reward for what they
suffered during the siege, Herod made
answer, that he would give every one of
the soldiers a reward out of his own mo-
ney. So he purchased the deliverance of
his country, and performed his promises to
them, and made presents after a magni-
ficent manner to each soldier, and pro-
portionally to their commanders, and
with a most royal bounty to Sosius him-
self, whereby nobody went away but in
a wealthy condition. Hereupon Sosius
dedicated a crown of gold to God, and
then went away from Jerusalem, leading
Antigonus away in bonds to Antony ;
then did the axe bring him to his end,
who still had a fond desire of life, and
some frigid hopes of it to the last, but, by
his cowardly behaviour, well deserved to
die -by it.
Hereupon, King Herod distinguished
the multitude that was in the city; and
for those that were of his side, he made
them still more his friends by the honours
he conferred on them; but for those of
Antigonus's party, he slew them : and as
his money ran low, he turned all the
ornaments he had into money, and sent
it to Antony, and to those about him.
Yet could he not hereby purchase an
exemption from all sufferings; for Antony
was now bewitched by his love to Cleo-
patra, and was entirely conquered by her
charms. Now Cleopatra had put to death
all her kindred, till no one near her in
blood remained alive, and after that she
fell a slaying those noway related to her.
So she calumniated the principal men
among the Syrians to Antony, and per-
suaded him to have them slain, that so
she might easily gain to be mistress of
what they had; nay, she extended her
avaricious humour to the Jews and Ara-
bians, and secretly laboured to have Herod
174
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book L
and Malichus, the kings of both those
nations, slain by his order.
Now as to these her injunctions to
Antony, he complied in part; for though
he esteemed it too abominable a thing to
kill such good and great kings, yet was
he thereby alienated from the friendship
he had for them. He also took away a
great deal of their country; nay, even
the plantation of palm-trees at Jericho,
where also grows the balsam-tree, and be-
stowed them upon her, as also all the cities
on this side the river Eleutherus, Tyre
and Sidon excepted. And when she was
become mistress of these, and had con-
ducted Antony in his- expedition against
the Parthians, as far as Euphrates, she
came by Apamia and Damascus into
Judea; and there did Herod pacify her
indignation at him by large presents. He
also hired of her those places that had
been torn away from his kingdom, at the
yearly rent of 200 talents. He conducted
her also as far as Pelusium, and paid her
all the respects possible. Now it was not
long after this that Antony had come
back from Parthia, and led with him
Artabazes, Tigranes's son, captive, as a
present for Cleopatra; for this Parthian
was presently given her, with his money,
and all the prey that was taken with him.
CHAPTER XIX.
Antony, at the persuasion of Cleopatra, sends
Herod to fight against the Arabians — great
earthquake.
Now when the war about Actium had
begun, Herod prepared to come to the as-
sistance of Antony, as being already freed
from his troubles in Judea, and having
gained Hyrcania, which was a place that
was held by Antigonus's sister. However,
he was cunningly hindered from partaking
of the hazards that Antony went through
by Cleopatra ; for since, as we have already
noted, she had laid a plot against the
kings [of Judea and Arabia], she pre-
vailed with Antony to commit the war
against the Arabians to Herod ; that so,
if he got the better, she might become
mistress of Arabia, or, if he were worsted,
of Judea; and that she might destroy one
of those kings by the other.
However, this contrivance tended to
the advantage of Herod ; for at the very
first he took hostages from the enemy, and
got together a great body of horse, and
ordered them to march against them about
Diospolis; and he conquered that army,
although it fought resolutely against him
After which defeat, the Arabians were in
great motion, and assembled themselves
together at Kanatha, a city of Celesyria,
in vast multitudes, and waited for the
Jews. And when Herod had come
thither, he tried to jnanage this war with
particular prudence, and gave orders that
they should build a wall about their
camp ; yet did not the multitude comply
with those orders, but were so emboldened
by their foregoing victory, that they pre-
sently attacked the Arabians, and beat
them at the first onset, and then pursued
them ; yet were there snares laid for Her-
od in that pursuit; while Athenio, who
was one of Cleopatra's generals, and al-
ways an antagonist to Herod, sent out of
Kanatha the men of that country against
him ; for, upon this fresh onset, the Ara-
bians took courage, and returned back,
and both joined their numerous forces
about stony places, that were hard to be
gone over, and there put Herod's men to
the route, and made a great slaughter of
them ; but those that escaped out of the
battle fled to Ormiza, where the Arabians
surrounded their camp, "and took it, with
all the men that was in it.
In a little time after this calamity,
Herod came to bring them succours ; but
he came too late. Now the occasion of
that blow was this, that the officers would
not obey orders; for had not the fight be-
gun so suddeuly, Athenio had not found a
proper season .for the snares he laid for
Herod : however, he was even with the
Arabians afterward, and overran their
country, and did them more harm than
their single victory could compensate. But
as he was avenging himself on his ene-
mies, there fell upon him another provi-
dential calamity ; for in the seventh* year
of his reign, when the war about Actium
was at the height, at the beginning of
* This seventh year of the reign of Herod [from
the conquest or death of Antigonus], with the
great earthquake in the beginning of the same
spring, which are here fully implied to be not much
before the fight at Actium, between Octavius and
Antony, and which is known from the Roman his-
torians to have been in the beginning of Septem-
ber in the 31st year before the Christian era, de-
termines the chronology of Josephus as to the
reign of Herod, viz. that he began in the year 37,
beyond rational contradiction. Nor is it unworthy
of notice, that this seventh year of the reign of
Herod, or the 31st before the Christian era, con-
tained the latter part of a Sabbatic year ; on which
Sabbatic year, therefore, it is plain, this great
earthquake happened in Judea.
Chap. XIX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
175
the spring, the earth was shaken, and
destroyed an immense number of cattle,
with 30,000 men; but the army received
no harm, because it lay in the open air.
In the mean time, the fame of this earth-
quake elevated the Arabians to greater
courage, and this by augmenting it to a
fabulous height, as is constantly the case
in melancholy accidents, and pretending
that all Judea was overthrown. Upon
this supposal, therefore, that they should
easily get a land that was destitute of in-
habitants into their power, they first sacri-
ficed those ambassadors who were come
to them from the Jews, and then marched
into Judea immediately. Now the Jewish
nation were affrighted at this invasion,
and quite dispirited at the greatness of
their calamities one after another; whom
yet Herod got together, and endeavoured
to encourage to defend themselves by the
following speech which he made to them:
" The present dread you are under,
seems to me to have seized upon you very
unseasonably. It is true, you might just-
ly be dismayed at the providential chas-
tisement which hath befallen you ; but to
suffer yourselves to be equally terrified at
the invasion of men, is unmanly. As for
myself, I am so far from being affrighted
at our enemies after this earthquake, that
I imagine that God hath thereby laid a
bait for the Arabians, that we may be
avenged on them ; for their present inva-
sion proceeds more from our accidental
misfortunes, than that they have any
great dependence on their weapons, or
their own fitness for action. Now that
hope which depends not on men's own
power, but on others' ill success, is a very
ticklish thing; for there is no certainty
among men, either in their bad or good
fortunes; but we may easily observe, that
fortune is mutable, and goes from one side
to another; and this you may readily
learn from examples among yourselves ;.
for when' you were once victors iu the
former fight, your enemies overcame you at
last; and very likely it will now happen so,
that these who think themselves sure of
beating you, will themselves be beaten ;
for when men are very confident, they are
not upon their guard, while fear teaches
men to act with caution ; insomuch, that
I venture to prove from your very timor-
ousness, that you ought to take courage ;
for when you were more bold than you
ought to have been, and than 1 would have
had you, and marched on, Athenio's treach-
ery took place ; but your present slowness
and seeming dejection of mind is to ine a
pledge and assurance of victory ; and in-
deed it is proper beforehand to be thus
provident; but when we come to action,
we ought to erect our minds, and to make
our enemies, be they ever so wicked, be-
lieve, that neither any human, no, nor
any providential misfortune, can ever de-
press the courage of .lews while they are
alive; nor will any of them ever overlook
an Arabian, or suffer such a one to become
lord of his good things, whom he has in
a manner taken captive, and that many
times also : and do not you disturb your-
selves at the quaking of inanimate crea-
tures, nor do you imagine that this earth-
quake is a sign of another calamity ; for
such affections of the elements are accord-
ing to the course of nature; nor does it
import any thing further to men, than
what mischief it does immediately of it-
self. Perhaps, there may come some short
sign beforehand in the case of pestilences,
and famines, and earthquakes; but these
calamities themselves have their force
limited by themselves, (without foreboding
any other calamity;) and, indeed, what
greater mischief can the war, though it
should be a violent one, do to us, than the
earthquake hath done ? Nay, there is a
signal of our enemies' destruction visible,
and that a very great one also; and this
is not a natural one, nor derived from the
hand of foreigners neither, but it is this,
that they have barbarously murdered our
ambassadors, contrary to the common law
of mankind; and they have destroyed so
many, as if they esteemed them sacrifices
for God, in relation to this war ; but they
will not avoid his great eye, nor his invinci-
ble right hand ; and we shall be revenged
of them presently, in case we still retain
any of the courage of our forefathers, and
rise up boldly to punish these covenant-
breakers. Let every one therefore go on
and fight, not so much for his wife or his
children, or for the danger his country is
in, as for these ambassadors of ours :
those dead ambassadors will conduct this
war of ours better than we ourselves who
are alive ; and if you will be ruled by me,
I will myself go before you into danger ;
for you know this well enough, that your
courage is irresistible, unless you hurt
yourselves by acting rashly."*
• This speech of Herod's is set down twice by
Josephus, here, and Antiq. b. xv chap, v., to the
176
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
When Herod had encouraged them by
this speech, and he saw with what alacrity
they went, he offered sacrifice to God;
and after that sacrifice, he passed over the
river Jordan with his army, and pitched
his camp about Philadelphia, near the
enemy, and about a fortification that lay
between them. He then shot at them at
a distance, and was desirous to come to an
engagement presently; for some of them
had been sent beforehand to seize upon
that fortification ; but the king sent some
who immediately beat them out of the
fortification, while he himself went in the
forefront of the army, which he put in
battle array every day, and invited the
Arabians to fight; but as none of them
came out of their camp, for they were in
a terrible fright, and their general, Elthe-
mus, was not able to say a word for fear ;
so Herod came upon them, and pulled
their fortification to pieces, by which
means they were compelled to come out
to fight, which they did in disorder, and
so that the horsemen and footmen were
mixed together. They were indeed supe-
rior to the Jews in number, but inferior
in their alacrity, although they were
obliged to expose themselves to danger
by their very despair of victory.
Now while they made opposition, they
had not a great number slain ; but as soon
as they turned their backs, a great many
were trodden to pieces by the Jews, and
a great many by themselves, and so pe-
. rished, till 5000 were fallen down dead in
their Sight, while the rest of the multitude
prevented their immediate death, by crowd-
ing into the fortification. Herod encom-
passed these around, and besieged them ;
and while they were ready to be taken by
their enemies in arms, they had another
additional distress upon them, which was
thirst and want of water; for the king
was above hearkening to their ambassa-
dors; and when they offered 500 talents
as the price of their redemption, he pressed
still harder upon them ; and as they were
burnt up by their thirst, they came out
and voluntarily delivered themselves up
by multitudes to the Jews, till in five days'
time 4000 of them were put into bonds ;
and on the sixth day the multitude that
were left despaired of saving themselves,
and came out to fight : with these Herod
very same purpose, but by no means in tho same
■words ; whence it appears that the sense was lie-
rod's, but the composition Josephus's.
fought, and slew again about 7000, inso-
much that he punished Arabia so severely,
and so far extinguished the spirits of the
men, that he was chosen by the nation
for their ruler.
CHAPTER XX.
Herod is confirmed in his kingdom by Ctesar —
cultivates a friendship with the emperor by mag-
nificent presents — Cassar returns Herod's kind-
ness by enlarging his territories.
But now Herod was under immediate
concern about a most important affair,
on account of his friendship with Antony,
who was already overcome at Actium by
Caesar, yet he was more afraid than hurt;
for Caesar did not think that he had quite
undone Antony, while Herod continued
his assistance to him. However, the king
resolved to expose himself to dangers :
accordingly, he sailed to Rhodes', where
Cassar then abode, and came to him with-
out his diadem, and in the habit and ap-
pearance of a private person, but in his
behaviour as a king. So he concealed
nothing of the truth, but spake thus be-
fore his face : " O Caesar, as I was made
king of the Jews by Antony, so do I pro-
fess that I have Used my royal authority
in the best manner, and entirely for his
advantage; nor will I conceal this further,
that thou hadst certainly found me in
arms, and an inseparable companion of
his, had not the Arabians hindered me.
However, I sent him as many auxiliaries as
I was able, and many 10,000 [cori] of
corn. Nay, indeed, I did not desert my
benefactor after the blow that was given
him at Actium ; but I gave him the best
advice I was able, when I was no longer
able to assist him in the war; and I
told him that there was but one way of
recovering his affairs, and that, was to kill
Cleopatra; and I promised him that if
she were once dead, I would afford him
money and walls for his security, with an
army and myself to assist him in his war
against thee; but his affections for Cleo-
patra stopped his ears, as did God himself
also, who hath bestowed the government
on thee. I own myself also to be over-
come together with him; and with his
last fortune I have laid aside my diadem,
and am come hither to thee, having my
hopes of safety in thy virtue ; and I desire
that thou wilt, first consider how faithful a
friend, and not whose friend, I have been."
Caesar replied to him thus : u Nay,
thou shalt not only be in safety, but shalt
Chap. XX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
177
be a king, and that more firmly than
thou wast before; for thou art worthy to
reign over a great many subjects, by
reason of the fastness of thy friendship ;
and do thou endeavour to be equally con-
stant in tby friendship to me upon my
good success, which is what I depend upon
from the generosity of thy disposition.
However, Antony hath done well in pre-
ferring Cleopatra to thee; for by this
means we have gained thee by her mad-
ness, and thus thou hast begun to be my
friend before I began to be thine ; on
which account Quintus Didius hath writ-
ten to me that thou sentest him assistance
against the gladiators. I do therefore as-
sure thee that I will confirm the kingdom
to thee by decree : I shall also endeavour
to do thee some further kindness hereafter,
that thou mayest find no loss in the want
of Antony."
When Ctesar had spoken such obliging
things to the king, and had put the dia-
dem again about his head, he proclaimed
what he had bestowed on him by a decree,
in which he enlarged in the commendation
of the man after a magnificent manner.
Whereupon Herod obliged him to be kind
to him by the presents he gave him, and
he desired him to forgive Alexander, one
of Antony's friends, who had become a
supplicant to him. But Caesar's anger
against him prevailed, and he complained
of the many and very great offences the
man whom he petitioned for had been
guilty of; and by that means he rejected
his petition. After this, Caesar went for
Egypt through Syria, when Herod re-
ceived him with royal and rich entertain-
ments; and then did he first of all ride
along with Ctesar, as he was reviewing
his army about 1'tolemais, and feasted
him with all his friends, and then distri-
buted among the rest of the army what
was necessary to feast them withal. He
also made a plentiful provision of water
for them, when they were to march as far
as Pelusium, through a dry country, which
he did also in like manner on their return
thence; nor were there any necessaries
wanting in that army. It was therefore the
opinion both of Caesar and of his soldiers,
that Herod's kingdom was too small for
those generous presents he made them;
for which reason, when Caesar had come
into Egypt, and Cleopatra and Antony
were dead, he did not only bestow other
marks of honour upon him, but made au
addition to his kingdom, by giving him
Vol. 11—12
not only the country which had been ta-
ken from him by Cleopatra, but, besides
that, Gadara, and Hippos, and Samaria;
and moreover of the maritime cities, Ga-
za,* and Anthedon, and Joppa, and Stra-
to's Tower. He also made him a present
of 400 Galls [Galatians] as a guard for
his body, which they had been to Cleo-
patra before. Nor did any thing so strong-
ly induce Csesaf to make these presents as
the generosity of him that received them.
Moreover, after the first games at Ac-
tium, he added to his kingdom both the
region called Trachonitis, and what lay in
its neighbourhood, Uatanea, and the coun-
try of Auranitis; and that on the following
occasion : — Zenodorus, who had hired the
house of Lysanias, had all along sent
robbers out of Trachonitis among the
Damascenes; who thereupon had recourse
to Varro, the president of Syria, and
desired of him that he would represent
the calamity they were in to Caesar.
When Csesar was acquainted with it, he
sent back orders that this nest of robbers
should be destroyed. Varro therefore
made an expedition against them, and
cleared the land of those men, and took
it away from Zenodorus. Cajsar did
afterward bestow it on Herod, that it
might not again become a receptacle for
those robbers that had come against Da-
mascus. He also made him procurator of
all Syria, aud this on the tenth year after-
ward, when he came again into that pro-
vince; and this was so established, that
the other procurators could not do any
thing in the administration without his
advice : but when Zenodorus was dead,
Caesar bestowed on him all that laud
which lay between Trachonitis aud Gali-
lee. Yet, what was still of more conse-
quence to Herod, he was beloved by Cae-
sar next after Agrippa, and by Agrippa
next after Csesar; whence he arrived at
a very great degree of felicity ;' yet did
the greatuess of his soul exceed it; and
the main part of his magnanimity was
extended to the promotion of piety.
* Since Josephus, both here and in his Antiq.
b. xv. chap, vii., reckons Gaza, which had been a
free city, among the cities given Herod by Augus-
tus, and yet implies that Herod had made Costoba-
rus a governor of it before, Antiq. b. xv. chnp. vii.,
Harduin has some pretence for saying thai Jose-
phus contradicted himself. But perhaps Herod
thought he had sufficient authority to put a
governor into (Jaza, alter he was made tetrarch or
king, in times of war, before the city was delivered
entirely into his hands by Augustus.
^=r
178
WARS OF THE JEWS.
tBook L
CHAPTER XXL
Of the [temple and] cities built by Ilerod — his
magnificence to foreigners.
Accordingly, in the fifteenth year of
his reign, Herod rebuilt the temple,
and encompassed a piece of land about it
with a wall ; which land was twice as
large as that before enclosed. The ex-
penses he laid out upon it were vastly large
also, and the riches about it were unspeak-
able— a sign of which you have in the
great cloisters that were erected about the
temple, and the citadel,*' which was on its
north side. The cloisters he built from
the foundation, but the citadel he repaired
at a vast expense; nor was it other than
a royal palace, which he called Antony,
in honour of Antony. He also built him-
self a palace in the upper city, containing
two very large and most beautiful apart-
ments; to which the holy house itself
could n">t be compared [in largeness].
The one apartment he named Caesareum,
and the other Agrippium, from his [two
great] friends.
Yet did he not preserve their memory
by particular buildings only, with their
names given them, but his generosity went
as far as entire cities; for when he had
built a most beautiful wall round a coun-
try in Samaria, 20 furlongs long, and had
brought 6000 inhabitants into it, and had
allotted to it a most fruitful piece of land,
and in the midst of this city, thus built,
had erected a very large temple to Caesar,
and had laid round about it a portion of
sacred land of three furlongs and a half,
he called the city Sebaste, from Sebastus,
or Augustus, and settled the affairs of the
city after a most regular manner.
And when Caer.ar had further bestowed
on him another additional country, he
built their also a temple of white marble,
hard by the fountains of Jordan : the
place is called Panium, where is a top of
a mountain that is raised to an immense
height, and at its side, beneath, or at its
bottom, a dark cave opens itself; within
which there is a horrible precipice, that
descends abruptly to a vast depth; it con-
tains a mighty ouanty of water, which is
immovable; and when anybody lets down
* This fort was first built by John Hyrcanus,
and called " IWris,'' the Tower, or Citadel. It was
afterward reb'.ilt, with great improvements, by
Herod, under the government of Antonius, and was
named fro\a aim "the Tower of Antonia;"and
about the ti'^f when Herod rebuilt the temple, he
seems to Lav .a put his last hand to it.
any thing to measure the depth of the
earth beneath the water, no length of cord
is sufficient to reach it. Now the foun-
tains of Jordan rise at the roots of this
cavity outwardly ; and, as some think,
this is the utmost origin of Jordan : but
we shall speak of that matter more accu-
rately in our following history.
But the king erected other places at
Jericho also, between the citadel Cypros
and the former palace, such as were better
and more useful than the former for tra-
vellers, and named them from the same
friends of his. To say all at once, there
was not any place of his kingdom fit for
the purpose, that was permitted to be
without somewhat that was for Caesar's
honour; and when he had filled his own
country with temples, he poured out the
like plentiful marks of his esteem into his
province, and built many cities which he
called Cesareas.
And when he observed that there was a
city by the seaside that was much decayed
(its name was Strato's Tower) but that
the place, by the happiness of its situation,
was capable of great improvements from
his liberality, he rebuilt it all with white
stone, and adorned it with several most
splendid palaces, wherein he especially
demonstrated his maguanimity; for the
case was this, that all the seashore between
Dora and Joppa, in the middle, between
which the city is situated, had no good
haven, insomuch, that every one that
sailed from Phoenicia for Egypt was
obliged to lie in the stormy sea, by reason '
of the south winds that threatened them ;
which wind, if it blew but a little fresh,
such vast waves are raised, and dash upon
the rocks, that upon their retreat, the sea
is in great ferment for a long way. But
the king, by the expenses he was at, and
the liberal disposal of them, overcame na-
ture, and built a haven larger than was
the Pyrecum [at Athens], and in the
inner retirements of the water he built
other deep stations [for the ships also].
Now, although the place where he built
was greatly opposite to his purposes, yet
did he so fully struggle with that diffi-
culty, that the firmness of his building
could not easily be concpuered by the sea;
and the beauty and ornament of the works
were such, as though he had not had any
difficulty in the operation; for when he
had measured out as large a space as we
have before mentioned, he letdown stones
into 20 fathom water, the greatest part of
Chap. XXL]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
r
which were 50 feet in length, and 9 in
depth, and 10 in breadth, and some still
larger. But when the haven was filled up
to that depth, he enlarged that wall which
was thus already extant above the sea, till
it was 200 feet wide; 100 of which had
buildings before it, in order to break the
force of the waves, whence it was called
Pocumatia, or the first breaker of the
waves; but the rest of the space was
under a stone wall that ran round it. On
this wall were very large towers, the prin-
cipal and most beautiful of which was
called Drusiuin, from Drusus, who was
son-in-law to Caesar.
There were also a great number of
arches, where the mariners dwelt; and all
the places before them round about was a
large valley, or walk, for a quay [or land-
ing-place] to those that came on shore;
but the entrance was on the north, because
the north wind was there the most gentle
of all the winds. At the mouth of the
haven were on each side three great Colos-
si, supported by pillars, where those Co-
lossi that are on your left hand as you sail
into the port are supported by a solid
tower; but those on the right hand are
supported by two upright stones joined
together, which stones were larger than
that tower which was on the other side of
the entrance. Now there were continual
edifices joined to the haven, which were
also themselves of white stone; and to
this haven did the narrow streets of the
city lead, and were built at equal dis-
tances one from another. And over
against the mouth of the haven, upon an
elevation, there was a temple for Cassar,
which was excellent both in beauty and
largeness ; and therein was a Colossus of
Cassar, not less than that of Jupiter Olym-
pus, which it was made to resemble. The
other Colossus of Rome was equal to that
of Juno at Argos. So he dedicated the
city to the province, and the haven to the
.sailors there ; but the honour of the build-
ing he ascribed to Csesar, and named it
Cesarea accordingly.
He also built the other edifices, the
amphitheatre and theatre, and market-
place, in a manner agreeable to that de-
nomination ; and appointed games every
fifth year, and called them, in like manner,
CsesaVs games; and he first himself pro-
posed the largest prizes upon the 192d
Olympiad ; in which not only the victors
themselves, but those that came next to
them, and even those that came in the
third place, where partakers of his royal
bounty. He also rebuilt Anthedon, a
city that lay on the coast, and had been
demolished in the wars, and named it
Agrippcum. Moreover, he had so very
great a kindness for his friend Agrippa,
that he had his name engraved upon that
gate which he had himself erected in the
temple.
Herod was also a lover of his father, if
any other person ever was so; for he
made a monument for his father, even
that city which he built in the finest plain
that was in his kingdom, and which had
rivers and trees in abundance, and named
it Antipatris. He also built a wall about
a citadel that lay above Jericho, and was
a very strong and very fine building, and
dedicated it to his mother, and called it
Cypros. Moreover, he dedicated a tower
that was at Jerusalem, and called it by the
name of his brother Phasaelus, whose
structure, largeness, and magnificence wc
shall describe hereafter. He also built
another city in the valley that leads north-
ward from Jericho, and named it Pha-
saelus.
And as he transmitted to eternity his
family and friends, so did he not neglect
a memorial for himself, but built a fortress
upon a mountain toward Arabia, and
named it from himself Herodium;* and
he called that hill, that was of the shape
of a woman's breast, and was sixty fur-
longs distant from Jerusalem, by the same
name. He also bestowed much curious
art upon it with great ambition, aud built
round towers all about the top of it, and
filled up the remaining space with the
most costly palaces round about, insomuch
that not only the sight of the inner apart-
ments was splendid, but great wealth was
laid out on the outward walls and partitions
and roofs also. Besides this, he brought
a mighty quantity of water from a great-
distance, and at vast charges, and raised
an ascent to it of 200 steps of the whitest
marble, for the hill was itself moderately
high, and entirely factitious. He also
built other palaces about the roots of the
hill, sufficient to receive the furniture that
was put into them, with his friends also,
insomuch, that on account of its con-
taining all necessaries, the fortress might
seem to be a city, but by the bounds it
had, a palace only.
• There were two cities or citadels called Hero-
dium, in Judea : one of them was GO, and the other
200 furlongs from Jerusalem.
180
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I
And when he had built so much, he
showed the greatness of his soul to no
small number of foreign cities. He
built palaces for exercise at Tripoli, and
Damascus, and Ptolcmais; he built a wall
about Byblus, as also large rooms, and
cloisters, and temples, and market-places
at Berytus and Tyre, with theatres at
Sidon and Damascus. He also built
aqueducts for those Laodiceans who
lived by the seaside ; and for those of
Ascalon he built baths and costly foun-
tains, as also cloisters round a court, that
were admirable both for their workman-
ship and largeness. Moreover, he dedi-
cated groves and meadows to some people :
nay, not a few cities there were who had
lands of his donation, as if they were
parts of his own kingdom. He also be-
stowed annual revenues, and those for
ever also, on the settlements for exercises,
and appointed for them as well as for the
people of Cos, that such rewards should
never be wanting. He also gave corn to
all such as wanted it, and conferred upon
Rhodes large sums of money for building
ships; and this he did in many places,
and frequently also. And when Apollo's
temple had been burnt down, he rebuilt
it at his own charges, after a better man-
ner than it was before. What need I
speak of the presents he made to the
Lycians and Samnians ! or of his great
liberality through all Ionia ! and that ac-
cording to everybody's wants of them.
And are not the Athenians, and Lacede-
monians, and Nicopolitans, and that Per-
gamus which is in Mysia, full of dona-
tions that Herod presented them withal !
and as for that large open place belong-
ing to Antioch in Syria, did not he pave
it with polished marble, though it were
twenty furlongs long! and this when it
was shunned by all men before, because
it was full of dirt and filthiness; when
be besides adorned the same place with a
cloister of the same length.
It is true, a man may say, these were
favours peculiar to those particular places
on which he bestowed his benefits; but
then what favours he bestowed on the
Eleans was a donation not only in com-
mon to all Greece, but to all the habitable
earth, as far as the glory of the Olympic
games reached ; for when he perceived
that they were come to nothing, for want
of mcney, and that the only remains of
ancient Greece were in a manner gone,
he not only became one of the combat-
ants in that return of the fifth year
games, which in his sailing to Rome he
happened to be present at, but he settled
upon them revenues of money for per-
petuity, insomuch, that his memorial as
a combatant there can never fail. It
would be an infinite task if I should go
over his payments of people's debts, or
tributes, for them, as he eased the people
of Phasaelus, of Batanea, and of the
small cities about Cilicia, of those annual
pensions they before paid. However, the
fear he was in much disturbed the great-
ness of his soul, lest he should be ex-
posed to envy, or seem to hunt after
greater things than he ought, while he
bestowed more liberal gifts upon these
cities than did their owners themselves.
Now Herod had a body suited to his
soul, and was ever a most excellent hunt-
er, where he generally had good success,
by means of his great skill in riding
horses; for in one day he caught forty
wild beasts :* that country breeds also
bears ; and the greatest part of it is re-
plenished with stags and wild asses. He
was also such a warrior as could not be
withstood : many men therefore there
are who have stood amazed at his readi-
ness in his exercises, when they saw him
throw the javelin directly forward, and
shoot the arrow upon the mark ; and
then, besides these performances of his,
depending on his own strength of mind
and body, fortune was also very favour-
able to him, for he seldom failed of suc-
cess in his wars; and when he failed, he
was not himself the occasion of such
failings, but he either was betrayed by
some, or the rashness of his own soldiers
procured his defeat.
CHAPTER XXII.
Murder of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus the high
priests, and of Marianme the queen.
However, fortune was avenged on
Herod in his external great success, by
raising him up domestic troubles; and
he began to have wild disorders in his
family, on account of his wife, of whom
he was so very fond : for when he came
to the government, he sent away her
whom he had before married when he
* Here seems to be a small defect in the copies
which describe the wild beasts which were hunted
in a certain country by Herod without naming
any such country at all.
Chap. XXII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
181
was a private person, and who was born
at Jerusalem, whose name was Doris, and
married Mariamne, the daughter of Alex-
ander, the son of Aristobulus; on whose
account disturbances arose in his family,
ami that in part very soon, but chiefly
after his return from Rome ; for, first of
all, he expelled Antipater, the son of
Doris, for the sake of his sons by Mari-
amne, out of the city, and permitted him
to come thither at no other times than at
the festivals. After this he slew his
wife's grandfather, Hyrcanus, when he
was returned out of Parthia to him, un-
der this pretence, that he suspected him
of plotting against him. Now this Hyr-
canus had been carried captive to Barza-
pharnes, when he- overran Syria; but
those of hisown country beyond Euphra-
tes, were desirous he would stay with
them, and this out of the commiseration
they had for his condition ; and had he
complied with their desires, when they
exhorted him not to go over the river to
Herod, he had not perished ; but the mar-
riage of his grand-daughter [to Herod]
was his temptation; for as he relied upon
him, and was over fond of his own
country, he came back to it. Herod's
provocation was this: not that Hyrcanus
made any attempt to gain the kingdom,
but that it was fitter for him to be their
king than for Herod.
Now of the five children which Herod
had by Mariamne, two of them were
daughters, and three were sons; and
the youngest of these sons was educated
at Rome, and there died; but the two
eldest he treated as royal blood, on ac-
count of the nobility of their mother,
and because they were not horn till he
was king; but then what was stronger
than all this, was the love that he bore to
Mariamne, and which inflamed him every
day to a great degree, and so far con-
spired with the other motives, that he
felt no other troubles, on account of her
he loved so entirely ; but Mariamne's ha-
tred to him was not inferior to his love
to her. She had indeed but too just a
cause of indignation from what he had
done, while her boldness proceeded from
his affection to her; so she openly re-
proached him with what he had done to
her grandfather, Hyrcanus, and to her
brother, Aristobulus, for he had not
spared this Aristobulus, though he was
but a child; for when he had given him
the high-priesthood at the age of seven-
teen, he slew him quickly after he had
conferred that dignity upon him ; but
when Aristobulus had put on the holy
vestments, and had approached to the
altar at a festival, the multitude, in great
crowds, fell into tears; whereupon the
child was sent by night to Jericho, and
was there dipped by the Galls, at Herod's
command, in a pond till he was drowned.
For these reasons Mariamne reproached
Herod, and his sister and mother, after a
most contumelious manner, while he was
dumb on account of his affection for her;
yet had the women great indignation at
her, and raised a calumny against her,
that she was false to his bed; which thing
they thought most likely to move Herod
to anger. They also contrived to have
many other circumstances believed, in
order to make the thing more credible,
and accused her of having sent her pic-
ture into Egypt to Antony, and that her
lust was so extravagant as to have thus
shown herself, though she was absent, to
a man that ran mad after women, and to
a man that had it in his power to use
violence to her. This charge fell like a
thunderbolt upon Herod, and put him
into disorder; and that especially, be-
cause his love to her occasioned him to
be jealous, and because he considered
with himself that Cleopatra was a shrewd
woman, and that on her account Lysanias
the king was taken off, as well as Mali-
chus the Arabian ; for his fear did not-
only extend to the dissolving of his mar-
riage, but to the danger of his life.
When, therefore, he was about to take
a journey abroad, he committed his wife
to Joseph, his sister Salome's husband,
as to one who would be faithful to him,
and bare him good-will on account of
their kindred : he also gave him a secret
injunction, that if Antony slew him, he
should slay her; but Joseph, without
any ill design, and only in order to de-
monstrate the king's love to his wife, how
he could not bear to think of being
separated from her, even by death itself,
discovered this grand secret to her; upon
which, when Herod had come back, and
as they talked together) and he confirmed
his love to her by many oaths, and
assured her that he had never such an
affection for any other woman as he had
for her, — " Yes," says she, "thou didst,
to be sure, demonstrate thy love to me bj
182
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Boor.
the injunctions thou gavest Joseph, when
thou commandedst him to kill me."*
When he heard that this grand secret
was discovered, he was like a distracted
man, and said, that Joseph would never
have disclosed that injunction of his, un-
less he had debauched her. His passion
also made him stark mad, and leaping
out of his bed, he ran about the palace
after a wild manner; at which time his
sister Salome took the opportunity also
to blast her reputation, and confirmed his
suspicion about Joseph ; whereupon, out
of his ungovernable jealousy and rage,
he commanded both of them to be slain
immediately; but as soon as ever his pas-
sion was over, he repented of what he
bad, done, and as soon as his anger was
worn off, his affections were kindled
again ; and indeed the flame of his de-
sires for her was so ardent, that he could
not think she was dead, but would ap-
pear, under his disorders, to speak to
her as if she were still alive, till he was
better instructed by time, when his grief
and trouble, now she was dead, appeared
as great as his affection had been for her
while she was living.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Calumnies against the sons of Mariamne — Antipa-
ter preferred before them — tbey are accused
before Cresar, and Ilerod is reconciled to them.
Now Mariamne's sons were heirs to
that hatred which had been borne to
their mother; and when they considered
the greatness of Herod's crime toward
her, they were suspicious of him as of an
enemy of theirs; and this first while they
were educated at Rome, but still more
when they were returned to Judea.
This temper of theirs increased upon
them as they grew up to be men; and
when they were come to an age fit for
marriage, the One of them married their
aunt Salome's daughter, which Salome
had been the accuser of their mother; the
other married the daughter of Archelaus,
king of Cappadocia. Aud now they
used boldness in speaking, as well as bore
hatred in their minds. Now those that
* Here is either a defect or a great mistake in
Josephus's present copies or memory; for Mari-
amne did not now reproach Ilerod with this his
first injunction to Joseph to kill her, if be him-
self were slain by Antony, but that he had given
the like command a second time to Soomus also,
when he was afraid of being slain by Augustus.
calumniated them took a handle from
such their boldness, and certain of them
spake now more plainly to the king, that
there were treacherous designs laid against
him by both his sons; and he that was
son-in-law to Archelaus, relying upon his
father-in-law, was preparing to fly away,
in order to accuse Herod before Caesar;
and when Herod's head had been long
enough filled with these calumnies, he
brought Antipater, whom he had by Do-
ris, in favour again, as a defence to him
against his other sons, and began all the
ways he possibly could to prefer him be-
fore them.
But these sons were not able to bear
this change in their affairs; for when they
saw him that was born of a mother of no
family, the nobility of their- birth made
them unable to contain their indignation;
but whensoever they were uneasy, they
showed the anger they had at it; and as
these sons did, day after day, improve in
that their anger, Antipater already exer-
cised all his own abilities, which were
very great, in flattering his father, and
in contriving many sorts of calumnies
against his brethren, while he told some
stories of them himself, and put it upon
other proper persons to raise other stories
against them; till at length he entirely
cut his brethren off from all hopes of
succeeding to the kingdom; for he was
already publicly put into his father's will
as his successor. Accordingly, he was
sent with royal ornaments, and other
marks of royalty, to Caesar, excepting the
diadem. He was also able in time to
introduce his mother again into Mari-
•amne's bed. The two sorts of weapons
he made use of against his brethren were
flattery and calumny, whereby he brought
matters privately to such a pass, that the
king had thoughts of putting his sons to
death.
So the father drew Alexander as far as
Rome, and charged him with an attempt
of poisoning him, before Cassar. Alex-
ander could hardly speak for lamentation;
but having a judge who was more skilful
than Antipater, and more wise than
Ilerod, he modestly avoided laying any
imputation upon his father, but with great
strength of reason confuted the calumnies
laid against him ; and when he had de-
monstrated the innocency of his brother,
who was in the like danger with himself,
he at last bewailed the craftiness of Anti-
pater, and the disgrace they were under.
Chap. XXIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
183
He was enabled also to justify himself,
not only by a clear conscience, which he
carried within him, but by his < loquence;
for he was a shrewd man in making
speeches. And upon his saving at last,
that if his father objected this crime to
them, it was in his power to put them to
death, he made all the audience weep;
and he brought Caesar to that pass, as to
reject the accusations, and to reconcile
their father to them immediately. But
the conditions of this reconciliation were
these, that they should in all things be
obedient to their father, and that he
should have power to leave the kingdom
to which of them he pleased.
After this, the king came back from
Rome, and seemed to have forgiven his
sons upon these accusations ; but still so,
that he was not without his suspicious of
them. They were followed by Antipater,
who was the fountain-head of those accu-
sations; yet did not he openly discover
his hatred to them, as revering him that
had reconciled them. But as Herod sailed
by Cilicia, he touched at Eleusa, where
Archelaus treated them in the most oblig-
ing manner, and gave him thanks for
the deliverance of his son-in-law, and was
much pleased at their reconciliation ; and
this the more, because he had formerly
written to his friends at Home that they
should be assisting to Alexander at his
trial. So ho conducted Herod as far as
Zephyrium, and made him presents to the
value of 30 talents.
Now when Herod had come to Jerusa-
lem, he gathered the people together, and
presented them his three sons, and gave
them an apologetic account of his absence,
and thanked God greatly, and thanked
Caesar greatly also, for settling his house
wheu it was under disturbances, and had
procured concord among his sons, which
was of greater consequence thau the king-
dom itself, — "and which I will render
still more firm; for Caesar hath put into
my power to dispose of the government,
and to appoint my successor. Accord-
ingly, in way of requital for his kindness,
and in order to provide for mine own
advantage, I do declare that these three
sons of mine shall be kings. And, in the
first place, I pray for the approbation of
God to what I am about ; and, in the
next place, I desire your approbation also.
The age of one of them, aud the nobility
of the other two, shall procure them the
succession. Nay, indeed, my kingdom is
2V
so large, that it may be sufficient for more
king-;. Now, do you keep those in their
places whom Caesar hath joined, and their
father hath appointed; and do tmt, pay
undue or unequal respects to them, hut
to every one according to the prerogative
of their births; for he that pays such
respects unduly, will, thereby, not make
him that is honoured beyond what his
age requires so joyful, as he will make
him that is dishonoured sorrowful. As
fur the kindred and friends that are to
converse with them, I will appoint them
to each of them, and will so constitute
them, that they may he securities for
their concord; as well knowing the ill
tempers of those with whom they converse
will produce quarrels and contentions
among them; but that if these with whom
they converse be of good tempers, they
will preserve their natural affections for
one another. But still I desire, that not
these only, but all the captains of my
army have, for the present, their hopes
placed on me alone; for I do not give
away my kingdom to these my sons, but
give them royal honours only; whereby,
it will come to pass that they will enjoy
the sweet parts of government as rulers
themselves, but that the burden of admi-
nistration will rest upon myself whether
I will or not. And let every one consider
what age I am of; how I have conducted
my life, and what piety I have exercised;
for my age is not so great, that meo may
soon expect the end of my life ; nor have
I indulged such a luxurious way of living
as cuts men off when they are young;
and we have been so religious t
God, that we [have reason to hope we]
may arrive at a very great age. But for
such as cultivate a friendship with my
sons, so as to aim at my destruction, they
shall be punished by me on their accouut.
I am not one who envy my own children,
and therefore forbid men to pay them
great respect; but I know that such
[extravagant] respects are the way to
make them insolent. And if every one
that comes near them does but resolve
this in his mind, that if he proves a good
man, he shall receive a reward from me,
but, that if he prove seditious, his ill-
intended complaisance shall get him no-
thing from him to whom it is shown, I
suppose they will all be of my side, that
is, of my sons' side; for it will be for
their advantage that I reign, and that I
be at concord with them. But do yo«L
184
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I
0 my good children, reflect upon the
holiness of nature itself, by whose means
natural affection is preserved, even among
wild beasts j iu the next place, reflect
upon Caesar, who hath made this reconci-
liation among us; and, in the third place,
reflect upon me, who entreat you to do
what I have power to command you, —
continue brethren. I give you royal gar-
ments, and royal honours; and I pray to
God to preserve what I have determined,
in case you be at concord one with an-
other." When the king had thus spoken,
and had saluted every one of his sons
after an obliging manner, he dismissed
the multitude; some of whom gave their
assent to what he said, and wished it
might take effect accordingly; but for
those who wished for a change of affairs,
they pretended they did not so much as
hear what he said.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Malice of Antipater and Doris — Herod pardons
Pheroras and Salome — Herod's eunuchs tortured
— Alexander imprisoned.
But now the quarrel that was between
them still accompanied these brethren
when they parted, and the suspicions they
had one of the other grew worse. Alex-
ander and Aristobulus were much grieved
that the privilege of the firstborn was
confirmed to Antipater; as was Antipater
very angry at his brethren, that they were
to succeed him. But then the last being
of a disposition that was mutable and
politic, he knew how to hold his tongue,
and used a great deal of cunning, and there-
by concealed the hatred he bore to them;
while the former, depending on the no-
bility of their births, had every thing upon
their tongues which was in their minds.
Many also there were who provoked them
further, and many of their [seeming]
friends insinuated themselves into their
acquaintance, to spy out what they did.
Now every thing that was said by Alex-
ander was presently brought to Antipater,
and from Antipater it was brought to
Herod, with additions. Nor could the
young man say any thing in the simpli-
city of his heart, without giving offence,
but what he said was still turned to
calumny against him. And if he had
been at any time a little free in his con-
versation, great imputations were forged
from the smallest occasions. Antipater
also was perpetually setting some to pro-
voke him to speak, that the lies he raised
of him might seem to have some founda-
tion of truth ; and if, among the many
stories that were given out, but one of
them could be proved true, that was sup-
posed to imply the rest to be true also.
And as to Antipater's friends, they were
ail either naturally so cautious in speaking,
or had been so far bribed to conceal their
thoughts, that nothing of these grand
secrets got abroad by their means. Nor
should one be mistaken if he called the
life of Antipater a mystery of wickedness ;
for he either corrupted Alexander's ac-
quaintance with money, or got into their
favour by flatteries; by which two means
he gained all his designs, and brought
them to betray their master, and to steal
away, and reveal what he either did or
said. Thus did he act a part very cun-
ningly in all points, and wrought himself
a passage by his calumnies with the great-
est shrewdness; while he put on a face
as if he were a kind brother to Alexander
and Aristobulus, but suborned other men
to inform of what they did to Herod.
And when any thing was told against
Alexander, he would come in and pre-
tend [to be of his side], and would begin
to contradict what was said ; but would
afterward contrive matters so privately,
that the king should have an indignation
at him. His general aim was this: to
lay a plot, and to make it be believed that
xVlexander lay in wait to kill his father;
for nothing afforded so great a confirma-
tion to these calumnies as did Antipater's
apologies for him.
By these methods Herod was inflamed,
and, as much as his natural affections to
the young men did every day diminish,
so much did it increase toward Antipa-
ter. The courtiers also inclined to the
same couduct ; some of their own accord,
and others by the king's injunction, as
particularly Ptolemy, the king's dearest
friend, as also the king's brethren, and
all his children; for Autipater was all in
all : and what was the bitterest part of
all to Alexander, Antipater's mother was
also all in all; she was one that gave
counsel against them, and was more harsh
than a stepmother, and one that hated
the queen's sons more than is usual to
hate sons-in-law. All men did therefore
already pay their respects to Antipater,
in hopes of advantage ; and it was the
king's command which alienated every
body [from the brethren], he having given
Chap. XXIV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
185
this charge to liis most intimate friends,
that they should not come near, nor pay
any regard to Alexander, or to his friends.
Herod had also become terrible, not only
to his domestics about the court, but to
bis friends abroad; for Caesar had given
such a privilege to no other king as he
had, given to him, which was this: that he
might fetch back any one that fled from
him, even out of a city that was not under
his own jurisdiction. Now the young
men were not acquainted with the calum-
nies raised against them ; for which rea-
son, they could not guard themselves
against them, but fell under them; for
their father did not make any public
complaints against either of them ; though
in a little time they perceived how things
were, by his coldness to them, and by the
great uneasiness he showed upou any
thing that troubled him. Antipater had
also made their uncle Pheroras to be their
enemy, as well as their aunt Salome,
while he was always talking with her as
with a wife, and irritating her against
them. Moreover, Alexander's wife, Grla-
phyra, augmented this hatred against
them, by deriving her nobility and gene-
alogy [from great, persons], and pretend-
ing that she was a lady superior to all
others in that kingdom, as being derived
by her father's side from Temenus, and
by her mother's side from Darius, the son
of Hystaspes. She also frequently re-
proached Herod's sister and wives with
the ignobility of their descent; and that
they were every one chosen by him for
their beauty, but not for their family.
Now those wives of his were not a few ;
it being of old permitted to the Jews to
marry many wives,* and this king de-
lighted in many; all of whom hated Alex-
ander, on account of Glaphyra's boasting
and reproaches.
Nay, Aristobulus had raised a quarrel
between himself and Salome, who was
his mother-in-law, besides the anger he
bad conceived at Glaphyra's reproaches ;
for he perpetually upbraided his wife with
* It was a custom among the Jews and their
forefathers t« have sometimes more wives and con-
cubines than one, at the same time; and that
this polygamy was not directly forbidden in the
law of Moses is evident, hut was never distinctly
permitted in that law. Deut. xvii. 16, 17 ; or xxi.
15. And what Christ says about the common Jew-
ish divorces, seems true in this case also; that
Mums, " for the hardness of their hearts," suf-
fered them to have several wives at the same time;
but that " i'roin the beginning it was not so." Matt.
iix. 8; Mark x. o.
the meanness of her family, and com-
plained, that as he had married a woman
<»f a low family, so had his brother
ander married one of royal blood. At
this Salome's daughter wept, ami told it
her with this addition, that Alexander
threatened the mothers of his other bre-
thren, that when he should come to the
crown, he would make them weave with
their maidens, and would make those
brothers of his, country schoolmasters;
and brake this jest upou them, that they
had been very carefully instructed to fit
them for such an employment. Here-
upon Salome could not contain her anger,
but told all to Herod; nor could her testi-
mony be suspected, since it was against her
own son-in-law. There was also another
calumny that ran abroad, and inflamed
the king's miud; for he heard that these
sons of his were perpetually speaking of
their mother, and, among their lamenta-
tions for her, did not abstain from curs-
ing him; and that when he made pre-
sents of any of Mariamne's garments to
his late wives, these threatened, that in a
little time, instead of royal garments,
they would clothe them in no better than
haircloth.
Now upon these accounts, though He-
rod was somewhat afraid of the young
men's spirit, yet did he not despair of re-
ducing them to a better mind; but be-
fore he went to Rome, whither he was
now going by sea, he called them to him,
and partly threatened them a little, as a
king; but for the main, he admonished
them as a father, and exhorted them to
love their brethren ; and told them that
he would pardon their former offences,
if they would amend for the time to
come. But they refuted the calumnies
that had been raised of them, and said
they were false, and alleged that their
actions were sufficient for their vindica-
tion; and said, withal, that he himself
ought to shut his ears against such talcs,
and not to be too easy in believing them,
for that there would never be wanting
those that would tell lies to their disad-
vantage, as long as any would give ear to
them.
When they had thus soon pacified him,
as beiug their father, they got clear of
the present fear they were in. Yet did
they see occasion for sorrow in some time
afterward; for they knew that Salome,
as well as their uncle Pheroras, was their
enemy; who wore both of them heavy
186
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
and severe persons, and especially Phe-
roras, who was a partner with Herod in
all the affairs of the kingdom, excepting
his diadem. He had also one hundred
talents of his own revenues, and enjoyed
the advantage of all the land beyond
Jordan, which he had received as a gift
from his brother, who had asked of
Caesar to make him a tetrarch, as he was
made accordingly. Herod bad also given
him a wife out of the royal family, who
was no other than his own wife's sister ;
and after her death, bad solemnly espous-
ed to him his own eldest daughter, with
a dowry of 300 talents, but Pheroras re-
fused to consummate, this royal marriage,
out of his affection to a maidservant of
his. Upon which account Herod was
very angry, and gave that daughter in
marriage to a brother's son of his [Jo-
seph], who was slain afterward by the
Parthiansj but in some time he laid aside
his anger against Pheroras, and pardoned
him, as one not able to overcome bis
foolish passion for the maidservant.
Nay, Pheroras had been accused long
before, while the queen [Mariamne] was
alive, as if he were in a plot to poison
Herod; and there came so great a num-
ber of informers, that Herod himself,
though he was an exceeding lover of his
brethren, was brought to believe what
was said, and to be afraid of it also; and
when he had brought many of those that
were under suspicion to the torture, he
came at last to Pheroras's own friends;
none of whom did openly confess the
crime, but they owned that he had made
preparation to take her whom he loved,
and run away to the Parthians. Costo-
barus also, the husband of Salome, to
whom the king had given her in mar-
riage, after her former husband had been
put to death for adultery, was instru-
mental in bringing about this contrivance
and flight of his. Nor did Salome escape
all calumny upon herself; for her bro-
ther Pheroras accused her, that she had
made an agreement to marry Sileus, the
procurator of Obodas, king of Arabia,
who was at bitter enmity with Herod;
but when she was convicted of this, and
of all that Pheroras had accused her of,
she obtained her pardon. The king also
pardoned Pheroras himself the crimes he
had been accused of.
But the storm of the whole family was
removed to Alexander; and all of it
rested upon his head. There were three
eunuchs who weie in the highest esteem
with the king, as was plain by the offices
they were in about him ; for one of them
was appointed to be his butler, another
of them got his supper ready for him,
and the third put him into bed, and lay
down by him. Now, Alexander had pre-
vailed with these men by large gifts, to
let him use them after an obscene man-
ner; which, when it was told to the king,
they were tortured, and found guilty, and
presently confessed the criminal conversa-
tion he had with them. They also disco-
vered the promises by which they were
induced so to do, and how they were de-
luded by Alexander, who had told them
that they ought not to fix their hopes
upon Herod, an old man, and one so
shameless as to colour his hair, unless
they thought that would make him young
again; but that they ought to fix their
attention to him who was to be his suc-
cessor in the kingdom, whether be would
or not; and who, in no long time, would
avenge himself on his enemies, and make
his friends happy and blessed, and them-
selves in the first place; that the men of
power did already pay respects to Alex-
ander privately, and that the captains of
the soldiery and the officers did secretly
come to him.
These confessions did so terrify Herod,
that he durst not immediately publish
them; but he sent spies abroad privately,
by uight and by day, who should make a
close inquiry after all that was done and
said; and when any were but suspected [of
treason] he put them 'to death, insomuch
that the palace was full of horribly un-
just proceedings; for everybody forged
calumnies, as they were themselves iu a
state of enmity or hatred against others ;
and many there were who abused the
king's bloody passion to the disadvantage
of those with whom they bad quarrels,
and lies were easily believed, and punish-
ments were inflicted sooner than the ca-
lumnies were forged. He who had just
then been accusing another, was accused
himself, and was led away to execution
together with him whom he had con-
victed; for the danger the kiug was in of
his life made examinations be very short.
He also proceeded to such a degree of
bitterness, that he could not look on any
of those that were not accused with a
pleasant countenance, but was in the most
barbarous disposition toward his own
friends. Accordingly, he forbade a great
Chap. XX V.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
187
many of them to come to court, and to j the head of him who had contrived to
those whom he had not power to punish murder his father, which I will tear ta
actually, he spake harshly ; but for Anti- pieces with my own hands? I will do
pater, he insulted Alexander, now he was J the same also to my daughter, who hath
under his misfortunes, and got a stout such a fine husband; for although Bhe be
company of his kindred together, and not a partner in the plot, yet, by beino-
raised all sorts of calumny against him: j the wife of such a creature, she is polluted.
and for the king, he was brought to such And I cannot but admire at thy patience,
a degree of terror by those prodigious I against whom this plot is laid, if Alex-
slanders and contrivances, that he fancied
he saw Alexander coming to him with
a drawn sword in his hand. So he caused
him to be seized upon immediately and
bound, and fell to examining his friends
by torture, many of whom died [under
the torture], but would discover nothing,
nor say any thing against their con-
sciences; but some of them, being forced
to speak falsely by the pains they en-
dured, said that Alexander and his bro-
ther Aristobulus plotted against him, and
waited for an opportunity to kill him as
he was hunting, and then fly away to
Rome. These accusations, though they
were of an incredible nature, and onty
framed upon the great distress they were
in, were readily believed by the king, who
thought it some comfort to him, after he
had bound his son, that it might appear
he had not done it unjustly.
CHAPTER XXV.
Archelaus procures a reconciliation between Alex-
ander, Pheroras, and Herod.
Now as to Alexander, since he per-
ceived it impossible to persuade his father
[that he was innocent], he resolved to
meet his calamities, how severe soever
they were ; so he composed four books
against his enemies, and confessed that
he had been in a plot; but declared withal
that the greatest part [of the courtiers]
were in a plot with him, and chiefly
Pheroras and Salome ; nay, that Salome
once came and forced him to lie with her
in the night-time, whether he would or
no. These books were put into Herod's
hands, and made a great clamour against
the men in power. And now it was that
Archelaus came hastily into Judea, as
being affrighted for his son-in-law and his
daughter; and he came as a proper assist-
ant, and in a very prudent manner, and
by a stratagem he obliged the king not
to execute what he had threatened; for
when he had come to him he cried out,
"Where in the world is this wretched
son-in-law of mine ? Where shall I see at Pheroras, who, perceiving that the
ander be still alive ; for as I came with
what haste I could from Cappadocia, I
expected to find him put to death for his
crimes long ago; but still, in order to
make an examination with thee about
my daughter, whom, out of regard to
thee, and thy dignity, I had espoused to
him in marriage, but now we must take
counsel about them both ; and if thy
paternal affection be so great, that thou
canst not punish thy son, who hath plot-
ted against thee, let us change our right
hands, and let us succeed one to the
other in expressing our rage upon this
occasion."
When he had made this pompous de-
claration, he got Herod to remit of his
anger, though he was in disorder, who,
thereupon, gave him the books which
Alexander had composed to be read by
him; and as he came to every head, he
considered of it, together with Herod.
So Archelaus took hence the occasion for
that stratagem which he made use of, and
by degrees he laid the blame on these
men whose namejs were in these books,
and especially upon Pheroras; and when
he saw that the king believed him [to be
earnest], he said, "We must consider
whether the young man be not himself
plotted against by such a number of
wicked wretches, and not thou plotted
against by the young man ; for I cannot
see any occasion for his falling into so
horrid a crime, since he enjoys the ad-
vantages of royalty already, and has the
expectation of being one of thy succes-
sors ; I mean this, unless there were some
persons that persuade him to it, and such
persons as make an ill use of the facility
they know there is to persuade young
men; for by such persons, not only
young men are sometimes imposed upon,
but old men also ; and by them some-
times are the most illustrious families and
kingdoms overturned."
Herod assented to what he had said,
and, by degrees, abated of his anger
against Alexander; but was more angry
188
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book l
king's inclinations changed on a sudden,
and that Archelaus's friendship could do
every thing with him, and that he had
no honourable method of preserving him-
self, he procured his safety by his impu-
dence. So bo left Alexander, and had
recourse to Archelaus; who told him that
he did not see how he could get him ex-
cused, now he was directly caught in so
many crimes, whereby it was evidently
demonstrated that he had plotted against
the king, and had been the cause of those
misfortunes which the young man was
now under, unless he would moreover
leave oft' his cunning knavery and his de-
nials of what he was charged withal, and
confess the charge, and implore pardon
of his brother, who still had a kindness
for him ; but that if he would do so, he
would afford him all the assistance he was
able.
With this advice Pheroras complied,
and, putting himself into such a habit as
might most move compassion, he came
with black cloth upon his body, and tears
in his eyes, and threw himself down at
Herod's feet, and begged his pardon for
what he had done, and confessed that he
had acted very wickedly, and was guilty
of every thing that he had been accused
of, and lamented that disorder of his
mind and distraction which his love to
a woman, he said, had brought him to.
So when Archelaus had brought Phero-
ras to accuse and bear witness against
himself, he then made an excuse for him,
and mitigated Herod's anger toward him,
and this by using certain domestic exam-
ples ; for that when he had suffered much
greater mischiefs from a brother of his
own, he preferred the obligations of na-
ture before the passion of revenge; be-
cause it is in kingdoms as it is in gross
bodies, where some member or other is
ever swelled by the body's weight ; in
which case it is not proper to cut off such
member, but to heal it by a gentle me-
thod of cure.
Upon Archelaus's saying this, and
much more to the same purpose, Herod's
displeasure against Pheroras was softened ;
yet did he persevere in his own indigna-
tion against Alexander, and said he would
have his daughter divorced and taken
away from him, and this till he had
brought Herod to that pass, that, contrary
to his former behaviour to him, be peti-
tioned Archelaus for the young man, and
that he would let his daughter continue
espoused to him : but Archelaus made
him strongly believe that he would per-
mit her to be married to any one else, but
not to Alexander; because he looked
upon it as a very valuable advantage, that
the relation they had contracted by that
affinity, and the privileges that went along
with it might be preserved; and when
the king said that his son would take it
for a great favour done to him if be
would not dissolve the marriage, especially
since they had already children between
the young man aud her, and since that
wife of his was so well beloved by him,
and that as while she remains his wife she
would be a great preservative to him,
and keep him from offending, as he had
formerly done; so if she should be torn
away from him, she would be the cause
of his falling into despair; because such
young men's attempts are best mollified
when they are diverted from them, by
settling their affections at home. So Ar-
chelaus complied with what Herod desired,
but not without difficulty, and was both
himself reconciled to the young man, and
reconciled his father to him also. How-
ever, he said he must, by all means, be
sent to Rome to discourse with Csesar,
because he had already written a full
account to him of this whole matter.
Thus a period was put to Archelaus's
stratagem, whereby he delivered his son-
in-law out of the dangers he was in; but
when these reconciliations were over, they
spent their time in feastings and agreeable
entertainments ; and when Archelaus was
going away, Herod made him a present
of 70 talents, with a golden throne set
with precious stones, and some eunuchs,
and a concubine who was called Panny-
chis. He also paid due honours to every
one of his friends according to their dig-
nity. In like manner did all the king's
kindred, by his command, make glorious
presents to Archelaus; and so he was con-
ducted on his way by Herod and his
nobility as far as Antioch.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Eurycles* calumniates tbe sons of Mariamne —
Euaratus's apology has no effect.
Now a little afterward, there came into
Judea, a man that was much superior to
* Eurycles, the Lacedemonian, seems to have
been the same who is mentioned by Plutarch, as
(25 years before) a companion to Mark Antony,
Chap. XXVI.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
189
Archelaus's stratagems, who did not only
overturn that reconciliation that had been
80 wisely made with Alexander, but
proved the occasion of his ruin. lie was
a Lacedemonian, and his name was Eury-
cles. He was so corrupt a man, that out
of the desire of getting money, he chose
to live under a king, for Greece could not
suffice his luxury. He presented Herod
with splendid gifts as a bait which belaid,
in order to compass his ends, and quickly
receive them back manifold; yet did he
esteem bare gifts as nothing, unless he
imbrued the kingdom in blood by Ins
purchases. Accordingly, he imposed upon
the king by flattering him, and by talking
subtilely to him, as also by the lying en-
comiums which he made upon him; for as
be soon perceived Herod's bliud side, so
be said, and did every thing that might
please him, and thereby became one of
his most intimate friends; for both the
king and all that were about him, had a
great regard for this Spartan, on account
of his country.
Now as soon as this fellow perceived
the rotten parts of the family, and what
quarrels the brothers had one with ano-
ther, and in what disposition the father
was toward each of them, he chose to
claim to the succession, and (bis when he
had Archelaus to support him in the most
complete manner. Nor was his advice
thought to be other than faithful by the
young man, because of his pretended
friendship with Archelaus; on which ac-
count it was that Alexander lamented to
him Antipater's behaviour with regard
to himself, and this without concealing
any thing from him ; and how it was no
wonder, if Herod, after he had killed their
mother, should deprive them of her king-
dom. Upon this, Eurycles pretended to
commiserate his condition, and to grieve
with him. He also, by a bait that he
laid for him, procured Aristobulus to say
the same things. Thus did he inveigle
both the brothers to make complaints of
their father, and then went to Antipater,
and carried these grand secrets to him.
He also added a fiction of his own, as if
his brothers had laid a plot against him,
and were almost ready to come upon him
with their drawn swords. For this intel-
ligence he received a great sum of money,
and on that account he commended Anti-
pater before his father, and at length un-
dertook the work of bringing Alexander
and Aristobulus to their graves, and ac-
cused them before their father. So he
was towaru oaeu ui mem, .«, ^..^v, -~ { ~-.,~_ — -— - .,,,,. ., , , ij
take his lodeinfi at the first in the house I came to Herod and told him that he would
of Antipater, but deluded Alexander with
a pretence of friendship to him, and falsely
claimed to be an old acquaintance of Ar-
chelaus; for which reason he was presently
admitted iuto Alexander's familiarity as a
faithful friend. He also soon recom-
mended himself to his brother Aristobu-
lus; and when he had thus made trial of
these several persons, he imposed upon one
of them by one method, and upon another
by another; but he was principally hired
by Antipater, and so betrayed Alexander,
and this by reproaching Antipater, be-
cause, while he was the eldest son, he
overlooked the intrigues of those who
stood in the way of his expectations; and
by reproaching Alexander, because he
who was born of a queen, and was mar-
ried to a king's daughter, permitted one
that was born of a mean woman to lay
and as Living with Herod ; whence be might easily
ite himself into the acquaintance oi Herod's
aons, Antipater and Alexander. The reason why
his being a Spartan rendered him acceptable to
ns is visible from the public records of the
Jews and Spartans, owning them to be of kin to
the Jews, and derived from their common ancestor
Abraham, the first patriarch of the Jewish nation.
Mace, ch in. xii. ver. 7.
save his life, as a requital for the favours
he had received from him, and would pre-
serve his light [or life] by way of retribu-
tion for his kind entertainment; for that
a sword had been long whetted, and Alex-
ander's right hand had been long stretched
out agaiust him ; but that he laid impedi-
ments in bis way, prevented his speed,
and that, by pretending to assist him in
his design : how Alexander said that
Herod was not contented to reign in a
kingdom that belonged to others, and to
make dilapidations in their mother's go-
vernment after he had killed her; but
besides all this, that he introduced a spu-
rious successor, and proposed to give the
kingdom of their ancestors to that pesti-
lent fellow Antipater; that be would now
appease the ghosts of Hyrcanus and Ma-
riamue, by taking vengeance on him; lor
that it was not fit for him to take the suc-
cession to the government from such a
father without bloodshed: that many
things happen every day to provoke him
so to do, insomuch that he can say no-
thing at all, but it affords occasion for
calumny against him; for that, if any
mention be made of nobility or birth,
190
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
evt n in other case?, he is abused unjustly,
while his father would say that nobody,
to be sure, is of noble birth but Alexan-
der, and that his father was inglorious for
want of such nobility. If they be at any
time hunting, and he says nothing, he
gives offence; and if he commends any
body, they take it in way of jest; that
they always find their father unmercifully
severe, and having no natural affections
for any of them but for Antipater; on
which accounts if this plot does not take,
he is very willing to die; but that in case
he kill his father, he hath sufficient oppor-
tunity for saving himself. In the first
place he hath Archelaus his father-in-law,
to whom he can easily fly ; and in the
next place he hath Caesar, who had never
known Herod's character to this day ; for
that he shall not appear then before him
with that dread he used to do when his
father was there to terrify him; and that
he will not then produce the accusations
that concerned himself alone, but would,
in the first place, openly insist on the
calamities of their nation, and how they
are taxed to death, aud in what ways of
luxury and wicked practices that wealth
is spent which was gotten by bloodshed ;
what sort of persons they are that get our
riches, and to whom those cities belong
upon whom he bestows his favours; that
he would have inquiry made what became
of his grandfather [Hyrcanus], and his
mother [Mariamne], and would openly
proclaim the gross wickedness that was
in the kingdom; on which accounts he
should not be deemed a parricide.
When Eurycles had made this porten-
tous speech, he greatly commended Anti-
pater as the ouly child that had an affec-
tion for his father, and on that account
was an impediment to the other's plot
against him. Hereupon the king, who
had hardly repressed his anger upon the
former accusations, was exasperated to an
incurable degree. At which time Anti-
pater took another occasion to send in
other persons to his father to accuse his
brethren, and to tell him that they had
privately discoursed with Jucuudus and
Tyrannus, who had once been masters of
the horse to the king, but for some offences
bad been put out of that honourable
employment. Herod was in a very great,
rage at these informations, and presently
ordered those men to be tortured : yet did
not they confess any thing of what the
king had been informed; but a certain
letter was produced, as written by Alex-
ander to the governor of a castle, to desire
him to receive him and Aristobulus into
the castle when he had killed his father,
and to give them weapons, and what other
assistance he could upon that occasion.
Alexander said that this letter was a
forgery by Diophantus. This Diophantus
was the king's secretary, a bold man, cun-
ning in counterfeiting any one's hand;
and after he had counterfeited a great
number, he was at last put to death for it.
Herod did also order the governor of the
castle to be tortured ; but got nothing out
of him of what the accusations suggested.
However, although Herod found the
proofs too weak, he gave order to have his
sons kept in custody; for till now they
had been at liberty. He also called that
pest of his family, and forger of all this
vile accusation, Eurycles, his saviour and
benefactor, and gave him a reward of 50
talents. Upon which he prevented any
accurate accounts that could come of what
he had done, by going immediately into
Cappadocia, and there he got money of
Archelaus, having the impudence to pre-
tend that he had reconciled Herod to
Alexander. He thence passed over into
Greece, and used what he had thus wicked-
ly gotten to the like wicked purposes.
Accordingly he was twice accused before
Caesar, that he had filled Achaia with sedi-
tion, and had plundered its cities : so he
was sent into banishment. And thus was
he punished for what wicked actions he
had been guilty of about Aristobulus aud
Alexander.
But it will be now worth while to put
Euaratus of Cos in opposition to this Spar-
tan ; for as he was one of Alexander's
most intimate friends, and came to him in
his travels at the same time that Eury-
cles came; so the king put the question
to him whether those things of which
Alexander was accused were true ? He
assured him upon oath that he had never
heard any such things from the young
men; yet did this testimony avail nothing
for the clearing those miserable creatures :
for Herod was only disposed the most
readily to hearken to what was made
against them, and every one was most
agreeable to him that would believe they
were guilty, and showed their indignation
at them.
Chap XXVII J
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
191
CHAPTER XXVII.
Ilemd, by Caesar's directions, accuses his sons at
Berytus — They are condemned and sent to 6e-
baste, and strangled shortly afterward.
Moreover, Salome exasperated He-
rod's cruelty against bis sons ; for Aristo-
bulus was desirous to bring her, who was
his mother-in-law and his aunt, into the
like danger with themselves: so he sent
to her to take care of her own safety, and
told her that the king was prepared to
put her to death on account of the accu-
sation that was laid against her, as if,
when she formerly endeavoured to marry
herself to Syleus the Arabian, she had
discovered the king's grand secrets to
him, who was the king's enemy; and this
it was that came at the last storm, and
entirely sunk the young men, who were in
great danger before ; for Salome came
running to the king, and informed him of
what admonition had been given her;
whereupon he could bear no longer, but
commanded both the young men to be
bound, and kept the one asunder from the
other. He also sent Volumius, the gene-
ral of his army, to Cassar immediately,
as also his friend Olympus with him, who
carried the information in writing along
with them. Now, as soon as they had
sailed to Koine and delivered the king's
letters to Caesar, Caasar was mightily trou-
bled at the case of the young men ; yet
did not he think he ought to take the
power from the father of condemning his
sons; so he wrote back to him, and ap-
pointed him to have the power over his
sons ; but said withal, that he would do
well to make an examination into this
matter of the plot against him in a public
court, and to take for his assessors his
own kindred and the governors of the
province; and if those sons be found
guilty, to put them to death; and if they
appear to have thought of no more than
only flying away from him, that he should,
in that case, moderate their punishment.
With these directions Herod complied,
and came to Berytus, where Caesar had
ordered the court to be assembled, and
got the judicature together. The presi-
dents sat first, as Caesar's letters had ap-
pointed, who were Saturninus and Pe-
danius, and their lieutenants that were
with them, with whom was the procurator
Volumniua also; next to them sat the
king's kinsmen and friends, with Salome
also, and Pheroras; after them sat the
principal men of all Syria, excepting
Archelaus; for Herod had a suspicion of
him, because he was Alexander's father-
in-law. Yet did not he produce his sons
in open court; and this was done very
cunningly, for he knew well enough, that
had the}' but appeared only, they would
certainly have been pitied; and if withal
they had been suffered to speak, Alexan-
der would easily have answered what they
were accused of; but they were in custody
at Platane, a village of the Sidonians.
So the king got up, and inveighed
against his sons as if they were present;
and as for that part of the accusation that
they had plotted against him, he urged it
but faintly, because he was destitute of
proof; but he insisted before the assessors
on the reproaches, and jests, and injurious
carriage, and ten thousand the like of-
fences against them, which were heavier
than death itself; and when nobody con-
tradicted him, he moved them to pity his
case, as though he had been condemned
himself, now he had gained a bitter vic-
tory against his sons. So he asked every
one's sentence, which sentence was first
of all given by Saturninus, and was this:
that he condemned the young men, but
not to death ; for that it was not fit for
him, who had three sons of his own now
present, to give his vote for the destruc-
tion of the sons of another. The two
lieutenants also gave the like vote ; some
others there were also who followed their
example; but Volunmius began to vote
on the more melancholy side, aud all
those that came after this condemned the
young men to die — some out of flattery,
and some out of hatred to Herod; but
none out of indignation at their crimes.
And now all Syria and Judca was in great
expectation, and waited for the last act
of this tragedy; yet did nobody suppose
that Herod would be so barbarous as to
murder his children : however, he carried
them away to Tyre, and thence sailed to
Cesarea, and then he deliberated with
himself what sort of death the young men
should suffer.
Now there was a certain old soldier of
the king's whose name was Tero, whu had
a son that was very familiar with, and a
friend to Alexander, and who himself
particularly loved the young men. This
soldier was in a manner distracted, out
of the excess of the indignation he had
at what was doing; and at first he cried
out aloud, as he went abuut, that justice
=n
192
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book 1
was trampled under foot, that truth had
perished, and nature confounded, and
that the life of man was full of iniquiry,
and every thing else that passion could
suggest to a man who spared not liis own
life ; and at last he ventured to go to the
king, and said, "Truly, I think, thou art
a most miserable man, when thou hearkeu-
est to most wicked wretches against
those that ought to be dearest to thee;
since thou hast, frequently resolved that
Pheroras and Salome should be put to
death, and yet believest them against thy
sons, while these, by cutting off the suc-
cession of thine own sons, leave all wholly
to Antipater, aud thereby choose to have
thee such a king as may be thoroughly in
their own power. However, consider
whether this death of Antipater's brethren
will not make him hated by the soldiers;
for there is nobody but commiserates the
young men; and of the captains a great
many show their indignation at it openly."
Upon his saying this, he named those
that had such indignation ; but the king
ordered those men, with Tero himself, and
his son, to be seized upon immediately.
At which time there was a certain
barber, whose name was Trypho. This
man leaped out from among the people in
a kind of madness, and accused himself,
and said, " this Tero encboavoured to per-
suade me also to cut thy throat with my
razor when I trimmed thee; and promised
that Alexander should give me large pre-
sents for so doing." When Herod heard
this, he examined Tero, with his son, and
the barber by the torture; but as the
others denied the accusation, aud he said
nothing further, Herod gave order that
Tero should be racked more severely ; but
his son, out of pity to his father, promised
to discover the whole to the king, if he
would grant [that his father should be
no longer tortured]. When he had
agreed to this, he said that his father, at
the persuasion of Alexander, had an in-
tention to kill him. Now some said this
was forged, in order to free his father
from his torments; and some said it was
true.
And now Herod accused the captains
and Tero in an assembly of the people,
and brought the people together in a body
against them ; and accordingly, there
were they put to death, together with
[Trypho] the barber; they were killed by
the pieces of wood and stones that wire
thrown at them. He also sent his sons
to Sebaste, a city not far fiom Cesarea,
and ordered them to be there strangled ;
and as what he had ordered was executed
immediately, so he commanded that their
dead bodies should be brought to the
fortress Alexandrium, to be buried with
Alexander, their grand-father by the mo-
ther's side. And this was the end of
Alexander and Aristobulus.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Antipater hated by all — the king espouses th*
sons of those that had been slain to his kindred
— Antipater induces him to change them for
other women — Herod's marriages aud children.
But an intolerable hatred fell upon
Antipater from the nation, though he had
now an indisputable title to the succession;
because they all knew that he was the
person who contrived all the calumnies
against his brethren. However, he began
to be in a terrible fear, as he saw the
posterity of those that had been slain
growing up ; for Alexander had two sons
by Glaphyra, Tygranes and Alexander;
and Aristobulus had Herod and Agrippa
and Aristobulus, his sons, with Herodias
and Mariamne, .his daughters; and all by
Bernice, Salome's daughter. As for Gla-
phyra, Herod, as soon as he had killed
Alexander, sent her back, together with
her portion, to Cappadocia. He married
Bernice, Aristobulus's daughter, to Anti-
pater's uncle by his mother, and it was
Antipater who, in order to reconcile her
to him, when she had been at variance
with him, contrived this match; he also
got into Pheroras's favour, and into the
favour of Cesar's friends, by presents
and other ways of obsequiousness, and
sent no small sums of money to Borne ;
Saturninus also, and his friends in Syria,
were all well replenished with the pre-
sents he made them ; yet, the more he
gave the more he was hated, as not mak-
ing these presents out of generosity, but
spending his money out of fear. Accord-
ingly it so fell out, that the receivers
bore him no more good-will than before,
but that those to whom he gave nothing at
all were his more bitter enemies. How-
ever, he bestowed his money every day
more and more profusely, on observing
that, contrary to his expectations, the king
was taking care about the orphans, and
discovering at the same time his repent-
ance for killing their fathers, by his
commiseration of those that sprang from
them.
Chap. XXVIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
193
Accordingly, Herod got together his
kindred and friends, and set them before
the children, and -with his (70s full of
tears, said thus to them : " It was an un-
lucky fate that took away from me these
children's fathers, which children are re-
cm mended to me by that natural com-
miseration which their orphan condition
requires; however, I will endeavour,
though I have been a most unfortunate
father, to appear a better grandfather,
and to leave these children such curators
after myself as are dearest to me. I
therefore betroth thy daughter, Phcro-
ras, to the elder of these brethren, the
children of Alexander, that thou mayest
be obliged to take care of them. I also
betroth to thy son Antipater, the daughter
of Aristobulus; be thou, therefore, a
father to that orphan; and my son Herod
[Philip] shall have her sister, whose
grandfather, by the mother's side, was
high priest. And let every one that loves
me be of my sentiments in these disposi-
tions, whom none that hath an affection
for me will abrogate. And I pray God
that he will join these children together
in marriage, to the advantage of my king-
dom, and of my posterity ; and may he
look down with eyes more serene upon
them than he looked upon their fathers."
While he spake these words, he wept,
and joined the children's right hands
together : after which, he embraced them
every one after an affectionate manner,
and dismissed the assembly. Upon this,
Antipater was in great disorder imme-
diately, and lamented publicly at what
was done; for he supposed that this
dignity, which was conferred on these
orphans, was for his own destruction,
even in his father's lifetime, and that he
should run another risk of losing the
government if Alexander's sons should
have both Archelaus [a king] and Phero-
ras a tetrarch to support them. He also
considered how he was himself hated by
the nation, and how they pitied these
orphans; how great affection the Jews
bore to those brethren of his when they
were alive, and how gladly they remem-
bered them, now they had perished by
his means. So he resolved, by all the
ways possible, to get these espousals dis-
solved.
Now he was afraid of going subtilely
about this matter with his father, who
was hard to be pleased, and was presently
moved upon the least suspicion : so he
Vol. II.— 13
ventured to go to him directly, and to
beg of him before his face, not to deprive
him of that dignity which he had been
pleased to bestow upon him; and that he
might not have the bare name of a king,
while the power was in other persons;
for that he should never be able to keep
the government, if Alexander's son was
to have both his grandfather Archelaus
and Pheroras for his curators ; and he be-
sought him earnestly, since there were so
many of the royal family alive, that he
would change those [intended] marriages.
Now the king had nine wives,* and chil-
dren by seven of them; Antipater was
himself born of Doris, and Herod [Philip]
of Mariamne, the high priest's daughter;
Antipas also and Archelaus were by 31al-
thace, the Samaritan, as was his daughter
Olympias, which his brother Joseph's"}"
son had married. By Cleopatra of Jerusa-
lem he had Herod and Philip ; and by
Pallas, Phasaelus: he had also two daugh-
ters, Roxana and Salome, the one by
Phedra, and the other by Elpis; he had
also two wives who had no children, the
one his 6rst cousin, and the other his niece ;
and besides these he had two daughters,
the sisters of Alexander and Aristobulus,
by Mariamne. Since, therefore, the royal
family was so numerous, Antipater prayed
him to change these intended marriages.
When the king perceived what dispo-
sition he was in toward these orphans, he
was angry at it, and a suspicion came
into his mind as to those sons whom he
had put to death, whether that had not
been brought about by the false tales of
Antipater; so at that time he made An-
tipater a long and a peevish answer, and
bade him begone. Yet was he afterward
prevailed upon cunningly by his flatteries,
and changed the marriages; he married
Aristobulus's daughter to him, and his
son to Pheroras's daughter.
Now one may learn, in this instance,
how very much this flattering Antipater
* Dean Aldrich takes notice here, that theso
nino wives of Herod were alive at the same time,
ami that if the celebrated Mariamne, who was now
dead, be reckoned, those wives were in all ten.
Yet it is remarkable that he had no more than
fifteen children by them all.
f To prevent confusion, it may not lie amiss to
distinguish between four Josephs in the history
of Herod. 1. Joseph, Ilerod's uncle, and the
[second] husband of his sister Salome, slain by
Herod on account of Mariamne. 2. Joseph, He-
rod's quaestor or treasurer, slain on the same ac-
count. 3. Joseph, Herod's brother, slain in battle
against Antigonus. I. Joseph, Herod's nephew,
the husband of Olympias, mentioned in this place.
194
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book I.
could do, — even what Salome in the like
circumstances could not do; for when she,
who was his sisrer, had, by the means of
Julia, Caesar's wife, earnestly desired
leave to be married to Syllcus the Ara-
bian, Herod swore he would esteem her
his bitter enemy unless she would leave
off that project: he also caused her,
against her own consent, to be married to
Alexas, a friend of his, and that one of
her daughters should be married to
Alexas's son, and the other to Antipater's
uncle by the mother's side. And for the
daughters that the king had by Mariamne,
the one was married to Antipater, his
sister's son, and the other to his brother's
son, Phasaelus.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Intolerance of Antipater — he is sent to Rome —
Pheroras refuses to divorce his wife.
Now when Antipater had cut off the
hopes of the orphans, and had contracted
such affinities as would be most for his
own advantage, he proceeded briskly, as
having a certain expectation of the king-
dom ; and as he had now assurances add-
ed to his wickedness, he became intole-
rable; for not being able to avoid the
hatred of all people, he built his security
upon the terror he struck into them.
Pheroras also assisted him in his designs,
looking upon him as already fixed in the
kingdom. There was also a company of
women in the court who excited new
disturbances; for Pheroras's wife, together
with her mother and sister, as also Anti-
pater's mother, grew very impudent in
the palace. She also was so insolent as
to affront the king's two daughters,* on
which account the king hated her to a
great degree; yet, although these women
were hated by him, they domineered over
others : there was also Salome, who op-
posed their good agreement, and informed
the king of their meetings, as not being
for the advantage of his affairs; and
when those women knew what calumnies
she had raised against them, and how
much Herod was displeased, they left off
their public meetings and friendly enter-
tainments of one another; nay, on the
contrary, they pretended to quarrel one
with another when the king was within
hearing. The like dissimulation did An-
tipater make use of; and when matters
* These daughters of Herod, whom Pheroras's
wife afi'rouU'd, were Salome ami Roxana.
were public, he opposed Pheroras; but
still they had private cabals, and merry
meetings in the night-time; nor did the
observation of others do any more than
confirm their mutual agreement. How-
ever, Salome knew every thing they did,
and told every thing to Herod.
But he was inflamed with anger at
them, and chiefly at Pheroras's wife; for
Salome had principally accused her. So
lie got an assembly of his friends and
kindred together, and there accused this
woman of many things, and particularly
of the affronts she had offered his daugh-
ter; and that she had supplied the Phari-
sees with money, by way of rewards for
what they had done against him, and had
procured his brother to become his enemy,
by giving him love-potions. At length
he turned his speech to Pheroras, and
told him that he would give him his
choice of these two things: whether he
would keep in with his brother, or with
his wife ? and when Pheroras said that
he certainly would die rather than forsake
his wife, Herod, not knowing what to do
further in that matter, turned his speech
to Antipater, and charged him to have
no intercourse either with Pheroras's
wife or with Pheroras himself, or with
any one belonging to her. Now, though
Antipater did not transgress that his in-
junction publicly, yet did he in secret
come to their night-meetings: and be-
cause he was afraid that Salome observed
what he did, he procured by the means of
his Italian friends, that he might go and
live at Rome; for when they wrote that
it was proper for Antipater to be sent to
Cajsar for some time, Herod made no de-
lay, but sent him, and that with a splen-
did attendance and a great deal of money,
and gave him his testament to carry with
him, wherein Antipater had the kingdom
bequeathed to him, and wherein Herod
was named for Antipater's successor ; that
Herod, I mean, who was the son of Ma-
riamne, the high priest's daughter.
Sylleus also, the Arabian, sailed to
Rome, without any regard to Caesar's in-
junctions, and this in order to oppose
Antipater with all his might, as to that
lawsuit which Nicolaus had with him
before. This Sylleus had also a great
contest with Aretas, his own king, for he
had slain many of Aretas's friends, and
particularly Sohemus, the most potent man
in the city Petra. Moreover, he had pre-
vailed with Phabatus, who was Herod'a
Cnu>. XXX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
195
steward, by giving him a groat sum of
money, to assist him against Herod; but
when Herod gave him more, lie induced
him to leave Sylleus, and by bis means be
demanded of him all that Caesar had re-
quired of him to pay; but when Sylleus
paid nothing of what he was to pay, and
did also accuse Phabatus to Caesar, and
said that he was not a steward for Caesar's
advantage, but for Herod's, Phabatus was
angry at him on that account, but was
still in very great esteem with Herod, and
discovered Sylleus's grand secrets, and
told the king that Sylleus had corrupted
Corintbus, one of the guards of his body,
by bribing him, and of whom he must
therefore have a care. Accordingly, the
king complied; fortius Corintbus, though
be was brought up in Herod's kingdom,
yet was by birth an Arabian ; so the
king ordered him to be taken up imme-
diately, and not only him, but two other
Arabians, who were caught with him ; the
one of them was Sylleus's friend, the
other the head of a tribe. These last,
being put to the torture, confessed that
they had prevailed with Corintbus, for a
large sum of money, to kill Herod; and
when they had been further examined
before Saturninus, the president of Syria,
they were sent to Rome.
However, Herod did not leave off im-
portuning Pheroras, but proceeded to
force him to put away his wife ; yet could
he not devise any way by which he could
bring the woman herself to punishment,
although he had many causes of hatred
to her; till at length he was in such great
uneasiness at her, that he cast both her
and his brother out of his kingdom.
Pheroras took this injury very patiently,
and went away into his own tetrarchy
[Perea, beyond Jordan], and sware that
there should be but one end put to his
flight, and that should be Herod's death;
and that he would never return while he
was alive. Nor indeed would he return
when his brother was sick, although he
earnestly sent for him to come to him,
because he bad a mind to leave some in-
junctions with him before he died : but
Herod unexpectedly recovered. A little
afterward Pheroras himself fell sick, when
Herod showed great moderation ; for he
came to him and pitied his case, and took
care of him : but his affection for him did
him no good, for Pheroras died a little
afterward. Now, though Herod had so
great an affection for him to the last day
of his life, yet was a report spread abroad
that he had killed him by poison. How-
ever, he took care to have bis dead body
carried to Jerusalem, and appointed a
very great mourning to the whole nation
for him, and bestowed a must pompous
funeral upon him ; and this was the rod
that one of Alexander's and Aristobulus's
murderers came to.
CHAPTER XXX.
Herod inquires into the death of Pheroras — Con-
sequences thereof.
But now the punishment was trans-
ferred unto the original author, Anti pa-
ter, and took its rise from the death of
Pheroras ; for certain of his freed men
came with a sad countenance to the king,
and told him that his brother had been
destroyed by poison, and that his wife
bad brought him somewhat that was pre-
pared after an unusual manner, and that
upon his eating it, he presently fell into
his distemper; that Antipater's mother
and sister, two days before, brought a
woman out of Arabia that was skilful in
mixing such drugs, that she might pre-
pare a love-potion for Pheroras; and that,
instead of a love-potion, she had given
him deadly poison ; and that this was
done by the management of Sylleus, who
was acquainted with that woman.
The king was deeply affected with so
many suspicions, and had the maidser-
vants and some of the freewomen also
tortured; one of them cried out in her
agonies, "May that God that governs the
earth and the heaven, punish the author
of all these our miseries, Antipater's mo-
ther !" The king took a handle from
this confession, and proceeded to inquire
further into the truth of this matter. So
this woman discovered the friendship of
Antipater's mother to Pheroras and An-
tipater's women, as also their secret meet-
ings, and that Pheroras and Antipaterbad
drunk with them for a whole night to-
gether as they returned from the king,
and would not suffer anybody, either
manservant or maidservant, to be there;
while one of the freewomen discovered
the whole of the matter.
Upon this, Herod tortured the maid-
servants, every one by themselves sepa-
rately : who all unanimously agreed in
the foregoing discoveries, and that accord-
ingly by agreement they went away,
Antipater to Rome, and Pheroras tc
19(5
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[EockI
Perea ; for they that oftentimes talked to
one another thus : that after Herod had
slain Alexander and Aristobulus, he would
fall upon them, and upon their wives, be-
cause after he had not spared Mariamne
and her children, he would spare nobody;
and that for this reason it was best to get
as far off the wild beast as they were able :
and that Antipater oftentimes lamented
his own case before his mother; and said
to her, that he had already gray hairs
upon his head, and that his father grew
younger every day, and that perhaps death
would overtake him before he should be-
gin to be a king in earnest; and that in
case Herod should die, which yet nobody
knew when it would be, the enjoyment of
the succession could certainly be but for
a little time; for that these heads of Hy-
dra, the sons of Alexander and Aristobu-
lus, were growing up : that he was de-
prived by his father of the hopes of being
succeeded by his children, for that his
successor after his death was not to be any
one of his own sons, but Herod the son
(if Mariamne: that in this point Herod
was plainly distracted, to think that his
testament should therein take place; for
he would take care that not one of his
posterity should remain, because he was,
of all fathers, the greatest hater of his
children. Yet does he hate his brother
still worse ; whence it was that he a while
ago gave himself 100 talents, that he
should not have any intercourse with Phe-
roras. And when Pheroras said, wherein
have we done him any harm ? Antipa-
ter replied, "I wish he would but deprive
us of all we have, and leave us naked and
alive only; but it is indeed impossible to
escape this wild beast, who is thus given
to murder; who will not permit us to love
any person openly, although we be to-
gether privately; yet may we be so openly
too, if we are but endowed with the
courage and the hands of men."
These things were said by the women
upon the torture : as also that Pheroras
resolved to fly with them to Perca. Now
Herod gave credit to all they said, on
account of the affair of the 100 talents;
for he had had no discourse with anybody
about them, but only with Antipater. So
he vented his anger first of all against
Autijiater's mother, and took away from
her all the ornaments which he had given
her, which cost a great many talents, and
cast her out of the palace a second time.
He also took care of Phcroras's women
after their tortures, as being now recon-
ciled to them; but be was in great con'
sternation himself, and inflamed upon
every suspicion, and had many innocent
persons led to the torture, out of his fear
lest he should perhaps leave any guilty
person untortured.
And now it was that he betook himself
to examine Antipater of Samaria, who
was the steward of [his son] Antipater;
and upon torturing him, he learned that
Antipater had sent for a potion of deadly
poison for him out of Egypt, by Antiphi-
las, a companion of his; that Theudio,
the uncle of Antipater, had it from him,
and delivered it to Pheroras; for that
Antipater had charged him to take his
father off while he was at Rome, and so
free him from the suspicion of doing it
himself: that Pheroras also committed
this potion to his wife. Then did the
king send for her, and bade her bring to
him what she had received immediately.
So she came out of her house as if she
would bring it with her, but threw herself
down from the top of the house, in order
to prevent any examination and torture
from the king. However, it came to
pass, as it seems by the providence of God,
when he intended to bring Antipater to
punishment, that she fell not upon her
head but upon other parts of her body,
and escaped. The king, when she was
brought to him, took care of her, (for she
was at first quite senseless upon her fall,)
and asked her why she had thrown her-
self down ; and gave her his oath, that
if she would speak the real truth, he
would excuse her from punishment; but
that if she concealed any thing, he would
have her body torn to pieces by torments,
and leave no part f f it to be buried.
Upon this the woman paused a little,
and then said, " Why do I spare to speak
of these grand secrets, now Pheroras is
dead ! that would only tend to save Anti-
pater, who is all our destruction. Hear
then, 0 king, and be thou, and God him-
self, who cannot be deceived, witnesses to
the truth of what I am going to say.
When thou didst sit weeping by Phero-
ras as he was dying, then it was that he
called me to him, and said — ' My dear
wife, I have been greatly mistaken as to
the disposition of my brother toward me,
and have hated him that is so affectionate
to me, and have contrived to kill him
who is iu such disorder for me before I
am dead. As for myself, I receive the
Chap. XXXI.]
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
197
recompense of my impiety; but do thou
bring what poison was left with us by
An ti pater, and which thou keepest, in
oiiler to destroy him, and consume it
immediately in the fire in my sight, that
1 may not be liable to the avenger in the
invisible world.' This I brought as he
bade me, and emptied the greatest part of
it into the fire, but reserved a little of it
for my own use against uncertain futurity,
and out of my fear of thee."
When she had .-aid this, she brought
the box, which had a small quantity of
this potion in it: but the king let her
alone, and transferred the tortures to
Antiphilus's mother and brother ; who
both confessed that Antiphilus brought
the box out of Egypt, ami that they had
received the potion from a brother of his,
who was a physician at Alexandria. Then
did the ghosts of Alexander and Aristo-
bulus go round all the palace, and became
the inquisitors and discoverers of what
could not otherwise have been found out,
and brought such as were the freest from
suspicion to be examined ; whereby it
was discovered, that Marianne, the high
priest's daughter, was conscious of this
plot; and her very brothers, when they
were tortured, declared it, so to be.
Whereupon the king avenged this insolent
attempt of the mother upon her son, and
blotted Herod, whom he had by her, out
of his testament, who had been before
named therein as successor to Antipater.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Antipater, convicted by Batbyllus, returns from
Rome, and is brought to trial by Hcfod.
After these things were over, Batbyl-
lus came under examination, in order to
convict Antipater, who proved the con-
cluding attestation to Autipater's designs;
for indeed he was no other than his
freedman. This man came, and brought
another deadly potion, the poison of asps
and the juices of other serpents, that if
the first potion did not do the business,
Pheroras and his wife might be armed
with this also to destroy the king. He
brought also an addition to Autipater's
insolent attempts against his father, which
was the letters which he wrote against
his brethren, Archelaus and Philip, who
were the king's sons, and educated at
Rome, being yet youths, but of generous
dispositions. Antipater set himself to get
rid of these as soon as he could, that they
might not be prejudicial to his hi
ami to that end he forged letters against
them, in the name of his friends at Home.
Some of these he corrupted by bribes, to
write how they grossly reproached their
father, and did openly bewail Alexander
and Aristobulus, and were uneasy at their
being recalled; for their father had al-
ready sent for them, which was the very
thing that troubled Antipater.
Nay, indeed, while Antipater was in
Judea, and before he was upon his jour-
ney to Home, he gave money to have the
like letters against them sent from Koine,
and then came to his father, who as yet
had no suspiciou of him, apologized for
his brethren, and alleged on their behalf
that some of the things contained in those
letters were false, aud others of them
were only youthful errors. Vet at the
same time that he expended a great deal
of his money, by making presents to such
as wrote against his brethren, did he aim
to bring his accounts into confusion, by
buying costly garments, and carpets of
various contextures, with silver and gold
cups, and a great many more curious
things, that so, among the very great ex-
penses laid out upon such furniture, he
might conceal the money he had used in
hiring men [to write the letters] ; for he
brought in an account of his expenses,
amounting to 200 talents, his main pre-
tence for which was the lawsuit that he
had been in with Sylleus. So while all
his rogueries, even those of a lesser sort,
were covered by his great villany, while
all the examinations by torture proclaimed
his attempt to murder his father, and the
letters proclaimed his second attempt to
murder his brethren — yet did no one of
those that came to Home inform him of
his misfortunes in Judea, although seven
months had intervened between his con-
viction and his return, — so great was the
hatred which they all bore to him. And
perhaps they were the ghosts of those
brethren of his that had been murdered,
that stopped the mouths of those that in-
tended to have told him. He then wrote
from Rome, aud informed his [friends]
that he would soon come to them, and
how he was dismissed with honour by
Csesar,
Now the king being desirous to get this
plotter against him into his hands, and
being also afraid lest he should someway
come to the knowledge how his affairs
stood, and be upon his guard, he did-
108
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Hook I.
sembled his anger in his epistle to him,
as in other points he wrote kindly to him,
and desired him to make haste, because,
if he came quickly, he would then lay
aside the complaints he had against his
mother; for Antipater was not ignorant
that his mother had been expelled out of
the palace. However, he had before re-
ceived a letter, which contained an ac-
count of the death of Pheroras, at Taren-
tum, — and made great lamentations at it;
for which some commended him, as being
for Ids own uncle; though probably this
confusion arose on account of his having
thereby failed in his plot [on his father's
life] ; and his tears were more for the
loss of him that was to have been sub-
servient therein, than for [an uncle] Phe-
roras : moreover, a sort of fear came upon
him as to his designs, lost the poison
should have been discovered. However,
when he was in Cilicia, he received the
forcmentioned epistle from his father, and
made great haste accordingly. But when
he had sailed to Celenderis, a suspicion
came into his mind relating to his mo-
ther's misfortunes; as if his soul fore-
boded some mischief to itself. Those
therefore of his friends who were the most
considerate, advised him not rashly to go
to his father, till he had learned what
were the occasions why his mother had
been ejected, because they were afraid
that he might be involved in the calum-
nies that had been cast upon his mother;
but those that were less considerate, and
had more regard to their own desires of
seeing their native country than to Anti-
pater's safety, persuaded him to make
haste home, and not, by delaying his
journey, afford his father ground for an
ill suspicion, and give a handle to those
that raised stories against him ; for that
in case any thing had been moved to his
disadvantage, it was owing to his absence,
which durst not have been done had he
been present; and they said it was
absurd to deprive himself of certain hap-
piness, for the sake of an uncertain sus-
picion, and not rather to return to his
father, and take the royal authority upou
him, which was in a state of fluctuation
on his account only. Antipater complied
with this last advice; for providence
hurried him on [to his destruction]. So
he passed over the sea, and landed at
Sebastus, the haven of Cesarea.
And here he found a perfect and unex-
pected solitude, while everybody avoided
him, and nobody durst come at him,
for he was equally hated by all men ; and
now that hatred had liberty to show itself,
and the dread men were in of the king's
anger made men keep from him ; for the
whole city [of Jerusalem] was filled with
the rumours about Antipater, and Anti-
pater himself was the only person who
was ignorant of them ; for as no man
was dismissed more magnificently when
he began his voyage to Rome, so was
no man now received back with greater
ignominy. And, indeed, he began already
to suspect what misfortunes there were in
Herod's family : yet did he cunningly
conceal his suspicion ; and while he was
inwardly ready to die for fear, he put on
a forced boldness of countenance. Nor
could he now fly any whither, nor had he
any way of emerging out of the difficulties
which encompassed him ; nor indeed had
he even there any certain intelligence of
the affairs of the royal family, by reason
of the threats the king had given out ;
yet had he some small hopes of better
tidings, for perhaps nothing had been
discovered ; or, if any discovery had been
made, perhaps he should be able to clear
himself by impudence and artful tricks,
which were the only things he relied upon
for his deliverance.
And with these hopes did he screen
himself, till he came to the palace, without
any friends with him; for these were
affronted, and shut out at the first gate.
Now Varus, the president of Syria, hap-
pened to be in the palace [at this junc-
ture]; so Antipater went in to his father,
and, putting on a bold face, he came near
to salute him. But Herod stretched out
his hands, and turned his head away from
him, and cried out, " Even this is an
indication of a parricide, to be desirous
to get me into his arms, when he is under
such heinous accusations. God confound
thee, thou vile wretch ; do not thou touch
me till thou hast cleared thyself of these
crimes that are charged upon thee. I
appoint thee a court where thou art to be
judged; and this Varus, who is very
seasonably here; to be thy judge; and
get thou thy defence ready against to-
morrow, for I give thee s^ much time to
prepare suitable excuses for thyself."
And as Antipater was so confounded
that he was able to make no answer to
this charge, he went away; but his mo-
ther and wife came to him, and told him
of all the evidence they had gotten against
Chap. XXXII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
199
him. Hereupon he recollected himself,
and considered what defence he should
make against the accusations.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Antipater accused before Varus — is convicted —
his punishment postponed till the recovery of
his lather.
Now the day following, the king ns-
sembled a court of kinsmen and friends,
and called in Antipater's friends also.
Herod himself, with Varus, were the
presidents; and Herod called for all the
witnesses, and ordered them to be brought
in ; among whom some of the domestic
servants of Antipater's mother were
brought in also, who had but a little
while before been caught, as they were
carrying the following letter from her to
her son : — " Since all those things have
been already discovered to thy father, do
not thou come to him, unless thou canst
procure some assistance from Cajsar."
When this and the other witnesses were
introduced, Antipater came in, and falling
on his face before his father's feet, he
said, "Father, I beseech thee, do not
thou condemn me beforehand, but let thy
ears be unbiassed, and attend to my de-
fence; for if thou wilt give me leave, I
will demonstrate that I am innocent."
Hereupon Herod cried out to him to
hold his peace, and spake thus to Varus : —
"I cannot but think that thou, Varus,
and every other upright judge, will deter-
mine that Antipater is a vile wretch. I
am also afraid that thou wilt abhor my ill
fortune and judge me also myself worthy
of all sorts of calamity for begetting such
children; while yet I ought rather to be
pitied, who have been so affectionate a
father to such wretched sons; for when I
had settled the kingdom on my former
sons even when they were young, and
when, besides the charges of their educa-
tion at Rome, I had made them the
friends of Caesar, and made them envied
by other kings, I found them plotting
against me. These have been put to
death, and that, in a great measure, for
the sake of Antipater; for as he was then
young, and appointed to be my successor,
I took care chiefly to secure him from
danger: but this profligate wild beast,
when he had been over and above satiated
with that patience which I showed him,
he made use of that abundance I had
giver, him against myself; for I seemed
2 W
to him to live too long, and he was very
uneasy at the old age I had arrived at;
nor could he stay any longer, but would
be a king by parricide. And justly I am
served by him for bringing him back out
of the country to court, when he was of
no esteem before, and for thrusting out
those sons of mine that were born of the
queen, and for making him a successor to
my dominions. I confess to thee, 0 Va-
rus, the great folly I was guilty of; for I
provoked those sons of mine to act against
me, and cut off their just expectations for
the sake of Antipater; and, indeed, what
kindness did I do to them, that could
equal what I have done to Antipater! to
whom I have, in a manner, yielded up my
royal authority, while I am alive, and
whom I have openly named for the suc-
cessor to my dominions in my testament,
and given him a yearly revenue of his own
of fifty talents, and supplied him witli mo-
ney to an extravagant degree out of my
own revenue; and when he was about to
sail to Rome, I gave him 300 talents,
and recommended him, and him alone of
all my children, to Cajsar, as his father's
deliverer. Now what crimes were these
other sons of mine guilty of like those of
Antipater! and what evidence was there
brought tigainst them so strong as there is
to demonstrate this son to have plotted
against me ! Yet does this parricide pre-
sume to speak for himself, and hopes to
secure the truth by his cunning tricks.
Thou, 0 Varus, must guard thyself against
him; for I know the wild beast, and I
foresee how plausibly he will talk, and
his counterfeit lamentation. This was he
who exhorted mc to have a care of Alex-
ander, when he was alive, and not to
intrust my body with all men ! This was
he who came to my very bed, and looked
about, lest any one should lay snares for
me ! This was he who took care of my
sleep, and secured me from any fear of
danger, who comforted me under the
trouble I was in upon the slaughter of
my sons, and looked to see what affection
my surviving brethren bore me ! This
was my protector, and the guardian of my
body ! And when I call to mind, O
Varus, his craftiness upon every occasion,
and his art of dissembling, I can hardly
believe that I am still alive, and I wonder
how I have escaped such a deep plotter of
mischief! However, since some fate or
other makes my house desolate, and per-
petually raises up those that are dearost to
200
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book L
me against me, I will, with tears, lament
my hard fortune, and privately groan
under my lonesome condition; yet am I
resolved that no one who thirsts after my
blood shall escape punishment, although
the evidence should extend itself to all
my sons."
Upon Herod's saying this, he was in-
terrupted by the confusion he was in ; but
ordered Nicolaus, one of his friends, to
produce the evidence against Antipater.
But in the mean time Antipater lifted up
his head, (for he lay on the ground before
his father's feet,) and cried out aloud,
" Thou, 0 father, hast made my apology
for me ; for how can I be a parricide,
whom thou thyself confessest to have
always had for thy guardian? Thou
callest my filial affection prodigious lies
and hypocrisy ! how then could it be that
I, who was so subtle in other matters,
should here be so mad as not to under-
stand that it was not easy that he who
committed so horrid a crime should be
concealed from men, but impossible that
he should be concealed from the Judge
of Heaven, who sees all things, and is
present everywhere? or did not I know
what end my brethren came to, on whom
God inflicted so great a punishment for
their evil designs against thee? And,
indeed, what was there that could possibly
provoke me against thee? Could the
hope of being a king do it? I was a king
already. Could I suspect hatred from
thee ? No : was T not beloved by thee ?
and what other fear could I have ? Nay,
by preserving thee safe, I was a terror to
others. Did I want money? No: for
who was able to expend so much as my-
self? Indeed, father, had I been the
most execrable of all mankind, and had
I had the soul of the most execrable wild
beast, must I not have been overcome with
the benefits thou hadst bestowed upon me?
whom, as thou thyself say est, thou brought-
est [into the palace]; whom thou didst
prefer before so many of thy sons ; whom
thou madest a king in thine own lifetime,
and, by the vast magnitude of the other
advantages thou bestowedst on me, thou
madest me an object of envy. 0 mi-
serable man ! that thou shouldst undergo
this bitter absence, and thereby afford a
greater opportunity for envy to arise
against thee, and a long space for such as
were laying designs against thee ! Yet
was I absent, father, on thy affairs, that
Sylleus might not treat thee with contempt
in thine old age. Rome is a witness tc
my filial affection, and so is Caesar, the
ruler of the habitable earth, who often-
times called me Philopater.* Take here
the letters he hath sent thee; they are
more to be believed than the calumnies
raised here; these letters are my only
apology; these I use as the demonstration
of that natural affection I have to thee,
llemember, that it was against my own
choice that I sailed [to Rome], as knowing
the latent hatred that was in the kingdom
against me. It was thou, 0 father, how-
ever unwillingly, who hast been my ruin,
by forcing me to allow time for the calum-
nies against me, and envy at me. How-
ever, I am come hither, and am ready to
hear the evidence there is against me. If
I be a parricide, I have passed by land
and by sea without suffering any misfor-
tune on either of them ; but this method
of trial is no advantage to me ; for it
seems, 0 father, that I am already con-
demned, both before God and before thee;
and as I am already condemned, I beg that
thou wilt not believe the others that have
been tortured, but let fire be brought to
torment me ; let the racks march through
my bowels ; have no regard to any la-
mentations that this polluted body can
make; for, if I be a parricide, I ought not
to die without torture." Thus did Anti-
pater cry out with lamentation and weep-
ing, and moved all the rest, and Varus in
particular, to commiserate his case. Herod
was the only person whose passion was too
strong to permit him to weep, as knowing
that the testimonies against him were true.
And now it was that, at the king's
command, Nicolaus, when he had premised
a great deal about the craftiness of Anti-
pater, and had prevented the effects of
their commiseration to him, afterward
brought in a bitter and large accusation
against him, ascribing all the wickedness
that bad been in the kingdom to him, and
especially the murder of his brethren, and
demonstrated that they had perished by
the calumnies he had raised against them.
He also said, that he had laid designs
against them that were still alive, as if
they were laying plots for the succession;
and (said he) how can it be supposed that
he, who prepared poison for his father,
should abstain from mischief as to his
brethren? He then proceeded to convict
him of the attempt to poison Herod, and
* A lover of his father.
Chap. XXXIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
gave an account, in order, of the several
discoveries that had been made; and had
great indignation as to the affair of Phe-
roras, because Antipater had been for
making him murder his brother, and had
corrupted those that were dearest to the
king, and filled the whole palace with
wickedness ; and when he had insisted on
many other accusations, and the proofs of
them, he left off.
Then Varus bade Antipater make his
defence ; but he lay long in silence, and
said no more but this : — "God is my wit-
ness that I am entirely innocent." So
Varus asked for the potion, and gave it
to be drunk by a condemned malefactor,
who was then in prison, who died upon
the spot. So Varus, when he had had a
very private discourse with Herod, and
had written an account of this assembly
to Csesar, went away, after a day's stay.
The king also bound Antipater, and sent
away to inform Caesar of his misfortunes.
Now after this, it was discovered that
Antipater had laid a plot against Salome
also; for one of Autiphilus's domestic
servants came, and brought letters from
Rome, from a maidservant of Julia [Cae-
sar's wife], whose name was Acme. By
her a message was sent to the king, that
she had found a letter written by Salome,
among Julia's papers, and had sent it to
him privately, out of her good-will to
him. This letter of Salome contained
the most bitter reproaches of the king,
and the highest accusation against him.
Antipater had forged this letter, and had
corrupted Acme, and persuaded her to
6end it to Herod. This was proved by
her letter to Antipater, for thus did this
woman write to him : — "As tbou desirest,
I have written a letter to thy father, and
have sent that letter; and am persuaded
that the king will not spare his sister
when he reads it. Thou wilt do well to
remember what thou hast promised, when
all is accomplished."
When this epistle was discovered, and
what the epistle forged against Salome
contained, a suspicion came into the king's
mind, that perhaps, the letters against
Alexander were also forged ; he was more-
over greatly disturbed, and in a passion,
because he had almost slain his sister on
Antipater's account. He did no longer
delay therefore to bring him to punish-
ment for all his crimes; yet, when he was
eagerly pursuing Antipater, he was re-
strained by a severe distemper he fell into.
201
However, he sent an account to I
about Acme, and the contrivances against
Salome : he sent also for his testament,
and altered it, and therein made Antipaa
king, as taking no care of Archelans and
Philip, because Antipater had blasted
their reputations with him : but he be-
queathed to Ca>sar, besides other presents
that he gave him, a thousand talents; as
also to his wife, and children, and friends,
and freedmen about five hundred: he also
bequeathed to all others a great quantity
of land, and of money, and showed his
respects to Salome, his sister, by giving
her most splendid gifts. And this was
what was contained in his testament, as
it was now altered.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The golden eagle cut to pieces — Herod's barbarity
— attempts to kill himself — commands Antipater
to be slain — survives him five days.
Now Herod's distemper became more
and more severe to him, and this because
these his disorders fell upon him in his
old age, and when he was in a melancholy
condition ; for he was already almost
seventy years of age, and had been brought
low by the calamities that happened to
him about his children, whereby he had
no pleasure in life, even when he was in
health; the grief also that Antipater was
still alive aggravated his disease, whom
he resolved to put to death now, not at
random, but as soon as he should be well
again; and resolved to have him slain [in
a public manner].
There also now happened to him, among
his other calamities, a certain popular
sedition. There were two men of learn-
ing in the city [Jerusalem] who were
thought the most skilful in the laws of
their country, and were on that account
had in very great esteem all over, the na-
tion; they were, the one Judas, the son
of Sepphoris, and the other Matthias, the
son of Margalus. There was a great con-
course of the young men with these men
when they expounded the laws, and there
got together every da}r a kind of an army
of such as were growing up to be men.
Now when these men were informed that
the king was wearing away with melan-
choly, and with a distemper, they dropped
words to their acquaintance, how it was
now a very proper time to defend the
cause of God, and to pull down what bad
been erected contrary to the laws of theii
'202
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
[Booi L
country ; for it was unlawful there should
be any such thing in the temple as images
or faces, or the like representation of any
animal whatsoever. Now the king had
put up a golden eagle over the great gate
of the temple, which these learned men
exhorted them to cut down : and told
them, that if there should any danger
arise, it was a glorious thing to die for the
laws of their country: because that the
soul was immortal, and that an eternal
enjoyment of happiness did await such as
died on that account; while the mean-
spirited, and those that were not wise
enough to show a right love of their souls,
preferred death by a disease, before that
which is the result of a virtuous behaviour.
At the same time that these men made
this speech to their disciples, a rumour
was spread abroad that the king was dying,
which made the young men set about the
work with greater boldness ; they there-
fore let themselves down from the top of
the temple with thick cords, and this at
midday, and while a great number of
people were in the temple, and cut down
that golden eagle with axes. This was
presently told to the king's captain of the
temple, who came running with a great
body of soldiers, and caught about forty
of the young men, and brought them to
the king. And when he- asked them, first
of all, whether they had been so hardy as
to cut down the golden eagle, they con-
fessed they had done so ; and when he
asked them by whose command they had
done it, they replied, at the command of
the law of their country ; and when he
further asked them how they could be so
joyful when they were to be put to death,
they replied, because they should enjoy
greater happiness after they were dead.
At this the king was in such an extra-
vagant passion, that he overcame his
disease [for the time], and went out, and
spake to the people; wherein he made a
terrible accusation against those men, as
guilty of sacrilege, and as making greater
attempts under pretence of their law; and
he thought they deserved to be punished
as impious persons. Whereupon the people
were afraid lest a great number should be
found guilty, and desired that when he
had first punished those that put them
upon this work, and then those that were
caught in it, he would leave off his anger
as to the rest. With this the king com-
plied, though not without difficulty; and
ordered those that had let themselves
down, together with their rabbins, to be
burnt alive ; but delivered the rest that
were caught to the proper officers, to be
put to death by them.
After this, the distemper seized upon
his whole body, and greatly disordered all
its parts with various symptoms ; for there
was a gentle fever upon him, and an in-
tolerable itching over all the surface of
his body, and continual pains in his colon,
and dropsical tumours about his feet,
and an inflammation of the abdomen, —
and a putrefaction of his privy member,
that produced worms. Besides which he
had a difficulty of breathing upon him,
and could not breathe but when he sat
upright, and had a convulsion of all his
members ; insomuch that the diviners said
those diseases were a punishment upon
him for what he had done to the rabbins.
Yet did he struggle with his numerous
disorders, and still had a desire to live, and
hoped for recovery, and considered of se-
veral methods of cure. Accordingly, he
went over Jordan, and made use of those
hot baths at Callirrhoe, which run into the
lake Asphaltitis, but are themselves sweet
enough to be drunk. And here the phy-
sicians thought proper to bathe his whole
body in warm oil, by letting it down into
a large vessel full of oil ; whereupon his
eyes failed him, and he came and went as
if he were dying; and as a tumult was
then made by his servants, at their voice
he revived again. Yet did he after this
despair of recovery, and gave orders that
each soldier should have fifty drachmas
apiece, and that his commanders and
friends should have great sums of money
given them.
He then returned back and came to
Jericho, in such a melancholy state of
body as almost threatened him with present
death, when he proceeded to attempt a
horrid wickedness; for he got together the
most illustrious men of the whole Jewish
nation, out of every village, into a place
called the Hippodrome, and there shut
thera in. He then called for his sister
Salome, and her husband Alexas, and
made this speech to them : — " I know well
enough that the Jews will keep a festival
upon my death; however, it is in my
power to be mourned for on other accounts,
and to have a splendid funeral, if you will
but be subservient to my commands. Ho
you but take care to send soldiers to encom-
pass these men that are now in custody, and
slay them immediately upon my death, and
Chap. XXXIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
203
then all Judea, and every family of them,
will weep at it whether they will or no."
These were the commands he gave
them ; when there came letters from his
ambassadors afrRome, whereby information
was given that Acme; was put to death at
Caesar's command, and that Antipater was
condemned to die; however, they wrote
withal, that if Herod had a mind rather
to banish him, Caesar permitted him so
to do. So he for a little while revived,
and had a desire to live; but presently
after he was overborne by his pains, and
was disordered by want of food, and by a
convulsive cough, and endeavoured to
prevent a natural death ; so he took an
apple, and asked for a knife, for he used
to pare apples and cat them ; he then
looked round about to see that there was
nobody to hinder him, and lifted up his
right hand as if he would stab himself;
but Achiabus, his first cousin, came run-
ning to him, and held his hand, and
hindered him from so doing ; on which
occasion a very great lamentation was
made in the palace, as if the king were
expiring. As soon as ever Antipater
heard that, he took courage, and, with joy
in his looks, besought his keepers, for a
eum of money, to loose him and let him
go ; but the principal keeper of the prison
did not only obstruct him in that his
intention, but ran and told the king what
his design was : hereupon the king cried
out louder than his distemper would well
bear, and immediately sent some of his
guards and slew Antipater; he also gave
order to have him buried at Hyrcanium,
and altered his testament again, — and
therein made Archelaus, his eldest son,
and the brother of Antipas, his successor;
and made Antipas tetrarch.
So Herod, having survived the slaughter
of his son five days, died, having reigned
thirty-four years since he had caused
Antigonus to be slain, and obtained his
kingdom; but thirty-seven years since he
had been made king by the Romans.
Now, as for his fortune, it was prosperous
in all other respects, if ever any other
man could be so; since, from a private
man, he obtained the kingdom, and kept
it so long, and left it to his own sons ;
but still, in his domestic affairs, he was a
most unfortunate man. Now before the
soldiers knew of his death, Salome and
her husband came out and dismissed those
thai wore in bonds'; whom the king had
commanded to be slain, and told them
that he had altered his mind, and would
have every one of them sent to their own
homes. When these men were gone,
Salome told the soldiers [the king was
dead], and got them and the rest of the
multitude together to an assembly, in the
amphitheatre at Jericho, where Ptolemy,
who was intrusted by the king with his
signet-ring, came before them, and spake
of the happiness the king had attained,
and comforted the multitude, and read the
epistle which had been left for the soldiers,
wherein he earnestly exhorted them to
bear good-will to his successor; and after
he had read the epistle, he opened and
read his testament, wherein Philip was to
inherit Trachonitis and the neighbouring
countries, and Antipas was to be tetrarch,
as we said before, and Archelaus was
made king. He had also been commanded
to carry Herod's ring to Caesar, and the
settlement he had made, sealed up, because
Caesar was to be lord of all the settle-
ments he had made, and was to confirm
his testament ; and he ordered that the
dispositions he had made were to be kept
as they were in his former testament.
So there was an acclamation made to
Archelaus, to congratulate him upon his
advancement; and the soldiers, with the
multitude, went round about in troops,
and promised him their good-will, and
besides prayed God to bless his govern-
ment. After this, they betook themselves
to prepare for the king's funeral ; and
Archelaus omitted nothing of magnificence
therein, but brought out all the royal
ornaments to augment the pomp of the
deceased. There was a bier all of gold,
embroidered with precious stones, and a
purple bed of various contexture, with the
dead body upon it, covered with purple ;
and a diadem was put upon his head, and
a crown of gold above it, and a sceptre in
his right hand ; and near to the bier were
Herod's sons, and a multitude of his
kindred ; next to whom came his guards,
and the regiment of Thracians, the Ger-
mans also and Gauls, all accoutred as if
they were going to war; but the rest of
the army went foremost, armed, and fol-
lowing their captains and officers in a
regular manner; after whom, 500 of his
domestic servants and freedmen followed.
with sweet spices in their hands; and the
body was carried '200 furlongs, to IIc-
rodium, where he had given order to be
buried. And this shall suffice for the
conclusion of the life of Herod-
204
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II *
BOOK II.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF SIXTY-NINE YEARS, FROM THE DEATH
OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS SENT TO SUBDUE THE JEWS BY
NERO.
CHAPTER I.
Archelaus makes a funeral feast — a great tumult
raised by the multitude — the soldiers destroy
about 3000 of them.
Now the necessity which Archelaus
was under of taking a journey to Rome
was the occasion of new disturbances ; for
when he had mourned for his father seven
days,* and had given a very expensive
funeral feast to the multitude, (which
custom is the occasion of poverty to
many of the Jews, because they are forced
to feast the multitude; for if any one omits
it, he is not esteemed a holy person,) he
put on a white garment, and went up to
the temple, where the people accosted him
with various acclamations. He also spake
kindly to the multitude, from an elevated
seat and a throne of gold, and returned
them thanks for the zeal they had shown
about his father's funeral, and the sub-
in i.-sion they had made to him, as if he
were already settled in the kingdom ;
but he told them withal, that he would
not at present take upon him either the
authority of a king, or the names thereto
belonging, until Caesar, who is made lord
of this whole affair by the testament, con-
firms the succession ; for that when the
Boldiera would have set the diadem on his
head at Jericho, he would not accept of
it ; but that he would make abundant re-
quitals, not to the soldiers only, but to the
people, for their alacrity and good-will to
him, when the superior lords [the Ro-
mans] should have given him a complete
title to the kingdom ; for that it should
" The law or custom of the Jews requires seven
days' mourning for the dead; whence the author
book of Ecclcsiasticus (chap. xxii. 12) assigns
seven days as the proper time of mourning for the
dead, and (chap, xxxviii. 17) enjoins men to mourn
for the dead, that they may not be evil spoken of;
for, as Josephus says presently, if any one omits
this mourning [funeral feast], he is not esteemed
a holy person. Now it .is certain that such a seven
days' mourning has been customary from times of
the greatest antiquity <ien. i. 10. Funeral feasts
are also mentioned as of considerable antiquity,
Ezek. xxiv. 17; Jer. xvi. 7; Prov. xxxi. 0;
l)u'!t. xxvi. 14.
be his study to appear in all things better
than his father.
Upon this the multitude were pleased,
and presently made a trial of what he
intended, by asking great things of him ;
for some made a clamour that he would
ease them in their taxes; others, that he
would take off the duties upon commo-
dities ; and some, that he would loose
those that were iD prison; in all which
cases he answered readily to their satis-
faction, in order to get the good-will of
the multitude ; after which he offered [the
proper] sacrifices, and feasted with his
friends. And here it was that a great
many of those that desired innovations
came in crowds toward the evening, and
began then to mourn on their own ac-
count, when the public mourning for the
king was over. These lamented those
that were put to death b}7 Herod, because
they had cut down the golden eagle that
had been over the gate of the temple.
Nor was this mourning of a private na-
ture, but the lamentations were very great,
the mourning solemn, and the weeping
such as was loudly heard all over the city,
as being for those men who had perished
for the laws of their country, and for the
temple. They cried out, that a punish-
ment ought to be inflicted for these men
upon those that were honoured by Herod;
and that, in the first place, the man whom
he had made high priest should be de-
prived ; and that it was fit to choose a
person of greater piety and purity than
he was.
At these clamours Archelaus was pro-
voked; but restrained himself from taking
vengeance ou the authors, on accouut of
the haste he was in of going to Rome, as
fearing lest upon his making war on the
multitude, such an action might detain
him at home. Accordinly, he made trial
to quiet the innovators by persuasion
rather than by force, and sent his general
in a private way to them, and by him
exhorted them to be quiet. But the
seditious threw stones at him, and drove
Chap. IT.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
205
him away, as lie came into the temple,
and before he could say any thing to them.
The like treatment they showed to others,
who came to them after him, many of
whom were sent by Archelaus, in order
to reduce them to sobriety, and these
answered still on all occasions after a pas-
sionate manner; and it openly appeared
that they would not be quiet, if their
numbers were but considerable. And,
indeed, at the feast of unleavened bread,
which was now at hand, and is by the
Jews called the passover, and used to be
celebrated with a great number of sacri-
fices, an innumerable multitude of the peo-
ple came out of the country to worship :
some of these stood in the temple bewail-
ing the rabbins [that had been put to
death], and procured their sustenance by
begging, in order to support their sedition.
At tliis Archelaus was affrighted, and
privately sent a tribune, with his cohort
of soldiers, upon them, before the disease
should spread over the whole multitude,
aud gave orders that they should constrain
those that began the tumult, by force to
be quiet. At these the whole multitude
were irritated, and threw stones at many
of the soldiers, and killed them ; but the
tribune fled away wounded, and had much
ado to escape so. After which they be-
took themselves to their sacrifices, as if
they had done no mischief; nor did it
appear to Archelaus that the multitude
could be restrained without bloodshed;
60 he sent his whole army upon them,
the footmen in great multitudes, by the
way of the city, and the horsemen by the
way of the plain, who, falling upon them
on the sudden, as they were offering their
sacrifices, destroyed about 3000 of them ;
but the rest of the multitude were dis-
persed upon the adjoining mountains :
these were followed by Archelaus's he-
ralds, who commanded every one to retire
to their own homes; whither they all went,
and left the festival.
CHAPTER II.
Archelaus accused before Caesar by Antipater — is
successfully defended by Nicolaus.
Archelaus went down now to the
seaside with his mother and his friends,
Poplas and Ptolemy aud Nicolaus, and
left behind him Philip, to be his steward
in the palace, and to take care of his
domestic afiairs. Salome went, also along
with him with her sons, as did also the
king's brethren and sons-in-law. These,
in appearance, went to give him all the
assistance they were able, in order to
secure his succession, but in reality to
accuse him for his breach of the laws by
what he had done at the temple.
Put as they were come to Ccsarea,
Sabinus, the procurator of Syria, met
them : he was going up to Judca to secure
Herod's effects; but Varus [president of
Syria], who was come thither, restrained
him from going any farther. This Varus,
Archelaus had sent for by the earnest
entreaty of Ptolemy. At this time, in-
deed, Sabinus, to gratify Varus, neither
went to the citadels, nor did he shut up
the treasuries where his father's money
was laid up, but promised that he would
lie still until Cjesar should have taken
cognizance of the affair. So he abode at
Cesarea : but as soon as those that were his
hinderance were gone, when Varus was
gone to Antioch, and Archelaus was sailed
to Rome, he immediately went on to Jeru-
salem, and seized upon the palace ; and
when he had called for the governors of
the citadels and the stewards [of the
king's private affairs], he tried to sift out
the accounts of the money, and to take
possession of the citadels. But the go-
vernors of those citadels were not unmind-
ful of the commands laid upon them by
Archelaus, and continued to guard themr
and said the custody of them rather be-
longed to Caesar than to Archelaus.
In the mean time Antipas went also to
Rome, to strive for the kingdom, and to
insist that the former testament, wherein
he was named to be king, was valid before
the latter testament. Salome had also
promised to assist him, as had many of
Archelaus's kindred who sailed along with
Archelaus himself also. He also carried
along with him his mother, and Ptolemy,
the brother of Nicolaus, who seemed oue
of great weight, on account of the great
trust Herod put in him, he having been
one of his most honoured friends. How-
ever, Antipas depended chiefly upon Irse-
neus, the orator; upon whose authority
he had rejected such as advised him to
yield to Archelaus, because he was his
elder brother, and because the second tes-
tament gave the kingdom to him. The
inclination also of all Archelaus's kindred,
who hated him, were removed to Antipas,
when they came to Rome; although in
the first place, every one rather desired
to live under their own laws [without a
206
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II
king], and to be under a Roman governor;
but if they should fail in that point, these
desired that Antipas might be their king.
Sabinus did also afford these his assist-
ance to the same purpose, by the letters
he sent, wherein he accused Archelaus
before Caesar, and highly commended An-
tipas. Salome also, and those with her,
put the crimes which they accused Arche-
laus of in order, and put them into Caesar's
hands; and after they had done that,
Archelaus wrote down the reasons of his
ilaim, and, by Ptolemy, sent in his fa-
ther's ring, and his father's accounts; and
when Cfesar had maturely weighed by
himself what both had to allege for them-
selves, as also had considered of the great-
burden of the kingdom, and largeness of
the revenues, and withal the number of
the children Herod had left behind him,
and had moreover read the letters he had
received from Varus and Sabinus on this
occasion, he assembled the principal per-
sons among the Romans together, (in
which assembly Caius, the son of Agrippa
and his daughter Julias, but by himself
adopted for his own son, sat in the first
seat,) and gave the pleaders leave to speak.
Then stood up Salome's son, An ti pater,
(who of all Archelaus's antagonists, was
the shrewdest pleader,) and accused him
in the following speech : — That Archelaus
did in words contend for the kingdom, but
that in deeds he had long exercised royal
authority, and so did insult Caesar in desir-
ing to be now heard on that account, since
he bad not stayed for his determination
about the succession, and since lie had
suborned certain persons, alter Herod's
death, to move for putting the diadem
upon his head; since he had set himself
down in the throne, and given answers as
a king, and altered the disposition of the
army, and granted to some higher digni-
ties : that he had also complied in all
things with the people in the requests
they had made to him as to their king,
and had also dismissed those that had
been put into bonds by his father, for
most important reasons. Now, after all
this, he desires the shadow of that royal
authority, whose substance lie had already
seized to himself, and so hath made Ca>
sar lord, not of things, but of words, lie
also reproached him further, that his
mourning for his father was only pre-
tended, while he put on a sad countenance
in the daytime, but drank to great excess
in th« night; from which behaviour, he
said, the late disturbances among the
multitude came, while they had an indig-
nation thereat; and indeed the purport of
his whole discourse was to aggravate Ar-
chelaus's crime in .slaving such a multitude
about the temple, which multitude came
to the festival, but were barbarously slain
in the midst of their own sacrifices; and
he said there was such a vast number of
dead bodies heaped together in the tem-
ple, as even a foreign war, should that
come upon them [suddenly] before it was
denounced, could not have heaped toge-
ther; and he added that it was the fore-
sight his father had of that his barbarity,
which made him never give him any hopes
of the kingdom; but when his mind was
more infirm than his body, and he was
not able to reason soundly, and did not
well know what was the character of that
son whom in bis second testament he made
his successor ; and this was done by him
at a time when he had no complaints to
make of him whom he had named before,
when he was sound in body, and when his
mind was free from all passion. That, how*
ever, if any one should suppose Herod's
judgment when he was sick was superior
to that at another time, yet had Archelaus
forfeited his kingdom b}T his own beha-
viour, and those his actions which were
contrary to the law, and to its disadvan-
tage. Or what sort of a king will this
man be, when he hath obtained the go-
vernment from Caesar, who hath slain so
many before he hath obtained it!
When Antipater had spoken largely to
this purpose, and had produced a great
number of Archelaus's kindred as wit-
nesses to prove every part of the accusa-
tion, he ended his discourse. Then stood
up Nicolaus to plead for Archelaus. He
alleged that the slaughter in the temple
could not be avoided ; that those that were
slain were become enemies, not to Arche-
laus's kingdom only, but to Caesar, who
was to determine about him. He also de-
monstrated, that Archelaus's accusers had
advised him to perpetrate other things of
which he might have been accused ; but
he insisted that the latter testament
should, for this reason above all others,
be esteemed valid, because Herod bad
therein appointed Caesar to be the person
who should confirm the succession; for
he who showed such prudence as to recede
from his own power, and yield it up to
the lord of the world, cannot be supposed
mistaken in his judgment about him that
Chaiv III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
207
was to be lii* heir; and ho that so well
knew whom to choose for arbitrator of
the succession, could not be unacquainted
with him whom he chose for his successor.
When Nicolaus had gone through all
he had to say, Archelaus came and fell
down before Caesar's knees, without any
noise; — upon which ho raised him up,
after a very ohliging manner, and de-
clared that truly he was worthy to succeed
his father. However, he still made no
firm determination in his case; but when
he had dismissed those assessors that had
been with him that day, he deliberated by
himself about the allegations which he
had heard, whether it were fit to consti-
tute any of those named in the testaments
for Herod's successor, or whether the go-
vernment should be parted among all his
posterity; and this because of the num-
ber of those that seemed to stand in need
of support therefrom.
CHAPTER III.
Revolt of the Jews.
Now before Cfesar had determined any
thing about these affairs, Malthace, Arche-
laus's mother, fell sick and died. Letters
also were brought out of Syria from Va-
rus, about a revolt of the Jews. This
was foreseen by Varus, who accordingly,
after Archelaus was sailed, went up to
Jerusalem to restrain the promoters of
the sedition, since it was manifest that the
nation would not be at rest; so he left one
of those legions which ho brought with
him out of Syria in the city, and went
himself to Antioch. But Sabinus came,
after he was gone, and gave them an
occasion of making innovations; for he
compelled the keepers of the citadels to
deliver them up to him, and made a bitter
search after the kiug's money, as depend-
ing not only on the soldiers who wt re left
by Varus, but on the multitude of his own
servants, all whom he armed and used as
the instruments of his covetousness. Now
when that feast, which was observed after
seven weeks, and which the Jews called
Pentecost (t. e. the fiiftieth day) was at
hand, its name being taken from the num-
ber of the days [after the Passover], the
people got together, but not on account of
the accustomed divine worship, but of the
indignation they had [at the present state
of affairs]. Wherefore an immense mul-
titude ran together, out of Galilee, and
Iduinea, and Jericho, and Pcrea, that was
beyond Jordan ; but the people that
naturally belonged to .India itself were
above the rest both in number and in the
alacrity of the men. So they distributed
themselves into three parts, and ]>i
their camps in three places; one at the
north side of the temple, another at the
south side, by the hippodrome, and the
third part were at the palace on the wist.
So they lay round about the Romans on
every side, and besieged them.
Now Sabinus was affrighted, both at
their multitude and at their courage, and
sent messengers to Varus continually, and
besought him to come to his succour
quickly, for that, if he delayed, his legion
would be cut to pieces. As for Sabinus
himself, he got up to the highest tower
of the fortress, which was called Pha-
saelus; it is of the same name with
Herod's brother who was destroyed by
the Parthians; and then he made signs
to the soldiers of that legion to attack the
enemy ; for his astonishment was so great,
that he durst not go down to his own men.
Hereupon the soldiers were prevailed
upon, and leaped out into the temple,
and fought a terrible battle with the Jews;
in which, while there were none over their
heads to distress them, they were too hard
for them, by their skill, and the others'
want of skill in war; but when once many
of the Jews had gotten up to the top of
the cloisters, and threw their darts down-
ward upon the heads of the Romans,
there were a great many of them destroyed.
Nor was it easy to avenge themselves upon
those that threw their weapons from on
high, nor was it more easy for them to
sustain those who came to tight them
hand to hand.
Since, therefore, the Romans were
sorely afflicted by both these circumstances,
they set fire to the cloisters, which were
works to be admired, both on account of
their magnitude and costline.-s. Where-
upon those that were above them were
presently encompassed with the flame,
and many of them perished therein; as
many of them also were destroyed by the
enemy, who came suddenly upon them ;
some of them also threw themselves down
from the walls backward, and some there
were, who, from the desperate condition
they were in, prevented the fire, by killing
themselves with their own swords; but so
many of them as crept out from the walls,
and came upon the Romans, were easily
mastered by them, by reason of the as
=D
208
WARS OF THE JEWS.
tonishment they were under; until at
last, some of the Jews being destroyed,
and others dispersed by the terror they
were in, the soldiers fell upon the treasure
of God, which was now deserted, and
plundered about 400 talents, of which
sum Sabinus got together all that was
not carried away by the soldiers.
However, this destruction of the works
[about the temple], and of the men, oc-
casioned a much greater number, and
those of a more warlike sort, to get toge-
ther, to oppose the Romans. These encom-
passed the palace round, and threatened
to destroy all that were in it, unless they
went their ways quickly ; for they pro-
mised that Sabinus should come to no
harm, if he should go out with his legion.
There were also a great many of the king's
party who deserted the Romans and as-
sisted the Jews ; yet did the most warlike
body of them all, who were 3000 of the
men of Sebaste, go over to the Romans.
Rufus also, and Gratus, their captains,
did the same, (Gratus having the foot of
the king's party under him, and Rufus
the horse ;) each of whom, even without
the forces under them, were of great
weight, on account of their strength and
wisdom, which turn the scales in war.
Now the Jews persevered in the siege,
and tried to break down the walls of the
fortress, and cried out to Sabinus and his
party that they should go their ways and
not prove a hinderance to them, now they
hoped, after a long time, to recover that
ancient liberty which their forefathers had
enjoyed. Sabinus indeed was well con-
tented to get out of the danger he was in ;
but he distrusted the assurances the Jews
gave him, and suspected such gentle
treatment was but a bait laid as a snare
for them : this consideration, together
with the hopes he had of succour from
Varus, made him bear the siege still
longer.
CHAPTER IV.
Herod's veteran soldiers become tumultuous — rob-
beries of Judas — Simon and Athrongeus assume
the name of king.
At this time there were great disturb-
ances in the country, and that in many
places; and the opportunity that now
offered itself induced a great many to set
up for kings; and indeed, in Idumea,
2000 of Herod's veteran soldiers got to-
gether, and armed themselves, and fought
[Book II.
against those of the king's party ; against
whom Achiabus, the king's first cousin,
fought, and that out of some of the places
that were the most strongly fortified ; but
so as to avoid a direct conflict with them
in the plains. In Sepphoris also, a city
of Galilee, there was one Judas, (the son
of that archrobber Hezekias, who for-
merly overran the country, and had been
subdued by King Herod;) this man got
no small multitude together, and broke
open the place where the royal armour
was laid up, and armed those about him,
and attacked those that were so earnest to
gain the dominion.
In Perea, also, Simon, one of the ser-
vants to the king, relying upon the hand-
some appearance and tallness of his body,
put a diadem upon his own head also ; he
also went about with a company of rob-
bers that he had gotten together, and
burnt down the royal palace that was at
Jericho, and many other costly edifices
besides, and procured himself very easily
spoils by rapine, as snatching them out of
the fire ; and he had soon burnt down all
the fine edifices, if Gratus, the captain of
the foot of the king's party, had not taken
the Trachonite archers, and the most war-
like of Sebaste, and met the man. His
footmen were slain. in the battle in abun-
dance. Gratus also cut to pieces Simon
himself, as he was flying along a straight
valley, when he gave him an oblique stroke
upon his neck, as he *-an away, and broke
it. The royal palaces that were near
Jordan, at Betharamptha, were also burnt
down by some other of the seditious that
came out of Perea.
At this time it was that a certain
shepherd ventured to set himself up for a
king : he was called Athronojeus. It was
his strength of body that made him ex-
pect such a dignity, as well as his soul,
which despised death ; and besides these
qualifications, he had four brethren like
himself. He put a troop of armed men
under each of these his brethren, and
made use of them as his generals aud
commanders, when he made his incur-
sions, while he did himself act like a
king, and meddled only with the more
important affairs ; and at this time he put
a diadem about his head, and continued
after that to overrun the country for no
little time with his brethren, and became
their leader in killing both the Romans
and those of the king's party ; nor did
any Jew escape him, if any gain could
Chaiv V.]
accrue to him thereby. He once ventured
to encompass a whole troop of Romans
at Emmaus, who were carrying corn and
weapons to their legion : his men shot
their arrows and darts, and thereby Blew
their centurion Arius, and forty of the
Btoutest of his men, while the rest of
them, who were in danger of the same
fate, upon the coming of Gratus, with
those of Sebaste, to their assistance, es-
caped ; and when these men had thus
served both their own countrymen ami
foreigners, and that through this whole
war, three of them were after some time
subdued; the eldest by Archelaus, the
two next by falling into the hands of
Gratus and Ptolemeus ; but the fourth
delivered himself up to Archelaus, upon
his giving him his right hand for this
security. However, this their end was
not till afterward, while at present they
filled all Judea with piratic war.
WARS OF THE JEWS.
•200
CHAPTER V.
Varus quells the tumults in Judea — crucifies about
two thousand of the seditious.
UroN Varus's reception of the letters
that were written by Sabinus and the
captains, he could not avoid being afraid
for the whole legion [he had left there].
So he made haste to their relief, and took
with him the other two legions, with the
four troops of horsemen to them belonging,
and marched to Ptolemais, having given
orders for the auxiliaries that were sent
by the kings and governors of cities to
meet him there. Moroever, he received
from the people of Rerytus, as he passed
through their city, 1500 armed men.
Now as soon as the other body of aux-
iliaries were come to Ptolemais, as well
as Aretas the Arabian, (who, out of the
hatred he bore to Herod, brought a great
army of horse and foot,) Varus sent a
part of his army presently to Galilee,
which lay near to Ptolemais, and Caius,
one of his friends, for their captain. This
Caius put those that met him to flight,
and took the city Sepphoris, and burnt it,
and made slaves of its inhabitants. Rut
as for Varus himself, he marched to
Samaria with his whole army, where he
did not meddle with the city itself, because
he found that it had made no commotion
during these troubles, but pitched his
camp about a certain village which was
called Arius. It belonged to Ptolemy,
and on that account was nluudered by the
Vol. II.— 14
Arabians, wdio were very angry even at
Herod's friends also. He thence marched
on to the village Sampho, another fortified
place, which they plundered, as they had
done the other. As they carried off all
the money they lighted upon belonging to
the public revenues, all was now full of
fire and bloodshed, and nothing could re-
sist the plunders of the Arabians. Em-
maus was also burnt, upon the flight of
its inhabitants, and this at the command
of Varus, out of his rage at the slaughter
of those that were about Arius.
Thence he marched on to Jerusalem,
and as soon as he was but seen by the
Jews, he made their camps disperse them-
selves : they also went away, and fled up
and down the country. Rut the citizens
received him, and cleared themselves of
having any hand in this revolt, and said
that they had raised no commotions, but
had only been forced to admit the mul-
titude, because of the festival, and that
they were rather besieged together with
the Romans, than assisted those that had
revolted. There had before this met him
Joseph, the first cousin of Archelaus, and
Gratus, together with Rufus, who led
those of Sebaste, as well as the king's
army : there also met him those of the
Roman legion, armed after their accus-
tomed manner; for as to Sabinus, he
durst not come into Varus's sight, but
was gone out of the city before this, to
the seaside. Rut Varus sent a part of
his army into the country, against those
that had been the authors of this com-
motion, and as they caught great numbers
of them, those that appeared to have been
the least concerned in these tumults he
put into custody, but such as were the
most guilty he crucified : these were in
number about 2000.
He was also informed that there con-
tinued in Idumea 10,000 men still in
arms ; but when he found that the Arabians
did not act like auxiliaries, but managed
the war according to their own passions,
and did mischief to the country otherwise
than he intended, and this out of their
hatred to Herod, he sent them away, but
made haste, with his own legions, to
march against those that had revolted ;
but these, by the advice of Aehiabus, de-
livered themselves up to him before it
came to a battle. Then did Varus forgive
the multitude their offences, but sent their
captains to Caesar to be examined by him.
Now Caesar forgave the rest, but gave
210
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
orders that certain of the Icing's relations
(for some of those that were among them
were Herod's kinsmen) should be put to
death, because they had engaged in a war
against a king of their own family. When,
therefore, Varus had settled matters at
Jerusalem after this manner, and had left
the former legion there as a garrison, he
returned to Autioch.
CHAPTER VI.
The Jews complain of Archelaus, and desire that
they may be made subject to Roman governors.
But now came another accusation from
the Jews against Archelaus at Rome,
which he was to answer to. It was made
by those ambassadors who before the re-
volt had come, by Varus's permission, to
plead for the liberty of their country;
those that came were fifty in number, but
there were more than 8000 of the Jews
at Rome who supported them ; and when
Cfesar had assembled a council of the prin-
cipal Romans in Apollo's* temple, that
was in the palace, (this was what he had
himself built and adorned, at a vast ex-
pense,) the multitude of the Jews stood
with the ambassadors, and on the other
side stood Archelaus, with his friends:
but as for the kindred of Archelaus, they
stood on neither side ; for to stand on
Archelaus's side, their hatred to him, and
envy at him, would not give them leave,
while yet they were afraid to be seen by
Caesar with his accusers. Besides these,
there was present Archelaus's brother,
Philip, being sent thither beforehand, out
of kindness, by Varus, for two reasons :
the one was this, that he might be assist-
ing to Archelaus; and the other was this,
that in case Caesar should make a distri-
bution of what Herod possessed among his
posterity, he might obtain some share of it.
And now, upon the permission that was
given the accusers to speak, they, in the
first place, went over Herod's breaches
of their law, and said that he was not a
king, but the most barbarous of all
tyrants, and that they had found him to
be such by the sufferings they underwent
from him : that when a very great number
had been slain by him, those that were
left had endured such miseries that they
* This holding of a council in the temple of
Apollo, in the emperor's palace at Rome, by Au-
gustus, ami even the building of this temple mag-
nificently by himself in that palace, are exactly
agreeable to Augustus in his elder years.
called those that were dead happy men;
that he had not only tortured the bodies
of his subjects, but entire cities, and had
done much harm to the cities of his own
country while he adorned those that be-
longed to foreigners; and shed the blood
of Jews in order to do kindness to those
people who were out of their bounds:
that he had filled the nation full of
poverty, and of the greatest iniquity, in-
stead of that happiness and those laws
which they had anciently enjoyed : that,
in short, the Jews had borne mure calami-
ties from Herod, in few years, than had
their forefathers during all that interval
of time that had passed since they had
come out of Babylon, and returned home,
in the reign of Xerxes :* that, however,
the nation was come to so low a condi-
tion, by being inured to hardships, that
they submitted to his successor of their
own accord, though he brought them into
bitter slavery; that, accordingly, they
readily called Archelaus, though he was
the son of so great a tyrant, king, after
the decease of his father, and joined with
him in mourning for the death of Herod,
and in wishing him good success in that
his succession; while yet this Archelaus,
lest he should be in danger of not being
thought the genuine son of Herod, began
his reign with the murder of 3000 citi-
zens; as if he had a mind to offer so
many bloody sacrifices to God for his go-
vernment, and to fill the temple with the
like number of dead bodies at that festi-
val : that, however, those that were left
after so many miseries, had' just reason to
consider now at last the calamities they
had undergone, and to oppose themselves,
like soldiers in war, to receive those
stripes upon their faces [but not upon
their backs as hitherto]. Whereupon
they prayed that the Romans would have
compassion upon the [poor] remains of
Judea, and not expose what was left of
them to such as barbarously tore them to
pieces, and that they would join their
country to Syria, and administer the
government by their own commanders,
whereby it would [soon] be demonstrated
that those who are now under the calumny
of seditious persons, and lovers of war,
know how to bear governors that are set
* Here we have a strong confirmation that it
was Xerxes, and not Artaxerxes, under whom the
main part of the Jews returned out of the Baby-
lonian captivity; i. e. in the days of Ezra and
Nehemiah.
Chap. VII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
211
over them, if they be but tolerable ones.
So the Jews concluded their accusations
with this request. Then rose up Nico-
laus, and confuted the accusations that
were brought against the kings, and him-
self accused the Jewish nation, as hard to
CHAPTER VII.
Ilistory of the spurious Alexander -banishment of
Archelaus, and death of Qlaphyra.
In the mean time there was a man, who
was by birth a Jew, but brought up at
be ruled, and as naturally disobedient to { Sidon with one of the Roman freedmen,
kings. He also reproached all those kins-
men of Archelaus who had left him and
were gone over to his accusers.
So Caesar, after he had heard both sides,
dissolved the assembly for that time ; but
a few days afterward he gave the one
who falsely pretended, on account of the
resemblance of their countenances, that
he was that Alexander who was slain by
Herod. This man came to Rome, in
hopes of not being defeated. He had one
who was his assistant, of his own nation,
half of Herod's kingdom to Archelaus, by and who knew all the affairs of the king-
the name of ethnarch, and promised to dom, and instructed him to say how those
make him king also afterward, if he ren- that were sent to kill him and Aristobu-
dered himself worthy of that dignity ; but lus had pity upon them, and stole them
as to the other half, he divided it iuto two away, by putting bodies that were like
tetrarchies, and gave them to two other
sons of Herod, the one of them to Philip,
theirs in their places. This man deceived
the Jews that were at Crete, and got a
and the other to that An tipas who contested I great deal of money of them, for travel-
the kingdom with Archelaus. Under this j ling in splendour; and thence sailed to
last was Perea and Galilee, with a revenue
of 200 talents; but Batanea, and Tracho-
nitis, and Auranitis, and certain parts of
Zeno's house about Jamnia, with a reve-
nue of 100 talents, were made subject to
Philip; while Idumea and all Judea, and
Samaria, were parts of the ethnarchy of
Archelaus, although Samaria was eased of
one-quarter of its taxes, out of regard to
their not having revolted with the rest of
the nation. He also made subject to him
the following cities, viz. Strato's Tower,
and Sebaste, and Joppa, and Jerusalem ;
but as to the Grecian cities, Gaza, and
Gadara, and Hippos, he cut them off from
the kingdom, and added them to Syria.
Now the revenue of the country that was
given to Archelaus was 400 talents. Sa-
lome also, besides what the king had left
her in his testaments, was now made mis-
tress of Jamnia, and Ashdod, and Pha-
saelis. Caesar did moreover bestow upon
her the royal palace of Ascalon ; by all
which she got together a revenue of sixty
talents; but he put her house under the
ethnarchy of Archelaus; and for the rest
of Herod's offspring, they received what
was bequeathed to them in his testaments;
Melos, where he was thought so certain-
ly genuine, that he got a great deal more
money, and prevailed with those who hud
treated him to sail along with him to
Rome. So he landed at Dicearchia [Pu-
teoli], and got very large presents from
the Jews who dwelt there, and was con-
ducted by his father's friends as if he
were a king; nay, the resemblance in
his countenance procured him so much
credit, that those who had seen Alexander,
and had known him very well, would
take their oaths that he was the very same
person. Accordingly, the whole body of
the Jews that were at Rome ran out in
crowds to see him, and an innumerable
multitude there was who stood in the
narrow places through which he was car-
ried ; for those of Melos were so far dis-
tracted, that they carried him in a sedan,
and maintained a royal attendance for
him at their own proper charges.
But Civjsar, who knew perfectly well
the lineaments of Alexander's face, be-
cause he had been accused by Herod be-
fore him, discerned the fallacy in his
countenance, even before he saw the man.
However, he suffered the agreeable fame
but, besides that, Caesar granted to Herod's , that weut of him to have some weight
two virgin daughters 500,000 [drachma)] with him, and sent Celadus, one who well
of silver, and gave them in marriage to knew Alexander, and ordered him to
the sons cf Phcroras: but after this family bring the young man to him. But when
distribution, he gave between them what | Ca>sar saw him, he immediately discerned
had been bequeathed to him by Herod, a difference in his countenance; and when
which was 1000 talents, reserving to him- , he had discovered that his whole body
self only some inconsiderable presents in was of a more robust texture, and like
honour of the deceased. I that of a slave, he understood the whole
212
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
was a contrivance. But the impudence
of what he said greatly provoked him to
be angry at him; for when he was asked
about Aristobulus, he said that he was
also preserved alive^ and was left on pur-
pose in Cyprus, for fear of treachery, be-
cause it would be harder for plotters to
get them both into their power while
they were separate. Then did Caesar
take him by himself privately, and said
to him, " I will give thee thy life, if thou
wilt discover who it was that persuaded
thee to forge such stories." So he said
that he would discover him, and followed
Caesar, and pointed to that Jew who
abused the resemblance of his face to get
money ; for that he had received more
presents in every city than ever Alexander
did when he was alive. Ca3sar laughed
at the contrivance, and put this spurious
Alexander among his rowers, on account
of the strength of his body; but ordered
him that persuaded him to be put to
death. But for the people of Melos, they
had been sufficiently punished for their
folly by the expenses they had been at
on his account.
And now Archelaus took possession of
his ethnarchy, and used not the Jews
only, but the Samaritans also, barbarously;
and this out of his resentment of their
old quarrels with him. Whereupon, they
both of them sent ambassadors against
him to Caesar; and, in the ninth year of
his government, he was banished to Vi-
enna, a city of Gaul, and his effects were
put into Caesar's treasury. But the re-
port goes, that before he was sent for by
Cassar, he seemed to see nine ears of corn,
full and large, but devoured by oxen.
When, therefore, he had sent for the
diviners, and some of the Chaldeans, and
inquired of them what they thought it
portended ; and when one of them had
one interpretation, and another had an-
other, Simon, one of the sect of the
Essenes, said, that he thought the ears of
corn denoted years; and the oxen denoted
a mutation of things, because by their
ploughing they made an alteration of the
country. That therefore he should reign
as many years as there were ears of corn;
and after he had passed through various
alternations of fortune, should die. Now
five days after Archelaus had heard this
interpretation, he was called to his trial.
I cannot but think it worthy to be re-
corded what dream Glaphyra, the daughter
of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, had,
who had at first been wife to Alexander,
who was the brother of Archelaus, con-
cerning whom we have been discoursing.
This Alexander was the son of Herod the
king, by whom he was put to death, as
we have already related. This Glaphyra
was married, after his death, to Juba,
king of Libya; and, after his death, was
returned home, and lived a widow with
her father. Then it was that Archelaus,
the ethnarch, saw her, and fell so deeply
in love with her, that he divorced Ma-
riamne, who was then his wife, and
married her. When, therefore, she was
come into Judea, and had been there for
a little while, she thought she saw Alex-
ander stand by her, and that he said to
her, " Thy marriage with the king of
Libya might have been sufficient for thee;
but thou wast not contented with him, but
art returned again to my family, to a
third husband ; and him, thou impudent
woman, hast thou chosen for thine hus-
band, who is my brother. However, I
shall not overlook the injury thou hast
offered me; I shall [soon] have thee
again, whether thou wilt or no." Now
Glaphyra hardly survived the narration
of this dream of hers two days.
CHAPTER VIII.
Archelaus's ethnarchy reduced to a [Roman] pro-
vince— sedition of Judas of Galilee — the three
sects of the Jews.
And now Archelaus's part of Judea
was reduced into a province, and Copo-
nius, one of the equestrian order among
the Romans, was sent as a procurator,
having the power of [life and] death put
into his hands by Cassar. Under his ad-
ministration it was that a certain Gali-
lean, whose name was Judas, prevailed
with his countrymen to revolt; and said
they were cowards if they would endure
to pay a tax to the Romans, and would,
after God, submit to mortal men as their
lords. This was a teacher of a peculiar
sect of his own, and was not at all like the
rest of those their leaders.
For there are three philosophical sects
among the Jews. The followers of the
first of whom are the Pharisees; of the
second, the Sadducees; and the third sect,
who pretend to a severer discipline, are
called Essenes. These last are Jews by
birth, and seem to have a greater affection
for one another than the other sects have.
These Essenes reject pleasures as an evih
Chap. VIII. ]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
'213
;
but esteem continence, and the conquest
over our passions, to be virtue. They
neglect wedlock, but choose out other per-
sons' children, while they are pliable, and
fit for learning ; and esteem them to be
of their kindred, and form them accord-
ing to their own manners. They do not
absolutely deny the -fitness of marriage,
and the succession of mankind thereby
continued; but they guard against the
lascivious behaviour of women, and are
persuaded that none of them preserve
their fidelity to one man.
These men are despisers of riches, and
so very communicative as raises our ad-
miration. Nor is there any one to be
found among them who hath more than
another; for it is a law among them, that
those who come to them must let what
they have be common to the whole order —
insomuch, that among them all there is
no appearance of poverty or excess of
riches, but every one's possessions are inter-
mingled with every other's possessions;
and so there is, as it were, one patrimony
among all the brethren. They think that
oil is a defilement; and if any one be
anointed without his own approbation, it
is wiped off his body ; for they think to
be sweaty is to be a good thing, as they
do also to be clothed in white garments.
They also have stewards appointed to take
care of their common affairs, who every
one of them have no separate business for
any, but what is for the use of them all.
They have no certain city, but many
of them dwell in every city ; and if any
of their sect come from other places, what
they have lies open for them, just as if it
were their own; and they go into such as
they never knew before, as if they had
been ever so long acquainted with them.
For which reason they carry nothing with
them when they travel into remote parts,
though still they take their weapons with
them, for fear of thieves. Accordingly
there is, in every city where they live,
one appointed particularly to take care of
strangers, and to provide garments and
other necessaries for them. But the
habit and management of their bodies is
such as children use who are in fear of
their masters. Nor do they allow/>f the
change of garments, or of shoes, till they
be first entirely torn to pieces, or worn
out by time. Nor do they either buy or
Bell any thing to one another ; but every
one of them gives what he hath to him
that wanteth it, and receives from him
again in lieu of it what may be convenient
for himself; and although there be uc
requital made, they are fully allowed to
take what they want of whomsoever they
please.
And as for their piety toward God,
it is very extraordinary ; for before sun-
rising they speak not a word about profane
matters, but put up certain prayers which
they have received from their forefathers,
as if they made a supplication for its
rising. After this every one of them arc
sent away by their curators, to exercise
some of those arts wherein they are skill-
ed, in which they labour with great dili-
gence till the fifth hour. After which
they assemble themselves together again
into one place ; and when they have
clothed themselves in white veils, they
then bathe their bodies in cold water.
And after this purification is over, they
every one meet together in an apartment
of their own, into which it is not per-
mitted to any of another sect to enter;
while they go, after a pure manner, into
the dining-room, as into a certain holy
temple, and quietly set themselves down;
upon which the baker lays them loaves in
order; the cook also brings a single plate
of one sort of food, and sets it before
every one of them ; but a priest says
grace before meat; and it is unlaw-
ful for any one to taste of the food before
grace be said. The same priest, when he
hath dined, says grace again after meat;
and when they begin, and when they end,
they praise God, as he that bestows their
food upon them ; after which they lay
aside their [white] garments, and betake
themselves to their labours again till the
evening; then they return home to sup-
per, after the same manner; and if there
be any strangers there, they sit down with
them. Nor is there ever any clamour or
disturbance to pollute their house, but
they give every one leave to speak in their
turn; which silence thus kept in their
house, appears to foreigners like some
tremendous mystery; the cause of which
is that perpetual sobriety they exercise,
and the same settled measure of meat and
drink that is allotted to them, and that
such as is abundantly slvmcient for them.
And truly, as for other things, they do
nothing but according to the injunctions
of their curators; only these two things
are done among them at every one's own
free will, which are, to assist those that
want it, and to show mercy ; for they are
214
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II
permitted of their own accord to afford
succour to such as deserve it, when they
stand in need of it, and to bestow food
on those that are in distress ; but they
cannot give any thing to their kindred
without the curators. They dispense their
anger after a just manner, and restrain
their passion. They are eminent for
fidelity, and are the ministers of peace;
whatsoever they say also is firmer than an
oath ; but swearing is avoided by them,
and they esteem it worse than perjury;
for they say, that he who cannot be be-
lieved without [swearing by] God, is al-
ready condemned. They also take great
pains in studying the writings of the an-
cients, and choose out of them what is
most for the advantage of their soul and
body; and they inquire after such roots
and medicinal stones as may cure their
distempers.
But now, if any one hath a mind to
come over to their seel, he is not imme-
diately admitted, but he is prescribed the
same method of living which they use,
for a year, while he continues excluded :
and they give him a small hatchet, and
the forementioned girdle, and the white
garment. And when he hath given evi-
dence, during that time, that he can ob-
serve their continence, he approaches
nearer to their way of living, and is made
a partaker of the waters of purification ;
yet is he not even now admitted to live
with them; for after this demonstration
of his fortitude, his temper is tried two
more years, and if he appear to be worthy,
they then admit him into their society.
And before he is allowed to touch their
common food, he is obliged to take tre-
mendous oaths; that, in the first place, he
will exercise piety toward God; and then,
that he will observe justice toward men;
ami that he will do no harm to any one,
either of his own accord, or by the com-
mand of others; that he will always hate
the wicked, and be assistant to the
righteous ; that he will ever show fidelity
to all men, and especially to those in
authority, because no one obtains the
government without God's assistance ;
and that if he be in authority, he will at
no time whatever abuse his authority,
nor endeavour to outshine his subjects,
either in his garments, or any other finery;
that he will be perpetually a lover of
truth, and propose to himself to reprove
those that tell lies; that he will keep his
bands clear from theft, and his soul from
unlawful gains ; and that he will neither
conceal any thing from those of his own
sect, nor discover any of their doctrines
to others, no, not though any one should
compel him so to do at the hazard of his
life. Moreover, he swears to communicate
their doctrines to no one any otherwise
than as he received them himself; that
he will abstain from robbery, and will
equally preserve the books belonging to
their sect, and the names of the angels [or
messeugers]. These are the oaths by
which they secure their proselytes to
themselves.
But for those that are caught in any
heinous sins, they cast them out of their
society; and he who is thus separated
from them, does often die after a miserable
manner; for as he is bound by the oath
he hath taken, and by the customs he
hath been engaged in, he is not at liberty
to partake of that food that he meets with
els'ewhere, but is forced to eat grass, and
to. famish his body with hunger till he
perish; for which reason they receive
many of them again when they are at
their last gasp, out of compassion to them,
as thinking the miseries they have endured
till they came to the very brink of death,
to be a sufficient punishment for the sins
they have been guilty of.
But in the judgments they exercise they
are most accurate aud just; nor do they
pass sentence by the votes of a court that
is fewer than 100. And as to what is
once determined by that number, it is un-
alterable. What they most of all honour,
after God himself, is the' name of their
legislator [Moses]; whom, if any one
blaspheme, he is punished capitally. They
also think it a good thing to obey their
elders, and the major part. Accordingly,
if ten of them be sitting together, no one
of them will speak while the other nine
are against it. They also avoid spitting
in the midst of them, or on the right side.
Moreover, they are stricter than any other
of the Jews in resting from their labours
on the seventh day; for they not only get
their food ready the day before, that they
may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that
day, but they will not remove any vessel
out of its place, nor go to stool thereon.
Nay, on the other days they dig a small
pit, a foot deep, with a paddle, (which
kind of hatchet is given them when they
are first admitted among them;) and
covering themselves rouud with their gar-
ment, that they may not affront the divine
Chap. VIII. ]
rays of light, they ease themselves into
that pit, after which they put the earth
that was dug out again into the pit ; and
even this they do only in the more lonely
places, which they choose out for this
purpose; and although this easement of
the body be natural, yet it is a rule with
them to wash themselves after it, as if it
were a defilement to them.
Now after the time of their preparatory
trial is over, they are parted into four
classes; and so far are the juniors inferior
to the seniors, that if the seniors should
be touched by the juniors, they must
wash themselves as if they had inter-
mixed themselves with the company of
a foreigner. They are long lived also ;
insomuch that many of them live above
100 years, by means of the simplicity of
their diet; nay, as I think, by means of
the regular course of life they observe
also. They contemn the miseries of life,
and are above pain, by the generosity of
their mind. And as for death, if it will
be for their glory, they esteem it better
than living always ; and indeed our war
with the Romans gave abundant evidence
what great souls they had in their trials,
wherein, although they were tortured and
distorted, burnt and torn to pieces, and
went through all kinds of instruments of
torment, that they might be forced either
to blaspheme their legislator, or to eat
what was forbidden them, yet could they
not be made to do either of them, no, nor
once to flatter their tormentors, or to shed
a tear ; but they smiled in their very
pains, and laughed those to scorn who in-
flicted the torments upon them, and re-
signed up their souls with great alacrity,
as expecting to receive them again.
For their doctrine is this : — That bodies
are corruptible, and that the matter they
are made of is not permanent; but that
the souls are immortal, and coutinue for
ever; and that they come out of the most
subtile air, and are united to their bodies
as in prisons, into which they are drawn
by a certain natural enticement; but that
when they are set free from the bonds of
the flesh, they then, as released from a
long bondage, rejoice and mount upward.
And this is like the opinion of the Greeks,
that good souls have their habitations
beyond the ocean, in a region that is
neither oppressed with storms of rain, or
snow, or with intense heat, but that this
place is such as is refreshed by the gentle
breathing of a west wind, that is per-
2X
WARS OF THE JEWS.
215
^
petually blowing from the ocean ; while
they allot to bad souls a dark and tem-
pestuous den, full of never-ceasing punish-
ments. And indeed the Greeks seem to
me to have followed the same notion,
when they allot the islands of the blessed
to their brave men, whom they call heroes
and demigods; and to the souls of the
wicked the region of the ungodly, in
Hades, where their fables relate that cer-
tain persons, such as Sisyphus, and Tan-
talus, and Ixion, and Tityus, are punished :
which is built on this first supposition,
that souls are immortal; and thence are
those exhortations to virtue, and dehor-
tations from wickedness, collected; where-
by good men are bettered in the conduct
of their life, by the hope they have of
reward after their death, and whereby the
vehement inclinations of bad men to vice
are restrained, by the fear and expectation
they are in, that although they should lie
concealed in this life, they should suffer
immortal punishment after their death.
These are the divine doctrines of the Es-
senes about the soul, which lay an un-
avoidable bait for such as have once had
a taste of their philosophy.
There are also those among them who
undertake to fortell things to come, by
reading the holy books, and using several
sorts of purifications, and being perpetu-
ally conversant in the prophets; and it is
but seldom that they miss in their j ire-
dictions.
Moreover, there is another order of Es-
senes, who agree with the rest as to their
way of living, and customs, and laws,
but differ from them in the point of mar-
riage, as thinking that by not marrying
they cut off the principal part of human
life, which is the prospect of succession ;
nay rather, that if all men should be of
the same opinion, the whole race of man-
kind would fail. However, they try their
spouses for three years ; and if they find
that they have their natural purgations
thrice, as trials that they are likely to be
fruitful, they then actually marry them.
But they do not use to accompany with
their wives when they are with child, as
a demonstration that they do not marry
out of regard to pleasure, but for the sake
of posterity. Now the women go into the
baths with some of their garments on, as
the men do with somewhat girded about
them. And these are the customs of this
order of Essenes.
But then as to the two other orders at
216
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
first mentioned; the Pharisees are those
who are esteemed most skilful in the
exact explication of their laws, and intro-
duce the first sect. These ascribe all to
fate [or providence], and to God, and yet
allow, that to act what is right, or the
contrary, is principally in the power of
men, although fate does co-operate in every
action. They say that all souls are in-
corruptible; but that the souls of good
men are only removed into other bodies, —
but that the souls of bad men are subject
to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees
are those that compose the second order,
and take away fate entirely, and suppose
that God is not concerned in our doing or
not doing what is evil ; and they say, that
to act what is good, or what is evil, is at
men's own choice, and that the one or the
other belongs so to every one, that they
may act as they please. They also take
away -the belief of the immortal duration
of the soul, and the punishments and
rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pha-
risees are friendly to one another, and are
for the exercise of concord and regard for
the public. But the behaviour of the
Sadducees one toward another is in some
degree wild ; and their conversation with
those that are of their own party is as
barbarous as if they were strangers to
them. And this is what I had to say
concerning the philosophic sects among
the Jews.
CHAPTER IX.
Death of Salome — Pilate occasions disturbances —
Tiberius puts Agrippa into bonds — Caius frees
him, and makes him king — Herod Antipas
banished.
And now, as the ethnarchy of Archelaus
was fallen into a Roman province, the
other sons of Herod, Philip, and that
Herod who was called Antipas, each of
them took upon them the administration
of their own tetrarchies; for when Salome
died, she bequeathed to Julia, the wife of
Augustus, both her toparchy, and Jamnia,
as also her plantation of palm-trees that
were in Phasaelis. But when the Roman
empire was translated to Tiberius, the sou
of Julia, upon the death of Augustus, who
had reigned fifty-seven years, six months,
and two days, both Herod and Philip con-
tinued in their tetrarchies ; and the latter
of them built the city Cesarea, at the
fountains of Jordan, and in the region of
Paneas; as also the city Julias, in the
Lower Gaulonitis. Herod also built the
city Tiberias in Galilee, and in Perea
[beyond Jordan] another that was also
called Julias.
Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator
into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night
those images of Ctesar that are called
ensigns, into Jerusalem. This excited a
very great tumult among the Jews when
it was day ; for those that were near them
were astonished at the sight of them, as
indications that their laws were trodden
under foot : for those laws do not permit
any sort of image to be brought into the
city. Nay, besides the indignation which
the citizens themselves had at this pro-
cedure, a vast number of people came
running out .of the country. These came
zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and be-
sought him to carry those ensigns out of
Jerusalem, and to preserve them their
ancient laws inviolable; but upon Pilate's
denial of their request, they fell down
prostrate upon the ground, and continued
immovable in that posture for five days
and as many nights.
On the next day Pilate sat upon his
tribunal, in the open market-place, and
called to him the multitude, as desirous
to give them an answer; and then gave
a signal to the soldiers that they should
all by agreement at once encompass the
Jews with their weapons; so the band
of soldiers stood round about the Jews in
three ranks. The Jews were under the
utmost consternation at the unexpected
sight. Pilate also said to them, that they
should be cut in pieces, unless they would
admit of Caesar's images; and gave inti-
mation to the soldiers to draw their naked
swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were
at one signal, fell down in vast numbers
together, and exposed their necks bare,
and cried out that they were sooner ready
to be slain, than that their law should be
transgressed. Hereupon Pilate was greatly
surprised at their prodigious superstition,
and gave orders that the ensigns should
be presently carried out of Jerusalem.
After this he raised another disturbance
by expending that sacred treasure which
is called corban* upon aqueducts, whereby
he brought water from the distance of 400
furlongs. At this the multitude had
great indignation ; and when Pilate was
come to Jerusalem, they came about his
* This use of corban, or oblation, as here applied
to the sacred money dedicated to God in the
treasury of the temple, illustrates the words of
Christ, Mark vii. 11, 12.
Chai\ X.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
217
"
tribunal, and made a clamour at it. Now
when he was apprized beforehand of this
disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in
their armour with the multitude, aud
ordered them to conceal themselves under
the habits of private men, and not indeed
to use their swords, but with their staves
-beat those that made the clamour. He
then gave the signal from his tribunal [to
do as he had bidden them]. Now the
Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of
them perished by the stripes they received,
and many of them perished as trodden to
death, by which means the multitude was
astonished at the calamity of those that
were slain, and held their peace.
In the mean time, Agrippa, the son of
that Aristobulus who had been slain by
his father Herod, came to Tiberius to
accuse Herod the tetrarch; who not ad-
mitting of his accusation, sta3'cd at Rome,
and cultivated a friendship with others of
the men of note, but principally with
Caius, the son of Germanicus, who was
then but a private person. Now this
Agrippa, at a certain time, feasted Caius;
and as he was very complaisant to him on
several other accounts, he at length
stretched out his hands, and openly wish-
ed that Tiberius might die, and that he
mightcjuickly see him emperor of the world.
This was told to Tiberius by one of
Agrippa's domestics ; who thereupon was
very angry, and ordered Agrippa to be
bound, and had him very ill treated in
the prison for six months, until Tiberius
died, after he had reigned twenty-two
years, and six months, and three days.
But when Caius was made Caesar, he
released Agrippa from his bonds, and
made him king of Philip's tetrarchy, who
was now dead ; but when Agrippa had
arrived at that degree of dignity, he in-
flamed the ambitious desires of Herod the
tetrarch, who was chiefly induced to hope
for the royal authority by his wife He-
rodias, who reproached him for his sloth,
and told him that it was only because he
would not sail to Caesar that he was
destitute of that great dignity ; for since
Caesar had made Agrippa a king from a
private person, much more would he ad-
vance him from a tetrarch to that dignity.
These arguments prevailed with Herod,
so that he came to Caius, by whom he
was punished for his ambition, by being
banished into Spain ; for Agrippa followed
him, in order to accuse him ; to whom also
Caius gave his tetrarchy, by way of ad-
dition. So Herod died in Spain, whither
his wife had followed him.
CHAPTER X.
Caius commands that his statue should bo set up in
the temple.
Now Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse
the fortune he had arrived at, as to take
himself to be a god, and to desire to be
so called also, and to cut off those of the
greatest nobility out of his country. He
also extended his impiety as far as the
Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius
with an army to Jerusalem, to place his
statues in the temple,* and commands!
him that, in case the Jews would not ad-
mit of them, he should slay those that
opposed it, and carry all the rest of the
nation into captivity : but God concerned
himself with these commands. However,
Petronius marched out of Antioch into
Judea, with three legions, and many
Syrian auxiliaries. Now as to the Jews,
some of them could not believe the stories
that spake of a war ; but those that did
believe them were in the utmost distress
how to defend themselves, and the terror
diffused itself presently through them all ;
for the army was already come to Pto-
lemais.
This Ptolemais is a maritime city of
Galilee, built in the great plain. It is
encompassed with mountains : that on the
east side, sixty furlongs off, belongs to
Galilee ; but that on the south belongs to
Carmel, which is distant from it 120 fur-
longs ; and that on the north is the
highest of them all, and is called by the
people of the country, the " ladder" of the
Tyrians, which is at the distance of 100
furlongs. The very small river Bclus
runs by it, at the distance of two furlongs;
near which there is Mcmnon's monument,
and hath near it a place no larger than
100 cubits, which deserves admiration;
for the place is round and hollow, and
affords such sand as glass is made of;
which place, when it hath been emptied
by the many ships there loaded, it is filled
again by the winds, which bring into it,
as it were on purpose, that sand which lay
remote, and was no more than bare com-
mon sand, while this mine presently turns
it into glassy sand; and, what is to me
• Tacitus owns that Caius commanded the Jews
to place his statue in their temple, though he is
mistaken when he adds that the Jl'ws thereupon
took arms.
218
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
still more wonderful, that glassy sand
wbieh is superfluous, and is once removed
out of the place, becomes bare common
sand again ; and this is the nature of the
place we are speaking of.
But now the Jews got together in great
numbers, with their wives and children,
into that plain that was by Ptolemais, and
made supplication to Petronius, first for
their laws, and, in the next place, for them-
selves. So he was prevailed upon by the
multitude of the supplicants, and by their
supplications, and left his army and statues
at Ptolemais, and then went forward into
Galilee, and called together the multitude
and all the men of note to Tiberias, and
showed them the power of the Romans,
and the threatenings of Caesar ; and, be-
sides this, proved that their petition was
unreasonable, because, while all the na-
tions in subjection to them had placed the
images of Caesar in their several cities,
among the rest of their gods, — for them
alone to oppose it, was almost like the
behaviour of revolters, and was injurious
to Caesar.
And when they insisted on their law, and
the custom of their country, and how it
was not only not permitted them to make
either an image of God, or indeed of a
man, and to put it in any despicable part
of their country, much less in the temple
itself, Petronius replied, " And am not I
also," said he, " bound to keep the law of
my own lord? For if I transgress it, and
spare you, it is but just that I perish ;
while he that sent me, and not I, will
commence a war against you ; for I am
under command as well as you." Here-
upon the whole multitude cried out, that
they were ready to suffer for their law.
Petronius then quieted them, and said to
them, " Will you then make war against
Caesar ?" The Jews said, " We offer sacri-
fices twice every day for Caesar, and for
the Roman people ;" but that if he would
place the images among them, he must
first sacrifice the whole Jewish nation ;
and that they were ready to expose them-
selves, together with their children and
wives, to be slain. At this Petronius
was astonished, and pitied them on account
of the inexpressible sense of religion the
men were under, and that courage of
theirs which made them ready to die for
it; so they were dismissed without success.
But on the following days, he got to-
gether the men of power privately, and
the multitude publicly, and sometimes he
used persuasions to them, and sometimes
he gave them his advice; but he chiefly
made use of threatenings to them, and in-
sisted upon the power of the Romans, and
the anger of Caius; and besides upon the
necessity he was himself under [to do as
was enjoined]. But as they could in no
way be prevailed upon, and he saw that
the country was in danger of lying with-
out tillage, (for it was about seed time
that the multitude continued for fifty days
together idle,) so he at last got them to-
gether, and told them, that it was best for
him to run some hazard himself; "for
either, by the divine assistance, I shall pre-
vail with Caesar; and shall myself escape
the danger as well as you, which will be
matter of joy to us both ; or, in case Cae-
sar continue in his rage, I will be ready
to expose my own life for such a great
number as you are." Whereupon he dis-
missed the multitude, who prayed greatly
for his prosperity ; and he took the. army
out of Ptolemais, and returned to An-
tioch ; from whence he presently sent an
epistle to Caesar, and informed him of the
irruption he had made into Judea, and of
the supplications of the nation ; and that
unless he had a mind to lose both the
country and the men in it, he must per-
mit them to keep their law, and must
countermand his former injunction. Caius
answered that epistle in a violent way,
and threatened to have Petronius put to
death for his being so tardy in the exe-
cution of what he had commanded. But
it happened that those who brought Caius's
epistle were tossed by a storm, and were
detained on the sea for three months, while
others that brought the news of Caius's
death had a good voyage. Accordingly,
Petronius received the epistle concerning
Caius, twenty-seven days before he re-
ceived that which was against himself.
CHAPTER XL
The government of Claudius, and the reign of
Agrippa — death of Agrippa and of Herod.
Now when Caius had reigned three
years and eight months, and had been
slain by treachery, Claudius was hurried
away by the armies that were at Rome to
take the government upon him ; but the
senate, upon the reference of the consuls,
Sentius Saturninus, and Pomponius Se-
cundus, gave orders to the three regiments
of soldiers that stayed with them, to keep
Chap. XI.
WARS OF THE JEWS.
the city quiet, and went up into the capitol
in great numbers, and resolved to oppose
Claudius by force, on account of the bar-
barous treatment they had met with from
Caius; and they determined either to set-
tle the' nation under an aristocracy, as they
had of old been governed, or at least to
choose by vote such an one for emperor
as might be worthy of it.
Now it happened that at this time
Agrippa sojourned at Home, and that
bo'th the senate called him to consult
with them, and at the same time Claudius
sent for him out of the camp, that he
might be serviceable to him, as he should
have occasion for his service. So he, per-
ceiving that Claudius was in effect made
Caesar* already, went to him, who sent
him as an ambassador to the senate, to let
them know what his intentions were:
that, in the first place, it was without his
seeking that he was hurried away by the
soldiers ; moreover, that he thought it was
not just to desert those soldiers in such
their zeal for him, and that if he should
do so, his own fortune would be in uncer-
tainty ; for that it was a dangerous case
to have been once called to the empire.
He added further, that he would administer
the government as a good prince, and not
like a tyrant; for that he would be satis-
fied with the honour of being called em-
peror, but would, in every one of his ac-
tions, permit them all to give him their
advice; for that although he had not been
by nature for moderation, yet would the
death of Caius afford him a sufficient de-
monstration how soberly he ought to act
in that station.
This message was delivered by Agrippa;
to which the senate replied, that since
they had an army, and the wisest counsels
on their side, they would not endure a
voluntary slavery. When Claudius heard
what answer the senate had made, he
sent Agrippa to them again, with the
following message : — That be could not
bear the thoughts of betraying them that
had given their oaths to be true to him ;
and that he saw he must fight, though
unwillingly, against such as he had no
mind to fight ; that however [if it must
come to that], it was proper to choose a
place without the city for the war; be-
cause it was not agreeable to piety to
pollute the temples of their own city with
the blood of their own countrymen, and
this only on occasion of their imprudent
conduct. And when Agrippa had heard
210
he delivered it to the
this message
senators.
In the mean time, one of the soldiers be-
longing to the senate drew his sword, and
cried out, " O my fellow-soldiers, what is
the meaning of this choice of ours, to kill
our brethren, and to use violence to our
kindred that are with Claudius ! While
we may have him for our emperor whom
no one can blame, and who hath so
many just reasons [to lay claim to the
government] ! and this with regard to
those against whom we are going to fight !"
When he had said this, he marched
through the whole senate, and carried
all the soldiers along with him. Upon
which all the patricians were immediately
in a great fright at their being thus
deserted. But still, because there ap-
peared no other way whither they could
turn themselves for deliverance, they
made haste the same way with the
soldiers, and went to Claudius. But
those that had the greatest luck in
flattering the good fortune of Clau-
dius betimes, met them before the walls
with their naked swords, and there was
reason to fear that those that came
first might have been in danger, before
Claudius could know what violence the
soldiers were going to offer them, had
not Agrippa run before, and told him
what a dangerous thing they were going
about, and that unless be restrained the
violence of these men, who were in a fit
of madness against the patricians, he
would lose those on whose account it was
most desirable to rule, and would bo
emperor over a desert.
When Claudius heard this, he restrained
the violence of the soldiery, and received
the senate into the camp, and treated
them after an obliging manner, and went
out with them presently, to offer their
thank-offerings to God, which were pro-
per upon his first coming to the empire.
Moreover, he bestowed on Agrippa his
whole paternal kingdom immediately, and
added to it, besides those countries that
had been given by Augustus to Herod,
Trachonitis and Auranitis, and still be-
sides these, that kingdom which was call-
ed the kingdom of Lysanias. This gift
he declared to the people by a decree,
but ordered the magistrates to have the
donations engraved on the tables of
brass, and to be set up in the capitol.
He bestowed on his brother Herod, who
was also his son-in-law, by marrying
220
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
[his daughter] Bernice, the kingdom of
Chalcis.
So now riches flow?d into Agrippa by
his enjoyment of so large a dominion ; nor
did he abuse the money he had on small
matters, but he began to encompass Jeru-
salem with such a wall, which, had it
been brought to perfection, bad made it
impractiacble for the Romans to take it by
siege; but his death, which happened at
Cesarea, before he had raised the walls to
their due height, prevented him. He
had then reigned three years, as he had
governed his tetrarchies three other years.
He left behind him three daughters, born
to him by Cypros — Bernice, Mariamne,
and Drusilla; and a son born of the same
mother, whose name was Agrippa : he
was left a very young child, so that Clau-
dius made the country a Roman province,
and sent CuspiusFadustobe its procurator,
and after him Tiberius Alexander, who,
making no alterations of the ancient laws,
kept the nation in tranquillity. Now after
this, Herod the king of Chalcis died, and
left behind him two sons, born to him of
his brother's daughter Bernice ; their
names were Bernicianus and Hyrcanus.
[He also left behind him] Aristobulus,
whom he had by his former wife, Mari-
amne. There was, besides, another brother
of his that died a private person, — his name
was also Aristobulus, — who left behind
him a daughter, whose name was Jotape;
and these, as I have formerly said, were the
children of Aristobulus, the son of Herod;
which Aristobulus and Alexander were
born to Herod by Mariamne, and were
slain by him. But as for Alexander's
posterity, they reigned in Armenia.
CHAPTER XII.
Tumults under Cumanus — suppressed by Quadratus
— Felix procurator of Judca — Agrippa advanced
from Chalcis to a larger kingdom.
Now after the death of Herod, king of
Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa, the son of
Agrippa, over bis uncle's kingdom, while
Cumanus took upon him tbe office of pro-
curator of the rest, which was a Roman
province, and therein he succeeded Alex-
ander; under which Cumanus began the
troubles, and the Jews' ruin came on ; for
when the multitude were come together to
Jerusalem, to the feast of unleavened bread,
and a Roman cohort stood over the clois-
ters of the temple, (for they always were
armed and kept guard at the festivals, to
prevent any innovation which the mul-
titude thus gathered together might make,)
one of the soldiers pulled back his gar-
ment, and cowering down after an indecent
manner, turned his breech to the Jews,
and spake such words as you might expect
upon such a posture. At this the whole
multitude had indignation, and made a
clamour to Cumanus that he would pu-
nish the soldier; while the rasher part of
the youth, and such as were naturally the
most tumultuous, fell to fighting, and
caught up stones, and threw them at the
soldiers. Upon which Cumanus was afraid
lest all the people should make an assault,
upon him, and sent to call for more armed
men, who, when they came in great num-
bers into the cloisters, the Jews were in a
very great consternation ; and being beaten
out of the temple, they ran into the city;
and the violence with which they crowded
to get out was so great, that they trod
upon each other, and squeezed one an-
other, till 10,000 of them were killed,
insomuch that this feast became the cause
of mourning to the whole nation, and
every family lamented [their own rela-
tions].
Now there followed after this another
calamity, which arose from a tumult made
by robbers ; for at the public road of Beth-
horen, one Stephen, a servant of Caesar, car-
ried some furniture, which the robbers fell
upon and seized. Upon this Cumanus sent
men to go round about to the neighbouring
villages, and to bring their inhabitants to
him bound, as laying it to their charge that
they had not pursued after the thieves,
and caught them. Now here it was that
a certain soldier finding the sacred book
of the law, tore it to pieces, and threw it
into the fire.* Hereupon the Jews were
in great disorder, as if their whole country
were in a flame, and assembled themselves
so many of them by their zeal for their
religion, as by an engine; and ran together
with united clamour to Cesarea, to Cu-
manus, and made supplication to him
that he would not overlook this man, who
had offered such an affront to God and to
his law, but punish him for what he had
done. Accordingly, he perceiving that the
multitude would not be quiet unless they
had a comfortable answer from him, gave
order that the soldier should be brought,
* The Talmud, in recounting ten sad accidents
for which the Jews ought to rend their garments,
reckons this for one ; — " When they hear that the
law of God is burnt."
CiiAr. XII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
221
and drawn through those that required to
have him punished, to execution; which
being done, the Jews went, their ways.
After this there happened a fight be-
tween the Galileans and the Samaritans :
it happened at a village called Geman,
which is situate in the great plain of Sa-
maria; where, as a great number of Jews
were going up to Jerusalem to the feast
[of tabernacles], a certain Galilean was
slain ; and besides, a vast, number of peo-
ple ran together out of Galilee, in order
to fight with the Samaritans. But the
principal men among them came to Cu-
manus, and besought him that, before the
evil became incurable, he would come into
Galilee, and bring the authors of this
murder to punishment; for that there
was no other way to make the multitude
separate, without coming to blows. How-
ever, Cumanus postponed their suppli-
cations to the other affairs he was then
about, and sent the petitioners away with-
out success.
But when the affair of this murder
came to be told at Jerusalem, it put the
multitude into disorder, and they left the
feast ; and without any generals to conduct
them, they marched with great violence
to Samaria; nor would they be ruled by
any of the magistrates that were set over
them ; but they were managed by one
Eleazar, the son of Dineas, aud by Alex-
ander, in these their thievish and seditious
attempts. These men fell upon those
that were in the neighbourhood of the
Acrabatene toparchy, and slew them, with-
out sparing any age, and set the villages
on fire.
But Cumanus took one troop of horse-
men, called the Troop of Sebaste, out of
Cesarea, and came to the assistance of those
that were spoiled ; he also seized upon a
great number of those that followed Elea-
zar, and slew more of them. And as for
the rest of the multitude of those that
went so zealously to fight with the Sama-
ritans, the rulers of Jerusalem ran out,
clothed with sackcloth, and having ashes
on their heads, and begged of them to go
their ways, lest by their attempt to re-
veuge themselves upon the Samaritans,
they should provoke the Romans to come
against Jerusalem — to have compassion
upon their country and temple, their chil-
dren and their wives, and not bring the
utmost dangers of destruction upon them,
in order to avenge themselves upon one
Galilean only. The Jews complied with
these persuasions of theirs, ami dispersed
themselves; but still there was a great
number who betook themselves to robbing,
in hopes of impunity ; and rapines and in-
surrections of the bolder sort happened
over the whole country. And the men
of power among the Samaritans came to
Tyre, to Ummidius Quadratus, the presi-
dent of Syria, aud desired that they that
had laid waste the country might be pu-
nished : the great men also of the Jews,
and Jonathan the son of Ananus, the
high priest, came thither, and said that
the Samaritans were the beginners of
the "disturbance, on account of that mur-
der they had committed; and that Cu-
manus had given occasion to what had
happened, by his unwillingness to punish
the original authors of that murder.
But Quadratus put both parties off for
that time, aud told them, thr.t when he
should come to those places he would
make a diligent inquiry after every cir-
cumstance. After which he went to Ce-
sarea, and crucified all those whom Cuma-
nus had taken alive ; and when from thence
he was come to the city Lydda, he heard
the affair of the Samaritans, and sent for
eighteen of the Jews, whom he had learned
to have been concerned in that fight, and
beheaded them; but he sent two others
that were of the greatest power among
them, aud both Jonathan and Ananias,
the high priests, as also Ananus the son
of this Ananias, aud certain others that
were eminent among the Jews, to C*esar;
as he did in like manner by the most illus-
trious of the Samaritans. He also ordered
that Cumanus [the procurator] and Celer
the tribuue should sail to Rome, in order
to give an account of what had been done
to Caesar. When he had finished these
matters, he went up from Lydda to Jeru-
salem, and finding the multitude celebrat-
ing their feast of unleavened bread with-
out any tumult, he returned to Antioch.
Now when Csesar at Rome had heard
what Cumanus and the Samaritaus had to
say, (where it was done in the hearing of
Agrippa, who zealously espoused the cause
of the Jews, as in like manner many of
the great men stood by Cumanus,) he con-
demned the Samaritans, and commanded
that three of the most powerful men among
them should be put to death : he banished
Cumanus, and sent Celer bound to Jeru-
salem, to be delivered over to the Jews to
be tormented — that he should be drawn
round the city, and then beheaded.
222
WARS OF THE JEWS.
TBook II.
After this, C:esar sent Felix, the brother
of Pallas, to be procurator of Galilee, and
Samaria, and Perea, and removed Agrippa
from Chalcis unto a greater kingdom ;
for he gave him the tetrarchy which had
belonged to Philip, which contained Ba-
tanea, Trachonitis, and Gaulonitis : he
added to it the kingdom of Lysanias, and
that province [Abilene] which Varus had
governed. But Claudius himself, when
he had administered the government thir-
teen years, eight months, and twenty days,
died, and left Nero to be his successor in
the empire, whom he had adopted by his
wife Agrippina's delusions, in order to be
his successor, although he had a son of his
own, whose name was Britannicus, by Mes-
salina his former wife, and a daughter,
whose name was Octavia, whom he had
married to Nero : he had also another
daughter, by Petina, whose name was An-
tonia.
CHAPTER XIII.
Nero adds four cities to Agrippa's kingdom — dis-
turbances raised by tbe Sicarii, the magicians,
and an Egyptian false prophet.
Now as to the many things in which
Nero acted like a madman, out of the ex-
travagant degree of the felicity and riches
which he enjoyed, and by that means used
his good fortune to the injury of others;
and after what manner he slew his brother,
and wife, and mother, from whom his
barbarity spread itself to others that were
most nearly related to him ; and how, at
last, he was so distracted that he became
an actor in the scenes, and upon the thea-
tre, I omit to say any more about them,
because there are writers enough upon
those subjects everywhere ; but I shall
turn myself to those actions of his time
in which the Jews were concerned.
Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom
of the Lesser Armenia upon Aristobulus,
Herod's* son, and he added to Agrippa's
kingdom four cities, with the toparchies
to them belonging: I mean Abila, and
that Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea
also, and Tiberias of Galilee ; but over
the rest of Judea he made Felix procura-
tor. This Felix took Eleazar the arch-
robber, and many that were with him,
alive, when they had ravaged the country
for twenty years together, and sent them
to Rome ; but as to the number of the rob-
bers whom he. caused to be crucified, and
who were caught among them, and those
he brought to punishment, they were a
multitude not to be enumerated.
When the country was purged of these,
there sprang up another sort of robbers
in Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii
who slew men in the daytime, and in the
midst of the city : this they did chiefly
at the festivals, when they mingled them-
selves among the multitude, and concealed
daggers under their garments, with which
they stabbed those that were their ene-
mies ; and when any fell down dead, the
murderers became a part of those that had
indignation against them ; by which means
tbey appeared persons of such reputation,
that they could by no means be discovered.
The first man who was slain by them was
Jonathan the high priest, after whose
death many were slain every day, while
the fear men were in of being so served,
was more afflicting than the calamity it-
self; and while everybody expected death
every hour, as men do in war, so men
were obliged to look before them, and to
take notice of their enemies at a great dis-
tance; nor, if their friends were coming
to them, durst they trust them any longer;
but, in the midst of their suspicions a.nd
guarding of themselves, they were slain.
Such was the celerity of the plotters
against them, and so cunning was their
contrivance.
There was also another body of wicked
men gotten together, not so impure in
their actions, but more wicked in their in-
tentions, who laid waste .the happy state
of the city no less than did these murder-
ers. These were such men as deceived
and deluded the people under pretence of
diviue inspiration, but were for procuring
innovations and changes of the govern-
ment; and these prevailed with the mul-
titude to act like madmen, and went be-
fore them into the wilderness, as pretend-
ing that God would there show them the
signals of liberty; but Felix thought this
procedure was to be the beginning of a
revolt; so he sent some horsemen, and
footmen both armed, who destroyed a
great number of them.
But, there was an Egyptian false pro-
phet that did the Jews more mischief than
the former ; for he was a cheat, and pre-
tended to be a prophet also, and got toge-
ther 30,000 men that were deluded by
him : these he led round about from the
wilderness to the mount which was called
Chap XIV.}
WAKS OF THE JEWS.
223
the .Mount of Olives, and was ready to
break into Jerusalem by force from that
place ; and if he could but once conquer
the Roman garrison and the people, he
intended to domiueer over them by the
assistance of those guards of his that were
to break into the city with him; but Fe-
lix prevented his attempt, and met him
with his Roman soldiers, while all the
people assisted him in his attack upon
them, insomuch that when it came to a
battle, the Egyptian rau away, with a few
others, while the greatest part of those
that were with him were either destroyed
or taken alive ; but the rest of the multi-
tude were dispersed every one to their
own homes, and there concealed them-
selves.
Now, when these were quieted, it hap-
pened, as it does in a diseased body, that
another part was subject to an inflamma-
tion ; for a company of deceivers and rob-
bers got together, and persuaded the Jews
to revolt, and exhorted them to assert their
liberty, inflicting death on those that con-
tinued in obedience to the Roman govern-
ment, and saying, that such as willingly
chose slavery, ought to be forced from
such their desired inclinations ; for they
parted themselves into different bodies,
and lay in wait up and down the country,
and plundered the houses of the great
men, and slew the men themselves, and
set the villages on fire ; and this till all
Judea was filled with the effects of their
madness. And thus the flame was every
day more and more blown up, till it came
to a direct war.
There was also another disturbance at
Cesarea — those Jews who were mixed
with the Syrians that lived there, raising
a tumult against them. The Jews pre-
tended that the city was theirs, and said
that he who built it was a Jew; meaning
King Herod. The Syrians confessed also
that its builder was a Jew; but they still
said, however, that the city was a Grecian
city ; for that he who set up statues and
temples in it could not design it for the
Jews. On which account both parties
had a contest with one another; and this
contest increased so much, that it came at
last to arms, and the bolder sort of them
marched out to fight; for the elders of the
Jews were not able to put a stop to their
own people that were disposed to be tu-
multuous, and the Greeks thought it a
a shame for them to be overcome by the
Jews Now these Jews exceeded the
Others in riches and strength of body;
but the Grecian part had the advantage
of assistance from the soldiery; for the
greatest part of the Roman garrison was
raised out of Syria; and being thus re-
lated to the Syrian part, they were ready
to assist it. However, the governors of
the city were concerned to keep all quiet,
and whenever they caught those that were
most for fighting on either side, they pu-
nished them with stripes and bonds. Yet
did not the sufferings of those that were
caught affright the remainder, or make
them desist; but they were still more and
more exasperated, and deeper engaged in
the sedition. And as Felix came once
into the market-place, and commanded the
Jews, when they had beaten the Syrians,
to go their ways, and threatened them if
they would not, and they would not obey
him, he sent his soldiers out upon them,
and slew a great many of them, upon
which it fell out that what they had was
plundered. And as the sedition still con-
tinued, he chose out the most eminent
men on both sides as ambassadors to Nero,
to argue about their several privileges.
CHAPTER XIV.
Festus, Albinus, and Floras, successively procura-
tors of Judea — the Jews resist the cruelties of
Floras.
Now it was that Festus succeeded Fe-
lix as procurator, and made it his business
to correct those that made disturbances in
the country. So he caught the greatest
part of the robbers, and destroyed a great
many of them. But then Albinus, who
succeeded Festus, did not execute his office
as the other had done; nor was there any
sort of wickedness that could be named
but he had a hand in it. Accordingly,
he did not only, in his political capacity,
steal and plunder every one's substance,
nor did he only burden the whole nation
with taxes, but he permitted the relations
of such as were in prison for robbery, and
had been laid there, either by the senate
of every city, or by the former procura-
tors, to redeem them for money; and no-
body remained in the prisons as a male-
factor but he who gave him nothing. At
this time it was that the enterprises of the
seditious at Jerusalem were very formida-
ble; the principal men among them pur-
chasing leave of Albinus to go on with
their seditious practices; while that part
of the people who delighted in distur-
224
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
bances joined themselves to such as had
fellowship with Albinus ; and every one
of these wicked wretches were encom-
passed with his own band of robbers,
while he himself, like an archrobber, or
a tyrant, made a figure among his com-
pany, and abused his authority over those
about him, in order to plunder those that
lived quietly. The effect of which was
this, that those who lost their goods were
forced to hold their peace, when they had
reason to show great indignation at what
they had suffered ; but those who had es-
caped, were forced to flatter him that de-
served to be punished, out of the fear
they were in of suffering equally with the
others. Upon the whole, nobody durst
speak their minds, for tyranny was gene-
rally tolerated; and at this time were
those seeds sown which brought the city
to destruction.
And although such was the character
of Albinus, yet did Gessius Florus, who
succeeded him, demonstrate him to have
been a most excellent person, upon the
comparison : for the former did the great-
est part of his rogueries in private, and
with a sort of dissimulation; but Gessius
did his unjust actions to the harm of the
nation after a pompous manner; and as
though he had been sent as an execu-
tioner to punish condemned malefactors,
he omitted no sort of rapine, or of vexa-
tion : where the case was really pitiable,
he was mpst barbarous; and in things of
the greatest turpitude, he was more im-
pudent; nor could any one outdo him in
disguising the truth ; nor could any one
contrive more subtle ways of deceit than
he did. He iudeed thought it but a petty
offence to get money out of single per-
sons ; so he spoiled whole cities, and ruined
entire bodies of men at once, and did al-
most publicly proclaim it all the country
over, that they had liberty given them to
turn robbers, upon this conditiou, that he
might go shares with them in the spoils.
Accordingly, this his greediness of gain
was the occasion that entire toparchies
were brought to desolation, and a great
many of the people left their own coun-
try, and fled into foreign provinces.
And truly, while Cestius Gallus was
presideut of the province of Syria, no-
body durst do so much as seud an embas-
sage to him against Florus; but when he
was come to Jerusalem, upon the approach
of the feast of unleavened bread, the peo-
ple came about him not fewer in number
than 3,000,000 :* these besought him to
commiserate the calamities of their nation,
and cried out upon Florus as the bane of
their country. But as he was present,
and stood by Cestius, he laughed at their
words. However, Cestius, when he had
quieted the multitude, and had assured
them that he would take care that Florus
should hereafter treat them in a more
gentle manner, returned to Antioch : Flo-
rus also conducted him as far as Cesarea,
and deluded him,«though he had at that
very time the purpose of showing his an-
ger at the nation, and procuring a war
upon them, by which means alone it was
that he supposed he might conceal his
enormities; for he expected that, if the
peace continued, he should have the Jews
for his accusers before Caesar : but that if
he could procure them to make a revolt,
he should divert their laying lesser crimes
to his charge, by a misery that was so
much greater ; he therefore did every day
augmeut their calamities, in order to in-
duce them to a rebellion.
Now at this time it happened that the
Grecians at Cesarea had been too hard
for the Jews, and had obtained of Nero
the government of the city, and had
brought the judicial determination : at the
same time began the war, in the twelfth
year of the reign of Nero, and the seven-
teenth of the reign of Agrippa, in the
month of Artemissus [Jyar]. Now the
occasion of this war was by no means
proportionable to those heavy calamities
which it brought upon us; for the Jews
that dwelt at Cesarea had a synagogue
near the place, whose owner was a certain
Cesarean Greek : the Jews had endea-
voured frequently to have purchased the
possession of the place, and had offered
many times its value for its price; but as
the owner overlooked their offers, so did
he raise other buildings upon the place,
in way of affront to them, and made work-
ing-shops of them, and left them but a
narrow passage, and such as was very
troublesome for them to go along to their
synagogue ; whereupon the warmer part
of the Jewish youth went hastily to the
workmen, and forbade them to build there;
but as Florus would not permit them to
use force, the great men of the Jews, with
* Three millions of the Jews were present at the
passover, A. D. 65, which confirms Josephus's state-
ment, that at a passover a little later, they counted
256,500 paschal lambs; which, at twelve persona
to each lamb, will produce 3,078,000.
Chap. XIV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
225
John the publican, being in (be utmost
distress what to do, persuaded Floras,
with the offer of eight talents, to hinder
the work. He then, being intent, upon
nothing but getting money, promised he
would do for them all they desired of
him, and then went away from Cesarea to
Sebaste, and left the sedition to take its
full course, as if he had sold a license to
the Jews to fight it out.
Now on the next day, which was the
seventh day of the week, when the Jews
were crowding apace to their synagogue,
a certain man of Cesarea, of a seditious
temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it,
with the bottom upward, at the entrance
of that synagogue, and sacrificed birds.*
This thing provoked the Jews to an in-
curable degree, because their laws were
affronted, and the place was polluted ;
whereupon the sober and moderate part
of the Jews thought it proper to have re-
course to their governors again, while the
seditious part, and such as were in the
fervour of their youth, were vehemently
inflamed to fight. The seditious also
among [the Gentiles of] Cesarea stood
ready for the same purpose ; for they had,
by agreement, sent the man to sacrifice
beforehand [as ready to support him] ; so
that it soon came to blows. Hereupon
Jucundus, the master of the horse, who
was ordered to prevent the fight, came
thither, and took away the earthen vessel,
and endeavoured to put a stop to the se-
dition ; but when he was overcome by the
violence of the people of Cesarea, the
Jews caught up their books of the law,
and retired to Narbata, which was a place
to them belonging, distant from Cesarea
sixty furlongs. But John, and twelve of
the principal men with him, went to Flo-
ras, to Sebaste, and made a lamentable
complaint of their case, and besought him
to help them; and with all possible de-
cency, put him in mind of the eight ta-
lents they had given him ; but he had the
men seized upon, and put in prison, aud
accused them for carrying the books of
the law out of Cesarea.
Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusa-
lem, although they took this matter very
ill, yet, did they restrain their passion;
bat Floras acted he'rein as if he had been
* " By this action, the killing of a bird over an
earthen vessel, the Jews were exposed as a leprous
people ; tor that was to be done by the law in the
cleansing of a leper. (Lev. ch. xiv.) It is also
Vnown, that the Gentiles reproached the Jews as
subject to the leprosy, and believed that they were
driv m out of Egypt on that account." — Dr. Hud-
son.
Voi.. II.— 15
hired, and blew up the war into a flame,
and sent some to take seventeen talents
out of the sacred treasure, and pretended
that Csesar wanted them. At this the
people were in confusion immediately, and
ran together to the temple, with prodi-
gious clamours, and called upon Caesar by
name, and besought, him to free them from
the tyrannny of Florus. Some also of
the seditious cried out upon Florus, and
cast the greatest reproaches upon him, and
carried a basket about, and begged some
spills of money for him, as for one that
was destitute of possessions, and in a mise-
rable condition. Yet was not he made
ashamed hereby of his love of money, but
was more enraged, and provoked to get
still more; and instead of coming to Ce-
sarea, as he ought to have done, and
quenching the flame of war, which was
beginning thence, and so taking away the
occasion of any disturbances, on which
account it was that he had received a re-
ward [of eight talents], he marched has-
tily with an army of horsemen and foot-
men against Jerusalem, that he might gain
his will by the arms of the Romans, and
might by his terror, and by his threaten-
ings, bring the city into subjection.
But the people were desirous of making
Florus ashamed of his attempt, and met
his soldiers with acclamations, and put
themselves in order to receive him very
submissively ; but he sent Capito, a cen-
turion, beforehand, with fifty soldiers, to
bid them go back, and not now make a
show of receiving him in an obliging man-
ner, whom they had so foully reproached
before ; and said that it was incumbent on
them, in case they had generous souls,
aud were free speakers, to jest upon him
to his face, and appear to be lovers of
liberty, not only in words, but with their
weapons also. With this message was
the multitude amazed ; and upon the corn-
in o- of Capito's horsemen into the midst
oAheni, they were dispersed before they
could salute Florus, or manifest their sub-
missive behaviour to him. Accordingly,
they retired to their own houses, and
spent that night in fear and confusion of
face. .
Now at this time Florus took up bis
quarters at the palace ; and on the next-
day he had his tribunal set before it, and
sat upon it, when the high priests, and
the men of power, and those of the great-
226
WARS OF THE JEWS.
est eminence in the city, came all before
that tribunal; upon which Florus com-
manded them to deliver up to him those
that had reproached him, and told them
that they should themselves partake of
the vengeance to them belonging, if they
did not produce the criminals; but these
demonstrated that the people were peace-
ably disposed, and they begged forgive-
ness for those that had spoken amiss; for
that it was no wonder at all that in so
great a multitude there should be some
more daring than they ought to be, and,
by reason of their younger age, foolish
also; and that it was impossible to distin-
guish those that offended from the rest,
while every one was sorry for what he had
done, and denied it out of fear of what
would follow : that he ought, however, to
provide for the peaee of the nation, and
to take such counsels as might preserve
the city for the Romans, and rather, for
the sake of a great number of innocent
people, to forgive a few that were guilty,
than for the sake of a few of the wicked,
to put so large and good a body of men
into disorder.
Florus was more provoked at this, and
called aloud to the soldiers to plunder
that which was called the Upper Market-
place, and to slay such as they met with.
So the soldiers, taking this exhortation
of their commander in a sense agreeable
to their desire of gain, did not only plun-
der the place they were sent to, but
forcing themselves into every house, they
slew its inhabitants; so the citizens fled
along the narrow lanes, and the soldiers
slew those that they caught, and no
method of plunder was omitted; they
also caught many of the quiet people,
and brought them before Florus, whom he
first chastised with stripes, and then cru-
cified. Accordingly, the whole number
of those that were destroyed that day,
with their wives and children, (for they
did not, spare even the infants themselves,)
was about 3600; and what made this
calamity the heavier, was this new method
of Roman barbarity; for Florus ventured
then to do what no one had done before,
that is, to have men of the equestrian or-
der whipped,* and nailed to the cross
before his tribunal; who, although they
* Native Jews, who were of the equestrian order
among the Romans, ought never to have been
whipped or crucified, according to the Roman
laws. See a parallel case in St. Paul, Acts xxii.
25-29.
[Book IL
were by birth Jews, yet were they of
Roman dignity notwithstanding.
CHAPTER XV.
Bernice petitions Florus to spare the Jews — Cruel-
ties and avarice of Florus.
About this very time King Agrippa
was going to Alexandria, to congratulate
Alexander upon his having obtained the
government of Egypt from Nero; but as
his sister Bernice was come to Jerusalem,
and saw the wicked practices of the sol-
diers, she was sorely affected at it, and
frequently sent the masters of her horse
and her guards to Florus, and begged of
him to leave off these slaughters; but he
would not comply with her request, nor
have any regard either to the multitude
of those already slain, or to the nobility
of her that interceded, but only to the ad-
vantage he should make by his plunder-
ing; nay, this violence of the soldiers
broke out to such a degree of madness,
that it spent itself on the queen herself;
for they did not only torment and destroy
those whom they had caught under her
very eyes, but indeed had killed herself
also, unless she had prevented them by fly-
ing to the palace, and had stayed there all
night with her guards, which she had
about her for fear of an insult from the
soldiers. Now she dwelt then at Jeru-
salem, in order to perform a vow which
she had made to God; for it is usual with
those that had been either afflicted with a
distemper, or with any other distresses,
to make vows; and for thirty days before
they are to offer their sacrifices, to abstain
from wine, and to shave the hair of their
head. Which things Bernice was now
performing, and stood barefoot before
Florus's tribunal, and besought him [to
spare the Jews]. Yet could she neither
have reverence paid to her, nor could she
escape without some danger of being
slain herself.*
This happened upon the sixteenth day
of the month Artemissus [Jyar]. Now
on the next day, the multitude, who were
in a great agony, ran together to the Up-
per Market-place, and made the loudest
lamentations for those that had perished ;
and the greatest part of the cries were
* Juvenal, in his sixth satire, alludes to this re-
markable penance or submission of Bernice to
Jewish discipline, and jests upon her for it. Taci-
tus, Dio, Suetonius, and Sextus Aurelius mention
her as one well known at Rome.
Chap XV .]
WABS OF THE JEWS.
227
such as reflected on Floras j at which the
men of power were affrighted, together
with the high priests, and rent their gar-
ments, and fell down before each of them,
and besought them to leave off, and not
to provoke Floras to some incurable pro-
cedure, besides what they had already
suffered. Accordingly, the multitude
complied immediately, out of reverence
to those that had desired it of them, and
out of the hope they had that Florus
would do them no more injuries.
So Florus was troubled that the dis-
turbances were over, and endeavoured to
kindle that flame again, and sent for the
high priests, with the other eminent per-
sons, and said, the only demonstration
that the people would not make any other
innovations should be this — that they
must go out and meet the soldiers that
were ascending from Ccsarea, whence two
cohorts were coming; and while these
men were exhorting the multitude so to
do, he sent beforehand, and gave direc-
tions to the centurions of the cohorts,
that they should give notice to those that
were under them, not to return the Jews'
salutations; and that if they made any
reply to his disadvantage, they should
make use of their weapons. Now the
high priests assembled the multitude in
the temple, and desired them to go and
meet the Romans, and to salute the co-
horts very civilly, before their miserable
case should become incurable. Now the
seditious part would not comply with
these persuasions; but the consideration
of those that had been destroyed made
them incline to those that were the boldest
for action.
At this time it was that every priest,
and every servant of God, brought out
the holy vessels, and the ornamental gar-
ments wherein they used to minister in
sacred things. The harpers also, and the
singers of hymns, came out with their in-
struments of music, and fell down before
the multitude, and begged of them that
they would preserve those holy ornaments
to them, and not to provoke the Romans
to carry off those sacred treasures. You
might also see then the high priests them-
selves, with dust sprinkled in great plenty
upon their heads, with bosoms deprived
of any covering but what was rent; these
besought every one of the eminent men
by name, and the multitude in common,
that they would not for a small offence
betray their country to those that were
desirous to have it laid waste; saying,
"What benefit will it bring to the sol-
diers to have a salutation from the Jews?
or what amendment of your affairs will
it bring you, if you do not now go out to
meet them? and that if they saluted them
civilly, all handle would be cut off from
Florus to begin a war; that they should
thereby gain their country, and freedom
from all further sufferings; and that, be-
sides, it would be a sign of great want of
command of themselves, if they should
yield to a few seditious persons, while it
was fitter for them, who were so great a
people, to force the others to act soberly."
By these persuasions, which they used
to the multitude and to the seditious,
they restrained some by threatening<, and
others by the reverence that was paid
them. After this they led them out, and
they met the soldiers quietly, and after a
composed manner, and when they were
come up with them, they saluted them;
but when they made no answer, the sedi-
tious exclaimed against Florus, which
was the signal given for falling upon
them. The soldiers therefore encom-
passed them presently, and struck them
with their clubs, and as they fled away,
the horsemen trampled them down; so
that a great many fell down dead by the
strokes of the Romans, and more by their
own violence, in crushing one another.
Now there was a terrible crowding about
the gates, and while everybody was mak-
ing haste to get before another, the flight
of them all was retarded, and a terrible
destruction there was among those that
fell down, for they wore suffocated and
broken to pieces by the multitude of
those that were uppermost; nor could
any of them be distinguished by his re-
lations, in order to the care of his fune-
ral; the soldiers also who beat them, fell
upon those whom they overtook, without
showing them any mercy, and thrust the
multitude through the place called Beze-
tba,* as they forced their way, in order
to get in and seize upon the temple, and
the tower Antonia. Florus also, being
desirous to get those places into his pos-
session, brought such as were with him
out of the king's palace, and would have
compelled them to get as far as the citadel
[Antonia]; but his attempt failed, for
the people immediately turned back upon
him, and stopped the violence of his at-
•Perhaps in the vicinity (if the "pool of Betll-
esda," mentioned in John v. 1.
228
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
tempt; and as they stood upon the tops
of their houses they threw their darts at
the Romans, who, as they were sorely
galled thereby, because those weapons
came, from above, and they were not able
to make a passage through the multitude,
which stopped up the narrow passages,
they retired to the camp which was at
the palace.
Bu.t for the seditious, they were afraid
lest Florus should come again, and get
possession of the temple, through Anto-
nia; so they got immediately upon those
cloisters of the temple that joined to An-
tonia, and cut them down. This cooled
the avarice of Florus; for whereas he was
eager to obtain the treasures of God [in
the temple], and on that account was de-
sirous of getting into Antonia, as soon as
the cloisters were broken down he left
off his attempt; he then sent for the high
priests and the sanhedrim, and told them
that he was indeed himself going out of
the city, but that he would leave them as
large a garrison as they should desire.
Hereupon they promised that they would
make no innovations, in case he would
leave them one band ; but not that which
had fought with the Jews, because the
multitude bore ill-will against that band
on account of what they had suffered from
it; so he changed the baud as they de-
sired, and with the rest of his forces re-
turned to Cesarea.
CHAPTER XVI.
Florus accuses the Jews of revolting from the Ro-
man government — Agrippa's speech to the Jews
on their intended war against the Romans.
However, Florus contrived another
way to oblige the Jews to begin the war,
and sent to Cestius and accused the Jews
falsely of revolting [from the Roman go-
vernment], and imputed the beginning of
the former fight to them, and pretended
they had been the authors of that dis-
turbance, wherein they were only the suf-
ferers. Yet were not the governors of
Jerusalem silent upon this occasion, but
did themselves write to Cestius, as did
Bernice also, about the illegal practices of
which Florus had been guilty against the
city; who, upon reading both accounts,
consulted with his captains [what he
should do]. Now some of them thought
it best for Cestius to go up with his army,
either to punish the revolt, if it was real,
or to settle the Roman affairs on a surer
foundation, if the Jews continued quiet
under them; but he thought it best him-
self to send one of his intimate friends
beforehand, to see the state of affairs, and
to give him a faithful account of the in-
tentions of the Jews. Accordingly, he
sent one of his tribunes, whose name was
Neopolitanus, who met with King Agrippa,
as he was returning from Alexandria, at
Jamnia, and told him who it was that
sent him, and on what errands he was
sent.
And here it was that the high priests,
and men of power among the Jews, as
well as the sanhedrim, came to congratu-
late the king [upon his safe return] ; and
after they had paid him their respects,
they lamented their own calamities, and
related to him what barbarous treatment
they had met with from Florus. At
which barbarity Agrippa had great indig-
nation, but transferred after a subtle
manner, his anger toward those Jews
whom he really pitied, that he might beat
down their high thoughts of themselves,
and would have them believe that they
had not been so unjustly treated, in order
to dissuade them from avenging them-
selves. So these great men, as of better
understanding than the rest, and desirous
of peace, because of the possessions they
had, understood that this rebuke which
the king gave them was intended for
their good; but as to the people, they
came sixty furlongs out of Jerusalem, and
congratulated both Agrippa and Neopoli-
tanus; but the wives of those that had
been slain came running first of all and
lamenting. The people also, when they
heard their mourning, fell into lamenta-
tions also, and besought Agrippa to assist
them; they also cried out to Neopolitanus,
and complained of the many miseries they
had endured under Florus; and they
showed them, when they were come into
the city, how the market-place was made
desolate, and the houses plundered. They
then persuaded Neopolitanus, by the
means of Agrippa, that he would walk
round the city, with only one servant, as
far as Siloam, that he might inform him-
self that the Jews submitted to all the
rest of the Romans, and were only dis-
pleased at Florus, by reason of his ex-
ceeding barbarity to them. So he walked
round, and had sufficient experience of
the good temper the people were in, and
then went up to the temple, where he
called the multitude together and highly
Chap. XVI.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
ooo
229
commended tbem for their fidelity to the
Romans, and earnestly exhorted them to
keep the peace; and having performed
such parts of divine worship at the tem-
ple as he was allowed to do, he returned
to Cestius.
But as for the multitude of the Jews,
they addressed themselves to the king,
and to the high priests, and desired they
might have leave to send ambassadors to
Nero against Florus, and not by their si-,
lence afford a suspicion that they had heen
the occasion of such great slaughters as
had been made, and were disposed to re-
volt, alleging that they should seem to
have been the first beginners of the war,
if they did not prevent the report by
showing who it was that began it; and it
appeared openly that they would not be
quiet, if anybody should hinder them
from sending such an embassage. But
Agrippa, although he thought it too dan-
gerous a thing for them to appoint men
to go as the accusers of Florus, yet did
he not think it fit for him to overlook
them, as they were in a disposition for
war. He therefore called the multitude
together into a large gallery, and placed
his sister Bernice in the house of the
Asamoneans, that she might be seen by
them, (which house was over the gallery,
at the passage to the upper city, where
the bridge joined the temple to the galle-
ry,) and spake to them as follows : —
* "Had I perceived that you were all
zealously disposed to go to war with the
Humans, and that the purer and more sin-
cere part of the people did not propose to
live in peace, I had not come out to you,
nor been so bold as to give you counsel ;
for all discourses that tend to persuade
men to do what they ought to do is super-
fluous, when the hearers are agreed to do
the contrary. But because some are ear-
nest to go to war because they are young,
and without experience of the miseries it
brings ; and because some are for it, out
of an unreasonable expectation of regain-
ing their liberty ; and because others hope
to get by it, and are therefore earnestly
bent upon it, that in the confusion of
your affairs they may gain what belongs
to those that are too weak to resist them —
* In this speech of King Agrippa's wo have an
authentic account of the extent and strength of
the Roman empire when the Jewish war began.
He is the same Agrippa who said to Paul, "Almost
thou persuades* me to be a Christian," Acts xxvi.
2s ; and of whom St. Paul said, "He was expert
in all the customs and questions of the Jews."
I have thought proper to get you all *o-
gether, and to say to yon what I think to
be for your advantage ; that so the Former
may grow wiser, and change their minds,
and that the best men may come to no
harm by the ill conduct of some others.
And let not any one be tumultuous against
me, in case what they hear me say do not
please them; for, as to those that admit
of no cure, but are resolved upon a revolt,
it will still be in their power to retain the
same sentiments after my exhortation is
over; but still my discourse will fall to
the ground, even with relation to those
that have a mind to hear me, unless you
will all keep silence. I am well aware
that many make a tragical exclamation
concerning the injuries that have been
offered you by your procurators, and con-
cerning the gl.orious advantages of liber-
ty; but before I begin the inquiry, who
you are that must go to war, and who
they are against whom you must light, I
shall first separate those pretences that
are by some connected together ; for, if
you aim at avenging yourselves on those
that have done you injury, why do you
pretend this to be a war for recovering
your liberty ? but, if you think all servi-
tude intolerable, to what purpose serve
ydur complaints against your particular
governors ? for, if they treated you with
moderation, it would still be equally an
unworthy thing to be in servitude. Con-
sider now the several cases that may be
supposed, how little occasion there is for
your going to war. Your first occasion is,
the accusations you have to make against
your procurators; nowhere you ought to
be submissive to those in authority, and
not give them any provocation ; but when
you reproach men greatly for small of-
fences, you excite those whom you re-
proach to be your adversaries ; for this
will only make them leave off hurting
you privately, and with some' degree of
modesty, and to lay what you have waste
openly. Now, nothing so much damps
the force of strokes as bearing them with
patience; and the quietness of those who
are injured diverts the injurious persons
from afflicting. But let us take it for
granted, that the Roman ministers are in-
jurious to you, and arc incurably severe j
yet are they not all the Romans who thus
injure you; nor hath Caesar, against
whom you are going to make war, injured
you ; it is not by their command that any
wicked governor is sent to you; for they
230
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II,
who are in the west cannot see those that
are in the east; nor, indeed, is it easy for
them there even to hear what is done in
these parts. Now, it is absurd to make
war with a great many for the sake of
one ; to do so with such mighty people
for a small cause ; and this when these
people are not able to know of what you
complain : nay, such crimes as we com-
plain of may soon be corrected, for the
same procurator will not continue for ever ;
and probable it is that the successors will
come with more moderate inclinations.
But, as for war, if it be once begun, it is
not easily laid down again, nor borne
without calamities coming therewith. —
However, as to the desire of recovering
your liberty, it is unseasonable to indulge
it so late ; whereas you ought to have
laboured earnestly in old time that you
might never have lost it; for the first ex-
perience of slavery was hard to be en-
dured, and the struggle that you might
never have been subject to it would have
been just; but that slave who hath been
once brought into subjection, and then
runs away, is rather a refractory slave
than a lover of liberty ; for it was then
the proper time for doing all that was
possible, that you might never have ad-
mitted the Romans [into your city] when
Pompey first came into the country. But
so it was, that our ancestors and their
kings, who were in much better circum-
stances than we are, both as to money and
[strong] bodies, and [valiant] souls, did
not bear the onset of a small body of the
Roman army. And yet you, who have
accustomed yourselves to obedience from
one generation to another, and who are
so much inferior to those who first sub-
mitted in your circumstances, will venture
to oppose the entire empire of the Ro-
mans ; while those Athenians, who, in
order to preserve the liberty of Greece,
did once set fire to their own city — who
pursued Xerxes, that proud prince, when
he sailed upon the sea, and could not be
contained by the seas, but conducted such
an army as was too broad for Europe —
and made him run away like a fugitive in
a single ship, and brake so great a part
of Asia as the Lesser Salamis, are yet at
this time servants to the Romans ; and
those injunctions which are sent from
Italy become laws to the principal govern-
ing city of Greece. Those Lacedemo-
nians also, who got the great victories at
Thermopylae and Platea, and had Agesi-
laus [for their king], and searched every
corner of Asia, are contented to admit
the same lords. These Macedonians also/
who still fancy what great men their
Philip and Alexander were, and see that
the latter had promised them the empire
over the world, these bear so great a change
and pay their obedience to those whom
fortune hath advanced in their stead.
Moreover, 10,000 other nations there are
who had greater reason than we to claim
their entire liberty, and yet do submit.
You are the only people who think it a
disgrace to be servants to those to whom
all the world hath submitted. What sort
of an army do you rely on? What are
the arms you depend on ? Where is your
fleet that may seize upon the Roman seas?
and where are those treasures which may
be sufficient for your undertakings ? Do
you suppose, I pray you, that you are to
make war with the Egyptians and with
the Arabians ? Will you not carefully
reflect upon the Roman empire ? Will
you not estimate your own weakness ?
Hath not your army been often beaten
even by your neighbouring nations, while
the power of the Romans is invincible in
all parts of the habitable earth ? nay,
rather, they seek for somewhat still be-
yond that ; for all Euphrates is not a suf-
ficient boundary for them on the east side,
nor the Danube on the north ; and for
their southern limit, Libya hath been
searched over by them, as far as countries
uninhabited, as is Cadiz their limit on the
west ; nay, indeed, they have sought for
another habitable earth beyond the ocean,
and have carried their arms as far as such
British islands as were never known before.
What, therefore, do you pretend to? Are
you richer than the Gauls, stronger than
the Germans, wiser than the Greeks, more
numerous than all men upon the habit-
able earth ? What confidence is it that
elevates you to oppose the Romans ? Per-
haps it will be said, It is hard to endure
slavery. Yes ; but how much harder is
it to the Greeks, who were esteemed the
noblest of all people under the sun !
These, though they inhabit a large coun-
try, are in subjection to six bundles of
Roman rods. It is the same case with
the Macedonians, who have juster reason
to claim their liberty than you have.
What is the case of 500 cities of Asia ?
Do they not submit to a single governor,
and to the consular bundle of rods ?
What need I speak of the Heniochi and
Chap. XVI J
WARS OF THE JEWS.
231
Colchi, and the nation of Tauri, those that
inhabit the Bosphorus, and the nations
about Pontus and Meotis, who formerly
knew not so much as a lord of their own,
but are now subject to 3000 armed men,
and where forty long ships keep the sea
iu peace, which before was not navigable,
and very tempestuous ? How strong a
plea may Bithynia and Cappadocia, and
the people of Pamphylia, the Lycians,
and Ciliciaus, put in for liberty ! but they
are made tributary without an army.
"What are the circumstances of the Thra-
ciaus, whose country extends in breadth
five days' journey, and in length seven,
and is of a much more harsh constitution,
and much more defensible than yours,
and, by the rigour of its cold, sufficient
to keep off armies from attacking them ?
Do not they submit to 2000 men of the
Roman garrisons ? Are not the Illyrians,
who inhabit the country adjoiuiug, as far
as Dalmatia and the Danube, governed by
barely two legions? by which also they
put a stop to the incursions of the Da-
cians; and for the Dalmatians, who have
made such frequent insurrections, in order
to regain their liberty, and who could
never before be so thoroughly subdued
but that they always gathered their forces
together again, and revolted, yet are they
now very quiet under one Roman legion.
Moreover, if great advantages might pro-
voke any people to revolt, the Gauls
might do it best of all, as being so tho-
roughly walled round by nature; on the
east side by the Alps, on the north by the
river Rhine, on the south by the Pyre-
nean mountains, and on the west by the
ocean. Now, although these Gauls have
such obstacles before them to prevent any
attack upon them, and have no fewer than
305 nations among them, nay have, as
one may say, the fountains of domestic
happiness within themselves, and send out
plentiful streams of happiness over al-
most the whole world, these bear to be tri-
butary to the Romans, and derive their
prosperous condition from them ; and
they undergo this, not because they are
of effeminate minds, or because they are
of an ignoble stock, as having borne a
war of eighty years, in order to preserve
their liberty ; but by reason of the great
regard they have to the power of the Ro-
mans, and their good fortune, which is of
greater efficacy than their arms. These
Gauls, therefore, are kept in servitude by
1200 soldiers, who are hardly so many as
2 Y
are their cities ; nor hath the gold dug
out of the mines of Spain been tufficient
for the support of a war to preserve their
liberty, nor could their vast distance from
the Romans by land and by sea do it;
nor could the martial tribes of the Lusi-
tanians and Spaniards escape; no more
could the ocean, with its tide, which yet
was terrible to the ancient inhabitants.
Nay, the Romans have extended their
arms beyond the pillars of Hercules, and
have walked among the clouds, upon the
Pyrcnean mountains, and have subdued
these nations ; and one legion is a sufficient
guard for these people, although they
were so hard to be conquered, and at a
distance so remote from Rome. Who is
there among you that hath not heard of
the great number of the Germans ? You
have, to be sure, yourselves seen them to be
strong and tall, and that frequently, since
the Romans have them among their cap-
tives everywhere ; yet these Germans, who
dwell in an immense country, who have
miuds greater than their bodies, and a
soul that despises death, and who are in
rage more fierce than wild beasts, have
the Rhine for the boundary of their en-
terprises, and are tamed by eight Roman
legions. Such of them as were taken
captives became their servants; and the
rest of the entire nations were obliged to
save themselves by flight.
" Do you also, who depend on the walls
of Jerusalem, consider what a wall the
Britons had : for the Romans sailed away
to them, and subdued them while they
were encompassed by the ocean, and in-
habited an island that is not less than
[the continent of] this habitable earth,
and four legions are a sufficient guard to
so large an island : ami why should I speak
much more about this matter, while the
Parthians, that most warlike body of men,
and lords of so many nations, and en-
compassed with such mighty forces, send
hostages to the Romans ; whereby you
may see if you please, even in Italy, the
noblest nation of the east, under the no-
tion of peace, submitting to serve them.
Now, when almost all people under the sun
submit to the Roman arms, will you be the
only people that make war against them ?
and this without regarding the fate of the
Carthagiuians, who, in the midst of their
boasts of the great Hannibal, and the no-
bility of their Phoenician original, fell by
the hand of Scipio. Nor, iudeed, have
the Cyrenians, derived from the Lacede-
232
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II
monians, nor the Marmaridae, a nation ex-
tended as far as the regions uninhabitable
for want of water, nor have the Syrtes, a
place terrible to such as barely hear it
described, the Nasamons and Moors, and
the immense multitude of the Numidians,
been able to put a stop to the Roman
valour ; and as for the third part of the
habitable earth [Africa], whose nations
are so many that it is not easy to number
them, and which is bounded by the Atlan-
tic sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and
feeds an innumerable multitude of Ethio-
pians, as far as the Had sea, these have
the Romans subdued entirely. And be-
sides the annual fruits of the earth, which
maintain the multitude of the Romans
for eight months in the year, this, over
and above, pays all sorts of tribute, and
affords revenues suitable to the necessi-
ties of the government. Nor do they,
like you, esteem such injunctions a dis-
grace to them, although they have but one
Roman legion that abides among them;
and indeed what occasion is there for
showing you the power of the Romans
over remote countries, when it is so easy
to learn it from Egypt, in your neighbour-
hood ? This country is extended as far
as the Ethiopians, and Arabia the Happy,
and borders upon India ; it hath 7,500,000
men, besides the inhabitants of Alexan-
dria, as may be learned from the revenue
of the poll-tax ; yet it is not ashamed to
submit to the Roman government, al-
though it hath Alexandria as a grand
temptation to a revolt, by reason it is so
full of people and of riches, and is be-
sides exceeding large, its length being
thirty furlongs, and its breadth no less
than ten ; and it pays more tribute to the
Romans in one month than you do in a
year : nay, besides what it pays in money,
it sends corn to Rome that supports it for
four months [in the year] : it is also
walled round on all sides, either by almost
impassable deserts, or seas that have no
havens, or by rivers, or by lakes ; yet
have none of these things been found too
strong for the Roman good fortune; how-
ever, two legions that lie in that city are
a bridle both for the remoter parts of
Egypt, and for the parts inhabited by the
more noble Macedonians. Where then
arc those people whom you are to have
for your auxiliaries? Must they come
from the parts of the world that are un-
inhabited '( for all that are in the habita-
ble earth are [under the] Romans. Unless
any of you extend his hopes as far as be-
yond the Euphrates, and suppose that
those of your own nation that dwell in
Adiabene will come to your assistance ;
(but certainly these will not embarrass
themselves with an unjustifiable war, nor,
if they should follow such ill advice, will
the Parthians permit them so to do;) for
it is their concern to maintain the truce
that is between them and the Romans,
and they will be supposed to break the
covenants between them, if any under
their government march against the Ro-
mans. What remains, therefore, is this,
that you have recourse to divine assist-
ance ; but this is already on the side of
the Romans; for it is impossible that so
vast an empire should be settled without
God's providence. Reflect upon it, how
impossible it is your zealous observation
of your religious customs should be here
preserved, which are hard to be observed,
even when you fight with those whom
you are able to conquer; and how can you
then most of all hope for God's assistance,
when, by being forced to transgress his
law, you will make him turn his face
from you ? and if you do observe the
custom of the Sabbath-days, and will not
be prevailed on to do any thing thereon,
you will easily be taken, as were your fore-
fathers by Pompey, who was the busiest
in his siege on those days on which the
besieged rested ; but if in time of war
you transgress the law of your country, I
cannot tell on whose account you will
afterward go to war ; for your concern is
but one, that you do nothing against any
of your forefathers; and how will you call
upon God to assist you, when you are
voluntarily transgressing against his reli-
gion ? Now, all men that go to war, do
it either as depending on divine or ou hu-
man assistance ; but since your going to
war will cut off both those assistances,
those that are for going to war choose evi-
dent destruction. What hinders you from
slaying your children and wives with your
own hands, and burning this most excel-
lent native city of yours ? for by this mad
prank you will, however, escape the re-
proach of being beaten ; but it were best,
O my friends, it were best, while the ves-
sel is still in the haven, to foresee the im-
pending storm, aud not to set sail out of
the port into the middle of the hurricanes ;
for we justly pity those who fall into
great misfortunes without foreseeing them;
but for him who rushes into manifest
Chap. XVII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
2
ruin, he gains reproaches [instead of com-
miseration]. But certainly no one can
imagine that you can enter into a war as by
an agreement, or that when the Romans
have got you under their power, they will
use you with moderation, or will not
rather, for an example to other nations,
burn your holy city, and utterly destroy
your whole nation ; for those of you who
shall survive the war will not be able to
find a place whither to flee, since all men
have the Romans for their lords alrea-
dy, or afraid they shall have hereafter.
Nay, indeed, the danger concerns not
those Jews that dwell here onlv, but those
of them who dwell in other cities also ;
for there is no people upon the habitable
earth which have not some portion of you
among them, whom your enemies will
slay, in case you go to war, and on that
account also; and so every city which
hath Jews in it will be filled with slaugh-
ter for the sake only of a few men, and
they who slay them will be pardoned;
but if that slaughter be not made by
them, consider how wicked a thing it is
to take arms against those that are so
kind to you. Have pity, therefore, if
not on your children and wives, yet upon
this your metropolis, and its sacred walls;
spare the temple, and preserve the holy
house, with its holy furniture, for your-
selves; for if the Romans get you under
their power, they will no longer abstain
from them, when their former abstinence
shall have been so ungratefully requited. I
call to witness your sanctuary, and the
holy angels of God, and this country,
common to us all, that I have not kept
hack any thing that is for your preserva-
tion ; and if you will follow that advice
which you ought to do, you will have that
peace which will be common to you and
to me ; but if you indulge your passions,
you will run those hazards which I shall
be free from."
When Agrippa had spoken thus, both
he and his sister wept, and by their tears
repressed a great deal of the violence of
the people ; but still they cried out, that
they would not fight against the Romans
but against Florus, ou account of what
they had suffered by his means. To which
Agrippa replied, that what they had al-
ready done was like such as make war
against the Romans; "for you have not
paid the tribute which is due to Cassar;*
a Julius Caesar had decreed that the Jews of Je-
and you have cut off the cloisters [of th^
temple] from joining to the tower Anto-
nia. You will therefore prevent any oc«
easion of revolt, if you will but join
these together again, and if you will but
pay your tribute ; for the citadel does D -
now belong to Florus, nor are you to pay
the tribute-money to Florus."
CHAPTER XVIT.
Commencement of the Jewish war with the Ro-
mans— Manahem heads the Jewish insurgents,
who are defeated with great slaughter.
Tins advice the people hearkened to,'
and went up into the temple with the king
and Bernice, and began to rebuild the
cloisters : the rulers also and senators di-
vided themselves into the villages, and
collected the tributes, and soon got toge-
ther forty talents, which was the sum that
was deficient. And thus did Agrippa then
put a stop to that war which was threaten-
ed. Moreover, he attempted to persuade
the multitude to obey Florus, until Ca>
sar should send one to succeed him; but
they were hereby more provoked, and
cast reproaches upon the king, and got
him excluded out of the city; nay, some
of the seditious had the impudence to
throw stones at him. So when the king
saw that the violence of those that were
for innovations was not to be restrained,
and being very angry at the contumelies
he had received, he sent their rulers, to-
gether with their men of power, to Florus,
to Cesarea, that he might appoint whom
he thought fit to collect the tribute iu the
country, while he retired into his own
kingdom.
And at this time it was that some of
those that principally excited the people
to go to war, made an assault upon a cer-
tain fortress called Masada. They took
it by treachery, and slew the Romans that
were there, and put others of their own
party to keep it. At the same time Ele-
azar, the son of Ananias the high priest,
a very bold youth, who was at that time
governor of the temple, persuaded those
that officiated in the divine service to re-
ceive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner.
And this was the true beginning of our
war with the Romans; for they rejected
the sacrifice of Caesar on this accouut :
and when many of the high priests and
rusalem should pay an annual tribute to the Ro-
mans, excepting the city of Joppa, and for the
sabbatical year.
234
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
principal men besought them not to omit
the sacrifice, which it was customary for
them to offer for their princes, they would
not be prevailed upon. These relied
much upon their multitude, for the most
flourishing part of the innovators assisted
them ; but they had the chief regard to
Eleazar, the governor of the temple.
Hereupon the men of power got to-
gether, and conferred with the high
priests, as did also the principal of the
Pharisees; and thinking all was at stake,
and that their calamities were becoming
'■incurable, took counsel what was to be
done. Accordingly, they determined to
try what they could do with the seditious
by words, and assembled the people before
the brazen gate, which was that gate of
the inner temple [court of the priests]
which looked toward the sunrising. And,
in the first place, they showed the great
indignation they had at this attempt for a
revolt, and for their bringing so great a
war upon their country : after which they
confuted their pretence as unjustifiable,
and told them, that their forefathers had
adorned their temple in great part with
donations bestowed on them by foreigners,
and had always received what had been
presented to them from foreign nations;
and that they had been so far from reject-
ing any person's sacrifice, (which would
be the highest instance of impiety,) that
they had themselves placed those dona-
tions about the temple, which were still
visible, and had remained there so long a
time : that they did now irritate the Ro-
mans to take arms against them, and
invited them to make war upon them, and
brought up novel rules of strange divine
worship, and determined to run the hazard
of having their city condemned for im-
piety, while they would not allow any fo-
reigner, but Jews only, either to sacrifice
or to worship therein. And if such a
law should ever be introduced in the case
of a single person only, he would have
indignation at it as an instance of inhu-
manity determined against him ; while
they have no regard to the Romans or to
Caesar, and forbade even their oblations
to be received also : that however they
cannot but fear, lest by thus rejecting their
sacrifices, they shall not be allowed to
offer their own ; and that this city will lose
its principality, unless they grow wiser
quickly, and restore the sacrifices as for-
merly ; and, indeed, amend the iujury
[they have offered to foreigners] before
the report of it comes to the ears of those
that have been injured.
And as they said these things, they pro-
duced those priests that were skilful in the
customs of their country, who made the
report, that all their forefathers had re-
ceived the sacrifices from foreign nations.
But still not one of the innovators would
hearken to what was said ; nay, those that
ministered about the temple would not
attend their divine service, but were pre-
paring matters for beginning the war. So
the men of power, perceiving that the se-
dition was too hard for them to subdue,
and that the danger which would arise
from the Romans would come upon them
first of all, endeavoured to save themselves,
and sent ambassadors; some to Florus, the
chief of whom was Simon the son of Ana-
nias ; and others to Agrippa, among whom
the most eminent were Saul, and Antipas,
and Costobarus, who were of the king's
kindred; and they desired of them both
that they would come with an army to the
city, and cut off the sedition before it
should be too hard to be subdued. Now
this terrible message was good news to
Florus ; and because his design was to
have a war kindled, he gave the ambas-
sadors no answer at all. But Agrippa
was equally solicitous for those that were
revolting, and for those against whom the
war was to be made, and was desirous to
preserve the Jews for the Romans, and
the temple and metropolis for the Jews;
he was also sensible that it was not for his
own advantage that the disturbances should
proceed ; so he sent 3000 horsemen to the
assistance of the people, out of Auranitis,
and Batanea, and Trachonitis, and these
under Darius, the master of his horse,
and Philip, the son of Jaciinus, the gene-
ral of his army.
Upon this the men of power, with the
high priests, as also all the part of the
multitude that were desirous of peace,
took courage, and seized upon the upper
city [Mount Sion]; for the seditious part
had the lower city and the temple in their
power: so they made use of stones and
slings perpetually against one another,
and threw darts continually on both sides;
and sometimes it happened that they
made excursions by troops, and fought it
out hand to hand, while the seditious
were superior in boldness, but the king's
soldiers in skill. These last strove chiefly
to gain the temple, and to drive those out
of it who profaned it; as did the seditious,
Chap. XVII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
235
with Eleazar, (besides what they had al-
ready,) labour to gain the upper city.
Thus were there perpetual slaughters on
both sides for seven days' time; but nei-
ther side would yield up the parts they
had seized upon.
Now the next day was the^ festival of
Xyiophory ; upon which the custom was
for every one to bring wood for the altar,
(that there might never be a want of fuel
for that fire which was unquenchable and
always burning.) Upon that day they
excluded the opposite party from the ob-
servation of this part of religion. And
when they had joined to themselves many
of the sicarii, who crowded in among the
weaker people, (that was the name for
such robbers as had under their bosoms
swords called sicae,) they grew bolder,
and carried their undertakings further;
insomuch that the king's soldiers were
overpowered by their multitude and bold-
ness ; and so they gave way, and were
driven out of the upper city by force.
The others then set fire to the house of
Ananias the high priest, and to the
palaces of Agrippa and Bernice; after
which they carried the fire to the place
where the archives were deposited, and
made haste to burn the contracts belong-
ing to their creditors, and thereby dissolve
their obligations for paying their debts ;
and this was done in order to gain the
multitude of those who had been debtors,
and that they might persuade the poorer
sort to join in their insurrection with
safety against the more wealthy; so the
keepers of the records fled away, and the
rest set fire to them. And when they had
thus burnt down the nerves of the city,
they fell upon their enemies ; at which time
some of the men of power, and of the
high priests, went into the vaults under
ground, and concealed themselves, while
others fled with the king's soldiers to the
upper palace, and shut the gates immedi-
ately : among whom were Ananias the
high priest, and the ambassadors that had
been sent to Agrippa. And now the se-
ditious were contented with the victory
they had gotten, and the buildings they
had burnt down, and proceeded no further.
But on the next day, which was the
fifteenth of the month Louis [Ab], they
made an assault upon Antonia, and be-
sieged the garrisou which was in it two
days, and then took the garrison, and
slew thein, and set the citadel on fire;
after which they marohed to the palace,
whither the king's soldiers were fled, and
parted themselves into four bodies, and
made an attack upon the walls. As for
those that were within it, no one had the
courage to sally out, because those that
assaulted them were so numerous; but
they distributed themselves into the breast-
works and turrets, and shut at the be-
siegers, whereby many of the robbers fell
under the walls; nor did they cease to
fight one with another, either by night or
by day; while the seditious supposed that
those within would grow weary for want
of food; and those without, supposed the
others would do the like by the tedious-
ness of the siege.
In the mean time, one Manahem, the
son of Judas, that was called the Galilean,
(who was .a very cunning sophister, and
had formerly reproached the Jews under
Cyrenius, that after God they were subject
to the Romans,) took some of the men of
note with him, and retired to Massada,
where he broke open King Herod's ar-
moury, and gave arms not only to his own
people, but to other robbers also. These
he made use of for a guard, and returned
in the state of a king to Jerusalem ; he
became the leader of the sedition, and
gave orders for continuing the siege; but
they wanted proper instruments, and it
was not practicable to undermine the wall,
because the darts came down upon them
from above. But still they dug a mine,
from a great distance, under one of the
towers, and made it totter; and having
done that, they set on fire what was com-
bustible, and left it; and when the found-
ations were burnt below, the tower fell
down suddenly. Yet did they then meet
with another wall that had been built
within, for the besieged were sensible be-
forehand of what they were doing, and
probably the tower shook as it was under-
mining; so they provided themselves of
another fortification; which, when the
besiegers unexpectedly saw, while they
thought they had already gained the place,
they were under some consternation.
However, those that were within sent to
iManahem, and to the other leaders of the
sedition, and desired they might go out
upon a capitulation; this was granted to
the king's soldiers and their own coun-
trymen only, who went out accordingly;
but the Romans that were left alone were
greatly dejected, for they were not able
m force their way through such a multi-
tude; aud to desire them to give them
236
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
their right hand for their security, they
thought would be a reproach to them; and
besides, if they should give it them, they
durst not depend upon it; so they de-
serted their camp, as easil}' taken, and
ran a.vay to the royal towers — that called
Hippicus, that called Phasaelus, and that
culled Mariamne. But Manahem and his
party fell upon the place whence the sol-
diers were fled, and slew as many of them
as they could catch, before they got up to
the towers, and plundered what they left
behind them, and set fire to their camp
This was executed on the sixth day of the
month Gorpieus [Elul].
But on the next day the high priest
was caught, where he had concealed him-
self in an aqueduct; he was slain, together
with Hezekiah, his brother, by the rob-
bers : hereupon the seditious besieged the
towers, and kept them guarded, lest any
one of the soldiers should escape. Now
the overthrow of the places of strength,
and the death of the high priest Ananias,
so puifed up Manahem, that he became
barbarously cruel; and, as he thought he
hail no antagonist to dispute the manage-
ment of affairs with him, he was no better
than an insupportable tyrant : but Eleazar
and his party, when words had passed be-
tween them, how it was not proper, when
they revolted from the Romans out of
the desire of liberty, to betray that liberty
to any of their own people, and to bear a
Lord, who, though he should be guilty of
no violence, was yet meaner than them-
selves ; as also, that, in case they were
obliged to set some one over their public
affairs, it was fitter they should give that
privilege to any one rather than to him,
they made an assault upon him in the
temple; for he went up thither to wor-
ship in a pompous manner, and adorned
with royal garments, and had his followers
with him in their armour. But Eleazar
and his party fell violently upon him, as
did also the rest of the people, and taking
up stones to attack him withal, they
threw them at the sophister, and thought
that if he were once ruined, the entire se-
dition would fall to the ground. Now
Manahem and his party made resistance
for a while; but when they perceived that
the whole multitude were falling upon
them, they fled which way every one was
able: those that were caught were slain,
and those that hid themselves were
si arched for. A few there were of them
woo privately escaped to Massada, among
whom was Eleazar, the son of Jarius, who
was kin to Manahem, and acted the part
of a tyrant at Massada afterward. As for
Manahem himself, he ran away to the
place called Ophla, and there lay skulking
in private; but they took him alive, and
drew him out before them all; they then
tortured him with many sorts of tor-
ments, and after all slew him, as they did
by those that were captains under him
also, and particularly by the principal in-
strument of his tyranny, whose name was
Apsalom.
And, as I said, so far truly the people
assisted them, while they hoped this
might afford some amendment to the se-
ditious practices; but the others were not
in haste to put an end to the war, but
hoped to prosecute it with less danger,
now they had slain Manahem. It is true,
that when the people earnestly desired
that they would leave off besieging the
soldiers, they were the more earnest in
pressing it forward, and this till Metilius,
who was the Roman general, sent to Elea-
zar, and desired that they would give
them security to spare their lives only ;
but agreed to deliver up their aims, and
what else they had with them. The others
readily complied with their petition, aud
sent to them Gorion, the son of Nicode-
mus, and Ananias, the son of Sadduk,
and Judas, the son of Jonathan, that they
might give the security of their right hands,
and of their oaths : after which Metilius
brought down his soldiers; which sol-
diers, while they were in arms, were not
meddled with by any of the seditious, nor
was there any appearance of treachery :
but as soon as, according to the articles of
capitulation, they had all laid down their
shields and their swords, and were under
no further suspicion of any harm, but
were going away, Eleazar's men attacked
them after a violent manner, and encom-
passed them round, and slew them, while
they neither defended themselves nor en-
treated for mercy, but only cried out upon
the breach of their articles of capitulation
and their oaths. And thus were all these
men barbarously murdered, excepting Me-
tilius; for when he entreated for mercy,
and promised that he would turn Jew,
and be circumcised, they saved him alive,
but none else. This loss to the Romans
was but light, there being no more than
a few slain out of an immense army; but
still it appeared to be a prelude to the
Jews' own destruction, while men mada
Chap. XVIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
237
public lamentation when tney saw that
such occasions were afforded for a war as
were incurable; that the city was all over
polluted with such abominations, from
which it was but reasonable to expect
some vengeance, even though they should
escape revenge from the Romans; so that
the city was filled with sadness, and every
one of the moderate men in it were under
great disturbance, as likely themselves to
undergo punishment for the wickedness
of the seditious; for indeed it so happened
that this murder was perpetrated on the
Sabbath-day, on which day the Jews have
a respite from their works on account of
divine worship.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Dreadful slaughters aud sufferings of tho Jews.
Now the people of Cesarea had slain
the Jews that were among them on the
very same day and hour [when the soldiers
were slain], wbich one would think must
have come to pass by the direction of
Providence; insomuch that in one hour's
time above 20,000 Jews were killed, and
all Cesarea was emptied of its Jewish in-
habitants ; for Florus caught such as ran
away, and sent them in bonds to the
galleys. Upon which stroke that the
Jews received at Cesarea, the whole nation
was greatly enraged; so they divided
themselves into several parties, and laid
waste the villages of the Syrians, and
their neighbouring cities, Philadelphia,
and Sebonitis, audGerasa, and Pella, and
Seythopolis, and after them Gadara, and
Hippos ; and falling upon Gaulonitis,
some cities they destroyed there, aud
some they set on fire, and then they went
to Kedasa, belonging to the Tyrians, aud
to Ptolemais, and to Gaba, and to Ce-
sarea; nor was either Sebaste (Samaria)
or Askelon able to oppose the violence
with which they were attacked; and when
tluy had burned these to the ground,
they entirely demolished Anthedon and
Gaza ; many also of the villages that
were about every one of those cities were
plundered, and an immense slaughter was
made of the men who were caught in
them.
However, the Syrians were even with
the Jews in the multitude of the men
whom thy slew; for they killed those
whom they caught in their cities, and
that not only out of the hatred they bare
them, as formerly, but to p. 'event the
danger under which they were from them;
so that the disorders in all Syria were
terrible, and every city was divided into
two armies encamped one against another,
and the preservation of the one part\ was
in the destruction of the other ; so the
daytime was spent in shedding of hi 1,
and the night in fear — which was of the
two the more terrible; for when the
Syrians thought they had ruined the dews,
they had the Judaizers in suspicion also;
and as each side did not care to slay those
whom they only suspected on the oiler,
so did they greatly fear them when they
were mingled with the other, as if they
were certainly foreigners. Moreover,
greediness of gain was a provocation to
kill the opposite party, even to such as
had of old appeared very mild and gentle
toward them; for they without fear
plundered the effects of the slain, and
carried off the spoils of those whom they
slew to their own houses, as if they had
been gained in a set battle; and he was
esteemed a man of honour who got the
greatest share, as having prevailed over
the greatest number of his enemies. It
was then common to see cities filled with
dead bodies, still lying unburied, aud
those of old men, mixed with infants, all
dead, and scattered about together; women
also lay among them, without any co-
vering for their nakedness : you might
then see the whole province full of inex-
pressible calamities, while the dread of
still more barbarous practices which were
threatened, was everywhere greater than
what had been already perpetrated.
And thus far the conflict had been
between Jews and foreigners ; but when
they made excursions to Seythopolis, they
found Jews that acted as enemies; for as
they stood in battle-array with those of
Seythopolis, and preferred their own safe-
ty before their relation to us, they fought
against their own countrymen; nay, their
alacrity was so very great, that those of
Seythopolis suspected them. These were
afraid, therefore, lest they should make an
assault upon the city in the night-time,
aud to their great misfortune, should
thereby make an apology for themselves
to their own people for their revolt from
them. So they commanded them, that in
case they would confirm their agreement,
aud demonstrate their fidelity to them,
who were of a different nation, they should
go out of the city, with their families, tc
a neighbouring grove : and when Uiey
238
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
had done as they were commanded, with-
out suspecting any tiling, the people of
Scylhopolis lay still for the interval of
two days, to tempt them to be secure ;
but on the third night they watched their
opportunity, and cut all their throats,
some of them as they lay unguarded, and
some as they lay asleep. The number
that was slain was above 13,000; and then
they plundered them of all that they
had.
It will deserve our relation what befell
Simon : he was the son of one Saul, a
man of reputation among the Jews. This
man was distinguished from the rest by
the strength of his body and the bold-
ness of his conduct, although he abused
them both to the mischief of his country-
men ; for he came every day and slew a
great many of the Jews of Scythopolis,
and he frequently put them to flight, and
became himself alone the cause of his
army's conquering. But a just punish-
ment overtook him for the murders he
had committed upon those of the same
nation with him ; for when the people of
Scythopolis threw their darts at them in
the grove, he drew his sword, but did not
attack any of the enemy ; for he saw that
he could do nothing against such a mul-
titude; but he cried out, after a very
moving manner, and said — "0 you people
of Scythopolis, I deservedly suffer for
what I have done with relation to you,
when I gave you such security of my
fidelity to you, by slaying so many of
those that were related to me. Wherefore
we very justly experience the perfidious-
ness of foreigners, while we acted after a
most wicked manner against our own
nation. I will therefore die, polluted
wretch as I am, by mine own hands ; for
it is not fit I should die by the hand of
our enemies ; and let the same action be
to me both a punishment for my great
crimes, and a testimony of my courage to
my commendation, that so no one of our
enemies may have it to boast of, that he
it was that slew me; and no one may in-
sult upon me as I fall." Now when he
had said this, he looked round about him
upon his family with eyes of commise-
ration and of rage; (that family consisted
of a wife and children, and his aged
parents;) so, in the first place, he caught
his father by his gray hairs, and ran his
sword through him; and after him he
did the same to his mother, who willingly
received it; and after til em he did the
like to his wife and children, every one
almost offering themselves to his sword,
as desirous to prevent being slain by their
enemies; so when he had gone over all his
family, he stood upon their bodies to be
seen by all, and stretching out his right
hand, that his action might be observed
by all, he sheathed his entire sword into
his own bowels. This young man was to
be pitied, on account of the strength of
his body and the courage of his soul ; but
since he had assured foreigners of his
fidelity [against his own countrymen], he
suffered deservedly.
Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the
other cities rose up against the Jews that
were among them : those of Askelon
slew 2500, and those of Ptolemais, 2000,
and put now a few into bonds; those of
Tyre also put a great number to death,
but kept a greater number in prison ;
moreover, those of Hippos and those of Ga-
dara did the like, while they put to death
the boldest of the Jews, but kept those of
whom they were most afraid in custody ;
as did the rest of the cities of Syria, ac-
cording as they every one either hated
them or were afraid of them ; onby the
Antiochians, theSidonians, and Apamiaus,
spared those that dwelt with them, and
they would not endure either to kill any
of the Jews or to put them in bonds.
And perhaps they spared them, because
their own number was so great that they
despised their attempts. But I think
that the greatest part of this favour was
owing to their commiseration of those
whom they saw to make no innovations.
As for the Gerasens, they did no harm to
those that abode with them ; and for
those who had a mind to go away, they
conducted them as far as their borders
reached.
There was also a plot laid against the
Jews in Agrippa's kingdom ; for he was
himself gone to Ccstius Gallus, to An-
tioch, but had left One of his companions,
whose name was Noarus, to take care of the
public affairs ; which Noarus was of kin
to King Sohemus. Now there came cer-
tain men, seventy in number, out of
Batanea, who were the most considerable
for their families and prudence of the
rest of the people ; these desired to have
an army put into their hands, that if any
tumult should happen, they might have
about them a guard sufficient to restrain
such as might rise up against them. This
Noarus sent out some of the kino's armed
Chap. XVIII.]
WARS OF TIIE JEWS.
239
men by night, ana slow at those [seventy]
men ; which bold action re ventured upon
without the consent of Agrippa, and was
Buch a lover of money, that he chose to
be so wicked to his own countrymen,
although lie brought ruin on the kingdom
thereby; and thus cruelly did he treat
that nation, and this contrary to the laws
also, until Agrippa was informed of it,
who did not indeed dare to put him to
death, out of regard to Sohemus ; but
still he put an end to his procuratorship
immediately. But as to the seditious,
they took the citadel which was called
Cypres, and was above Jericho, and cut
the throats of the garrison, and utterly
demolished the fortifications. This was
about the same time that, the multitude
of the Jews that were at Macherus per-
suaded the Romans who were in garrison
to leave the place, and deliver it up to
them. These Romans being in great
fear lest the place should be taken by
force, made an agreement with them to
depart upon certain conditions ; and when
they had obtained the security they de-
sired, they delivered up the citadel, into
which the people of Macherus put a gar-
rison for their own security, and held it
in their own power.
But for Alexandria, the sedition of the
people of the place against the Jews was
perpetual, and this from that very time
when Alexander [the Great], upon finding
the readiness of the Jews in assisting him
against the Egyptians, and as a reward
for such their assistance, gave them equal
privileges in this city with the Grecians
themselves ; — which honorary reward con-
tinued among them under his successors,
who also set apart for them a particular
place, that they might live without being
polluted [by the Gentiles], and were
thereby not so much intermixed with
foreigners as before : they also gave them
this further privilege, that they should be
called Macedonians. Nay, when the Ro-
mans got possession of Egypt, neither the
first Caesar, nor any one that came after
him, thought of diminishing the honours
which Alexander had bestowed on the
Jews. But still conflicts perpetually arose
with the Grecians; and although the go-
vernors did every day punish many of
them, yet did the sedition grow worse;
but at this time especially, when there
were tumults in other places also, the dis
once a public assembly, to deliberate
about an embassage they were sending to
Nero, a great number of Jews came iloeking
to the theatre; but when their adversaries
saw them, they immediately cried out, and
called them their enemies, and said they
came as spies upon them ; upon which
they rushed out and laid violent hands
upon them; and as for the rest, they
were slain as they ran away; but there
were three men whom they caught, and
hauled them along, in ordef to have them
burnt alive ; but all the Jews came in a
body to defend them, who at first threw
stones at the Grecians ; but after that
they took lamps, and rushed with violence
into the theatre, and threatened that they
would burn the people to a man ; and this
they had soon done, unless Tiberius
Alexander, the governor of the city, had
restrained their passions. However, this
man did not begin to teach them wisdom
by arms, but sent among them privately
some of the principal men, and thereby
entreated them to be quiet, and not pro-
voke the Roman army against them ; but
the seditious made a jest of the entreaties
of Tiberius, and reproached him for so
doing.
Now, when he perceived that those
who were for innovations would not bo
pacified till some great calamity should
overtake them, he sent out upon them
those two Roman legions that were in the
city, and, together with them, 5000
other soldiers, who, by chance, were come
together out of Lybia, to the ruin of the
Jews They were also permitted not only
to kill them, but to plunder them of what
they had, and set fire to their houses.
These soldiers rushed violently into that
part of the city which was called Delta,
where the Jewish people lived together,
and did as they were bidden, though not
without bloodshed on their own side also ;
for the Jews got together, and set those
that were the best armed among them in
the forefront, and made resistance for a
great while; but when once they gave
back they were destroyed unmercifully ;
and this their destruction was complete,
some being caught in the open field, and
others forced into their houses, which
houses were first plundered id' what was
in them, and then set on fire by the Ro-
mans.; wherein no mercy was shown to
the infants, and no regard had to the
orders among them were put into a greater I aged ; but they wcut on to the sl;n:_
flame; fur when the Alexandrians had I of persons of every >ge, till all the place
240
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II
was ovei flowed with blood, and 50,000
of them lay dead upon heaps ; nor had
the remainder been preserved, had they
not betaken themselves to supplication.
So Alexander commiserated their condi-
tion, and gave orders to the Romans to
retire : accordingly these, being accus-
tomed to obey orders, left off killing at
the first intimation ; but the populace of
Alexandria bore so very great hatred to
the Jews, that it was difficult to recall
them ; and it'was a hard thing to make
them leave their dead bodies.
And this was the miserable calamity
which at this time befell the Jews at
Alexandria. Hereupon Cestius thought
fit no longer to lie still, while the Jews
were everywhere up in arms ; so he took
out of Antioch the twelfth legion entire,
and out of each of the rest he selected
2000, with six cohorts of footmen, and
four troops of horsemen, besides those
auxiliaries which were sent by the kings,
of which Antiochus sent 2000 horsemen,
and 3000 footmen, with as many archers ;
and Agrippa sent the same number of
footmen, and 1000 horsemen; Sohemus
also followed with 4000, a third part
whereof were horsemen, but most part
were archers, and thus did he march to
Ptolemais. There were also great num-
bers of auxiliaries gathered together from
the [free] cities, who, indeed, had not the
same skill in martial affairs, but made up
in their alacrity and in their hatred to the
Jews what they wanted in skill. There
came also along with Cestius Agrippa
himself, both as a guide in his march
over the country and a director of what
was fit to be done ; so Cestius took part
of his forces and marched hastily to Za-
bulon, a strong city of Galilee, which was
called the City of Men, and divides the
country of Ptolemais from our nation;
this he found deserted by its men, the
multitude having fled to the mountains,
but full of all sorts of good things ; those
he gave leave to the soldiers to plunder,
and set fire to the city, although it was
of admirable beaut}', and had its houses
built like those in Tyre, and Sidon, and
Berytus. After this he overran all the
country, and seized upon whatsoever came
in his way, and set fire to the villages that
were round about them, and then returned
to Ptolemais. But when the Syrians,
and especially those of Berytus, were busy
in plundering, the Jews plucked up their
courage again, for they knew that Cestius
was retired, and fell upon those that were
left behind unexpectedly, and destroyed
about 2000 of them.
And now Cestius himself marched from i
Ptolemais, and came to Cesarea; but he
sent part of his army before him to Jop-
pa, and gave orders that if they could
take that city [by surprise] they should
keep it; but that in case the citizens
should perceive they were coming to at-
tack them, they then should stay for him,
and for the rest of the army. So some
of them made a brisk march by the sea-
side, and some by land, and so coming
upon them on both sides, they took the
city with ease ; and, as the inhabitants
had made no provision beforehand for a
flight, nor had gotten any thing ready for
fighting, the soldiers fell upon them, and
slew them all, with their families, and
then plundered and burnt the city. The
number of the slain was 8400. In like
manner, Cestius sent also a considerable
body of horsemen to the toparchy of Nar-
batene, that adjoined to Cesarea, who de-
stroyed the country, and slew a great
multitude of its people ; they also plun-
dered what they had, and burnt their vil-
lages.
But Cestius sent Gallus, the commander
of the twelfth legion, into Galilee, and
delivered to him as many of his forces as
he supposed sufficient to subdue that na-
tion. He was received by the strongest
city of Galilee, which was Sepphoris, with
acclamations of joy ; which wise conduct
of that city occasioned the rest of the
cities to be in quiet ; while the seditious
part and the robbers ran away to that
mountain which lies in the very middle
of Galilee, and is situated over agaiust
Sepphoris; it is called Asamon. So Gal-
lus brought his forces against them; but.
while those men were in the superior parts
above the Romans, they easily threw their
darts upon the Romans, as they made
their approaches, and slew about 200 of
them ; but when the Romans had gone
round the mountains, and were gotten into
the parts above their enemies, the others
were soon beaten; nor could they who
had only light armour on sustain the force
of them that fought them armed all over ;
nor when they were beaten could they
escape the enemy's horsemen; insomuch
that only some few concealed themselves
in certain places hard to be come at,
among the mountains, while the rest,
above 2000 in number, were slain.
Chap. XIX.]
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
241
CHAPTER XIX.
besieges Jerusalem- -retreats from the citj
— Tin' Jews pursue him, and defeat him with
groat slaughter.
And now Gallus, seeing nothing more
that looked toward an innovation in Gali-
lee, returned with his army to Cesarea;
but Cestius removed with his whole army
and marched to Autipatris ; and when he
was informed that there was a great body
of Jewish forces gotten together in a cer-
tain tower called Aphek, he sent a party
before to fight them ; but this party dis-
persed the Jews by affrighting them before
it came to a battle : so they came, and,
finding their camp deserted, they burnt
it, as well as the villages that lay about
it. But when Cestius had marched from
Autipatris to Lydda, he found the city
empty of its men, for the whole multi-
tude* were gone up to Jerusalem to the
Feast of Tabernacles j yet did he destroy
fifty of those that showed themselves, and
burnt the city, and so marched forward ;
and ascending by Bethoron, he pitched
his camp at a certain place called Gabao,
fifty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.
But as to the Jews, when they saw the
war approaching to their metropolis, they
left the feast, and betook themselves to
their arms; and taking courage greatly
from their multitude, went in a sudden
and disorderly manner to the fight, with
a great noise, and without any considera-
tion had of the rest of the seventh day,
although the Sabbath was the day to
which they had the greatest regard, but
that rage which made them forget the re-
ligious observation [of the Sabbath] made
them too hard for their enemies in the
fight : with suvch violence, therefore, did
they fall upon the Romans, as to break
into their ranks, and to march through
the midst of them, making a great slaugh-
ter as they went, insomuch that unless
the horsemen, and such part of the foot-
men as were not yet tired in the action,
had wheeled round, and succoured that
part of the army which was not yet
broken, Cestius, with his whole army,
had been in danger; however, 515 of the
Romans were slain, of which number 400
were footmen, and the rest horsemen,
while the Jews lost only twenty-two, of
whom the most valliant were the kins-
* An Hebraism. "All," or "the whole multi-
tude," meaning the greater part of the male popu-
lation.
Vol. II.— 16
men of Monobazus, king of Adiabent ,
and their names were Monobazus and
Kenedeus ; and next, to them were Niger
of Perea, ami Silas el' Babylon, who had
deserted from King Agrippa to the Jews;
for he had formerly served in his tinny.
When the front of the Jewish army bad
been cut off, the Jews retired into the
city; but still Simon, the son of Giora,
fell upon the backs of the Romans as they
were ascending up Bethoron, and put the
hindmost of the army into disorder, and
carried off many of the beasts that car-
ried the weapons of war, and led them
into the city; but, as Cestius tarried there
three days, the Jews seized upon the ele-
vated parts of the city, and set watches
at the entrances into the city, and ap-
peared openly resolved not to rest when
once the Romans should begin to march.
And now when Agrippa observed that
even the affairs of the R,omans were likely
to be in danger, while such an immense
multitude of their enemies had seized
upon the mountains round about, he de-
termined to try what the Jews would
agree to by words, as thinking that he
should either persuade them all to desist
from fighting, or, however, that he should
cause the sober part of them to separate
themselves from the opposite party. So
he sent Borceus and Phebus, the persons
of his party that were the best known to
them, and promised them that Cestius
should give them his right hand, to secure
them of the Romans' entire forgiveness
of what they had done amiss, if they
would throw away their arms and come
over to them; but the seditions, fearing
lest the whole multitude, in Impes of se-
curity to themselves, should go over to
Agrippa, resolved immediately to fall upon
and kill the ambassadors : accordingly,
they slew Phebus before he said a word ;
but Borceus was only wounded, and so
preveuted his fate by flying away. And
when the people were very angry at this,
they had the seditious beaten with stones
and clubs, and drove them before them
into the city.
But now Cestius, observing that the
disturbances that were begun among the
Jews afforded him a proper opportunity
to attack them, took his whole army along
with him, and put the Jews to flight, and
pursued them to Jerusalem. He then
pitched his camp upon the elevation called
Scopus [or watch-tower], which was dis-
tant seven furlongs from the city ; yet
242
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II
did be not assault them in three days'
time, out of expectation that those within
might perhaps yield a little ; and in the
mean time he sent out a great many of his
soldiers into the neighbouring villages, to
seize upon their corn ; and on the fourth
day, which was the thirtieth of the month
Hyperbereteus [Tisri], when he put his
army in array, ho brought it into the
city. Now, for the people, they were
kept under by the seditious ; but the se-
ditious themselves were greatly affrighted
at the good order of the Romans, and
retired from the suburbs, and retreated
into the inner part of the city, and into
the temple. But when. Cestius was come
into the city, he set the part called Beze-
tha, which is also called Cenopolis [or the
new city], on fire; as he did also to the
timber-market : after which he came into
the upper city, and pitched his camp over
against the royal palace ; and had he but
at this very time attempted to get within
the walls bjT force, he had won the city
presently, and the war had beeu put an
end to at once; but Tyrannus Priscus, the
muster-master of the army, and a great
number of the officers of the horse, had
been corrupted by Florus, and diverted
him from that his attempt ; and that was
the occasion that this war lasted so very
long, and thereby the Jews were involved
in such incurable calamities.
In the mean time, many of the princi-
pal men of the city were persuaded by
Ananus, the son of Jonathan, and invited
Cestius into the city, and were about to
open the gates for him ; but he overlooked
this offer, partly out of his anger at the
Jews, and partly because he did not tho-
roughly believe they were in earnest ;
whence it was that he delayed the matter
so long, that the seditious perceived the
treachery, and threw Ananus and those
of his party down from the wall, and,
pelting them with stones, drove them into
their houses; but they stood themselves
at proper distances in the towers, and
threw their darts at those that were get-
ting over the wall. Thus did the Bo-
mans make their attack against the wall
for five days, but to no purpose. But,
on the next day, Cestius took a great
many of his choicest men, and with them
the archers, and attempted to break into
the temple at the northern quarter of it;
but the Jews beat them off from the
cloisters, and repulsed them several times
when they were gotten near to the wall,
till at length the multitude of darts cut
them off, and made them retire : but the
first rank of the Romans rested their
shields upon the wall, and so did those
that were behind them, and the like did
those that were still more backward, and
guarded themselves with what they call
testudo, [the back of] a tortoise, upon
which the darts that were thown fell, and
slided off without doing them any harm ;
so the soldiers undermined the wall, with-
out being themselves hurt, and got all
things ready for setting fire to the gate of
the temple.
And now it was that a horrible fear
seized upon the seditious, insomuch that
many of them ran out of the city, as
though it were to be taken immediately;
but the people upon this took courage,
and where the wicked part of the city
gave ground, thither did they come, in
order to set upon the gates, and to admit
Cestius as their benefactor, who, had he
but- continued the siege a little longer,
had certainly taken the city ; but it was, I
suppose, owing to the aversion God had
already at the city and the sanctuary, that
he was hindered from putting an end to
the war that very day.
It then happened that Cestius was not
conscious either how the besieged despaired
of success, nor how coui'ageous the people
were for him ; and so he recalled his sol-
diers from the place, and, by despairing
of any expectation of taking it, without
having received any disgrace, he retired
from the city, without any reason in the
world. That when the robbers perceived
this unexpected retreat of his, they re-
sumed their courage, and ran after the
hinder parts of his army, and destroyed a
considerable number of both their horse-
men and footmen ; and now Cestius lay
all night at the camp, which was at Sco-
pus ; and as he went off farther next day,
he thereby invited the enemy to follow
him, who still fell upon the hindmost, and
destroyed them ; they also fell upon the
flank on each side of the army, and threw
darts upon them obliquely, nor durst
those that were hindmost turn back upon
those who wounded them behind, as
imagining that the multitude of those
that pursued them was immense; nor
did they venture to drive away those that
pressed upon them on each side, because
they were heavy with their arms, and
were afraid of breaking their ranks to
pieces, and because they saw the Jews
Chap. XIX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
243
were light and ready for making incur-
sions upon thctn. And this was the rea-
son why the Iloiuans suffered greatly,
without bein<r able to revenge themselves
upon their enemies; so they were galled
all the way, and their ranks were put into
disorder, and those that were thus put out of
their ranks were slain; among whom were
l'riscus, the commander of the sixth le-
gion, and Longinus, the tribune, and Emi-
lius Secundus, the commander of a troop
of horsemen. So it was not without dif-
ficulty that they got to Gabao, their former
camp, aud that not without the loss of a
great part of their baggage. There it was
that Cestius stayed two days; aud was in
great distress to know what he should do in
these circumstances; but when, on the
third day, he saw a still greater number
of enemies, and all the parts round about
him full of Jews, he understood that his
delay was to his own detriment, and if he
stayed any longer there, he should have
still more enemies upoii him.
That therefore he might fly the faster,
he gave orders to cast away what might
hinder his army's march; so they killed
the mules and other creatures, excepting
those that carried their darts and ma-
chines, which they retained for their own
use, and this principally because they
were afraid lest the Jews should seize upon
them. He then made his army march on
as far as Bethoron. Now the Jews did
not so much press upon them when they
were in large, open places; but when they
were penned up in their descent through
narrow passages, then did some of them
get before, and hindered them from get-
ting out of them ; and others of them
thrust the hindermost down into the
lower places; and the whole multitude
extended themselves over against the neck
of the passage, and covered the Roman
army with their darts. In which circum-
stances, as the footmen knew not how to
defend themselves, so the danger pressed
the horsemen still more, for they were so
pelted, that they could not march along
the road in their ranks, and the ascents
were so high that the cavalry were not
able to march against the enemy ; the
precipices, also, and valleys, into which
they frequently fell, and tumbled down,
were such on each side of them, that
there was neither place for their flight,
Dor any contrivance could be thought of
for their defence, till the distress they
were at last in was so great, thai they be-
took themselves to lamentations, and to
such mournful cries, as men use in the
utmost despair: the joyful acclamations
of the Jews also, as they encouraged one
another, echoed the sounds back again.
these last composing a noise of those that
at once rejoiced and were in a rage. In-
deed these things were come to such a
pass, that the Jews had almost taken
Cestius's entire army prisoners, had not
the night come on, when the Romans fled
to Bethoron, and the Jews Beized upon
all the places round about them, and
watched for their coming out [in the
morning],
Aud then it was that Cestius, despair-
ing of obtaining room for a public march,
contrived how he might best run away;
and when he had selected 400 of the most
courageous of his soldiers, he placed them
at the strongest of their fortifications, and
gave order, that when they went up to the
morning guard, they should erect their
ensigns, that the Jews might be made to
believe that the entire army was there
still, while he himself took the rest of
his forces with him, and marched, with-
out any noise, thirty furlongs. But when
the Jews perceived, in the morning, that
the camp was empty, they ran upon those
400 who had deluded them, and immedi-
ately threw their darts at them, and slew
them ; and then pursued after Cestius.
But he had already made use of a great
part of the night in his flight, and still
marched quicker when it was day ; inso-
much, that the soldiers, through the as-
tonishment and fear they were in, left be-
hind them their engines for sieges, aud for
throwing of stones, and a great part of
the instruments of war. So the Jews
went on pursuing the Romans as far as
Antipatris ; after which, seeing they could
not overtake them, they came back and
took theeugines, and spoiled the dead bo-
dies ; and gathered the prey together
which the Bomaus had left behind them,
aud came back running and singing to
their metropolis; while they had them-
selves lost a few only, but had slain of
the Bomans 5300 footmen, aivl 380
horsemen. This defeat happened on the
eighth day of the month l)ius [Marhes-
van], in the twelfth year of the reign of
Nero.
244
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
CHAPTER XX.
Cestius sends ambassadors to Nero — the Damas-
cenes destroy the. Jews in their cities — Jerusalem
put in a state of defence — Josephus made a
general of the Jewish forces.
After this calamity had befallen Ces-
tius, many of the most eminent of the Jews
swam away from the city, as from a ship
when it was going to sink : Costobarus,
therefore, and Saul, who were brethren,
together with Philip, the son of Jacimus,
who was the commander of King Agrippa's
forces, ran away from the city and went to
Cestius. But then how Antipas, who
had been besieged with them in the king's
palace, but would not fly away with them,
was afterward slain by the seditious, we
shall relate hereafter. However, Cestius
sent Saul and his friends, at their own
desire, to Achia, to Nero, to inform him
of the great distress they were in ; and to
lay the blame of their kindling the war
upon Florus, as hoping to alleviate his
own danger, by provoking his indignation
against Florus.
In the mean time the people of Damas-
cus, when they were informed of the de-
struction of the Romans, set about the
slaughter of those Jews that were among
them ; and as they had them already
cooped up together in the place of public
exercises, wliich they had done, out of
the suspicion they had of them, they
thought they should meet with no diffi-
culty in the attempt; yet did they dis-
trust their own wives, who were almost
all of them addicted to the Jewish reli-
gion ; on which account it was that their
greatest concern was how they might con-
ceal these things from them ; so they came
upon the Jews, and cut their throats, as
being in a narrow place, in number 10,000,
and all of them unarmed, and this in one
hour's time, without anybody to disturb
them.
But as to those who had pursued after
Cestius, when they were returned back
to Jerusalem, they overbore some of those
that favoured the Unmans by violence,
and some they persuaded [by entreaties]
to join with them, and got together in
great numbers in the temple, and appoint-
ed a great many generals for the war.
Joseph also, the son of Gorion, and
Ananas, the high priest, were chosen as
governors of all affairs within the city,
and with a particular charge to repair
the walls of the city ; for they did not or-
dain Eleazar, the sou of Simon, to that
[Book II
office, although he had gotten into his pos-
session the prey they had taken from the
Romans, and the money they had taken
from Cestius, together with a great part
of the public treasures, because they saw
he was of a tyrannical temper ; and that
his followers were, in their behaviour,
like guards about him. However, the
want they were in of Eleazar's money,
and the subtle tricks used by him, brought
all so about, that the people were circura
vented, and submitted themselves to his
authority in all public affairs.
They also chose other generals for Idu-
raea; Jesus, the son of Sapphias, one of
the high priests ; and Eleazar, the sou of
Ananias, the high priest; they also en-
joined Niger, the then governor of Idu-
mea,* (who was of a family that belonged
to Perea, beyond Jordan, and was thence
called the Peraite,) that he should be
obedient to those forenamed commanders.
Nor did they neglect the care of other
parts of the country ; but Joseph, the son
of Simon, was sent as general to Jericho,
as was Manasseh to Perea, and John, the
Essene, to the toparchy of Thamma;
Lydda was also added to his portion, and
Joppa and Emmaus. But John, the son
of Matthias, was made the governor of
the toparchies of Gophnitica and Acrabas-
tene; as was Josephus, the son of Mat-
thias, of both the Galilees. Gamala also,
which was the strongest city in those parts,
was put under his command.
So every one of the other commanders
administered the affairs of his portion
with that alacrity and prudence they were
masters of; but as to Josephus, when he
came into Galilee, his first care was to gain
the goodwill of the people of that coun-
try, as sensible that he should thereby
have in general good success, although he
should fail in other points. And being
conscious to himself that if he communi-
cated part of his power to the great men,
he should make them his fast friends;
and that he should gain the same favour
from the multitude, if he executed his
commands by persons of their own coun-
try, and with whom they were well ac-
quainted ; he chose out seventyf of the
* The Idumeans, having been proselytes of jus-
tice since the days of John Hyrcanus, during about
195 years, were now esteemed as part of the Jew-
ish nation, and provided with a Jewish commander
accordingly.
f Josephus imitated Moses, as well as the Ro-
mans, in the number and distribution of the sub-
altern officers of his army, (Exod. xviii. 25; Deufc
CiiAr. XX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
•J!:,
most prudent men, and those elders in
age, and appointed them to be rulers of
all Galilee, as he chose seven judges in
every city to hear the lesser quarrels;
for as to the greater causes, and those
wherein life and death were concerned,
he enjoined they should be brought to
him and the seventy elders.
Josephus also, when he had settled
these rules for determining causes by the
law, with regard to the people's dealings
one with another, betook himself to make
provisions for their safety against external
violence ; and as he knew the Romans
would fall upon Galilee, he built walls in
proper places about Jotapata, and Ber-
sabee, and Salamis; and besides these
al' !it Caphareccho, and Japha, and Sigo,
and what they call Mount Tabor, and
Tarichese, and Tiberias. Moreover, he
built walls about the caves near the lake
of Gennessar, which places lay in the
Lower Galilee; the same as he did to the
places of Upper Galilee, as well as to the
rock called the Rock of the Achabari,
and to Seph, and Jamnith, and Meroth ;
and in Gaulanitis he fortified Seleucia, and
Sogane, and Gamala; but as to those of
Sepphoris, they were the only people to
whom he gave leave to build their own
walls, and this because he pemived they
were rich and wealthy, and ready to go
to war, without standing in need of any
injunctions for that purpose. The case
was the same with Gischala, which had a
wall built about it by John, the son of
Levi, himself, but with the consent of
Josephus; but for the building of the
rest of the fortresses, he laboured together
with all the other builders, and was present
to give all the necessary orders for that
purpose. He also got together an army
out of Galilee, of more than 100,000
young men, all of whom he armed with
the old weapons which he had collected
together and prepared for them.
And when he had considered that the
Roman power became invincible chiefly by
their readiness in obeying orders, aud the
constant exercise of their arms, he de-
spaired of teaching these his men the use
of their arms, which was to be obtained
by experience ; but observing that their
readiness in obeying orders was owing to
the multitude of their officers, he made
his partitions in his army more after the
ii. 15;/ and in his charge against the offences com-
mon among soldiers. (i)eut. xxiii. 9.)
Roman manner, and appointed a great
many subalterns, lie also distributed the
soldiers into various classes, whom he put
under captains of tens, and captains of
hundreds, aud then under captains of
thousands ; ami besides these he had
commanders of larger bodies of men. lie
also taught them to give the signals one
to another, and to call and recall the boI-
diers by the trumpets, how to expand the
wings of an army, and make them wheel
about; and when one wing had had suc-
cess, to turn again and assist those that
were hard set, and to join in the defence
of what had most suffered. He also con-
tinually instructed them in what concerned
the courage of the soul, aud the hardiness
of the body ; and, above all, he exercised
them for war, by declaring to them dis-
tinctly the good order of the Romans,
and that they were to fight with men
who, both by the strength of their bodies
and courage of their souls, had conquered
in a manner the whole habitable earth.
He told them that he should make trial
of the good order they would observe iu
war, even before it came to any battle, in
case they would abstain from the crimes
they used to indulge themselves in, such
as theft, and robbery, and rapine, and
from defrauding their own countrymen,
and never to esteem the harm done to
those that were so near of kin to them to
be any advantage to themselves; for that
wars are then managed the best when the
warriors preserve a good conscience; but
that such as are ill men in private life,
will not only have those for enemies
which attack them, but God himself also
for their antagonist.
And thus did he continue to admonish
them. Now he chose for the war such an
army as was sufficient, i. e. 60,000 foot-
men, and 250 horsemen ;* and besides
these, on which he put the greatest trust,
there were about 4500 mercenaries : he
had also 600 men as guards of his body.
Now the cities easily maintained the rest
of his army, excepting the mercenaries :
for every one of the cities enumerated
before sent out half their men to their
army, and retained the other half at home,
in order to get provisions for them ; in-
somuch that the one part went to the war,
and the other part to their work : and so
those that sent out their corn were paid
* A very small body of cavalry to so large an
army of foot-soldiers ; in all probability the thou-
sands are dropped iu our present copies.
246
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II
for it by those that were in arms, by that
security which they enjoyed from them.
CHAPTER XXI.
Josephus defeats the plots of John of Gischala,
and recovers the revolted cities.
Now, as Josephus was thus engaged in
the administration of the affairs of Ga-
lilee, there arose a treacherous person, a
man of Gischala, the son of Levi, whose
name was John. His character was that
of a very cunning and very knavish per-
son, beyond the ordinary rate of the other
men of eminence there; and for wicked
practices he had not his fellow anywhere.
Poor he was at first, and for a long time
his wants were a hinderance to him in his
wicked designs. He was a ready liar, and
yet very sharp in gaining credit to his
fictions : he thought it a point of virtue
to delude people, and would delude even
such as were the dearest to him. He was
a hypocritical pretender to humanity, but
where he had hopes of gain, he spared
not the shedding of blood : his desires
were ever carried to great things, and he
encouraged his hopes from those mean,
wicked tricks which he was the author of.
He had a peculiar knack at thieving ; but
in some time he got certain companions in
his impudent practices : at first they were
but few, but as he proceeded on in his evil
course, they became still more and more
numerous. He took care that none of
his partners should be easily caught in
their rogueries, but chose such out of the
rest as had the strongest constitutions of
body and the greatest courage of soul,
together with great skill in martial affairs;
so he got together a band of 400 men,
who came principally out of the country
of Tyre, and were vagabonds that had run
away from its villages ; and by the means
of these he laid waste all Galilee, and
irritated a considerable number, who were
in great expectation of a war then sud-
denly to arise among them.
However, John's want of money had
hitherto restrained him in his ambition
after command, and in his attempts to
advance himself; but when he saw that
Josephus was highly pleased with the
activity of his temper, he persuaded him,
in the first place, to intrust him with re-
pairing of the walls of his native city
[Gischala] ; in which work he got a great
deal of money from the rich citizens. He
after that contrived a very shrewd trick,
and pretending that the Jews who dwelt
in Syria were obliged to make use of oil
that was made by others than those of
their own nation, he desired leave of Jo-
sephus to send oil to their borders ; so he
bought four amphorae with such Tyrian
money as was of the value of four Attic
drachmas, and sold every half-amphora at
the same price ; and as Galilee was very
fruitful in oil, and was peculiarly so at
that time, by sending away great quan-
tities, and having the sole privilege so to
do, he gathered an immense sum of money
together, which money he immediately
used to the disadvantage of him who gave
him that privilege ; and, as he supposed
that if he could once overthrow Josephus,
he should himself obtain the government
of Galilee, so he gave order to the rob-
bers that were under his command, to be
more zealous in their thievish expeditions,
that by the rise of many that desired
innovations in the country, he might
either catch their general in his snares,
as he came to the country's assistance, and
then kill him; or, if he should overlook
the robbers, he might accuse him for his
negligence to the people of the country ;
he also spread -abroad a report, far and
near, that Josephus was delivering up the
administration of affairs to the Romans ;
and mauy such plots did he lay in order
to ruin him.
Now at the same time that certain
young men of the village Dabaritta, who
kept guard in the Great Plain, laid snares
for Ptolemy, who was Agrippa's and Ber-
niee's steward, and took from him all that
he had with him ; among which things
there were a great many costly garments,
and no small number of silver cups, and
600 pieces of gold ; yet were they not
able to conceal what they had stolen, but
brought it all to Josephus, to Taricheas.
Hereupon he blamed them for the violence
they had offered to the king and queen,
and deposited what they brought to him
with Eneas, the most potent man of Ta-
richece, with an intention of sending the
things back to the owners at a proper
time; which act of Josephus brought him
into the greatest danger; for those that
had stolen the things had an indignation
at him, both because they gained no share
of it for themselves, and because they
perceived beforehand what was Josephus' 3
intention, and that he would freely deliver
up what had cost them so much pains
to the king and queen. These ran away
Chap. XXI.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
247
by night to their several villages, and de-
clared to all men that Josephus was going
to betray them ; they also raised great
disorders in all the neighbouring cities,
insomuch that in the morning 100,000
armed men came running together; which
multitude was crowded together in the
hippodrome at Taricheoo, and made a very
peevish clamour against him ; while some
cried out that they should depose the
traitor; and others, that they should burn
him. Now John irritated a great many,
as did also one Jesus, the son of Sapphias,
who was then governor of Tiberias. Then
it was that Josephus's friends, and the
guards of his body, were so affrighted at
this violent assault of the multitude, that
they all fled away but four; and as he was
asleep, they awaked him, as the people
were going to set fire to the house ; and
although those four that remained with
him persuaded him to run away, he was
neither surprised at his being himself
deserted, nor at the great multitude that
came against him, but leaped out to them
with his clothes rent, and ashes sprinkled
on his head, with his hands behind him,
and his sword hanging at his neck. At
this sight his friends, especially those of
Taricheas, commiserated his condition ;
but. those that came out of the country,
and those in their neighbourhood, to whom
his government seemed burdensome, re-
proached him, and bade him produce the
money which belonged to them all im-
mediately, and to confess the agreement
he had made to betray them ; for they
imagined, from the habit in which he ap-
peared, that he could deny nothing of
what they suspected concerning him, and
that it was in order to obtain pardon that
he had put himself entirely into so pitiable
a posture ; but this humble appearance
was only designed as preparatory to a
stratagem of his, who thereby contrived
to set those that were so angry at him at
variance one with another about the things
they were angry at. However, he pro-
mised he would confess all : hereupon he
was permitted to speak, when he said,
"I did neither intend to send this money
back to Agrippa, nor to gain it myself;
for I did never esteem one that was your
enemy to be my friend ; nor did I look
upon what would tend to your disadvan-
tage to be my advantage. But, O you
people of Tarichea), I saw that your city
stood in more need than others of forti-
fications for your security, and that it
2Z
wanted money in order for the building it
a wall. I was also afraid lest the people
of Tiberias and other cities should lay a
plot to seize upon these spoils, and there-
fore it was that I intended to retain tins
money privately, that I might encompass
you with a wall. But if this does not
please you, I will produce what was
brought me, and leave it to you to plunder
it : but if I have conducted myself so
well as to please you, you may, if you
please, punish your benefactor.
Heroupon the people of Taricheaa loudly
commended him ; but those of Tiberias,
with the rest of the company, gave him
hard names, and threatened what they
would do to him ; so both sides left off
quarrelling with Josephus, and fell to
quarrelling with one another. So he grew
bold upon the dependence he had on his
friends, which were the people of Ta-
richeai, and about 40,000 in number, and
spake more freely to the whole multitude,
and reproached them greatly for their
rashness; and told them, that with this
money he would build walls about Ta-
richeae, and would put the other cities in
a state of security also; for that they
should not want money, if they would but
agree for whose benefit it was to be pro-
cured, and would not suffer themselves to
be irritated against him who had procured
it for them.
Hereupon the rest of the multitude that
had been deluded retired ; but yet so that
they went away angry, and 2000 of them
made an assault upon him in their ar-
mour; and as he was already gone to his
own house, they stood without and threat-
ened him. On which occasion Josephus
again used a second stratagem to escape
them ; for he got upon the top of the
house, and with his right hand desired
them to be silent, and said to them, " I
cannot tell what you would have,nor can
hear what you say, for the confused noise
you make :" but he said he would comply
with all their demands, in case they would
but send some of their number into him
that might talk with him about it. And
when the principal of them, with their
leaders, beard this, they came into the
house. He then drew them to the most
retired part of the house, and shut the
door of that hall where he put them,
and then had them whipped till every one
of their inward parts appeared naked
In the mean time the multitude stood round
the house, and supposed that he had a
248
WARS OF THE JEWS.
long discourse with those that were gone
in, about what they claimed of him. He
had then the doors set open immediately,
and sent the men out all bloody, which so
terribly affrighted those that had before
threatened him, that they threw away
their arms and ran away.
But as for John, his envy grew greater
[upon this escape of Josephus], and he
framed a new plot against him : he pre-
tended to be sick, and by a letter desired
that Josephus would give him leave to
use the hot baths that were at Tiberias,
for the recovery of his health. Hereupon
Josephus, who hitherto suspected nothing
of John's plots against him, wrote to the
governors of the city, that they would pro-
vide a lodging and necessaries for John ;
which favours, when he had made use of,
in two days' time he did what he came
about; some he corrupted with delusive
frauds, and others with money, and so per-
suaded them to revolt from Josephus. This
Silas, who was appointed guardian of the
city by Josephus, wrote to him imme-
diately, and informed him of the plot
against him ; which epistle when Jose-
phus had received, he marched with great
diligence all night, and came early in the
morning to Tiberias ; at which time the
rest of the multitude met him. But John,
who suspected that his coming was not for
his advantage, sent, however, one of his
friends, and pretended that he was sick,
and that being confined to his bed, he
could not come to pay him his respects.
But as soon as Josephus had got the peo-
ple of Tiberias together in the stadium,
and tried to discourse with them about the
letters that he had received, John pri-
vately sent some armed men, and gave
them orders to slay him. But when the
people saw that the armed men were about
to draw their swords, they cried out ; —
at which cry Josephus turned himself
about, and when he saw that the swords
were just at his throat, he marched away
in great haste to the seashore, and left
off that speech which he was going to
make to the people, upon an elevation
of six cubits high. He then seized on
a ship which lay in the haven, and leaped
into it, with two of his guards, and fled
away into the midst of the lake.
But now the soldiers he had with him
took up their arms immediately, and
marched against the plotters, but Jose-
phus was afraid lest a civil war should be
raised by the envy of a few men, and
[Book IL
bring the city to ruin ; so he sent some
of his party to tell them that they should
do no more than provide for their own
safety ; that they should not kill anybody,
nor accuse any for the occasion they had
afforded [of a disorder.] Accordingly,
these men obeyed his orders, and wero
quiet; but the people of the neighbour-
ing country, when they were informed of
his plot, and of the plotter, got together
in great multitudes to oppose John. But
he prevented their attempt, and fled away
to Grischala, his native city, while the
Galileans came running out of their
several cities to Josephus; and as they
were now become many ten thousands of
armed men, they cried out that they
were come against John the common plot-
ter against their interest, and would at
the same time burn him, and that city
which had received him. Hereupon Jo-
sephus told them that he took their good-
will to him kindly, but still he restrained
their fury, and intended to subdue his
enemies by prudent conduct, rather than
by slaying them ; so he excepted those of
every city which had joined in this re-
volt with John, by name, who had readily
been shown him by those that came from
every city, and caused public proclama-
tion to be made that he would seize upon
the effects of those that did not forsake
John within five days' time, and would
burn both their houses and their families
with fire. Whereupon 3000 of John's
party left him immediately, who came to
Josephus, and threw their arms down at
his feet. John then betook himself, to-
gether with his 2000 Syrian runagates,
from open attempts, to more secret ways
of treachery. Accordingly, he privately
sent messengers to Jerusalem, to accuse
Josephus, as having too great power, and
to let them know that he would soon come
as a tyrant to their metropolis, unless
they prevented him. This accusation the
people were aware of beforehand, but had
no regard to it. However, some of the
grandees, out of envy, and some of the
rulers also, sent money to John private-
ly, that he might be able to get together
mercenary soldiers, in order to fight Jose-
phus ; they also made a decree of them-
selves, and this for recalling him from his
government, yet did they not think that
decree sufficient; so they sent withal
2500 armed men, and four persons of
the highest rank among them ; Joazar,
the son of Nomicus, and Ananias, tha
Chap. XXI ]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
249
eon of Sadduk ; as also Simon and Judas,
the sons of Jonathan, (all very able hkh
in speakiug,) that these persons might
withdraw the good-will of the people from
Josephus. These had it in charge, that
if he would voluntarily come away, they
should permit him to [come and] give an
account of his conduct ; but if he obsti-
nately insisted upon continuing in his
government, they should treat him as an
enemy. Now, Josephus's friends had sent
him word that an army was coming against
him, but they gave him no notice before-
hand what the reason of their coming was,
that being only known among some se-
cret councils of his enemies j and by this
means it was that four cities revolted from
him immediately, Sepphoris, and Gramala,
and Grischala, and Tiberias. Yet did he
recover these cities without war ; and
when he had routed these four command-
ers by stratagems, and had taken the most
potent of their warriors, he sent them to
Jerusalem ; and the people [of Galilee]
had great indignation at them, and were
in a zealous disposition to slay, not only
these forces, but those that sent them
also, had not these forces prevented it by
running away.
Now John was detained afterward with-
in the walls of Gisehala, by the fear he
was in of Josephus ; but within a few days
Tiberias revolted again, the people within
it inviting King Agrippa [to return to the
exercise of his authority there] ; and when
he did not come at the time appointed,
and when a few Roman horsemen appeared
that day, they expelled Josephus out of
the city. Now, this revolt of theirs was
presently known at Tarichege; and as Jo-
sephus had sent out all the soldiers that
were with him to gather corn, he knew
not how either to march out alone against
the revolters, or to stay where he was, be-
cause he was afraid the king's soldiers
might prevent him if he tarried, and
might get into the city; for he did not in-
tend to do any thing on the next day,
because it was the Sabbath-day, and would
hinder his proceeding. So he contrived
to circumvent the revolters by a stratagem ;
and, in the first place, he ordered the
gates of Taricheae to be shut, that nobody
might go out and inform [those of Tibe-
rias], for whom it was intended, what
stratagem he was about : he then got to-
gether all the ships that were upon the
lake, which were found to be 230, and in
each of them he put no more than four
mariners. So he sailed to Tiberias with
haste, and kept at such a distance from tho
city that it was not easy for the people to
see the vessels, and ordered that tho
empty vessels should float up and down
there, while himself, who had but seven
of his guards with him, and those unarmed
also, went so near as to be seen ; but when
his adversaries, who were still reproaching
him, saw him from the walls, they were
so astonished that they supposed all the
ships were full of armed men, and threw
down their arms, and by signals of inter-
cession they besought him to spare the
city.
Upon this Josephus threatened them
terribly, and reproached them, that when
they were the first that took up arms
against the Romans, they should spend
their force beforehand in civil dissensions,
and do what their enemies desired above
all things ; and that besides, they should
endeavour so hastily to seize upon him,
who took care of their safety, and had not
been ashamed to shut the gates of their
city against him that built their walls;
that, however, he would admit of any in-
tercessors from them that might make
some excuse for them, and with whom he
would make such agreements as might be
for the city's security. Hereupon ten of
the most potent men of Tiberias came
down to him presently, and when he had
taken them into one of his vessels, ho
ordered them to be carried a great way
off from the city. He then commanded
that fifty others of their senate, such as
were men of the greatest eminence, should
come to him, that they also might give
him some security on their behalf. After
which, under one new pretence or another,
he called forth others, one after another,
to make the leagues between them. He
then gave orders to the masters of those
vessels which he had thus filled, to sail
away immediately for Tarichea^, and to
confine those men in the prison there ; till
at length he took all their senate, consist-
ing of 600 persons, and about 2000 of
the populace, and carried them away to
Taricheje.
And when the rest of the people cried
out that it was one Clitus that was the
chief author of this revolt, they desired
him to spend his anger upon him [only] ;
but Josephus, whose intention it was to
slay nobody, commanded one Levius, be-
longing to his guards, to go out of tho
vessel, in order to cut off both Clitus's
250
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II.
hands ; yet was Levius afraid to go out by
himself alone, to such a large body of
enemies, and refused to go. Now Clitus
saw that Josephus was in a great passion
in the ship, and ready to leap out of it, in
order to execute the punishment himself;
he begged therefore from the shore, that
he would leave him one of his hands,
which Josephus agreed to, upon condition
that he would himself cut off the other
hand ; accordingly he drew his sword, and
with his right hand cut off his left, — so
great was the fear he was in of Josephus
himself. And thus he took the people of
Tiberias prisoners, and recovered the city
again with empty ships and seven of his
guard. Moreover, a few days afterward
he retook Gischala, which had revolted
with the people of SepphOris, and gave
his soldiers leave to plunder it ; yet
did he get all the plunder together, and
restored it to the inhabitants ; and the like
he did to the inhabitants of Sepphoris
and Tiberias ; for when he had subdued
those cities, he had a mind, by letting
them be plundered, to give them some
good instruction, while at the same time
he regained their good-will by restoring
them their noney again.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Jews prepare for war.
And thus were the disturbances of
Galilee quieted, when, upon their ceasing
to prosecute their civil dissensions, they
betook themselves to make preparations
for the war with the Romans. Now in
Jerusalem the high priest Ananus, and
as many of the men of power as were not
in the interest of the Romans, both re-
paired the walls, and made a great many
warlike instruments, insomuch that, in
in all parts of the city, darts and all
eorts of armour were upon the anvil.
Although the multitude jf the young
men were engaged in exercises, without
any regularity, and all places were full of
tumultuous doings ; yet the moderate sort
were exceedingly sad ; and a great many
there were who, out of the prospect they
had of the calamities that were coming
upon them, made great lamentations.
There were also such omens observed as
were understood to be forerunners of evils,
by such as loved peace, but were by those
that kindled the war interpreted so as to
suit their own inclinations ; and the very
state of the city, even before the Romans
came against it, was that of a place doomed
to destruction. However, Ananus's con-
cern was this, to lay aside, for awhile, the
preparations for the war, and to persuade
the seditious to consult their own interest,
and to restrain the madness of those that
had the name of zealots : but their vio-
lence was too hard for him ; and what end
he came to we shall relate hereafter.
But as for the Acrabene toparchy, Si-
mon, the son of Gioras, got a great
number of those that were fond of inno-
vations together, and betook himself to
ravage the country; nor did he only ha-
rass the rich men's houses, but tormented
their bodies, and appeared openly and be-
forehand to affect tyranny in his govern-
ment. And when an army was sent
against him by Ananus, and the other
rulers, he and his band retired to the
robbers that were at Massada, and stayed
there, and plundered the country of Idu-
mea with them, till both Ananus and his
other adversaries were slain; and until
the rulers of that country were so afflicted
with the multitude of those that were
slain, and with the continual ravage of
what they had, that they raised an army,
and put garrisons into the villages, to se-
cure them from those insults. And in
this state were the affairs of Judea at
that time.
Book III. Chap. I.]
WARS OF TIIE JEWS.
251
BOOK III.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE YEAR, FROM VESPASIAN'S
COMING TO SUBDUE TIIE JEWS TO TIIE TAKING OF GAMALA.
CHAPTER I.
Vespasian sent into Syria by Nero, to make war
with the Jews.
"When Nero was informed of the Ro-
mans' ill success in Judea, a concealed
consternation and terror, as is usual in
such cases, fell upon bitn ; although he
openly looked very big, and was very an-
gry, and said, that what had happened
was rather owing to the negligence of the
commander than to any valour of the
enemy : and as he thought it fit for bim,
who bare the burden of the whole empire,
to despise such misfortunes, he now pre-
tended so to do, and to have a soul supe-
rior to all such sad accidents whatsoever.
Yet did the disturbance that was in his
soul plainly appear by the solicitude he
was in [how to recover his affairs again].
And as he was deliberating to whom he
should commit the care of the East, now
it was in so great a commotion, and who
might be best able to punish the Jews for
their rebellion, and might prevent the
same distemper from seizing upon the
neighbouring nations also — he found no
one but Vespasian equal to the task, and
able to undergo the great burden of so
mighty a war, seeing he was growing an
old man already in the camp, and from
his youth had been exercised in warlike
exploits : he was also a man that had long
ago pacified the West, and made it subject
to the Romans, when it had been put into
disorder by the Germans : he had also re-
covered to them Britain by his arms,
which had been little known before;
whereby he procured to his father Clau-
dius to have a triumph bestowed on him
without any sweat or labour of his own.
So Nero esteemed these circumstances
as favourable omens, and saw that Ves-
pasian's age gave him sure experience,
and great skill, and that he had his sons
as hostages for his fidelity to himself, and
that the flourishing age they were in
would make them fit instruments under
their father's prudence. Perhaps also
there was some interposition of Providence,
which was paving the way for Vespasian's
being himself emperor afterward. Upon
the whole, he sent this man to take upon
him the command of the armies that
were in Syria; but this not without great
encomiums and flattering compellations,
such as necessity required, and such as
might mollify him into complaisance. So
Vespasian sent his son Titus from Achaia,
where he had been with Nero, to Alexan-
dria, to bring back with him the fifth and
tenth legions, while he himself, when he
had passed over the Hellespont, came by
land into Syria, where he gathered toge-
ther the Roman forces, with a consider-
able number of auxiliaries from the kings
in that neighbourhood.
CHAPTER II.
Slaughter of the Jews about Ascalon — Vespasian
arrives at Ptolemais.
Now the Jews, after they had beaten
Cestius, were so much elevated with their
unexpected success, that they could not
govern their zeal, but, like people blown
up into a flame by their good fortune,
carried the war to remoter places. Ac-
cordingly, they presently got together a
great multitude of all their most hardy
soldiers, and marched away for Ascalon.
This is an ancient city, that is distant
from Jerusalem 520 furlongs, and was
always an enemy to the Jews; on which
account they determined to make their
first effort against it, and to make their
approaches to it as near as possible. This
excursion was led on by three men, who
were the chief of them all, both for
strength and sagacity; Niger, called the
Peraite, Silas, of Babylon, and besides
them John, the Essene. Now Ascalou
was strongly walled about, but had almost
no assistance to be relied on [near them],
for the garrison consisted of one cohort
of footmen, and one troop of horsemen,
whose captain was Antonius.
These Jews, therefore, out of their an-
ger, marched faster than ordinary, and,
as if they had come but a little way, ap-
252
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book lit
proached very near the city, and were
come even to it; but Antonius, who was
not unapprized of the attack they were
going to make upon tho city, drew out his
horsemen beforehand, and being neither
daunted at the multitude, nor at the cour-
age of the enemy, received their first at-
tacks with great bravery; and when they
crowded to the very walls, he beat them
off. Now the Jews were unskilful in
war, but were to fight with those who
were skilful therein; they were footmen
to fight with horsemen; they were in dis-
order, to fight those that were united to-
gether; they were poorly armed, to fight
those that were completely so; they were
to fight more by their rage than by sober
counsel, and were exposed to soldiers that
were exactly obedient, and did every thing
they wore bidden upon the least intima-
tion. So they were easily beaten; for as
soon as ever their first ranks were once in
disorder, they were put to flight by the
enemy's cavalry, and those of them that
came behind, such as crowded to the wall,
fell upon their own party's weapons, and
became one another's enemies; and this
so long till they were all forced to give
way to the attacks of the horsemen, and
were dispersed all the plain over, which
plain was wide, and all fit for the horse-
men; which circumstance was very com-
modious for the RomanSi and occasioned
the slaughter of the greatest number of
the Jews; for such as ran away, they
could overrun them, and make them turn
back; and when they had brought them
back after their flight, and driven them
together, they ran them through, and
slew a vast number of them, insomuch
that others encompassed others of them,
and drove them before them whithersoever
they turned themselves, and slew them
easily with their arrows; and the great
number there were of the Jews seemed a
solitude to themselves, by reason of the
distress they were in, while the Romans
had such good success with their small
number, that they seemed to themselves
to be the greater multitude; and as the
former strove zealously under their mis-
fortunes, out of the shame of a sudden
flight, and hopes of the change in their
success, so did the latter feel no weariness
by reason of their good fortune; insomuch
that the fight lasted till the evening, till
10,000 men of the Jews' side lay dead,
with two of their generals, John and Si-
las; and the greater part of the remainder
were wounded, with Niger, their remain-
ing general, who fled away together to a
small city of Idumea, called Sallis. Some
few also of the Romans were wounded in
this battle.
Yet were not the spirits of the Jews
broken by so great a calamity, but the
losses they had sustained rather quickened
their resolution for other attempts; for,
overlooking the dead bodies which lay
under their feet, they were enticed by
their former glorious actions to venture
on a second destruction; so when they
had lain still so little a while that their
wounds were not yet thoroughly cured,
they got together all their forces, and
came with greater fury, and in much
greater numbers, to Ascalon; but their
former ill fortune followed them, as the
consecpience of their unskilfulness and
other deficiencies in war; for Antonius
laid ambushes for them in the passages
they were to go through, where they fell
into snares unexpectedly, and where they
were encompassed about with horsemen
before they could form themselves into a
regular body for fighting, and were above
8000 of them slain ; so all the rest of
them ran away, and with them Niger,
who still did a great many bold exploits
in his flight. However, they were driven
along together by the enemy, who pressed
hard upon them, into a certain strong
tower belonging to a village called Beze-
del. However, Antonius and his party,
that they might neither spend any consi-
derable time about this tower, which was
hard to be taken, nor suffer their com-
mander, and the most courageous man of
them all, to escape from them, they set
the wall on fire; and as the tower was
burning, the Romans went away rejoicing,
as taking it for granted that Niger was
destroyed; but he leaped out of the tower
into a subterraneous cave, in the inner-
most part of it, and was preserved; and
on the third day afterward he spake out
of the ground to those that with great
lamentations were searching for him, in
order to give him a decent funeral ; and
when he was come out, he filled all the
Jews with an unexpected joy, as though
he were preserved by G-od's providence to
be their commander for the time to come.
And now Vespasian took along with
him his army from Antioch (which is the
metropolis of Syria, and, without dispute,
deserves the place of the third city in the
habitable earth that was under the Roman
Chap. TIL]
WATIS OF TIIE JEWS
■;;:.3
empire,* both in magnitude and other
marks of prosperity,) where he found
King Agrippa, with all his forces, waiting
for his coming, and marched to Ptolemais.
At this city also the inhabitants of Sep-
phoris of Galilee met him, who were for
peace with the Romans. These citizens
had beforehand taken care of their own
safety, and being sensible of the power of
the Romans, they had been with Cestius
Gallus before Vespasian came, and had
given their faith to him, and received the
security of his right hand; and had re-
ceived a Roman garrison, and at this time
withal they received Vespasian, the Ro-
man general, very kindly, and _ readily
promised that they would assist him
against their own countrymen. Now the
general delivered them, at their desire, as
many horsemen and footmen as he thought
sufficient to oppose the incursions of the
Jews, if they should happen to come
against them; and indeed the danger of
losing Sepphoris would be no small one,
in this war which was now beginning,
seeing it was the largest city of Galilee,
and built in a place by nature very strong,
and might be a security of the whole
nation's [fidelity to the Romans].
CHAPTER III.
Description of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.
Now Phoenicia and Syria encompass
about the Galilees, which are two, and
called the Upper Galilee and the Lower.
They are bounded toward the sunsetting,
with the borders of the territory belong-
ing to Ptolemais, and by Carmel; which
mountain had formerly belonged to the
Galileans, but now belonged _ to the
Tyrians; to which mountain adjoins Gaba,
which is called the City of Horsemen, be-
cause those horsemen that were dismissed
by Herod the king dwelt therein; they
are bounded on the south with Samaria
and Scythopolis, as far as the river Jordan ;
on the east with Hippene and Gadaris,
and also with Gaulanitis, and the borders
of the kingdom of Agrippa; its northern
parts are bounded by Tyre, and the coun-
try of the Tyrians. As for that Galilee
which is called the Lower, it extends in
length from Tiberias to Zabulon, and of
the maritime places, Ptolemais is its
» Spanheini and Reland both agree that the
two ' ities here esteemed greater than Antioeh, the
metropolis of Syria, were Home and Alexandria.
neighbour; its breadth is from- the village
called Xaloth, which lies in the great
plain, as far as Bersabe, from which be-
ginning also is taken the breadth of the
Upper Galilee, as far as the village Baca,
which divides the land of the Tyrians
from it; its length is also from M cloth to
Thclla, a village near to Jordan.
These two Galilees, of so great largeness,
and encompassed with so many nations of
foreigners, have always been able to make
a strong resistance on all occasions of
war; for the Galileans are inured to
war from their infancy, and have been
always very numerous ; nor hath the
country been ever destitute of men of
courage, or wanted a numerous set of
them; for their soil is universally rich
and fruitful, and full of the plantations
of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it in-
vites the most slothful to take pains in its
cultivation, by its fruitfulness ; accord-
ingly, it is all cultivated by its inha-
bitants, and no part of it lies idle. More-
over, the cities lie here very thick; and
the very many villages there are here, are
everywhere so full of people, by the rich-
ness of their soil, that the very least of
them contain above 15,000 inhabitants.
In short, if any one will suppose that
Galilee is inferior to Perea in magnitude,
he will be obliged to prefer it before it in
its strength: for this is all capable of
cultivation, and is everywhere fruitful;
but for Perea, which is indeed much larger
in extent, the greater part of it is desert,
and rough, and much less disposed for
the production of the milder kinds of
fruits; yet hath it a moist soil [in other
parts], and produces all kinds of fruits,
and its plains are planted with trees of
all sorts, while yet the olive-tree, the
vine, and the palm-tree are chiefly culti-
vated there. It is also sufficiently watered
with torrents, which issue out of the
mountains, and with springs that never
fail to run, even when the torrents fail
them, as they do in the dog-days. Now
the length of Perea is from Macherus to
Pella, and its breadth from Philadelphia
to Jordan ; its northern parts are bounded
by Pella, as we have already said, as \v< 11
as its western with Jordan ; the land of
Moab is its southern border, and its east-
ern limits reach to Arabia, and Silbonitis,
and besides to Philadelphene and Gerasa.
Now, as to the country of Samaria, it
lies between Judea and Galilee ; it begins
at a village that is in the great plain
254
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book III
called Ginea, and ends at the Acrabbene
toparchy, and is entirely of the same
nature with Judea; for both countries
are made up of hills and valleys, and are
moist enough for agriculture, and are very
fruitful. They have abundance of trees,
and are full of autumnal fruit, both that
which grows wild, and that which is the
effect of cultivation. They are not na-
turally watered with many rivers, but
derive their chief moisture from rain-
water, of which they have no want ; and
for those rivers which they have, all their
waters are exceeding sweet : by reason
also of the excellent grass they have,
their cattle yield more milk than do those
in other places; and, what is the greatest
sign of excellency and of abundance, they
each of them are very full of people.
In the limits of Samaria and Judea lie
the village Anuath, which is also named
Borceos. This is the northern boundary
of Judea. The southern parts of Judea,
if they be measured lengthways, are
bounded by a village adjoining to the con-
fines of Arabia; the Jews that dwell
there call it Jordan. However, its breadth
is extended from the river Jordan to
Joppa. The city Jerusalem is situated
in the very middle ; on which account
some have, with sagacity enough, called
that city the Navel of the country. Nor
indeed is Judea destitute of such delights
as come from the sea, since its maritime
places extend as far as Ptolemais : it was
parted into eleven portions, of which the
royal city Jerusalem was the supreme,
and presided over all the neighbouring
country, as the head does over the body.
As to the other cities that were inferior
to it, they presided over their several to-
parchies ; Gophna was the second of those
cities, and next to that Acrabatta, after
them Thamna, and Lydda, and Emmaus,
and Pella, and Idumea, and Engeddi, and
Herodium, and Jericho; and after them
came Jamnia and Joppa, as presiding over
the neighbouring people ; and besides
these there was the region of Gamala, and
Gaulanitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis,
which arc also parts of the kingdom of
Agrippa. This [last] country begins at
Mount Libanus, and the fountains of
Jordan, and reaches breadthways to the
lake of Tiberias ; and in length is ex-
tended from a village called Arpha, as far
as Julias. Its inhabitants are a mixture
af Jews and Syrians. And thus have I,
with all possible brevity, described the
country of Judea, and those that lie round
about it.
CHAPTER IV.
Josephus makes an attempt upon Sepphoris, but in
repelled — Titus joins Vespasian at Ptolemais.
Now the auxiliaries who were sent to
assist the people of Sepphoris, being 1000
horsemen, and 6000 footmen, under Pla-
cidus, the tribune, pitched their camp in
two bodies in the great plain. The foot
were put into the city to be a guard to
it; but the horse lodged abroad in the
camp. These last, by marching conti-
nually one way or other, and overrunning
the parts of the adjoining country, were
very troublesome to Josephus and his
men; they also plundered all the places
that were out of the city's liberty, and
intercepted such as durst go abroad. On
this account it was that Josephus marched
against the city, as hoping to take what
he had lately encompassed with so strong
a wall, before they revolted from the rest
of the Galileans, that the Romans would
have much ado to take it : by which
means he proved too weak, and failed of
his hopes, both as to forcing the place,
and to his prevailing with the people of
Sepphoris to deliver it up to him. By
this means he provoked the Romans to
treat the country according to the law of
war; nor did the Romans, out of the
anger they bore at this attempt, leave off
either by night or by day, burning the
places in the plain, or stealing away the
cattle that were in the country, and kill-
ing whatsoever appeared capable of fight-
ing perpetually, and leading the weaker
people as slaves into captivity; so that
Galilee was all over filled with fire and
blood; nor was it exempted from any
kind of misery or calamity ; for the only
refuge they had was this, that when they
were pursued, they could retire to the
cities which had walls built them by Jo-
sephus.
But as to Titus, he sailed over from
Achaia to Alexandria, and that sooner
than the winter season did usually per-
mit; so he took with him those forces he
was sent for, and marching with great ex-
pedition, he came suddenly to Ptolemais,
and there finding his father, together with
the two legions, the fifth and tenth, which
were the most eminent legions of all, he
joined them to that fifteenth legion which
was with his father : eighteen cohorts
Chap. V.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
255
ni
followed these legions : there came also
five cohorts from Cesarea, with one troop
of horsemen, and five other troops of
horsemen from Syria. Now these ten
cohorts bad severally 1000 footmen, but
the other thirteen cohorts had no more
than 000 footmen apiece, with 120 horse-
men. There were also a considerable
number of auxiliaries got together, that
came from the Kings Antiochus and
Agrippa and Sobemus, each of them
contributing 1000 footmen that were
archers, and 1000 horsemen. Malchus
also, the king of Arabia, sent 1000 horse-
men, besides 5000 footmen, the greatest
part of whom were archers; so that the
whole army, including the auxiliaries sent
by the kings, as well horsemen as foot-
men, when all were united together,
amounted to 60,000, besides the servants,
who, as they followed in vast numbers,
so, because they had been trained up in
war with the rest, ought not to be dis-
tinguished from the Bghting men; for as
they were in their masters' service in
times of peace, so did they undergo the
like dangers with them in times of war,
insomuch that they were inferior to none,
either in skill or in strength, only they
were subject to their masters.
CHAPTER V.
Description of the Roman armies and camps.
Now here one cannot but admire at
the precaution of the Romans, in providing
themselves of such household servants, as
might not only serve at other times for
the common offices of life, but might also
be of advantage to them in their wars;
and, indeed, if any one does but attend
to the other parts of their military dis-
cipline, he will be forced to confess that
their obtaining so large a dominion hath
been the acquisition of their valour, and
not the bare gift of fortune ; for they do
not begin to use their weapons first in
time of war, nor do they then put their
hands first into motion, while they avoided
so to do in times of peace ; but, as if their
weapons did always cling to them, they
have never any truce from warlike exer-
cises ; nor do they stay till times of war
admonish them to use them; for their
military exercises differ not at all from
the real use of their arms, but every
soldier is every day exercised, and that
with great diligence, as if it were in time
of war which is the reason why they bear
the fatigue of battles so easily ; for neither
can any disorder remove them from their
usual regularity, nor can fear affright them
out of it, nor can labour tire them ; which
firmness of conduct makes them always to
overcome those that have not the same
firmness ; nor would he be mistaken that
should call those their exercises unbloody
battles, and their battles bloody exer-
cises. Nor can their enemies easily sur-
prise them with the suddenness of their
incursions; for as soon as they have
marched into an enemy's land, they do
not begin to fight till they have walled
their camp about ; nor is the fence they
raise rashly made, or uneven ; nor do
they all abide in it, nor do those that are
in it take their places at random ; but if
it happens that the ground is uneven, it
is first levelled : their camp is also four-
square by measure, and carpenters are
ready, in great numbers, with their tools,
to erect their buildings for them.*
As for what is within the camp, it is
set apart for tents, but the outward cir-
cumference hath the resemblance of a
wall, and is adorned with towers at equal
distances, where, between the towers,
stand the engines for throwing arrows and
darts, and for slinging stones, and where
they lay all other engines that can annoy
the enemy, all ready for their several
operations. They also erect four gates,
one at every side of the circumference,
and those large enough for the entrance
of the beasts, and wide enough for making
excursions, if occasion should require.
They divide the camp within into streets,
very conveniently, and place the tents of
the commanders in the middle; but in
the very midst of all is the general's own
tent, in the nature of a temple, insomuch
that it appears to be a city built on the
sudden, with its market-place, and place
for handicraft trades, and with seats for
the officers, superior and inferior ; where,
if any differences arise, their causes are
heard and determined. The camp, and
all that is in it, is encompassed with a
a wall round about, and that sooner than
* This description of the exact symmetry and
regularity of the Roman army, and of the Roman
encampments, with the sounding their trumpets,
&c, and order of war, described in this and the-
next section, is so very like to the symmetry and
regularity of the people of Israel in the wilderness,
that one cannot well avoid the Bupposal that the
one was the ultimate pattern of the other, and that
the taotics of the ancients were token fr„ui the
rules given to Moses.
256
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book III,
one would imagine, and this by the mul-
titude and the skill of the labourers ; and,
if occasion require, a trench is drawn
round the whole, whose depth is four
cubits, and its breadth equal.
When they have thus secured them-
selves, they live together by companies,
with quietness and decency, as are all
their other affairs managed with good
order and security. Each company hath
also their wood, and their corn, and their
water brought them, when they stand in
need of them ; for they neither sup nor
dine as they please, themselves singly, but
all together. Their times also for sleep-
ing and watching and rising are notified
beforehand by the sound of trumpets, nor
is any thing done without such a signal;
and in the morning the soldiery go every
one to their centurions, and these cen-
turions to their tribunes, to salute them ;
with whom all the superior officers go to
the general of the whole army, who then
gives them of course the watchword and
other orders, to be by them carried to all
that are under their command ; which is
also observed when they go to fight, and
thereby they turn themselves about on
the sudden, when there is occasion for
making sallies, as they come back when
they are recalled, in crowds also.
. When they are to go out of their camp,
the trumpet gives a sound, at which time
nobody lies still, but at the first intimation
they take down their tents, and all is made
ready for their going out ; then do the
trumpets sound again, to order them to
get ready for the march ; then do they lay
their baggage suddenly upon their mules
and other beasts of burden, and stand, at
the place for starting, ready to march ;
when also they set fire to their camp, and
this they do because it will be easy for
them to erect another camp, and that it
may not ever be of use to their enemies.
Then do the trumpets give a sound the
third time, that they are to go out, in or-
der to excite those that on any account
are a little tardy, that so no one may be
out of his rank when the army marches.
Then does the crier stand at the general's
right hand, and asks them thrice, in their
own tongue, whether they be now ready to
go out to war or not. To which they re-
ply as often, with a loud and cheerful voice,
saying, " We are ready." And this they
do almost before the question is asked
them ; they do this as filled with a kind
of martial fury, and at the time that
they so cry out, they lift up their hands
also.
When, after this, they are gone out of
their camp, they all march without noise,
and in a decent manner, and every one
keeps his own rank, as if they were going
to war. The footmen are armed with
breastplates and headpieces, and have
swords on each side ; but the sword which
is upon their left side is much longer than
the other; for that on the right side is
not longer than a span. Those footmen
also that are chosen out from among the
rest to be about the general himself, have
a lance and a buckler ; but the rest of
the foot-soldiers have a spear and a long
buckler, besides a saw and a basket, a
pickaxe, and an axe, a thong of leather,
and a hook, with provisions for three days ;
so that a footman hath no great need of a
mule to carry his burdens. The horse-
men have a long sword on their right sides,
and a long pole in their hand : a shield
also lies by them obliquely on one side of
their horses, with three or more darts that
are borne in their quiver, having broad
points, and no smaller than spears. They
have also headpieces and breastplates, in
like manner as. have all the footmen.
And for those that are chosen to be about
the general, their armour noway differs
from that of the horsemen belonging to
other troops ; and he always leads the le-
gions forth to whom the lot assigns that
employment.
This is the manner of the marching and
resting of the Romans, as also these are
the several sorts of weapons they use.
But when they are to fight, they leave
nothing without forecast, nor to be done
offhand, but counsel is ever first taken be-
fore any work is begun, and what hath
been there resolved upon is put into ex-
ecution presently ; for which reason they
seldom commit any errors ; and if they
have been mistaken at any time, they
easily correct those mistakes. They also
esteem any errors they commit upon taking
counsel beforehand, to be better than such
rash success as is owing to fortune only ;
because such a fortuitous advantage tempts
them to be inconsiderate, while consult-
ation, though it may sometimes fail ot
success, hath this good in it, that it makes
men more careful hereafter : but for the
advantages that arise from chance, they
are not owing to him that gains them ;
and as to what melancholy accidents hap'
pen unexpectedly, there is this comfort in
Chap. VL
WARS OF THE JEWS.
257
1
them, that they had however taken the
best consultations they could to prevent
them.
Now they so manage their preparatory
exercises of their weapons, that not the
bodies of the soldiers only, but their souls
may also become stronger : they are more-
over hardened for war by fear ; for their
laws inflict capital punishments, not only
for soldiers running away from their ranks,
but for slothfulness and inactivity, though
it be but in a lesser degree ; as are their
generals more severe than their laws, for
they prevent any imputation of cruelty
toward those under condemnation, by the
great rewards they bestow on the valiant
soldiers; and the readiness of obeying
their commanders is so great, that it is
very ornamental in peace ; but when they
come to a battle, the whole army is but
one body, so well coupled together are
their ranks, so sudden are their turnings
about, so sharp their hearing as to what
orders are given them, so quick their sight
of the ensigns, and so nimble are their
hands when they set to work ; whereby it
comes to pass, that what they do is done
quickly, and what they suffer they bear
with the greatest patience. Nor can we
find any examples where they have been
conquered in battle, when they came to a
close fight, either by the multitude of the
enemies, or by their stratagems, or by the
difficulties in the places they were in ; no,
nor by fortune neither, for their victories
have been surer to them than fortune
could have granted them. In a case,
therefore, where counsel still goes before
action, and where, after taking the best
advice, that advice is followed^ by so ac-
tive an army, what wonder is it that
Euphrates on the east, the ocean on the
west, the most fertile regions of Libya on
the south, and the Danube and the Rhine
on the north, are the limits of this empire.
One might well say, that the Roman pos-
sessions are not inferior to the Romans
themselves.
This account I have given the reader,
not so much with the intention of com-
mending the Romans, as of comforting
those that have been conquered by them,
and for deterring others from attempting
innovations under their government.
This discourse of the Roman military con-
duct may also perhaps be of use to such
of the curious as are ignorant of it, and
yet have a mind to know it. I return now
from this digression.
Vol. II.— 17
CHAPTER VI.
Placidus attempts to take Jotapata, but in rrulsed
— Vespasian marches into GuLli.*..
And now Vespasian, with his eon Titus,
had tarried some time at Ptolemais, and
had put his army in order. But when
Placidus, who had overran Galilee, and
had besides slain a num'uer of those whom
he had caught (which were only the weak-
er part of the Galileans, and such as were
of timorous souls,) saw that the warriors
ran always to those cities whose walls had
been built by Josepnus, he marched
furiously against Jotapata, which was of
them all the stioogest, as supposing he
should easily take it oy a sudden surprise,
and that he auouid thereby obtain great
honour to hirmseil among the commanders,
and bring a yieat advantage to them in
their future campaign; because, if this
strongest pi*vu ot them all were once taken,
the rest wuuid be so affrighted as to sur-
render themselves. But he was mightily
mistaken ta his undertaking; for the men
of Jotapuia were apprized of his coming
to attack enem, and came out of the city,
and expected him there. So they fought
the Romans briskly when they least ex-
pected it, being both many in number,
and prepared for fighting, and of great
alacrity, as esteeming their country, their
wives, and their children to be in danger,
and easily put the Romans to flight, and
wounded many of them, and slew seven
of them; because their retreat was not
made in a disorderly manner, because the
strokes only touched the surface of their
bodies, which were covered with their ar-
mour in all parts, and because the Jews
did rather throw their weapons upon them
from a great distance, than venture to
come hand to hand with them, and had
only light armour on, while the others
were completely armed. However, three
men of the Jews' side were slain, and a
few wounded: so Placidus, finding him-
self unable to assault the city, ran away.
But as Vespasian had a great mind to
fall upon Galilee, he marched out from
Ptolemais, having put his army into that
order wherein the Romans used to march.
He ordered those auxiliaries which were
lightly armed, and the archers, to march
first, that they might prevent any sudden
insults from the enemy, and might search
out the woods that looked suspiciously,
and were capable of ambuscades. Next
to these followed that part of the Romans
258
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book III
who were most completely armed, both
footmen and horsemen. Next to these
followed ten out of every 100, carrying
along with them their arms, and what was
necessary to measure out a camp withal;
and after them, such as were to make the
road even and straight, and if it were any-
where rough and hard to be passed over,
to plane it, and to cut down the woods
that hindered their march, that the army
might not bo in distress, or tired with
their march. Behind these he set such
carriages of the army as belonged both to
himself and to the other commanders,
with a considerable number of their horse-
men for their security. After these he
marched himself, having with him a select
body of footmen and horsemen and pike-
men. After these came the peculiar ca-
valry of his own legion, for there were 120
horsemen that peculiarly belonged to every
legion. Next to these came the mules
that carried the engines for sieges, and
the other warlike machines of that nature.
After these came the commanders of the
cohorts, and tribunes, having about them
soldiers chosen out of the rest. Then
came the ensigns encompassing the eagle,
which is at the head of every Roman le-
gion, the king and the strongest of all
birds, which seems to them a signal of
dominion, and an omen that they shall
conquer all against whom they march ;
these sacred ensigns are followed by the
trumpeters. Then came the main army
in their squadrons and battalions with six
men in depth, which were followed at last
by a centurion, who, according to custom,
observed the rest. As for the servants of
every legion, they all followed the foot-
men, and led the baggage of the soldiers,
which was borne by the mules and other
beasts of burden. But behind all the le-
gions came the whole multitude of the
mercenaries; and those that brought up
the rear came last of all, for the security
of the whole army, being both footmen,
and those in their armour also, with a great
number of horsemen.
And thus did Vespasian march with his
army, and came to the bounds of Galilee,
where he pitched his camp and restrained
his soldiers, who were eager for war; he
also showed his army to the enemy, in or-
der to affright them, and to afford them a
season for repentance, to see whether they
would change their minds before it came
to a battle, and at the same time he got
things ready for besieging their strong-
holds. And indeed this sight of the gene-
ral brought many to repent of their revolt,
and put them all into a consternation ; for
those that were in Josephus's camp which
was at the city called Garis, not far from
Sepphoris, when they heard that the war
was come near them, and that the Romans
would certainly fight them hand to hand, dis-
persed themselves and fled, not only before
they came to a battle, but before the
enemy ever came in sight, while Josephus
and a few others were left behind ; and
as he saw that he had not an army suffi-
cient to engage the enemy, that the spirits
of the Jews were sunk, and that the great-
er part would willingly come to terms, if
they might be credited, he already de-
spaired of the success of the whole war,
and determined to get as far as he pos-
sibly could out of danger; so he took
those that stayed along with him, and
fled to Tiberias.
CHAPTER VII.
Vespasian takes Gadara, and marches to Jotapata,
which is betrayed by a deserter.
So Vespasian marched to the city Ga-
dara, and took it upon the first onset, be-
cause he found it destitute of any con-
siderable number of men grown up and
fit for war. He came then into it, and
slew all the youth, the Romans having
no mercy on any age whatsoever ; and this
was done out of the hatred they bore the
nation, and because of the iniquity they
had been guilty of in the affair of Cestius.
He also set fire, not only to the city itself,
but to all the villas and small cities that
were round about it : some of them were
quite destitute of inhabitants ; and out of
some of them he carried the inhabitants
as slaves into captivity.
As to Josephus, his retiring into that
city which he chose as the most fit for his
security, put it into great fear; for the
people of Tiberias did not imagine that
he would have run away, unless he had
entirely despaired of the success of the
war; and indeed, as to that point, they
were not mistaken about his opinion ; for
he saw whither the affairs of the Jews
would tend at last, and was sensible that
they had but one way of escaping, and
that was by repentance. However, al-
though he expected that the Romans
would forgive him, yet did he choose to
die many times over rather than to be-
tray his country, and to dishonour that,
supreme command of the army which had
Chap. VII j
WARS OF THE JEWS.
250
been intrusted with him, or to live hap-
pily under those against whom he was
sent to fight. He determined, therefore, to
give an exact account of affairs to the princi-
pal men at Jerusalem by a letter, that he
might not, by too much aggrandizing the
power of the enemy, make them too tim-
orous; nor, by relating that their power
beneath the truth, might encourage them
to stand out when they were perhaps dis-
posed to repentance. He also sent them
word, that if they thought of coming to
terms, they must suddenly write him an
answer ; or, if they resolved upon war,
they must send him an army sufficient to
fight the Romans. Accordingly, he wrote
these things, and sent messengers imme-
diately to carry his letter to Jerusalem.
Now Vespasian was very desirous of
demolishing Jotapata, for he had gotten in-
telligence that the greatest part of the ene-
my had retired thither; and that it was,
on other accounts, a place of great secu-
rity to them. Accordingly, he sent both
footmen and horsemen to level the road,
which was mountainous and rocky, not
without difficulty to be travelled over by
footmen, but absolutely impracticable for
horsemen. Now these workmen accom-
plished what they were about in four days'
time, and opened a broad way for the
army. On the fifth day, which was the
twenty-first of the month Artemisius,
(Jyar,) Josephus prevented him, and
came from Tiberias, and went into Jota-
pata, and raised the drooping spirits of
the Jews. And a certain deserter told this
good news to Vespasian, that Josephus had
removed himself thither, which made him
make haste to the city, as supposing that
with taking that he should take all Judea,
in case he could but withal get Josephus
under his power. So he took this news
to be of the vastest advantage to him, and
believed it to be brought about by the
providence of God, that he who appeared
to be the most prudent man of all their
enemies, had, of his own accord, shut
himself up in a place of sure custody.
Accordingly he sent Placidus with 1000
horsemen, and Ebutius, a decurion, a per-
son that was of eminency both in council
and in action, to encompass the city round,
that Josephus might not escape away pri-
vately.
Vespasian also, the very next day, took
his whole army and followed them, and
by marching till late in the evening, ar-
rived then at Jotapata ; and bringing his
army to the northern side of the city, he
pitched his camp on a certain small hill
which was seven furlongs from the city,
and still greatly endeavoured to be well seen
by the enemy, to put them into a conster-
nation, which was indeed so terrible to the
Jews immediately, that no one of them
durst go out beyond the wall. Yet did
the Romans put off the attack at that
time, because they had marched all the
day, although they placed a double row
of battalions round the city, with a third
row beyond them round the whole, which
consisted of cavalry, in order to stop up
every way for an exit ; which thing making
the Jews despair of escaping, excited them
to act more boldly ; for nothing makes men
fight so desperately in war as necessity.
Now when an assault was made the
next day by the Romans, the Jews at first
stayed out of the walls aud opposed them ;
and met them, as having formed them-
selves a camp before the city walls. But
when Vespasian had set against them the
archers and slingers, and the whole mul-
titude that could throw to a great distance,
he permitted them to go to work, while
he himself, with the footmen, got upon
an acclivity, whence the city might easily
be taken. Josephus was then iu fear for
the city, and leaped out, and all the Jew-
ish multitude with him ; these fell together
upon the Romans in great numbers, and
drove them away from the wall, and per-
formed a great many glorious and bold
actions. Yet did they suffer as much as
they made the enemy suffer ; for as despair
of deliverance encouraged the Jews, so
did a sense of shame equally encourage
the Romans. These last had skill as
well as strength ; the other had only cou-
rage, which armed them and made them
fight furiously. And when the fight had
lasted all day, it was put an end to by the
coming on of the night. They had
wounded a great many of the Romans,
and killed of them thirteen men ; of the
Jews' side seventeen men were slain, and
600 wounded.
On the next day the Jews made another
attack upon the Romans, and went out of
the walls, and fought a much more des-
perate battle with them than before; for
they were now become more courageous
than formerly, and that on account of the
unexpected good opposition they had made
the day before, as they found the Ro-
mans also to fight more desperately ; for
a sense of shame inflamed these into a
260
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book III
passion, as esteeming their failure of a
sudden victory to be a kind of defeat.
Thus did the llomans try to make an im-
pression upon the. Jews till the fifth day
continually, while the people of Jotapata
made sallies out, and fought at the walls
most desperately; nor were the Jews af-
frighted at the strength of the enemy,
nor were the Romans discouraged at the
difficulties they met with in taking the
city.
Now Jotapata is almost all of it built
upon a precipice, having on all the other
sides of it every way valleys immensely
deep and steep, insomuch that those who
would look down would have their sight
fail them before it reaches to the bottom.
It is only to be come at on the north side,
where the utmost part of the city is built
on the mountain, as it ends obliquely at
a plain. This mountain Josephus had en-
compassed with a wall when he fortified
the city, that its top might not be capable
of being seized upon by the enemies.
The city is covered all round with other
mountains, and can noway be seen till a
man comes just upon it. And this was
the strong situation of Jotapata.
Vespasian, therefore, in order to try
how he might overcome the natural
strength of the place, as well as the bold
defence of the Jews, made a resolution
to prosecute the siege with vigour. To
that end he called the commanders that
were under him to a council of war, and
consulted with them which way the as-
sault might be managed to the best advan-
tage ; and when the resolution was there
taken to raise a bank against that part of
the wall which was practicable, he sent
his whole army abroad to get the materials
together. So when they had cut down
all the trees on the mountains that ad-
joined to the city, and had gotten to-
gether a vast heap of stones, besides the
wood they had cut down, some of them
brought hurdles, in order to avoid the ef-
fects of the darts that were shot from
above them. These hurdles they spread
over their banks, under cover whereof
they formed their bank, and so were lit-
tle or nothing hurt by the darts that were
thrown upon them from the wall, while
others pulled the neighbouring hillocks to
pieces, and perpetually brought earth to
them ; so that while they were busy three
sorts of ways, nobody was idle. How-
ever, the Jews cast great stones from the
walls upon the hurdles which protected
the men, with all sorts c.f darts also ; and
the noise of what could not reach them
was yet so terrible, that it was some im-
pediment to the workmen.
Vespasian then sent the engines for
throwing stones ana darts round about
the city ; the number of the engines was
in all 160 ; and bade them fall to work,
and dislodge those that were upon the
wall. At the same time such engines as
were intended for that purpose, threw at
once lances upon them with great noise,
and stones of the weight of a talent were
thrown by the engines that were prepared
for that purpose, together with fire, and a
vast multitude of arrows, which made
the wall so dangerous, that the Jews
durst not only not come upon it, but durst
not come to those parts within the walls
which were reached by the engines ; for
the multitude of the Arabian archers, as
well also as all those that threw darts and
slung stones, fell to work at the same
time with the engines. Yet did not the
others lie still when they could not throw
at the llomans from a higher place ; for
they then made sallies out of the city like
private robbers, by parties, and pulled
away the hurdles that covered the work-
men, and killed them when they were
thus naked ; and when those workmen
gave way, these cast away the earth that
composed the bank, and burnt the wood-
en parts of it, together with the hurdles,
till at length Vespasian perceived that
the intervals there were between the
works were of disadvantage to him ; for
those spaces of ground afforded the Jews
a place for assaulting the Romans. So
he united the hurdles, and at the same
time joined one part of the army to the
other, which prevented the private excur-
sions of the Jews.
And when the bank was now raised,
and brought nearer than ever to the bat-
tlements that belonged to the walls, Jo-
sephus thought it would be entirely wrong
in him if he could not make contrivances
in opposition to theirs, and that might
be for the city's preservation; so he got
together his workmen, and ordered them
to build the wall higher; and when they
said that this was impossible to be done
while so many darts were thrown at them,
he invented this sort of cover for them :
he bade them fix piles, and expand before
them raw hides of oxen newly killed,
that these hides, by yielding aud hollow-
ing themselves when the stones were
Chap. VII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
2G1
thrown at them, might receive them, for
that the other darts would slide off them,
and the fire that was thrown would be
quenched by the moisture that was in
them ; and these he set before the work-
men; and under them these workmen went
on with their works in safety, and raised
the wall higher, and that both by day and
by night, till it was twenty cubits high.
He also built a good number of towers
upon the wall, and fitted it to strong bat-
tlements. This greatly discouraged the
Romans, who in their own opinions were
already gotten within the walls, while
they were now at once astonished at Jo-
sephus's contrivance, and at the fortitude
of the citizens that were in the city.
And now Vespasian was plainly irri-
tated at the great subtilty of this strata-
gem, and at the boldness of the citizens of
Jotapata ; for, taking heart again upon the
buildiug of this wall, they made fresh sal-
lies upon the Romans, and had every day
conflicts with them by parties, together
with all such contrivances as robbers make
use of, and with the plundering of all
that came to hand, as also with the set-
ting fire to all the other works ; and this
till Vespasian made his army leave off
fighting them, and resolved to lie round
the city, and to starve them into a surren-
der, as supposing that either they would
be forced to petition him for mercy by
want of provisions, or, if they should have
the courage to hold out till the last, they
should perish by famine : and he con-
cluded he should conquer them the more
easily in fighting, if he gave them an in-
terval, and then fell upon them when they
were weakened by famine ; but still he
gave orders that they should guard against
their coming out of the city.
Now the besieged had plenty of corn
within the city, and indeed of all other
necessaries, but they wanted water, be-
cause there was no fountain in the city,
the people being there usually satisfied
with rain-water ; yet it is a rare thing in
that country to have rain in summer, and
at this season, during the siege, they were
in great distress for some contrivance to
satisfy their thirst; and they were very sad
at this time particularly, as if they were
already in waut of water entirely, for Jo-
sephus, seeing that the city abounded
with other necessaries, and that the men
were of good courage, and being desirous
to protract the siege to the Romans longer
than they expected, ordered their drink to
be given them by measure; but this scanty
distribution of water by measure was
deemed by them as a thing more hard
upon them than the want of it; and their
not being able to drink as much as they
would, made them more desirous of
drinking than they otherwise had been;
nay, they were so much disheartened
thereby as if they were come to the last
degree of thirst. Nor were the Romans
unacquainted with the state they were in,
for when they stood over against them,
beyond the wall, they could see them run-
ning together, and taking their water by
measure, which made them throw their
javelins thither, the place being within
their reach, and kill a great many of them.
Hereupon Vespasian hoped that their
receptacles of water would in no long time
be emptied, and that they would be forced
to deliver up the city to him; but Jo-
sephus, being minded to break such his
hope, gave command that they should
wet a great many of their clothes, and
hang them out about the battlements, till
the entire walls was of a sudden all wet
with the running down of the water. At
this sight the Romans were discouraged,
and under consternation, when they saw
them able to throw away in sport so much
water, when they supposed them not to
have enough to drink themselves. This
made the Roman general despair of taking
the city by their want of necessaries, and
to betake himself again to arms, and to
try to force them to surrender, which was
what the Jews greatly desired; for as
they despaired of either themselves or
their city being able to escape, they pre-
ferred a death in battle before one by
hunger and thirst.
However, Josephus conceived another
stratagem besides the foregoing, to get
plenty of what they wanted. There was
a certain rough and uneven place that
could hardly be ascended, and on that ac-
count was not guarded by the soldiers ; so
Josephus sent out certain persons along
the western parts of the valley, and by
them sent letters to whom he pleased of
the Jews that were out of the city, and
procured from them what necessaries soever
they wanted in the city in abundance; he
enjoined them also to creep generally
along by the watch as they came into the
city, and to cover their backs with such
sheepskins as had their wool upon tlfem,
that if any one should spy them in the
night-time, they might be believed to be
2G2
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book Til.
dogs. This was done till the watch per-
ceived their contrivance, and encompassed
that rough place about themselves.
And now it was that Josephus perceived
that the city could not hold out long, and
that his own life would be in doubt if he
continued in it; so he consulted how he
and the most potent men of the city
might fly out of it. When the multitude
understood this, they came all round about
him, and begged of him not to overlook
them, while they entirely depended on
him, and him alone; for that there was
still hope of the city's deliverance if he
would stay with them, because every-
body would undertake any pains with
great cheerfulness on his account, and in
that case there would be some comfort for
them also, though they should be taken :
that it became him neither to fly from his
enemies, nor to desert his friends, nor to
leap out of that city, as out of a ship that
was sinking in a storm, into which he
came when it was quiet and in a calm ;
for that by going away he would be the
cause of drowning the city, because no-
body would then venture to oppose the
enemy when he was once gone, upon
whom they wholly confided.
Hereupon Josephus avoided letting them
know that he was to go away to provide
for his own safety, but told them that he
would go out of the city for their sakes;
for that if he stayed with them, he should
he able to do them little good while they
were in a safe condition ; and that if they
were once taken, he should only perish
with them to no purpose ; but that if he
were once gotten free from this siege, he
should be able to bring them very great
relief; for that he would then imme-
diately get the Galileans together, out of
the country, in great multitudes, and draw
the Romans off their city by another war.
That he did not see what advantage he
could bring to them now, by staying among
them, but only provoke the Romans to
besiege them more closely, as esteeming
it a most valuable thing to take him; but
that if they were once informed that he
was fled out of the city, they would greatly
remit of their eagerness against it. Yet
did not this plea move the people, but in-
flamed them the more to hang about him.
Accordingly, both the children and the
old men, and the women with their in-
fants, came mourning to him, and fell
down before him, and all of them caught
hold of his feet, and held him fast, and
besought him, with great lamentations,
that he would take his share with them
in their fortune; and I think they did
this, not that they envied his deliverance,
but that they hoped for their own; for
they could not think they should suffer
any great misfortune, provided Josephus
would but stay with them.
Now, Josephus thought, that if he re-
solved to stay, it would be ascribed to
their entreaties ; and if he resolved to go
away by force, he should be put into cus-
tody. His commiseration also of the
people under their lamentation had much
broken that of his eagerness to leave
them; so he resolved to stay, and arming
himself with the common despair of the
citizens, he said to them, " Now is the
time to begin to fight in earnest, when
there is no hope of deliverance left. It
is a brave thing to prefer glory before
life, and to set about some such noble
undertaking as may be remembered by
late posterity." Having said this, he fell
to work immediately, and made a sally,
and dispersed the enemies' outguarcls,
and ran as far as the Roman camp itself,
and pulled the coverings of their tents to
pieces, that were upon their banks, and
set fire to their works. And this was the
manner in which he never left off fight-
ing, neither the next day nor the day
after it, but went on with it for a con-
siderable number of both days and
nights.
Upon this, Vespasian, when he saw
the Romans distressed by these sallies,
(although they were ashamed to be made
to run away by the Jews; and when at
any time they made the Jews run away,
their heavy armour would not let them
pursue them far ; while the Jews, when
they had performed any action, and be-
fore they could be hurt themselves, still
retired into the city,) ordered his armed
men to avoid their onset, and not to fight
it out with men under desperation, while
nothing is more courageous than despair;
but that their violence would be quenched
when they saw they failed of their pur-
poses, as fire is quenched when it wants
fuel ; and that it was most proper for the
Romans to gain their victories as cheap
as they could, since they are not forced
to fight, but only to enlarge their own do-
minions. So he repelled the Jews, in a
great measure by the Arabian archers,
and the Syrian slingers, and by those that
threw stones at them, nor was there anj
Cusp. VII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
2G3
intermission of the great number of their
offensive engines. Now, the Jews suffered
greatly by these engines, without bring
able to escape from them ; and when
these engines threw their stones or javelins
a great way, and the Jews were within
their reach, they pressed hard upon the
Romans, and fought desperately, without
sparing either soul or body — one part
succouring another by turns," when it was
tired down.
When, therefore, Vespasian looked upon
himself as in a manner besieged by these
sallies of the Jews, and when his banks
were now not far from the walls, he de-
termined to make use of his battering-
ram. This battering-ram is a vast beam
of wood like the mast of a ship; its fore-
part is armed with a thick piece of iron at
the head of it, which is so carved as to be
like the head of a ram, whence its name
is taken. This ram is slung in the air by
ropes passing over its middle, and is hung
like the balance in a pair of scales from
another beam, and braced by strong beams
that pass on both sides of it in the nature
of a cross. When this ram is pulled
backward by a great number of men with
united force, and then thrust forward by
the same men, with a mighty noise, it
batters the walls with that iron part which
is prominent; nor is there any tower so
strong, or walls so broad, that can resist
any more than its first batteries, but all
are forced to yield to it at last. This
was the experiment which the Roman
general betook himself to when he was
eagerly bent upon taking the city, and
found lying in the field so long to be to
his disadvantage, because the Jews would
never let him be quiet. So these Romans
brought the several engines for galling an
enemy nearer to the walls, that they
might reach such as were upon the wall,
and endeavoured to frustrate their at-
tempts; these threw stones and javelins
at them; in the like manner did the
archers and slingers come both together
closer to the wall. This brought matters
to such a pass that none of the Jews durst
mount the walls, and then it was that the
other Romans brought the battering-ram
that was cased with hurdles all over, and
in the upper part was secured with skins
that covered it, and this both for the se-
curity of themselves and of the engine.
Now, at the very first stroke of this en-
gine, the wall was shaken, and a ter-
rible clamour was raised by the people
3A
within the city, as if they were already
taken.
And now, when Josephus saw this ram
still battering the same place, and that
the wall would quickly be thrown down
by it, he resolved to elude for a while the
force of the engine. With this design he
gave orders to fill sacks with chaff, and
to hang them down before that place
where they saw the ram always battering,
that the stroke might be turned aside,
or that the place might feel less of the
strokes by the yielding nature of the
chaff. This contrivance very much de-
layed the attempts of the Romans, be-
cause, let them remove their engine to
what part they pleased, those that were
above it removed their Backs,, and placed
them over against the strokes it made,
insomuch that the wall was noway hurt,
and this by diversion of the strokes, till
the Romans made an opposite contrivance
of long poles, and by tying hooks at their
ends, cut off the sacks. Now, when the
battering-ram thus recovered its force,
and the wall, having been but newly built,
was giving way, Josephus, and those
about him, had afterward immediate re-
course to fire to defend themselves withal;
whereupon they took what materials soever
they had that were but dry, and made a
sally three ways, and set fire to the
machines, and the hurdles, and the banks
of the Romans themselves; nor did ihe
Romans well know how to come to their
assistance, being at once under a con-
sternation at the Jews' boldness, and being
prevented by the flames from coining to
their assistance; for the materials beiug
dry with the bitumen and pitch that were
among them, as was brimstone also, the fire
caught bold of every thing immediately ;
and what cost the Romans a great deal
of pains, was in one hour consumed.
And here a certain Jew appeared worthy
of our relation and commendation : he
was the son of Sameas, and was called
Eleazar, and was born at Saab, in Galilee.
This man took up a stone of vast bigness,
and threw it down from the wall upon the
ram, and this with so great a force that it
broke off the head of the engine. He
also leaped down and took up the head of
the ram from the midst of them, and
without any concern, carried it to the top
of the wall, and this while he stood as a
fit mark to be pelted by all his enemies.
Accordingly, he received the strokes upon
his naked body, and was wounded with
264
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book 111.
five darts ; nor did he mind any of them
while he went up to the top of the wall,
where he stood in sight of them all, as an
instance of the greatest boldness : after
which he threw himself on a heap with
his wounds upon him, and fell down, to-
gether with the head of the ram. Next
to him two brothers showed their courage :
their names were Netir and Philip, both
of them of the village Ruma, and both
of them Galileans also : these men leaped
tipon the soldiers of the tenth legion, and
fell upon the Romans with such a noise
and force as to disorder their ranks, and
put to flight all upon whomsoever they
made their assaults.
After these men's performances, Jose-
phus, and the rest of the multitude with
him, took a great deal of fire, and burnt
both the machines and their coverings,
with the works belonging to the fifth and
to the tenth legion, which tbey put to
flight; when others followed them imme-
diately, and buried those instruments and
all their materials under ground. How-
ever, about the evening the Romans
erected the battering-ram again, agaiust
that part of the wall which had suffered
before; where a certain Jew that defended
the city from the Romans, hit Vespasian
with a dart in his foot, and wounded him
a little, the distance being so great that
no mighty impression could be made by
the dart thrown so far off. However, this
caused the greatest disorder among the
Romans ; for when those who stood near
him saw his blood, they were disturbed at
it, and a report went abroad, through
the whole army, that the general was
wounded, while the greatest part left the
siege, and came running together with
surprise and fear to the general ; and be-
fore them all came Titus, out of the con-
cern he had for his father, insomuch that
the multitude were in great confusion,
and this out of the regard they had for
their general, and by reason of the agony
that the son was in. Yet did the father
soon put an end to the son's fear, and to
the disorder the army was under, for being
superior to his pains, and endeavouring
soon to be seen by all that had been in a
fright about him, he excited them to Gght
the Jews more briskly; for now every
body was willing to expose himself to
danger immediately, in order to avenge
their general; and then they encouraged
one another with loud voices, and ran
hastily to the walls.
But still Josephus and those with him,
although they fell down dead one upon
another by the darts and stones which the
engines threw upon them, yet did not
they desert the wall, but fell upon those
who managed the ram, under the protec-
tion of the hurdles, with fire, and iron
weapons, and stones; and these could do
little or nothing, but fell themselves per-
petually, while they were seen by those
whom they could not see, for the light of
their own flame shone about them, and
made them a most visible mark to the
enemy, as they were in the daytime,
while the engines could not be seen at a
great distance, and so what was thrown at
them was hard to be avoided; for the
force with which these engines threw
stones and darts made them hurt several
at a time, and the violent noise of the
stones that were cast by the engines was
so great that they carried away the pinna-
cles of the wall, and broke off the corners
of the towers ; for no body of men could
be so strong as not to be overthrown to
the last rank by the largeness of the
stones; and any one may learn the force
of the engines by what happened this
very night; for as one of those that stood
round about Josephus was near the wall,
his head was carried away by such a
stone, and his skull was flung as far as
three furlongs. In the daytime also, a
woman with child had her belly so vio-
lently struck, as she was just come out
of her house, that the infant was carried
to the distance of half a furlong; so great
was the force of that engine. The noise
of the instruments themselves was very
terrible ; the sound of the darts and stones
that were thrown by them, was so also;
of the same sort was that noise the dead
bodies made, when they we\-e dashed
against the wall ; and indeed dreadful was
the clamour which these things raised in
the women within the city, which was
echoed back at the same time by the cries
of such as were slain; while the whole
space of ground whereon they fought ran
with blood, and the wall might have been
ascended over by the bodies of the dead
carcasses; the mountains also contributed
to increase the noise by their echoes; nor
was there on that night any thing of ter-
ror wanting that could either affect the
hearing or the sight; yet did a great pan
of those that fought so hard for Jotapata
fall manfully, as were a great part of
them wounded. However, the morning
Chap. VII. 1
WARS OF THE JEWS.
265
watch wa? come ere the wall yielded to
the machines employed against it, though
it had been battered trithout intermi
However, those within covered their bodies
with their armour, and raised works over
against that part which was thrown down,
before those machines were lai 1 by which
the Romans were to ascend into the city.
Iu the morning, V -• isian got his army
together, in order to take the city [by
Btorm], after a little recreation upon the'
hard pains they had been at the night
before ; and as he was desirous to draw '
off those that opposed him from the places '
where the wall had been thrown down,
he made the most courageous of the
horsemen get off their horses, and placed
them in three ranks over against those
ruins of the walls, but covered with their
armour on every side, and with poles in
their hands, that so these might begin
their ascent as soon as the instruments
for such ascent were laid: behind them
he placed the flower of the footmen ; but
for the rest of the horse, he ordered them
to extend themselves over against the
wall, upon the whole hilly country, in
order to prevent any from escaping out of
the city when it should be taken ; and
behind these he placed the archers round
about, and commanded them to have all
their darts ready to shoot. The same
command he gave to the slingers, and to
those that managed the engines, and bade
them to take up their ladders and have
them ready to lay upon those parts of the
wall which were yet untouched, that the
besieged might be engaged in trying to
hinder their ascent by them, and leave
the guard of the parts that were thrown
down, while the rest of them should be
overborne by the darts cast at them, and
might afford his men an entrance into the
city.
But Josephus, understanding the mean-
ing of Vespasian's contrivance, set the
old men, together with those that were
tired out, at the sound parts of the wall,
as expecting no harm from those quarters,
but set the strongest of his men at the
place where the wall was broken down, and
before them all, sis nirn by themselves,
among whom he took his share of the
first and greatest danger. lie also gave
orders that when the legions made a
shout they should stop their cars, that
they might not be affrighted at it, and
that, to avoid the multitude of the ene-
mies' darts, they should bend 1 two uu
their knees, and cover themseKe- with
their shields, and that they should retreat
a little backward for a while, till thi
archers should have emptied their quh
but that, when the Romans shoal
their instruments for ascending the walk,
they should leap out on the sudden, and
with their own instruments should meet
the enemy, and that every one should
strive to do his best, in or ler. Dot 1
fend his own city, as if it were possible to
be preserved, but in order to reveng
when it was already destroyed; and that
they shoul 1 re their eyes how
their old men were to be slain, and their
children and their wives to be killed im-
mediately by the enemy; and that they
would beforehand spend all their fur
account of the calamities just coming
upon them, and pour it out on the a
And thus did Josephus dispose of both
lies of men ; but then for the use-
less part of the citizens, the women and
children, when they saw their city encom-
passed by a threefold army, (for none of
the usual guards that had been fighting
before were removed,) when the
saw not only the walls thrown down, but
their enemies with swords in their hand-,
as also the hilly country above them
shining with their weapons, and the darts
in the hands of the Arabian archers, they
made a final and lamentable outcry of the
destruction, as if the misery were not
only threatened, but actually come upon
them already. But Josephus ordered the
women to be shut up in their houses, lest
they should render the warlike actions of
the men too effeminate, by making them
commiserate their condition, and com-
manded them to hold their peace, and
threatened them if they did- not. while he
came himself before the breach, where his
allotment was; for all those who b:
ladders to the other places, he took no
notice of them, but earnestly wait
the shower of arrows that was coming.
And now the trumpeters of the several
Roman legions sounded together, and the
army made a terrible shout; and the dart-,
as by order, flew so fast that they inter-
cepted the light. However, Josephus'.-
men remembered the charges he had
given them : they stopped their ears at the
sounds, and covered their bodies against
the darts; and as to the engines that wt re
set ready to go to work, the Jews ran out
upon them before those that should have
them were gotten upon them. And
206
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
"Book III
now, on the ascending of the soldiers,
there was a great conflict, and many ac-
tions of the hands and of the soul were
exhibited, while the Jews did earnestly
endeavour, in the extreme danger they
were in, not to show less courage than
those who, without being in danger,
fought so stoutly against them; nor did
they leave struggling with the Romans
till they either fell down dead themselves,
or killed their antagonists. But the Jews
grew weary with defending themselves
continually, and had not enow to come in
their placed to succour them, — while, on
the side of the Romans, fresh men still
succeeded those that were tired; and still
new men soon got upon the machines for
ascent, in the room of those that were
thrust down ; those encouraging one an-
other, and joining side to side with their
shields, which were a protection to them,
they became a body of men not to be
broken ; and as this baud thrust away the
Jews, as though they were themselves but
one body, they began already to get upon
the wall.
Then did Josephus take necessity for
his counsellor in this utmost distress,
(which necessity is very sagacious in in-
vention, when it is irritated by despair,)
and gave orders to pour scalding oil upon
those whose shields protected them.
Whereupon they soon got it ready, being
many that brought it, and what they
brought being a great quantity also, and
poured it on all sides upon the Romans,
and threw down upon them their vessels
as they were still hissing from the heat
of the fire ; this so burnt the Romans,
that it dispersed that united band, who
now tumbled down from the wall with
horrid pains, for the oil did easily run
down the whole body from head to foot,
under their entire armour, and fed upon
their flesh like flame itself, its fat and
unctuous nature rendering it Soon heated
aud slowly cooled ; and as the men were
cooped up in their headpieces and breast-
plates, they could noway get free from
this burning oil; they could only leap
and roll about in their pains, as they fell
down from the bridges they had laid.
And as they were thus beaten back, and
retired to their own party, who still
pressed them forward, they were easily
wounded by those that were behind them.
However, in this ill success of the Ro-
mans, their courage did not fail them, nor
did the Jews want prudence to oppose
them; for the Romans, although they
saw their own men thrown down, and in
a miserable condition, yet were they ve-
.hemently bent against those that poured
the oil upon them, while every one re-
proached the man before him as a coward,
and one that hindered him from exerting
himself; and while the Jews made use of
another stratagem to prevent their ascent,
and poured boiling fenugreek upon the
boards, in order to make them slip and
fall down; . by which means neither could
those that were coming up, nor those that
were going down, stand on their feet;
but some of them fell backward upon the
machines on which they ascended, and
were trodden upon; many of them fell
down on the bank they had raised, and
when they were fallen upon it were slain
by the Jews; for when the Romans could
not keep their feet, the Jews, being freed
from fighting hand to hand, had leisure
to throw their darts at them. So the
general called off those soldiers in the
evening that had suffered so sorely, of
whom the number of the slain was not a
few, while that of the wounded was still
greater; but of the people of Jotapata no
more than six" men were killed, although
more than 300 were carried off wounded.
This fight happened on the twentieth day
of the month Desius [Sivan].
Hereupon Vespasian comforted his ar
my on occasion of what had happened ;
and as he found them angry indeed, but
rather wanting somewhat to do than any
further exhortations, he gave orders to
raise the banks still higher, aud to erect
three towers, each fifty feet high, and that
they should cover them with plates of
iron on every side, that thev might bu
both firm by their weight, and not easily
liable to be set on fire. These towers ho
set upon the banks, and placed upon them
such as could shoot darts and arrows,
with the lighter engines for throwing
stones and darts also; and besides these,
he set upon them the stoutest men among
the sliugers, who, not being to be seen,
by reason of the height they .stood upon
and the battlements that protected them,
might throw their weapons at those that
were upon the wall, and weie easily seen
by them. Hereupon the Jews, not being
easily able to escape those darts that were
thrown down upon their heads, nor to
avenge themselves on those whom they
could not see, and perceiving that the
height of the towers was so great, that a
Chap. VII. ]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
267
dart which they threw with their hand
could hardly reach it, and that the iron
plates about them made it very hard to
come at them by fire, they ran away from
the walls, and fled hastily out of the city,
and fell upon those that shot at them.
And thus did the people of Jotapata re-
sist the Romans, while a great number of
them were every day killed, without their
being able to retort the evil upon their
enemies ; nor could they keep them out
of the city without danger to themselves.
About this time it was that Vespasian
sent out Trajan against a city called
Japha, that lay near to Jotapata, and that
desired innovations, and was puffed up
with the unexpected length of the oppo-
sition of Jotapata. This Trajan was the
commander of the tenth legion, and to
him Vespasian committed 1000 horsemen
and 2000 footmen. When Trajan came
to the city, he found it hard to be taken,
for, besides the natural strength of its
situation, it was also secured by a double
wall ; but when he saw the people of this
city coming out of it, and ready to fight
him, he joined battle with them, and
after a short resistance which they made,
he pursued after them ; and as they fled to
their first wall, the Romans followed them
80 closely, that they fell in together with
them : but when the Jews were endeavour-
ing to get again within their second wall,
their fellow-citizens shut them out, as be-
ing afraid that the Romans would force
themselves in with them. It was certain-
ly God, therefore, who brought the Ro-
mans to punish the Galileans, and did
then expose the people of the city every
one of them manifestly to be destroyed
by their bloody enemies; for they fell
upon the gates in great crowds, and ear-
nestly calling to those that kept them,
and that by their names also, yet had they
their throats cut in the very midst of their
supplications; for the enemy shut the
gates of the first wall, and their own citizens
shut the gates of the second, so they were
enclosed between two walls, and were slain
in great numbers together ; many of them
were run through by swords of their own
men, and many by their own swords, be-
sides an immense number that were slain
by the Romans ; — nor had they any cou-
rage to revenge themselves; for there was
added to the consternation they were in
from the enemy, their being betrayed by
their own friends, which quite broke their
spirits; and at last they died, cursing,
not the Romans, but their own citizens,
till they were all destroyed, being in num-
ber 12,000. So Trajan gathered that the
city was empty of people that could fight,
and although there should a few of them
be therein, he supposed that they would
be too timorous to venture upon any op-
position; so he reserved the taking of tho
city to the general. Accordingly, he Bent
messengers to Vespasian, and desired him
to send his son Titus to finish the victory
he had gained. Vespasian hereupon ima-
gining there might be some pains still
necessary, sent his son with an army of
500 horsemen and 1000 footmen. So
he came quickly to the city, and put his
army in order, and set Trajan over the
left wing, while he had the right himself,
and led them to the siege : and when the
soldiers brought ladders to be laid against
the wall on every side, the Galileans op-
posed them from above for a while ; but
soon afterward they left the walls. Then
did Titus's men leap into the city, and
seized upon it presently ; but when those
that were in it were gotten together, there
was a fierce. battle between them; for the
men of power fell upon the Romans in
the narrow streets, and the women threw
whatsoever came next to hand at them,
and sustained a fight with them for six
hours' time ; but when the fighting men
were spent, the rest of the multitude
had their throats cut, partly in the open
air and partly in their own houses, both
young and old together. So there were
no males now remaining, besides infants,
who with the women were carried as
slaves into captivity ; so that the number
of the slaiu, both now in the city and at
the former fight, was 15,000, and the
captives were 2130. This calamity befell
the Galileans on the twenty-fifth day of
the month Desius [Sivan].
Nor did the Samaritans escape their
share of misfortunes at this time ; for they
assembled themselves together upon the
mountain called Gerizzim, which is with
them a holy mountain, and there they re-
mained ; which collection of theirs, as
well as the courageous minds they showed,
could not but threaten somewhat of war;
nor were they rendered wiser by the mise-
ries that had come upon their neighbour-
ing cities. They also, notwithstanding
the great success the Romans had, marched
on in an unreasonable manner, depending
on their own weakness, and were dis-
posed for any tumult upon its firstappear-
268
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book III.
ance. Vespasian therefore thought it
best to prevent their motions, and to cut
off the foundation of their attempts; for
although all Samaria had ever garrisons
settled among them, yet did the number
of those that were come to mount Gerriz-
zim, and their conspiracy together, give
ground to fear what they would be at :
he therefore sent thither Cerealis, the
commander of the fifth legion, with COO
horsemen and 8000 footmen, who did not
think it safe to go up to the mountain
and give them battle, because many of
the enemy were on the higher part of the
ground ; so he encompassed all the lower
part of the mountain with his army, and
watched them all that clay. Now it hap-
pened that the Samaritans, who were now
destitute of water, were inflamed with a
violent heat, (for it was summer time, and
the multitude had not provided themselves
with necessaries,) insomuch that some of
them died that very day with heat, while
others of them preferred slavery before
such a death as that was, and fled to the
Romans; by whom Cerealis understood
that those who still stayed there were
very much broken by their misfortunes.
So he went up to the mountain, and hav-
ing placed his forces round about the ene-
my, he, in the first place, exhorted them
to take the security of his right hand,
and come to terms witlThim, and thereby
save themselves ; and assured them that
if they would lay down their arms, he
would secure them from any harm ; but
when he could not prevail with them, he
fell upon them and slew them all, being
in number 11,600. This was done on
the twenty-seventh day of the month De-
sius [Sivan]. And these were the cala-
mities that befell the Samaritans at this
time.
But as the people of Jotapata still held
out manfully, and bore up under their
miseries beyond all that could be hoped
for, on the forty-seventh day [of the siege]
the banks cast up by the Romans were
become higher than the wall; on which
day a certain deserter went to Vespasian,
and told him how few were left in the
city, and how weak they were, and that
they had been so worn out with perpetual
watching, and also perpetual fighting,
that they could not now oppose any force
that came against them, and that they
might be taken by stratagem, if any one
would attack them ; for that about the
last watch of the night, when they thought
they might have some rest from the hard-
ships they were under, and when a morn-
ing sleep used to come upon them, as they
were thoroughly weary, he said the watch
used to fall asleep: accordingly his advice
was that they should make their attack at
that hour. But Vespasian had a suspi-
cion about this deserter, as knowing how
faithful the Jews were to one another,
and how much they despised any puuish-
ments that could be inflicted on them ;
this last, because one of the people of
Jotapata had undergone all sorts of tor-
ments, and though they made him pass
through a fiery trial of his enemies in his
examination, yet would he inform them
nothing of the affairs within the city, and
as he was crucified, smiled at them !
However, the probability there was in
the relation itself did partly confirm the
truth of what the deserter told them, and
they thought he might probably speak
the truth. However, Vespasian thought
they should be no great sufferers if the
report was a sham ; so he commanded them
to keep the man in custody, and prepared
the army for taking the city.
According to which resolution they
marched without noise at the hour that
had been told them, to the wall ; and it
was Titus himself that first got upon it,
with one of his tribunes, Domitius Sabi-
nus, and had a few of the fifteenth legion
along with him. So they cut the throats
of the watch, and entered the city very
quietly. After these came Cerealis, the
tribune, and Placidus, and led on those
that were under them. Now when the
citadel was taken, and the enemy were in
the very midst of the city, and when it
was already day, yet was not the taking
of the city known by those that held it ;
for a great many of them were fast asleep,
and a great mist, which then by chance
fell upon the city, hindered those that got
up from distinctly seeing the case they
were in, till the whole Roman army was
gotten in, and they were raised up only
to find the miseries they were under ; and
as they were slaying, they perceived the
city was taken. And for the Romans,
they so well remembered what they had
suffered during the siege, that they
spared none, nor pitied any, but drove
the people down the precipice from the
citadel, and slew them as they drove them
down ; at which time the difficulties of
the place hindered those that were still
able to fight from defending themselves ;
Chap. VIII.J
for as they were distressed in the narrow
streets, and could not keep their feet sure
along the precipice, they were overpowered
with the crowd of those that came fight-
ing them down from the citadel. This
provoked a great many, even of those
ohosen men that were about Josephus, to
kill themselves with their own hands ;
for when they saw that they could kill
none of the Romans, they resolved to
prevent being killed by the Romans, and
got together in great numbers, in the ut-
most parts of the city, and killed them-
selves.
However, such of the watch as at the
first perceived they were taken, and ran
away as fast as they could, went up into
one of the towers on the north side of the
city, and for a while defended themselves
there; but as they were encompassed with
a multitude of euemies, they tried to use
their right hands when it was too late,
and at length they cheerfully offered
their necks to be cut off by those that
stood over them. And the Romans might
have boasted that the conclusion of that
siege was without blood [on their side],
if there had not been a centurion, Anto-
nius, who was slain at the taking of the
city. His death was occasioned by the
following treachery : for there was one of
those that were fled into the caverns,
which were a great number, who desired
that this Antonius would reach him his
right hand for his security, and would as-
sure him that he would preserve him, and
give him his assistance in getting up out
of the cavern ; accordingly, he incautious-
ly reached him his right hand, while the
other man prevented him, and stabbed
him under his loins with a spear, and killed
him immediately.
And on this day the Romans slew all the
multitude that appeared openly; but on the
following days they searched the hiding-
places, and fell upon those that were under
ground, and in the caverns, and went
thus through every age, excepting the
infants and the women, and of these there
were gathered together as captive 1200;
and as for those that were slain, at the
taking of the city, and in the former
fights, they were numbered to be 40,000.
So Vespasian gave order that the city
should be entirely demolished, and all the
fortifications burnt down. And thus was
Jotapata taken, in the thirteenth year of
the reign of Nero, on the first day of the
month Paneinus [Tamuz].
WARS OF THE JEWS.
2G9
CHAPTER VIIL
Josephus discovered in a cave — If'' deliver! him-
self up to the Romans, who bring him before
Vespasian.
And now the Romans searched for
Josephus, both out of the hatred they
bore him, and because their general was
very desirous to have him taken ; for he
reckoned that if he were once taken, the
greatest part of the war would be over.
They then searched among the dead, and
looked into the most concealed recesses
of the city ; but as the city was first
taken, he was assisted by a certain super-
natural providence; for he withdrew him-
self from the enemy when he was in the
midst of them, aud leaped into a certain
deep pit, whereto there adjoined a large
den at one side of it, which den could not
be seen by those that were above ground ;
and here he met with forty persons of
eminence that had concealed themselves,
and with provisions enough to satisfy them
for not a few days. So in the daytime
he hid himself from the enemy, who had
seized upon all places; and in the night-
time he got up out of the den, and looked
about for some way of escaping, and took
exact notice of the watch : but as all
places were guarded everywhere on his
account, that there was no way of getting
off unseen, he weut down again into the
den. Thus he concealed himself two
days; but on the third day, when they
had taken a woman who had been with
them, he was discovered. Whereupon
Vespasian sent immediately aud zealously
two tribunes, Paulinus aud Gallicanus,
aud ordered them to give Josephus their
right hands as a security for his life, and
to exhort him to come up.
So they came and invited the man to
come up, and gave him assurances that
his life should be preserved ; but they did
not prevail with him ; for he gathered
suspicions from the probability there was
that one who had done so many things
against the Romans must suffer for it,
though not from the mild temper of those
that invited him. However, he was afraid
that he was invited to come up in order
to be punished, until Vespasian sent be-
sides these a third tribune, Nicanor, to
him : he was one that was well known to
Josephus, and had been his familiar ac-
quaintance in old time. When he was
come, he enlarged upon the natural mild-
ness of the Romans toward those they
have once conquered; and told him that
270
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IIL
he bad behaved himself so valiantly, that
the commanders rather admired thau hated
him ; that the general was very desirous
to have him brought to him, not in order
to punish him, for that he could do though
he should not come voluntarily, but that
he was determined to preserve a man of
his courage. He moreover added this,
that Vespasian, had he been resolved to
impose upon him, would not have sent to
him a friend of his own, nor put the
fairest colour upon the vilest action, by
pretending friendship and meaning per-
fidiousness; nor would he have himself
acquiesced, or come to him, had it been
to deceive him.
Now, as Josephus began to hesitate with
himself about Nicanor's proposal, the sol-
diery were so angry, that they ran hastily
to set fire to the den ; but the tribune
would not permit them so to do, as being
very desirous to take the man alive. And
now, as Nieanor lay hard at Josephus to
comply, and he understood how the mul-
titude of the enemy threatened him, he
called to mind the dreams which he had
dreamed in the night-time, whereby God
had signified to him beforehand both the
future calamities of the Jews, and the
events that concerned the Roman em-
perors. Now Josephus was able to give
shrewd conjectures about the interpretation
of such dreams as have been ambiguously
delivered by God. Moreover, he was not
unacquainted with the prophecies con-
tained in the sacred books, as being a
priest himself, and of the posterity of
priests ; and just then was he in an ecstasy ;
and setting before him the tremendous
images of the dreams he had lately had,
he put up a secret prayer to God, and
said — "Since it pleaseth thee, who hast
created the Jewish nation, to depress the
same, and since all their good fortune is
gone over to the Romans; and since thou
hast made choice of this soul of mine to
foretell what is to come to pass hereafter,
I willingly give them my hands, and am
content to live. And 1 protest openly,
that I do not go over to the Romans as a
deserter of the Jews, but as a minister
from thee."
When he had said this, he complied
with Nicanor's invitation. But when
those Jews who had fled with him, under-
stood that he yielded to those that invited
him to come up, they came about him in
a body, and cried out: "Nay, indeed,
now may the laws of our forefathers,
which God ordained himself, groan to
some purpose ; that God we mean who
hath created the souls of the Jews of such
a temper that they despise death. 0
Josephus ! art thou still fond of life ; and
canst thou bear to see the light in a state
of slavery ? How soon hast thou for-
gotten thyself ! How many hast thou
persuaded to lose their lives for liberty !
Thou hast therefore had a false reputation
for manhood, and a like false reputation
for wisdom, if thou canst hope for preser-
vation from those against whom thou hast
fought so zealously, and art however will-
ing to be preserved by them, if they be
in earnest. But although the good fortune
of the Romans hath made thee forget
thyself, we ought to take care that the
glory of our forefathers may not be
tarnished. We will lend thee our right
hand and a sword ; and if thou wilt die
willingly, thou wilt die as general of the
Jews; but if unwillingly, thou wilt die as
a traitor to them." As soon as they said
this, they began to thrust their swords at
him, and threatened they would kill him,
if he thought of yielding himself to the
Romans.
Upon this, Josephus was afraid of their
attacking him, and yet thought he should
be a betrajer of the commands of God if
he died before they were delivered. So
he began to talk like a philosopher to
them in the distress he was then in, when
he said thus to them : — "0 my friends,
why are we so earnest to kill ourselves?
and why do we set our soul and body,
which arc such dear companions, at such
variance ? Can any one pretend that I
am not the man I was formerly ? Nay,
the Romans are sensible how that matter
stands well enough. It is a brave thing
to die in war; but so that it be according
to the law of war, by the hand of con-
querors. If, therefore, I avoid death
from the sword of the Romans, I am
truly worthy to be killed by my own
sword, and my own hand ; but if they
admit of mercy, and would spare their
enemy, how much more ought we to have
mercy upon ourselves, and to spare our-
selves! for it is certainly a foolish thing
to do that to ourselves which we quarrel
with them for doing to us. I confess
freely, that it is a brave thing to die for
liberty ; but still so that it be in war, and
done by those who take that liberty from
us; but at present our enemies do neithei
meet us in battle, nor do they kill us
WARS OF THE JEWS.
271
Now, be is equally a coward who will not
die wnen he is obliged to die, and he who
will die when he is not obliged so to do.
What are we afraid of, when wc will not
go up to the Romans? Is it death ? If
60, what we are afraid of, when wc but
suspect our enemies will inflict it on lis,
shall wc inflict it on ourselves for certain?
But it may be said, wc must be slaves.
And are we then in a clear state of liberty
at present ? It may also be said, that it
is a manly act for one to kill himself.
No, certainly, but a most unmanly one;
as I should esteem that pilot to be an
arrant coward, who, out of fear of a storm,
should sink his ship of his own accord.
Now, self-murder is a crime most remote
from the common nature of all animals,
and an instance of impiety against God
our Creator : nor indeed is there any
animal that dies by its own contrivance,
or by its own means ; for the desire of
life is a law engraven in them all; on
which account we deem those that openly
take it away from us to be our enemies,
and those that do it by treachery are
punished for so doing. And do not you
think that God is very angry when a man
does injury to what he hath bestowed on
him ? for from him it is that we have
received our being; and we ought to leave
it to his disposal to take that being away
from us. The bodies of all men are in-
deed mortal, and are created out of corrup-
tible matter; but the soul is ever im-
mortal, and is a portion of the Divinity
that iuhabits our bodies. Besides, if any
one destroys or abuses a depositum he
hath received from a mere man, he is
esteemed a wicked and perfidious person ;
but then if any one cast out of his body
this divine depositum, can we imagine
that he who is there affronted does not
know of it. Moreover, our law justly
orduins that slaves who run away from
their master shall be punished, though
the masters they ran away from may have
been wicked masters to them. And shall
we endeavour to run away from God,
who is the best of all masters, and not
think ourselves highly guilty of impiety ?
Do not you know that those who depart
out of this life according to the law of
nature, aud pay that debt which was re-
ceived from God, when he that lent it us
is pleased to require it back, enjoy eternal
fame ? that their houses and their posterity
are sure that their souls are pure and
obedient, and obtain a most holy place in
heaven, from whence, in the revolution
of ages, they are again sent into pure
bodies; while the souls of those whoso
hands have acted madly against them-
selves are received by the darkest place
in Hades, and while God, who is their
father, punishes those that offend against
either of them in their posterity ? for .
which reason God hates such doings, and
the crime is punished by our most wise
legislator. Accordingly, our laws deter-
mine that the bodies of such as kill them-
selves should be exposed till the sun bo
set, without burial, although at the same
time it be allowed by them to be lawful
to bury our enemies [sooner]. The laws
of other nations also enjoin such men's
hands to be cut off when they are dead,
which had been made use of in destroying
themselves when alive, while they reckoned
that as the body is alien from the son],
so is the hand alien from the body. It
is therefore, my friends, a right thing to
reason justly, and not add to the calamities
which men bring upon us, impiety toward
our Creator. If we have a mind to pre-
serve ourselves, let us do it; for to be
preserved by those our enemies, to whom
we have given so many demonstrations of
our courage, is no way inglorious ; but it
we have a mind to die, it is good to die
by the hand of those that have conquered
us. For my part, I will not run over to
our enemies' quarters, in order to be a
traitor to myself; for certainly I should
then be much more foolish than those that
deserted to the enemy, since they did it in
order to save themselves, and I should
do it for my own destruction. Howeverj
I heartily wish the Romans may prove
treacherous in this matter; for if, after
their offer of their right hand for security,
I be slain by them, 1 shall die cheerfully,
and carry away with me the sense of their
perfidiousness, as a consolation greater
than victory itself."
Now these and many the like motives
did Josephus use to these men, to prevent
their murdering themselves; but despe-
ration had shut their cars, as having long
ago devoted themselves to die, and they
were irritated at Josephus. They then
ran upon him with their swords in then-
hands, one from one quarter, and another
from another, and called him a coward,
and every one of them appeared openly
as if he were ready to smite him ; but, he
calling to one of them by name, and
looking like a general to another, aud
[L
zr^\
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book II L
taking a third by the hand, and making | taken, and some threatened him, and some
a fourth ashamed of himself, by praying
him to forbear, and being in this condition
distracted with various passions, (as he
well might in the great distress he was
then in,) he kept off every one of their
swords from killing him, and was forced
to do like such wild beasts as are encom-
passed about on every side, who always
turn themselves against those that last
touched them. Nay, some of their right
hands were debilitated by the reverence
they bore to their general in these his
fatal calamities, and their swords dropped
out of their hands; and not a few of them
there were, who, when they aimed to
smite him with their swords, were not
thoroughly either willing or able to do it.
However, in this extreme distress, he
was not destitute of his usual sagacity
but trusting himself to the providence of
God, he put his life into hazard [in the
manner following] : — " And now," said he,
"since it is resolved among you that you
will die, come on, let us commit our mu-
tual deaths to determination by lot. He
whom the lot falls to first, let him be kill-
ed by him that hath the second lot, and
thus fortune shall make its progress
through us all; nor shall any of us perish
by his own right hand, for it would be un-
fair if, when the rest are gone, somebody
should repent and save "himself." This
proposal appeared to them to be very just;
and when he had prevailed with them to
determine this matter by lots, he drew one
of the lots for himself also. He who had
the first lot laid his neck bare to him that
had the next, as supposing that the gene-
ral would die among them immediately ;
for they thought death, if Josephus might
but die with them, was sweeter than life;
yet was he with another left to the last,
whether we must say it happened so by
chance, or whether by the providence of
God ; and as he was very desirous neither
to be condemned by the lot, nor, if he had
been left to the last, to imbrue his right
hand in the blood of his countryman, he
persuaded him to trust his fidelity to him,
and to live as well as himself.
Thus Josephus escaped in the war with
the Romans, and in this his own war with
his friends, and was led by Nicanor to
Vespasian ; but now all the Romans ran
together to see him, and as the multitude
pressed one upon another about their ge-
neral, there was a tumult of a various kind ;
while some rejoiced that Josephus was
crowded to see him very near; but those
that were more remote cried out to have
this their enemy put to death, while those
that were near called to mind the actions
he had done, and a deep concern appeared
at the change of his fortune. Nor were
there any of the Roman commanders, how
much soever they had been enraged at
him before, but relented when they came
to the sight of him. Above all the rest,
Titus's own valor, and Josephus's own pa-
tience under his afflictions, made him pity
him; as did also the commiseration of his
age, when he recalled to mind that but a
little ago he was fighting, but lay now in
the hands of his enemies, which made him
consider the power of fortune, and how
epiick is the turn of affairs in war, and how
no state of men is sure; for which reason
he then made a great many more to be of
the same pitiful temper with himself, and
induced them to commiserate Josephus.
He was also of great weight in persuading
his father to preserve him. However,
Vespasian gave strict orders that he should
be kept with great caution, as though he
would, in a very little time, send him to
Nero.
When Josephus heard him give those
orders, he said that he had somewhat in
his mind that he would willingly say to
himself alone. When therefore they were
all ordered to withdraw, excepting Titus
and two of their friends, he said, "Thou,
0 Vespasian, thinkest no more than that
thou hast taken Josephus himself captive ;
but I come to thee as a messenger of great-
er tidings; for had not I been sent by
God to thee, I knew what was the law of
the Jews in this case, and how it becomes
generals to die. Dost thou send me to
Nero ? For why ? Are Nero's successors
till they come to thee still alive ? Thou, O
Vespasian, art Caesar and emperor, thou,
and this thy son. Bind me now still
faster, and keep me for thyself, for thou,
0 Caesar, art not only lord over me, but
over the land and the sea, and all man-
kind; and certainly I deserve to be kept
in closer custody than I am now in, in
order to be punished, if I rashly affirm any
thing of God." When he had said this,
Vespasian at present did not believe him,
but supposed that Josephus said this as a
cunning trick, in order to his own preserva-
tion ; but in a little time he was convinced,
and believed what he said to be true, God
himself erecting his expectations, so as to
Chap. IX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
273
think of obtaining the empire, and by
other signs foreshowing his advancement.
He also found Josephus to have spoken
truth on other occasions; for one of those
friends that were present at that secret
conference, said to Josephus, " I cannot
but wonder how thou couldst not foretell
to the people of Jotapata, that they should
be taken, nor couldst foretell this captivi-
ty which hath happened to thyself, unless
what thou now sayest be a vain thing, in
order to avoid the rage that is risen against
thyself." To which Josephus replied, "I
did foretell to the people of Jotapata that
they would be taken on the forty-seventh
day, and that I should be caught alive by
the Romans." Now when Arespasian had
inquired of the captives privately about
these predictions, he found them to be
true, and then he began to believe those
that concerned himself. Yet did he not
set Josephus at liberty from his bands,
but bestowed on him suits of clothes and
other precious gifts ; he treated him also
in a very obliging manner, and continued
bo to do : Titus still joining his interest
in the honours that were done him.
CHAPTER IX.
Joppa taken, and Tiberias delivered up.
Now Vespasian returned to Ptolemais
on the fourth day of the month Panemus
[Tainuz], and from thence he came to
Cesarea, which lay by the seaside. This
was a very great city of Judea, and for
the greatest part inhabited by Greeks: the
citizens here received both the Roman
army and its general with all sorts of
acclamations and rejoicings, and this
partly out' of the good-will they bore to
the Romans, but principally out of the
hatred they bore to those that were con-
quered by them ; on which account they
came clamouring against Josephus in
crowds, and desired he might be put to
death ; but Vespasian passed over this
petition concerning him, as offered by the
injudicious multitude, with a bare silence.
Two of the legions also he placed at Ce-
sarea, that they might there take their win-
ter-quarters, as perceiving the city very
fit for such a purpose ; but he placed the
tenth and the fifth at Scythopolis, that he
might not distress Cesarea with the entire
arm}'. This place was warm, even in win-
ter, as it was suffocating hot in the summer-
time, by reason of its situation in a plain,
and near to the sea [of Galilee].
Vol. II. — 38
In the mean time there were gathered
together as well such as had seditiously
got out from among their enemies as thoso
that had escaped out of the demolished
cities, which were in all a great Dumber,
and repaired Joppa, which had been left
desolate by Ccstius, that it might serve
them for a place of refuge; and because
the adjoining region had been laid waste
in the war, and was not capable of support-
ing them, they determined to go off to sea.
They also built themselves a great many
piratical ships, and turned pirates upon
the seas near to Syria, and Phoenicia, and
Egypt, and made those seas nnnavigable to
all men. Now as soon as Vespasian knew
of their conspiracy, he sent both footmen
and horsemen to Joppa, which was un-
guarded in the night-time : however those
that were in it perceived that they should
be attacked, and were afraid of it ; yet did
they not endeavour to keep the Romans
out, but fled to their ships, and lay at sea
all night, out of the reach of their darts.
Now Joppa is not naturally a haven,
for it ends in a rough shore, where all the
rest of it is straight, but the two ends
bend toward each other, where there are
deep precipices, and great stones that jut
out into the sea, and where the chains
wherewith Andromeda was bound have
left their footsteps, which attest to the an-
tiquity of that fable; but the north wind
opposes and beats upon the shore, and
dashes mighty waves against the rocks
which receive them, and renders the haven
more dangerous than the country they
had deserted. Now as those people of
Joppa were floating about in this sea, in
the morning there fell a violent wind
upon them : it is called by those that sail
there "the black north wind," and there
dashed their ships one against another,
and dashed some of them against the
rocks, and carried many of them by force,
while they strove against the opposite
waves, into the main sea; for the shore
was so rocky, and had so many of the
enemy upon it, that they were afraid to
come to land ; nay, the waves rose so very
high, that they drowned them ; nor was
there any place whither they could fly,
nor any way to save themselves — while
they were thrust out of the sea by the
violence of the wind, if they stayed where
they were, and out of the city by the vio-
lence of the Romans; and much lamenta-
tion there was when the ships were dashed
against one another, and a terrible noise
274
WARS OF THE ^YS.
•when tliey were broken to pieces ; and
some of the multitude that were in them
were covered with the waves, and so perish-
ed, and a great many were embarrassed with
shipwrecks ; but some of them thought
that to die by their own swords was lighter
than by the sea, and so they killed them-
selves before they were drowned ; although
the greatest part of them were carried by
the waves, and dashed to pieces against
the abrupt parts of the rocks, insomuch
that the sea was bloody a long way, and
the maritime parts were full of dead bo-
dies ; for the Romans came upon those
that were carried to the shore, and de-
stroyed them ; and the number of the bo-
dies that were thus thrown out of the sea
was 4200. The Romans also took the
city without opposition, and utterly de-
stroyed it.
And thus was Joppa taken twice by the
Romans in a little time ; but Vespasian,
in order to prevent these pirates from
coming thither any more, erected a camp
there, where the citadel of Joppa had
been, and left a body of horse in it, with
a few footmen; that these last might stay
there and guard the camp, and the horse-
men might spoil the country that lay
round it, and might destroy the neigh-
bouring villages and smaller cities. So
these troops overran the country, as they
were ordered to do, and every day cut to
pieces and laid desolate the whole region.
But now, when the fate of Jotapata
was related at Jerusalem, a great many at
the first disbelieved it, on the account of
the vastness of the calamity, and because
they had no eyewitness to attest the truth
of what was related about it; for not one
person was saved to be a messenger of
that news, but a fame was spread abroad
at random that the city was taken, as
such fame usually spreads bad news about.
However, the truth was known by de-
grees, from the places near Jotapata, and
appeared to all to be too true. Yet were
there fictitious stories added to what was
really done ; for it was reported that Jo-
sephus was slain at the taking of the city;
which piece of news filled Jerusalem full
of sorrow. In every house also, and
among all to whom any of the slain were
allied, there was a lamentation for them;
but the mourning for the commander was
a public one ; and some mourned for
those that had lived with them, others for
their kindred, others for their friends,
and others for their brethren, but all
[Book III
mourned for Josephus ; insomuch that the
lamentation did not cease in the city be-
fore the thirtieth day ; and a great many
hired mourners,* with their pipes, who
should begin the melancholy ditties for
them.
But as the truth came out in time, it
appeared how the affairs of Jotapata real-
ly stood; yet it was found that the death
of Josephus was a fiction ; and when they
understood that he was alive, and was
among the Romans, and that the command-
ers treated him at another rate than they
treated captives, they were as vehemently
angry at him now as they had shown their
good-will before, when he appeared to
have been dead. He was also abused by
some as having been a coward, and by
others as a deserter ; and the city was full
of indignation at him, and of reproaches
cast upon him ; their rage was also aggra-
vated by their afflictions, and more in-
flamed by their ill success ; and what
usually becomes an occasion of caution to
wise men, I mean affliction, became a spur
to them to venture on further calamities,
and the end of one misery became still
the beginuing of another : they therefore
resolved to fall -on the Romans the more
vehemently, as resolving to be revenged
on him in revenging themselves on the
Romans. And this was the state of Je-
rusalem as to the troubles which now came
upon it.
But Vespasian, in order to see the
kingdom of Agrippa, while the king per-
suaded him so to do partly in order to his
treating the general and. his army in the
best and most splendid manner his pri-
vate affairs would enable him to do, and
partly that he might, by their means, cor-
rect such things as were amiss in his go-
vernment, he removed from that Gesarea
which was by the seaside, and went to
that which is called Cesarea Philippi ; and
there he refreshed his army for twenty
days, and was himself feasted by King
Agrippa, where he also returned public
thanks to God for the good success he had
had in his undertakings. But as soon as
he was informed that Tiberias was fond of
innovations, and that Taricheoe had re-
volted, (both which cities were parts of
the kingdom of Agrippa,) and was satis-
fied within himself that the Jews were
* These public mourners, hired upon the sup-
posed death of Josephus, and the real death of
many more, illustrate some passages in the Bible,
which suppose the same custom, as Matt. xii. 17.
Chap. X.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
27.")
evervwhere perverted [from their obedience (authors of tins revolt to due punishment
tltU Xveraors], he thought it season- who had hitherto so watched them, that
Lbl Z ^lake^n expedition against those though they were zealous to give them
dt es u dtatL S sake of Agrippa,and the security of the r right hands of a long
•uord to brin« his cities to reason. So he time, yet could they not accomplish the
ton wav his son Titus to [the other] same. With those suppl.cat,ons the gene-
Peslea that he mi "ht bring1 the army ral complied, although he were very angry
[uTQ^o^^oli^^is^ at the whole city about the carrying^
largest city of Decapolis, and in the neigh-
bourhood of Tiberias, whither he came,
and where he waited for his son. He
then came with three legious, and pitched
his horses, and this because he saw that
A^rippa was under a great concern for
them. So when Vespasian and Agrippa
had accepted of their right hands by way
then came witn turce legious, uuu pii^u^i uu,^ i*v,~~r- — -- o - ,
Li catim thirty furlong off Tiberias, at of security Jesus and his party thought
a ce ain station easily seen by the inno- it not safe for them to ; con tioueat le-
vators • it is named Sennabris. He also rias, so they ran away to 1 Lchej*. JUm
iTv^adecurion, with fifty horse- next day Vespasian sent Trap n bef re.
men, to speak peaceably to those that were
in the city, and to exhort them to give
him assurances of their fidelity; for he
had heard that the people were desirous
of peace, but were obliged by some ot
the seditious part to join with them, and
with some horsemen, to the citadel, to
make trial of the multitude, whether they
were all disposed for peace; and as soon
as he knew that the people were of the
same mind with the petitioners, he took
his army, and went to the city; upon
the seditious part to 10111 ffiui mem, ■"•« "•" »'uvi -^7 ■, . i- f\" :„
bo were forced to fight for them. When which the citizens opened to him their
Va7erWhadmarchfd up to the place, and gates, and met him with acclamations of
was near the wal he alighted off his horse, joy, and called him their saviour and bene-
Ind mide , thos e hat were with him do factor. But as the army was a great
th si that they might not be thought while in getting in at the gates, they were
Scome tostmiJhwfth them; but be- so narrow, Vespasian com^d«l tho
fore thev could come to a discourse one south wall to be broken down, ana so
w th Zhei- the most potent men among made a broad passage for their entrap
The seditious made a sally upon them I However, he charged them to .
rnied : their leader was one whose name
was Jesus, the son of Shaphat, the princi-
pal head of a band of robbers. Now
Valerian, neither thinking it safe to fight
contrary to the commands of the general,
though he were secure of a victory, and
knowing that it was a very hazardous un-
dertaking for a few to fight with many,
for those that were unprovided to fight
those that were ready, and being on other
accounts surprised at this unexpected on-
from rapine and injustice, in order to gra-
tify the king; and on his account spared
the rest of the wall, while the king under-
took for them that they should continue
[faithful to the Romans] for the time to
come. And thus did he restore this city
to a quiet state, after it had been griev-
ously afflicted by the sedition.
CHAPTER X.
accounts surpnseu ai lino "uv,At,v.~>"' ,,r,„n
set of the Jews, he ran away on foot, as Tarichc.uken-A^^oo^f the Tln,r Jordan,
did five of the rest in like manner, and .
left their horses behind them; which And now Ves pasun p ■ tched hi, camp
horses Jesus led away into the city, and between this ^J^^^J^^.
rejoiced as if they had taken them "fa^^^g^^
battle, and not by treachery. that he snouiu u»» iniw.vi-
Now the senior, of the people, and such and have a ong war for all -*J™^
as were of principal authority among them, tors had gotten together at Tanche^ as
fearing what would be the" issue of this relying upop i the strength of the ci£,
matter, fled to the camp of the Romans: and on he lake that a} by it. 1 intake
they then took their king along with » called by the people of *'™*%**
them, and fell down before Vespasian, to Lake of Uenesareth 1 he c , } t.Ut
supplicate his favour, and besought him situated like Tiberias at ^ottomot^
not to overlook them, nor to impute the mountain ; and on *°»g»™^
madness of a few to the whole city, to not washed by the sea, bad been stroug y
spare a people that had been ever civil and fortified by Josephus though not^ »
Obliging to the Romans; but to bring the j strongly as Tiberias; foi the wall 01
I
276
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Rook III
rias had been built at the beginning of
the Jews' revolt, when he had great plenty
of money, and great power, but Tarichere
partook only the remains of that liberali-
ty. Yet had they a great number of
ships gotten ready upon the lake, that in
case they were beaten at land, they might
retire to them ; and they were so fitted up,
that they might undertake a sea-fight
also. But as the Romans were building
a wall about their camp, Jesus and his
party were neither affrighted at their num-
ber nor at the good order they were in,
but made a sally upon them ; and at the
very first onset the builders of the wall
were dispersed ; and these pulled what lit-
tle they had before built to pieces; but as
soon as they saw the armed men getting
together, and before they had suffered
any thing themselves, they retired to their
own men. But then the Romans pur-
sued them, and drove them into their
ships, where they launched out as far as
might give them an opportunity of reach-
ing the Romans with what they threw at
them, aud then cast anchor, and brought
their ships close,- as in a line of battle,
and thence fought the enemy from the
sea, who were themselves at land. But
Vespasian hearing that a great multitude
of them were gotten together in the plain
that was before the city, he thereupon
sent his son with 600 chosen horsemen,
to disperse them.
But when Titus perceived that the enemy
was very numerous, he sent to his father,
and informed him that he should want
more forces. But as he saw a great many
of the horsemen eager to fight, and that
before any succours could come to them,
and that yet some of them were privately
under a sort of consternation at the mul-
titude of the Jews, he stood in a place
whence he might be heard, and said to
them, " My brave Romans! for it is right
for me to put you in mind of what nation
you arc, in the beginning of my speech,
that so you may not be ignorant who you
are, and who they are against whom we
are a going to fight. For as to us, Ro-
mans, no part of the habitable earth hath
been able to escape our hands hitherto ;
but as for the Jews, that I might speak of
them too, though they have been already
beaten, yet do they not give up the cause;
and a sad thing it would be for us to grow
weary under good success, when they bear
up under their misfortunes. As to the
alacrity which you show publicly, I see
it, and rejoice at it ; yet am I afraid lest
the multitude of the enemy should bring
a concealed fright upon some of you : let
such an one consider again, who we are
that are to fight ; and who those are
against whom we are to fight. Now these
Jews, though they be very bold and great
despisers of death, are but a disorderly
body, and unskilful in war, and may rather
be called a rout than an army ; while I
need say nothing of our skill and our
good order; for this is the reason why we
Romans alone are exercised for war in
time of peace, that we may not think of
number for number when we come to fight
with our enemies ; for what advantage
should we reap by our continual sort of
warfare, if we must still be equal in num-
ber to such as have not been used to war?
Consider, further, that you are to have a
conflict with men in effect unarmed, while
you are well armed ; with footmen, while
you are horsemen ; with those that have
no. good general, while you have one, and
as these advantages make you in effect
manifold more than you are, so do their
disadvantages mightily diminish their
number. Now it is not the multitude of
men, though they be soldiers, that manage
wars with success, but it is their bravery
that does it, though they be but a few;
for a few are easily set in battle-array,
and can easily assist one another, while
over-numerous armies are more hurt by
themselves than by their enemies. It is
boldness and rashness, the effects of mad-
ness, that conduct of the Jews. Those
passions indeed make a great figure when
they succeed, but are quite extinguished
upon the least ill success; but we are led
on by courage, and obedience, and forti-
tude, which shows itself indeed in our
good fortune, but still does not for ever
desert us in our ill fortune. Nay, indeed,
your fighting is to be on greater motives
than those of the Jews; for although they
run the hazard of war for liberty, and for
their country, yet what can be a greater
motive to us than glory ? and that it may
never be said, that after we have got do-
minion of the habitable earth, the Jews
are able to confront us. We must also
reflect upon this, that there is no fear of
our suffering any incurable disaster in the
present case ; for those that are ready to
assist us are many, and at hand also; yet
it is in our power to seize upon this victo-
ry ourselves; and I think we ought to
prevent the coming of those my father is
Cuap. X.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
277
L
sending to us for our assistance, that our
success may be peculiar to ourselves, and
of greater reputation to us; and I cannot
but think this an opportunity wherein my
father, and I, and you shall be all put to
the trial, -whether he be worthy of his
former glorious performances, whether I
be his son in reality, and whether you be
really my soldiers ; for it is usual for my
father to conquer; and for myself, I should
not bear the thoughts of returning to him
if I were once taken by the enemy ; and
how will you be able to avoid being
ashamed, if you do not show equal cou-
rage with your commander, when he goes
before you into danger? For you know
very well that I shall go into the danger
first, and make the first attack upon the
enemy. Do not you therefore desert me,
but persuade yourselves that God [the
gods] will be assisting to my onset. Know
this also before we begin, that we shall
now have better success than we should
have, if we were to fight at a distance."
As Titus was saying this, an extra-
ordinary fury fell upon the men : and as
Trajan was already come before the fight
began, with 400 horsemen, they were
uneasy at it. because the reputation of
the victory would be diminished by being
common to so many. Vespasian had also
sent both Antonius and Silo, with 2000
archers, and had given it them in charge
to seize upon the mountain that was over-
against the city, and repel those that were
upon the wall; which archers did as they
were commanded, and prevented those
that attempted to assist them that way ;
and now Titus made his own horse march
•first against the enemy, as did the others
with a great noise after him, and extended
themselves upon the plain as wide as the
enemy who confronted them ; by which
means theyappeared much more numerous
than they really were. Now the Jews,
although they were surprised at their
onset, and at their good order, made re-
sistance against their attacks for a little
while ; but when tbey were pricked with
their long poles, and overborne by the
violent noise of the horsemen, they came
to be trampled under their feet ; many
also of them were slain on every side,
which made them disperse themselves and
run to the city, as fast as every one of
them was able. So Titus pressed upon
the hindmost, and slew them ; and of the
rest, some he fell upon as they stood on
heaps, and some he prevented, and met
them in the mouth, and ran them through ;
many also he leaped upon as they fell one
upon another, and trod them down, and
cut off all the retreat they had to tin.'
wall, and turned them back into the plain,
till at least they forced a passage by their
multitude, and got away, and ran into
the city.
But now there fell out a terrible se-
dition among them within the city ; for
the inhabitants themselves, who had pos-
sessions there, and to whom the city be-
longed, were not disposed to fight from
the very beginning ; and not the less so,
because they had been beaten : but the
foreigners, who were very numerous,
would force them to fight so much the
more, insomuch that there was a clamour
and a tumult among them, as all mutually
angry at one another; and when Titus
heard this tumult, for he was not far from
the wall, he cried out : " Fellow-soldiers,
now is the time; and why do we make
any delay, when God is giving up the
Jews to us ? Take the victory which is
given you : do not your hear what a noise
they make ? Those that have escaped our
hands are in an uproar against one another.
We have the city if we make haste ; but
besides haste, we must undergo some
labour, and use some courage ; for no
great thing can be accomplished without
danger; accordingly, we must not only
prevent their uniting again, which ne-
cessity will soon compel them to do, but
we must also prevent the coming of our
own men to our assistance, that as few as
we are, we may conquer so great a mul-
titude, and may ourselves alone take the
city."
As soon as ever -Titus had said this he
leaped upon his horse, and rode apace
down to the lake ; by which lake he
marched, and entered into the city the
first of them all, as did the others soon
after him. Hereupon those that were
upon the walls were seized with a terror
at the boldness of the attempt, nor durst
any one venture to fight with him, or to
hinder him ; so they left guarding the
city, and some of those that were about
Jesus fled over the country, while others
of them ran down to the lake, and met
the enemy in the teeth, and some were
slain as they were getting up into ships;
but others of them as they attempted to
overtake those that were already gone
aboard. There was also a great slaughter
made in the city, while those foreigner!
278
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[ Uook 111.
that bad not fled away already, made op-
position ; but the natural inhabitants
were killed without fighting : for in hopes
of Titus's giving them his right hand for
their security, and out of the consciousness
that they had not given any consent to
the war, they avoided fightiug, till Titus
had slain the authors of this revolt, and
then put a stop to any further slaughters,
out of commiseration of these inhabitants
of the place: but for those that had fled
to the lake, upon seeing the city taken,
they sailed as far as they possibly could
from the enemy.
Hereupon Titus sent one of his horse-
men to his father, and let him know the
good news of what he had done : at
which, as was natural, he was very joyful,
both on account of the courage and glo-
rious actions of his son ; for he thought
that now the greatest part of the war was
over. He then came thither himself, and
set men to guard the city, and gave them
command to take care that nobody got
privately out of it, but to kill such as
attempted so to do ; and on the next day
he went down to the lake, and commanded
that vessels should be fitted up, in order
to pursue those that had escaped in the
ships. These vessels were quickly gotten
ready accordingly, because there was a
great plenty of materials, and a great
number of artificers also:
Now this lake of Geuesareth is so callled
from the country adjoining to it. Its
breadth is 40 furlongs, and its length
140; its waters are sweet, and very
agreeable for drinking, for they are finer
than the thick waters of other fens ; the
lake is also pure, and on every side ends
directly at the shores and at the sand ;
it is also of a temperate nature when you
draw it up, and of a more gentle nature
than river or fountain water, and yet al-
ways cooler than one could expect in so
diffuse a place as this is. Now when this
water is kept in the open air, it is as cold
as that snow which the country-people are
accustomed to make by night in summer.
There are several kinds of fish in it, dif-
ferent both to the taste and the sight from
those elsewhere : it is divided into two
parts by the river Jordan. Now Panium
is thought to be the fountain of Jordan,
but in reality it is carried thither after an
occult manner from the place called
Phiala : this place lies as you go up to
Trachonitis, and is 120 furlongs from
Cesarea, and is not far out of the road on
the right hand; and indeed it hath its
name of Phiala [vial or bowl] very justly,
from the roundness of its circumference,
as being round like a wheel ; its water
continues always up to its edges, without
either sinking or running over ; and as
this origin of Jordan was formerly not
known, it was discovered so to be when
Philip was tetrarch of Trachonitis; for he
had chaff thrown into Phiala, and it was
found at Panium, where the ancients
thought the fountain-head of the river
was, whither it had been therefore carried
[by the waters]. As for Panium itself,
its natural beauty had been improved
by the royal liberality of Agrippa, and
adorned at his expense. Now Jordan's
visible stream arises from this cavern, and
divides the marshes and fens of the lake
Semechonitis : when it hath run another
120 furlongs, it first passes by the city
Julias, and then passes through the middle
of the lake Genesareth ; after which it
runs a long way over a desert, and then
makes its exit into the lake Asphaltitis.
The country also that lies over against
this lake hath the same name as Geue-
sareth ; its nature is wonderful as well as
its beauty; its-soil is so fruitful that all
sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the
inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of
trees there; for the temper of the air is
so well mixed, that it agrees very well
with those several sorts; particularly wal-
nuts, which require the coldest air, flourish
there in vast plenty ; there are palm-trees
also, which grow best in hot air; fig-trees
also and olives grow near them, which
yet require an air that is more temperate.
One may call this place the ambition of *
nature, where it forces those plants that
are naturally enemies to one another to
agree together : it is a happy contention
of the seasons, as if every one of them
laid claim to this country ; for it not only
nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruit
beyond men's expectation, but preserves
them a great while; it supplies men with
the principal fruits, with grapes and figs
continually, during ten months of the year,
and the rest of the fruits as they become
ripe together, through the whole year;
for besides the good temperature of the
air, it is also watered from a most fertile
fouutain. The people of the country call
it Capharnaum. Some have thought it
to be a vein of the Nile, because it pro-
duces the Coracin fish as well as that lake
does which is near to Alexandria. The
Chap. X.]
WARS OF TIIK JEWS.
279
length of this country extends itself along
the banks of this lake that bears the same
name, for thirty furlongs, and is in breadth
twenty ; and this is the nature of that
place.
But now, when the vessels were gotten
ready, Vespasian put upon shipobard as
many of his forces as he thought suffi-
cient to be too hard for those that were
upon the lake, and set sail after them.
Now these which were driven into the
lake could neither fly to the land, where
all was in their enemies' hands and in
war against them, nor could they fight
upon the level by sea, fur their ships were
small and fitted only for piracy ; they
were too weak to fight with Vespasian's
vessels, and the mariners that were in
them were so few, that they were afraid
to come near the Romans, who attacked
them in great numbers. However, as
they sailed round about the vessels, and
sometimes as they came near them, they
threw stones at the Romans when they
were a good way off, or came closer and
fought them ; yet did they receive the
greatest harm themselves in both cases.
As for the stones they threw at the Ro-
mans, they only made a sound one after
another, for they threw them against such
as were in their armour, while the Roman
darts could reach the Jews themselves ;
and when they ventured to come near the
Romans, they became sufferers themselves
before they could do any barm to the
other, and were drowned, they and their
ships together. As for those that endea-
voured to come to an actual fight, the
Romans ran many of them through with
their long poles. Sometimes the Romans
leaped into their ships, with swords in
their hands, and slew them; but when
some of them met the vessels, the Romans
caught them by the middle, and destroyed
at once their ships and themselves who
were taken in them. And for such as
as were drowuing in the sea, if they lifted
their heads up above the water they were
either killed by darts, or caught by the
vessels; but if, in the desperate case they
were in, they attempted to swim to their
enemies, the Romans cut off either their
heads or their hands; and indeed they
were destroyed after various manners
everywhere, till the rest, being put to
flight, were forced to get upon the land,
while the vessels encompassed them about
[on the sea] : but as many of these were
repulsed when they were getting ashore,
3B
they were killed by the darts upon the
lake ; and the Romans leaped out of their
vessels, and destroyed a great many mure
upon the land : one might then see the
lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies,
for not one of them escaped. And a
terrible stink, and a very sad sight there
was on the following days over that
country; for as for the shores, they were
full of shipwrecks, aud of dead bodies all
swelled; and as the dead bodies were in-
flamed by the sun, and putrefied, they
corrupted the air, insomuch that the
misery was not only the object of commi-
seration to the Jews, but to those that
hated them and had been the authors of
that misery. This was the upshot of the
sea-fight. The number of the slain, in-
cluding those that were killed in the city
before, was G500.
After this fight was over, Vespasian
sat upon his tribunal at Tarichete, in
order to distinguish the foreigners from
the old inhabitants; for those foreigners
appear to have begun the war. So he
deliberated with the other commanders,
whether he ought to save those old inha-
bitants or not. And when those com-
manders alleged that the dimissiou of
them would be to his own disadvantage,
because, when they were once set at liberty,
they would not be at rest, since they would
be people destitute of proper habitations,
and would be able to compel such as they
fled to, to fight against us, Vespasian
acknowledged that they did not deserve
to be saved, and that if they had leave
given them to fly away, they would make
use of it against those that gave them
that leave. Rut still he considered with
himself after what manner they should be
slain;* for if he had slaiu them there,
he suspected the people of the country
would thereby become his enemies; for
that to be sure they would never bear it,
that so many that had been supplicants
to him should be killed ; and to oiler
violence to them, after he had given them
assurance of their lives, he could not
himself bear to do it. However, his
friends were too hard for him, and pre-
tended that nothing against Jews could
be any impiety, and that he ought to
* This is the most cruel and barbarous action
that Vespasian ever committed, and is the greatest
stain upon his character. It was done both after
public assurance given of sparing the prisoners'
lives, and when all knew and confessed thai these
prisoners were noway guilty of any sedition
against the Romans.
280
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
prefer what was profitable before what
was fit to be done, where both could not
be made consistent. So he gave them an
ambiguous liberty to do as they advised,
and permitted the prisoners to go along
no other road than that which led to Ti-
berias only. So they readily believed
what they desired to be true, and went
along securely, with their effects, the way
which was allowed them, while the Ro-
mans seized upon all the road that led to
Tiberias, that none of them might go out
of it, and shut them up in the city. Then
came Vespasian, and ordered them all to
stand in the stadium, and commanded
them to kill the old men, together with
the others that were useless, who were in
number 1200. Out of the young men ho
chose 6000 of the strongest, and sent them
to Nero, to dig through the Isthmus, and
sold the remainder for slaves, being 30,400,
besides such as he made a present of to
Agrippa; for as to those that belonged to
his kingdom, he gave him leave to do
what he pleased with them ; however, the
king sold these also for slaves ; but for
the rest of the multitude, who were
Trachonites, and Gaulanites, and of Hip-
pos, and some of Gadara, the greatest part
of them were seditious persons and fu-
gitives, who were of such shameful charac-
ters that they preferred war before peace.
These prisoners were taken on the eighth
day of the month Gorpiseus [Elul].
BOOK IY.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE YEAR, FROM THE SIEGE OF
GAMALA TO THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM.
CHAPTER I.
The siege and taking of Gamala.
Now all those Galileans who, after the
taking of Jotapata, had revolted from the
Romans, did, upon the conquest of Tari-
cheas, 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 over-against
Taricheae, 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 Seleucia. And
these were both parts of Gaulanitis; for
Sogona was a part of that called the Up-
per Gaulanitis, as was Gamala of the
Lower; while Seleucia was situated at the
lake Semechonitis, 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 de-
licious place, and hath such fountains as
supply water to what is called Little Jor-
dan, under the temple of the golden calf,*
* litre we have the exact situation of one of
Jeroboam's "golden calves," at the exit of Little
Jordan into Great Jordan, near a place called
Daphne, but of old Dan. lteland suspects that we
should read Dan instead of Daphne, there being
nowhere else any mention of a place called Daphne
hereabouts.
where it is sent into Great Jordan. Now
Agrippa had united Sogana and Seleucia
by leagues to himself, at the very begin-
ning of the revolt from the Romans ; yet
did not Gamala accede to them, but re-
lied 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 mid-
dle : where it begins to ascend, it length-
ens 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 coun-
try 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 be-
hind, where they are joined to the moun-
tain, somewhat easier of ascent than the
other; but then the people belonging to
the place have cut an oblicpie 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 south-
ern mount, which reaches to an immense
height, was in the nature of a citadel to
the city ; and above that was a precipice,
Chap. I ]
WARS OF THE JEWS,
281
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.
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 to-
gether.
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, ac-
cording to their usual custom, were forti-
fying their camp upon that mountain, he
began to cast up banks at the bottom, at
the part toward the cast, where the high-
est 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 while
the tenth legion filled up the ditches and
valleys. Now at this time it was that as
King Agrippa was come nigh the walls,
and was endeavouring 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 im-
mediately surrounded with his own men.
But the Bomans 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 of no kinds of barbarity
against foreigners and enemies, who were
so enraged against one of their own na-
tion, and one that advised them to nothing
but what was for their own advantage.
Now when the banks were finished,
which was dono on the sudden, both by
the multitude of hands, and by their be-
ing accustomed to such work, they brought
the machines j but Chares and Joseph,
who were the most potent men of 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 ma-
chines; but when those machines threw
darts and stones at them, they retired into
the city ; then did the Romans bring bat-
tering-rams to three several places, and
make 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 armour,
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 farther, and
with great courage beat them back; and
the Bomans 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, ami
fell upon their enemies, who hud 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 Bomans 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 ene-
mies' houses, which were low ; but these
houses being thus full of soldiers, whose
weight they could not bear, fell down sud-
denly ; and when one house fell, it shook 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 Bo-
mans 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 ruius.
The people of (Jainala supposed this tc
282
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV
be an assistance afforded them by God, and
without regarding what damage they suf-
fered 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 tumbling down, they threw
their stones or darts at them, and slew
them. Now the very ruins afforded them
stones enough ; and for iron weapons, the
dead men of the enemy's side afforded
tbem 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 top 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 unac-
quainted with the ways, and the dust was
so thick, that they wandered about with-
out knowing one another, and fell down
dead among the crowd.
Those therefore that were able to find
the ways out of the city retired. But
now Vespasian always stayed among those
that were hard set; for he was deeply af-
fected with seeing the ruins of the city
falling upon his army, and forgot to take
care of his own preservation. He went
up gradually toward 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 armour, 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 eudured all,
until the enemy took notice of that divine
courage that was within him, and remit-
ted 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 Ro-
mans fell in this battle, among whom was
Ebutius, the decurion, a man who appear-
ed not only in this engagement, wherein
he fell, but everywhere, and in former en-
gagements, to be of the truest courage,
and one that had done very great mis-
chief to the Jews. But there was a cen-
turion, whose name was Gallus, who, dur-
ing 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.
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 great-
ly ashamed that they had left their gene-
ral 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 blood-
shed 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 affrighted 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 un-
der misfortunes, that he may continue in
that temper, and cheerfully recover what
hath been lost formerly ; and as for what
had now happened, it was neither owing
to their own effeminacy nor to the valour
of the Jews, but the difficulty of the
place was the occasion of their advantage,
and of our disappointment. Upon re-
flecting on which matter one might blame
your zeal as perfectly ungovernable ; for
when the enemy had retired to their high-
est fastnesses, you ought to have restrained
yourselves, and not, by presenting your-
selves 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
Cn^p. I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
•j-::
have provoked those that had retired
thither to a safe and settled battle; where-
as, in rushing so hastily upon victory, you
took no care of your own safety. l>ut
this incautiousncss in war, and this mad-
ness of zeal, is not a Roman maxim.
While we perform all that we attempt by
skill and good order, that procedure is
only 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 mis-
fortune ; 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 endeavour, 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."
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 unac-
countable 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 preser-
vation, 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 impractica-
ble valleys, where no guards were placed,
as also through subterraneous caverns ;
while those that were afraid of being
caught, and for that reason stayed in the
city, perished for want of food; for what
food they had was brought together from
all quarters, and reserved for the fight-
ing men.
And these were the hard circumstances
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 be-
tween 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, there-
fore, there was a great multitude of people
gotten together upon this mountain, Ves-
pasian sent Placidus, with GOO 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 stra-
tagem was too hard for theirs ; for when
the Jews began to fight, he pretended to
ruu 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 moun-
tain and themselves to Placidus.
* These numbers in Josephus, of thirty furlongs'
ascent to the top of Mount Tabor, whether we
estimate it by winding and gradual, or by perpen-
dicular altitude, and of twenty-six furlongs' cir-
cumference upon the top, as also fifteen furlongs
for this ascent in Polybius, with Geruinus's perpen-
dicular altitude of almost fourteen furlongs, do none
of them agree with the testimony of Mr. Maundrel,
who says he was not an hour in getting up to the
top of this Mount Tabor, and that the area of the
top is an oval of about two furlongs in length,
and one in breadth. We may rather suppose Jo-
sephus wrote three 'furlongs for the ascent, instead
of thirty; and six furlongs for the circumference
at the top, instead of twenty-six, — since a mountain
of only three furlongs' perpendicular altitude may
easily require near an hour's ascent; and the cir-
cumference of an oval of the foregoing quantity,
is near six furlongs. Nor certainly could such a
vast circumference as twenty-six furlongs, or three
miles and a quarter, at that height, be encompassed
with a wall, including a trench and other fortifi-
cations, in the small interval of forty days, as Jo-
sephus here says they were by himself.
2S4
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IT.
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 Hyperbere-
tseus [Tisri], when three soldiers of the
fifteenth legion, about the morning watch,
got under a high tower that was near,
and undermiued 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 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 affrighted at the noise, they ran
hither and thither, and a great conster-
nation fell upon them, as though all the
enemy had fallen in at once upon them.
Then it was that Chares; w.ho was ill, and
under, the physician's hands, gave up the
ghost, the fear he was in greatly contri-
buting to make his distemper fatal to
him. But the Romans so well remem-
bered their former ill success, that they
did not enter the city till the three-
and-twentieth day of the forementioned
month.
At which time Titus, who was now re-
turned, out of the indignation he had at
the destruction the Romans had under-
gone while he was absent, took 200 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 this 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 as-
cent, and elevated to a vast altitude, and
very full of people on all sides, and en-
compassed 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 enemies' 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 sur-
rounded on every side, and despaired of
escaping, threw their children and their
wives, and themselves also, down the pre-
cipices, 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 Ro-
mans slew but 4000, whereas the number
of those that had thrown themselves down
was found to be 5000 ; nor did any one
escape except two women, who were the
daughters of Philip, and Philip himsolf
was the son of a certain eminent man
called Jacimus, who had been general of
King Agrippa's army ; and these did there-
fore escape, because they lay concealed
from the sight of the Romans when the
city was taken ; for otherwise they spared
not so much as the infants, of whom many
were flung down by them from the citadel
Chap. II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
And thus was Gamala taken on the three-
and-tweutieth day of the month Ilyper-
beretseus [Tisri], whereas the city had
first revolted on the four-and-twentieth
day of the month Gorpiieus [Elul].
CHAPTER II.
The surrender of the small city of Gischala — John
of Gischala flics to Jerusalem.
Now, no place of Galilee remained to
be taken but the small city of Gischala,
whose inhabitants yet were desirous of
peace ; for they were generally husband-
men, and always applied themselves to
cultivate the fruits of the earth. How-
ever, tliere were a great number that
belonged to a band of robbers, that were
already corrupted, and had crept in among
them, and some of the governing part of
the citizens were sick of the same dis-
temper. It was John, the son of a cer-
tain man whose name was Levi, that
drew them into this rebellion, and en-
couraged them in it. He was a cunning
knave, and of a temper that could put on
various shapes; very rash in expecting
great things, and very sagacious in bring-
ing about what he hoped for. It was
known to everybody that he was fond of
war, in order to thrust himself into au-
thority ; and the seditious part of the
people of Gischala were under his ma-
nagement, by whose means the populace,
who seemed ready to send ambassadors
in order to a surrender, waited for the
coming of the Romans in battle-array.
Vespasian sent against them Titus, with
1000 horsemen, but withdrew the tenth
legion to Scythopolis, while he returned
to Cesarea with the two other legions,
that he might allow them to refresh them-
selves after their hard and long campaign,
thinking withal that the plenty which was
in those cities would improve their bodies
and their spirits, against the difficulties
they were to go through afterward; for
he saw there would be occasion for great
pains about Jerusalem, which was not yet
taken, because it was the royal city, and
the principal city of the whole nation ;
and because those that had run away from
the war in other places got all together
thither. It was also naturally strong,
and the walls that were built round it
made him not a little concerned about
it. Moreover, he esteemed the men that
were in it to be so courageous and bold,
that even without the consideration of
the walls, it would be hard to subdue
them j for which reason he took care of
and exercised his soldiers beforehand for
the work, as they do wrestlers before they
begiu their undertaking.
Now Titus, as he rode up to Gischala,
found it would be easy for him to take
the city upon the first onset; but knew
withal, that if he took it by force, the
multitude would be destroyed by the sol-
diers without mercy. (Now he was already
satiated with the shedding of blood, and
pitied the major part, who would then
perish, without distinction, together with
the guilty.) So he was rather desirous
the city might be surrendered up to hiiu
on terms. Accordingly, when he saw the
wall full of those men that were of the
corrupted party, he said to them, — " That
he could not but wonder what it was they
depended on, when they alone stayed to
fight the Romans, after every other city
was taken by them; especially when they
have seen cities much better fortified than
theirs is, overthrown by a single attack
upon them ; while as many as have in-
trusted themselves to the security of the
Romans' right hands, which he now of-
fers to them, without regarding their for-
mer insolence, do enjoy their own pos-
sessions in safety; for that while they had
hopes of recovering their liberty, they
might be pardoned ; but that their con-
tinuance still in opposition, when they saw
that to be impossible, was inexcusable ;
for that, if they will not comply with such
humane offers, and right bauds for secu-
rity, they should have experience of such
a war as would spare nobody, aud should
soon be made sensible that their wall
would be but a trifle, when battered by
the Roman machines; in depending on
which, they demonstrate themselves to be
the only Galileans that were no better
than arrogaut slaves and captives.
Now none of the populace' durst not
only not make a reply, but durst not so
much as get upon the wall, for it was all
taken up by the robbers, who were also
the guard at the gates, in order to prevent
any of the rest from going out in order to
propose terms of submission, and from
receiving any of the horsemen into the
city. Rut John returned Titus this an-
swer, That for himself he was content to
hearken to his proposals, and that he
would either persuade or force those that
refused them. Yet he said, that Titus
ought to have such regard to the Jewish
286
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV
law, as to grant them leave to celebrate
that day, which was the seventh day of
the week, on which it was unlawful not
only to remove their arms, but even to
treat of peace also ; and that even the Ro-
mans were not ignorant how the period
of the seventh day was among them a
cessation from all labours; and that he
who should compel them to transgress the
Jaw about that day would be equally guil-
ty with those that were compelled to trans-
gress it : and that this delay could be of no
advantage to him ; for why should anybody
think of doing any thing in the night, un-
less it was to fly away ? which he might
prevent by placing his camp round about
them : and that they should think it a
great point gained, if they might not be
obliged to transgress the laws of their
country; and that it would be a right
thing for him, who designed to grant them
peace, without their expectation of such
a favour, to preserve the laws of those
they saved inviolable. Thus did this man
put a trick upon Titus, not so much out
of regard to the seventh day as to his
own preservation, for he was afraid lest he
should be quite deserted if the city should
be taken, and had his hopes of life in
that night, and in his flight therein. Now
this was the work of God, who therefore
preserved this John, that he might bring
on the destruction of Jerusalem ; as also
it was his work that Titus was prevailed
with by this pretence for a delay, and that
he pitched his camp farther off the city
at Cydessa. This Cydessa was a strong
Mediterranean village of the Tyrians,
which always hated and made war against
the Jews; it had also a great number of
inhabitants, and was well fortified; which
made it a proper place for such as were
enemies to the Jewish nation.
Now, in the night-time, when John saw
that there was no Roman guard about the
city, he seized the opportunity directly,
and, taking with him not only the armed
men that were about him, but a consider-
able number of those that had little to
do, together with their families, he fled
to Jerusalem. And, indeed, though the
man was making haste to get away, and
was tormented with fears of being a cap-
tive, or of losing his life, yet did he pre-
vail with himself to take out of the city
along with him a multitude of women and
children, as far as twenty furlongs ; but
there he left them as he proceeded farther
on his journey, where those that were
left behind made sad lamentations ; fot
the farther every one was come from his
own people, the nearer they thought them-
selves to be to their enemies. They also
affrighted themselves with this thought,
that those who would carry them into cap
tivity were just at hand, and still turned
themselves back at the mere noise they
made themselves in this their hasty flight,
as if those from whom they fled were
just upon them. Many also of them
missed their ways; and the earnestness
of such as aimed to outgo the rest, threw
down many of them. And indeed there
was a miserable destruction made of the
women and children ; while some of them
took courage to call their husbands and
kinsmen back, and to beseech them, with
the bitterest lamentations, to stay for
them; but John's exhortation, who cried
out to them to save themselves, and fly
away, prevailed. He said also, that if the
Romans should seize upon those whom
they left behind, they would be revenged
on them for it. So this multitude that
run thus away was dispersed abroad, ac-
cording as each of them was able to run,
one faster or slower than another.
Now on the next day Titus came to the
wall, to make the agreement; whereupon
the people opened their gates to him, and
came out to him, with their children and
wives, and made acclamations of joy to
him, as to one that had been their bene-
factor, and had delivered the city out of
custody : they also informed him of John's
flight, and besought him to spare them,
and to come in and bring- the rest of those
that were for innovations to punishment;
but Titus, not so much regarding the
supplications of the people, sent part of his
horsemen to pursue after Jolm, but they
could not overtake him, far he was gotten
to Jerusalem before ; they also slew 6000
of the women and children who went out
with him, but returned back and brought
with them almost 3000. However, Titus
was greatly displeased that he had not
been able to bring this John, who had de-
luded him, to punishment; yet he had
captives enough, as well as the corrupted
part of the city, to satisfy his anger, when
it missed of John. So he entered the
city in the midst of acclamations of joy ;
and when he had given orders to the sol-
diers to pull down a small part of the
wall, as of a city taken in war, he repressed
those that had disturbed the city rather
by threatenings than by executions; for
Chap. III.]
he thought that many would accuse inno-
cent persons out of their own animosities
and quarrels, if he should attempt tc dis-
tinguish those that were worthy of pu-
nishment from the rest; and that it was
better to let a guilty person alone in his
fears, than to destroy with him any one
that did not deserve it; for that probably
such an one might be taught prudence by
the fear of the punishment he had deserved,
and have a shame upon him for his former
offences, when he had been forgiven, but
that the punishment of such as have been
once put to death could never be relieved.
However, he placed a garrison in the
city for its security, by which means he
should restrain those that were for innova-
tions, and should leave those that were
peaceably disposed in greater security.
And thus was all Galilee taken ; but
this not till after it had cost the Romans
much pains before it could be taken by
them.
WARS OF THE JEWS.
287
CHAPTER III.
Concerning John of Gischala — The Zealots, and
the high priest Ananus — The Jews raise sedi-
tions one against another.
Now, upon John's entry into Jerusa-
lem, the whole body of the people were
in an uproar, and 10,000 of them crowd-
ed about every one of the fugitives that
were come to them, and inquired of them
what miseries had happened abroad, when
their breath was so short, and hot, and
quick, that of itself it declared the great
distress they were in ; yet did they talk
largely under their misfortunes, and pre-
tended to say that they had not fled away
from the Romans, but came thither in or-
der to fight them with less hazard; for
that it would be an unreasonable and a
fruitless thing for them to expose them-
selves to desperate hazards about Gischala,
and such weak cities, whereas they ought
to lay up their weapons and their zeal,
and reserve it for their metropolis. But
when they related to them the taking of
Gischala, and their decent departure, as
they pretended, from that place, many of
the people understood it to be no better
than a flight ; and especially when the
people were told of those that were made
captives, they were in great confusion, and
those whom he had left behind him, but
went about among all the people, ami per-
suaded them to go to war, by the hopes
he gave them. He affirmed that the af-
fairs of the Romans were in a weak con-
dition, and extolled his own power. He
also jested upon the ignorance of the un-
skilful, as if those Romans, although
they should take to themselves wings,
could never fly over the wall of Jerusa-
lem, who found such great difficulties in
taking the villages of Galilee, and had
broken their engines of war against their
walls.
These harangues of John's corrupted a
great part of the young men, and puffed
them up for the war; but as to the most
prudent part, and those in years, there
was not a man of them but foresaw what
was coming, and made lamentation on that
account, as if the city was already un-
done, and in this confusion were the peo-
ple; but then it must be observed, that
the multitude that came out of the coun-
try were at discord before the Jerusalem
sedition began ; for Titus went from Gis-
chala to Cesarea; and Vespasian from
Jainnia and Azotus, and took them both ;
and when he had put garrisons into them
he came back with a great number of the
people, who were come over to him, upon
his giving them his right hand for their
preservation. There were besides disor-
ders and civil wars in every city ; and all
those that were at quiet from the Romans
turned their hands one against another.
There was also a bitter contest between
those that were fond of war and those
that were desirous of peace. At the first
this quarrelsome temper caught hold of
private families, who could not agree
among themselves ; after which those peo-
ple that were the dearest to one another,
brake through all restraints with regard
to each other, and every one associated
with those of his own opinion, and began
already to stand in opposition one to
another; so that seditions arose every-
where, while those that were for innova-
tions, and were'desirous of war, by their
youth and boldness, were too hard for the
aged and the prudent men ; and, in the
first place, all the people of every place
betook themselves tc rapine; after which
they got together in bodies, in order to
rob the people of the country, insomuch
that for barbarity and iniquity those of
the same nation did noway differ from
guessed those things to be plain indica
tions that they should be taken also ; but
for John, he was very little concerned for | the Romans; nay, it seemed to be a much
^rl
288
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
lighter thing to be ruined by the Romans
than by themselves.
Now the lloman garrisons, which guard-
ed the cities, partly out of their uneasi-
ness to take such trouble upon them, and
partly out of the hatred they bore to the
Jewish nation, did little or nothing to-
wards relieving the miserable, till the cap-
tains of these troops of robbers, being
satiated with rapines in the country, got
all together from all parts, and became a
band of wickedness, and all together crept
into Jerusalem, which was now become a
city without a governor, and, as the an-
cient custom was, received without dis-
tinction all that belonged to their nation ;
and these they then received, because all
men supposed that those who came so fast
into the city, came out of kindness, and
for their assistance, although these very
men, besides the seditions they raised,
were otherwise the direct cause of the
city's destruction also; for as they were an
unprofitable and a useless multitude, they
spent those provisions beforehand, which
might otherwise have been sufficient for
the fighting men. Moreover, besides the
bringing on of the war, they were the oc-
casion of sedition and famine therein.
There were, besides these, other rob-
bers that came out of the country, and
came into the city, and joining to them
those that were worse than themselves,
omitted no kind of barbarity ; for they did
not measure their courage by their ra-
pines and plunderings only, but proceeded
as far as murdering men ; and this not in
the night-time or privately, or with regard
to ordinary men, but did it openly in the
daytime, and began with the mosteminent
persons in the city ; for the first man they
meddled with was Antipas, one of the
royal lineage, and the most potent man
in the whole city, insomuch that the public
treasures were committed to his care ; him
they took and confined, as they did in the
next place to Levias, a person of great
note, with Sophas, the son of Raguel ;
both of whom were of royal lineage also.
And besides these, they did the same to
the principal men of the country. This
caused a terrible consternation among the
people ; and every one contented himself
with taking care of his own safety, as
they would do if the city had been taken
in war.
But these were not satisfied with the
bonds into which they had put the men
before mentioned ; nor did they think it
safe for them to keep them thus in custody
long, since they were men very powerful,'
and had numerous families of their own
that were able to avenge them. Nay,
they thought the very people would per-
haps be so moved at these unjust pro-
ceedings as to rise in a body against
them : it was therefore resolved to have
them slain. Accordingly, they sent one
John, who was the most bloody-minded
of them all, to do that execution : this
man was also called " the son of Dorcas,''*
in the language of our country. Ten
more men went along with him into the
prison, with their swords drawn, and so
they cut the throats of those that were in
custody there. The grand lying pretence
these men made for so flagrant an enormity
was this, that these man had had con-
ferences with the Romans for a surrender
of Jerusalem to them; and so they said
they had slain only such as were traitors
to their common liberty. Upon the whole,
they grew the more insolent upon this
bold prank of theirs, as though they had
been the benefactors and saviours of the
city.
Now, the people were come to that
degree of meanness and fear, and these
robbers to that degree of madness, that
these last took upon them to appoint high
priests. So when they had disannulled
the succession, according to those families
out of whom the high priests used to be
made, they ordained certain unknown and
ignoble persons for that office, that they
might have their assistance in their wicked
undertakings; for such as obtained this
highest of all honours, without any desert,
were forced to comply with those that
bestowed it on them. They also set the
principal men at variance one with another,
by several sorts of contrivances and tricks,
and gained the opportunity of doing what
they pleased, by the mutual quarrels of
those who might have obstructed their
measures; till at length, when they were
satiated with the unjust actions they had
done toward men, they transferred their
contumelious behaviour to God himself,
and came into the sanctuary with polluted
feet.
* This name, Dorcas, in Greek, was Tabitha in
Ilebrew or Syriae, as Acts ix. 36. Accordingly,
some of the manuscripts set it down here Tabetha
or Tabeta. Nor can the context in Josephus be
made out but by supposing the reading to have
been this: "The son of Tabitha; which in the
language of our country denotes Dorcas" [or a
doe"!.
Chap. III.]
WAUS OF THE JEWS.
289
And now the multitude were going to
rise against them already; for AnanuB,
the rrfost ancient of the high priests, per-
suaded them to it. He was a very„prudent
man, and had perhaps saved the city if he
could but have escaped the hands of those
that plotted against him. Those men
made the temple of God a stronghold for
them, and a place whither they might
resort, in order to avoid the troubles they
feared from the people; the sanctuary
was now become a refuge and a hold of
tyranny. They also mixed jesting among
the miseries they introducod, which was
more intolerable than what they did; for,
in order to try what surprise the people
would be under, and how far their own
power extended, they undertook to dis-
pose of the high-priesthood by casting
lots for it, whereas, as we have said al-
ready, it was to descend by succession in
a family. The pretence they made for
this strange attempt was an ancient prac-
tice, while they said that of old it was
determined by lot; but in truth, it was
no better than a dissolution of an unde-
niable law, and a cunning contrivance to
seize upon the government, derived from
those that presumed to appoint governors
as they themselves pleased.
Hereupon they sent for one of the pon-
tifical tribes, which is called Eniachim,*
and cast lots which of it should be the
high priest. By fortune, the lot so fell
as to demonstrate their iniquity after the
plainest manner, for it fell upon one
whose name was Phannias, the son of
Samuel, of the village Aphtha. He was a
man not only unworthy of the high-
priesthood, but that did not well know
what the high-priesthood was : such a
mere rustic was he ! yet did they hale
this man, without his own consent, out of
the country, as if they were acting a play
upon the stage, and adorned him with a
counterfeit face ; they also put upon him
the sacred garments, and upon every oc-
casion instructed him what he was to do.
This horrid piece of wickedness was sport
and pastime with them, but occasioned
the other priests, who at a distance saw
their law made a jest of, to shed tears,
and sorely lament the dissolution of such
a sacred dignity.
And now the people could no longer
* This tribe or course of the high priests or
priests, here called Euiachim, seems to be that in
1 Chron. xxiv. 12, "the course of Jakiin, or
Eliakim."
Vol. II.— 19
bear the insolence of this procedure, but J
did altogether run zealously, in order to j
overthrow that tyranny; and indeed they
were Gorian, the son of Joseplms, and
Symeon, the son of Gamaliel, who en-
couraged them, by going up and down
when they were assembled together in
crowds, and as they saw them alone, to
bear no longer, but to inflict puuishment
upon these pests and plagues of their
freedom, and to purge the temple of these
bloody polluters of it. The best esteemed
also of the high priests, Jesus, the son
of Gamala, and Anauus the son of Ananus,
when they were at their assemblies, bit-
terly reproached the people for their sloth,
and excited them against the Zealots; for
that was the name they w?ut by, as if
they were zealous in good undertakings,
and were not rather zealou? in the worst
actions, and extravagant in them beyond
the example of others.
And now, when the multitude were
gotten together to an assembly, and every
one was in indignation at these men s
seizing upon the sanctuary, at their rapine
and murders, but had not yet begun their
attacks upon them, (the reason of which
was this, that they imagined it to be a
difficult thing to suppress these Zealots,
as indeed the case was,) Ananus stood in
the midst of them, and casting his eyes
frecpuently at the temple, and having a
flood of tears in his eyes, he said, '■ Cer-
tainly, it had been good for me to die be-
fore I had seen the house of God full of
so many abominations, or these sacred
places, that ought not to be trodden upon
at random, filled with the feet of these
bloodshedding villains; yet do I, who am
clothed with the vestments of the high-
priesthood, and am called by that most
venerable name [of high priest], still live,
and am but too fond of living, aud cannot
endure to undergo a death which would
be the glory of my old age ; and if I were
the only person concerned, and, as it were,
in a desert, I would give up my life, and
that alone for God's sake; for to what
purpose is it to live among a people in-
sensible of their calamities, and where
there is no notion remaining of auy remedy
for the miseries that are upon them ? for
when you are seized upon, you bear it !
and when you are beaten, you are silent I
and when the people are murdered, nobody
dare so much as send out a groan openly !
O bitter tyranny that we are under ! But
why do I complain of the tyrants ? Was
290
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
it not you, and your sufferance of them,
that have nourished them ? Was it not
you that overlooked those that first of all
got together, for they were then but a
few, and by your silence made them grow
to be many ; and by conniving at them
when they took arms, in effect armed them
against yourselves ? You ought to have
then prevented their first attempts, when
they fell to reproaching your relations ;
but by neglecting that care in time, you
have encouraged these wretches to plunder
men. When houses were pillaged, no-
body said a word, which was the occasion
why they carried off the owners of those
houses ; and when they were drawn through
the midst of the city, nobody came to their
assistance. They then proceeded to put
those whom you had betrayed into their
hands, into bonds. I do not say how
many, and of what characters those men
were whom they thus served, but certainly
they were such as were accused by none,
and condemned by none ; and since nobody
succoured them when they were in bonds,
the consequence was, that you saw the
same persons slain. We have seen this
also ; so that still the best of the herd of
brute animals, as it were, have been still
led to be sacrificed, when yet nobody said
one word, or moved his right hand for
their preservation. Will you bear, there-
fore,— will you bear to see your sanctuary
trampled on ? and will you lay steps for
these profane wretches, upon which they
may mount to higher degrees of insolence ?
Will not you pluck them down from their
exaltation ? for even by this time, they
had proceeded to higher enormities, if
they had been able to overthrow any thing
greater than the sanctuary. They have
seized upon the strongest place of the
whole city ; you may call it the temple,
if you please, though it be like a citadel
or fortress. Now, while you have tyranny
in so great a degree walled in, and see
your enemies over your heads, to what
purpose is it to take counsel ? and what
have you to support your minds withal ?
Perhaps you wait for the Romans, that
they may protect our holy places : are our
matters then brought to that pass? and are
we come to that degree of misery, that our
enemies themselves are expected to pity
us ? 0 wretched creatures ! will not you
rise up, and turn upon those that strike
you ? which you may observe in wild
beasts themselves, that they will avenge
themselves on those that strike them.
Will not you call to mind, every one of
you, the calamities you yourselves have
suffered ? nor lay before your eyes what
afflictions you yourselves have undergone?
and will not such things sharpen your
souls to revenge ? Is therefore that most
honourable and most natural of our pas-
sions utterly lost — I mean the desire of
liberty ? Truly, we are in love with
slavery, and in love with those that lord
it over us, as if we had received that prin-
ciple of subjection from our ancestors !
yet did they undergo many and great wars
for the sake of liberty, nor were they so
far overcome by the power of the Egyp-
tians, or the Medes, but that they still did
what they thought fit, notwithstanding
their commands to the contrary. And
what occasion is there now for a war with
the Romans ? (I meddle not with deter-
mining whether it be an advantageous and
profitable war or not.) What pretence is
there for it? Is it not that we may enjoy
our liberty ? Besides, shall we not bear
the lords of the habitable earth to be
lords over us, and yet bear tyrants of our
own country? Although I must say that
submission to foreigners may be borne,
because fortune "hath already doomed us
to it, while submission to wicked people
of our own nation is too unmanly, and
brought upon us by our own consent.
However, since I have had occasion to
mention the Romans, I will not conceal a
thing that, as I am speaking, comes into
my mind, and affects me considerably ;
— it is this, that though we should be
taken by them, (God forbid the event
should be so !) yet can we undergo no-
thing that will be harder to be borne than
what those men have already brought
upon us. How then can we avoid shedding
of tears, when we see the Roman donations
in our temples, while we withal see those
of our own nation taking our spoils, and
plundering our glorious metropolis, and
slaughtering our men, from which enor-
mities those Romans themselves would
have abstained ? to see those Romans
never going beyond the bounds allotted
to profane persons, nor venturing to break
in upon any of our sacred customs ; nay,
having horror on their minds when they
view at a distance those sacred walls,
while some that have been born in this
very country, and brought up in our
customs, and called Jews, do walk about
in the midst of the holy places, at the
very time when their hands are still warm
Chap. III.]
WAES OF THE JEWS.
2!»1
with tbe slaughter of their own country-
men. Besides, can any one be afraid of
a war abroad ; and that with such as will
have comparatively much greater modera-
tion than our own people have ? For truly,
if we may suit our words to the things
they represent, it is probable one may
hereafter find the Romans to be the sup-
porters of our laws, and those within our-
selves the subverters of them. And now
I am persuaded that every one of you
here comes satisfied before I speak, that
these overthrowers of our liberties de-
serve to be destroyed, and that nobody can
so much as devise a punishment that they
have not deserved by what they have done,
and that you are all provoked against them
by those their wicked actions, whence you
have suffered so greatly. But perhaps
many of you are affrighted at the multi-
tude of those Zealots, and at their auda-
ciousness, as well as the advantage they
have over us in their being higher in place
than we are ; for these circumstances, as
they have been occasioned by your negli-
gence, so will they become still greater by
being still longer neglected ; for their mul-
titude is every day augmented, by every
ill man's running away to those that are
like to themselves, and their audacious-
ness is therefore inflamed, because they
meet with no obstruction to their designs.
And for their higher place, they will make
use of it for engines also, if we give them
time to do so : but be assured of this, that
if we go up to fight them, they will be
made tamer by their own consciences ; and
what advantages they have in the height
of their situation, they will lose by the
opposition of their reason ; perhaps also,
God himself, who hath been affronted by
them, will make what they throw at us
return against themselves, and these im-
pious wretches will be killed by their own
darts : let us but make our appearance be-
fore them, and they will come to nothing.
However, it is aright thing, if there should
be any danger in the attempt, to die be-
fore these holy gates, and to spend our
very lives, if not for the sake of our
children and wives, yet for God's sake,
and for the sake of his sanctuary. I will
assist you, both with my counsel and
with my hand ; nor shall any sagacity of
ours be wanting for your support; nor
shall you see that I will be sparing of
my body either."
By these motives Ananus encouraged
the multitude to go against the Zealots,
although he knew how difficult it would
be to disperse them, because of their mul-
titude, and their youth, and the courage
of their souls; but chiefly, because of
their consciousness of what they had
done, since they would not yield, as not
so much as hoping for pardon at the last
for those their enormities. However,
Ananus resolved to undergo whatever suf-
ferings might come upon him, rather than
overlook things, now they were in such
great confusion. So the multitude cried
out to him to lead them on against those
whom he had described in his exhortation
to them ; and every one of them was most
readily disposed to run any hazard whatso-
ever on that account.
Now while Ananus was choosing out his
men, and putting those that were proper
for his purpose in array for fighting, the
Zealots got information of his undertak-
ing, (for there were some who went to
them, and told them all that the. people
were doing,) and were irritated at it ; and
leaping out of the temple in crowds,
and by parties, spared none whom they
met with. Upon this, Ananus got the
populace together on the sudden, who
were more numerous indeed than the Zea-
lots, but inferior to them in arms, be-
cause they had not been regularly put into
array for fighting ; but the alacrity that
everybody showed, supplied all their defects
on both sides, the citizens taking up so
great a passion as was stronger than arms,
and deriving a degree of courage from the
temple, more forcible than any multitude
whatsoever; and indeed these citizens
thought it was not possible for them to
dwell in the city, unless they could cut
off the robbers that were in it. The Zea-
lots also thought, that unless they pre-
vailed, there would be no punishment so
bad but it would be inflicted on them.
So their conflicts were conducted by their
passions; and at the first they only cast
stones at each other in the city, and be-
fore the temple, and threw their javelins
at a distance ; but when either of them
were too hard for the other, they made
use of their swords; and a great slaughter
was made on both sides, and a great num-
ber were wounded. As for the dead bo-
dies of the people, their relations carried
them out to their own houses; but when
any one of the Zealots were wounded, he
went up into the temple, and defiled that
sacred floor with his blood, insomuch that
one may say it was their blood alone that
29k2
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
polluted our sanctuary. Now in these con-
flicts the robbers always sallied out of the
temple, and were too hard for their enemies ;
but the populace grew very angry, and be-
came more and more numerous, and re-
proached those that gave back, and those
behind would not afford room to those that
were going off, but forced them on again,
till at length they made their whole body
to turn against their adversaries, and the
robbers could no longer oppose them, but
were forced gradually to retire into the
temple ; when Ananus and his party fell
into it at the same time together with
them. This horribly affrighted the rob-
bers, because it deprived them of the first
court; so they fled into the inner court
immediately, aud shut the gates. Now,
Ananus did not think fit to make any at-
tack against the holy gates, although the
others threw their stones and darts at them
from above. He also deemed it unlawful
to introduce the multitude into that court
before^ they were purified; he therefore
chose out of them all by lot, 6000 armed
men, and placed them as guards in the
cloisters ; so there was a succession of
6uch guards one after another, and
every one was forced to attend in his
course; although many of the chief of
the city were dismissed by those that then
took on them the government, upon their
hiring some of the poorer" sort, and send-
ing them to keep the guard in their stead.
Now it was John, who, as we told you,
ran away from Gischala, and was the oc-
casion of all these being destroyed. He
was a man of great craft, and bore about
him in his soul a strong passion after ty-
ranny, and at a distance was the adviser in
these actions; and indeed at this time he
pretended to be of the people's opinion,
and went all about with Ananus, when he
consulted the great men every day, and in
the night-time also when he went round
the watch; but he divulged their secrets
to the Zealots ; and every thing that the
people deliberated about was by his means
known to their enemies, even before it
had been well agreed upon by themselves;
and by way of contrivance how he might
not be brought into suspicion, he cultivated
the greatest friendship possible with
Ananus, and with the chief of the peo-
ple; yet did this overdoing of his turn
against him, for he flattered them so ex-
travagantly, that he was but the more sus-
pected; and his constant attendance every-
where, even when he was not invited to
be present, made him strongly suspected
of betraying their secrets to the enemy;
for they plainly perceived that they un-
derstood all the resolutions taken against
them at their consultations. Nor was
there any one whom they had so much
reason to supect of that discovery as this
John ; yet was it not easy to get quit of
him, so potent was he grown by his wicked
practices. He was also supported by
many of those eminent men who were to
be consulted upon all considerable affairs;
it was therefore thought reasonable to
oblige him to give them assurance of his
good-will upon oath ; accordingly John
took such an oath readily, that he would
be on the people's side, and would not be-
tray any of their counsels or practices to
their enemies, and would assist them in
overthrowing those that attacked them,
and that both by his hand and his advice.
So Ananus and his party believed his
oath, and did now receive him to their
consultations without further suspicion ;
nay, so far did they believe him, that they
sent him as their ambassador into the tem-
ple to the Zealots, with proposals of ac-
commodation ; for they were very desirous
to avoid the pollution of the temple as
much as they possibly could, and that no
one of their nation should be slain therein.
But now this John, as if his oath had
been made to the Zealots, and for confirma-
tion of his good-will to them, and not
against them, went into the temple, and
stood in the midst of them and spake as
follows : — That he had run many hazards
on their account, and in order to let them
know of every thing that was secretly
contrived against them by Ananus and his
party ; but that both he and they should
be cast into the most imminent danger,
unless some providential assistance were
afforded them; for that Ananus made no
longer delay, but had prevailed with the
people to send ambassadors to Vespasian
to invite him to come presently aud take
the city; and that he had appointed a fast
for the next day against them, that they
might obtain admission into the temple,
on a religious account, or gain it by force,
and fight with them there; that he did
not see how long they could either endure
a siege, or how they could fight against so
many enemies. Pie added further, that
it was by the providence of God he was
himself sent as an ambassador to them for
an accommodation ; for that Ananus did
therefore offer them such proposals, that
Chap. IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
203
he might come upon them when they wire
unarmed ; that they ought to choose one
of these two methods ; either to intercede
with those that guarded them, to save
their lives, or to provide some foreign as-
sistance for themselves ; that if they fos-
tered themselves with the hopes of par-
don, in case they were subdued, they had
forgotten what desperate things they had
done, or could suppose, that as soon as the
actors repented, those that had suffered
by them must be presently reconciled to
them : while those that have done inju-
ries, though they pretend to repent of
them, are frequently hated by the others
for that sort of repentance; and that suf-
ferers, when they get the power into their
hands, arc usually still more severe upon
the actors ; that the friends and kindred
of those that had been destroyed would
always be laying plots against them, and
that a large body of people were very an-
gry on account of their gross breaches
of their laws and [illegal] judicatures, in-
somuch that although some part might com-
miserate them, those would be quite over-
borne by the majority.
CHAPTER IV.
The Idumeans, being sent for by the Zealots, come
immediately to Jerusalem.
Now, by this crafty speech, John made
the Zealots afraid ; yet durst he not di-
rectly name what foreign assistance he
meant, but in a covert way only intimated
at the Idumeans; but now that he might
particularly irritate the leaders of the
Zealots, he calumniated Ananus, that he
was about a piece of barbarity, and did
in a special manner threaten them. These
leaders were Eleazar, the son of Simon,
who seemed the most plausible man of
them all, both in considering what was fit
to be done, and in the execution of what
he had determined upon, and Zacharias,
the son of Pkalek ; both of whom derived
tluir families from the priests. Now,
wdieu these two men had heard, not only
the common threateniugs which belonged
to them all, but those peculiarly levelled
against themselves; and besides, how An-
anus and his party, in order to secure
their own dominion, had invited the Ro-
mans to come to them, for that also was
part of John's lie, they hesitated a great
while what they should do, considering
the shortness of the time by which they
\rere straitened; because the people were
prepared to attack them very soon, and
because the suddenness of the plot laid
against them had almost cut off their
hopes of getting any foreign assistance ;
for they might be under the height of
their afflictions before any of their con-
federates could be informed of it. How-
ever, it was resolved to call in the Idu-
means ; so they wrote a short letter to this
effect : — That Ananus had imposed on the
people, and was betraying their metropolis
to the Romans; that they themselves had
revolted from the rest, and were in custody
in the temple, on account of the preserva-
tion of their liberty ; that there was but
a small time left, wherein they might hope
for their deliverance ; and that unless they
would come immediately to their assist-
ance, they should themselves be soon in
the power of Ananus, and the city would
be in the power of the Romans. They
also charged the messengers to tell many
more circumstances to the rulers of the
Idumeans. Now, there were two active
men proposed for the carrying of this mes-
sage, and such as were well able to speak,
and to persuade them that things were in
this posture, and what was a qualification
still more necessary than the former, they
were vei^ swift of foot; for they knew
well enough that these would immediately
comply With their desires, as being ever a
tumultuous and disorderly nation, always
on the watch upon every motion, delight-
ing in mutations; and upon your flattering
them ever so little, and petitioning them,
they soon take their arms, and put them-
selves into motion, and make haste to a
battle, as if it were to a feast. There
was indeed occasion for quick despatch iu
the carrying of this message; in which
point the messengers were noway defective.
Both their names were Ananias; and
they soon came to the rulers of the Idu-
means.
Now, these rulers were greatly sur-
prised at the contents of the letter, and
at what those that came with it further
told them ; whereupon they ran about the
nation like madmen, and made procla-
mation that the people should come to
war ; so a multitude was suddenly got
together, sooner indeed than the time ap-
pointed in the proclamation, and every-
body caught up their arms, in order to
maintain the liberty of their metropolis;
and 20,000 of them were put into battle-
array, ami came to Jerusalem, under four
commanders, John, and Jacob, the son jf
294
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
Sosas; and besides these were Simon, the
son of Cathlas, and Phineas, the son of
Clusothus.
Now this exit of the messengers was
not known either to Ananus or to the
guards ; but the approach of the Idumeans
was known to him ; for as he knew of it
before they came, he ordered the gates to
be shut against them, and that the walls
should be guarded. Yet did not he by
any means think of fighting against them,
but, before they came to blows, to try
what persuasions would do. Accordingly,
Jesus, the eldest of the high priests next
to Ananus, stood upon the tower that was
over against them, and said thus : —
" Many troubles, indeed, and those of
various kinds, have fallen upon this city,
yet iu none of them have I so much
wondered at her fortune as now, when you
are come to assist wicked men, and this
after a manner very extraordinary ; for I
see that you are come to support the vilest
of men against us, and this with so great
alacrity, as you could hardly put on the
like, in case our metropolis had called you
to her assistance against barbarians; and
if I had perceived that your army was
composed of men like unto those who in-
vited them, I had not deemed your at-
tempt so absurd ; for nothing does so
much cement the minds of men together
as the alliance there is between their man-
ners ; but now for these men who have
invited you, if you were to examine them
one by one, every one of them would be
found to have deserved 10,000 deaths;
for the very rascality and offscouring of
the whole country, who have spent in de-
bauchery their own substance, and, by
way of trial beforehand, have madly plun-
dered the neighbouring villages and cities,
in the upshot of all, have privately run
together into this holy city. They are
robbers, who, by their prodigious wicked-
ness, have profaned this most sacred floor,
and who are to be now seen drinking
themselves drunk in the sanctuary, and
expendiug the spoils of those whom they
have slaughtered upon their insatiable
bellies. As for the multitude that is with
you, one may see them so decently adorned
in their armour, as it would become them
to be, had their metropolis called them to
*ier assistance against foreigners. What
can a man call this procedure of yours, but
the sport of fortune, when he sees a whole
nation coming to protect a sink of wicked
wretches ? I have for a good while been
in doubt what it could possibly be that
should move you to do this so suddenly ;
because certainly you would not take on
your armour on the behalf of robbers, and
against a people of kin to you, without
some very great cause for your so doing;
but we have a hint that the Romans are
pretended, and that we are supposed to be
going to betray this city to them; for
some of your men have lately made a
clamour about those matters, and have
said they are come to set their metropolis
free. Now, we cannot but admire at these
wretches in their devising such a lie as
this against us ; for they knew there was
no other way to irritate against us men
that were naturally desirous of liberty,
and on that account the best disposed to
fight against foreign enemies, but by
framing a tale as if we were going to be-
tray that most desirable thing, liberty.
But you ought to consider what sort of
people they are that raise this calumny,
and against what sort of people that ca-
lumny is raised, and to gather the truth
of things, not by fictitious speeches, but
out of the actions of both parties; for
what occasion is there for us to sell our-
selves to the Romans, while it was in our
power not to have revolted from them at
the first, or, when we had once revolted,
to have returned under their dominion
again, and this while the neighbouring
countries were not yet laid waste ? Whereas
it is not an easy thing to be reconciled to
the Romans, if we were desirous of it,
now they have subdued Galilee, and are
thereby become proud and insolent ; and
to endeavour to please them at the time
when they are so near us, would bring
such a reproach upon us as were worse
than death. As for myself, indeed, I
should have preferred peace with them
before death ; but now we have once made
war upon them, and fought with them, I
prefer death with reputation, before living
in captivity under them. But further,
whether do they pretend that we, who are
the rulers of the people, have sent thus
privately to the Romans, or hath it been
done by the common suffrages of the
people ? If it be ourselves only that have
done it, let them name those friends of
ours that have been sent, as our servants,
to manage this treachery. Hath any one
been caught as he went out on this errand,
or seized upon as he came back ? Are they
in possession of our letters ? How could
we be concealed from such a vast number
J
CiiAr. IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
295
of our fellow-citizens, among whom we
are conversant every hour, while what is
done privately in the country is, it seems,
known by the Zealots, who are but few in
number, and under confinement also, and
are not able to come out of the temple
iuto the city ! Is this the first time that
they are become sensible how they ought
to be punished for their insolent actions !
For while these men were free from the fear
they are now under, there was no suspicion
raised that any of us were traitors. But
if they lay this charge against the people,
this must have been done at a public con-
sultation, and not one of the people must
have dissented from the rest of the assem-
bly : in which case the public fame of
this matter would have come to you sooner
than any particular indication. But how
could that be? Must there not then have
been ambassadors sent to confirm the
agreements ? And let them tell us who
this ambassador was that was ordained
for that purpose. But this is no other
than a pretence of such men as are loath
to die, and are labouring to escape those
punishments that hang over them ; for
if fate had determined that this city was
to be betrayed into its enemies' hands,
no other than these men that accuse us
falsely could have the impudence to do it,
there beiug no wickedness wanting to
complete their impudent practices but this
only, that they become traitors. And
now you, Idumeans, are come hither al-
ready with your arms, it is your duty, in
the first place, to be assisting to your me-
tropolis, and to join with us in cutting off
those tyrants that have infringed the rules
of our regular tribunals ; that have tram-
pled upon our laws, and made their swords
the arbitrators of right and wrong; for
they have seized upon men of great emi-
nence, and under no accusation, as they
stood in the midst of the market-place,
and tortured them with putting them into
bonds, and, without bearing to hear what
they had to say, or what supplications they
made, they destroyed them. You may,
if you please, come into this city, though
not in the way of war, and take a view of
the marks still remaining of what I now
say, and may see the houses that have
been depopulated by their rapacious hands,
with those wives and families that are in
black, mourning for their slaughtered re-
lations ; as also you may hear their groans
and lamentations all the city over ; for
there is nobody but hath tasted of the iu-
3C
cursions of these profane wretches, who
have proceeded to that degree of madness,
as not only to have transferred their im-
pudent robberies out of the country, aud
the remote cities, into this city, the very
face and head of the whole nation, but
out of the city into the temple also; for
that is now made their receptacle and
refuge, and the fountain-head whence their
preparations are made against us. And
this place, which is adored by the habitable
world, and honoured by such as only know
it by report, as far as the ends of the earth,
is trampled upon by these wild beasts,
born among ourselves. They now triumph
in the desperate condition they are already
in, when they hear that one people is
going to fight against another people, aud
one city against another city, and that your
nation hath gotten an army together against
its own bowels. Instead of which proce-
dure, it were highly fit and reasonable, as
I said before, for you to join with us in
cutting off these wretches, and in parti-
cular to be revenged on them for putting
this very cheat upon you ; I meau, for
having the impudence to invite you to
assist them, of whom they ought to have
stood in fear, as ready to punish them.
But if you have some regard to these
men's invitation of you, yet may you lay
aside your arms, and come into the city
under the notion of our kindred, aud take
upon you a middle name between that of
auxiliaries and of enemies, aud so become
judges in this case. However, consider
what these men will gain by being called
into judgment before you, for such un-
deniable and such flagrant crimes, whq
would not vouchsafe to hear such as had
no accusations laid against them to speak
a word for themselves. However, let them
gain this advantage by your coming. But
still, if you will neither take our part in
that indignation we have at these men,
nor judge between us, the third thing I
have to propose is this, that you let us
both alone, and neither insult upon our
calamities, nor abide with these plotters
against their metropolis; for though you
should have ever so great a suspicion that
some of us have discoursed with the lto-
mans, it is in your power to watch the
passages into the city; aud in case any
thing that we have been accused of is
brought to light, then to come and defend
your metropolis, and to inflict punishment
on those that are found guilty; for the
enemy cannot prevent you who are sc
296
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
near to the city. But if, after all, none
of these proposals seem acceptable and
moderate, do not you wonder that the
gates are shut against you, while you bear
your arms about you."
Thus spake Jesus; yet did not the mul-
titude of the Idumeans give any attention
to what he said, but were in a rage, be-
cause they did not meet with a ready en-
trance into the city. The generals also
had indignation at the offer of laying
down their arms, and looked upon it as
equal to a captivity, to throw them away
at any man's injunction whomsoever. But
Simon, the son of Cathlas, one of their
commanders, with much ado quieted the
tumult of his own men, and stood so that
the high priests might hear him, and said
as follows : — " I can no longer wonder
that the patrons of liberty are under cus-
tody in the temple, since there are those
that shut the gates of our common city*
to their own nation, and at the same time
are prepared to admit the Bomans into it;
nay, perhaps, are disposed to crown the
gates with garlands at their coming, while
they speak to the Idumeans from their
own towers, and enjoin them to throw
down their arms winch they have taken
up for the preservation of its liberty ;
and while they will not intrust the guard
of our metropolis to their kindred, profess
to make them judges of the differences
that are among them ; nay, while they
accuse some men of having slain others,
without a legal trial, they do themselves
condemn a whole nation, after an igno-
minious manner, and have now walled up
that city from their own nation, which
used to be open even to all foreigners that
came to worship there. We have indeed
come in great haste to you, and to a war
against our own countrymen ; and the
reason why we have made such haste is
this, that we may preserve that freedom
which you are so unhappy as to betray.
You have probably been guilty of the like
crimes against those whom you keep in
custody, and have, I suppose, collected
together the like plausible pretences agaiust
them also that you make use of against
* This appellation of Jerusalem, (given it lure
bjT Simon, the general of the Idumeans,) "the
common city" of the Idumeans, who were proselytes
of justice, as well as of the original native Jews,
greatly confirms that maxim of the rabbins, that
"Jerusalem was not assigned, or appropriated, to
the tribe of Benjamin or Jutlah, but every tribe
had equal right to it at their coming to worship
there at the several festivals."
us ; after which you have gotten the ma-
tery of those within the temple, and
keep them in custody, while they are only
taking care of the public affairs You
have also shut the gates of the city in
general against nations that are the most
nearly related to you; and while you give
such injurious commands to others, you
complain that you have been tyrannized
over by them, and fix the name of unjust
governors upon such as are tyrannized
over by yourselves. Who can bear this,
your abuse of words, while they have a
regard to the contrariety of your actions,
unless you mean this, that those Idumeans
do now exclude you out of our metropolis,
whom you exclude from the sacred offices
of your own country ! One may indeed
justly complain of those that are besieged
in the temple, that when they had courage
enough to punish those tyrants, whom you
call eminent men, and free from any accu-
sations, because of their being your com-
panions in wickedness, they did not begin
with you, and thereby cut off beforehand
the most dangerous parts of this treason.
But if these men have been more merci-
ful than the public necessity required, we
that are Idunreans will preserve this house
of God, and will fight for our common
country, and will oppose by war as well
those that attack them from abroad, as
those that betray them from within.
Here will we abide before the walls in
our armour, until either the Bomans grow
weary in waiting for you, or you become
friends to liberty, and repent of what you
have done against it." .
And now did the Idumeans make an
acclamation to what Simon had said; but
Jesus went away sorrowful, as seeing that
the Idumeans were against all moderate
counsels, and that the city was besieged
on both sides; nor indeed were the minds
of the Idumeans at rest; for they were in
a rage at the injury that had been offered
them by their exclusion out of the city ;
and when they thought the Zealots had
been strong, but saw nothing of theirs to
support them, they were in doubt about
the matter, and many of them repented
that they had come thither. But the
shame that would attend them in case
they returned without doing any thing at
all, so far overcame that their repentance,
that they lay all night before the wall,
though in a very bad encampment ; for
there broke out a prodigious storm in the
night, with the utmost violence, and very
Chap. V.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
207
strong winds, with the largest showers of
rain, with continual lightnings, terrible
thunderings, and amazing concussions and
bcllowings of the earth, that was in an
earthquake. These things were a mani-
fest indication that some destruction was
coming upon men, when the system of
the world was put into this disorder ; and
any one would guess that these wonders
foreshowed some grand calamities that
were coming.
Now the opinion of the Idumeans and
of the citizens was one and the same.
The Idumeans thought that God was an-
gry at their taking arms, and that they
would not escape punishment for their
making war upon their metropolis. Ana-
nus and his party thought that they had
conquered without fighting, and that God
acted as a general for them ; but truly
they proved both ill conjectures at what
was to come, and made those events to be
ominous to their enemies, while they were
themselves to undergo the ill effects of
them ; for the Idumeans fenced one another
by uniting their bodies into one band, and
thereby kept themselves warm, and con-
necting their shields over their heads, were
not so much hurt by the rain. But the
Zealots were more deeply concerned for
the danger these men were in than they
were for themselves, and got together, and
looked about them, to see whether they
could devise any means of assisting them.
The hotter sort of them thought it best to
force their guards with their arms, and after
that to fall into the midst of the city, and
publicly open the gates to those that came to
their assistance; as supposing the guards
would be in disorder, and give way at such
an unexpected attempt of theirs, especially
as the greater part of them were unarmed
and unskilled in the affairs of war ; and that
besides, the multitude of the citizens would
not be easily gathered together, but confined
to their houses by the storm; and that if
there were any hazard in their undertaking,
it became them to suffer any thing what-
soever themselves, rather than to overlook
so great a multitude as were miserably pe-
rishing on their account. But the more
prudent part of them disapproved of this
forcible method, because they saw not only
the guards about them very numerous, but
the walls of the city itself carefully watch-
ed, by reason of the Idumeans. They
also supposed that Ananus would be every-
where, and visit the guards every hour;
which indeed was done upon other nights,
but was omitted that night, not by reason
of any slothfulness of Ananus, but by the
overbearing appointment of fate, that so
both he himself might perish, and the
multitude of the guards might perish with
him; for truly, as the night was far gone,
and the storm very terrible, Ananus gave
the guards in the cloisters leave to go to
sleep ; while it came into the heads of
the Zealots to make use of the saws be-
longing to the temple, and to cut the bars
of the gates to pieces. The noise of the
wind, and that not inferior sound of the
thunder, did here also conspire with their
designs, that the noise of the saws was not
heard by the others.
So they secretly went out of the templo
to the wall of the city, and made use of
their saws, and opened that gate which
was over against the Idumeans. Now at
first there came a fear upon the Idumeans
themselves, which disturbed them, as
imagining that Ananus and his party were
coming to attack them, so that every one
of them had his right hand upon his sword,
in order to defend himself; but they soon
came to know who they were that came to
them, and were entered the city. And
had the Idumeans then fallen upon the
city, nothing could have hindered them
from destroying the people, every man of
them, such was the rage they were in at
that time; but they first of all made haste
to get the Zealots out of custody, which
those that brought them in earnestly desired
them to do, and not overlook those for
whose sake they were come, in the midst
of their distresses, nor to bring them into
a still greater danger; far that when they
had once seized upon the gaards it would
be easy for them to fall upon the city ;
but that if the city were once alarmed,
they would not then be able to overcome
those guards, because as soon as they
should perceive they were there, they
would put themselves in order to fight
them, and would hinder their coming into
the temple.
CHAPTER V.
Cruelty of the Idumeans and the Zealots — Slaugh-
ter of Ananus, Jesus, and Zacharias.
This advice pleased the Idumeans, and
they ascended through the city to the
temple. The Zealots were also in great
expectation of their coming, and earnestly
waited for them. When therefore these
were entering, they also came, boldly ut
29S
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
of the inner temple, and mixing them-
selves with the Idumeans, they attacked
the guards ; and some of those that were
upon the watch, but were fallen asleep,
they killed as they were asleep ; but as
those that were now awakened made a cry,
the whole multitude arose, and in the
amazement they were in caught hold of
their arms immediately, and betook them-
selves to their own defence ; and so long
as they thought they were only the Zea-
lots who attacked them they went on
boldly, as hoping to overpower them by
their numbers ; but when they saw others
pressing in upon them also, they perceived
the Idumeans were got in ; and the great-
est part of them laid aside their arms,
together with their courage, and betook
themselves to lamentation. But some few
of the younger sort covered themselves
with their armour, and valiantly received
the Idumeans, and for a while protected
the multitude of old men. Others, in-
deed, gave a signal to those that were in
the city of the calamities they were in ;
but when these were also made sensible
that the Idumeans were come in, none of
them durst come to their assistance ; only
they returned the terrible echo of wailing
and lamenting their misfortunes. A great
howling of the women was excited also,
and every one of the guards were in dan-
ger of being killed. ' The Zealots also
joined in the shouts raised by the Idu-
means ; and the storm itself rendered the
cry more terrible ; nor did the Idumeans
spare anybody ; for as they are naturally
a most barbarous and bloody nation, and
had been distressed by the tempest, they
made use of their weapons against those
that had shut the gates against them, and
acted in the same manner as to those that
supplicated for their lives and to those
that fought them, insomuch that they ran
through those with their swords, who de-
sired them to remember the relation there
was between them, and begged of them to
have regard to their common temple.
Now there was at present neither any
place for flight, nor any hope for pre-
servation ; but as they were driven one
upon another in heaps, so were they slain.
Thus the greater part were driven together
by force, as there was now no place of re-
tirement, and the murderers were upon
them ; and, having no other way, threw
themselves down headlong into the city ;
whereby, in my opinion, they underwent
a more miserable destruction than that
which they avoided, because that was a
voluntary one. And now the outer tem-
ple was all of it overflowed with blood ;
and that day, as it came on, saw 8500
dead bodies there.
But the rage of the Idumeans was not
satiated by these slaughters; but they
now betook themselves to the city, and
plundered every house, and slew every one
they met ; and for the multitude, they es-
teemed it needless to go on with killing
them, but they sought for the high priests,
and the generality went with the greatest
zeal against them ; and as soon as they
caught them they slew them, and then
standing upon their dead bodies, in way
of jest, upbraided Ananus with his kind-
ness to the people, and Jesus with his
speech made to them from the wall. Nay,
they proceeded to that degree of impiety
as to cast away their dead bodies without
burial, although the Jews used to take so
much care of the burial of men, that they
took down those that were condemned and
crucified, and buried them before the going
down of the sun. I should not mistake
if I said that the death of Ananus was the
beginning of the destruction of the city,
and that from this very day may be dated
the overthrow of her wall, and the ruin of
her affairs, whereon they saw their high
priest, and the procurer of their preser-
vation, slain in the midst of their city.
He was on other accounts also a venerable,
and a very just man ; and besides the
grandeur of that nobility, and dignity,
and honour of which he was possessed, he
had been a lover of a kind of parity; even
with regard to the meanest of the people;
he was a prodigious lover of liberty, and
an admirer of a democracy in government;
and did ever prefer the public welfare be-
fore his own advantage, and preferred
peace above all things; for he was tho-
roughly sensible that the Romans were not
to be conquered. He also foresaw that of
necessity a war would follow, and that
unless the Jews made up matters with
them very dexterously, they would be
destroyed : to say all in a word, if Ananus
had survived they had certainly com-
pounded matters ; for he was a shrewd
man in speaking and persuading the peo-
ple, and had already gotten the mastery
of those that opposed his designs, or were
for the war. And the Jews had then put
abundance of delays in the way of the
Romans, if they had had such a general
as he was. Jesus was also joined with
Chap. Y.J
him; and although ho was inferior to him
upou the comparison, he was superior to the
rest ; and I cannot but think that it was
because God had doomed this city to de-
struction, as a polluted city, and was re-
solved to purge his sanctuary by fire, that
he cut off these their great defenders and
wellwishers, while those that a little before
had worn the sacred garments, and had pre-
sided over the public worship, and had
been esteemed venerable by those that
dwelt on the whole habitable earth when
they came into our city, were cast out
naked, and seen to be the food of dogs
and wild beasts. And I cannot but ima-
gine that virtue itself groaned at these
men's case, and lamented that she was
here so terribly conquered by wickedness.
And this at last was the end of Ananus
and Jesus.
Now after these were slain, the Zealots
and the multitude of the Idumeans fell
upon the people as upon a flock of profane
animals, and cut their throats ; and, for
the ordinary sort, they were destroyed in
what place soever they caught them. But
for the noblemen and the youth, they
first caught them and bound them, and
shut them up in prison, and put off their
slaughter, in hopes that some of them
would turn over to their party; but not
one of them would comply with their de-
sires, but all of them preferred death be-
fore beiug enrolled among such wicked
wretches as acted against their own coun-
try. But this refusal of theirs brought
upon them terrible torments ; for they
were so scourged and tortured, that their
bodies were not able to sustain their tor-
ments, till at length, and with difficulty,
they had the favour to be slain. Those
whom they caught in the daytime were
slain in the night, and then their bodies
were carried out and thrown away, that
there might be room for other prisoners ;
and the terror that was upon the people was
so great, that no one had courage enough
either to weep openly for the dead man
that was related to him, or bury him ; but
those that were shut up in their own
houses, could only shed tears in secret,
and durst not even groan without great
caution, lest any of their enemies should
hear them; for if they did, those that
mourned for others soon underwent the
same death with those whom they mourned
for. Only in the night-time they would
take up a little dust and throw it upon
their bodies; and even some that were the
WARS OF THE JEWS.
29$
most ready to expose themselves to danger,
would do it in the daytime : and there
were 12,000 of the better sort who pe-
rished in this manner.
And now these Zealots and Idumeans
were quite weary of barely killing men ;
so they had the impudence of setting up
fictitious tribunals and judicatures for that
purpose; and as they intended to have
Zacharias, the son of Baruch, one of the
most eminent of the citizens, slain, — so
what provoked them against him was, that
hatred of wickedness and love of liberty
which were so eminent in him : he was
also a rich man, so that by taking him off,
they did not only hope to seize his effects,
but also to get rid of a man that had
great power to destroy them. So they
called together, by a public proclamation,
seventy of the principal men of the popu-
lace, for a show as if they were real
judges, while they had no proper authori-
ty. Before these was Zacharias accused
of a design to betray their polity to the
Romans, and having traitorously sent to
Vespasian for that purpose. Now there
appeared no proof or sign of what he was
accused; but they afhrnied themselves that
they were well persuaded that so it was,
and desired that such their affirmation
might be taken for sufficient evidence.
Now when Zacharias clearly saw that there
was no way remaining for his escape from
them, as having been treacherously called
before them, and then put in prison, but
not with any intention of a legal trial, he
took great liberty of speech in that despair
of life he was under. Accordingly he
stood up, and laughed at their pretended
accusation, and in a few words confuted
the crimes laid to his charge ; after which
he turned his speech to his accusers, and
went over distinctly all their transgres-
sions of the law, and made heavy lamenta-
tions upon the confusion they had brought
public affairs to : in the mean time the
Zealots grew tumultuous, and had much
ado to abstain from drawing their swords,
although they designed to preserve the ap-
pearance and show of judicature to tho
end. They were also desirous, on other
accounts, to try the judges, whether they
would be mindful of what was just at
their own peril. Now the seventy judges
brought in their verdict, that the person
accused was not guilty — as choosing rather
to die themselves with him, than to have
his death laid at their doors : hereupon
there arose a great clamour of the Zealots
300
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV
upon Lis acquittal, and tbey all had indig-
nation at the judges, for not understand-
ing that the authority that was given them
was but in jest. So two of the boldest of
them fell upon Zacharias in the middle of
the temple, and slew him; and as he fell
down dead they bantered him, and said,
" Thou hast also our verdict, and this will
prove a more sure acquittal to thee than
the other." They also threw him down
out of the temple immediately into the
valley beneath it. Moreover, they struck
the judges with the backs of their swords,
by way of abuse, and thrust them out of
the court of the temple, and spared their
lives with no other design than that, when
they were dispersed among the people in
the city, they might become their messen-
gers, to let them know they were no bet-
ter than slaves.
But by this time the Idumeans repented
of their coming, and were displeased at
what had been done ; and when they were
assembled together by one of the Zealots,
who had come privately to them, he de-
clared to them what a number of wicked
pranks they had themselves done in con-
junction with those that invited them, and
gave a particular account of what mis-
chiefs had been done against their metropo-
lis. He said, that they had taken arms,
as though the high priests were betraying
their metropolis to the Romans, but had
found no indication of any such treach-
ery; but that they had succoured those
that had pretended to believe such a
thing, while they did themselves the works
of war and tyranny after an insolent man-
ner. It had been, indeed, their business
to have hindered them from such their
proceedings at the first, but seeing they
had once been partners with them in shed-
ding the blood of their own countrymen,
it was high time to put a stop to such
crimes, and not continue to afford any
more assistance to such as were subverting
the laws of their forefathers ; for that if
any had taken it ill that the gates had
been shut against them, and tliey had not
been permitted to come into the city, yet
that those who had excluded them had
been punished, and Ananus was dead, and
that almost all those people had been de-
stroyed in one night. That one might
perceive many of themselves now repent-
ing for what they had done, and might
eee the horrid barbarity of those that had
invited them, and that they had no regard
to such as had saved them ; that they were
so impudent as to perpetrate the vilest
things, under the eyes of those who had
supported them, and that their wicked ac-
tions would be laid to the charge of the
Idumeans, and would be so laid to their
charge, till somebody obstructed their pro-
ceedings, or separated himself from the
same wicked action ; that they therefore
ought to retire home, since the imputation
of treason appeared to be a calumny, and
that there was no expectation of the
coming of the Romans at that time, and
that the government of the city was se-
cured by such walls as could not easily be
thrown down ; and, by avoiding any further
fellowship with those bad men, to make
some excuse for themselves, as to what
they had been so far deluded as to have
been partners with them hitherto.
CHAPTER VI.
The Idumeans return home — The Zealots continue
their slaughter of the citizens — Vespasian dis-
suades the Romans from proceeding in the Jew-
ish war.
The Idumeans complied with these per-
suasions; and, in the first place, they set
those that were in the prison at liberty,
being about 2-000 of the populace, who
thereupon fled away immediately to Si-
mon, one whom we shall speak of presently.
After which these Idumeans retired from
Jerusalem, and went home; which depart-
ure of theirs was a great surprise to both
parties; for the people, not knowing of
their repentance, pulled up their courage
for awhile, as eased of so many of their ene-
mies, while the Zealots grew more inso-
lent, not as deserted by their confederates,
but as freed from such men as might hin-
der their designs and put some stop to
their wickedness. Accordingly, they made
no longer any delay, nor took any delibe-
ration in their enormous practices, but
made use of the shortest methods for all
their executions ; and what they had once
resolved upon, they put in practice sooner
than any one could imagine; but their
thirst was chiefly after the blood of valiant
men, and men of good families ; the one
sort of whom they destroyed out of envy,
the other out of fear ; for they thought
their whole security lay in leaving no po-
tent men alive ; on which account they slew
Gorion, a person eminent in dignity, and
on account of his family also ; he was also
for democracy, and of as great boldness
and freedom of spirit as were any of the
Jews whosoever ; the principal thing that
Chap. VI.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
301
ruined him, added to- his other advantages,
was his free speaking. Nor did Niger of
Perea escape their hands ; he had been a
man of great valour in their war with the
Romans, but was now drawn through the
middle of the city, and, as he went,
he frequently cried out, and showed
the scars of his wounds ; and when he
was drawn out of the gates, and despaired
of his preservation, he besought them to
grant him a burial ; but as they had threat-
ened him beforehand not to grant him
any spot of earth for a grave, which he
chiefly desired of them, so did they slay
him [without permitting him to be bu-
ried]. Now when they were slaying him,
he made his imprecation upon them, that
they might undergo both famine and pesti-
lence in this war, and besides all that,
they might come to the mutual slaughter
of one another; all which imprecations
God confirmed against these impious men,
and was what came most justly upon them,
when not long afterward they tasted of
their own madness in their mutual sedi-
tions one against another. So when this
Niger was killed, their fears of being over-
turned were diminished, and indeed there
was no part of the people but they found
out .some pretence to destroy them ; for
some were therefore slain, because they
had had differences with some of them ;
and as to those that had not opposed them
in times of peace, they watched seasona-
ble opportunities to gain some accusation
against them; and if any one did not come
near them at all, he was under their sus-
picion as a proud man ; if any one came
with boldness, he was esteemed a con-
temner of them; and if any one came as
aiming to oblige them, he was supposed to
have some treacherous plot against them;
while the only punishment of crimes,
whether they were of the greatest or
smallest sort, was death. Nor could any
one escape, unless he were very inconsider-
able, either on account of the meanness
of his birth, or on account of his fortune.
And now all the rest of the command-
ers of the Romans deemed this sedition
among their enemies to be of great advan-
tage to them, and were very earnest to
march to the city ; and they urged Vespa-
sian, as their lord and general in all cases,
to make haste, and said to him, that " the
providence of God is on our side, by set-
ting our enemies at variance against one
another ; that still the change in such cases
may be sudden, and the Jews may quick-
ly be at one again, either because they
may be tired out with (heir civil miseries,
or repent them of such doings " But
Vespasian replied, that they were greatly
mistaken in what they thought fit to be
done, as those that, upon the theatre, love
to make a show of their hands and of their
weapons, but do it at their own hazard,
without considering what was for their ad-
vantage and for their security, for that if
they now go and attack the city immedi-
ately, they shall but occasion their ene-
mies to unite together, and shall convert
their force, now it is in its height, against
themselves; but if they stay awhile they
shall have fewer enemies, because they
will be consumed in this sedition : that
God acts as a general of the Romans bet-
ter than he can do, and is giving the Jews
up to them without any pains of their
own, and granting their army a victory
without any danger; that therefore it is
their best way, while their enemies are
destroying each other with their own
hands, and falling into the greatest of mis-
fortunes, which is that of sedition, to sit
still as spectators of the dangers they run
into, rather than to fight hand to hand
with men that love murdering, and are
mad one against another. " But if any
one imagines that the glory of victory,
when it is gotten without fighting, will be
more insipid, let him know this much,
that a glorious success, quietly obtained,
is more profitable than the dangers of a
battle ; for we ought to esteem those that
do what is agreeable to temperance and
prudence, no less glorious than those that
have gained great reputation by their
actions in war : that he shall lead on his
army with greater force when their enemies
are diminished, and his own army refreshed
after the continual labours they bad under-
gone. However, that this is not a proper
time to propose to ourselves the glory of
victory; for that the Jews are not now
employed in making of armour or build-
ing of walls, nor indeed in getting to-
gether auxiliaries, while the advantage will
be on their side who give them such op-
portunity of delay; but that the Jews
are vexed to pieces every day by their
civil wars and dissensions, and are under
greater misfortunes than, if they were
once taken, could be inflicted on them by
us. Whether, therefore, any one hath
regard to what is for our safety, he ought
to suffer these Jews to destroy one another;
or whether he hath regard to the greater
302
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV
glory of the action, we ought by no means
to meddle with these men, now they are
afflicted with a distemper at home; for
should we now conquer them, it would be
said the conquest was not owing to our
bravery, but to their sedition."
And now the commanders joined in
their approbation of what Vespasian had
said, and it was soon discovered how wise
an opinion he had given ; and indeed
many there were of the Jews that de-
serted every day, and fled away from the
Zealots, although their flight was very
difficult, since they had guarded every
passage out of the city, and slew every
one that was caught at them, as taking
it for granted they were going over to the
Romans ; yet did he who gave them
money get clear off, while he only that
gave them none was voted a traitor. So
the upshot was this, that the rich pur-
chased their flight by money, while none
bul the poor were slain. Along all the
roads also vast numbers of dead bodies
lay in heaps, and even many of those that
were so zealous in deserting, at length
chose rather to perish within the city ;
for the hopes of burial made death in their
own city appear of the two less terrible
to them. But these Zealots came at last
trampled upon all the laws of man, and
laughed at the laws of God ; and for the
oracles of the prophets, they ridiculed
them as the tricks of jugglers; yet did
these prophets foretell many things con-
cerning [the rewards of] virtue, and
[punishments of] vice, which when these
Zealots violated, they occasioned the ful-
filling of those very prophecies belonging
to their own country ; for there was a
certain ancient oracle of those men, that
the city should then be taken, and the
sanctuary burnt, by right of war, when a
sedition should invade the Jews, and their
own hand should pollute the temple of
God.* Now, while these Zealots did not
[quite] disbelieve these predictions, they
made themselves the instruments of their
accomplishment.
CHAPTER VII.
Tyranny of John — Massada plundered by the
Zealots — Vespasian takes Gadara.
By this time John was beginning to
tyrannize, and thought it beneath him to
accept of barely the same honours that
others had; aud joining to himself by
degrees a party- of the most wicked of
them all, he broke off from the rest of
to that degree of barbarity, as not to the faction. This was brought about by
bestow a burial either on those slain in
the city, or on those that lay along the
roads ; but as if they had made an agree-
ment to cancel both the laws of their
country and the laws of nature, and, at
the same time that they defiled men with
their wicked actions, they would pollute
the Divinity itself also, they left the dead
bodies to putrefy under the sun : and the
same punishment was allotted to such as
buried any, as to those that deserted,
which was no other than death ; while he
that granted the favour of a grave to
another, would presently stand in need of
a grave himself. To say all in a word,
no other gentle passion was so entirely
lost among them as mercy ; for what were
the greatest objects of pity did most of
all irritate these wretches, and they trans-
ferred their rage from the living to those
that had been slain, and from the dead to
the living. Nay, the terror was so very
great, that he who survived called them
that were first dead happy, as being at
rest already ; as did those that were under
torture in the prisons' declare that, upon
this comparison, those that lay unburied
were the happiest. These men, therefore,
his still disagreeing with the opinions of
others, and giving out injunctions of his
own, in a very imperious manner : so that
it was evident he was setting up a mo-
narchical power. Now some submitted to
him out of their fear of him, and others
out of their good-will to him ; for he was
a shrewd man to entice men to him, both
by deluding them and putting cheats upon
them. Nay, many there were that thought
they should be safer themselves, if the
causes of their past insolent actions should
now be reduced to one head, and not to a
great many. His activity was so great,
and that both in action and counsel, that
he had not a few guards about him ; yet
was there a great party of his antagonists
that left him ; among whom envy at him
weighed a great deal, while they thought
it a very heavy thing to be in subjection
to one that was formerly their equal. But
* This prediction, that the city (Jerusalem)
should then "be taken, and the sanctuary burnt by
right of war, when a sedition should invade the
Jews, and their own hands should pollute that
temple," or, as it is, b. vi. chap, ii., " when any
one should begin to slay his countrymen in the
city," is wanting in our present copies of the Old
Testament.
Chap. VII.]
the main reason that moved men against
him was the dread of monarchy, for they
could not hope easily to put an end to
his power, if he had once obtained it ;
and yet they knew' that he would have
this pretence always against them, that
they had opposed him when he was first
advanced j while every one chose rather
to suffer any thing whatsoever in war,
than that, when they had been in a volun-
tary slavery for some time, they should
afterward perish. So the sedition was
divided into two parts, and John reigned
in opposition to his adversaries over one
of them : but for their leaders, they
watched one another, nor did they at all,
or at least very little, meddle with arms
in their quarrels ; but they fought ear-
nestly against the people, and contended
one with another which of them should
bring home the greatest prey. But be-
cause the city had to struggle with three
of the greatest misfortunes, war, and ty-
ranny, and sedition, it appeared, upon the
comparison, that the war was the least
troublesome to the populace of them all.
Accordingly they ran away from their own
houses to foreigners, and obtained that
preservation from the Romans which they
despaired to obtain among their own
people.
And now a fourth misfortune arose, in
order to bring our nation to destruction.
There was a fortress of very great strength
not far from Jerusalem, which had been
built by our ancient kings, both as a repo-
sitory for their effects in the hazards of
war, and for the preservation of their
bodies at the same time. It is called
Massada. Those that were called Sicarii
had taken possession of it formerly; but
at this time they overran the neighbouring
countries, aiming only to procure to them-
selves necessaries; for the fear they were
then in prevented their further ravages ;
but when once they were informed that
the Roman army lay still, and that the
Jews were divided between sedition and
tyranny, they boldly undertook greater
matters ; and at the feast of unleavened
bread, which the Jews celebrate in memo-
ry of their deliverance from the Egyptian
bondage, when they were sent back into
the country of their forefathers, they came
down by night, without being discovered
by those that could have prevented them,
and overran a certain small city called
Engeddi : in which expedition they pre-
vented those citizens that could have
WARS OF THE JEWS.
303
stopped them, before they could arm them-
selves and fight them. They also dis-
persed them, and cast them out of the city.
As for such as could not run away, being
women and children, they slew of them
above 700. Afterward, when they had
carried every thing out of their bouses,
and had seized upon all the fruits that
were in a flourishing condition, they
brought them into Massada. And, indeed,
these men laid all the villages that were
about the fortress waste, and made the
whole country desolate : while there came
to them every day from all parts, not a
few men as corrupt as themselves. At
this time all the other regions of Judea
that had hitherto been at rest were in mo-
tion, by means of the robbers. Now, as
it is in a human body, if the principal
part be inflamed, all the members are sub-
ject to the same distemper, so by means
of the sedition and disorder that was in
the metropolis, had the wicked men that
were in the country opportunity to ravage
the same. Accordingly, when every one
of them had plundered their own villages,
they then retired into the desert ; yet
were these men that now got together and
joined in the conspiracy by parties, too
small for an army, and too many for a
gang of thieves : and thus did they fall
upon the holy places* and the cities ; yet
did it now so happen that they were some-
times very ill treated by those upon whom
they fell with such violence, and were
taken by them as men are taken in war :
but still they prevented any further punish-
ment as do robbers, who as soon as their
ravages [are discovered] run their way.
Nor was there now any part of Judea that
was not in a miserable condition, as well
as its most eminent city also.
These things were told Vespasian by
deserters; for although the seditious
watched all the passages out of the city,
and destroyed all, whosoever they were,
that came thither, yet were there some
that had concealed themselves, and, when
they had fled to the Romans, persuaded
their general to come to their city's assist-
ance, and save the remainder of the people;
informing him withal, that it was upon
* By " holy places," as distinct from cities, must
be meant " houses of prayer" out of cities ; of
which we find mention made in the New Testament*
See Luke vi. 12; Acts xvi. 13, 16. They were si-
tuated sometimes by the sides of rivers, or by the
seaside. So did the seventy-two interpreters go to
pray every morning by the seaside, before they
went o their work.
^
304
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV
account of the people's good-will to the
Romans that many of them were already
slain, and the survivors in danger of the
same treatment. Vespasian did indeed
already pit}- the calamities these men
were in, and arose, in appearance, as
though he was going to besiege Jeru-
salem,— but in reality to deliver them
from a [worse] siege they were already
under. However, he was obliged at first
to overthrow wbat remained elsewhere,
and to leave nothing out of Jerusalem
behind him that might interrupt him in
that siege. Accordingly he marched
against Gadara, the metropolis of Perea,
which was a place of strength, and entered
that city on the fourth day of the month
Dystrus [Adar] ; for the men of power
had sent an embassage to him,- without
the knowledge of the seditious, to treat
about a surrender ; which they did out
of the desire they had- of peace, and for
saving their effects, because many of the
citizens of Gadara. were rich men. This
embassy the opposite party knew nothing
of, but discovered it as Vespasian was
approaching near the city. However,
they despaired of keeping possession of
the city, as being inferior in number to
their enemies who were within the city,
and seeing the Romans very near to
the city ; so they resolved to fly, but
thought it dishonourable-to do it without
shedding some blood, and revenging
themselves on the authors of this sur-
render; so they seized upon Dolesus (a
person not only the first in rank and
family in that city, but one that seemed
the occasion of sending such an embassy)
and slew him, and treated his dead body
after a barbarous manner, so very violent
was their anger at him, and then ran out
of the city. And as now the Roman
army was just upon them, the people of
Gadara admitted Vespasian with joyful
acclamations, and received from him the
security of his right hand, as also a gar-
rison of horsemen and. footmen, to guard
them against the excursions of the runa-
gates; for as to their wall, they had pulled
it down before the Romans desired them
so to do, that they might thereby give
them assurance that they were lovers of
peace, and that, if they had a mind,
they could not now make war against
them.
And now Vespasian sent Placidus
against those that had fled from Gadara,
with 500 horsemen and 3000 footmen,
while he returned himself to Ccsarea,
with the rest of the army. Rut as soon
as these fugitives saw the horsemen that
pursued them just upon their backs, and
before they came to a* close fight, they ran
together to a certain village, which was
called Rethennabris, where finding a great
multitude of young men, and arming
them, partly by their own consent, and
partly by force, they rashly and suddenly
assaulted Placidus and the troops that
were with him. These horsemen at the
first onset gave way a little, as contriving
to entice them farther off the wall ; and
when they had drawn them into a
place fit for their purpose, they made their
horse encompass them round, and threw
their darts at them. So the horsemen cut
off the flight of the fugitives, while the
foot terribly destroyed those that fought
against them ; for those Jews did no more
than show their courage, and then were
destroyed ; for as they fell upon the Ro-
mans when they were joined close to-
gether, and, as it were, walled about with
their entire armour, they were not able to
find any place where the darts could en-
ter, nor were they any way able to break
their ranks, while they were themselves
run through by the Roman darts, and,
like the wildest of wild beasts, rushed
upon the points of the others' swords ; so
some of them were destroyed, as cut with
their enemies' swords upou their faces,
and others were dispersed by the horsemen.
Now Placidus's concern was to exclude
them in their flight from getting into the
village ; and causing his horse to march
continually on that side of them, he then
turned short upon them, and at the same
time his men made use of their darts, and
easily took their aim at those that were
the nearest to them, as they made those
that were farther off turn back by the ter-
ror they were in, till at last the most cour-
ageous of them brake through those horse-
men and fled to the wall of the village.
And now those that guarded the wall were
in great doubt what to do; for they could
not bear the thoughts of excluding those
that came from Gadara, because of their
own people that were among them; and
yet, if they should admit them, they ex-
pected to perish with them, which came
to pass accordingly ; for as they were
crowding together at the wall, the Roman
horsemen were just ready to fall in with
them. However, the guards prevented
them, and shut the gates, when Placidus
Chap. VIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
made an assault upon them, and fighting
courageously till it was dark, he got pos-
session of the wall, and of the people that
were in the city, when the useless multi-
tude were destroyed ; but those that were
more potent ran away ; and the soldiers
plundered the houses, and set the village
on fire. As for those that ran out of the
village, they stirred up such as were in
the country, and exaggerating their own
calamities, and telling them that the whole
army of the Romans were upon them,
they put them mto great fear on every
side ; so they got in great numbers to-
gether, and fled to Jericho, for they knew
no other place that could afford them any
hope of escaping, it being a city that had
a strong wall and a great multitude of
inhabitants. But Placidus, relying much
upon his horsemen and his former good
success, followed them, and slew all that
he overtook, as far as Jordan ; and when
he had driven the whole multitude to the
riverside, where they were stopped by the
current, (for it had been augmented lately
by rains, and was not fordable,) he put his
soldiers in array over against them ; so the
necessity the others were in, provoked them
to hazard a battle, because there was no
place whither they could flee. They then
extended themselves a very great way
along the banks of the river, and sustained
the darts that were thrown at them as well
as the attacks of the horsemen, who beat
many of them, and pushed them into the
current. At which fight, hand to hand,
15,000 of them were slain, while the num-
ber of those that were unwillingly forced
to leap into Jordan was prodigious. There
were, besides, 2200 taken prisoners. A
mighty prey was taken also, consisting of
asses, and sheep, and camels, and oxen.
Now this destruction that fell upon the
Jews, as it was not inferior to any of the
rest in itself, so did it appear greater than
it really was; and this, because not only
the whole of the country through which
they fled was filled with slaughter, and
Jordan could not be passed over, by rea-
son of the dead bodies that were in it, but
because the lake Asphaltitis was also full
of dead bodies, that were carried down
into it by the river. And now Placidus,
after this good success he had, fell violently
upon the neighbouring smaller cities and
villages ; when he took Abila, and Julias,
and Bezemoth, and all those that lay as
far as the lake Asphaltitis, and put such
of the deserters into each of them as he
Vol. II.— 20
thought proper. He then put bis soldiers
on board the Bhips, and Blew such as bad
fled to the lake, insomuch that all Perea
had either surrendered themselves, or were
taken by the Romans, as far as Macherus,
CHAPTER VIII.
Commotions in Gal] [Galatia] — Vespasian hastens
to terminate the Jewish war — Description of
Jericho, the Groat Plain, and the Lake Asj.h.iltitis.
In the mean time, an account came that
there were commotions in Gall, and that
Vindex, together with the men of power
in that country, had revolted from Ne-
ro; which affair is more accurately de-
scribed elsewhere. This report, thus re-
lated to Vespasian, excited him to go on
briskly with the war; for he foresaw al-
ready the civil wars which were coming
upon them, nay, that the very government
was in danger; and he thought if he could
first reduce the eastern parts of the em-
pire to peace, he should make the fears for
Italy the lighter; while, therefore, the win-
ter was his hindorance [from going into
the field], he put garrisons into the villages
and smaller cities for their security ; he
put decurions also into the villages, and
centurions into the cities; he besides this
rebuilt many of the cities that had been
laid waste ; but at the beginning of the
spring he took the greatest part of his
army, and led it from Cesarea to Antipa-
tris, where he spent two days in settling
the affairs of that city, and then, on the
third day, he marched on, laying waste
and burning all the neighbouring villages.
And when he had laid waste all the places
about the toparchy of Thamnas, he passed
on to Lydda and Jamnia ; and when both
those cities had come over to him, he
placed a great many of those that had
come over to him [from other places] as
inhabitants therein, and then came to Em-
maus, where he seized upon the passages
which led theuce to their metropolis, and
fortified his camp, and leaving the fifth
legion therein, he came to the toparchy
of Bethletephon. He then destroyed that
place, and the neighbouring places, by
fire, and fortified, at proper places, the
strongholds all about Idumea; and when
he had seized upon two villages, which
were in the very midst of Idumea, Betaris,
and Caphartobas, he slew above 10,000
of the people, and carried into captivity
above 1000, and drove away the rest of
the multitude, and placed no small part
of his own forces in them, who overran
306
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
and laid waste the whole mountainous
country ; while he, with the rest of his
forces, returned to Etnmaus, whence he
came down through the country of Sama-
ria, and hard by the city by others called
Neapolis, (or Sichem,) but by the people
of that country Mabortha, to Corea, where
he pitched his camp on the second day
of the month Dtesius [Sivan] ; and on the
day following he came to Jericho; on
which day Trajan, one of his commanders,
joined him with the forces he brought out
of Perea, all the places beyond Jordan
being subdued already.
Hereupon a great multitude prevented
their approach, and came out of Jericho,
and fled to those mountainous parts that
lay over against Jerusalem, while that
part which was left behind was in a great
measure destroyed : they also found the
city desolate. It is situated in a plain ;
but a naked and barren mountain, of a
great length, hangs over it, which extends
itself to the land about Scythopolis north-
ward, but as far as the country of Sodom,
and the utmost limits of the lake Asphal-
titis southward. This mountain is all of
it very uneven, and uninhabited by reason
of its barrenness : there is an opposite
mountain that is situated over against it,
on the other side of Jordan ; this last be-
gins at Julias and the northern quarters,
and extends itself southward as far as So-
morrhon,* which is the bounds of Petra,
in Arabia. In this ridge of mountains
there is one called the Iron Mountain, that
runs in length as far as Moab. Now the
region that lies in the middle, between
these ridges of mountains, is called the
Great Plain ; it reaches from the village
Ginnabris, as far as the lake Asphaltitis ;
its length is 230 furlongs, and its breadth
120, and it is divided in the midst by Jor-
dan. It hath two lakes in it ; that of
Asphaltitis, and that of Tiberias, whose
natures are opposite to each other; for the
former is salt and unfruitful ; but that of
Tiberias is sweet and fruitful. This plain
is much burnt up in summer time ; and,
by reason of the extraordinary heat, con-
tains a very unwholesome air; it is all
destitute of water excepting the river
Jordan, which water of Jordan is the oc-
casion why those plantations of palm-trees
that are near its banks are more flourish-
ing, and much more fruitful, while those
that are remote from it are not so flourish-
* Probably the same as Goinorrha.
ing or fruitful. Notwithstanding which,
there is a fountain by Jericho, that runs
plentifully, and is very fit for watering
the ground : it arises near the old city,
which Joshua, the son of Nun, the gene
ral of the Hebrews, took the first of all
the cities of the land of Canaan, by right
of war. The report is, that this fountain,
at the beginning, caused not only the
blasting of the earth and the trees, but of
the children born of women ; and that it
was entirely of a sickly and corruptive na-
ture to all things whatsoever, but that it
was made gentle, and very wholesome and
fruitful, by the prophet Elisha. This
prophet was familiar with Elijah, and was
his successor, who, when he once was the
guest of the people of Jericho, and the
men of the place had treated him very
kindly, he both made them amends as well
as the country, by a lasting favour ; for he
went out of the city to this fountain, and
threw into the current an earthen vessel
full of salt ; after which, he stretched out
his righteous hand unto heaven, and,
pouring out a mild drink-offering, he made
this supplication, that the current might
be softened, and that the veins of fresh
water might be opened : that God also
would bring into the place a more temper-
ate and fertile air for the current, and
would bestow upon the people of that
country plenty of the fruits of the earth,
and a succession of children; and that this
prolific water might never fail them, while
they continued to be- righteous.* To
these prayers Elisha joined proper opera-
tions of his hands, after a .skilful manner,
and changed the fountain ; and that water,
which had been the occasion of barren-
ness and famine before, from that time
did supply a numerous posterity, and af-
forded great abundance to the country.
Accordingly, the power of it is so great
in watering the ground, that if it do but
once touch a country, it affords a sweeter
nourishment than other waters do, when
they lie so long upon them till they are
satiated with them. For which reason,
the advantage gained from other waters,
when they flow in great plenty, is but
small, while that of this water is great
when it flows even in little quantities. Ac-
cordingly it waters a larger space of ground
than any other waters do, and passes along
a plain of seventy furlongs long, and twen-
* This prayer of Elisha is wanting in our copies,
2 Kings ii. 21, 22 : it is referred to in the Aposto.
lieal Constitutions, b. vii. e. 37.
Chap. IX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS
:,;,;
ty broad ; wherein it affords nourishment
to those most excellent gardens that are
thickly set with trees There are in it
many sorts of palm-trees that are watered
by it, different from each other in taste
and name ; the better sort of them, when
they are pressed, yield an excellent kind
of honey, not much inferior in sweetness
to other honey. This country withal pro-
duces honey from bees : it also bears that
balsam which is the most precious of all
the fruits in that place ; cypress-trees also,
and those that bear myrobalanum ; so that
he who should pronounce this place to be
divine would not be mistaken, wherein is
such plenty of trees produced as are very
rare and of the most excellent sort. And,
indeed, if we speak of those other fruits,
it will not be easy to light on any climate
in the habitable earth that can well be
compared to it, — what is here sown comes
up in such clusters : the cause of which
seems to me to be the warmth of the air
and the fertility of the waters ; the warmth
calling forth the sprouts, and making them
spread, and the moisture making every
one of them take root firmly, and supply-
ing that virtue which it stands in need of
in summer time. Now this country is
then so badly burnt up, that nobody cares
to come at it; and if the water be drawn
up before sunrising, and after that exposed
to the air, it becomes exceeding cold, and
becomes of a nature quite contrary to the
ambient air : as in winter again it becomes
warm ; and if you go into it, it appears
very gentle. The ambient air is here also
of so good a temperature, that the people
of the country are clothed in linen only,
even when snow covers the rest of Judea.
This place is 150 furlongs from Jerusalem,
and 60 from Jordan. The country as far
as Jerusalem is desert and stony ; but
that as far as Jordan and the lake As-
phaltitis lies lower indeed, though it be
equally desert and barren. But so much
shall suffice to have been said about Jericho,
and of the great happiness of its situation.
The nature of the lake Asphaltitis is
also worth describing. It is, as I have
said already, bitter and unfruitful. It is
so light [or thick] that it bears up the
heaviest things that are thrown into it;
nor is it easy for any one to make things
sink therein to the bottom, if he had a
mind to do so. Accordingly, when Ves-
pasian went to see it, he commanded that
some who could not swim, should have
their hands tied behind them, and be
thrown into the deep, when it so happened
that they all swam, as if a wind bad forced
them upward. Moreover, the change of
the colour of this lake is wonderful, fir it
changes its appearance thrice every day;
and as the rays of the sun fall differently
upon it, the light is variously reflected.
However, it casts up black clods of bitumen
in many parts of it; these swim at the top
of the water, and resemble, both in shape
and bigness, headless bulls; and when the
labourers that belong to the lake come to
it, and catch hold of it as it bangs together,
they draw it into their ships; but when
the ship is full, it is not easy to cut off
the rest, for it is so tenacious as to make
the ship hang upon its clods till they set
it loose with blood, and with urine, to
which alone it yields. This bitumen is
not only useful for the caulking of ships,
but for the cure of men's bodies : accord-
ingly it is mixed in a great many medi-
cines. The length of this lake is 580 fur-
longs, where it is extended as far as Zoar,
in Arabia; and its breadth is 150. The
country of Sodom borders upon it. It was
of old a most happy laud, both for the
fruits it bore and the riches of its cities,
although it be now all burnt up. It is
related how, for the impiety of its inhabit-
ants, it was burnt by lightning ; in con-
sequence of which there are still the
remainders of that diviue fire ; and the
traces [or shadows] of the five cities are
still to be seen, as well as the ashes grow-
ing in their fruits, which fruits have a
colour as if they were fit to be eaten ; but
if you pluck them with your hands, they
dissolve into smoke and ashes. And thus
what is related of this land of Sodom
hath these marks of credibility which our
very sight affords us.
CHAPTER IX.
Vespasian makes preparations to besiege Jerusa-
lem— Death of Nero — An account of Simon of
Gerasa.
And now Vespasian had fortified all
the places round about Jerusalem, and
erected citadels at Jericho and Adida, and
placed garrisons in them both, partly out
of his own Romans, and partly out of the
body of his auxiliaries. He also sent
Lucius Annius to Gerasa and delivered to
him a body of horsemen and a considerable
number of footmen. So when he had
taken the city, which he did at the first
onset, he slew 1000 of those young men
308
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
who had not prevented him by flying
away; but he took their families captive,
and permitted his soldiers to plunder them
of their effects; after which he set fire to
their houses, and went away to the ad-
joining villages, while the men of power
fled away, and the weaker part were des-
troyed, and what was remaining was all
burnt down. And now the war having
gone through all the mountainous country,
and all the plain country also, those that
were at Jerusalem were deprived of the
liberty of going out of the city ; for as to
such as had a mind to desert, they were
watched by the Zealots; and as to such as
were not yet on the side of the Romans,
their army kept them iri,,by encompassing
the city round about on all sides.
Now as Vespasian was returned to Ce-
sarea, and was getting ready with all his
army to march directly to Jerusalem, he
was informed that Nero was dead, after
he had reigned thirteen years and eight
days. But as to any narration after what
manner he abused his power in the go-
vernment, and committed the managemeut
of affairs to those vile wretches, Nym-
phidius and Tigellinus, his unworthy
freedmcn ; and how he had a plot laid
against him by them, and was deserted by
all his guards, and ran away with four of
his most trusty freedmen, and slew him-
self in the suburbs of Rome; and how
those that occasioned his death were, in
no long time, brought themselves to punish-
ment ; how also the war in Gall ended ;
and how Galba was made emperor, and
returned out of Spain to Rome ; and how
he was accused by the soldiers as a pusil-
lanimous person, and slain by treachery in
the middle of the market-place at Rome,
and Otho was made emperor; with his
expedition against the commanders of
Vitellius, and his destruction thereupon ;
and besides what' troubles there were under
Vitellius, and the fight that was about the
capitol ; as also how Antonius Primus
and Mucianus slew Vitellius and his Ger-
man legions, and thereby put an end to
that civil war, I have omitted to give an
exact account of them, because they are
well known by all, and they are described
by a great number of Greek and Roman
authors ; yet for the sake of the connection
of matters, and that my history may not
be incoherent, I have, just touched upon
every thing briefly. Wherefore Vespasian
put off at first his expedition against Jeru-
salem, and stood waiting whither the em-
[Book vV
pire would be transferred after the death
of Nero. Moreover, when he heard that
Galba was made emperor, he attempted
nothing till he also should send him som6
directions about the war : however, he sent
his son Titus to him, to salute him, and
to receive his commands about the Jews.
Upon the very same errand did King
Agrippa sail along with Titus to Galba ;
but as they were sailing in their long ships
by the coasts of Achaia, for it was winter
time, they heard that Galba was slain,
before they could get to him, after he had
reigned seven months and as many days.
After whom Otho took the government,
and undertook the management of public
affairs. So Agrippa resolved to go on to
Rome without any terror on account of
the change in the government; but Titus,
by a divine impulse, sailed back from
Greece to Syria, and came in great haste
to Cesarea, to his father. And now they
were both in suspense about the public
affairs, the Roman empire being then in a
fluctuating condition, and did not go on
with their expedition against the Jews,
but thought that to make any attack upon
foreigners was now unseasonable on account
of the solicitude they were in for their own
country.
And now there arose another war at
Jerusalem. There was a son of Giora,
one Simon, by birth of Gerasa, a young
man, not so cunning indeed as John [of
Gischala], who had already seized upon
the city, but superior in strength of body
and courage ; on which account, when he
had been driven away from that Acrabat-
tene toparchy, which he once had, by
Ananus the high priest, he came to those
robbers who had seized upon Massada. At
first they suspected him, and only per-
mitted him to come with the women he
brought with him into the lower part of
the fortress, while they dwelt in the upper
part of it themselves. However, his
manner so well agreed with theirs, and he
seemed so trusty a man, that he went out
with them, and ravaged and destroyed
the country with them about Massada ;
yet when he persuaded them to undertake
greater things, he could not prevail with
them so to do ; for as they were accustomed
to dwell in that citadel, they were afraid
of going far from that which was their
hiding-place ; but he affecting to tyrannize,
and being fond of greatness, when he had
heard of the death of Ananus, left them,
and went into the mountainous part of
Chap. IX ]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
309
L
the country. So he proclaimed liberty
to those in slavery, and a reward to those
already free, and got together a set of
wicked men, from all quarters.
And as he had now a strong body of
men about him, he overran the villages
that lay in the mountainous country, and
when there were still more and more that
came to him, he ventured to go down into*
the lower parts of the country, and since
he had now become formidable to the cities,
many of the men of power were corrupted
by him ; so that his army was no longer
composed of slaves and robbers, but a
great many of the populace were obedient
to him as to their king. He then over-
ran the Acrabattcne toparchy, and the
places that reached as far as the Great
Idumea; for he built a wall at a certain
village called Nain, and made use of that
as a fortress for his own party's security ;
and at the valley called Paran he enlarged
many of the caves, and many others he
found ready for his purpose ; these he
made use of as repositories for his trea-
sures and receptacles for his prey, and
therein he laid up the fruits that he had
got by rapine ; and many of his partizans
had their dwelling in them ; and he made
no secret of it that he was exercising his
men beforehand, and making preparations
for the assualt of Jerusalem. ,
Whereupon the Zealots, out of the
dread they were in of his attacking them,
and being willing to prevent one that was
growing up to oppose them, went out
against him with their weapons. Simon
met them, and joining battle with them,
slew a considerable number of them, and
drove the rest before him into the city :
but durst not trust so much upon his
forces as to make an assault upon the walls;
but he resolved first to subdue Idumea,
and as he had now 20,000 armed men, he
marched to the borders of their country.
Hereupon the rulers of the Idumeaus got
together on the sudden the most warlike
part of their people, about 25,000 in
number, and permitted the rest to be a
guard to their own country, by reason of
the incursions that were made by the
Sicarii that were at Massada. Thus they
received Simon at their borders, where
they fought him, and continued the bat-
tle all that day; and the dispute lay
whether they had conquered him or been
conquered by him. So he went back to
Nain, as did the Idumeaus return home.
Nor was it long ere Simon came violently
again upon thcir'country ; when he pitch-
ed his camp at a certain village called
Thccoe, and sent Elcazar, one of his com-
panions, to those that kept garrison at
Herodium, and in order. to persuade them
to surrender that fortress to him. The
garrison received this man readily, while
they knew nothing of what he came about;
but as soon as he talked of the surrender
of the place, they fell upon him with their
drawn swords, till he found he had no
place for flight, when he threw himself
down from the wall into the valley beneath ;
so he died immediately : but the Idumeans,
who were already much afraid of Simon's
power, thought fit to take a view of the
enemy's army before they hazarded a bat-
tle with him.
Now, there was one of their command-
ers, named Jacob, who offered to serve
them readily upou that occasion, but had
it in his mind to betray them. He went,
therefore, from the village Alurus, where-
in the army of the Idumeans were gotten
together, and came to Simon, and at the
very first he agreed to betray his country
to him, and took assurances upon oath
from him that ho should always have him
in esteem, and then promised him that he
would assist him in subduing all Idumea
under him ; upon which account he was
feasted after an obliging manner by Simon,
and elevated by his mighty promises; and
when he had returned to his own men, he
at first belied the army of Simon, and said
it was manifold more iu number than what
it was; after which, he dexterously per-
suaded the commanders, and by degrees
the whole multitude, to receive Simon,
and to surrender the whole government up
to him without fighting; and as he was
doing this, he invited Simon by his mes-
sengers, and promised him to disperse the
Idumeans, which he performed also; for
as soon as their army was nigh them, he
first of all got upon his horse, and fled,
together with those whom he had cor-
rupted : hereupon a terror fell upon the
whole multitude; aud before it came to a
close fight, they broke their ranks, and
every one retired to his own home.
Thus did Simon unexpectedly march
into Idumea without bloodshed, and made
a sudden attack upon the city Hebron,
and took it; wherein begot possession of
a great deal of prey, aud plundered it of
a vast quantity of fruit. Now, the peo-
ple of the country say that it is a mora
ancient city, not only thau any in that
310
WARS OF THE JEWS.
country, but than Memphis in Egypt, and
accordingly its age is reckoned at 2300
years. They also relate that it had been
the habitation of Abram, the progenitor
of the Jews, after he had removed out of
Mesopotamia ; and they say that his pos-
terity descended from thence into Egypt,
whose monuments are to this very time
shown in that small city; the fabric of
which monuments are of the most excel-
lent marble, and wrought after the most
elegant manner. There is also there shown,
at the distance of six furlongs from the
city, a very large turpentine-tree ; and the
report goes that this tree has continued
ever since the creation of the world.
Thence did Simon make his progress over
all Idumea, and did not only ravage the
cities and villages, but laid waste the
whole country; for, besides those that
were completely armed, he had 40,000
men that followed him, insomuch that he
had not provisions enough to suffice such
a multitude. Now, besides this want of
provisions that he was in, he was of a
barbarous disposition, and bore great anger
at this nation, by which me£»ns it came to
pass that Idumea was greatly depopulated ;
and as one may see all the woods behind
despoiled of their leaves by locusts, after
they had been there, so were there nothing
left behind Simon's army but a desert.
Some places they burnt down, some they
utterly demolished, and whatsoever grew
in the country, they either trod it down
or fed upon it; and by their marches they
made the ground that was cultivated, hard-
er and more untractable than that which
was barren. In short, there was no sign
remaining of those places that had been
laid waste, that ever they had had a being.
This success of Simon excited the Zea-
lots afresh ; and though they were afraid
to fight him openly in a fair battle, yet did
they lay ambushes in the passes, and
seized upon his wife, with a considerable
number of her attendants; whereupon
they came back to the city rejoicing, as if
they had taken Simon himself captive,
and were in present expectation that he
would lay down his arms, and make sup-
plication to them for his wife ; but instead
of indulging any merciful affection, he
grew very angry at them for seizing his
beloved wife ; so he came to the wall of
Jerusalem, and like wild beasts when
they are wounded, and cannot overtake
those that wounded them, he vented his
spleen upon all persons that he met with.
[Book IV
Accordingly, he caught all those that were
come out of the city gates, either to gather
herbs or sticks, who were unarmed and in
years; he then tormented them and de-
stroyed them, out of the immense rage he
was in, and was almost ready to taste the
very flesh of their dead bodies. He also
cut off the hands of a great many, and
.sent them into the city to astonish his
enemies, and in order to make the people
fall into a sedition, and desert those
that had been the authors of his wife's
seizure. He also enjoined them to tell
the people that Simon swore by the God
of the universe, who sees all things, that
unless they will restore him his wife, he
will break down their wall, and inflict the
like punishment upon all the citizens,
without sparing any age, and without
making any distinction between the guilty
and the innocent. These threatenings so
greatly affrighted, not the people only, but
the Zealots themselves also, that they sent
his wife back to him — when he became a
little milder, and left off his perpetual
blood-shedding.
But now sedition and civil war prevail-
ed, not only over Judea, but in Italy, also ;
for now Galba was slain in the midst of
the Roman market-place; then was Otho
made emperor, and fought against Vitel-
lius, who set up for emperor also ; for the
legions in Germany had chosen him : but
when he gave battle to Valens and Cecin-
na, who were Vitellius's generals, at Be-
triacum, in Gall, Otho gained the advan-
tage on the first day ; but on the second
day Vitellius's soldiers .had the victory ;
and after much slaughter, Otho slew him-
self, when he had heard of this defeat at
Brixia, and after he had managed the pub-
lic affairs three months and two days.
Otho's army also came over to Vitellius's
generals, and he came himself down to
Homo with his army ; but in the mean
time Vespasian removed from Cesarea, on
the fifth day of the month Dcesius [Sivan],
and marched against those places of Judea
which were not yet overthrown. So he
went up to the mountainous country, and
took those two toparchies that were called
the Gophnitick and Acrabattene toparchies.
After which he took Bethel and Ephraim,
two small cities; and when he had put
garrisons into them, he rode as far as Je-
rusalem, in which march he took many
prisoners, and many captives. But Cerea-
lis, one of his commanders, took a body
of horsemen and footmen, and laid waste
Chap. IX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
311
that part of Idumea which was called the
Upper Idumea, and attaoked Capbethra,
which pretended to be a small city, and
took it at the first onset, and burnt it
down. He also attacked Capharabim, and
laid siege to it, for it had a very strong
wall ; and when he expected to spend a
long time in that siege, those that were
within opened their gates on the sudden,
and came to beg pardon, and surrendered
themselves up to him. When Cerealis
had conquered them, he went to Hebron,
another very ancient city. I have told
you already that this city is situated in
a mountainous country not far off Jeru-
salem ; and when he had broken into the
city by force, what multitude and young
men were left therein he slew, and burnt
down the city ; so that as now all the places
were taken, excepting Herodium, and
Massada, and Macherus, which were in
the possession of the robbers, so Jerusa-
lem was what the Romans at present
aimed at.
And now, as soon as Simon had set his
wife free, and recovered her from the Zea-
lots, he returned back to the remainders
of Idumea, and driving the nation all be-
fore him from all quarters, he compelled a
great number of them to retire to Jeru-
salem ; he followed them himself also to
the city ; and encompassed the wall all
round again ; and when he lighted upon
any labourers that were coming thither out
of the country, he slew them. Now this
Simon, who was without the wall, was a
greater terror to the people than the Ro-
mans themselves, as were the Zealots who
were within it more heavy upon them than
both of the others; and during this time did
the mischievous contrivances and courage
[of John] corrupt the body of the Galile-
ans ; for these Galileans had advanced this
John and made him very potent, who
made them a suitable requital from the
authority he had obtained by their means;
for he permitted them to do all things that
any of them desired to do, while their in-
clination to plunder was insatiable, as was
their zeal in searching the houses of the
rich ; and for the murdering of the men,
and abusing of the women, it was sport
to them. They also devoured what spoils
they had taken, together with their blood,
and indulged themselves in feminine wan-
tonness, without any disturbance, till they
were satiated therewith ; while they decked
their hair, and put on women's garments,
and were besmeared over with ointments;
3D
and that they might appear very comely,
they bad paints under their eyes, and imi-
tated, not only the ornaments, hut also
the lusts of women, and were guilty of
such intolerable uncleanness, that they
invented unlawful pleasures of that sort.
And thus did they roll themselves up and
down the city, as in a brothcl-housr, and
defiled it entirely with their impure actions ;
nay, while their faces looked the faces of
women, they killed with their right hands;
and when their gait was effeminate, they
presently attacked men, and became war-
riors, and drew their swords from under
their finely dyed cloaks, and ran every-
body through whom they alighted upon.
However, Simon waited for such as ran
away from John, and was the more bloody
of the two ; aud he who had escaped the
tyrant within the wall, was destroyed by
the other that lay before the gates. So
that all attempts of flying and deserting
to the Romans were cut off, if any had a
mind so to do.
Yet did the army that was under John
raise a sedition against him; and all the
Idumeans separated themselves from the
tyrant, and attempted to destroy him, and
this out of their envy at his power and
hatred of his cruelty ; so they got to-
gether, and slew many of the Zealots, and
drove the rest before them into that royal
palace that was built by Grapte, who was
a relation of Izates, the king of Adiabene ;
the Idumeans fell in with them, and drove
the Zealots out thence into the temple,
and betook themselves to plunder John's
effects; for both he himself was in that
palace, and therein had he laid up the
spoils he bad acquired by his tyranny. In
the mean time the multitude of those
Zealots that were dispersed over the city,
ran together to the temple under those
that had fled thither, and John prepared
to bring them down against the people and
the Idumeans, who were not so much
afraid of being attacked by them (because
they were themselves better soldiers than
they) as at their madness, lest they should
privately sally out of the temple, and get
among them, and not only destroy them,
but set the city on fire also. So they as-
sembled themselves together, and the high
priests with them, and took counsel after
what manner they should avoid their as-
sault. Now it was God who turned their
opinions to the worst advice, and thence
they devised such a remedy to get them-
selves free, as was worse than the disease
S12
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV.
itself. Accordingly, in order to overthrow
John, they determined to admit Simon,
and earnestly to desire the introduction
of a second tyrant into the city ; which
resolution they brought to perfection, and
sent Matthias, the high priest, to beseech
this Simon to come into them, of whom
they had so often been afraid. Those also
that had fled from the Zealots in Jerusa-
lem joined in this request to him, out of
the desire they had of preserving their
houses and their effects. Accordingly,
he, in an arrogant manner, granted them
his lordly protection, and came into the
city, in order to deliver it from the Zea-
lots. The people also made joyful accla-
mations to him, as their saviour and their
preserver ; but when he was come in, with
his army, he took care to secure his own
authority, and looked upon those that had
invited him to be no less his enemies than
those against whom the invitation was in-
tended.
And thus did Simon get possession of
Jerusalem, in the third year of the war,
in the month Xanthicus [Nisan] ; where-
upon John, with his multitude of Zealots,
as being both prohibited from coming out
of the temple, and having lost their pow-
er in the city, (for Simon and his party
had plundered them of what they had,)
were in despair of deliverance. Simon
also made an assault upon the temple,
with the assistance of the people, while
the others stood upon the cloisters and the
battlements, and defended themselves from
their assaults. However, a considerable
number of Simon's party fell, and many
were carried off wounded ; for the Zealots
threw their darts easily from a superior
place, and seldom failed of hitting their
enemies ; but having the advantage of
situation, and having withal erected four
very large towers beforehand, that their
darts might come from higher places, one
at the north-east corner of the court, one
above the Xystus, the third at another
corner over against the lower city, and the
last was erected above the top of the
Pastophoria, where one of the priests stood
of course, and gave a signal beforehand
with a trumpet,* at the beginning of every
seventh day, in the evening twilight, as
also at the evening when the day was
finished, as giving notice to the people
when they were to leave off work, and
when they were to go to work again. Thes$
men also set their engines to cast darts
and stones wdthal, upon those towers, with
their archers and slingers. And now Si-
mon made his assault upon the temple
more faintly, by reason that the greatest
part of his men grew weary of that work ;
yet did he not leave off his opposition,
because his army was superior to the
others, although the darts which were
thrown by the engines were carried a
great way, and slew many of those that
fought for him.
* This beginning and ending the observation of
the Jewish seventh day, or Sabbath, with a priest's
blowing of a trumpet, is remarkable. Nor is Re-
land's conjecture improbable, that this was the
very place that has puzzled our commentators so
CHAPTER X.
Vespasian proclaimed emperor by the soldiers in
Judea and Egypt — He liberates Josephus.
Now, about this very time it was that
heavy calamities came about Rome on all
sides; for Vitellius was come from Ger-
many with his soldiery, and drew along
with him a great multitude of other men
besides. And when the spaces allotted for
soldiers could not coutain them, lie made
all Rome itself his camp, and filled all the
houses with armed men ; which men, when
they saw the riches of Rome with those
eyes which had never seen such riches be-
fore, and found themselves shine round
about on all sides with silver and gold,
they had much ado to contain their covet-
ous desires, and were ready to betake
themselves to plunder, and to the slaugh-
ter of such as should stand in their way.
And this was the state of affairs in Italy
at that time.
But when Vespasian had overthrown
all the places that were near to Jerusa-
lem, he returned to Cesarea, and heard
of the troubles that were at Rome, and
that Vitellius was emperor. This pro-
duced indignation in him, although he
well knew how to be governed, as well as
to govern, and could not with any satis-
faction own him for his lord who acted so
madly, and seized upon the government
as if it were absolutely destitute of a
governor. And as this sorrow of his was
violent, he was not able to support the
torments he was under, nor to apply him-
self further in other wars when his native
long, called " Musach Sabbati," the " Covert of the
Sabbath," if that be the true reading, 2 Kings xvL
18 ; because hero the proper priest stood dry, under
a" covering," to proclaim the beginning and ending
of every Jewish Sabbath.
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314
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V.
want of food;) and because he was desirous
to join the two legions that were at
Alexandria to the other legions that were
with him. He also considered with him-
self, that he should then have that coun-
try for a defence to himself against the
uncertainty of fortune ; for Egypt is hard
to be entered by land, and hath no good
havens by sea. It hath on the west the
dry deserts of Libya; and on the south
Syene, that divides it from Ethiopia, as
well as the cataracts of the Nile, that
cannot be sailed over; and on the east the
Red Sea, extending as far as Coptus ; and
it is fortified on the north by the land
that reaches to Syria, together with that
called the Egyptian Sea, having no havens
in it for ships. And thus is Egypt walled
about on every side. Its length between
Pelusium and Syene is 20U0 furlongs,
and the passage by sea from Plinthine to
Pelusium is 3600 furlongs. Its river
Nile is navigable as far as the city called
Elephantine, the forenamed cataracts hin-
dering ships from going any farther. The
haven also of Alexandria is not entered
by the mariners without difficulty, even in
times of peace ; for the passage inward is
narrow, and full of rocks, that lie under
the water, which oblige the mariners to
turn from a straight directiou : its left side
is blocked up by works made by men's
hands on both sides; on its right side
lies the island called Pharos, which is
situated just before the entrance, and sup-
ports a very great tower, that affords the
sight of a fire to such as sail within 300
furlongs of it, that ships may cast anchor
a great way off in the night time, by
reason of the difficulty of sailing nearer.
About this island are built very great
piers, the handiwork of men, against
which when the sea dashes itself, and its
waves are broken against those bounda-
ries, the navigation becomes very trouble-
some, and the entrance through so narrow
a passage is rendered dangerous : yet is
the haven itself, when you are got iuto it,
a very safe one, and of thirty furlongs in
largeness; into which is brought what the
country wants, in order to its happiness;
as also what abundance the country affords
more than it wants itself, is hence dis-
tributed into all the habitable earth.
Justly, therefore, did Vespasian desire
to obtain that government, in order to
corroborate his attempts upon the whole
of the empire; so he immediately sent
to Tiberius Alexander, who was then
governor of Egypt and of Alexandria,
and informed him what the army had put
upon him, and how he, being forced to
accept of the burden of the government,
was desirous to have him for his con-
federate and supporter. Now as soon as
ever Alexander had read this letter, he
readily obliged the legions and the multi-
tude to take the oath of fidelity to Ves-
pasian, both of whom willingly complied
with him, as already acquainted with the
courage of the man, from his conduct in
their neighbourhood. Accordingly, Ves-
pasian, looking upon himself as already
intrusted with the government, got all
things ready for his journey [to Home].
Now fame carried this news abroad more
suddenly than one could have thought,
that he was emperor over the East, upon
which every city kept festivals, and ce-
lebrated sacrifices and oblations for such
good news ; the legions also that were in
Mysia and Pannonia, who had been in
commotion a little before, on account of
this insolent attempt of Vitellius, were
very glad to take the oath of fidelity to
Vespasian, upon his coming to the empire.
Vespasian then removed from Cesarea to
Berytus, where- many embassages came
to him from Syria, and many from other
provinces, bringing with them from every
city crowns, and the congratulations of the
people. Mucianus came also, who was
the president of the province, and told
him with what alacrity the people [received
the news of his advancement], and how
the people of every city had taken the
oath of fidelity to him. .
So Vespasian's good fortune succeeded
to his wishes everywhere, and the public
affairs were, for the greatest part, already
in his hands; upon which he considered
that he had not arrived at the government
without Divine Providence, but that a
righteous kind of fate had brought the
empire under his power ; for as he called
to mind the other signals (which had been
a great many everywhere) that foretold
he should obtain the government, so did
he remember what Josephus had said to
him when he ventured to foretell his
coming to the empire while Nero was
alive ; so he was much concerned that
this man was still in bonds with him. lie
then called for Mucianus, together with
his other commanders and friends, and,
in the first place, he informed them what
a valiant man Josephus had been, and
what great hardships he had made him
Chap. XL]
WARS OF TIIH JEWS.
undergo in the siege of Jotapata. After
that he related those predictions of his,*
which he had then suspected as fictions,
suggested out of the fear he was in, hut
which had by time been demonstrated to
be divine. "It is a shameful thing (said
he) that this man, who hath foretold my
coming to the empire beforehand, and
been the minister of a divine message to
me, should still be retained in the con-
dition of a captive or prisoner." So he
called for Josephus, and commanded that
he should be set at liberty ; whereupon
the commanders promised themselves glo-
rious things, from this requital Vespasian
made to a stranger. Titus was then present
with his father, and said, " 0 father, it is
but just that the scandal [of a prisoner]
should be taken off Josephus, together
with his iron chain ; for if we do not
barely loose his bonds, but cut them to
pieces, he will be like a man that hath
never been bound at all." For that is
the usual method as to such as have been
bound without a cause. This advice was
agreed to by Vespasian also ; so there
came a man in, and cut the chain to
pieces; while Josephus received this testi-
mony of his integrity for a reward, and
was moreover esteemed a person of credit
as to futurities also.
CHAPTER XL
Upon the conquest and slaughter of Vitellius, Ves-
pasian hastens to Rome, and Titus returns to
Jerusalem.
And now, when Vespasian had given
answers to the embassages, and had dis-
posed of the places of power justly,f and
according to every one's deserts, he came
to Autioch, and consulting which way he
had best take, he preferred to go to Home,
rather than to march to Alexandria, be-
* As Daniel was preferred by Darius and Cyras,
on account of his having foretold the destruction
of the Babylonian monarchy by their means, and
the consequent exaltation of the Medes and Per-
sians, Dan. v. vi. ; or rather, as Jeremiah, when he
was a prisoner, was set at liberty and honourably
treated by Nebuzaradan, at the command of Nebu-
chadnezzar, on account of his having foretold the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, Jer.
xl. 1-7 ; so was our Josephus set at liberty and
honourably treated, on account of his having fore-
told the advancement of Vespasian and Titus to
the Roman empire.
| This is well observed "y Josephus, that Ves-
pasian, in order to secure his success, and establish
his government at first, distributed his offices and
places upon the foot of justice, and bestowed them
on such as best deserved them and wero best fit
for them.
cause he saw that Alexandria was sure
to him already, but that the affaire of
Home were put into disorder by Vitellius;
so he sent Mucianus to Italy, and com-
mitted a considerable army both of horse-
men and footmen to him; yet was Muci-
anus afraid of going by sea, because it
was the middle of winter ; so he led his
army on foot through Cappadocia and
Phrygia.
In the mean time, Antonius Primus took
the third of the legions that were in My-
sia, for he was president of thai province,
and made haste, in order to fight Vi r<-! litis ;
whereupon Vitellius sent away Cecinna,
with a great army, having a mighty con-
fidence in him, because of his having
beaten Otho. This Cecinna marched out
of Home in great haste, and found Anto-
nius about Cremona in Gall, which city is
in the borders of Italy; but when he saw
there that the enemy were numerous and
in good order, he durst not fight them ; and
as he thought a retreat dangerous, so he
began to think of betraying his army to
Antonius. Accordingly, he assembled the
centurions and tribunes that were under
his command, and persuaded them to go
over to Antonius, and this by diminishing
the reputation of Vitellius, and by exag-
gerating the power of Vespasian. He
also told them that with the one there
was no more than the bare name of do-
minion, but with the other was the power
of it; and that it was better for them to
prevent necessity, and gain favour, and,
while they were likely to be overcome in
battle, to avoid the danger beforehand, and
go over to Antonius willingly; that Ves-
pasian was able of himself to subdue what
had not yet submitted, without their as-
sistance, while Vitellius could not preserve
what he had already with it.
Cecinna said this, and much more to
the same purpose, and persuaded thi
comply with him; and both he anil his
army deserted ; but still the very same
night the soldiers repented of what they
had done, and a fear seized on them lest
perhaps Vitellius who sent them should
get the better; and drawing their swords,
they assaulted Cecinna, in order to kill
him; and the thing had been done by
them, if the tribunes had not fallen upon
their knees, and besought them not to do
it: so the soldiers did not kill him, but
put him in bonds as a traitor, and were
about to send him to Vitellius. When
[Antonius] Primus heard of this, he
316
WARS- OF THE JEWS.
[Book IV. Chap. XI
raised up his men immediately, and made
them put on their armour, and led them
against those that had revolted; hereupon
they put themselves in order of battle,
and jiade resistance for a while, but were
soon beaten, and fled to Cremona; then
did Primus take his horsemen, and cut off
their entrance into the city, and encom-
passed and destroyed a great multitude
of them before the city, and fell into the
city together with the rest, and gave leave
to his soldiers to plunder it. And here
it was that many strangers, who were mer-
chants, as well as many of the people of
that country, perished, and among them
Vitellius's whole army, being 30,200,
while Antonius lost no more of those that
came with him from Mysia than 4500 ;
he then loosed Cecinna, and sent him to
Vespasian to tell him the good news. So
he came, and was received by him ; and
covered the scandal of his treachery by
the unexpected honours he received from
Vespasian.
And now, upon the news that Antonius
was approaching, Sabinus took courage at
Rome, and assembled those cohorts of
soldiers that kept watch by night, and in
the night-time seized upon the capitol;
and, as the day came on, many men of
character came over to him, with Domi-
tian, his brother's son, whose encourage-
ment was of very great weight for the en-
compassing the government. Now, Vi-
tellius was not much concerned at this
Primus, but was very angry with those
that had revolted with Sabinus; and thirst-
ing, out of his natural barbarity, after
noble blood, he sent out that part of the
army which came along with him to fight
against the capitol; and many bold actions
were done on this side, and on the side of
those that held the temple. But at last,
the soldiers that came from Germany,
being too numerous for the others, got the
hill into their possession, where Domitian,
with many other of the principal Romans,
providentially escaped, while the rest of
the multitude were entirely cut to pieces,
and Sahinus himself was brought to Vi-
tellius and then slain : the soldiers also
plundered the temple of its ornaments,
and set it on fire. But now, within a
day's time came Antonius, with his army,
and were met by Vitellius and his army ;
and having had a battle in three several
places, the last were all destroyed. Then
did Vitellius come out of the palace, in
his cups, and satiated with an extravagant
and luxurious meal, as in the last extremi-
ty, and being drawn along through the
multitude, and abused with all sorts of tor-
ments, had his head cut off in the midst
of Rome, having retained the government
eight months and five days ; and had he
lived much longer, I cannot but think the
empire would not have been sufficient for
his lust. Of the others that were slain,
were numbered above 50,000. This bat-
tle was fought on the third day of the
month Apelleus [Casleu]; on the next
Mucianus came into the city with his army,
and ordered Antonius and his men to leave
off killing; for they were still searching
the houses, and killed many of Vitellius's
soldiers and many of the populace, as sup-
posing them to be of his party, preventing
by their rage any accurate distinction be-
tween them and others. He then pro-
duced Domitian, and recommended him to
the multitude, until his father should come
himself: so the people being now freed
from their fears, made acclamations of joy
for Vespasian, as for their emperor, and
kept festival-days for his confirmation, and
for the destruction of Vitellius.
And now, as Vespasian was come to
Alexandria, this- good news came from
Rome, and at the same time came embas-
sies from all his own habitable earth, to
congx-atulate him upon his advancement;
and though this Alexandria was the great-
est of all cities next to Rome, it proved
too narrow to contain the multitude that
then came to it. So upon this confirma-
tion of Vespasian's entire government,
which was now settled, and upon the un-
expected deliverance of the public affairs
of the Romans from ruin, Vespasian
turned his thoughts to what remained un-
subdued in Judea. However, he himselfj
made haste to go to Rome, as the winter
was now almost over, and soon set the af-
fairs of Alexandria in order, but sent his
son Titus, with a select part of his army,
to destroy Jerusalem. So Titus marched
on foot as far as Nicopolis, which is dis-
tant twenty furlongs from Alexandria ;
there he put his army on board some long
ships, and sailed upon the river, along the
Mendesian Nomus, as far as the city
Thmuis; there he got out of the ships,
and walked on foot, and lodged all night
at a small city called Tanis. His second
station was Heracleopolis, and his third
Pelusium ; he then refreshed his army at
that place for two days ; and on the third
passed over the mouths of the Nile at
Book V. Chap. I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
31'
Pelusium ; he then proceeded one station
over the desert, and pitched his camp at
the temple of the Casian Jupiter, and on
the next day at Ostracine. This station
had no water ; but the people of the coun-
try make use of water brought from other
places. After this he rested at llhinoco-
lar;i, and from thence he went to Raphia,
which was his fourth station. This city is
the beginning of Syria. For his fifth sta-
tion he pitched his camp at Gaza ; afb r
which he came to Ascalon, and thence to
Jamnia, aud after that to Joppa, and from
Joppa to Cesarea, having taken a resolu-
tion to gather all his other forces together
at that place.
BOOK V.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF NEAR SIX MONTHS, FROM THE COMING
OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM, TO THE GREAT EXTREMITY 10
WHICH THE JEWS WERE REDUCED.
a tyrant who set up after him. So he be-
ing desirous of gaining the entire power
and dominion to himself, revolted from
John, and took to his assistance Judas,
the son of Chelcias, and Simon, the son
of Ezron, who were among the men of
greatest power. There was also with him
Hezekiah, the son of Chobar, a person of
eminence. Each of these were followed
by a great many of the Zealots; these
seized upon the inner court of the temple,
and laid their arms upon the holy gates,
and over the holy fronts of that court;
and because they had plenty of provisions,
they were of good courage, for there was
a great abundance of what was consecrated
to sacred uses, and they scrupled not the
making use of them ; yet were they afraid,
on account of their small number ; and
when they had laid up their arms there,
they did not stir from the place they were
in. Now as to John, what advantage he
had above Eleazar in the multitude of his
followers, the like disadvantage he had in
the situation he was in, since he had his
enemies over his head ; and as he could
not make any assault upon them without
some terror, so was his anger too great to
let them be at rest ; nay, although he suf-
fered more mischief from Eleazar and his
party than he could inflict upon them, yet
would he not leave off assaulting them,
insomuch that there were continual sallies
made one against another, as well as darts
thrown at oue another, and the temple
was defiled every where with murders.
But now the tyrant Simon, the son of
Gioras, whom the people had invited in,
CHAPTER I.
Seditions at Jerusalem, and miseries consequent
thereon.
When, therefore, Titus had marched
over that desert which lies between Egypt
and Syria, in the manner before mention-
ed, he came to Cesarea, having resolved
to set his forces in order at that place, be-
fore he began the war. Nay, indeed,
while he was assisting his father at Alex-
andria, in settling that government which
had been newly conferred upon them by
God, it so happened that the sedition at
Jerusalem was revived, and parted into
• three factions, and that one faction fought
against the other; which partition in such
evil cases may be said to be a good thing,
and the effect of divine justice. Now as
to the attack the Zealots made upon the
people, aud which I esteem the beginning
of the city's destruction, it hath been al-
ready explained after an accurate manner;
as also whence it arose, and to how great
a mischief it was increased ; but for the
present sedition, one should not mistake
if he called it a sedition begotten by ano-
ther sedition, and to be like a wild beast
grown mad, which, for want of food from
abroad, fell now upon eating its own flesh.
For Eleazar, the son of Simon, who
made the first separation of the Zealots
from the people, and made them retire
into the temple, appeared very angry at
John's insolent attempts, which he made
every day upon the people ; for this man
never left off murdering: but the truth
was, that he could not bear to submit to
318
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V.
out of the hopes they had of his assist-
ance in the great distresses they were in,
having in his power the upper city, and a
great part of the lower, did now make more
vehement assaults upon John and his
party, because they were fought against
from above also ; yet was he bcueath their
situation, when he attacked them, as they
were beneath the attacks of the others
above tbem. Whereby it came to pass,
that John did both receive and inflict great
damage, and that easily, as he was fought
against on both sides; and the same ad-
vantage that Eleazar and his party had
over him, since he was beneath them, the
same advantage had he, by his higher
situation over Simon. On which account
he easily repelled the attacks that were
made from beneath, by the weapons
thrown from their hands only ; but was
obliged to repel those that threw darts
from the temple above him, by his engines
of war; for he had such engines as threw
darts, and javelins, and stones, and that
in no small number, by which he did not
only defend himself from such as fought
against him, but slew moreover many of
the priests, as they were about their sa-
cred ministrations; for, notwithstanding
these men were mad with all sorts of im-
piety, yet did they still admit those that
desired to offer their sacrifices, although
they took care to search - the people of
their country beforehand, and both sus-
pected and watched them ; while they
were not so much afraid of strangers, who,
although they had gotten leave of them,
how cruel soever they were, to come into
that court, were yet often destroyed by
this sedition : for those darts that were
thrown by the engines came with that force
that they went all over the buildings, and
reached as far as the altar, and the temple
itself, and fell upon the priests, and those
[Levites] that were about the sacred of-
fices ; insomuch that many persons who
came thither with great zeal from the
ends of the earth, to offer sacrifices at this
celebrated place, which was esteemed holy
by all mankind, fell down before their
own sacrifices themselves, and sprinkled
that altar which was venerable among all
men, both Greeks and Barbarians, with
their own blood; till the dead bodies of
strangers were mingled together with
those of their own country, and those of
profane persons with those of the priests,
and the blood of all sorts of dead carcases
stood in lakes in the holy courts them-
selves. And now, " 0 most wretched
city, what misery so great as this didst
thou suffer from the Romans, when they
came to purify thee from thy intestine
hatred ! For thou couldst be no longer
a place fit for God, nor couldst thou
longer continue in being, after thou hadst
been a sepulchre for the bodies of thine
own people, and hadst made the holy
house itself a burying-place in this civil
war of thine ! Yet mayst thou again
grow better, if perchance thou wilt here-
after appease the anger of that God who
is the author of they destruction." But
I must restrain myself from these passions
by the rules of history, since this is not a
proper time for domestic lamentations,
but for historical narrations : I therefore
return to the operations that follow in
this sedition.
And now there were three treacherous
factions in the city, the one parted from
the other. Eleazar and his party, that
kept the sacred first-fruits, came against
John in their cups. Those that were
with John plundered the populace, and
went out with zeal against Simon. This
Simon had his supply of provisions from
the city, in opposition to the seditious.
When, therefore, John was assaulted on
both sides, he made his men turn about,
throwing his darts upon those citizens that
came up against him, from the cloisters
he had in his possession, while he opposed
those that attacked him from the temple
by his engines of war ; and if at any time
he was freed from those that were above
him, which happened frequently, from
their being drunk and tired, he sallied
out with a great number upon Simon and
his party ; and this he did always in such
parts of the city as he could come at, till
he set on fire those houses that were full
of corn, and of all other provisions.*
The same thing was done by Simon, when,
upon the other's retreat, he attacked the
city also; as if they had, on purpose,
done it to serve the Ilomaus, by destroying
what the city had laid up against the siege,
and by thus cutting off the nerves of their
own power. Accordingly, it so came to
' * This destruction of such a vast quantity of
corn and other provisions, sufficient for many years,
was the direct occasion of that terrible famine,
which destroyed incredible numbers of Jews in
Jerusalem during its siege. Nor probably could
the Romans have taken this city, after all, had not
these seditious Jews been so infatuated as thus
madly to destroy, what Josephus here justly styles
" The nerves of their power."
Chap. L ]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
C19
pass, that all the places that were about
the temple were burnt down, and were
become an intermediate desert space, ready
for fighting on both sides ; and that almost
Co /
all the corn was burnt, which would have
been sufficient for a siege of many years.
So they were taken by the means of the
famine, which it was impossible they
should have been, unless they had thus
prepared the way for it by this procedure.
And now, as the city was engaged in a
war on all sides, from these treacherous
crowds of wicked men, the people of the
city, between them, were like a great body
torn in pieces. The aged men and the
women were in such distress by their in-
ternal calamities, that they wished for the
Romans, and earnestly hoped for an ex-
ternal war, in order to their delivery from
their domestic miseries. The citizens
themselves were under a terrible conster-
nation and fear; nor had they any oppor-
tunity of taking counsel, and of changing
their conduct ; nor wm-e there any hopes
of coming to an agreement with their
enemies; nor could such as had a mind
flee away ; for guards were set at all
places, and the heads of the robbers,
although they were seditious one against
another in other respects, yet did they
agree in killing those that were for peace
with the Romans, or were suspected of an
inclination to desert to them, as their
common enemies. They agreed in nothing
but this, to kill those that were innocent.
The noise also of those that were fighting
was incessant, both by day and by night;
but the lamentations of those that mourned
exceeded the other; nor was there ever
any occasion for them to leave off their
lamentatious, because their calamities came
perpetually one upon another, although
the deep consternation they were in pre-
vented their outward wailing; but being
constrained by their fear to conceal their
inward passions, they were inwardly tor-
mented, without daring to open their lips
in groans. Nor was any regard paid to
those that were still alive, by their re-
lations : nor was there any care taken of
burial for those that were dead ; the oc-
casion of both which was this, that every
one despaired of himself; for those that
were not among the seditious had no great
desires of any thing, as expecting for
certain that they should very soon be de-
stroyed ; but for the seditious themselves,
they fought against each other, while they
trod upon the dead bodies as they lay
heaped one upon another, and taking up
a mad rage from those dead bodies that
were under their feet, became 1 1 1 * - more
fierce thereupon. They, moreover, were
still inventing somewhat or other that
was pernicious against themselves ; and
when they had resolved upon any thing,
they executed it without mercy, and
omitted no method of torment or of bar-
barity. Nay, John abused the sacred
materials, and employed them in the con-
struction of his engines of war; for the
people and the priests had formerly de-
termined to support the temple, and raise
the holy house twenty cubits higher : for
King Agrippa had, at a very great expense,
and with very great pains, brought thither
such materials as were proper for that
purpose, being pieces of timber very well
worth seeing, both for their straightness
and their largeness : but the war coming
on, acd interrupting the work, John had
them cut, and prepared for the building
him towers, he finding them long enough
to oppose from them those adversaries
that fought him from the temple that was
above him. He also had them brought
and erected behind the inner court over
against the west end of the cloisters, where
alone he could erect them; whereas, the
other sides of that court had so many
steps as would not let them come nigh
enough the cloisters.
Thus did John hope to be too hard for
his enemies by these engines constructed
by his impiety; but God himself demon-
strated that his pains would prove of no
use to him, by bringing the Romans upon
him before he had reared any of his
towers ; for Titus, when he had gotten
together part of his forces about him, and
had ordered the rest to meet him at .Je-
rusalem, marched out of Cesarea. He
had with him those three legious that had
accompanied his father when he laid Ju-
dea waste, together with that twelfth legion
which had been formerly beaten with I --
tius; which legion, as it was otherwise
remarkable for its valour, so did it march
on now with greater alacrity to avenge
themselves on the Jews, as remembering
what they had formerly suffered from
them. Of these legions he ordered the
fifth to meet him, by going through Eui-
maus, aud the tenth to go up by Jericho;
he also moved himself, together with the
rest; besides whom marched those auxi-
liaries that came from the kings, being
now more in number than before, together
320
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V.
■with a considerable number that came to
his assistance from Syria. Those also
that had been selected out of these four
legions, and sent with Mucianus to Italy,
had their places filled up out of these
soldiers that came out of Egypt with Titus,
who were 2000 men, chosen out of the
armies at Alexandria. There followed him
also 8000 drawn from those that guarded
the river Euphrates; as also, there came
Tiberius Alexander, who was a friend of
his, most valuable, both for his good-will
to him and for his prudence. He had
formerly been governor of Alexandria,
but was now thought worthy to be general
of the army [under Titus]. The reason
of this was, that he had been the first
who encouraged Vespasian very lately to
accept this his new dominion, and joined
himself to him with great fidelity, when
things were uncertain, and fortune had
not yet declared for him. He also fol-
lowed Titus as a counsellor, very useful
to him in this war, both by his age and
skill in such affairs.
CHAPTER II.
Titus marches to Jerusalem.
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 he roads and measure out the
camp ; then came the commander's bag-
bage, 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, followed 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
tity 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 Thorn," near a certain vil-
lage called Gabaothsaul, which signifies the
" Hill of Saul," being distant from Je-
rusalem about thirty furlongs. There it
was that he chose out 600 select horse-
men, 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 se-
ditious and the robbers, were greatly de-
sirous of peace ; but being too weak to
rise up against the rest, they lay still.
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 others. Now it was here im-
possible 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
* Titus is here called " a king," and " Caesar,"
by Josephus, even while ho was no more than the
emperor's son, and general of the Roman army,
and his father Vespasian still alive; just as the
New Testament says, " Archelaus reigned," or
'• was king," (Matt. ii. 22,) though nc was properly
no more than ethnarch. Antiq. b. xviii. chap. xi. ;
War, b. ii. chap. vi. Thus also the Jews called the
Roman emperors " kings," though they never took
that title to themselves : "We have no king but
Caesar." John xix. 10. "Submit to the king as
supreme." 1 Pet. ii. 13, 17.
Chap. II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
321
them. So he perceived that his preserva-
tion 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 headpiece 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 over-
thrown. The enemy, indeed, made a
great shout at the boldness of Cajsar, and
exhorted one another to rush upon him.
Yet did these against whom he marched
fly away, and go ofl 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 be-
fore he got away from them. Now, there
were two of those that were with him, but
at some distance ; the one whom the ene-
my encompassed 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 for-
tune on their side made them very cou-
rageous for the future.
But now, as soon as that legion that
had been at Emmaus was joined to Cae-
sar at night, he removed thence, when it
was day, aud came to a place called Sco-
pus : 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 adjoining thereto, was a plain, and
Vol. II.— 21
very properly named Scopus [the pros-
pect] j and was no more than seven far-
longs distant from it. And here it was
that Titus ordered a camp to be fortified
for two legions that were 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 beginniug to build, the
tenth legion, who came through Jericho,
was already come to the place, where a
certain part 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.
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 asto-
nishment the Romans pitching three se-
veral camps, they began to think of an
awkward sort of concord, and said to one
another, " What do we here, and what
do we mean, when we suffer three forti-
fied 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 be-
come spectators only of what they are
doing, with our hands idle, and our ar-
mour laid by, as if they were about some-
what that was for our good and advan-
tage. 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 armour 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 Romaus were caught
in different parties, and this in order to
perform their several works, and on that
322
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V.
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 them 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 be-
came 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 skilfully 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
flight, 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 succours im-
mediately. 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 con-
tinue 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 be-
onged 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.
This march of the Romans seemed to
the Jews to be a flight; and as the watch-
man, 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 hud
been cast out of an engine, they brake
the enemy's ranks to pieces, who were
put to flight, aud ran away to the moun-
tain ; none but Titus himself, aud 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 sol-
dier, 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 per-
suasions 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 num-
bers 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 wei'e 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 stayed, the rest
would never have fled for it. Thus were
they encompassed on every side by a kind
Chap. III.]
WARS OF Till-; JEWS.
3-23
of panic fear, and some dispersed them-
selves one way, and some another, till cer-
tain 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
Ctesar. So they used their utmost force
against the Jews, and declining from the
straight declivity, they drove them in 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. Ti-
tus 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 nei-
ther to add any thing out of flattery, nor
to diminish any thing out of envy, but to
speak the plain truth, Ccesar did twice
deliver that entire legion when it was in
jeopardy, and gave them a quiet opportu-
nity of fortifying their camp.
CHAPTER III.
The sedition again revived within Jerusalem — the
Jews contrive snares for the Romans — Titus
threatens his soldiers for their ungovernable-
rashness.
As now the war abroad ceased for
a while, the sedition within was revived;
and on the feast of unleavened bread,
which was now come, it being the four-
teenth day of the month Xantbicus [Ni-
sau], when it is believed the Jews were
first freed from the Egyptians, Eleazar
and his party opened the gates of this
[[inmost court of the] temple, and admit-
ted such of the people as were desirous to
worship God into it.* But John made
* Here we see the true occasion of those vast
numbers of Jews that were in Jerusalem during
this siege by Titus, and perished therein ; that the
siege began at the feast of the passover, when such
prodigious multitudes of Jews and proselytes of
the gate had come from all parts of Judea, and
from other countries, in order to celebrate that
great festival Tacitus himself informs us that the
number of men, women, and children, in Jerusa-
lem, when it was besieged by the Romans, as he
had been informed, was 000,000. This information
must have boen taken from the Romans; for Jo-
6Cphus never mentions the numbers of those that
use of this festival as a cloak for his
treacherous designs, and armed the most
inconsiderable of his own party, the
greater part of whom were not purified,
with weapons concealed under their gar-
ments, and sent them with great zeal into
the temple, in order to seize upon it ;
which armed men, when they were gotten
in, threw their garments away, and pre-
sently appeared in their armour. Upon
which there was a very great disorder and
disturbance about the holy house; while
the people who had no concern in the sedi-
tion supposed that this assault was made
against all without distinction, as the
Zealots thought it was made against them-
es c
selves only. So these left off guarding
the gates any longer, and leaped down
from their battlements before they came
to an engagement, and fled away into the
subterranean caverns of the temple ; while
the people that stood trembling at the al-
tar, and about the holy house, were rolled
on heaps together, and trampled upon, and
were beaten both with wooden and with
iron weapons without mercy. Such also
as had differences with others, slew many
persons that were quiet, out of their own
private enmity and hatred, as if they were
opposite to the seditious; and all those that
had formerly offended any of these plot-
ters were now known, and were now led
away to the slaughter ; and, when they
had done abundance of horrid mischief to
the guiltless, they granted a truce to the
guilty, and let those go off that came out
of the caverns. These followers of John
also did now seize upon this inner temple,
and upon all the warlike engines therein,
and then ventured to oppose Simon. And
thus that sedition, which had been divided
into three factions, was now reduced to two
Rut Titus, intending to pitch his camp
nearer to the city than Scopus, placed as
many of his choice horsemen and footmen
as he thought sufficient, opposite to the
Jews, to prevent their sallying out upon
them, while he gave orders for the whole
were besieged ; only he lets us know, that of the
vulgar, carried dead out of the gates, and buried at
the public charges, was the like number of 600,000.
However, when Cestius Gallus came first to the
siege, that number in Tacitus is noway contrary
to Josephus's history, though they were become
much more numerous when Titus encompassed the
city at the passover. As to the number that pe-
rished during the siege, Josephus assures us they
were 1,100,000, besides 97,000 captives. Tacitus's
history of the last part of this siege is not now ex-
tant ; so we cannot compare his parallel numbers
with those of Josephus.
324
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book Y
army to level the distance as far as the
wall of the city. So they threw down all
the hedges and walls which the inhabitants
had made about their gardens and groves
of trees, and cut down all the fruit-trees
that lay between them and the wall of
the city, and filled up all the hollow places
and the chasms, and demolished the rocky
precipices with iron instruments; and
thereby made all the place level from
Scopus to Herod's monuments, which ad-
joined to the pool called the Serpent's
Pool.
Now, at this very time, the Jews con-
trived the following stratagem against the
Romans. The bolder sort of the seditious
went out at the towers, called the Wo-
men's Towers, as if they had been ejected
out of the city by those who were for
peace, and rambled about as if they were
afraid of being assaulted by the Romans,
and were in fear of one another ; while
those that stood upon the wall, and seem-
ed to be of the people's side, cried aloud
for peace, and entreated they might have
security for their lives given them, and
called for the Romans, promising to open
the gates to them ; and as they cried out
after that manner, they threw stones at
their own people, as though they would
drive them away from the gates. These
also pretended that they were excluded by
force, and that they petitioned those that
were within to let them in; and rushing
upon the Romans perpetually, with vio-
lence, they then came back, and seemed
to be in great disorder. Now the Roman
soldiers thought this cunning stratagem
of theirs was to be believed real, and
thinking they had the one party under their
power, and could punish them as they
pleased, and hoping that the other party
would opeu their gates to them, set to the
execution of their designs accordingly.
But for Titus himself, he had this surpris-
ing conduct of the Jews in suspicion ; for
whereas he bad invited them to come to
terms of accommodation by Josephus but
one day before, he could then receive no
civil answer from them ; so he ordered the
soldiers to stay where they were. How-
ever, some of them that were set in the
front of the works prevented him, and,
catching up their arms, ran to the gates ;
whereupon those that seemed to have been
ejected at the first retired ; but as soon as
the soldiers were gotten between the tow-
ers on each side of the gate, the Jews ran
out and encompassed them round, and fell
upon them behind, while that multitude
which stood upon the wall, threw a heap
of stones and darts of all kinds at them/
insomuch that they slew a considerable
number, and wounded many more; for it
was not easy for the Romans to escape, by
reason those behind them pressed them
forward ; besides which, the shame they
were under for being mistaken, and the
fear they were in of their command-
ers, engaged them to persevere in their
mistake; wherefore they fought with their
spears a great while, and received many
blows from the Jews, though indeed they
gave them as many blows again, and at last
repelled those that had encompassed them
about, while the Jews pursued them as they
retired, and followed them, and threw darts
at them as far as the monuments of Queen
Helena.
After this these Jews, without keeping
any decorum, grew insolent upon their
good fortune, and jested upon the Romans
for being deluded by the trick they had
upon them, and, making a noise with beat-
ing their shields, leaped for gladness, and
made joyful exclamations ; while these
soldiers were received with threatenings
by their officers, and with indignation by
Caesar himself [who spake to them thus] :
" These Jews, who are only conducted by
their madness, do every thing with care
and circumspection ; they contrive strata-
gems, and lay ambushes, and fortune gives
success to their stratagems, because they
are obedient, and preserve their good-will
and fidelity to one another ; while the Ro-
mans, to whom fortune uses to be ever sub-
servient, by reason of their good order,
and ready submission to their commanders,
have now had ill success by their contrary
behaviour, and by not being able to re-
strain their hands from action, they have
been caught ; and that which is the
most to their reproach, they have gone
on without their commanders, in the
very presence of Csesar. Truly," says
Titus, " the laws of war cannot but groan
heavily, as will my father also himself,
when he shall be informed of this wound
that hath been given us, since he, who is
grown old in wars, did never make so
great a mistake. Our laws of war do also
ever inflict capital punishment on those
that in the least break into good order,
while at this time they have seen an entire
army run into disorder. However, those
that have been so insolent shall be made
immediately sensible, that even they who
Chap. IV.]
conquer among the Romans, without orders
:hting, arc to be under disgrace."
When Titus had enlarged upon this mut-
ter before the commanders, it appeared
evident that he would execute the law
against all those that were concerned; so
these soldiers' minds sank clown in de-
spair, as expecting to be put to death, and
that justly and quickly. However, the
other legions came rouud about Titus, and
entreated his favour to these their fellow-
soldiers, and made supplication to him
that he would pardon the rashness of a
few, on account of the better obedience of
all the rest; and promised for them that
they should make amends for their present
fault, by their more virtuous behaviour for
the time to come.
So Crcsar complied with their desires,
and with what prudence dictated to him
also ; for he esteemed it fit to punish sin-
gle persons by real executions, but that
the punishment of great multitudes should
proceed no further than reproofs ; so he
was reconciled to the soldiers, but gave
them a special charge to act more wisely
for the future; and he considered with
himself how he might be even with the
Jews for their stratagem. Aud now, when
the space between the Romans and the
wall had been levelled, which was done in
four days; and as he was desirous to bring
the baggage of the army, with the rest
of the multitude that followed him, safely
to the camp, he set the strongest part of
his army over against that wall which lay
on the north quarter of the city, and over
against the western part of it, and made
his army seven deep, with the footmen
placed before them, and the horsemen be-
hind them, each of the last in three ranks,
while the archers stood in the midst in
seven ranks. And now as the Jews were
prohibited, by so great a body of men,
from making sallies upon the Romans,
both the beasts that bear the burdens, and
belonged to the three legions, and the rest
of the multitude, marched on without any
fear. But as for Titus himself, he was
but about two furlongs distant from the
wall, at that part of it where was the
corner,* and over against that tower which
was called Psephinus, at which tower the
compass of the wall belonging to the north
bended, and extended itself over against
the west; but the other part of the army
* Perhaps, ?siys Dr. Hudson, here was that gate
sailed the " Grate of the corner," in 2 Chron.
xxvi. 9.
3E
WARS OF THE JEWS.
fortified themselves at the tower called
HippicUS, and was distant, in like manner,
but two furlongs from the city. However,
the tenth legion continued in its own
place, upon the Mount of Olives.
CHAPTER IV.
Description of Jerusalem.
The city of Jerusalem was fortified
with three walls, on such parts as were not
encompassed with impassable valleys; for
in such places it had but one wall. The
city was built upon two hills which are
opposite to one another, and have a valley
to divide them asunder; at which valley
the corresponding rows of houses on both
hills end. Of these hills, that which con-
tains the upper city is much higher, and
in length more direct. Accordingly, it
was called the " Citadel" by King Da-
vid ; he was the father of that Solomon
who built this temple at the first; but it
is by us called the u Upper Market-place."
Rut the other hill, which was called
" Acra," and sustains the lower city, is of
the shape of a moon when she is horned;
over against this was a third hill, but na-
turally lower than Acra, and parted for-
merly from the other by a broad valley.
However, in those times when the Asa-
moneans reigned, they filled up that valley
with earth, and had a mind to join the
city to the temple. They then took off
part of the height of Acra, and red
it to be of less elevation than it was be-
fore, that the temple might be superior to
it. Now the Valley of the Cheesemon-
gers, as it was called, and was that which
we told you before distinguished the hill
of the upper city from that of the lower,
extended as far as Siloam ; for that is the
name of a fountain which hath sweet
water in it, and this in great plenty also.
Rut on the outsides, these hills are sur-
rounded by deep valleys, and by reason
of the precipices to them belonging on
both sides, they are every where impassable.
Now, of these three walls, the old one
was hard to be taken, both by reason of the
valleys, and of that hill on which it was
built, aud which was above them. Rut
besides that great advantage, as to the
place where they were situated, it was also
built very strong; because David and
Solomon, and the following kings, were
very zealous about this work. Now that
wall began on the north, at the tower
called " Hippicus," aud extended as far
326
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V
as the " Xistus," a place so called, and
then, joining to the council-house, ended
at the west cloister of the temple. But
if we go the other way westward, it began
at the same place, and extended through a
place called " Bethso," to the gate of the
Essenes; and after that it went southward,
having its bending above the fountain Si-
loam, where it also bends again toward
the east at Solomon's Pool, and reaches as
far as a certain place which they called
" Ophlas," where it was joined to the
eastern cloisters of the temple. The se-
cond wall took its beginning from that
gate which they called " Gennath," which
belonged to the first wall ; it only encom-
passed the northern quarter of the city,
and reached as far as the tower Antonia.
The beginning of the third wall was at
the tower Hippicus, whence it reached as
far as the north quarter of the city, and
the tower Psephinus, and then was so far
extended till it came over against the mo-
numents of Helena, which Helena was
queen of Adiabene, the daughter of Izates :
it then extended farther to a great length,
and passed by the sepulchral caverns of
the kings, and bent again at the tower of
the corner, at the monument which is
called the " Monument of the Fuller,"
and joined to the old wall at the valley
called the " Valley of Cedron." It was
Agrippa who encompassed the parts added
to the old city with this wall, which had
been all naked before ; for as the city grew
more populous, it gradually crept beyond
its own limits, and those parts of it that
stood northward of the temple, and joined
that hill to the city, made it considerably
larger, and occasioned that hill, which is in
number the fourth, and is called " Bezc-
tha," to be inhabited also. It lies over
against the tower Antonia, but is divided
from it by a deep valley, which was dug
on purpose, and that in order to hinder the
foundations of the tower of Antonia from
joining to this hill, and thereby affording
an opportunity for getting to it with ease,
and hindering the security that arose from
its superior elevation ; for which reason
also that depth of the ditch made the
elevation of the towers more remarkable.
This new-built part of the city was called
" Bczetha," in our language, which, if in-
terpreted in the Grecian language, may be
called " the New City." Since, there-
fore, its inhabitants stood in need of a
covering, the father of the present king,
and of the same name with him, Agrippa,
began that wall we spoke of; but he left
off building it when he had only laid the
foundation, out of the fear he was in of
Claudius Cassar, lest he should suspect
that so strong a wall was built in order to
make some innovation in public affairs ;
for the city could noway have been taken
if that wall had been finished in the man-
ner it was begun ; as its parts were con-
nected together by stones twenty cubits
long, and ten cubits broad, which could
never have either been easily undermined
by any iron tools, or shaken by any en-
gines. The wall was, however, ten cubits
wide, and it would probably have had a
height greater than that, had not his zeal
who began it been hindered from exerting
itself. After this it was erected with
great diligence by the Jews as high as
twenty cubits, above which it had battle-
ments of two cubits, and turrets of three
cubits altitude, insomuch that the entire
altitude extended as far as twenty-five
cubits.
Now the towers that were upon it were
twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cu-
bits in height; they were square and
solid, as was the wall itself, wherein the
niceness of the joints and the beauty of
the stones were noway inferior to those
of the holy house itself. Above this
solid altitude. of the towers, which was
twenty cubits, there were rooms of great
magnificence, and over them upper rooms,
and cisterns to receive rain-water. They
were many in number, and the steps by •
which you ascended up to them were every
one broad ; of these towers then the third
wall had ninety, and the spaces between
them were each 200 cubits; but in the
middle wall were forty towers, and the
old wall was parted into sixty, while the
whole compass of the city was thirty-three
furlongs. Now the third wall was all of
it wonderful ; yet was the tower Psephinus
elevated above it at the north-west corner,
and there Titus pitched his own tent; for
being seventy cubits high, it both afforded
a prospect of Ai-abia at sunrising, as well
as it did of the utmost limits of the He-
brew possessions at the sea westward.
Moreover, it was an octagon, and over
against it was the tower Hippicus; and
hard by two others were erected by King
Herod, in the old wall. These were, for
largeness, beauty, and strength, beyond
all that were in the habitable earth ; for
besides the magnanimity of bis nature,
and his magnificence toward the city on
Chap. IV.]
other occasions, he built these after such
an extraordinary manner, to gratify his
own private affections, and dedicated these
towers to the memory of those three per-
sons who had been the dearest to him,
and from whom be named them. They
were bis brother, his friend, and his wife.
This wife he had slain, out of his love
[and jealousy], as we have already related ;
the other two he lost in war, as they were
courageously fighting. Hippicus, so named
from his friend, was square; its length
and breadth were each twenty-five cubits,
and its height thirty, and it had no vacuity
in it. Over this solid building, which
was composed of great stones united to-
gether, there was a reservoir twenty cubits
deep, over which there was a house of
two stories, whose height was twenty-five
cubits, and divided into several parts ;
over which were battlements of two cu-
bits, aud turrets all round of three cubits
high, insomuch that the entire height add-
ed together amounted to fourscore cubits.
The second tower, which he named from
his brother Phasaelus, had its breadth and
its height equal, each of them forty cu-
bits ; over which was its solid height of
forty cubits ; over which a cloister went
rouud about, whose height was ten cubits,
and it was covered from enemies by
breastworks and bulwarks. There was
also built over that cloister another tower,
parted into magnificent rooms and a place
for bathing; so that this tower wanted
nothing that might make it appear to be
a royal palace. It was also adorned with
battlements and turrets, more than was the
foregoing, and the entire altitude was about
ninety cubits; the appearance of it re-
sembled the tower of Pharos, which ex-
hibited a fire to such as sailed to Alexan-
dria, but was much larger than it in com-
pass. This was now converted to a house,
wherein Simon exercised his tyrannical
authority. The third tower was Mariamne,
for that was his queen's name; it was solid
as high as twenty cubits; its breadth and
its length were twenty cubits, and were
equal to each other; its upper buildings
were more magnificent, and had greater
variety than the other towers had; .for
the -king thought it most proper for him
to adorn that which was denominated from
his wife, better than those denominated
from men, as those were built stronger
than this that bore his wife's name. The
entire height of this tower was fifty cubits.
Xow as these towers were so very tall,
WARS OF THE JEWS.
327
they appeared much taller by the place
on which they stood; for that very old
wall wherein they were, was built on a
high hill, and was itself a kind of elevation
that was still thirty cubits taller; over
which were the towers situated, and there-
by were made much higher to appearance.
The largeness also of the stones was wonder-
ful, for they were not made of common
small stones, nor of such large ones only
as men could carry, but they were of
white marble, cut out of the rock ; each
stone was twenty cubits in length, and
ten in breadth, and five in depth. They
were so exactly united to one another,
that each tower looked like one entire rock
of stone, so growing naturally, and after-
ward cut by the hands of the artificers
into their present shape and corners; so
little or not at all did their joints or con-
nection appear. Now as these towers
were themselves on the north side of the
wall, the king had a palace inwardly
thereto adjoined, which exceeds all my
ability to describe it; for it was so very
curious as to want no cost or skill in its
construction, but was entirely walled
about to the height of thirty cubits, and
was adorned with towers at equal dis-
tances, and with large bedchambers, that
would contain beds for 100 guests apiece,
in which the variety of the stones is not
to be expressed ; for a large quantity of
those that were rare of that kind was col-
lected together. Their roofs were also
wonderful, both for the length of the
beams and the splendour of their orna-
ments. The number of the rooms was
also very great, aud the variety of the
figures that were about them was prodi-
gious ; their furniture was complete, and
the greatest part of the vessels that were
put in them was of silver and gold. There
were besides many porticoes, one beyond
another, round about, and in each of these
porticoes curious pillars; yet were all the
courts that were exposed to the air every-
where green. There were, moreover, seve-
ral groves of trees, and long walks through
them, with deep canals and cisterns, that
in several parts were filled with brazen
statues, through which the water ran out.
There were withal many dove-courts* of
* These dove-courts in Josephus, buill by Hen I
the Great, are, in the opinion of Roland, the very
same that axe mentioned by the Talmudista, and
named by them " Herod's dove-court.-." Nor is
there any reason to suppose otherwise, since, in
both accounts, they were expressly tame vigeona
which were kept in them.
328
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[BookT.
tame pigeons about the canals ; but, indeed,
it is not possible to give a complete de-
scription of these palaces; and the very
remembrance of them is a torment to one,
as putting one in mind what vastly rich
buildings that fire which was kindled by
the robbers hath cousumed ; for these were
not burned by the Romans, but by these
iuternal plotters, as we have already re-
lated, in the beginning of their rebellion.
That fire began at the tower of Antonia,
and went on to the palaces, and consumed
the upper parts of the three towers them-
selves.
CHAPTER V.
Desci-iption of the Temple.
Now7 this temple, as I have already said,
was built upon a strong hill. At first the
plain at the top was hardly sufficient for
the holy house and the altar, for the
ground about it was very uneven, and like
a precipice; but when King Solomon,
who was the person that built the temple,
had built a wall to it on its east side,
there was then added one cloister founded
on a bank cast up for it, and on the other
parts the holy house stood naked; but in
future ages the people added new banks,
and the hill became a larger plain. They
then broke down the wall on the north
side, and took in as much as sufficed after-
ward for the compass of the entire tem-
ple ; and when they had built walls on
three sides of the temple round about,
from the bottom of the hill, and had per-
formed a work that was greater than could
be hoped for, (in which work long ages
were spent by them, as well as all their sa-
cred treasures were exhausted, which were
still replenished by those tributes which
were sent to God from the whole habita-
ble earth,) they then encompassed their
upper courts with cloisters as well as they
[afterward] did the lowest [court of the]
temple. The lowest part of this was
erected to the height of 300 cubits, and in
some places more ; yet did not the entire
depth of the foundations appear, for they
brought earth, and tilled up the valleys,
as being desirous to make them on a level
with the narrow streets of the city; where-
in they made use of stones of forty cubits
in magnitude ; for the great plenty of
money they then had, and the liberality of
the people, made this attempt of theirs to
succeed to an incredible degree ; and what
could not be so much as hoped for as ever
to be accomplished, was by perseverance
and length of time brought to perfection.
Now, for the works that were above
these foundations, these were not unworthy
of such foundations ; for all the cloisters
were double, and the pillars to them be-
longing were twenty-five cubits in height,
and supported the cloisters. These pillars
were of one entire stone each of them, and
that stone was white marble; and the
roofs were adorned with cedar, curiously
graven. The natural magnificence, and
excellent polish, and the harmony of the
joints in these cloisters, afforded a prospect
that was very remarkable; nor was it on
the outside adorned with any work of the
painter or engraver. The cloisters [of the
utmost court] were in breadth thirty cu-
bits, while the entire compass of it was, by
measure, six furlongs, including the tower
of Antonia ; those entire courts that were
exposed to the air were laid with stones
of all sorts. When you go through these
[first] cloisters, unto the second [court of
the] temple, there was a partition made
of stone all round, whose height was three
cubits: its construction was very elegant;
upon it stood pillars, at equal distances
from one another, declaring the law of pu-
rity, some in Greek, and some in Roman
letters, that " no foreigner should go with-
in that sanctuary ;" for that second [court
of the] temple was called " the Sanctua-
ry," and was ascended to by fourteen steps
from the first court. This court was four-
square, and had a wall about it peculiar to
itself ; the height of its buildings, although
it was on the outside .forty cubits,* was
hidden by the steps, and on the inside that
height was but twenty-five cubits ; for it
being built over against a higher part of
the hill with steps, it was no further to be
entirely discerned within, being covered
by the bill itself. Beyond these fourteen
steps there was the distance of ten cubits:
* What Josephus seems here to mean is this : —
That these pillars, supporting the cloisters in the se-
cond court, had their foundations or lowest parts as
deep as the floor of the first or lowest court ; hut
that so far of those lowest parts as were equal to the
elevation of the upper floor above the lowest, were,
and must be, hidden on the inside by the ground
or rock itself, on which that upper court was built:
so that forty cubits visible below, were reduced to
twenty-five visible above, and implies the differ-
ence of their heights to be fifteen cubits. The main
difficulty lies here, how fourteen or fifteen steps
should give an ascent of fifteen cubits, half a cubit
seeming sufficient for a single step. Possibly there
were fourteen or fifteen steps at the partition-wall,
and fourteen or fifteen more thence into the court it-
self, which would bring the whole near to the just
proportion.
Chap. V.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
this was all plain, whence there were other
steps, each of five cubits apiece, that led
to the gates, which gates on the north and
sides were eight, on each of those sides
four, and of necessity two on the east ;
for since there was a partition built for
the women on that side, as the proper place
wherein they were to worship, there was a
necessity of a second gate for them : this
gate was cut out of its wall, over against
the first gate. There was also on the
other sides one southern and one northern
gate, through which was a passage into
the court of the women; for as to the other
gates, the women were not allowed to pass
through them ; nor when they went
through their own gate could they go be-
yond their own wall. This place was al-
lotted to the women of our own country,
and of other countries, provided they were
of the same nation, and that equally; the
western part of this court had no gate at
all, but the wall was built entire on that
side ; but then the cloisters which were be-
twixt the gates extended from the wall
inward, before the chambers; for they
were supported by very fine and large
pillars. These cloisters were single,
and, excepting their magnitude, were
noway inferior to those of the lower
court.
Now nine of these gates were on every
side covered over with gold and silver, as
were the jambs of their doors and their
lintels; but there was one gate that was
without [the iuward court of] the holy
house, which was of Corinthian brass, and
greatly excelled those that were only co-
vered over with silver ami gold. Each gate
had two doors, whose height was severally
thirty cubits, and their breadth fifteen.
However, they had large spaces within of
thirty cubits, and had on each side rooms,
and those, both in breadth and in length,
built like towers, and their height was
above forty cubits. Two pillars did also
support these rooms, and were in circum-
ference twelve cubits. Now the magni-
tudes of the other gates were equal one
to another; but that over the Corinthian
gate, which opened on the east over against
the gate of the holy house itself, was much
larger; for its height was fifty cubits; and
its doors were forty cubits ; and it was
adorned after a most costly manner, as
having much richer and thicker plates of
silver and gold upon them than the other.
These nine gates had that silver and gold
poured upon them by Alexander, the fa-
ther of Tiberius. Now there were fifteen
steps, which led away from the wall of the
court of the women to this greater
whereas those that led thither from the
other gates were five steps shorter.
As to the holy house itself, which was
placed in the midst [of the inmost court]
that most sacred part of the temple, it
was ascended by twelve steps ; and in
front its height and its breadth were
equal, and each 100 cubits, though it was
behind forty cubits narrower ; for on its
front it had what may be styled shoul-
ders on each side, that passed twenty cu-
bits farther. Its first gate was seventy
cubits high, and twenty-five cubits broad;
but this gate had no doors ; for it repre-
sented the universal visibility of heaven,
and that it cannot be excluded from any
place. Its front was covered with gold
all over, and through it the first part of
the house, that was more iuward, did all
of it appear; which, as it was very large,
so did all the parts about the more inward
gate appear to shine to those that saw
them ; but then, as the entire house was
divided into two parts within, it was only
the first part of it that was open to our view.
Its height extended all along to ninety
cubits in height, and its length was fifty
cubits, and its breadth twenty ; but that
gate which was at this end of the first
part of the house, was, as we have already
observed, all over covered with gold, as
was its whole wall about it : it had also
golden vines above it, from which clusters
of grapes hung as tall as a man's height;
but then this house, as it was divided into
two parts, the inner part was lower than
the appearance of the outer, and had
golden doors of fifty-five cubits altitude, and
sixteen in breadth ; but before these doors
there was a vail of equal largeness with the
doors. It was a Babylonian curtain, embroi-
dered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet,
and purple, and of a contexture that was
truly wonderful. Nor was this mixture of
colours without its mystical interpretation,
but was a kind of image of the universe;
for by the scarlet there seemed to be enig-
matically signified fire, by the fine flax the
earth, by the blue the air, and by the pur-
ple the sea ; two of them having their
colours the foundation of this resemblance ;
but the fine flax and the purple have their
own origin for that foundation, the earth
producing the one, and the sea the other.
This curtain had also embroidered upon it
all that was mystical in the heavens, ex-
530
WARS OF THE JEWS.
TBook V
eepting that of the [twelve] signs, repre-
senting living creatures.
When any person entered into the tem-
ple, its floor received them. This part of
the temple, therefore, was in height sixty
cubits, and its length the same ; whereas
its breadth was but twenty cubits: but
still that sixty cubits in length was di-
vided again, and the first part of it cut off
at forty cubits, and had in it three things
that were very wonderful and famous
among ail mankind ; the candlestick, the
table [of show-bread], and the altar of
incense. Now, the seven lamps signified
the seven planets ; for so many there were
springing out of the candlestick. Now,
the twelve loaves that were upon the table
signified the circle of the zodiac and the
year ; but the altar of incense, by its
thirteen kinds of sweet-smelling spices
with which the sea replenished it, signified
that God is the possessor of all things
that are both in the uninhabitable and
habitable parts of the earth, and that they
are all to be dedicated to his use. But
the inmost part of the temple of all was
of twenty cubits. This was also separated
from the outer part by a vail. In this
there was nothing at all. It was inacces-
sible and inviolable, and not to be seen by
any; and was called the Holy of Holies.
Now, about the sides of the lower part
of the temple there were little houses,
with passages out of one into another ;
there were a great many of them, and
they were of three stories high ; there
were also entrances on each side into them
from the gate of the temple. But the
superior part of the temple had no such
little houses any farther, because the tem-
ple was there narrower, and forty cubits
higher, and of a smaller body than the
lower parts of it. Thus we collect that
the whole height, including the sixty
cubits from the floor, amounted to 100
cubits.
Now the outward face of the temple in
its front wanted nothing that was likely to
surprise either men's minds or their eyes :
for it was covered all over with plates of
gold of great weight, and, at the first
rising of the sun, reflected back a very
fiery splendour, and made those who forced
them.selves to look upon it to turn their
eyes away, just as they would have done
at the sun's own rays. But this temple
appeared to strangers, when they were at
a distance, like a mountain covered with
snow ; for as to those parts of it that were
not gilt, they were exceeding white. On
its top it had spikes with sharp points, to
prevent any pollution of it by birds sit-
ting upon it. Of its stones, some of
them were forty-five cubits in length, five
in height, and six in breadth. Before
this temple stood the altar, fifteen cubits
high, and equal both in length and
breadth; each of which dimensions was
fifty cubits. The figure it was built in
was a square, and it had corners like
horns ; and the passage up to it was by
an insensible acclivity. It was formed
without any iron tool, nor did any such
iron tool so much as touch it at any time.
There was a wall of partition, about a
cubit in height, made of fine stones, and so
as to be grateful to the sight ; this en-
compassed the holy house and the altar,
and kept the people that were on the out-
side off from the priests. Moreover,
those that had the gonorrhoea and the le-
prosy were excluded out of the city en-
tirely; women also, when in an impure
state, were shut out of the temple ; nor when
they were free from that impurity were
they allowed to go beyond the limit be-
fore mentioned; men also that were not
thoroughly pure were prohibited to come
into the inner [court of the] temple ; nay,
the priests themselves that were not pure
were prohibited to come into it also.
Now all those of the stock of the priests
that could not minister by reason of some
defect in their bodies, came within the
partition together with those that had no
such imperfection, and had their share
with them by reason of their stock, but
still made use of none except their own
private garments ; for nobody but he that
officiated had on his sacred garments ; but
then these priests that were without any
blemish upon them, went up to the altar
clothed in fine linen. They abstained
chiefly from wine, out of this fear, lest
otherwise they should transgress some
rules of their ministration. The high
priest did also go up with them ; not al-
ways indeed, but on the seventh days and
new moons, and if any festivals belonging
to our nation, which we celebrate every
year, happened. When he officiated, he
had on a pair of breeches that reached
beneath his privy parts to his thighs, and
had on an inner garment of linen, together
with a blue garment, round, without seam,
with fringe-work, and reaching to the
feet. There were also golden bells that
hung upon the fringes, the pomegranates
Chap. VI.]
intermixed among them. The bells sig-
nified thunder, and the pomegranates
lightning. But that girdle that tied the
garment to the breast was embroidered
with five rows of various colours of gold,
and purple, and scarlet, as also of fine
linen and blue; with which colours, we
told you before, the vails of the temple
were embroidered also. The like embroi-
dery was upon the ephod ; but the quan-
tity of gold therein was greater. Its figure
was that of a stomacher for the breast.
There were upon it two golden buttons
like small shields, which buttoned the
ephod to the garment: in these buttons
were enclosed two very large and very
excellent sardorjyxes, having the names
of the tribes of that nation engraved upon
them : on the other part were hung twelve
stones, three in a row one way, and four
in the other; a sardius, a topaz, and an
emerald : a carbuncle, a jasper, and a sap-
phire : an agate, an amethyst, and a li-
gure : an onyx, a beryl, and a chrysolite :
upon every one of which was again en-
graved one of the before-mentioned names
of the tribes. A mitre also of fine linen
encompassed his head, which was tied by
a blue riband, about which there was an-
Other golden crown, in which was en-
graven the sacred name [of God] : it con-
sists of four vowels. However, the high
priest did not wear these garments at
other times, but a more plain habit; he
only did it when he went into the most
sacred part of the temple, which he did
but once a year, on that day when our
custom is for all of us to keep a fast to
God. And thus much concerning the city
and the temple ; but for the customs and
laws hereto relating, we shall speak more
accurately another time ; for there remain
a great many things thereto relating,
which have not been here touched upon.
Now, as to the tower of Antonia, it was
situated at the corner of two cloisters of
the court of the temple; of that on the
west, and that on the north ; it was
erected upon a rock of fifty cubits in
height, and was on a great precipice; it
was the wcrk of King Herod, wherein he
demonstrated his natural magnanimity.
In the first place, the rock itself was co-
vered over with smooth pieces of stone,
from its foundation, both for ornament,
and that any one who would either try to
get up or go down it, might not be able
to hold his feet upon it. Next to this,
and before you come to the edifice of the
WARS OF THE JEWS.
8 1
tower itself, tnere was a wall three cubits
high; but within that wall all the Bpace
of the tower of Antonia itself was built
upon, to the height of forty cubits. The
inward parts had the largeness and form
of a palace, it being parted into all kinds
of rooms and other conveniences, such as
courts, and places for bathing, and broad
B paces for camps ; insomuch that, by hav-
ing all conveniences that cities wanted, it
might seem to be composed of several
cities, but, by its magnificence, it seemed
a palace; and, as the entire structure re-
sembled that of a tower, it contained also
four other distinct towers at its four cor-
ners; whereof the others were but fifty
cubits high ; whereas that which lay upon
the south-east corner was seventy cubits
high, that from thence the whole temple
might be viewed ; but on the corner where
it joined to the two cloisters of the tem-
ple, it had passages down to them both,
through which the guard (for there al-
ways lay in this tower a Roman legion)
went several ways among the cloisters,
with their arms, on the Jewish festivals,
in order to watch the people, that they
might not there attempt to make any in-
novations; for the temple was a fortress
that guarded the city, as was the tower
of Antonia a guard to the temple; and in
that tower were the guards of those three.*
There was also a peculiar fortress -belong-
ing to the upper city, which was Herod's
palace ; but for the hill of Bezctha, it was
divided from the tower of Antonia, as we
have already told you; and as that hill
on which the tower of Antonia stood was
the highest of these three, so did it ad-
join to the new city, and was the only
place that hindered the sight of the tem-
ple on the north. And this shall suffice
at present to have spoken about the city
and the walls about it, because I have pro-
posed to myself to make a more accurate
description of it elsewhere.
CHAPTER VI.
Titus continues the siege vigorously.
Now the warlike men that were in the
city, and the multitude of the seditious
that were with Simon, were 10,000, be-
sides the Idumeaus. Those 10,000 had
* These three guards that lay in the tower of
Antonia must ho those that guarded the city, the
temple, and the tower of Antonia.
S32
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[BookV.
fifty commanders, over whom this Simon
was supreme. The Idumeans that paid
him homage were 5000, and had eight
commanders, among whom those of great-
est fame were Jacob, the son of Sosas,
and Simon, the son of Cathlas. John,
who had seized upon the temple, had
6000 armed men, under twenty com-
manders ; the Zealots also that had come
over to him, and left off their opposition,
were 2400, 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
Siloani 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 Mono-
bazus: 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 pos-
sessions 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 en-
camped near their very walls. But al-
though 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
every thing 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. Rut 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 de-
stroyed the city, and the Romans destroyed
the sedition, which 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.
Now, when affairs within the city were
in this posture, Titus went round the city
on the outside with some chosen horse-
men, 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 noway 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 the
wall 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 ap-
proached, 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 Cae-
sar, as soon as he knew their vehemence,
that they would not bear 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 or-
dered that they should bring timber toge-
ther, 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
Chap. VI.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
333
murdered, were now of good courage,
and supposed they should have a breath-
ing time, while the others were very busy
in opposing their enemies without the
city, and that they should now Ik; avenged
on those that had been the authors of
their miseries, in case the Romans did but
get the victory.
However, John stayed 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 Si-
mon lie still, for he lay near the place
of the siege; he brought his engines of
war, and disposed of tlxmi at due dis-
tances 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 of Antonia.
But though they had these engines in their
possession, they had so little skill in using
them, that they were in a 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 mak-
ing 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 farther. The blow they
gave was noway 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 colour, and could there-
fore not only be perceived by the great
noise it made, but could be seen also be-
fore 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 son comktii ;"* 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.
And now, upon the finishing the Ro-
man 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 mea-
sure it any otherwise, because the Jews
would shoot at them if they came to mea-
sure 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 that 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 defence.
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. Accord-
ingly, 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
» Probably, "The stono coineth." The learned
are not agreed as to the precise meaning of this
expression.
334
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[BookV
with them, they threw them at the ma-
chines, 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 princi-
pally by the boldness of their attacks.
However, Titus himself 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, except-
ing where the battering-ram of the fif-
teenth 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.
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 forti-
fications 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
6eleet 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, ^fow it happened at this
fight, that a certain Jew was taken alive,
who by Titus's orders was crucified before
the wall, to see whether the rest of them
would be affrighted, and abate of their
obstinacy. But, after the Jews were re-
tired, 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.
CHAPTER VII.
The Romans, after great slaughter, obtain pos-
session of the first wall — Treacherous snares of
the Jews.
Now, on the next night, a most sur-
prising disturbance fell upon the Romans;
for whereas Titus had given orders for the
erection of three towers of fifty cubits
high, that by setting men upon them at
every bank, he might from thence drive
those away who were upon the wall, it so
happened that one of these towers fell
down about midnight; and as its fall made
a very great noise, fear fell upon the army,
and they supposing that the enemy was
coming to attack them, ran all to their
arms. Whereupon a disturbance and a
tumult arose among the legions, and as
nobody could tell what had happened,
they went on after a disconsolate manner;
and seeing no enemy appear, they were
afraid one of another, and every one de-
manded of his neighbour the watchword
with great earnestness, as though the Jews
had invaded their camp. And now they
were like people under a panic fear, till
Titus was informed of what had happened,
and gave orders that all should be ac
ClIAl'. VII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
335
quain ted with it; and then, though with
some difficulty, they got clear of the dis-
turbances they had been under.
Now, these towers were very trouble-
some to the Jews, who otherwise opposed
tl.e Romans very courageously ; for they
phut at them out of their lighter engines
from those towers, as they did also by
those that threw darts, and the archers,
and those that slung stones. For neither
could the Jews reach those that were over
them, by reason of their height; and it
was not practicable to take them, nor to
overturn them, they were so heavy, nor to
set them on fire, because they were cover-
ed with plates of iron. So they retired
out of the reach of the darts, and did no
longer endeavour to hinder the impression
of their rams, which, by continually beat-
ing upon the wall, did gradually prevail
against it; so that the wall already gave
way to the "Nico," for by that name did
the Jews themselves call the greatest of
their engines, because it conquered all
things. And now, they were for a long
while grown weary of fighting, and of
keeping guard, and were retired to lodge
in the night-time at a distance from the
wall. It was on other accounts also
thought by them to be superfluous to guard
the wall, there being, besides that, two
other fortifications still remaining, and
they being slothful, and their counsels
having been ill concerted on all occasions;
so a great many grew lazy and retired.
Then the Romans mounted the breach,
where Nico had made one, and all the
Jews left the guarding that wall, and re-
treated to the second wall; so those that
had gotten over that wall opened the gates,
and received all the army within it. And
thus did the Romans gefpossession of this
first wall, on the fifteenth day of the siege,
which was the seventh day of the month
Artemisius [Jyar], when they demolished
a great part of it, as well as they did of
the northern parts of the city, which had
been demolished also by Cestius formerly.
And now Titus pitched his camp with-
in the city, at that place which was called
" the camp of the Assyrians," having seized
upon all that lay as far as Cedron, but
took care to be out of the reach of the
Jews' darts. He then presently began
his attacks, upon which the Jews divided
themselves into several bodies, and cou-
rageously defended that wall; while John
and his faction did it from the tower of
Antonia, and from the northern cloister
of the "temple, and fought the Romaus be-
fore the monument of King Alexander;
and Simon's army also took for their share
the spot of ground that was near John's
monument, and fortified it as fir as to
thai gate where water was brought in to
the tower Hippicus. However, the Jews
made violent sallies, and that frequently
also, and in bodies together, out of the
gates, and there fought the Romans ; and
when they were pursued altogether to the
wall, they were beaten in those fights, as
wanting the skill of the Romans. Rut
when they fought them from the walls,
they were too hard for them, the Romans
being encouraged by their power, joined
to their skill, as were the Jews by their
boldness, which was nourished by the fear
they were in, and that hardiness which is
natural to our nation under calamities;
they were also encouraged still by the
hope of deliverance, as were the Romans
by the hopes of subduing them in a little
time. Nor did either side grow weary;
but attacks and fightings upon the wall,
and perpetual sallies out in bodies were
practised all the day long; nor were there
any sort of warlike engagements that were
not then put in use. And the night
itself had much ado to part them, when
they began to fight in the morning; nay,
the night itself was passed without sleep
on both sides, and was more uneasy than
the day to them, while the one was afraid
lest the wall should be taken, and the
other lest the Jews should make sallies
upon their camps ; both sides also lay in
their armour during the night-time, and
thereby were ready at the first appearance
of light to go to the battle. Now, among
the Jews the ambition was who should
undergo the first dangers, and thereby
gratify their commanders. Above all,
they had a great veneration and dread of
Simon ; and to that degree was he regarded
by every one of those that were Under him,
that at his command they were very ready
to kill themselves with their own hands.
What made the Romans so courageous
was their usual custom of conquering and
disuse of being defeated, their constant
wars, and perpetual warlike exercises, and
the grandeur of their dominion ; and what
was now their chief encouragement — Ti-
tus, who was present everywhere with
them all; for it appeared a terrible thing
to grow weary while Caesar was there, and
fought bravely as well as they did, and
was himself at once an eyewitness of
336
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V.
such as behaved themselves valiantly, and
he who was to reward them also. It was,
besides, esteemed an advantage at present
to have any one's valour known by Caesar;
on which account many of them appeared
to have more alacrity than strength to
answer it. And now, as the Jews were
about this time standing in array before
the wall, and that in a strong body, and
while both parties were throwing their
darts at each other, Longinus, one of the
equestrian order, leaped out of the army
of the Romans, and leaped into the very
midst of the army of the Jews; and as
they dispersed themselves upon this attack,
he slew two of their men of the greatest
courage; one of them he struck in his
mouth, as he was coming to meet him ;
the other was slain by him with that very
dart that he drew out of the body of the
other, with which he ran this man through
his side as he was running away from
him ; and when he had done this, he first
of all ran out of the midst of his enemies
to his own side. So this man signalized
himself for his valour, and many there
were who were ambitious of gaining the
like reputation. And now the Jews were
unconcerned at what they suffered them-
selves from the Romans, and were only
solicitous about what mischief they could
do them ; and death itself seemed a small
matter to them, if at the same time they
could but kill any one of their enemies.
But Titus took care to secure his own sol-
diers from harm, as well as to have them
overcome their enemies. He also said
that inconsiderate violence was madness;
and that this alone was the true courage
that was joined with^good conduct. He
therefore commanded his men to take care,
when they fought their enemies, that they
received no harm from them at the same
time ; and thereby show themselves to be
truly valiant men.
And now Titus brought one of his en-
gines to the middle tower of the north part
of the wall, in which a certain crafty Jew,
whose name was Castor, lay in ambush,
with ten others like himself, the rest being
fled away by reason of the archers. These
men lay still for awhile, as in great fear,
under their breastplates; but when the
tower was shaken, they arose; and Castor
did then stretch out his hand, as a petition-
er, and called for Caesar, and by his voice
moved his compassion, and begged of him
to have mercy upon them ; and Titus, in
the iunoeencv of his heart, believing hiin
I to be in earnest, and hoping that the Jews
did now repent, stopped the working of
the battering-ram, and forbade them to
shoot at the petitioners, and bade Castor
say what he had a mind to say to him.
He said that he would come down, if he
would give him his right hand for his se-
curity. To which Titus replied, that he
was well pleased with such his agreeable
conduct, and would be more pleased if all
the Jews would be of his mind; and that
he was ready to give the like security to
the city. Now five of the ten dissembled
with him, and pretended to beg for mercy ;
while the rest cried out aloud, that they
would never be slaves to the Romans,
while it was in their power to die in a
state of freedom. Now when these men
were quarrelling for a long while, the at-
tack was delayed ; Castor also sent to Si-
mon, and told him that they might take
some time for consultation about what was
to be done, because he would elude the
power of the Romans for a considerable
time. And at the same time that he sent
thus to him, he appeared openly to exhort
those that were obstinate, to accept of
Titus's hand for their security; but they
seemed very angry at it, and brandished
their naked swords upon the breastworks;
and struck themselves upon their breasts,
and fell down as if they had been slain.
Hereupon Titus, and those with him, were
amazed at the courage of the men ; and
as they were not able to see exactly what
was done, they admired at their great
fortitude, and pitied their calamity. Dur-
ing this interval, a certain person shot a
dart at Castor, and wounded him in his
nose ; whereupon he presently pulled out
the dart, and showed it to Titus, and com-
plained chat this was unfair treatment; so
Caesar reproved him that shot the dart,
and sent Josephus, who then stood by him,
to give his right hand to Castor. But
Josepbuj said that he would not go to him,
because these pretended petitioners meant
nothing that was good; he also restrained
those friends of his who were zealous to
go to him. But still there was one iEneas,
a deserter, who said he would go to him.
Castor also called to them, that somebody
should come and receive the money which
he had with him ; this made ./Eneas the
more earnestly to run to him with his bo-
som open. Then did Castor take up a
great stone, and threw it at him, which
missed him, because he guarded himself
against it; but still it wounded another
JlIAP. VIII. 1
WARS OF THE JEWS
::.,7
soldier that wis coming to him. When
Caesar understood that this was a delusion,
he perceived that mercy in war is a per-
nicious thing, because such cunning tricks
have less place under the exercise of
greater severity. So he caused the en-
gine to work more strongly than before,
on account of his anger at the deceit put
upon him. But Castor and his compa-
nions set the tower on fire when it began
to give way, and leaped through the flame
into a hidden vault that was under it;
which made the Romans further suppose
that they were men of great courage, as
having; cast themselves into the fire.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Romans possess themselves of tho second wall.
Now Caesar took this wall there on the
fifth day after he had taken the first ; and
when the Jews had fled from him, he en-
tered into it with 1000 armed men, and
those of his choice troops, and this at a
place where were the merchants of wool,
the braziers, and the market for cloth, and
where the narrow streets led obliquely to
the wall. Wherefore, if Titus had either
demolished a larger part of the wall imme-
diately, or had come in, and, according
to the law of war, had laid waste what
was left, his victory would not, I suppose,
have been mixed with any loss to himself;
but now, out of the hope he had that he
should make the Jews ashamed of their ob-
stinacy, by not being willing, when he was
able, to afflict them more than he needed
to do, he did not widen the breach of the
wall in order to make a safer retreat upon
occasion ; for he did not think they would
lay snares for him that did them such a
kindness. When therefore he came in, he
did not permit his soldiers to kill any of
those they caught, nor to set fire to their
houses neither ; nay, he gave leave to the
seditious, if they had a mind, to fight
without any harm to the people, and pro-
mised to restore the people's effects to
them ; for he was very desirous to preserve
the city for his own sake, and the temple
for the sake of the city. As to the people,
he had them of a long time ready to com-
ply with his proposals ; but as to the fight-
ing men, this humanity of his seemed a
mark of his weakness; and they imagined
that he made these proposals because he
was not able to take the rest of the city.
They also threatened death to the people,
if they should any one of them say a
Vol. II.— 22
word about a surrender. They moreover
cut the throats of such as talked of a
peace, and then attacked those Romans
that were come within the wall. Some of
them they met in the narrow streets, and
some they fought against from their houses,
while they made a sudden sally out at tho
upper gates, and assaulted such Romans
as were beyond the wall, till those that
guarded the wall were so affrighted, that
they leaped down from their towers, and
retired to their several camps : upon which
a great noise was made by the Romans
that were within, because they were en-
compassed round on every side by their
enemies; as also by them that were with-
out, because they were in fear for those
that were left in the city. Thus did the
Jews grow more numerous perpetually,
and had great advantages over the Romans,
by their full knowledge of those narrow
lanes ; and they wounded a great many of
them, and fell upon them and drove them
out of the city. Now these Romans were
at present forced to make the best resist-
ance they could ; for they were not able,
in great numbers, to get out at the breach
in the wall, it was so narrow. It is also
probable that all those that were gotten
within had been cut to pieces, if Titus had
not sent them succours ; for he ordered the
archers to stand at the upper ends of these
narrow lanes, and he stood himself where
was the greatest multitude of his enemies,
and with his darts he put a stop to them ;
as with him did Domitius Sabinus also, a
valiant man, and one that in this battle
appeared so to be. Thus did Caesar con-
tinue to shoot darts at the Jews continu-
ally, and to hinder them from coming
upon his men, and this until all the sol-
diers had retreated out of the city.
And thus were the Romans driven out,
after they had possessed themselves of the
second wall. Whereupon the fighting
men that were in the city were lifted up
in their minds, and were elevated upon
this their good success, and began to think
that the Romans would never venture to
come in the city any more; and that, if
they kept within it themselves, they should
not be any more conquered; for Q-od had
blinded their minds for the transgressions
they had been guilty of, nor could they
see how much greater forces the Romans
had than those that were now expelled, no
more than they could discern how a famine
was creeping upon them ; for hitherto they
had fed themselves out of the puhlio
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V.
miseries, and drunk the blood of the city.
But now poverty had for a long time
seized upon the better part, aud a great
many had died already for want of neces-
saries; although the seditious indeed sup-
posed the destruction of the people to be
a relief to themselves; for they desired
that none others might be preserved but
such as were against a peace with the Ro-
mans, and were resolved to live in opposi-
tion to them, and they were pleased when
the multitude of those of a contrary opi-
nion were consumed, as being then freed
from a heavy burden ; and this was their
disposition of mind with regard w) those
that were within the city, while they co-
vered themselves with their armour, and
prevented the Romans, when they were
trying to get into the city again, and made
a wall of their own bodies over against
that part of the wall that was cast down.
Thus did they valiantly defend themselves
for three days ; but on the fourth day they
could not support themselves against the
vehement assaults of Titus, but were com-
pelled by force to fly whither they had
fled before ; so he quietly possessed him-
self again of that wall, and demolished it
entirely ; and when he had put a garrison
into the towers that were on the south
parts of the city, he contrived how he
might assault the third wall.
CHAPTER IX.
Temporary cessation of the siege — Renewal of hos-
tilities— Josephus sent to offer peace.
A resolution was now taken by Titus
to relax the siege for a little while, and
to afford the seditious an interval for con-
sideration, and to see whether the de-
molishing of their second wall would
not make them a little more compliant, or
whether they were not somewhat afraid
of a famine, because the spoils they had
gotten by rapine would not be sufficient for
them long ; so he made use of this relaxa-
tion, in order to compass his own designs.
Accordingly, as the usual appointed time
when he must distribute subsistence-mo-
ney to the soldiers was now come, he gave
orders that the commanders should put the
army into battle-array, in the face of the
enemy, and then give every one of the
soldiers their pay. So the soldiers, ac-
cording to custom, opened the cases where-
in their arms before lay covered, and
marched with their breastplates on ; as
did the horsemen lead their horses in their
fine trappings. Then did the places that
were before the city shine very splendidly
for a great way ; nor was there any thing
so grateful to Titus's own men, or so ter-
rible to the enemy as that sight ; for the
whole old wall and the north side of the
temple were full of spectators, and one
might see the houses full of such as
looked at them ; nor was there any part of
the city which was not covered over with
their multitudes ; nay, a very great con-
sternation seized upon the hardiest of the
Jews themselves, when they saw all the
army in the same place, together with the
fineness of their arms, and the good order
of their men ; and I cannot but think that
the seditious would have changed their
minds at that sight, unless the crimes they
had committed against the people had been
so horrid, that they despaired of forgive-
ness from the Romans; but as they be-
lieved death with torments must be their
punishment, if they did not go on in the
defence of the city, they thought it much
better to die in war. Fate also prevailed
so far over them, that the innocent were to
perish with the guilty, and the city was to be
destroyed with the seditious that were in it.
Thus did the Romans spend four days
in bringing this subsistence-money to the
several legions; but on the fifth day, when
no signs of peace appeared to come from
the Jews, Titus divided his legions, and
began to raise banks, both at the tower of
Antonia, and at John's monument. Now
his designs were to take the upper city at
that monument, and the temple at the tower
of Antonia ; for if the temple were not
taken, it would be dangerous to keep the
city itself; so at each of these parts he
raised him banks, each legion raising one.
As for those that wrought at John's monu-
ment, the Idumeans, and those that were
in arms with Simon, made sallies upon
them, and put some stop to them ; while
John's party, and the multitude of Zeal-
ots with them, did the like to those
that were before the tower of Antonia.
These Jews were now too hard for the Ro-
mans, not only in direct fighting, because
they stood upon the higher ground, but
because they had now learned to use their
own engines ; for their continual use of
them, one day after another, did by de-
grees improve their skill about them; for
of one sort of engines for darts they had
340 for stones; by the means of which
they made it more tedious for the Romans
to raise their banks; but then Titus,
Chap. IX.]
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
g
L
knowing that the city would be either
saved or destroyed for himself, did not only
proceed earnestly in the siege, but did not
omit to have the Jews exhorted to repent-
ance; so he mixed good counsel with his
works for the siege; and being sensible
that exhortations are frequently more ef-
fectual than arms, he persuaded them to
surrender the city, now in a manner al-
ready taken, and thereby to save them-
selves, and sent Josephus to speak to them
in their own language; for he imagined
they might yield to the persuasion of a
countryman of their own.
So Josephus went round about the wall,
and tried to find a place that was out of
the reacti of their darts, and yet within
their hearing, and besought them, in many
words, to spare themselves, to spare their
country and their temple, and not to be
more obdurate in these cases than foreign-
ers themselves; for that the Romans, who
had no relation to those things, had a
reverence for their sacred rites and places,
although they belonged to their enemies,
and had till now kept their bauds off from
meddling with them ; while such as were
brought up under them, and, if they he
preserved, will be the only people that will
reap the benefit of them, hurry on to have
them destroyed. That certainly they have
seen their strongest walls demolished, and
that the wall still remaining was weaker
than those that were already taken. That
they must know the Roman power was
invincible, and that they had been used to
serve them ; for, that in case it be allowed
a right thing to fight for liberty, that ought
to have been done at first ; but for them
that have once fallen under the power of
the Romans, and have now submitted to
them for so many long years, to pretend
to shake off that yoke afterward, was the
work of such as had a mind to die misera-
bly, not of such as were lovers of liberty.
Besides, men may well enough grudge at
the dishonour of owning ignoble masters
over them, but ought not to do so to those
who have all things under their command :
for what part of the world is there that
hath escaped the Romans, unless it be such
as are of no use^ for violent heat or vio-
lent cold ? And evident it is, that fortune
is on all hands gone over to them ; and
that God, when he had gone round the
nations with this dominion, is now settled
in Italy. That, moreover, it is a strong
and fixed law, even among brute beasts, as
well as among men, to yield to those that
are too strong for them ; and to Buffer I hose
to have dominion, who are too hard for the
rest in war; for which reason it was that
their forefathers, who were far superior to
them both in their souls and bodies, and
other advantages, did yet submit to the
Romans; which they would not have Buffer-
ed, had they not known that God was with
them. As for themselves, what eau they
depend on in this their opposition, when
the greatest part of their city is already
taken? and when those that are within it
are under greater miseries than if they
were taken, although their walls be still
standing ? For that the Romans are not
unacquainted with that famine which is in
the city, whereby the people are already
consumed, and the fighting men will, in a
little time be so too; for although tin Ro-
mans should leave off the siege, and not
fall upon the city with their swords in
their hands, yet was there an insuperable
war that beset them within, and was aug-
mented every hour, unless they were able
to wane war with famine, and fight against
it, or could alone compter their natural
appetites. He added this further, How
right a thin" it was to change their COn-
duct before their calamities were become
incurable, and to have recourse to such
advice as might preserve them, while op-
portunity was offered them for so doing;
for that the Romans would not be mind-
ful of their past actions to their disadvan-
tage, unless they persevered in their inso-
lent behaviour to the end ; because they
were naturally mild in their conquests,
and preferred what was profitable, before
what their passions dictated to them ;
which profit of theirs lay not in leaving
the city empty of inhabitants, nor the
country a desert ; on which account Csesar
did now offer them his right hand for their
security. Whereas, if he took th
by force, he would not save any one of
them, and this especially if they rejected
his offers in these their utmost distresses;
for the walls that were already taken,
could not but assure them that the third
would quickly be taken also ; and though
their fortifications should prove too strong
for the Romans to break through them,
yet would the famine fight for the Romans
against them.
While Josephus was making this ex-
hortation to the Jews, many of them jested
upon him from the wall, and many re-
proached him; nay, some threw their dart?
at him : but when he could not himself
340
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Rook "V
persuade them by such open good advice,
he betook himself to the histories belong-
ing to their own nation ; and cried out
aloud, "0 miserable creatures ! Are you
so unmindful of those that used to assist
you, that you will fight by your weapons,
and by your hands against the Romans ?
When did we ever conquer any other na-
tion by such means? and when was it that
God, who is the Creator of the Jewish
people, did not avenge them when they
had been injured ? Will not you turn
again, and look back, and consider
whence it is that you fight with such vio-
lence, and how great a supporter you have
profanely abused ? Will not you recall to
mind the prodigious things done for your
forefathers and this holy place, and how
great enemies of yours were by him sub-
dued under you ? I even trouble myself
in declaring the works of God before your
ears, that are unworthy to hear them :
however, hearken to me, that you may be
informed how you fight, not only against
the Romans, but against God himself. In
old times there was one Necho, king of
Egypt, who was also called Pharaoh : he
came with a prodigious army of soldiers,
and seized Queen Sarah, the mother of our
nation. What did Abraham our progeni-
tor then do? Did he defend himself from
this injurious person by war, although he
had 318 captains under him, and an im-
mense army under each of them ? Indeed,
he deemed .them to be no number at all
without God's assistance, and only spread
out his hands toward this holy place,
which you have now polluted, and reckon-
ed upon him as upon his invincible sup-
porter, instead of his own army. Was
not our queen sent back, without any de-
filement, to her husband, the very next
evening ? — while the king of Egypt fled
away, adoring this place which you have
defiled by shedding thereon the blood of
your countrymen ; and he also trembled at
those visions which he saw in the night
season, and bestowed both silver and gold
on the Hebrews, as on a people beloved of
God.* Shall I say nothing, or shall I
mention the removal of our fathers into
Egypt, who, when they were used tyran-
nically, and were fallen under the power
of foreign kings for 400 years together,
and might have defended themselves by
war and by fighting, did }et do nothing but
* This version of the abduction of Sarah is some-
what at variance with the simple- and unadorned
narration recorded in Genesis.
1 commit themselves to God ? Who is there
that does not know that Egypt was over-
run with all sorts of wild beasts, and con-
sumed by all sorts of distempers ? how
their land did not bring forth its fruit?
how the Nile failed of water ? how the
ten plagues of Egypt followed one upon
another ? and how, by those means, our
fathers were sent away, under a guard,
without any bloodshed, and without run-
ning any dangers, because God conducted
them as his peculiar servants ? Moreover,
did not Palestine groan under the ravage
the Assyrians made, when they carried
away our sacred ark ? as did their idol
Dagon, and as also did that entire nation
of those that carried it away, how they
were smitten with a loathsome distemper
in the secret parts of their bodies, when
their very bowels came down together,
with what they had eaten, till those hands
that stole it away were obliged to bring
it back again, and that with the sound of
cymbals and timbrels, and other oblations,
in order to appease the anger of God for
their violation of his holy ark. It was
God who then became our general, and
accomplished these great things for our
fathers, and this because they did not
meddle with war and fighting, but com-
mitted it to him to judge about their af-
fairs. When Sennacherib, king of As-
syria, brought along with him all Asia,
and encompassed this city round with his
army, did he fall by the hands of men ?
were not those hands lifted up to God in
prayers, without meddling with their arms,
when an angel of God destroyed that pro-
digious army in one night ? when the As-
syrian king, as he rose next day, found
185,000 dead bodies, and when he, with
the remainder of his army, fled away from
the Hebrews, though they were unarmed,
and did not pursue them ! You are also
acquainted with the slavery we were under
at Babylon, where the people were cap-
tives for seventy years ; yet were they not
delivered into freedom again before God
made Cyrus his gracious instrument in
bringing it about ; accordingly, they were
set free by him, and did again restore the
worship of their Deliverer at his temple.
And, to speak in general, we can produce
no example wherein our fathers got any
success by war, or failed of success when
without war they committed themselves
to God. When they stayed at home they
conquered, as pleased their Judge ; but
when they went out to fight they were al-
J
Chap. IX.]
WAKS OF TIIK JEWS.
341
n
ways disappointed : for example, when the
king of Babylon besieged this very city,
and our king Zedekiah fought against him
contrary to what predictions were made
to him by Jeremiah the prophet, he was
at once taken prisoner, and saw the city
and the temple demolished. Yet how
much greater was the moderation of that
king, than is that of your present govern-
ors," and that of the people then under
him, than is that of yours at this time ! for
when Jeremiah cried out aloud, how very
angry God was at them, because of their
transgressions, and told them that they
should be taken prisoners, unless they
would surrender up their city, neither did
the king nor the people put him to death ;
but for you, (to pass over what you have
done within the city, which I am not able
to describe as your wickedness deserves,)
you abuse me, and throw darts at me,
who only exhort you to save yourselves, as
being provoked when you are put in mind
of your sins, and cannot bear the very
mention of those crimes, which you every
day perpetrate. For another example,
when Antiochus, who was called Epi-
phaues, lay before this city, and had been
guilty of many indignities against God,
aud our forefathers met him in arms, they
then were slain in the battle, this city was
plundered by our enemies, and our sanc-
tuary made desolate for three years and
Bix months. And what need I bring any
more examples ! Indeed, what can it be
that hath stirred up an army of the Ro-
mans against our nation ? Is it not the
impiety of the inhabitants ? Whence did
our servitude commence ? Was it not de-
rived from the seditions that were among
our forefathers, when the madness of Aris-
tobulus and Hyrcanus, and our mutual
quarrels, brought Pompey upon this city,
and when God reduced those under sub-
jection to the Romans, who were uu wor-
thy of the liberty they had enjoyed ? Af-
ter a siege, therefore, of three months,
they were forced to surrender themselves,
although they had been guilty of such of-
fences with regard to our sanctuary and
our laws, as you have ; and this while
they had much greater advantages to go
to war thau you have. Do not we know
what end Antigouus, the son of Aristobu-
lus, came to, under whose reign God pro-
vided that this city should be taken again
upon accouut of the people's offences 1
When Herod, the sou of An ti pater,
brought upon us Sosius, aud Sosius
3F
brought upon us the Roman army, they
were then encompassed and besieged foi
six mouths, till, as a punishment for their
sins, they were taken, and the city was
plundered by the enemy. Thus it appears
that arms were never given to our nation;
but that we are always given up to be
fought against, and to be taken; for I
suppose, that such as inhabit this holy
place ought to commit the disposal of all
things to God, and then only to disregard
the assistance of men when they resign
themselves up to their arbitrator, who is
above. As for you, what have you done
of those things that are recommended by
our legislator! and what have you not
done of those things that he hath con-
demned ! How much more impious are
you than those who were so quickly taken !
You have not avoided so much as those
sins which are usually done in seeret; I
mean thefts, and treacherous plots against
men, aud adulteries. You are quarrelling
about rapines and murders, and invent
strange ways of wickedness. Nay, the
temple itself is become the receptacle of
all, and this divine place is polluted by
the hands of those of our own country ;
which place hath yet been reverenced by
the Romans when it was at a distance from
them, when they have suffered many of
their own customs to give place to our
law. And, after all this, do you expect
Him whom you have so impiously abused,
to be your supporter. To be sure then
you have a right to be petitioners, and to
call upon Him to assist you, so pure are
your hands ! Did your king [Hezekiah]
lift up such hands in prayer to God against
the king of Assyria, when he destroyed
that great army in one nighty And do
the Romans commit such wickedne— as
did the king of Assyria, that you may
have reason to hope for the like vengeance
upon them. Did not that king accept of
money from our king upon this condition,
that he should not destroy the city, and
I yet, contrary to the oath he had taken,
1 he came down to burn the temple ? \\ bile
the Romans do demand no more than that
accustomed tribute which our fathers paid
!to their fathers; aud if they may but
'once obtain that, they neither aim to de-
stroy this city, nor to touch this sanctuary ;
nay, they will grant you besides, that your
posterity shall be free, and your posses-
sions secured to you, and will preserve
your holy laws inviolate to you. And it
is plain madness to expect that God shoula
342
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V,
appear as well disposed toward the wicked
as toward the righteous, since he knows
when it is proper to punish men for their
sins immediately j accordingly he brake
the power of the Assyrians the very first
night that they pitched their camp.
"Wherefore, had he judged that our nation
was worthy of freedom, or the Romans of
punishment, he had immediately inflicted
punishment upon those Romans, as he did
upon the Assyrians, when Pompey began
to meddle with our nation, or when after
him Sisius came up against us, or when
Vespasian laid waste Galilee, or, lastly,
when Titus came first of all near to this
city: although Magnus and Sosius did not
only suffer nothing, but took the city by
force ; as did Vespasian go from the war
he made against you to receive the em-
pire ; and as for Titus, those springs that
were formerly almost dried up when they
were under your power, since he is come,
run more plentifully than they did before ;
accordingly, you know that Siloam, as well
as all the other springs that were without
the city, did so far fail, that water was
sold by distinct measures ; whereas they
now have such a great quantity of water
for your enemies as is sufficient not only
for drink both for themselves and their
cattle, but for watering their gardens also.
The same wonderful sign you had also ex-
perience of formerly, when the before-men-
tioned king of Babylon made war against
us, and when he took the city and burnt
the temple; while yet I believe the Jews
of that age were not so impious as you
are. Wherefore, I cannot but suppose
that God is fled out of his sanctuary, and
stands on the side of those against whom
you fight. Now, even a man, if he be but
a good man, will fly from an impure house,
and will hate those that are in it; aud do
you persuade yourselves that God will
abide with you in your iniquities, who sees
all secret things, and hears what is kept
most private ! Now, what crime is there,
I pray you, that is so much as kept secret
among you, or is concealed by you ! nay,
what is there that is not open to your
very enemies ! for you show your trans-
gr< s-ions after a pompous manner, aud
contend one with another which of you
shall be more wicked than another ; and
you make a public demonstration of your
injustice, as if it were virtue ! However,
there is a place left for your preservation,
if you be willing to accept of it; and God
is easily reconciled to those that confess
their faults, and repent of them. C
hard-hearted wretches as you are ! cast
away all your arms, and take pity of
your country already going to ruin ; re-
turn from your wicked ways, and have re-
gard to the excellency of that city which
you are going to betray, to that excellent
temple with the donations of so many
countries in it. Who could bear to be
the first to set that temple on fire ! who
could be willing that these things should
be no more ! and what is there that can
better deserve to be preserved ! 0 insensi-
ble creatures, and more stupid than are
the stones themselves ! And if you can-
not look at these things with discerning
eyes, yet, however, have pity upon your
families, and set before every one of your
eyes your children, and wives, and parents,
who will be gradually consumed either by
famine or by war. I am sensible that
this danger will extend to my mother, and
wife, and to that family of mine who
have been by no means ignoble, and in-
deed to one that hatfi been very eminent
in old time; and perhaps you may imagine
that it is on their account only that I give
you this advice : if that be all, kill them ;
nay, take my own blood as a reward, if it
may but procure your preservation; for I
am ready to die in case you will but re-
turn to a sound mind after my death."
CHAPTER X.
Many of the Jews endeavour to desert to the Ro-
mans— Severe famine in the city.
As Josephus was speaking thus with a
loud voice, the seditious would neither
yield to what he said, nor did they deem
it safe for them to alter their conduct;
but as for the people, they had a great
inclination to desert to the Romans; ac-
cordingly, some of them sold what they
had, and even the most precious things
that had been laid up as treasures by them,
for a very small matter, and swallowed
down pieces of gold, that they might not
be found out by the robbers ; and when
they had thus escaped to the Romans,
they had wherewithal to provide plenti-
fully for themselves : for Titus let a great
number of them go away into the coun-
try, whither they pleased; and the main
reasons why they were so ready to desert
were these : That now they should be
freed from those miseries which they had
endured in that city, and yet should not
be in slavery to the Romans : however
Chap. X.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
:: 13
John and Simon, with their factions, did
more carefully watch these men's going
out than they did the coming in of the
Romans; and, if any one did but afford
the least shadow of suspicion of such an
intention, his throat was cut immediately.
But as for the richer sort, it proved all
one to them whether they stayed in the
city, or attempted to get out of it, for
they were equally destroyed in both cases;
for every such person was put to death
under this pretence, that they were going
to desert, — but in reality, that the rob-
bers might get what thoy had. The mad-
ness of the seditious did also increase to-
gether with their famine, and both those
miseries were every day inflamed more
and more ; for there was no corn which
anywhere appeared publicly, but the rob-
bers came running into, and searched
men's private houses ; and then, if they
fouud any, they tormented them, because
they denied they had any ; and if they
found none, they tormented them worse,
because they supposed they had more
carefully concealed it. The indication they
made use of whether they had any or not,
was taken from the bodies of these misera-
ble wretches ; which, if they were in good
case, they supposed they were in no want
at all of food; but if they were wasted
away, they walked off without searching
any further ; nor did they think it proper
to kill such as these, because they saw
they would very soon die of themselves
for want of food. Many there were, in-
deed, who sold what they had for one mea-
sure; it was of wheat, if they were of
the richer sort; but barley, if they were
poorer. When these had so done, they
shut themselves up in the inmost rooms
of their houses, and ate the corn they had
gotten; some did it without grinding it,
by reason of the extremity of the want
they were in, and others baked bread of
it, according as necessity and fear dictated
to them : a table was nowhere laid for a
distinct meal, but they snatched the bread
out of the fire, half-baked, and ate it very
hastily.
It was now a miserable case, and a
sight that would justly bring tears into
our eyes, how men stood as to their food,
while the more powerful had more than
enough, and the weaker were lamenting
[for want of it]. But the famine was too
hard for all other passions, and it is de-
structive to nothing so much as to mo-
desty ; for what was otherwise worthy of
reverence was in this case despised ; inso-
much that children pulled the very mor-
sels that their fathers were eating out of
their very mouths, and what was still
more to be pitied, so did the mothers do
as to their infants; and when those that
were most dear were perishing under their
hands, they were not ashamed to t;ike
from them the very last drops that might
preserve their lives ; and while they ate
after this manner, yet were they not con-
cealed in so doing; but the seditious
everywhere came upon them immediately,
and snatched away from them what they
had gotten from others; for when they
saw any house shut up, this was to them
a signal that the people within had gotten
sonic food ; whereupon they broke open
the doors and ran in, and took pieces of
what they were eating almost up out of
their very throats, and this by force : the
old men, who held their food fast, were
beaten ; and if the women hid what they
had within their hands, their hair was
torn for so doing ; nor was there any com-
miseration shown either to the aged or to
infants, but they lifted up children from
the ground as they hung upon the mor-
sels they had gotten, and shook them
down upon the floor ; but still were they
more barbarously cruel to those that had
prevented their coming in, and had actu-
ally swallowed down what they were go-
ing to seize upon, as if they had been
unjustly defrauded of their right. They
also invented terrible methods of torment
to discover where any food was, and they
were these : to stop up the passages of
the privy parts of the miserable wretches,
and to drive sharp stakes therein; and a
man was forced to bear what it is terrible
even to hear, in order to make him con-
fess that he had but one loaf of bread, or
that he might discover a handful of barley-
meal that was concealed ; and this was
done when these tormentors were not
themselves hungry; for the thing had
been less barbarous had necessity forced
them to it ; but this was done to keep
their madness in exercise, and as making
preparation of provisions for themselves
for the following days. These men went
also to meet those that had crept out of the
city by night, as far as the Roman guards,
to gather some plants and herbs that grew
wild; and when those people thought
they had got clear of the enemy, these
snatched from them what they had brought
with them; even while they had frequently
344
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V.
entreated them, and that by calling upon
the tremendous name of God, to give them
back some part of what they had brought,
though these would not give them the
least crumb ; and they were to be well
contented that they were only spoiled, and
not slain at the same time.
These were the afflictions which the
lower sort of people suffered from these
tyrants' guards; but for the men that
were in dignity, and withal were rich, they
were earned before the tyrants themselves;
some of whom were falsely accused of
laying treacherous plots, and so were de-
stroyed ; others of them were charged
with designs of betraying the city to the
Romans : but the readiest way of all was
this, to suborn somebody to affirm that
they were resolved to desert to the enemy;
and he who was utterly despoiled of what
he had by Simon, was sent back again to
John, as of those who had been already
plundered by John, Simon got what re-
mained ; insomuch that they drank the
blood of the populace to one another, and
divided the dead bodies of the poor crea-
tures between them ; so that although, on
account of their ambition after dominion,
they contended with each other, yet did
they very well agree in their wicked prac-
tices ; for he that did not communicate
what he had got by the miseries of others
to the other tyrant, seemed to be too lit-
tle guilty, and in one respect only; and
he that did not partake of what was so
communicated to him, grieved at this, as
at the loss of what was a valuable thing,
that he had no share in such barbarity.
It is, therefore, impossible to go dis-
tinctly over every instance of these men's
iniquity. I shall, therefore, speak my
mind here at once briefly : — That neither
did any other city ever suffer such mise-
ries, nor did any age ever breed a gene-
ration more fruitful in wickedness than
this was, from the beginning of the
world. Finally, they brought the He-
brew nation into contempt, that they
might themselves appear comparatively
less impious with regard to strangers.
They confessed what was true, that they
were the slaves, the scum, and the spu-
rious and abortive offspring of our nation,
while they overthrew the city themselves,
aud forced the Romans, whether they
would or no, to gain a melancholy reputa-
tion, by acting gloriously against them,
and did almost draw that tire upon the
temple, which they seemed to think came
too slowly ; and, indeed, when they saw
that temple burning from the upper city,
they were neither troubled at it, nor did
they shed any tears on that account, while
yet these passions were discovered among
the Romans themselves ; which circum-
stances we shall speak of hereafter in their
proper place, when we come to treat of
such matters.
CHAPTER XL
The Jews cruciBecl before the walls of the city —
Antiochus Epiphanes — The Jews overthrow the
banks raised by the Romans.
So now Titus's banks were advanced a
great way, notwithstanding his soldiers
had been very much distressed from the
wall. He then sent a party of horse-
men, and ordered they should lay am-
bushes for those that went out into the
valleys to gather food. Some of these
were indeed fighting men, who were not
contented with what they got by rapine ;
but the greater part of them were poor
people, who were deterred from deserting
by the concern they were under for their
own relations : for they could not hope to
escape away, -together with their wives
and children, without the knowledge of
the seditious ; nor could they think of
leaving these relations to be slain by the
robbers on their account ; nay, the seve-
rity of the famine made them bold in
thus going out : so nothing remained but
that, when they were concealed from the
robbers, they should be taken by the
enemy; and when they were going to
be taken, they were forced to defeud
themselves, for fear of being punished :
as, after they had fought, they thought
it too late to make any supplications
for mercy : so they were first whipped,
and then tormented with all sorts of
tortures before they died, and were then
crucified before the wall of the city. This
miserable procedure made Titus greatly to
pity them, while they caught every day
500 Jews ; nay, some days they caught
more ; yet did it not appear to be safe for
him to let those that were taken by force
go their way ; and to set a guard over so
many, he saw would be to make such as
guarded them useless to him. The main
reason why he did not forbid that cruelty
was this, that he hoped the Jews might,
perhaps, yield at that sight, out of fear
lest they might themselves afterward be
liable to the same cruel treatment. So
Cuap. XL]
WARS OF TIIE JEWS.
.11
n
the soldiera, out of the wrath and hatred
they bore .the Jews, nailed those they
caught, one after one way, and another
after another, to the crosses, by way of
jest • when their multitude was so great
that' room was wanting for the crosses,
and crosses wanting for the bodies.
But so far were the seditious from re-
penting at this sad sight, that, on the con-
trary, they made the rest of the multitude
believe otherwise; for they brought the
relations of those that had deserted upon
the wall, with such of the populace as
were very eager to go over upon the se-
curity offered them, and showed them
what miseries those underwent who fled
to the Romans ; and told them that those
who were caught were supplicants to them,
and not such as were taken prisoners. This
Bight kept many of those within the city
who were so eager to desert, till the truth
was known; yet did some of them run
away immediately as unto certain punish-
ment, esteeming death from their enemies
to be a quiet departure, if compared with
that by famine. So Titus commanded
that the bauds of many of those that were
caught should be cut off, that they might
not°be thought deserters, and might be
credited on account of the calamity they
were under, and sent them into John and
Simon, with this exhortation, that they
would now at length leave off [their mad-
ness], and not force him to destroy the
city, whereby they would have those ad-
vantages of repentance, even in their
utmost distress, that they would preserve
their own lives, and so fine a city of then-
own, and that temple, which was then-
peculiar. He then went round about the
banks that were cast up, and hastened
them, in order to show that his words
should in no long time be followed by
bis deeds. In answer to which, the
seditious cast reproaches upon Caisar him-
self, and upon his father also, and cried
out with a loud voice, that they contemned
death, and did well in preferring it before
slavery ; that they would do all the mis-
chief to the Romans they could while
they had breath in them ; and that for
their own city, since they were, as he said,
to be destroyed, they had no concern
about it, and that the world itself was a
better temple to God than this. That yet
this temple would be preserved by him
that inhabited therein, whom they still
bad for their assistant in this war, and did
therefore laugh at all his threatenings,
which would come to nothing; beeause
the conclusion of the whole depended
upon God only. These words were mixed
with reproaches, and with them they made
a mighty clamour.
In the mean time Antiocbua Epiphanea
came to the city, having with him a con-
siderable number of other armed men,
1 and a band called the Macedonian hand
about him, all of the same age, tall, and
just past their childhood, armed, and in-
structed after the Macedonian manner,
whence it was that they took that name.
Yet were many of them unworthy oi BO
famous a nation ; for it had so happened
that the kingof Commagene had aounshed
more than other kings that were under
the power of the Romaus, till a change
happened in his condition ; and when he
was become an old man, he declared
plainly that we ought not to call any man
happy before he is dead. 1 Jut this a< m ( >f
his, who was then come thither before his
father was decaying, said that he could
not but wonder what made the Romana
so tardy in making their attacks upon the
wall. Now he was a warlike man, and
naturally bold in exposing himself to dan-
gers: he was also so strong a man that
his boldness seldom failed of having suc-
| cess. Upon this, Titus smiled and said
he would share the pains of an attack with
him. However, Antiocbus went as he
then was, and with his Macedonians made
a sudden assault upon the wall; and, in-
deed, for his own part, his strength and
skill were so great, that he guarded him-
self from the Jewish darts, and yet shot
his darts at them, while yet the young
men with him were almost all Borely
called: for they had so great a regard to
the promises that had been made of their
courage, that they would needs persevere
in their fighting, and at length many of
them retired, but not till they were
wounded; and then they perceived that
true Macedonians, if they were to be con-
querors, must have Alexander's good tor-
tune also. . . .
Now, as the Romans began to raise their
banks on the twelfth day of the month
Artemisius [Jyar], so had they much ado
to finish them by the twenty-ninth day ot
the same month, after they had laboured
hard for seventeen days continually ; lor
there were now four great banks raised,
one of which was at the tower of Automa;
this was raised by the fifth legion, over
against the middle of that pool which was
346
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book V
called Struthius. Another was cast up
by the twelfth legion, at the distance of
about twenty cubits from the other. But
the labours of the tenth legion, which lay
a great way off these, were on the north
quarter, and at the pool called Amygda-
lon; as was that of the fifteenth legion
about thirty cubits from it, and at the
high priest's monument. And now, when
the engines were brought, John had from
within undermined the space that was
over against the tower of Antonia, as far
as the banks themselves, and had sup-
ported the ground over the mine with
beams laid across one another, whereby
the Roman works stood upon an uncertain
foundation. Then did. he order such ma-
terials to be brought in as were daubed
over with pitch and bitumen, and set them
on fire; and as the cross-beams that sup-
ported the banks were burning, the ditch
yielded on the sudden, and the banks were
shaken down, and fell into the ditch with
a prodigious noise. Now at the first there
arose a very thick smoke and dust, as the
fire was choked by the fall of the bank ;
but as the suffocated materials were now
gradually consumed, a plain flame broke
out; on which sudden appearance of the
flame a consternation fell upon the Romans,
and the shrewdness of the contrivance dis-
couraged them; and indeed, this accident
coming upon them at a time when they
thought they had already gained their
point, cooled their hopes for the time to
come. They also thought it would be to
no purpose to take the pains to extinguish
the fire, since, if it were extinguished, the
banks were swallowed up already [and
become useless] to them.
Two days after this, Simon and his
party made an attempt to destroy the
other banks; for the Romans had brought
their engines to bear there, and began al-
ready to make the wall shake. And here
one Tephtheus, of Grarsis, a city of Galilee,
and Megassarus, one who was derived from
some of Queen Mariamne's servants, and
with them one from Adiabene, he was the
son of Nabateus, and called by the name
of Chagiras, from the ill fortune he had,
the word signifying " a lame man,"
snatched some torches and ran suddenly
upon the engines. Nor were there, during
this war, any men that ever sallied out of
the city who were their superiors, either
in their own boldness, or in the terror
they struck into their enemies; for they
ran out upon the Romans, not as if they
were enemies, but friends, without fear or
delay; nor did they leave their enemies
till they had rushed violently through the
midst of them, and set their machines on
fire ; and though they had darts thrown
at them on every side, and were on every
side assaulted with their enemies' swords,
yet did they not withdraw themselves nut
of the dangers they were in, till the fire
had caught hold of the instruments; but
when the flame went up, the Romans
came running from their camp to save
their engines. Then did the Jews hinder
their succours from the wall, and fought
with those that endeavoured to queueh
the fire, without any regard to the danger
their bodies were in. So the Romans
pulled the engines out of the fire, while
the hurdles that covered them were on
fire ; but the Jews caught hold of the bat-
tering-rams through the flame itself, and
held them fast, although the iron upon
them was become red hot ; and now the
fire spread itself from the engines to the
banks, and prevented those that came to
defend them; and all this while the Ro-
mans were encompassed round about with
the flame; and, despairing of saving their
works from it, they retired to their camp.
Then did the Jews become still more and
more in number, by the coming of those
that were within the city to their assist-
ance; and as they were very bold upon
the good success they had had, their vio-
lent assaults were almost irresistible; nay,
they proceeded as far as the fortifications
of the enemy's camp, and fought with
their guards. Now, there stood a body of
soldiers in array before that camp, which
succeeded one another by turns in their
armour; and as to those, the law of the
Romans was terrible, that he who left his
post there, let the occasion be whatsoever
it might, he was to die for it; so that
body of soldiers, preferring rather to die
in fighting courageously, than as a pu-
nishment for their cowardice, stood firm;
and at the necessity these men were in of
standing to it, many of the others that
had run away, out of shame, turned back
again; and when they had set their en-
gines against the wall, they kept the mul-
titude from coming more of them out of
the city [which they could the more easily
do]; because they had made no provision
for preserving or guarding their bodies at
this time; for the Jews fought now hand
to hand, with all that came in their way,
and, without any caution, fell against the
Chai\ XII.]
WARS OF THE JEW8.
347
points of their enemy's spears, and at-
tacked them bodies against bodies ; for
they were now too hard for the Romans,
not so much by their other warlike actions,
as by these courageous assaults they made
upou them ; and the Romans gave way
more to their boldness than they did to
the sense of the harm they had received
from them.
And now Titus had come from the tower
of Antonia, whither he had gone to look
out for a place for raising other banks, and
reproached the soldiers greatly for permit-
ting their own walls to be in danger, when
they had taken the walls of their enemies,
and sustained the fortune of men besieged,
while the Jews were allowed to sally out
against them, though they were already
in a sort of prison. He then went round
about the enemy with some chosen troops,
and fell upon their flank himself; so the
Jews, who had been before assaulted in
their faces, wheeled about to Titus, and
continued the fight. The armies also were
now mixed one among another, and the
dust that was raised so far hindered them
from seeing one another, and the noise
that was made so far hindered them from
heariug one another, that neither side
could discern an enemy from a friend.
However, the Jews did not flinch, though
not so much from their real strength, as
from their despair of deliverance. The
Romans also would not yield, by reason
of the regard they had to glory, and to
their reputation in war, and because Caesar
himself went into the danger before them;
insomuch that I cannot but think the Ro-
mans would in the conclusion have now
taken even the whole multitude of the
Jews, so very angry were they at them,
had these not prevented the upshot of the
battle, and retired into the city. How-
ever, seeing the banks of the Romans
were demolished, these Romans were very
much cast down upon the loss of what had
cost them so long pains, and this in one
hour's time; and many indeed despaired
of taking the city with their usual engines
of war only.
CHAPTER XII.
Titus encompasses the city round with a wall — The
famine consumes the people by whole houses and
families.
And now did Titus consult with his
commanders what was to be done. Those
that were of the warmest tempers thought
he should briug the whole army against
the city and storm the wall; for that
hitherto no more than a part of their army
had fought with the Jews; but that in
case the entire army was to come at once,
they would not be able to sustain their
attacks; but would be overwhelmed by
their darts; but of those that were for a
more cautious management, some were for
raising their banks again; and others ad-
vised to let the banks alone, but to lie
still before the city, to guard against the
coming out of the Jews, and against their
carrying provisions into the city, and bo
to leave the enemy to the famine, and this
without direct fighting with them ; for
that despair was not to be conquered,
especially as to those who are desirous to
die by the sword, while a more terrible
misery than that is reserved for them.
However, Titus did not think it fit for bo
great an army to lie entirely idle, and that
yet it was in vain to fight with those that
would be destroyed one by another; he
also showed them how impracticable it
was to cast up any more banks, for want
of materials, and to guard against the
Jews coming out, still more impractica-
ble; as also, that to encompass the whole
city round with his army, was not very
easy, by reason of its magnitude, and the
difficulty of the situation; and on other
accounts dangerous, upon the sallies the
Jews might make out of the city; for al-
though they might guard the known pas-
sages out of the place, yet would they,
when they found themselves under the
greatest distress, contrive secret passages
out, as being well acquainted with all such
places ; and if any provisions were carried
in by stealth, the siege would thereby be
longer delayed. He also owned, that he
was afraid that the length of time thus to
be spent would diminish the glory of his
success; for though it be true, that length
of time will perfect every thing, yet, that
to do what we do in a little time, is still
necessary to the gaining reputation : that
therefore his opinion was, that if they
aimed at quickness, joined with security,
they must build a wall round about the
whole city; which was, he thought, the
only way to prevent the Jews from coming
out any way, and that then they would
either entirely despair of saving the city,
and so would surrender it up to him, or be
still the more easily conquered when the
famine had further weakened them; for
that besides this wall, he would not lie
entirely at rest afterward, but would take
348
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book. V
care then to have banks raised again, when
those that would oppose them were become
weaker: but that if any one should think
such a work to be too great, and not to be
finished without much difficulty, he ought
to consider that it is not fit for Romans to
undertake any small work, and that none
but God himself could with ease accom-
plish any great thing whatsoever.
These arguments prevailed with the
commanders. So Titus gave orders that
the army should be distributed to their
several shares of this work; and indeed
there now came upon the soldiers a certain
divine fury, so that they did not only part
the whole wall that was to be built among
them, nor did only one legion strive with
another, but the lesser divisions of the
army did the same ; insomuch that each
soldier was ambitious to please his decu-
rion, each decurion his centurion, each
centurion his tribune, and the ambition of
the tribunes was to please their superior
commanders, while Caesar himself took
notice of and rewarded the like contention
in those commanders; for he went round
about the works many times every day,
and took a view of what was done. Titus
began the wall from the Camp of the As-
syrians, where his own camp was pitched,
and drew it down to the lower parts of
Cenopolis; thence it went along the valley
of Cedron to the Mount of Olives; it then
bent toward the south, and encompassed
the mountain as far as the rock called
Peristereon, and that other hill which lies
next to it, and is over the valley which
reaches to Siloam ; whence it bended
again to the west, and went down to the
valley of the Fountain, beyond which it
went up again at the monument of Ana-
nus the high priest, and encompassing
that mountain where Pompey had for-
merly pitched his camp, it returned back
to the north side of the city, and was car-
ried on as far as a certain village called
"The House of the Erebinthi;" after
which it encompassed Herod's monument,
and there, on the east, was joined to Ti-
tus's own camp, where it began. Now
the length of this wall was forty furlongs,
one only abated. Now at this wall with-
out were erected thirteen places to keep
garrisons iu, the circumference of which,
put together, amounted to ten furlongs;
the whole was completed in three days:
so that what would naturally have re-
quired some months, was done in so
short an interval as is incredible. When
' Titus had, therefore, encompassed the
I city with this wall, and put garrisons
into proper places, he went round the
wall, at the first watch of the night,
, and observed how the guard was kept;
the second watch he allotted to Alexan-
der; the commanders of legions took the
I third watch. They also cast lots among
I themselves who should be upon the watch
i in the night-time, and who should go all
night long round the spaces that were
iuterposed between the garrisons.
So all hope of escaping was now cut
off from the Jews, together with their
liberty of going out of the city. Then
did the famine widen its progress, and de-
voured the people by whole houses and
families; the upper rooms were full of
women and children that were dying by
famine; and the lanes of the city were
full of the dead bodies of the aged; the
children also and the young men wandered
about the market-places like shadows, all
swelled with the famine, and fell down
dead wheresoever their misery seized them.
As for burying them, those that were sick
themselves were not able to do it; and
those that were hearty and well were de-
terred from doing it by the great multi-
tude of those dead bodies, and by the un-
certainty there was how soon they should
die themselves; for many died as they
were burying others, and many went to
their coffins before that fatal hour was
come ! Nor was there any lamentation
made under these calamities, nor were
heard any mournful complaints ; but the
famine confounded all natural passions ;
for those who were just going to die, looked
upon those that were gone to their rest be-
fore them with dry eyes and open mouths.
A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly
night, had seized upon the city; while yet
the robbers were still more terrible than
these miseries were themselves; for they
brake open those houses which were
no other than graves of dead bodies,
and plundered them of what they had ;
and carrying off the coverings of their
bodies, went out laughing, and tried the
points of their swords on their dead bo-
dies ; and, in order to prove what mettle
they were made of, they thrust some of
those through that still lay alive upon the
ground ; for those that entreated them to
lend them their right hand and their
sword to despatch them, they were too
proud to grant their requests, and left
them to be consumed by the famine. Now
=n
Chap. XIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
r; to
every one of these died with their eyes
fixed npon the temple, and left the sedi-
tious alive behind them. Now the sedi-
tious at first gave orders that the dead
should be buried out of the public treasury,
as not enduring the stench of their dead
bodies. But afterward, when they could
not do that, they had them cast down
from the walls into the valleys beneath.
However, when Titus, in going his
rounds along those valleys, saw them full
of dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction
running about them, he gave a groan ;
and, spreading out his hands to heaven,
called God to witness that this was not his
doing : and such was the sad case of the
city 'itself. But the Romans were very
joyful, since none of the seditious could
now make sallies out of the city, because
they were themselves disconsolate; and
the famine already touched them also.
These Romans, besides, bad great plenty
of corn and other necessaries out of Syria,
and out of the neighbouring provinces;
many of whom would stand near to the
wall of the city, and show the people what
great quantities of provisions they had,
and so make the enemy more sensible of
their famine, by the great plenty, even to
satiety, which they had themselves. How-
ever, when the seditious still showed no
inclination of yielding, Titus, out of his
commiseration of the people that re-
mained, and out of his earnest desire of
rescuing what was still left out of these
miseries, began to raise his banks again,
although materials for them were hard to
be come at; for all the trees that were
about the city had been already cut down
for the making of the former banks. Yet
did the soldiers bring with them other
materials from the distance of ninety fur-
longs, and thereby raised banks in four
parts, much greater than the former,
though this was done only at the tower
of Antonia. So Caesar went his rounds
through the legions, and hastened on the
works, and showed the robbers that they
were now in his hands. But these meu,
and these only, were incapable of repent-
ing of the wickedness they had been
guilty of; and separating their souls from
their bodies, they used them both as if
they belonged to other folks, and not to
themselves. For no gentle affection could
touch their souls, nor could any pain affect
their bodies, since they could still tear the
dead bodies of the people as dogs do, and
fill the prisons with those that were sick.
CHAPTER XIII.
Great slaughter and sacrilege in Jerusalem.
Accordingly, Simon would not suffer
Matthias, by whose means be got p
sion of the city, to go off without torment.
This Matthias was the son of Boethus,
and was one of the high priests, one that
had been very faithful to the people, and
in great esteem with them : he, when the
multitude were distressed by the Zealots,
among whom John was numbered, per-
suaded the people to admit this Simon to
come in to assist them, while he had made
no terms with him, nof expected any
thing that was evil from him. But when
Simon was come in, and had gotten the
city under his power, he esteemed hi in
that had advised them to admit him
as his enemy equally with the rest, as
looking upon that advice as a piece of his
simplicity only: so he had him then
brought before him, and condemned to die
for being on the side of the Romans,
without giving him leave to make his de-
fence. He condemned also his three sons
to die with him ; for, as to the fourth, he
prevented him, by running away to Titus
before. And when he begged for this,
that he might be slain before his sons, and
that as a favour, on account that he had
procured the gates of the city to be opened
to him, he gave order that he should be
slain the last of them all; so he was not
slain till he had seen his sons slain before
his eyes, and that by being produced over
against the Romans ; for such a charge
had Simon given to Anauus, the son of
Bamadus, who was the most barbarous of
all his guards. He also jested upon him,
and told him that he might now see whether
those to whom he intended to go over, would
send him any succours or not; but still
he forbade their dead bodies should be
buried. After the slaughter of these, a
certain priest, Ananias, the son of Ma-
sambulus, a person of eminence, as also
Aristeus, the scribe of the sanhedrim, and
born at Emmaus, and with them fifteen
men of figure among the people, were
slain. They also kept Josephus's father
in prison, and made public proclamation
that no citizen whosoever should either
speak to him himself, or go into his com-
pany among others, for fear he should be-
tray them. They also slew such as joined
in lamenting these men, without any fur-
ther examination.
Now, wheu Judas, the son of Judas,
350
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book Y
who was one of Simon's under-officersr
and a peison intrusted by him to keep
one of the towers, saw this procedure of
Simon, he called together ten of those
under him, that were most faithful to him,
(perhaps this was done, partly out of pity
to those that had so barbarously been put
to death ; but, principally, in order to
provide for his own safety,) and spoke
thus to them : — " How long shall we bear
these miseries ? or, what hopes have we
of deliverance by thus continuing faithful
to such wicked wretches ? Is not the
famine already come against us? Are
not the Romans in a manner gotten within
the city? Is not Simon become uufaith-
ful to his benefactors ? and is there not
reason to fear he will very soon bring us
to the like punishment, while the security
the Romans offer us is sure ? Come on,
let us surrender up this wall, and save
ourselves and the city. Nor will Simon
be very much hurt, if, now he despairs of de-
liverance, he be brought to justice a little
sooner than he thinks on." Now, these
ten were prevailed upon by those argu-
ments; so he sent the rest of those that
were under him, some one way and some
another, that no discovery might be made
of what they had resolved upon. Ac-
cordingly, he called to the Romans from
the tower, about the third hour ; but
they, some of them out of pride, despised
what he said, and others of them did not
believe him to be in earnest, though the
greatest number delayed the matter, as
believing they should get possession of
the city in a little time, without any ha-
zard; but when Titus was just coming
thither with his armed men, Simon was
acquainted with the matter before he
came, and present^ took the tower into
his own custody, before it was surren-
dered, and seized upon these men, and
put them to death in the sight of the Ro-
mans themselves; and, when he had man-
gled their dead bodies, he threw them
down before the wall of the city.
In the mean time, Josephus, as he was
going round the city, had his head
wounded by a stone that was thrown at
him ; upon which he fell down as giddy.
Upon which fall of his the Jews made a
sally, and he had been hurried away into
the city, if Caesar had not sent men to
protect him immediately; and, as these
men were fighting, Josephus was taken
up, though he heard little of what was
done. So the seditious supposed they
had now slain that man whom they were
the most desirous of killing, and made
thereupon a great noise, in way of rejoic-
ing. This accident was told in the city ;
and the multitude that remained became
very disconsolate at the news, as being
persuaded that he was really dead, on
whose account alone they could venture
to desert to the Romans ; but when Jose-
phus's mother heard in prison that her
son was dead, she said to those that
watched about her, That she had always
been of opinion, since the siege of Jota-
pata [that he would be slain], and she
should never enjoy him alive any more.
She also made great lamentation privately
to the maid-servants that were about her,
and said, That this was all the advantage
she had of bringing so extraordinary a
person as this son into the world ; that
she should not be able even to bury that
son of hers, by whom she expected to
have been buried herself. However, this
false report did not put his mother to
pain, nor afford merriment to the robbers
long; for Josephus soon recovered of his
wound, and came out and cried out aloud,
That it would not be long ere they should
be punished for this wound they had given
him. He also made a fresh exhortation
to the people to come out, upou the secu-
rity that would be given them. This
sight of Josephus encouraged the people
greatly, and brought a great consternation
upon the seditious.
Hereupon some of the deserters, hav-
ing no other way, leaped down from the
wall immediately, white -others of them
went out of the city with stones, as if
they would fight them; but thereupon,
they fled away to the Romans. But here
a worse fate accompanied these than what
they had found within the city ; and they
met with a quicker despatch from the too
great abundance they had among the Ro-
mans, than they could have done from the
famine among the Jews; for when they
came first to the Romans, they were
puffed up by the famine, and swelled like
men in a dropsy ; after which they all on
the sudden overfilled those bodies that
were before empty, and so burst asunder,
excepting such only as were skilful
enough to restrain their appetites, and,
by degrees, took in their food into bodies
unaccustomed thereto. Yet did auother
plague seize upou those that were thus
preserved; for there was found among
the Syrian deserters a certain person who
Chap. XIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
851
7
was caught gathering pieces of gold out
of the excrements of the Jews' bellies;
for the deserters used to swallow such
pieces of gold, as we told you before, when
they came out; and for these did the se-
ditious search them all ; for there was a
great quantity of gold in the city, inso-
much that as much was now sold [in the
Roman camp] for twelve Attic [drams],
as was sold before for twenty-five; but
when this contrivance was discovered in
one instance, the fame of it filled their
several camps, that the deserters came to
them full of gold. So the multitude of
the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up
those that came as supplicants, and
searched their bellies. Nor docs it seem
to me that any misery befell the Jews that
was more terrible than this, since in one
night's time about 2000 of these deserters
were thus dissected.
When Titus came to the knowledge of
this wicked practice, he had like to have
surrounded those that had been guilty of
it with his horse, and have shot them dead ;
and he had done it, had not their number
been so very great, and those that were
liable to this punishment would have been
manifold more than those whom they had
slain. However, he called together the
commanders of the auxiliary troops he
had with him, as well as the commanders
of the Roman legions, (for some of his
own soldiers had been also guilty herein,
as he had been informed,) aud had great
indignation against both sorts of them,
and spoke to them as follows : — " What !
have any of my own soldiers done such
things as this out of the uncertain hope
of gain, without regarding their own wea-
pons, which are made of silver and gold ?
Moreover, do the Arabians and Syrians
now first of all begin to govern themselves
as they please, and to indulge their appe-
tites in a foreign war, and then, out of
their barbarity in murdering men, and
out of their hatred to the Jews, get it as-
cribed to the Romans ?" — for this infa-
mous practice was said to be spread among
6ome of his own soldiers also. Titus then
threatened that he would put such men to
death, if any one of them were discovered
to be so insolent as to do so again : more-
over, he gave it in charge to the legions,
that they should make a search after such
as were suspected, and should bring them
to him ; but it appeared that the love of
money was too hard for all their dread of
punishment, and a vehement desire of
gain is natural to men, and no passion is
so venturesome as oovetousness j other-
wise such passions have certain bounds,
and are subordinate to fear; but in reality
it was God who condemned the whole na-
tion, and turned every course that was
taken for their preservation to their de-
struction. This, therefore, which was for-
bidden by Caesar under such a threatening,
was ventured upon privately against the
deserters, and these barbarians would go
out still, and meet those that ran away
before any Baw them, and looking about
them to see that no Romans spied them,
they dissected them, and pulled this pol-
luted money out of their bowels; which
money was still found in a few of them,
while yet a great many were destroyed by
the bare hope there was of thus getting by
them, which miserable treatment made
many that were deserting to return back
again into the city.
Rut as for John, when he could no
longer plunder the people, he betook him-
self to sacrilege, and melted down many
of the sacred utensils, which had
given to the temple ; as also many of these
vessels which were necessary for such as
ministered about holy things, the caldrons,
the dishes, and the tables; nay, he did not
abstain from those pouring-vessels that
were sent them by Augustus aud his wife ]
for the Roman emperors did ever both
honour and adorn this temple : whereas
this man, who was a Jew, seized upon
what were the donations of foreigners;
and said to those that were with him, that
it was proper for them to use divine things
while they were fighting for the Divinity,
without fear, and that such whose warfare
is for the temple, should live of the tem-
ple; on which account he emptied the ves-
sels of that sacred wine and oil, which the
priests kept to be poured on the burnt-of-
ferings, and which lay in the inner court
of the temple, and distributed it among
the multitude, who, in their anointing
themselves and drinking, used [each of
them] above a bin : and here I cannot but
speak my mind, and what the concern I
am under dictates to me, and it is this: L
suppose, that had the Romans made any
longer delay in coming against these vil-
lains, the city would either have b n
swallowed up by the ground opening uj >n
them, or been overflowed by water, or else
been destroyed by such thunder as the
352
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI
country of Sodom* perished by, for it, had
brought forth a generation of men much
more atheistical than were those that suf-
fered such punishments; for by their mad-
ness it was that all the people came to be
destroyed.
And indeed, why do I relate these par-
ticular calamities ? — while Manneus, the
son of Lazarus, came running to Titus at
this very time, and told him that there
had been carried out through that one
gate, which was intrusted to his care, no
fewer than 115,880 dead bodies, in the in-
terval between the fourteenth day of the
month Xanthicus [Nisan], when the Ro-
mans pitched their camp by the city, and
the first day of the month Panemus [Ta-
muz]. This was itself a prodigious multi-
tude ; and though this man was not him-
self set as a governor at that gate, yet
was he appointed to pay the public stipend
for carrying these bodies out, and so was
obliged of necessity to number them,
while the rest were buried by their rela-
tions, though all their burial was but this,
to bring them away, and cast them out of
the city. After this man there ran away
to Titus many of the eminent citizens,
and told him the entire number of the
poor that were dead ; and that no fewer
than 600,000 were thrown out at the gates,
though still the number of the rest could
not be discovered ; and they told him
further, that when they were no longer able
to carry out the dead bodies of the poor,
they laid their corpses on heaps in very
large houses, and shut them up therein ;
as also that a medimnus of wheat was sold
for a talent; and that when, a while after-
ward, it was not possible to gather herbs,
by reason the city was all walled about,
some persons were driven to that terrible
distress as to search the common sewers
and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the
dung which they got there ; and what
they of old could not endure so much as
to see, they now used for food. When the
Romans barely heard all this, they com-
miserated their case ; while the seditious,
who saw it also, did not repent, but suffer-
ed the same distress to come upon them-
selves ; for they were blinded by thafcfate
which was already coming upon the city,
and upon themselves also.
BOOK VI.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE MONTH, FROM THE GREAT
EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WERE REDUCED TO THE TAKING
OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS.
CHAPTER I.
The miseries of the Jews increase — The Romans
make an assault upon the tower of Antonia.
Thus did the miseries of Jerusalem
grow worse and worse every day, and the
seditious were still more irritated by the
calamities they were under, even while the
famine preyed upon themselves, after it
had preyed upon the people. And, in-
deed, the multitude of carcases that lay in
heaps one upon another was a horrible
sight, and produced a pestilential stench,
which was a hinderance to those that
would make sallies out of the city and
* Josephus esteems the land of Sodom, not as
part of the lake Asphaltitis, or under its waters;
but near it only, as Tacitus also took the same no-
tion from him, whieh Reland takes to lie the truth,
both in his note on this place and in his Palestina.
fight the enemy : but as those were to go
in battle-array who had been already used
to 10,000 murders, and must tread upon
those dead bodies as they marched along,
so were not they terrified, nor did they
pity men as they marched over them ; nor
did they deem this affront offered to the
deceased to be any ill omen to themselves;
but as they had their right hands already
polluted with the murders of their own
countrymen, and in that condition ran out
to fight with foreigners, they seemed to
me to have casta reproach upon God him-
self, as if he were too slow in punishing
them; for the war was not now gone on
with as if they had any hope of victory ;
for they gloried after a brutish manner in
that despair of deliverance they were al-
ready in. And now the Romans, although
Chap. I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
353
they were greatly distressed in getting to-
gether their materials, raised their banks
in one-and-twenty-days, after they hud cut
down all the trees that were in the coun-
try that adjoined to the city, and that for
ninety furlongs round about, as I have
already related. And truly, the very
view itself of the country was a melancho-
ly thing; for those places which were be-
fore adorned with trees and pleasant gar-
dens, were now become a desolate country
every way, and its trees were all cut down :
nor could any foreigner that had formerly
seen Judea and the most beautiful suburbs
of the city, and now saw it as a desert,
but lament and mourn sadly at so great a
change; for the war had laid all signs of
beauty quite waste: nor, if any one that
bad known the place before had come on
a sudden to it now, would he have known
it again ; but though he were at the city
itself, yet would he have inquired for it
notwithstanding.
And now the banks were finished, they
afforded a foundation for fear both to the
Romans and to the Jews ; for the Jews
expected that the city would be taken, un-
less they could burn those banks, as did
the Romans expect that, if these were
once burnt down, they should never be
able to take it ; for there was a mighty
scarcity of materials, and the bodies of
the soldiers began to fail with such hard
labours, as did their souls faint with so
many instances of ill success ; nay, the
.very calamities themselves that were in
the city proved a greater discouragement
to the Romans than to those within the
city ; for they found the fighting men of
the Jews to be not at all mollified among
such their sore afflictions, while they had
themselves perpetualby less and less hopes
of success, and their banks were forced to
yield to the stratagems of the enemy,
their engines to the firmness of the wall,
and their closest fights to the boldness of
their attack ; and, what was their greatest
discouragement of all, they found the
Jews' courageous souls to be superior to
the multitude of the miseries they were
under by their sedition, their famine, and
the war itself; insomuch that they were
ready to imagine that the violence of their
attacks was invincible, and that the ala-
crity they showed would not be discouraged
by their calamities ; for what would not
those be able to bear if they should be for-
tunate, who turned their very misfortunes
to the improvement of their valour ! These
Vol. II.— 23
considerations made the Romans keep a
stronger guard about their bauks than they
formerly had done.
But now John and his party took care
for securing themselves afterward, even in
case this wall should bo thrown down,
and fell to their work before the battering-
rams were brought against them. V< i
did they not compass what they endea-
voured to do, but as they were gone out
with their torches, they came back undei
great discouragement, before they came
near to the banks ; and the reasons were
these : that in the first place, their conduct
did not seem to be unanimous, but they went
out in distinct parties, and at distinct inter-
vals, and after a slow manner, and timor-
ously, and to say all in a word, without a
Jewish courage ; for they were now de-
fective in what is peculiar to our nation,
that is, in boldness, in violence of assault,
and in running upon the enemy all to-
gether, and in persevering in what they
go about, though they do not at first suc-
ceed in it ; but they now went out in a
more languid manner than usual, and at
the same time found the Romans set in
array, and more courageous than ordinary,
and that they guarded their banks both
with their bodies and their entire armour,
and this to such a degree on all sides, that
they left no room for the fire to get among
them, and that every one of their soula
was in such good courage, that they would
sooner die than desert their ranks ; for
besides their notion that all their hopes
were cut off, in case their works were
once burnt, the soldiers were greatly
ashamed that subtlety should be quite too
hard for courage, madness for armour,
multitude for skill, and Jews for Romans.
The Romans had now also another advan-
tage— their engines for sieges co-operat-
ing with them in throwing darts and
stones as far as the Jews, when they were
coming out of the city; whereby the man
that fell became an impediment to him
that was next to him, as did the danger
of going farther make them less zealous
in their attempts; and for those that had
run under the darts, some of them were
terrified by the good order and clo-
of the enemies' ranks before they came to
a close fight, and others were pricked with
their spears, and turned back again; at
length they reproached one another for
their cowardice, and retired without doing
any thing. This attack was made upon the
first day of the month Panemus [TauiuzJ.
354
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
So, when the Jews were retreated, the Ro-
mans brought their engines, although they
had all the while stones thrown at them
from the tower of Antonia, and were as-
saulted by fire and sword, and by all sorts
of darts, which necessity afforded the Jews
to make use of; for although these had
great dependence on their own wall, and
a contempt of the Roman engines, yet did
they endeavour to hinder the Romans from
bringing them. Now these Romans strug-
gled hard, on the contrary, to bring them,
as deeming that this zeal of the Jews was
in order to avoid any impression being
made on the tower of Antonia, because its
wall was but weak, and its foundations
rotten. However, that tower did not yield
to the blows given it from the engines;
yet did the Romans bear the impressions
made by the enemies' darts which were
perpetually cast at them, and did not give
way to auy of those dangers that came
upon them from above, and so they brought
their engines to bear; but then, as they
were beneath the other, and were sadly
wounded by the stones thrown down upon
them, some of them threw their shields
over their bodies, and partly with their
hands, and partly with their bodies, and
partly with crows, they undermined its
foundations, and with great pains they re-
moved four of its stones. Then night
came upon both sides, and put an end to
this struggle for the present; however,
that night the wall was so shaken by the
battering-rams in that place where John
had used his stratagem before, and had
undermined their banks, that the ground
then gave way, and the wall fell down
suddenly.
AVhen this accident had unexpectedly
happened, the minds of both parties were
variously affected: for though one would
expect that the Jews would be discouraged,
because this fall of their wall was unex-
pected by them, and they had made no
provision in that case, yet did they pull
up their courage, because the tower of
Antonia itself was still standing; as was
the unexpected joy of the Romans, at this
fall of the wall, soon queuched by the
eight they had of another wall, whicA John
aud his party had built within it How-
ever, the attack of this second wall ap-
peared to be easier than that ox tho former,
because it seemed a thing of greater facility
to get up to it through the parts of the
former wall that were now thrown down.
This new wall appeared also to be much
weaker than the tower of Antonia, and ac-
cordingly the Romans imagined that it had
been erected so much on the sudden, that
they should soon overthrow it : yet did
not anybody venture now to go up to this
wall ; for that such as first ventured so to
do must certainly be killed.
And now, Titus, upon consideration
that the alacrity of soldiers in war is
chiefly excited by hopes and by good
words, and that exhortations aud promises
do frequently make men to forget the
hazards they run, nay, and sometimes to
despise death itself, got together the most
courageous part of his army, and tried
what he could do with his men by these
methods : — " 0 fellow-soldiers," said he,
" to make an exhortation to men, to do
what hath no peril in it, is on that very
account inglorious to such to whom that
exhortation is made; and indeed, so it is
in him that makes the exhortation, an ar-
gument of his own cowardice also. I
therefore think, that such exhortations
ought then only to be made use of when
affairs are in a dangerous condition, aud
yet are worthy of being attempted by
every one themselves ; accordingly, I am
fully of the same opinion with you, that
it is a difficult task to go up to this wall ;
but that it is proper for those that desire
reputation for their valour, to struggle
with difficulties in such cases, will then
appear, when I have particularly shown
that it is a brave thing to die with glory,
and that the courage here necessary shall
not go unrewarded in those that first begin
the attempt; and let my first argument to
move you to it be taken from what proba-
bly some would think reasonable to dis-
suade you, I mean the constancy and
patience of these Jews, even under their
ill successes; for it is unbecoming you,
who are Romans and my soldiers, who
have in peace been taught how to make
wars, and who have also been used to con-
quer in those wars, to be inferior to Jews,
either in action of the hand or in courage
of the soul, and this especially when you
are at the conclusion of your victory, and
are assisted by God himself; for as to our
misfortunes, they have been owing to the
madness of the Jews, while their suffer-
ings have been owing to your valour, and
to the assistance God hath afforded }'ou;
for as to the seditious they have been in,
and the famine they are under, and the
siege they now endure, and the fall of
their walls without our engines, what can
Chap I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
they all be but demonstrations of God's
anger against them, and of bis assistance
afforded us? It will not, therefore, be
proper for you, either to show yourselves
inferior to those to whom you are really
superior, or to betray that divine assist-
ance which is afforded you; and, indeed,
how can it be esteemed otherwise than a
base and unworthy thing, that while the
Jews, who need not to be much ashamed
if they be deserted, because they have
long learned to be slaves to others, do yet
despise death, that they may be so no
longer, — and to make sallies into the very
midst of us frequently, not in hopes of
conquering us, but merely for a demon-
stration of their courage ; we, who have
gotten possession of almost all the world
that belongs to either land or sea, to
whom it will be a great shame if we do
not conquer them, do not once undertake
any attempt against our enemies wherein
there is much danger, but sit still idle,
with such brave arms as we have, and only
wait till the famine and fortune do our
business themselves, and this when we
have it in our power, with some small
hazard, to gain all that we desire ! For
if we go up to this tower of Antonia, we
gain the city; for if there should be any
more occasion for fighting against those
within the city, which I do not suppose
there will, since we shall then be upon the
top of the hill, and be upon cfar enemies
before they can have taken breath, these
advantages promise us no less than a cer-
tain and sudden victory. As for myself,
I shall at present waive any commendation
of those who die in war,* and omit to
speak of the immortality of those men
who are slain in the midst of their martial
bravery; yet cannot I forbear to impre-
cate upon those who are of a contrary dis-
position, that they may die in time of
peace, by some distemper or other, since
their souls are already condemned to the
grave, together with their bodies; for
what man of virtue is there who does not
know that those souls which are severed
* In this speech of Titus we may clearly see the
notions which the Romans then had of death, and
of the happy state of those who died bravely in
war, and the contrary estate of those who died ig-
nobly in their beds by sickness. Rcland here also
produces two parallel passages, the one out of Am-
mianus Marcellinus, concerning the Alani, that
" they judged that man happy who laid down his
life in battle;" the other of Valerius Maximus, who
says, " that the Cimbri and Celtiberi exulted for
joy in the army, as being to go out of the world
gloriously and happily."
3 G
from their fleshly bodies in battles by the
sword, are received by the ether, that
purest of elements, and joined to that
company which are placed among the
stars; that they become good demons, and
propitious heroes, and show themselves as
such to their posterity afterward? while
upon those souls that wear away in and
with their distempered bodies, comes a
subterranean night to dissolve them to
nothing, and a deep oblwion to take away
all the remembrance of them, and this
notwithstanding they be clean from all
spots and defilements of this world; so
that, in this case, the soul at tho same
time comes to the utmost bounds of its
life, and of its body, and of its memorial
also; but since fate hath dctermiiu'd that
death is to come of necessity upon all
men, a sword is a better instrument for
that purpose than any disease whatsoever.
Why, is it not then a very mean thing for
us not to yield up that to the public bene-
fit, which we must yield up to fate ? Aud
this discourse have I made, upon the sup-
position that those who at first attempt to
go upon this wall must needs be killed in
the attempt, though still men of true cou-
rage have a chance to escape, even in the
most hazardous undertakings ; for, in the
first place, that part of the former wall
that is thrown down is easily to be
ascended; and for the new-built wall, it
is easily destroyed. Do you, therefore,
many of you, pull up your courage, and
set about this work, and do you mutually
encourage and assist one another; and
this your bravery will soon break the
hearts of your enemies ; and perhaps such
a glorious undertaking as yours is may be
accomplished without bloodshed ; for, al-
though it be justly to be supposed that
the Jews will try to hinder you at your first
beginning to go up to them, yet when you
have once concealed yourselves from them,
and driven them away by force, they will
not be able to sustain your efforts against
them any longer, though but a few of
you prevent them, and get over the wall.
As for that person who first mounts the
wall, I should blush for shame if I did not
make him to be envied of others, by those
rewards I would bestow upon him. If
such a one escape with his life, he shall
have the command of others that are now
but bis equals ; although it be true also,
that the greatest rewards will accrue to
such, as die in the attempt."
Upon this speech of Xitus, the rest of
356
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
the multitude were affrighted at so great
a danger. But there was one whose name
was Sabinus, a soldier that served among
the cohorts, and a Syrian by birth, who
appeared to be of very great fortitude, both
in the actions he had done, and the cou-
rage of his soul he had shown; although
anybody would have thought, before he
came to his work, that he was of such a
weak constitution of body that he was
not fit to be a soldier ; for his colour was
black, his flesh was lean and thin, and lay
close together; but there was a certain
heroic soul that dwelt in this small body,
which body was indeed much too narrow
for that peculiar courage which was in
him. Accordingly, he was the first that
rose up; when he thus spake : — " I readily
surrender myself to thee, 0 Csesar : I first
ascend the wall, and I heartily wish that
my fortune may follow my courage and
my resolution. And if some ill fortune
grudge me the success of my undertaking,
take notice that my ill success will not be
unexpected, but that I choose death volun-
tarily for thy sake." When he had said
this, and had spread out his shield over
his head with his left hand, and had, with
his right hand, drawn his sword, he
marched up to the wall just about the
sixth hour of the day. There followed
him eleven others, and no more, that re-
solved to imitate his bravery ; but still
this was the principal person of them all,
and went first, as excited by a divine fury.
Now those that guarded the wall shot at
them from thence, and cast innumerable
darts upon them from every side ; they
also rolled very large stones upon them,
which overthrew some of those eleven that
were with him. But as for Sabinus him-
self, he met the darts that were cast at
him, and though he was overwhelmed with
them, yet did he not leave off the violence
of his attack before he had gotten up on
the top of the wall, and had put the enemy
to flight. For as the Jews were astonished
at his great strength, and the bravery of
his soul ; and as, withal, they imagined
more of them had got upon the wall than
really had, they were put to flight. And
now one cannot but complain here of for-
tune, as still envious of virtue, and always
hindering the performance of glorious
achievements : this was the case of the
man before us, when he had just obtained
his purpose; for he then stumbled at a
certain large stone, and fell down upon it
headlong, with a very great noise. Upon
which the Jews turned back, and when
they saw him to be alone, and fallen down
also, they threw darts at him from every
side. However, he got upon his knee,
aud covered himself with his shield, and
at the first defended himself against them,
and wounded many of those that came
near him ; but he was soon forced to relax
his right hand, by the multitude of the
wounds that had been given him, till at
length he was quite covered over with
darts before he gave up the ghost. He
was one who deserved a better fate, by
reason of his bravery; but, as might be
expected, he fell under so vast an attempt.
As for the rest of his partners, the Jews
dashed three of them to pieces with stones,
and slew them as they were gotten up to
the top of the wall ; the other eight, being
wounded, were pulled down and carried
back to the camp. These things were
done upon the third day of the month
Panemus [Tamuz].
Now, two days afterward, twelve of
these men that were on the forefront, and
kept watch upon the banks, got together,
and called to them the standard-bearer of
the fifth legion, and two others of a troop
of horsemen, and one trumpeter; these
went without noise, about the ninth hour
of the night, through the ruins, to the
tower of Antonia; and when they had cut
the throats of the first guards of the place,
as they were asleep, they got possession of
the wall, and ordered the trumpeter to
sound his trumpet. Upon which the rest
of the guard got up on the sudden, and
ran away before anybody could see how
many they were thnt were gotten up; for
partly from the fear they were in, and
partly from the sound of the trumpet which
they heard, they imagined a great number
of the enemy were gotten up. But as
soon as Caesar heard the signal, he ordered
the army to put on their armour imme-
diately, and came thither with his com-
manders, and first of all ascended, as did
the chosen men that were with him. And
as the Jews were flying away to the tem-
ple, they fell into that mine which John
had dug under the Roman banks. Then
did the seditious of both the bodies of the
Jewish army, as well that belonging to
John as that belonging to Simon, drive
them away; and indeed were noway
wanting as to the highest degree of force
and alacrity; for they esteemed themselves
entirely ruined if once the Romans got
into the temple, as did the Romans look
Chap, I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
857
upon the same thing as the beginning of
their entire conquest. So a terrible battle
was fought at the entrance of the temple,
while the Romans were forcing their way,
in order to get possession of that temple,
and the Jews were driving them back to
the tower of Antonia; in which battle the
daits were on both sides useless, as well as
the spears, and both sides drew their
swords, and fought it out hand to hand.
Now, during this struggle, the positions
of the men were undistinguished on both
sides, and they fought at random, the men
being intermixed one with another, and
confounded, by reason of the narrowness
of the place j while the noise that was
made fell on the ear after an indistinct
manner, because it was so very loud.
Great slaughter was now made on both
sides, and the combatants trod upon the
bodies and the armour of those that were
dead, and dashed them to pieces. Ac-
cordingly, to which side soever the battle
inclined, those that had the advantage ex-
horted one another to go on, as did those
that were beaten make great lamentation.
But still there was no room for flight, nor
for pursuit, but disorderly revolutions and
retreats, while the armies were intermixed
one with another; but those that were
in the first ranks were under the ne-
cessity of killing or being killed, with-
out any way for escaping; for those on
both sides that came behind forced
those before them to go on, without leav-
ing any space between the armies. At
length the Jews' violent zeal was too hard
for the Romans' skill, and the battle al-
ready inclined entirely that way; for the
fight had lasted from the ninth hour of
the night till the seventh hour of the day,
while the Jews came on in crowds, and
had the danger the temple was in for their
motive; the Romans having no more here
than a part of their army; for those le-
gions on which the soldiers on that side
depended were not come up to them. So
it was at present thought sufficient by the
Romans to take possession of the tower of
Antonia.
But there was one Julian, a centurion,
that came from Bithynia; a man he was
of great reputation, whom I had formerly
6eeu in that war, and one of the highest
fame, both for his skill in war, his strength
of body, and the courage of his soul. This
man, seeing the Romans giving grouud,
and in a sad condition, (for he stood by
Titus at the tower of Antonia,) leaped out,
and of himself alone put the Jews to
flight when they were already conquerors,
and made them retire as far as the corner
of the inner court of the temple: from him
the multitude fled away in crowds, as sup-
posing that neither his strength nor lii>
violent attacks could be those of a mere
man. Accordingly, he rushed through
the midst of the Jews, as they were dis-
persed all abroad, and killed those that he
caught. Nor, indeed, was there any sight
that appeared more wonderful in the eyes
of Cassar, or more terrible to others, than
this. However, he was himself pursued
by fate, which it was not possible that he
who was but a mortal man should escape :
for as he had shoes all full of thick and
sharp nails, as had every one of the other
soldiers, so when he ran on the pavement
of the temple, he slipped, and fell down
upou his back with a very great noise,
which was made by his armour. This
made those that were running away to
turn back; whereupon those Romans that
were in the tower of Antonia set up a great
shout, as they were in fear for the man.
But the Jews got about him in crowds,
and struck at him with their spears and
with their swords on all sides. Now he
received a great many of the strokes of
these iron weapons upon his shield, and
often attempted to get up again, but was
thrown down by those that struck at him;
yet did he, as he lay along, stab many of
them with his sword. Nor was he soon
killed, as being covered with his helmet
and his breastplate in all those parts of
his body where he might be mortally
wounded ; he also pulled his neck close to
his body, till all his other limbs were shat-
tered, and nobody durst come to defend
him, and then he yielded to his fate. Now
Cassar was deeply affected on account of
this man of so great fortitude, and espe-
cially as he was killed in the sight of so
many people; he was desirous himself to
come to his assistance, but the place would
not give him leave, while such as could
have done it were too much terrified to
attempt it. Thus when Julian had strug-
gled with death a great while, and had let
but few of those that had given him his
mortal wound go off unhurt, he had at
last his throat cut, though not without
some difficulty; and left behind him a
very great fame, not only among the Ro-
mans and with Cassar himself, but among
his enemies also; then did the Jews catch
up his dead body, and put the Rjmans to
358
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
flight again, and shut them up in the tower
of Antonia. Now those that most signal-
ized themselves, and fought most zeal-
ously in this battle of the Jewish side,
were one Alexas and Gyphtheus, of John's
party; and of Simon's party were Mala-
chias, and Judas the son of Merto, and
James the son of Sosas, the commander
of the Idumeans; and of the Zealots, two
brethren, Simon and Judas, the sons of
Jairus.
CHAPTER II.
Titus orders the tower of Antonia to be destroyed —
Josephus exhorts the Jews to surrender.
And now Titus gave orders to his sol-
diers that were with him to dig up the
foundations of the tower of Antonia, and
make him a ready passage for his army to
come up; while he himself had Josephus
brought to him, (for he had been informed
that on that very day, which was the
seventeenth day* of Panemus [Tamuz],
the sacrifice called "the Daily Sacrifice"
had failed, and had not been offered to
God for want of men to offer it, and that
the people were grievously troubled at it,)
and commanded him to say the same
things to John that he had said before,
that if he had any malicious inclination
for fighting, he might come out with as
many of his men as he pleased, in order
to fight, without the danger of destroying
either his city or temple; but that he de-
sired he would not defile the temple, nor
thereby offend against God. That he
might, if he pleased, offer the sacrifices
which were now discontinued, by any of
the Jews whom he should pitch upon. Upon
this, Josephus stood in such a place where
he might be heard, not by John only, but
by many more, and then declared to them
what Caesar had given him in charge, aud
this in the Hebrew language. f So he
earnestly prayed them to spare their own
* This was a very remarkable day, the 17th of
Paiieinus [Tamuz], A. D. 70, when, according to
Daniel's prediction, 600 years before, the llomans
" in half a week caused the sacrifice and oblation
t<> nasi'," Dan. ix. 27 ; for from the month of Fo-
bruary, A. D. 66, about which time Vespasian en-
tered on this war, to this very time, was just three
years and a half. See Bishop Lloyd's Tables of
Chronology on (his year. Nor is it to be omitted,
what very nearly confirms this duration of the war,
that four years before the war began, was some-
what above seven years and five months before the
n ion of Jerusalem.
f 'flic same that in the New Testament is always
bo called, and was then the common language of
the Jews in Judea, which was the Syriac dialect.
city, and to prevent that fire which was
just ready to seize upon the temple, and
to offer their usual sacrifices to God
therein. At these words of his a great
sadness and silence were observed among
the people. But the tyrant himself cast
many reproaches upon Josephus, with
imprecations besides; and at last added
this withal, that he did never fear the
taking of the city, because it was God's
own city. In answer to which, Josephus
said thus, with aloud voice : — " To be sure,
thou hast kept this city wonderfully pure
for God's sake ! the temple also continues
entirely unpolluted ! Nor hast thou been
guilty of any impiety against him, for
whose assistance thou hopest! He still
receives his accustomed sacrifices! Vile
wretch that thou art! if any one should
deprive thee of thy daily food, thou wouldst
esteem him to be an enemy to thee; but
thou hopest to have that God for thy sup-
porter in this war whom thou has deprived
of his everlasting worship ! and thou im-
putest those sins to the Romans, who, to
this very time, take care to have our laws
observed, and almost compel these sacri-
fices to be still offered to God, which have
by thy means been intermitted ! Who is
there that can avoid groans and lamenta-
tions at the amazing change that is made
in this city? since very foreigners and
enemies do now correct that impiety which
thou hast occasioned : while thou, who art
a Jew, and wast educated in our laws, art
become a greater enemy to them than the
others ! But still, John, it is never dis-
honourable to repent, and amend what
hath been done amiss, even at the last ex-
tremity. Thou hast an instance before
thee in Jechoniah,* the king of the Jews,
if thou hast a mind to save the city, who,
when the king of Babylon made war
against him, did, of his own accord, go out
of this city before it was taken, and did
undergo a voluntary captivity with his
family, that the sanctuary might not be
delivered up to the enemy, and that he
might not see the house of God set on fire :
on which account he is celebrated among
all the Jews, in their sacred memorials,
and his memory is become immortal, and
will be conveyed fresh down to our pos-
terity through all ages. This, John, is an
excellent example in such a time of dan-
* Our present copies of the Old Testament want
this encomium upon King Jechoniah or Jehoiachim,
which it seems was in Josephus's copy.
Chap. II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
359
ger; and T dare venture to promise that
the Romans shall still forgive thee. And
take notice, that T, who make this exhort-
ation to thee, am one of thine own nation;
I, who am a Jew, do make this promise
to thee. And it will become thee to con-
sider who I am that give thee this counsel,
and whence I am derived ; for while I am
alive I shall never be in such slavery as
to forego my own kindred, or forget the
laws of our forefathers. Thou hast indig-
nation at me again, and makest a clamour
at me, and reproachest me ; indeed, I can-
not deny but I am worthy of worse treat-
ment than all this amounts to, because, in
opposition to fate, I make this kind invi-
tation to thee, and endeavour to force de-
liverance upon those whom God hath con-
demned. And who is there that does not
know what the writings of the ancient
prophets contain in them, — and particu-
larly that oracle which is just now going
to be fulfilled upon this miserable city ! —
for they foretold that this city should be
then taken when somebody shall begin the
slaughter of his countrymen ! and are not
both the city and the entire temple now
full of the dead bodies of your country-
men ? It is God, therefore, it is God him-
self, w7ho is bringing on this fire, to purge
that city and temple by means of the Ro-
mans,* and is going to pluck up this city,
which is full of your pollutions."
As Josephus spoke these words with
groans, and tears in his eyes, his voice
was intercepted by sobs. However, the
Romans could not but pity the affliction
he was under, and wonder at his conduct.
But for John, and those that were with
him, they were but the more exasperated
against the Romans on this account, and
were desirous to get Josephus also into
their power : }Tet did that discourse influ-
ence a great many of the better sort; and
truly some of them were so afraid of the
guards set by the seditious, that they tar-
ried where they were, but still were satis-
fied that both they and the city were
doomed to destruction. Some also there
were who, watching for a proper opportu-
nity when they might quietly get away,
fled to the Romans, of whom were the
high priests, Joseph and Jesus, and of the
sons of high priests three, whose father
* Josephus, both here and in many places else-
where, speaks so that it is must evident he was fully
satisfied that God was on the Romans' side, and
made use of them now for the destruction of the
Jewish nation..
was Ishmael, who was beheaded in Cyrene,
and four sons of Matthias, as also 01
of the other Matthias, who ran away after
his father's death,* and whose father was
slain by Simon, the son of Grioras, with
three of his sons, as I have already re-
lated: many also of the other nobility
went over to the Romans, together with
the high priests. Now Caesar not only
received these men very kindly in other
respects, but, knowing they would not
willingly live after the customs of other
nations, he sent them to Gophna, and de-
sired them to remain there for the present,
and told them, that when he was gotten
clear of this war, he would restore each of
them to their possessions again : so they
cheerfully retired to that small city which
was allotted them, without fear of any
dauger. But as they did not appear, the
seditious gave out again that these desert-
ers were slain by the Romans, — which was
done in order to deter the rest from run-
ning away, by fear of the like treatment.
This trick of theirs succeeded now for
a while, as did the like trick before ; for
the rest were hereby deterred from de-
serting, by fear of the like treatment.
However, when Titus had recalled those
men from Gophna, he gave orders that
they should go round the wall, together
with Josephus, and show themselves to
the people ; upon which a great many fled
to the Romans. These men, also, got in
a great number together, and stood before
the Romans, and besought the seditious,
with groans, and tears in their eyes, in
the first place to receive the Romans en-
tirely into the city, and save that their
own place of residence again ; but that, if
they would not agree to such a proposal,
they would at least depart out of the tem-
ple, and save the holy house for their own
use; for that the Romans would not ven-
ture to set the sanctuary on fire, but un-
der the most pressing necessity. Yet did
the seditious still more and more contra-
diet them; and while they cast loud and
bitter reproaches upon these deserters,
they also set their engines for throwing
of darts and javelins and stones upon
the sacred gates of the temple, at due dis-
* Josephus had before told us. that this fourth
son of Matthias ran away to the Romans " before"
his father's and brethren's slaughter, and not "af-
ter" it, as here. The former account is, in all pro-
bability, the truest; for had not that fourth sou
escaped before the others were caught and pur to
death, he had been caught aud put to death with
them.
360
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
tances from one another, insomuch that
all the space round about within the tem-
ple might be compared to a burying-
ground, so great was the number of the
dead bodies therein ; as might the holy
house itself be compared to a citadel. Ac-
cordingly, these men rushed upon these
holy places in their armour, that were
otherwise unapproachable, and that while
their hands were yet warm with the blood
of their own people which they had shed;
nay, they proceeded to such great trans-
gressions, that the very same indignation
which Jews would naturally have against
Komans, had they been guilty of such
abuses against them, the Romans now had
against Jews, for their impiety in regard
to their own religious customs. Nay, in-
deed, there were none of the Roman sol-
diers who did not look with a sacred hor-
ror upon the holy house, and adored it,
and wished that the robbers would repent
before their miseries became incurable.
Now Titus was deeply affected with this
state of things, and reproached John and
his party, and said to them, " Have not
you, vile wretches that you are, by our
permission, put up this partition-wall be-
fore your sanctuary ? Have not you been
allowed to put up the pillars thereto be-
longing, at due distances, and on it to
engrave in Greek, and in your own let-
ters, this prohibition, that no foreigner
should go beyond that wall ? Have not
we given you leave to kill such as go
beyond it, though he were a Roman ?
And what do you do now, you pernicious
villains ? Why do you trample upon dead
bodies in this temple ? and why do you
pollute this holy house with the blood
both of foreigners and Jews themselves?
I appeal to the gods of my own country,
and to every god that ever had any regard
to this place, (for I do not suppose it to
be now regarded by any of them ;) I also
appeal to my own army, and to those Jews
that are now with me, and even to you,
yourselves, that I do not force you to de-
file this your sanctuary ; and if you will
but change the place whereon you will
fight, no Roman shall either come near
your sanctuary, or offer any affront to it ;
nay, I will endeavour to preserve you
your holy house, whether you will or
not."*
* That these seditious Jews were the direct oc-
casion of their own destruction, and of the con-
flagration of their city and temple; and that Titus
As Josephus explained these things
from the mouth of Caesar, both the rob-
bers and the tyrant thought that these
exhortations proceeded from Titus's fear,
and not from his good-will to them, and
grew insolent upon it ; but when Titus
saw that these men were neither to be
moved by commiseration toward them-
selves, nor had any concern upon them to
have the holy house spared, he proceeded,
unwillingly, to go on again with the war
against them. He could not indeed bring
all his army against them, the place was
so narrow ; but choosing thirty soldiers
of the most valiant out of every hundred,
and committing 1000 to each tribune, and
making Cerealis their commander-in-chief,
he gave orders that they should attack
the guards of the temple about the ninth
hour of that night; but, as he was now
in his armour, and preparing to go down
with them, his friends would not let him
go, by reason of the greatness of the dan-
ger, and what the commanders suggested
to them ; for they said that he would do
more by sitting above in the tower of An-
tonia, as a dispenser of rewards to those
soldiers that signalized themselves in the
fight, than by coming down and hazarding
his own person in the forefront of them ;
for that they would all fight stoutly while
Caesar looked upon them. With this ad-
vice Caesar complied, and said that the
only reason he had for such compliance
with the soldiers was this, that he might
be able to judge of their courageous
actions, and that no valiant soldier might
lie concealed, and miss .of his reward ;
and no cowardly soldier might go un-
punished ; but that he might himself be
an eye-witness, and able to give evidence
of all that was done, who was to be the
disposer of punishments and rewards to
them. So he sent the soldiers about then-
work at the hour before mentioned, while
he went out himself to a higher place in
the tower of Antonia, whence he might
see what was done, and there waited with
impatience to see the event.
However, the soldiers that were sent
did not find the guards of the temple
asleep, as they hoped to have done; but
were obliged to fight with them immedi-
ately hand to hand, as they rushed with
violence upon them with a great shout.
Now, as soon as the rest within the tem-
earnestly and constantly laboured to save both, in
here and everywhere most evident in Josephus.
Chap. II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
361
1
pie beard that shout of those that were
upon the watch, they ran out in troops
upon them. Then did the Romans re-
ceive the onset of those that came first
upon them ; but those that followed them
fell upon their own troops, and many of
them treated their own soldiers as if they
bad been enemies ; for the great confused
noise that was made on both sides hin-
dered them from distinguishing one an-
other's voices, as did the darkness of the
night hinder them from the like distinc-
tion by the sight, besides that blindness
which arose otherwise also from the pas-
sion and the fear they were in at the same
time ; for which reason it was all one to
the soldiers who it was they struck at.
Howrever, this ignorance did less harm to
the Romans than to the Jews, because
they were joined together under their
shields, and made their sallies more regu-
larly than the others did, and each of
them remembered their watchword; while
the Jews were perpetually dispersed
abroad, and made their attacks and re-
treats at random, and so did frequently
seem to one another to be enemies; for
every one of them received those of their
own men that came back in the dark as
Romans, and made an assault upon them ;
so that more of them were wounded by
their own men than by the enemy, till,
upon the coming on of the day, the na-
ture of the fight was discerned by the eye
afterward. Then did they stand in battle-
array in distinct bodies, and cast their
darts regularly, and regularly defended
themselves ; nor did either side yield or
grow weary. The Romans contended
with each other who should fight the most
strenuously, both single men and entire
regiments, as being under the eye of Ti-
tus ; and every one concluded that this
day would begin his promotion, if he
fought bravely. The great encourage-
ments which the Jews had in view to act
vigorously were their fear for themselves
and for the temple, and the presence of
their tyrant, who exhorted some, and beat
and threatened others, to act courageously.
Now, it so happened that this fight was, for
the most part, a stationary one, wherein
the soldiers went on and came back in a
short time, and suddenly ; for there was
no long space of ground for either their
flights or pursuits; but still there was a
tumultuous noise among the Romans from
the tower of Antouia, who loudly cried
out upon all occasions for their own men
to press on courageously, when they were
too hard for the dews, and to stay when
they were retiring backward ; so that here
was a kind of theatre of war; for what
was done in this fight could not bo con-
cealed either from Titus or from those
that were about him. At length it ap-
peared that this fight, which began at the
ninth hour of the night, was not over till
past the fifth hour of the day ; and that,
in the same place where the battle began,
neither party could say they had made the
other to retire; but both the armies left
the victory almost in uncertainty between
them; wherein those that signalized them-
selves on the Roman side were a great
many ; but on the Jewish side, and of
those that were with Simon, Judas the
son of Merto, and Simon the son of Jo-
sias ; of the Idumeans, James and Simon,
the latter of whom was the son of Cathlas,
and James was the son of Sosas ; of those
that were with John, Gyphtheus and
Alexas; and of the Zealots, Simon the
son of Jairus.
In the mean time, the rest of the Ro-
man army had, in seven days' time, over-
thrown [some] foundations of the tower
of Antonia, and had made a ready and
broad way to the temple. Then did the
legions come near the first court,* and
began to raise their banks. The one bank
was over against the north-west corner of
the inner temple ;f another was at that
northern edifice which was between the
two gates ; and of the other two, one was
at the western cloister of the outer court*
of the temple; the other against its
northern cloister. However, these worka
were thus far advauced by the Roman-;,
not without great pains and difficulty, and
particularly by beiug obliged to bring their
materials from the distance of 100 fur-
longs. They had further difficulties also
upon them : sometimes, by the over-great
security they were in, that they should
overcome the Jewish snares laid for them,
and by that boldness of the Jews, which
their despair of escaping had inspired
them withal ; for some of their horse-
men, when they went out to gather wood
or hay, let their horses feed without hav-
ing their bridles on during the time of
foraging; upon which horses the Jews
sallied out in whole bodies, and seized
them; and when this was continually
* The Court of the Gentiles.
f The Court of Israel.
362
*VARS OF THE JEWS.
done, and Oresar believed, what the truth
was, that the horses were stolen more by
the negligence of his own men than by
the valour of the Jews, he determined to
use greater severity to oblige the rest to
take care of their horses ; so he com-
manded that one of those soldiers who
had lost their horses should be capitally
punished ; whereby he so terrified the
rest, that they preserved their horses for
the time to come ; for they did not any
longer let them go from them to feed by
themselves, but, as if they had grown to
them, they went always along with them
when they wanted necessaries. Thus did
the Romans still continue to make war
against the temple, and to raise their
banks against it.
Now, after one day had been interposed
since the Romans ascended the breach,
many of the seditious were so pressed by
the famine, upon the present failure of
their ravages, that they got together, and
made an attack on those Roman guards
that were upon the Mount of Olives, and
this about the eleventh hour of the day,
as supposing first, that they would not ex-
pect such an onset, and, in the next place,
that they were then taking care of their
bodies, and that therefore they should very
easily beat them; but the Romans were
apprized of their coming to attack them
beforehand, and running together from the
neighbouring camps on the sudden, pre-
vented them from getting over their forti-
fication, or forcing the wall that was built
about them. Upon this came on a sharp
fight, and here many great actions were
performed on both sides ; while the Ro-
mans showed both their courage and their
skill in war, as did the Jews come on
them with immoderate violence and in-
tolerable passion. The one party were
urged on by shame, and the other by ne-
cessity ; for it seemed a very shameful
thing to the Romans to let the Jews go,
now they were taken in a kind of net;
while the Jews had but one hope of sav-
ing themselves, and that was, in case they
could by violence break through the Ro-
man wall : and one, whose name was Pe-
dauius, belonging to a party of horsemen,
when the Jews were already beaten and
forced down into the valley together,
spurred his horse on their flank with great
vehemence, and caught up a certain young
man belonging to the enemy by his ankle,
as he was ruuuiug away. The man was,
however, of a robust body, and in his ar-
[Book VI.
mour ; so low did Pedanius bend himself
downward from his horse, even as he was
galloping away, and so great was the
strength of his right hand, and of the rest
of his body, as also such skill had he in
horsemanship. So this man seized upon
that his prey, as upon a precious treasure,
and carried him as a captive to Caesar:
whereupon Titus admired the man that
had seized the other for his great strength,
and ordered the man that was caught to
be punished [with death] for his attempt
against the Roman wall, but betook him-
self to the siege of the temple, and to
pressing on the raising of the banks.
In the mean time, the Jews were so dis-
tressed by the fights they had been in, as
the war advanced higher and higher, and
creeping up to the holy house itself, that
they, as it were, cut off those limbs of their
body which were infected, in order to pre-
vent the distemper's spreading farther;
for they set the north-west cloister which
was joined to the tower of Antonia, on
fire, and after that brake off about twenty
cubits of that cloister, and thereby made
a beginning in burning the sauctuary :
two days after which, or on the twenty-
fourth day of the before-named mouth
[Panemus, or Tamuz], the Romans set fire
to the cloisters that joined to the other,
when the fire went fifteen cubits farther.
The Jews, in like manner, cut off its roof;
nor did they entirely leave off what they
were about till the tower of Antonia was
parted from the temple, even when it was
in their power to have stopped the fire ;
nay, they lay still while the temple was
first set on fire, and deemed this spread-
ing of the fire to be for their own advan-
tage. However, the armies were still
fighting one against another about the tem-
ple ; and the war was managed by con-
tinual sallies of particular parties against
one another.
Now there was at this time a man among
the Jews ; low of stature he was, and of
a despicable appearance ; of no character
either as to his family, or in other re-
spects : his name was Jonathan. He
went out at the high priest John's monu-
ment, and uttered many other insolent
things to the Romans, and challenged the
best of them all to a single combat ; but
many of those that stood there in the
army huffed him, and many of them (as
they might well be) were afraid of him.
Some of them also reasoned thus, and that
justly enough : that it was not fit to fight
Chap. III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
363
with a man that desired to die, because
those that utterly despaired of deliverance
had, besides other passions, a violence in
attacking men that could not be opposed,
and had no regard to God himself ; and
that to hazard one's self with a person,
whom if you overcome, you do no great
matter, and by whom it is hazardous that
you may be taken prisoner, would be an
instance, not of manly courage, but of un-
manly rashness. So there being nobody
that came out to accept the man's chal-
lenge, and the Jew cutting them with a
great number of reproaches, as cowards,
(for he was a very haughty man in him-
self, and a great despiserof the Romans,)
one whose name was Pudens, of the body
of horsemen, out of his abomination of
the other's words, and of his impudence
withal, and perpaps out of an inconsider-
ate arrogance, on account of the other's
lowness of stature, ran out to him, and
was too hard for him in other respects,
but was betrayed by his ill fortune ; for he
fell down, and as he was down, Jonathan
came ruuning to him, and cut his throat,
and then standing upon his dead body, he
brandished his sword, bloody as it was,
and shook his shield with his left hand,
and made many acclamations to the Ro-
man army, and exulted over the dead man,
and jested upon the Romans; till at length
one Priscus, a centurion, shot a dart at
him as he was leaping and playing the
fool with himself, and thereby pierced him
through : upon which a shout was set up
both by the Jews and the Romans, though
on different accounts. 80 Jonathan grew
giddy by the pain of his wounds, and fell
down upon the body of his adversary — a
plain instance how suddenly vengeance
may come upon men that have Buccess in
war, without any just deserving of the
same.
CHAPTER III.
Stratagems of the Jews against the Romans — Fur-
ther account of the famine within the city.
But now the seditious that were in the
temple did every day openly endeavour
to beat off the soldiers that were upon the
banks, and on the twenty-seventh day of
the before-named month [Pancmus, or Ta-
muz], contrived such a stratagem as this :
they tilled that part of the western cloister*
which was between the beams, and the
* Of the Court of the Gentiles.
roof under them, with dry materials, as
also with bitumen and pitch, and then re-
tired from that place as though they were
tired with the pains they had taken ; at
which procedure of theirs, many of the
most iuconsiderate among the Romans,
who were carried away with violent pas-
sions, followed hard after them as tiny
were retiring, and applied ladders to tho
cloister, and got up to it suddenly ; but
the prudent part of them, when they un-
derstood this unaccountable retreat of the
Jews, stood still where they were before.
However, the cloister was full of those;
that were gone up the ladders; at which
time the Jews set it all on fire; and as
tho flames burst out everywhere on the
sudden, the Romans that were out of the
danger were seized with a very great con-
sternation, as were those that were in the
midst of the danger in the utmost dis-
tress. So when they perceived themselves
surrounded with the flames, some of them
threw themselves down backward into
the city, and some among their enemies
[in the temple]; as did many leap down
to their own men, and broke their limbs
to pieces: but a great number of those
that were going to take these violent me-
thods were prevented by the fire; though
some prevented the fire by their own
swords. However, the fire was on the
sudden carried so far as to surround those
who would have otherwise perished. As
for Caesar himself, he could not, however,
but commiserate those that thus perished,
although they got up thither without any
order for so doing, since there was no
way of giving them any relief. Yet was
this some comfort to those that were de-
stroyed, that everybody might see that
person grieve, for whose sake they came
to their end ; for he cried out openly to
them, and leaped up, and exhorted those
that were about him to do their utmost to
relieve them. So every one of them died
cheerfully, as carrying along with him
these words and this intention of Caesar
as a sepulchral monument. Some there
were, indeed, who retired into the wall of
the cloister, which was broad, and were
preserved out of the fire, but were then
surrounded by the Jews; and although
they made resistance against the Jews for
a long time, yet were they wounded by
them, and at length they all fell down
dead.
At the last, a young man among them,
whose name was Longus, became a deco-
364
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
ration to this sad affair, and while every
one of them that perished were worthy
of a memorial, this man appeared to de-
serve it beyond all the rest. Now the
Jews admired this man for his courage,
and were further desirous of having him
slain ; so they persuaded him to come
down to them, upon security given him
for his life. But Cornelius, his brother,
persuaded him, on the contrary, not to
tarnish his own glory, nor that of the Ro-
man army. He complied with this last
advice, and lifting up his sword before
both armies, he slew himself. Yet was
there one Artorius among those surround-
ed with the fire, who escaped by his sub-
tlety ; for when he had with a loud voice
called to him Lucius, one of his fellow-
soldiers, that lay with him in the same
tent, and said to him, " I do leave thee
heir of all I have, if thou wilt come and
receive me." Upon this he came running
to receive him readily ; Artorius then
threw himself down upon him, and saved
his own life, while he that received him
was dashed so vehemently against the
stone pavement by the other's weight,
that he died immediately. This melan-
choly accident made the Romans sad for a
while, but still it made them more upon
their guard for the future, and was of ad-
vantage to them against the delusions of
the Jews, by which they were greatly
damaged, through their unacquaintedness
with the places, and with the nature of
the inhabitants. Now this cloister was
burnt down as far as John's tower, which
he built in the war he made against Si-
mon, over the gates that led to the Xys-
tus. The Jews also cut off the rest of
that cloister from the temple, after they
had destroyed those that got up to it. But
the next da}f the Romans burnt down the
northern cloister entirely, as far as the
east cloister, whose common angle joined
to the valley that was called Cedron, and
was built over it; on which account the
depth was frightful. And this was the
state of the temple at that time.
Now of those that perished by famine
in the city, the number was prodigious,
and the miseries they underwent were un-
speakable ; for if so much as the shadow
of any kind of food did anywhere appear,
a war was commenced presently ; and the
dearest friends fell a-fighting one with
another about it, snatching from each
other the most miserable supports of life.
Nor would men believe that those who
were dying had no food ; but the robbers
would search them when they were ex-
piring, lest any one should have concealed
food in their bosoms, and counterfeited
dying: nay, these robbers gaped for want,
and ran about stumbling and staggering
along like mad dogs, and reeling against
the doors of the houses like drunken men ;
they would also, in the great distress they
were in, rush into the very same houses
two or three times in one and the same
day. Moreover, their hunger was so in-
tolerable, that it obliged them to chew
every thing, while they gathered such
things as the most sordid animals would
not touch, and endured to eat them ; nor
did they at length abstain from girdles
and shoes ; and the very leather which be-
longed to their shields they pulled off and.
gnawed : the very wisps of old hay be-
came food to some ; and some gathered up
fibres, and sold a very small weight of
them for four Attic [drachmae]. But
why do I describe the shameless impu-
dence that the famine brought on men
in their eating inanimate things, while I
am going to relate a matter of fact, the
like to which no history relates, either
among the Greeks or Barbarians ! It is
horrible to speak of it, and incredible
when heard. I had indeed willingly
omitted this calamity of ours, that 1
might not seem to deliver what is so por-
tentous to posterity, but that I have innu-
merable witnesses to it in my own age ;
and besides, my country would have had
little reason to thank me for suppressing
the miseries that she underwent at this
time
There was a certain woman that dwelt
beyond Jordan — her name was Mary; her
father was Eleazar, of the village Bethe-
zub, wheh signifies the "house of hyssop."
She was eminent for her family and her
wealth, and had fled away to Jerusalem
with the rest of the multitude, and was
with them besieged therein at this time.
The other effects of this woman had been
already seized upon ; such, I mean, as she
had brought with her out of Perea, and
removed to the city. What she had trea-
sured up besides, as also what food she
had contrived to save, had been also car-
ried off by the rapacious guards, who came
every day running into her house for that
purpose. This put the poor woman into
a very great passion, and by the frequent re-
proaches and imprecations she cast at these
rapacious villains, she had provoked tlaem
J
Chap. IV.]
WARS OF TIIK JEWS.
3G5
to anger against her ; but none of them,
either out of the indignation she had
raised against herself, or out of the com-
miseration of her case, would take away
her life ; and if she found any food, she
perceived her labours were for others, and
not for herself; and it was now become
impossible for her any way to find any
more food, while the famine pierced
through her very bowels and marrow,
when also her passion was fired to a de-
gree beyond the famine itself: nor did
she consult with any thing but with her
passion and the necessity she was in. She
then attempted a most unnatural thing ;
and snatching up her son, who was a child
sucking at her breast, she said, " 0 thou
miserable infant ! for whom shall I pre-
serve thee in this war, this famine, and
this sedition ? As to the war with the
Komans, if they preserve our lives, we
must be slaves ! This famine also will
destroy us, even before that slavery comes
upon us ; yet are these seditious rogues
more terrible than both the other. Come
on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury
to these seditious varlets, and a byword
to the world, which is all that is now
wanting to complete the calamities of us
Jews." As soon as she had said this, she
slew bp.r son ; and then roasted him, and
ate the one half of him, and kept the
other half by her concealed. Upon this
the seditious came in presently, and smell-
ing the horrid scent of this food, they
threatnned her that they would cut her
throat immediately if she did not show
them what food she had gotten ready.
She replied, that she had saved a very
fine portion of it for them ; and withal
uncovered what was left of her son.
Hereupon they were seized with a horror
and amazement of mind, and stood asto-
nished at the sight; when she said to
them. " This is mine own son ; and what
hath been done was mine own doing !
Come, eat of this food ; for I have eaten
of it myself ! Do not you pretend to be
either more tender than a woman, or more
compassionate than a mother ; but if you
be so scrupulous, and do abominate this
my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half,
let the rest be reserved for me also."
After which, those men went out trem-
bling, being never so much affrighted at
any thing as they were at this, and with
some difficulty they left the rest of that
meat to the mother. Upon which the
whole city was full of this horrid action
immediately; and while everybody laid
this miserable case before their own eyes,
they trembled, as if this unheard-of action
had been done by themselves. So those
that were thus distressed by the famine
were very desirous to die ; and those al-
ready dead were esteemed happy, because
they had not lived long enough either to
hear or to see such miseries.
This sad instance was quickly told to
the llomans, some of whom could not be-
lieve it, and others pitied the distress
which the Jews were under; but there
were many of them who were hereby in-
duced to a more bitter hatred than ordi-
nary against our nation ; but for Ciesar,
he excused himself before God as to this
matter, and said that he had proposed
peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as
an oblivion of all their former insolent
practices ; but that they, instead of con-
cord, had chosen sedition ; instead of
peace, war; and before satiety and abun-
dance, a famine. That they had begun
with their own hands to burn down that
temple which we have preserved hitherto ;
and that therefore they deserved to eat
such food as this was. That, however,
this horrid action of eating one's own child
ought to be covered with the overthrow
of their very country itself; and men
ought not to leave such a city upon the
habitable earth to be seen by the sun,
wherein mothers are thus fed, although
such food may be more fit for the fathers
than for the mothers to cat of, since it is
they that continue still in a state of war
against us, after they have uudergone such
miseries as these. And at the same time
that he said this, he reflected on the des-
perate condition these men must be in ;
nor could he expect that such men could
be recovered to sobriety of mind, after
they had endured those very sufferings,
for the avoiding whereof it only was pro-
bable they might have repented.
CHAPTER IV.
Destruction of the Temple.
And now two of the legions had com-
pleted their banks on the eighth day of
the month Lous [Ab]. Whereupon Titus
gave orders that the battering-rams should
be brought and set over against the west-
ern edifice of the inner temple ; for before
these were brought, the firmest of all the
other engines had battered the wall for
six days together without ceasing, without
366
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
making any impression upon it ; but the
vast largeness and strong connection of
the stones were superior to that engine,
and to the other battering-rams also.
Other Romans did, indeed, undermine
the foundations of the northern gate, and,
after a world of pains, removed the outer-
most stones, yet was the gate still upheld
by the inner stones, and stood still un-
hurt ; till the workmen, despairing of all
such attempts by engines and crows,
brought their ladders to the cloisters.
Now the Jews did not interrupt them in
so doing; but when they were gotten up,
they fell upon them and fought with
them ; some of them they thrust down,
and threw them backward headlong;
others of them they met and slew : they
also beat many of those that went down
the ladders again, and slew them with
their swords, before they could bring their
shields to protect them ; nay, some of the
ladders they threw down from above, when
they were full of armed men ; a great
slaughter was made of the Jews also at
the same time, while those that carried
the ensigns fought hard for them, as deem-
ing it a terrible thing, and what would
tend to their great shame, if they permit-
ted them to be stolen away. Yet did the
Jews at length get possession of these
engines, and destroyed those that had
gone up the ladders, while the rest were
so intimidated by what those suffered who
were slain that they retired ; although
none of the Romans died without having
done good service before his death. Of
the seditious, those that had fought bravely
in the former battles, did the like now ; as
besides them did Eleazar, the brother's
son of Simon the tyrant. But when Ti-
tus perceived that his endeavours to spare
a foreign temple turned to the damage of
his soldiers, and made them be killed, he
gave order to set the gates on fire.
In the mean time there deserted to him
Ananus, who came from Emmaus, the
most bloody of all Simon's guards, and
Archelaus, the son of Magadatus, they
hoping to be still forgiven, because they
left the Jews at a time when they were
conquerors. Titus objected this to these
men, as a cunning trick of theirs ; and as
he had been informed of their other bar-
barities toward the Jews, he was going in
all haste to have them both slain. He
told them that they were only driven to
this desertion because of the utmost dis-
tress they were in, and did not come away
of their own good disposition; and that
those did not deserve to be preserved by
whom their own city was already set on
fire, out of which fire they now hurried
themselves away. However, the security
he had promised deserters overcame his
resentments, and he dismissed them ac-
cordingly, though he did not give them
the same privileges that he had afforded
to others ; and now the soldiers had al-
ready put fire to the gates, and the silver
that was over them quickly carried the
flames to the wood that was within it,
whence it spread itself all on the sudden,
and caught hold of the cloisters. Upon the
Jews seeing this fire all about them, their
spirits sank, together with their bodies,
and they were under such astonishment,
that not one of them made any haste,
either to defend himself or to quench the
fire, but they stood as mute spectators
of it only. However, they did not so
grieve at the loss of what was now burn-
ing as to grow wiser thereby for the time
to come; but as though the holy house
itself had been on fire already, they whet-
ted their passions against the Romans.
This fire prevailed during that day and
the next also; for the soldiers were not
able to burn all the cloisters that were
round about together at one time, but
only by pieces.
But then, on the nest day, Titus com-
manded part of his army to quench the
fire, and to make a road for the more easy
marching up of the legions, while he him-
self gathered the commanders together.
Of those there were assembled the six
principal persons : Tiberius Alexander,
the commander [under the general] of
the whole army ; with Sextus Cerealis,
the commander of the fifth legion ; and
Larcius Lepidus, the commander of the
tenth legion ; and Titus Frigius, the com-
mander of the fifteenth legion : there was
also with them Eternius, the leader of
the two legions that came from Alexan-
dria; and Marcus Antonius Julian us,
procurator of Judea; after these came
together all the rest of the procurators
and tribunes. Titus proposed to these
that they should give him their advice
what should be done about the holy house.
Now, some of these thought it would be
the best way to act according to the rules
of war [and demolish it] ; because the
Jews would never leave off rebelling
while the house was standing ; at which
house it was that they used to get all to-
Chap. IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
367
gether. Others of them were of opinion,
that, in case the Jews would leave, and
none of them would lay their arms up in
it, ne might save it; but that in case they
got upon it, and fought any more, he
might burn it ; because it must then be
looked upon not as a holy house, but as a
citadel ; and that the impiety of burning
it would then belong to those that forced
this to be done, and not to them. But
Titus said, that u although the Jews
should get upon that holy house, and
fight us thence, yet ought we not to re-
venge ourselves on things that are inani-
mate, instead of the men themselves;"
and that he was not in any case for burn-
ing down so vast a work as that was,
because this would be a mischief to the
Konians themselves, as it would be an
ornament to their government while it
continued. So Fronto, and Alexander,
and Cerealis grew bold upon that decla-
ration, and agreed to the opinion of Titus.
Then was this assembly dissolved, when
Titus had given orders to the commanders
that the rest of their forces should lie still ;
but that they should make use of such
as were most courageous in this attack.
So he commanded that the chosen men
that were taken out of the cohorts should
make their way through the ruins, and
quench the fire.
Now it is true, that on this day the
Jews were so weary, and under such con-
sternation, that they refrained from any
attacks ; but on the next day they ga-
thered their whole force together, and ran
upon those that guarded the outward court
of the temple, very boldly, through the
east gate, and this about the second hour
of the day. These guards received their
attack with great bravery, and by cover-
ing themselves with their shields before,
as if it were with a wall, they drew their
squadrons close together; yet was it evi-
dent that they could not abide there very
long, but would be overborne by the mul-
titude of those that sallied out upon them,
and by the heat of their passion. How-
ever, Caesar seeing, from the tower of An-
ton ia, that this squadron was likely to
give way, he sent some chosen horsemen
to support them. Hereupon the Jews
found themselves not able to sustain their
onset, and, upon the slaughter of those in
the forefront, many of the rest were put
to flight ; but as the .Romans were going
off", the Jews turned upon them and fought
them ; and as those llomans came back
upon them, they retreated again, until
about the fifth hour of the day they were
overborne, and shut themselves up in tho
inner [court of the] temple.
So Titus retired into the tower of An-
tonia, and resolved to storm the temple
the next day, early in the morning, with
his whole army, and to encamp round
about the holy house ; but, as for that
house, God had for certain long ago
doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal
day was come according to the revolution
of ages : it was the tenth day of the month
Lous [Ab], upon which it was formerly
burnt by the king of Babylon ; although
these flames took their rise from the Jews
themselves, and were occasioned by them:
for, upon Titus's retiring, the seditious
lay still for a little while, and then at-
tacked tht! Romans again, when those that
guarded the holy house fought with those
that quenched the Are that was burning
in the inner [court of the] temple ; but
these Romans put the Jews to flight, and
proceeded as far as the holy house itself.
At which time one of the Boldiers,
without staying for any orders, and with-
out any concern or dread upon him at so
great an undertaking, and hurried on by
a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat
out of the materials that were on fire, and
being lifted up by another soldier, he set
fire to a golden window, through which
there was a passage to the rooms that
were round about the holy house, on the
north side of it. As the flames went up-
ward, the Jews made a great clamour,
such as so mighty an affliction required,
and ran together to prevent it ; ami now
they spared not their lives any longer,
nor suffered any thing to restrain their
force, since that holy house was perishing,
for whose sake it was that they kept such
a guard about it. And now a certain
person came running to Titus, and told
him of this fire, as he was resting himself
in his tent after the last battle; where-
upon he rose up in great haste, and, as
he was, ran to the holy house, in order to
have a stop put to the fire; after him fol-
lowed all his commanders, and after them
followed the several legions, in great as-
tonishment ; so there was a great clamour
and tumult raised, as was natural upon
the disorderly motion of so great an army.
Then did Cajsar, both by calling to the
soldiers that were fighting, with a loud
voice, and by giving a signal to them with
his right baud, order them to quench the
=T!
368
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
fire ; but they did not hear -what he said,
though he spake so loud, having their ears
already dinned by a greater noise another
way ; nor did they attend to the signal he
made with his hand neither, as still some
of them were distracted with fighting, and
others with passion ; but as for the le-
gions that came running thither, neither
any persuasions nor any threatenings could
restrain their violence, but each one's own
passion was his commander at this time ;
and as they were crowding into the tem-
ple together, many of them were tram-
pled on by one another, while a great num-
ber fell among the ruins of the cloisters,
which were still hot and smoking, and
were destroyed in the same miserable way
with those whom they had conquered :
and when they were come near the holy
house, they made as if they did not so
much as hear Csesar's orders to the con-
trary; but they encouraged those that
were before them to set it on fire. As for
the seditious, they were in too great dis-
tress already to afford their assistance
[toward quenching the fire] ; they were
everywhere slain, and everywhere beaten;
and as for a great part of the people, they
were weak and without arms, and had
their throats cut wherever they were
caught. Now, round about the altar lay
dead bodies heaped one upon another ; as
at the steps going up to it ran a great
quantity of their blood, whither also the
dead bodies that were slain above [on the
altar] fell down.
And now, since Caesar was noway able
to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the
soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more
and more, he went into the holy place of
the temple, with his commanders, and saw
it, with what was in it, which he found to
be far superior to what the relations of
foreigners contained, and not inferior to
what we ourselves boasted of and believed
about it ; but as the flame had not as yet
reached to its inward parts, but was still
consuming the rooms that were about the
holy house, and Titus supposing what the
fact was, that the house itself might yet
be saved, he came in haste and endeavour-
ed to persuade the soldiers to quench the
fire, and gave order to Liberalius the cen-
turion, and one of those spearmen that
were about him, to beat the soldiers that
were refractory with their staves, and to
restrain them ; yet were their passions too
hard for the regard they had for Caesar,
and the dread they had of him who for-
bade them, as was their hatred of the
Jews, and a certain vehement inclination
to fight them, too hard for them also.
Moreover, the hope of plunder induced
many to go on, as having this opinion,
that all the places within were full of mo-
ney, and as seeing that all round about it
was made of gold ; and besides, one of
those that went into the place prevented
Cgesar, when he ran so hastily out to re-
strain the soldiers, and threw the fire upon
the hinges of the gate, in the dark ;
whereby the flame burst out from within
the holy house itself immediately, when
the commanders retired, and Caesar with
them, and when nobody any longer for-
bade those that were without to setiire to
it ; and thus was the holy house burnt
down, without Caesar's approbation.
Now, although any one would justly
lament the destruction of such a work as
this was, since it was the most admirable
of all the works that we have seen or
heard of, both for its curious structure
and its magnitude, and also for the vast
wealth bestowed upon it, as well as for
the glorious reputation it had for its
holiness; yet might such a one comfort
himself with this thought, that it was fate
that decreed it so to be, which is inevi-
table, both as to living creatures, and as
to works and places also. However, one
cannot but wonder at the accuracy of this
period thereto relating; for the same
month and day were now observed, as
I said before, wherein the holy house was
burnt formerly by the Babylonians. Now,
the number of years that passed from its
first foundation, which was laid by King
Solomon, till this its destruction, which
happened in the second year of the reign
of Vespasian, are collected to be 1 130,
besides seven months and fifteen days ;
and from the second building of it, which
was done by Haggai, in the second year
of Cyrus the king, till its destruction un-
der Vespasian, there were 639 years and
forty-five days.
CHAPTER V.
Distress of the Jews upon the destruction of the
Temple.
While the holy house was on fire,
every thing was plundered that came to
hand, and 10,000 of those that were
caught were slain ; nor was there a com-
miseration of any age, or any reverence
of gravity; but children, and old men,
Chap. V.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
369
n)
and profane persons, and priests, were all
slain in the same manner; so that this
war went round all sorts of men, and
brought them to destruction, and as well
those that made supplication for their
lives as those that defended themselves
by fighting. The flame was also carried a
long way, and made an echo, together
with the groans of those that were slain ;
and because this hill was high, and the
works at the temple were very great, one
would have thought the whole city had
been on fire. Nor can one imagine any
thing either greater or more terrible than
this noise ; for there was at once a shout
of the Roman legions, who were marching
all together, and a sad clamour of the se-
ditious, who were now surrounded with
fire and sword. The people also that were
left above were beaten back upon the ene-
my, and under a great consternation, and
made sad moans at the calamity they
were under : the multitude also that was
in the city joined in this outcry with those
that were upon the hill; and besides,
many of those that were worn away by
the famine, and their mouths almost
closed, when they saw the fire of the holy
house, they exerted their utmost strength,
and brake out into groans and outcries
again : Perea did also return the echo, as
well as the mountains round about [the
city], and augmented the force of the en-
tire noise. Yet was the misery itself
more terrible than this disorder ; for one
would have thought that the hill itself, on
which the temple stood, was seething-hot,
as full of fire on every part of it, that
the blood was larger in quantity than the
fire, and those that were slain more in
number than those that slew them ; for
the ground did nowhere appear visible, for
the dead bodies that lay on it ; but the
soldiers went over heaps of these bodies,
as they ran upon such as fled from them.
And now it was that the multitude of the
robbers were thrust out [of the inner
court of the temple] by the Romans, and
had much ado to get into the outer court,
and from thence into the city, while the
remainder of the populace fled into the
cloister of that outer court. As for the
priests, some of them plucked up from
the holy house the spikes that were upon
it, with their bases, which were made of
lead, and shot them at the Romans instead
of darts. But then as they gained no-
thing by so doing, and as the fire burst
out upon them, they retired to the wall
Vol. II.- -24 3H
that was eight cubits broad, and there the}
tarried; yet did two of these of eminence
among them, who might have saved them-
selves by going over to the Romans, or
have borne up with courage, and takeu
their fortune with the others, throw them-
selves into the fire, and were burnt to-
gether with the holy house ; their names
were Meirus the son of Belgas, and Jo-
seph the sou of Daleus.
And now the Romans, judging that it
was in vain to spare what was round about
the holy house, burnt all those places, as
also the remains of the cloisters and tho
gates, two excepted ; the one on the east
side, and the other on the south ; both
which, however, they burnt afterward.
They also burnt down the treasury-cham-
bers, in which was an immense quantity
of money, and an immense number of
garments, and other precious goods, there
deposited; and, to speak all in a few
words, there it was that the entire riches
of the Jews were heaped up . together,
while the rich people had there built them*
selves chambers [to contain such furni-
ture]. The soldiers also came to the rest
of the cloisters that were in the outer
[court of the] temple, whither the wo-
men and children, and a great mixed mul-
titude of the people fled, in number about
6000. But before Csesar had determined
any thing about these people, or given
the commanders any orders relating to
them, the soldiers were in such a rage,
that they set the cloister on fire ; by which
means it came to pass that some of these
were destroyed by throwing themselves
down headlong, and some were burnt in
the cloisters themselves. Nor did any one
of them escape with his life. A false
prophet was the occasion of these people's
destruction, who had made a public procla-
mation in the city that very day, that God
commanded them to get up upon the tem-
ple, and that there they should receive mi-
raculous signs of their deliverance. Now,
there was then a great number of false
prophets suborned by the tyrants to im-
pose upon the people, who denounced this
to them, that they should wait for de-
liverance from God ; and this was in or-
der to keep them from deserting, and that
they might be buoyed up above fear and
care by such hopes. Now, a man that is
in adversity does easily comply with such
promises ; for when such a seducer makes
him believe that he shall be delivered from
those miseries which oppress him, theu it
370
AVARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
is that the patient is full of hopes of such
deliverance.
Thus were the miserable people persuad-
ed by these deceivers, and such as belied
God himself ; while they did not attend,
nor give credit, to the signs that were so
evident, and did so plainly foretell their
future desolation ; but, like men infatu-
ated, without either eyes to see or minds
to consider, did not regard the denuncia-
tions that God made to them. Thus,
there was a star resembling a sword,
which stood over the city, and a comet,
that continued a whole year. Thus also,
before the Jews' rebellion, and before
those commotions which preceded the war,
when the people were come in great
crowds to the feast of unleavened bread,
on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus
[Nisan], and at the ninth hour of the
night, so great a light shone round the al-
tar and the holy house that it appeared to
be bright daytime ; which light lasted for
half an hour. This light seemed to be a
good sign to the unskilful, but was so in-
terpreted by the sacred scribes as to por-
tend those events that followed immediate-
ly upon it. At the same festival also, a
heifer, as she was led by the high priest
to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in
the midst of the temple. Moreover, the
eastern gate of the inner [court of the]
temple, which was of brass, a-nd vastly
heavy, and had been with difficulty sbut
by twenty men, and' rested upon a basis
armed with iron, and had bolts fastened
very deep into the firm floor, which was
there made of one entire stone, was seen
to be opened of its own accord about the
sixth hour of the night. Now, those that
kept watch in the temple, came hereupon
running to the captain of the temple, and
told him of it ; who then came up thither,
and not without great difficulty was able
to shut the gate again. This also ap-
peared to the vulgar to be a very happy
prodigy, as if God did thereby open them
the gate of happiness. But the men of
learning understood it, that the security
of their holy house was dissolved of its
own accord, and that the gate was opened
for the advantage of their enemies. So
these publicly declared that this signal
foreshowed the desolation that was coming
upon them. Besides these, a few days
after that feast, on the one-and-twentieth
day of the month Artemisius [Jyar], a cer-
tain prodigious and incredible phenome-
non appeared : I suppose the account of
it would seem to be a fable, were it not re-
lated by those that saw it, and were not
the events that followed it of so consider-
able a nature as to deserve such signals ;
for, before sunsetting, chariots and troops
of soldiers in their armour were seen run-
ning about among the clouds, and sur-
rounding of cities. Moreover, at that
feast which we call Pentecost, as the
priests were going by night into the inner
[court of the] temple, as their custom was,
to perform their sacred ministrations, they
said that, in the first place, they felt a
quaking, and heard a great noise, and af-
ter that they heard a sound as of a great
multitude, saying, " Let us remove hence."
But, what is still more terrible, there was
one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian
and a husbandman, who, four years be-
fore the war began, and at a time when
the city was in very great peace and pros-
perity, came to that feast whereon it is
our custom for every one to make taberna-
cles to God in the temple, began on a
sudden to cry aloud, " A voice from the
east, a voice from the west, a voice from
the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem
and the holy house, a voice against the
bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice
against this whole people I" This was
his cry, as he went about by day and by
night, in all the lanes of the city. How-
ever, certain of the most eminent among
the populace had great indignation at this
dire cry of his, and took up the man, and
gave him a great number of severe stripes ;
yet did not he either say any thing for
himself, or any thing peculiar to those
that chastised him, but still he went on
with the same words which he cried be-
fore. Hereupon our rulers supposiug, as
the case proved to be, that this was a sort
of divine fury in the man, brought him
to the Roman procurator; where he was
whipped till his bones were laid bare ;
yet did he not make any supplication for
himself, nor shed any tears, but turning
his voice to the most lamentable tone pos-
sible, at every stroke of the whip, his an-
swer was, " Wo, wo to Jerusalem !"' And
when Albinus (for he was then our procu-
rator) asked him, "Who he was '( and
whence he came ? and why he uttered
such words V he made no manner of re-
ply to what he said, but still did not leave
off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took
him to be a madman, and dismissed him.
Now, during all the time that passed be-
fore the war began, this man did not go
Chap. VI.]
WARS OF Till: JEWS.
371
no:ir any one of the citizens, nor was Been
by them while lie said so; but he every
day uttered these lamentable words, as if
it were his premeditated vow, "Wo, wo,
to Jerusalem!'' Nor did he give ill words
to any of those that heat him every day,
nor good words to those that gave him
food; hut this was his reply to all men,
and indeed no other than a melancholy
presage of what was to come. This cry
of his was the loudest at the festivals ; and
he continued this ditty for seven years and
6ve months, without growing hoarse, or
being tired therewith, until the very time
that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled
in our siege, when it ceased ; for as he
was going round upon the wall, he cried
out with his utmost force, "Wo, wo, to
the city again, and to the people, and to
the holy house!" And just as he added
at the last, "Wo, wo, to myself also!"
there came a stone out of one the
engines, and smote him, and killed him
immediately; and as he was uttering
the very same presages, he gave up the
ghost.
Now, if any one consider these things,
he will find that God takes care of man-
kind, and by all ways possible foreshows
to our race what is for their preservation;
but that men perish by those miseries
which they madly and voluntarily bring
upou themselves; for the Jews, by demo-
lishing the tower of Antonia, had made
their temple foursquare, while at the
same time they had it written in their sa-
cred oracles, "That then should their city
be taken, as well as their holy house,
when once their temple should become
foursquare." But now, what did most
elevate them in undertaking this war, was
an ambiguous oracle that was also found
in their sacred writings, how, "about that
time, one from their country should be-
come governor of the habitable earth."
The Jews took this prediction to belong
to themselves in particular; aud many of
the wise men were thereby deceived in
their determination. Now, this oracle
certainly denoted the government of Ves-
pasian, who was appointed emperor in
Judea. However, it is not possible for
men to avoid fate, although they see it
beforehand. But these men interpreted
some of these signals according to their
own pleasure; and some of them they
utterly despised, until their madness was
demonstrated, both by the taking of their
city and their own destruction.
CHAPTER VI.
The Romans continue to plunder ami barn the
city.
And now the Romans, upon the flight
of the seditious into the city, and upon t!i<-
burning of the holy house itself, and of
all the buildings round about it, br
their ensigns to the temple, and set them
over against its eastern gate; and there
did they offer sacrifices to them, and there
did tluy make Titus imperator,* with the
greatest acclamations of joy. And now
all the soldiers had such vast quantities
of the spoils which they had got'
plunder, that in Syria a pound weight of
gold was sold for half its former value.
But as for those prie.-ts that kept them-
selves still upon the wall of the holy
house,j" there was a buy that, out of the
thirst he was in, desired some of the Ro-
man guards to give him their right hands
as a security for his life, and confessed he
was very thirsty. These guards commi-
serated his age, and the distress he was
in, and gave him their right hands ac-
cordingly. So he came down himself, and
drank some water, aud filled the vessel he
had with him when he came to them with
water, and then went off, aud fled away to
his own friends; nor could any of
guards overtake him; but still they re-
proached him for his perfidiousness. To
which he made this answer : — " 1 have not
broken the agreement; for the security 1
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 per-
formed, and thereupon think myself to
have been faithful to my engagement."
Hereupon those whom the child had im-
posed 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; aud that
it was agreeable to their office that pri( sis
* This declaring Titus imperator by the soldiers,
apon such signal success, and the slau
a fast number of enemies, was according to the
usual practice of the Romans in like c
f The Jews of later times agree with Josephus,
that there were hiding-places or secret chambers
about the holy house.
372
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
should perish with the house itself to
which they belonged. So he ordered
them to be put to death.
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 de-
sired 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 rob-
bers 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 Simon and John, with great
hope of pardon ; and the Romans about
Csesar, in great expectation how Titus
would receive their supplication. So Ti-
tus charged his soldiers to restrain their
rage, and to let their darts alone, and ap-
pointed an interpreter between them,
which was a sign that he was the con-
queror, and first began the discourse, and
said, "I hope you, sirs, are now satiated
with the miseries of your country, who
have not had 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 to 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 sol-
diery 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 domiuion, 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 tlie ocean, with which the Bri-
tons 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 Carthagi-
nians have been conquered by us. It can
therefore be nothing certainly but the
kindness of us Romans, which hath ex-
cited 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 favour 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 do-
nations to account, nor prohibited them;
till at length you became richer than we
ourselves, even when you were our ene-
mies ; 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 shown 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 uuder 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 neighbouring parts, and thereby gave
you time for repentance; which instance
of humanity you took for an argument of
his weakness, and nourished up your im-
pudence by our mildness. When Nero
was gone out of the world, you did as the
most wicked 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 prepa-
rations for this war. Nor were you
ashamed to raise disturbances against us
when we were made emperors; and this
Chap. YL]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
373
while you had experienced how mild we '
had been, when we were no more than
generals of the army ; but when the go-
vernment was devolved upon us, and all
other people did thereupon lie quiet, and
even foreign nations sent embassies, and
congratulated our access to the govern-
ment, 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 an-
other, 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 melan-
choly 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 de-
serters ; I observed what I had promised
faithfully. When they fled to me, I had
compassion of 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 al-
ways 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 agaiu 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 armour; nor can
you bring yourselves so much as to pre-
tend to be supplicauts even in this your
utmost extremity ! 0 miserable crea-
tures ! 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 valour to die? However, I will not
imitate your madness. If you throw
down your armour, 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 bo punished,
and the rest I will preserve for my own
use."
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 al-
ready taken captives, they should pretend
to make their own terms with him as if
they had been conquerors! So he or-
dered this proclamation to be made to
them, that they should no more come out
to him as deserters, nor hope for any fur-
ther security; for that he would hence-
forth 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 ac-
cording 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 ar-
chives, 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.
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 be-
sought 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 kinsman, and led them with
=il
374
WARS OF THE JEWS.
Liin to Rome, in order to make them
hostages for their country's fidelity to
the Romans.
CHAPTER VII.
Tho seditious continue to resist the Romans.
And m>w the seditious rushed into the
royal palace, into which many had put
their effects, because it was so strong, and
drove the Romans away from it. They
also slew all the people that had crowded
into it, who were in number about 8400,
and plundered them of what they had.
They also took two of the Romans alive ;
the one was a horseman, and the other a
footman: They then cut the throat of
the footman, and immediately had him
drawn through the whole city, as reveng-
ing themselves upon the whole body of
the Romans by this one instance. But
the horseman said he had somewhat to
suggest to them, iu order to their preser-
vation ; whereupon he was brought before
Simon; but he having nothing to say
when he was there, he was delivered to
Ardalas, one of his commanders, to be
punished, who bound his hands behind
him, and put a riband over his eyes, and
then brought him out over against the
Humans, as intending to cut off his head.
But the man prevented that execution,
and ran away to the Romans, and this
while the Jewish executioner was drawing
out his sword. Now when he was gotten
away from the enemy, Titus could not
think of putting him to death; but be-
cause he deemed him unworthy of being
a Roman soldier any longer, on account
that he had been taken alive by the ene-
my, he took away his arms and ejected
him out of the legion whereto he had be-
longed ; which, to one that had a sense
of shame, was a penalty more severe than
death itself.
On the next day the Romans drove the
robbers out of the lower city, and set all
on fire as far as Siloam. These soldiers
were, indeed, glad to see the city de-
stroyed. But they missed the plunder,
because the seditious had carried off all
their effects, and were retired into the
upper city; for they did not yet at all
repent of the mischiefs they had done,
but were insolent, as if they had done
well ; for, as they saw the city on fire,
they appeared cheerful, and put on joyful
countenances, in expectation, as they said,
of death to end their miseries. Accord-
ingly, as the people were now slain, the
holy house was burnt down, and the city
was on fire, there was nothing further left
for the enemy to do. Yet did not Jose-
phus grow weary, even in this utmost
extremity, to beg of them to spare what
was left of the city ; he spake largely to
them about their barbarity and impiety,
and gave them his advice, in order to
their escape, though he gained nothing
thereby more than to be laughed at by
them ; and, as they could not think of
surrendering themselves up, because of
the oath they had taken, nor were strong
enough to fight with the Romans any
longer upon the square, as being sur-
rounded on all sides, and a kind of pri-
soners already, yet were they so accus-
tomed to kill people, that they could not
restrain their right hands from acting ac-
cordingly. So they dispersed themselves
before the city, and laid themselves in
ambush among its ruins, to catch those
that attempted to desert to the Romans ;
accordingly, many such deserters were
caught by them, and were all slain ; for
these were too weak, by reason of their
want of food, to fly away from them, so
their dead bodies were thrown to the dogs.
Now, every sort of death was thought
more tolerable than the famine, insomuch
that, though the Jews despaired now of
mercy, yet would they fly to the Romans,
and would themselves, even of their own
accord, fall among the murderous rebels
also. Nor was there any place in the
city that had no dead bodies in it, but
what was entirely covered with those that
were killed either by the famine or the
rebellion ; and all was full of the dead
bodies of such as had perished, either by
that sedition or by that famine.
So now the last hope which supported
the tyrants, and that crew of robbers who
were with them, was in the caves and
caverns under ground ; whither, if they
could once fly, they did not expect to be
searched for; but endeavoured, that, after
the whole city should be destroyed, and
the Romans gone away, they might come
out again, and escape from them. This
was no better than a dream of theirs; for
they were not able to lie hid either from
God or from the Romans. However, they
depended on these under-ground subter-
fuges, and set more places on fire than did
the Romans themselves ; and those that
fled out of their houses thus set on fire
into ditches, they killed without mercy,
Chap. VIII. ]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
375
and pillaged them also ; and if they dis-
covered food belonging to any one, they
seized upon it and swallowed it down, to-
gether with their blood also ; nay, they
were now come to fight one with another
about their plunder ; and I cannot but
think that, had not their destruction pre-
vented it, their barbarity would have made
them taste of even the dead bodies them-
selves.
CHAPTER VIII.
Titus gains possession of the whole city.
Now, when Ca;sa'r perceived that the
upper city* was so steep, that it could not
possibly be taken without raising banks
against it, he distributed the several parts
of that work among his army, and this
on the twentieth day of the mouth Lous
[Ab].. Now, the carriage of the mate-
rials was a difficult task, since all the
trees, as I have already told you, that were
about the city, within the distance of 100
furlongs, had their branches cut off al-
ready, in order to make the former banks.
The works that belonged to the four le-
gions were erected on the west side of the
city, over against the royal palace; but
the whole body of the auxiliary troops,
with the rest of the multitude that were
with them [erected their banks] at the
Xystus, whence they reached to the
bridge, and that tower of Simon, which
he had built as a citadel for himself
against John, when they were at war oue
with another.
It was at this time that the command-
ers of the Idumeans got together pri-
vately, and took counsel about surrender-
ing up themselves to the Romans. Ac-
cordingly, they sent five men to Titus, and
entreated him to give them his right hand
for their security. So Titus thinking that
the tyrants would yield, if the Idumeans,
upon whom a great part of the war de-
pended, were once withdrawn from them,
after some reluctance and delay, complied
with them, and gave them security for
their lives, and sent the five men back;
but, as these Idumeans were preparing to
march out, Simon perceived it, and im-
mediately slew the five men that had gone
to Titus, and took their commanders, and
put them in prison, of whom the most
3minent was Jacob, the son of Sosas ; but
as for the multitude of the Idumeans,
Mount Sion.
who did not at all know what to do, now
their commanders were taken from them,
he had them watched, and secured the
walls by a more numerous garrison. Yet
could not that garrison resist those that
were deserting ; for although a great num-
ber of them were slain, yet were the de-
serters many more in number. These
were all received by the Romans, because
Titus himself grew negligent as to his
former orders for killing them, and be-
cause the very soldiers grew weary of kill-
ing them, and because they hoped to get
some money by spariug them; for they
left only the populace, aud sold the rest
of the multitude, with their wives and
children, and every one of them at a very
low price, and that because such as were
sold were very many, aud the buyers very
few; and although Titus had made pro-
clamation beforehand, that no deserter
should come alone by himself, that so
they might bring out their families with
them, yet did he receive such as these
also. However, he set over them such as
were to distinguish some from others, in
order to see if any of them deserved to
be punished ; and, indeed, the number of
those that were sold was immense ; but of
the populace above 40,000 were saved,
whom Cassar let go whither every oue of
them pleased.
But now at this time it was that one
of the priests, the son of Thebuthus,
whose name was Jesus, upon his having
security given him, by the oath of Caesar,
that he should be preserved, upon condi-
tion that he should deliver to him certain
of the precious things that had been de-
posited in the temple, came out of it, and
delivered him from the wall of the holy
house two candlesticks like to those that
lay in the holy house, with tables and
cisterns and vials, all made of solid gold,
and very heavy. He also delivered to
him the vails aud the garments, writh the
precious stones, and a great number of
other precious vessels that belonged to
their sacred worship. The treasurer of
the temple also, whose name was Phineas,
was seized on, and showed Titus the coats
and girdles of the priests, with a great
cpuantity of purple and scarlet, which
were there reposited for the uses of
the vail, as also a great deal of cinna-
mon and cassia, with a large quantity
of other sweet spices, which used to be
mixed together, and offered as incense to
God every day. A great many other
=n
37G
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VI.
treasures were also delivered to him, with
sacred orname its of the temple not a few;
which things ihus delivered to Titus, ob-
tained of him for this man the same par-
don that he had allowed to such as de-
serted of their own accord.
And now were the banks finished on the
seventeenth day of the month Gorpieus
[Elul], in eighteen days' time, when the
Romans brought their machines against
the wall ; but for the seditious, some of
them, as despairing of saving the city, re-
tired from the wall to the citadel; others
of them went down into the subterranean
vaults, though still a great many of them
defended themselves against those that
brought the engines for the battery; yet
did the Romans overcome them by their
number and by their strength ; and, what
was the principal thing of all, by going
cheerfully about their work, while the
Jews were quite dejected and become
weak. Now, as soon as a part of the wall
was battered down, and certain of the
towers yielded to the impression of the
battering-rams, those that opposed them-
selves fled away, and such a terror fell
upon the tyrants as was much greater
than the occasion required ; for before the
enemy got over the breach they were quite
stunned, and were immediately for flying
away; and now one might see these men,
who had hitherto been so insolent and ar-
rogant in their wicked practices, to be cast
down and to tremble, insomuch that it
would pity one's heart to observe the
change that was made in those vile per-
sons. Accordingly, they ran with great
violence upon the Roman wall that en-
compassed them, in order to force away
those that guarded it, and to break through
it, and get away ; but when they saw that
those who had formerly been faithful to
them, had gone away, (as indeed they were
fled whithersoever the great distress they
were in persuaded them to flee,) as also
when those that came running before the
rest told them that the western wall was
entirely overthrown, while others said the
Romans were gotten in, and others that
they were near, and looking out for them,
which were only the dictates of their fear
which imposed upon their sight, they fell
upon their faces, and greatly lamented
their own mad conduct; and their nerves
were so terribly loosed, that they could
not flee away; and here one may chiefly
reflect on the power of God exercised upon
these wicked wretches, and on the good
fortune of the Romans; for these tyrants
did now wholly deprive themselves of the
security they had in their own power, and
came down from those very towers of their
own accord, wherein they could have
never been taken by force, nor indeed by
any other way than by famine. And
thus did the Romaus, when they had
taken such great pains about weaker walls,
get by good fortune what they could never
have gotten by their engines; for three
of these towers were too strong for all
mechanical engines whatsoever; concern-
ing which we have treated of before.
So they now left these towers of them-
selves, or rather they were ejected out of
them by God himself, and fled immedi-
ately to that valley which was under
Siloam, where they again recovered them-
selves out of the dread they were in for a
while, and ran violently against that part
of the Roman wall which lay on that side ;
but as their courage was too much de-
pressed to make their attacks with suffi-
cient force, and their power was now
broken with fear and affliction, they were
repulsed by the guards, and dispersing
themselves at distances from each other,
went down into the subterranean caverns.
So the Romans being now become mas-
ters of the walls, they both placed their
ensigns upon the towers, and made joyful
acclamations for the victory they had
gained, as having found the end of this
war much lighter than its beginning; for
when they had gotten upon the last wall,
without any bloodshed, they could hardly
believe what they found to be true; but
seeing nobody to oppose them, they stood
in doubt what such an unusual solitude
could mean. But when they went in
numbers into the lanes of the city, with
their swords drawn, they slew those whom
they overtook, without mercy, and set fire
to the houses whither the Jews were fled,
and burnt every soul in them, and laid
waste a great many of the rest; aud when
they were come to the houses to plunder
them, they found in them entire families
of dead men, and the upper rooms full of
dead corpses, that is of such as died by
the famine ; they then stood in a horror
at this sight, and went out without touch-
ing any thing. But although they had
this commiseration for such as were de-
stroyed in that manner, yet had they not
the same for those that were still alive,
but they ran every one through whom
they met with, and obstructed tl e very
Chap. IX.]
lanes with their dead bodies, and made
the whole city run down with blood, to
such a degree indeed, that the fire of
many of the houses was quenched with
these men's blood. And truly so it hap-
pened, that though the slayers left off at
the evening, yet did the fire greatly pre-
vail in the night; and as all was burning
came that eighth day of the month Gor-
pieus [Elul] upon Jerusalem; a city that
had been liable to so many miseries during
this siege, that, had it always enjoyed as
much happiness from its first foundation,
it would certainly have been the envy of
the world. Nor did it on any other ac-
count so much deserve these sore misfor-
tunes, as by producing such a generation
of men as were the occasion of this its
overthrow.
CHAPTER IX.
Titus examines the city — Number of captives and
of the slain — The Itomans entirely destroy the
walls.
Now, when Titus was come into this
[upper] city, he admired not only some
other places of strength in it, but particu-
larly those strong towers which the tyrants,
in their mad conduct, had relinquished;
for when he saw their solid altitude, and the
largeness of their several stones, and the
exactness of their joints, as also how great
was their breadth, and how extensive their
length, he expressed himself after the man-
ner following: — "We have certainly had
God for our assistant in this war, and it
was no other than God who ejected the
Jews out of these fortifications ; for what
could the hands of men, or any machines,
do toward overthrowing these towers !"
At which time he had many such dis-
courses to his friends ; he also let such go
free as had been bound by the tyrants, and
were left in the prisons. To conclude,
when he entirely demolished the rest of
the city, and overthrew its walls, he left
these towers as a monument of his good
fortune, which had proved his auxiliaries,
and enabled him to take what could not
otherwise have been taken by him.
And now, since his soldiers were already
quite tired with killing men, and yet there
appeared to be a vast multitude still re-
maining alive, Caesar gave orders that they
should kill none but those that were in
arms, and opposed them, but should take
the rest alive. But, together with those
whom they had orders to slay, they slew
the aged and infirm; but for those that
WARS OF THE JEWS.
377
were in their flourishing age. and who
might be useful to them, they drove them
together into the temple, and shut them
up within the walls of the court of the
women; over which Caesar set ona of his
freedmen, as also Fronto, one of his own
friends; which last was to determine every
one's fate, according to his merits. So
this Fronto slew all those that had been
seditious and robbers, who were impeached
one by another; but of the young men he
chose out the tallest and most beautiful,
and reserved them for the triumph; and
as for the rest of the multitude that were
above seventeen years old, he put them
into bonds, and sent them to the Egyp-
tian mines.* Titus also sent a great num-
ber into the provinces, as a present to
them, that they might be destroyed upon
their theatres, by the sword and by the
wild beasts ; but those that were under
seventeen years of age were sold for slaves.
Now, during the davs wherein Fronto was
distinguishing these men, there perished,
for want of food, 11,000; some of whom
did not taste any food, through the hatred
their guards bore to them ; and others
would not take in any when it was given
them. The multitude also was so very
great, that they were in want even of corn
for their sustenance.
Now the numberf of those that were
carried captive during this whole war was
collected to be 97,000; as was the num-
ber of those that perished during the
whole siege 1,100,000, the greater part
of whom were indeed of the same nation
[with the citizeus of Jerusalem], but not
belonging to the city itself; for they were
come up from all the country to the feast
of unleavened bread, aud were on a sud-
den shut up by an army, which at the
very first occasioned so great a straitnesa
among them that there came a pestilential
destruction upon them, and soon afterward
such a famine as destroyed them more
suddenly. And that this city could con-
:;: See Deut. xxviii. OS ; Jer. xliv. 7 ; Hob. viii.
13, ix. 3, xi. 35 ; 2 Esd. xv. 10-14.
■f" The whole multitude of the Jews that were d«,
stroyed during the entire seven years before this
time, in all the countries of and bordering on Judea,
is summed up by Archbishop Usher, from Lipsius,
out of Josephus, A. I). 70, and amounts to 1,337, 190.
Nor could there have been that number of Jews in
Jerusalem to be destroyed by this siege, as will be
presently set down by Josephus, but that both Jews
and proselytes of justice were just then come up out
of the other countries of Galilee, Samaria, and IVrea,
and other remote regions, to tt e Passover, in vast
numbers, and therein cooped up as in a prison, by
the Roman army.
378
WARS OF THE JEWS.
tain so many people in it is manifest by
that number of them which was taken un-
der Cestius, who being desirous of inform-
ing Nero of the power of the city, who
otherwise was disposed to contemn that
nation, entreated the high priasts, if the
thing were possible, to take the number
of their whole multitude. So these high
priests, upon the coining of their feast
which is called the Passover, when they
slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour
till the eleventh, but so that a company
not less than ten belong to every sacrifice,
(for it is not lawful for them to feast
singly by themselves,) and many of us
are twenty in a company, found the num-
ber of sacrifices was 256,500; which, upon
the allowance of no more than ten that
feast together, amounts to 2,700,200 per-
sons that were pure and holy; for as to
those that have the leprosy, it is not law-
ful for them to be partakers of this sacri-
fice ; nor indeed for any foreigners neither
who come hither to worship.
Now this vast multitude is indeed col-
lected out of remote places, but the entire
nation was now shut up by fate, as in a
prison, and the Roman army encompassed
the city when it was crowded with inha-
bitants. Accordingly, the multitude of
those that therein perished exceed all the
destructions that either men or God ever
brought upon the world; for, to speak
only of what was publicly known, the Ro-
mans slew some of them ; some they car-
ried captives, and others they made search
for under ground ; and when they found
where they were, they broke up the ground
and slew all they met with. There were
also found slain there above 2000 per-
sons, partly by their own hands, and
partly by one another, but chiefly de-
stroyed by the famine ; but then the ill
savour of dead bodies was most offensive
to those that lighted upon them, insomuch
that some were obliged to get away imme-
diately, while others were so greedy of
gain, that they would go in among the
dead bodies that lay in heaps, and tread
upon them; for a great "deal of treasure
was found in these caverns, and the hope
of gain made every way of getting it to be
esteemed lawful. Many also of those that
had been put in prison by the tyrants were
now brought out; for they did not leave
off their barbarous cruelty at the very last;
yet did God avenge himself upon them
[Book VI. Chap. X
both, in a manner agreeable to justice.
As for John, he wanted food, together with
his brethren, in these caverns, and begged
that the Romans would now give him
their right hand for his security, which he
had often proudly rejected before ; but for
Simon, he struggled hard with the dis-
tress he was in, till he was forced to sur-
render himself, as we shall relate hereaf-
ter j so he was reserved for the triumph,
and to be then slain : as was John con-
demned to perpetual imprisonment : and
now the Romans set fire to the extreme
parts of the city, and burnt them down,
and entirely demolished its walls.
CHAPTER X.
History of Jerusalem, and of its various sieges.
And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the
second year of the reign of Vespasian,
on the eighth day of the month Gorpieus
[Elul]. It had been taken five times be-
fore, though this was the second time of
its desolation ; for Shishak, the king of
Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and af-
ter him Pompey, and after them Sosius
and Herod took the city, but still ) (reserved
it; but before all these, the king of Baby-
lon conquered it, and made it desolate,
1468 years and 6 months after it was
built. But he who first built it was a po-
tent man among the Canaanites, and is in
our tongue called [Melchisedek], the
Righteous King, for such he really was;
on which account he was [there] the first
priest of God, and first built a temple
[there], and called the city Jerusalem,
which was formerly called Salem. How-
ever, David, the king of the Jews, ejected
the Canaanites, and settled his own peo-
ple therein. It was demolished entirely
by the Babylonians, 477 years and 6
months after him. And from King Da-
vid, who was the first of the Jews who
reigned therein, to this destruction under
Titus, were 1179 years; but from its first
building, till this last destruction, were
2177 years ; yet hath not its great antiqui-
ty, nor its vast riches, nor the diffusion of
its nation over all the habitable earth,
nor the greatness of the veneration paid
to it on a religious account, been suffi-
cient to preserve it from being destroy-
ed. And thus ended the siege of Jeru-
salem.
Book VII. Chap. L]
WARS OF THE JEWS. 379
BOOK VII.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT THREE YEARS, FROM THE TAK-
ING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS, TO THE SEDITION OF THE JEWS AT
CYRENE.
CHAPTER I.
Entire destruction of Jerusalem — Titus rewards
his soldiers, ar.i dismisses many of them.
Now, as soon as the army had no more
people to slay or to plunder, because there
remained none to be the objects of their
fury, (for they would not have spared any,
had there remained any other such work
to be done,) Caesar gave orders that they
should now demolish the entire city and
temple, but should leave as many of the
towers standing as were of the greatest
eminence ; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippi-
cus, and Mariamne, and so much of the
wall as enclosed the city on the west side.
This wall was spared, in order to afford a
camp for such as were to lie in garrison ;
as were the towers also spared, in order to
demonstrate to posterity what kind of
city it was, and how well fortified, which
the Roman valour had subdued ; but for
all the rest of the wall, it was so tho-
roughly laid even with the ground by
those that dug it up to the foundation,
that there was left nothing to make those
that came thither believe it had ever been
inhabited. This was the end which Je-
rusalem came to by the madness of those
that were for innovations ; a city other-
wise of great magnificence, and of mighty
fame among all mankind.
But Coesar resolved to leave there, as a
guard, the tenth legion, with certain
troops of horsemen and companies of
footmen. So, having entirely completed
this war, he was desirous to commend his
whole army, on account of the great ex-
ploits they had performed, and to bestow
proper rewards on such as had signalized
themselves therein. He had, therefore, a
great tribunal made for him in the midst
of the place where he bad formerly en-
camped, and stood upon it, with his prin-
cipal commanders about him, and spake
so as to be heard by the whole army in
the manner following : — That he returned
them abundance of thanks for their good-
will which they had shown to him ; he
commended them for that ready obedience
they had exhibited in this whole war ;
which obedience had appeared in the
many and great dangers they had courage-
ously undergone ; as also, for that cou-
rage they had shown, and had thereby
augmented of themselves their country's
power, and had made it evident to all men,
that neither the multitude of their ene-
mies, nor the strength of their places, nor
the largeness of their cities, nor the rash
boldness and brutish rage of their antago-
nists, were sufficient at any time to get
clear of the Roman valour, although some
of them may have fortune in many re-
spects on their side. He said further, that
it was but reasonable for them to put an
end to this war, now it had lasted so long,
for they had nothing better to wish for
when they entered into it; and that this
happened more favourably for them and
more for their glory; that all the Romans
had willingly accepted of those for their
governors, and the curators of their do-
minions, whom they had chosen for them,
and had sent into their own country for
that purpose, which still continued under
the management of those whom they had
pitched on, and were thankful to them for
pitching upon them. That accordingly,
although he did both admire and tenderly
regard them all, because he knew that
every one of them had gone as cheerfully
about their work as their abilities and op-
portunities would give them leave, yet,
he said, that he would immediately be-
stow rewards and dignities on those that
had fought the most bravely, and with
greater force, and had signalized their con-
duct in the most glorious manner, and had
made his army more famous by their noble
exploits; and that no one who had been
willing to take more pains than another,
should miss of a just retribution for the
same ; for that he had been exceedingly
careful about this matter, and that the
more, because he had much rather reward
the virtues of his fellow-sokhers than pu-
nish such as had offended.
380
WARS OF THE JEWS.
Hereupon Titus ordered those whose
business it was, to read the list of all that
had performed great exploits in this war,
whom he called to him by their names,
and commended them before the company,
and rejoiced in them in the same manner
as a man would have rejoiced in his own
exploits. He also put on their heads
crowns of gold, and golden ornaments
about their necks, and gave them long
6pears of gold, and ensigns that were
made of silver, and removed every one
of them to a higher rank : and besides
this, he plentifully distributed among
them, out of the spoils and the other prey
they had taken, silver, and gold, and gar-
ments. So when they had all these ho-
nours bestowed on them, according to his
own appointment made to every one, and
he had wished all sorts of happiness to
the whole army, he came down, among
the great acclamations which were made
to him, and then betook himself to offer
thank-offerings [to the gods], and at once
sacrificed a vast number of oxen, that
stood ready at the altars, and distributed
them among the army to feast on ; and
when he had stayed three days among the
principal commanders, and so long feasted
with them, he sent away the rest of his
army to the several places where they
would be every one best situated ; but
permitted the tenth legion to stay, as a
guard at Jerusalem, and did not send
them away beyond Euphrates, where they
had been before ; and as he remembered
that the twelfth legion had given way to
the Jews, under Cestius, their general, he
expelled them out of all Syria, for they
had lain formerly at Raphanea, and sent
them away to a place called Meletine,
near Euphrates, which is in the limits of
Armenia and Cappadocia; he also thought
fit that two of the legions should stay
with him till he should go to Egypt. He
then went down with his army to that
Cesarea which lay by the seaside, and
there laid up the rest of his spoils in great
quantities, and gave order that the cap-
tives should be kept there; for the winter
season hindered him then from sailing into
Italy.
CHAPTER II.
Titus exhibits shows at Cesarea Philippi — Capture
of Simon.
Now, at the same time that Titus Cae-
sar lay at the siege of Jerusalem, did
Vespasian go on board a nierchaut-ship,
[Book VII.
and sailed from Alexandria to Rhodes;
whence he sailed away in ships with three
rows of oars ; and as he touched at seve-
ral cities that lay in his road, he was joy-
fully received by them all, and so passed
over from Ionia into Greece; whence he
set sail from Corcyra to the promontory
of Iapyx, whence he took his journey by
land. But as for Titus, he marched from
that Cesarea which lay by the seaside,
and came to that which is named Cesarea
Philippi, and stayed there a considerable
time, and exhibited all sorts of shows
there ; and here a great number of the
captives were destroyed ; some being
thrown to wild beasts, and others, in mul-
titudes, forced to kill one another, as if
they were enemies. And here it was
that Titus was informed of the seizure
of Simon, the son of Gioras, which was
made after the manner following : —
This Simon, during the siege of Jerusa-
lem, was in the upper city ; but when the
Roman army were gotten within the
walls, and were laying the city waste, he
then took the most faithful of his friends
with him, and among them some that
were stonecutters, with those iron tools
which belonged to their occupation, and
as great a quantity of provisions as would
suffice them for a long time, and let him-
self and them all down into a certain sub-
terraneous cavern that was not visible
above ground. Now, so far as had been
digged of old, they went onward along it
without disturbance; but where they met
with solid earth, they dug a mine under
ground, and this in hopes that they should
be able to proceed so far as to rise from
under ground, in a safe place, and by that
means escape ; but when they came to
make the experiment, they were disap-
pointed of their hope; for the miners
could make but small progress, and that
with difficulty also; insomuch that their
provisions, though they distributed them
by measure, began to fail them. And
now, Simon, thinking he might be able
to astonish and delude the Romans, put
on a white frock, and buttoned upon him
a purple cloak, and appeared out of the
ground in the place where the temple had
formerly been. At the first, indeed, those
that saw him were greatly astonished, and
stood still where they were ; but after-
ward they came nearer to him, and asked
him who he was. Now Simon would not
tell them, but bade them call for their
captain ; and when they ran to call him,
CUAP. III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
■■:<]
'1
Terentius Rufus,* who was left to com-
mand the army there, came to Simon,
and learned of him the whole truth, and
£ept him in bonds, and let Caesar know
that he was taken. Thus did God bring
this man to be punished for what bitter
and savage tyranny he had exercised
against his countrymen, by those who
were his worst enemies ; and this while
he was not subdued by violence, but vo-
luntarily delivered himself up to them to
be punished, and that on the very same
account that he had laid false accusations
against many Jews, as if they were falling
away to the Romans, and had barbarously
slain them ; for wicked actions do not
escape the divine anger, nor is justice too
weak to punish offenders, but in time
overtakes those that transgress its laws,
and inflicts its punishments upon the
wicked in a manner so much more severe,
as they expected to escape it on account
of their not being punished immediately.
Simon was made sensible of this, by fall-
ing under the indignation of the Romans.
This rise of his out of the ground did also
occasion the discovery of a great number
of others of the seditious at that time,
who had hidden themselves under ground ;
but for Simon, he was brought to Caesar
in bonds, when he had come back to that
Cesarea which was on the seaside ; who
gave orders that he should be kept against
that triumph which he was to celebrate at
Rome upon this occasion.
CHAPTER III.
Titus celebrates his father's and brother's birthday
by slaughtering many of the Jewish captives —
The people of Antioch accuse the Jews of sedi-
tion.
While Titus was at Cesarea, he so-
lemnized the birthday of his brother
[Domitian] after a splendid manner, and
inflicted a great deal of the punishment
intended for the Jews in honour of him ;
for the number of those that were now
slain in fighting with the beasts, and were
burnt, and fought with one another, ex-
ceeded 2500. Yet did all this seem to
the Romans, when they were thus destroy -
* This Terentius Rufus is the same whom the
Talmudists call Tumus Rufus: of whom they re-
late, that " he ploughed up Sion as a field, and
made Jerusalem become as heaps, and the moun-
tain of the house as the high places of a forest;"
which was long before foretold by the prophet
Micah, (iii. 12.) and quoted f»om him in the prophe-
cies of Jeremiah, (xxvi. 18.)
31
ing ten thousand several ways, to be a
punishment beneath their deserts. After
this, Caesar came to Berytus, which is a
city of Phoenicia, and a Roman colony,
and stayed there a longer time, and ex-
hibited a still more pompous solemnity
about his father's birthday, both in the
magnificence of the shows, and in the
other vast expenses he was at in his de-
vices thereto belonging ; so that a great
multitude of the captives were here de-
stroyed after the same manner as before.
It happened also about this time, that
the Jews who remained at Antioch were
under accusations, and in danger of pe-
rishing, from the disturbances that were
raised against them by the Antiochians,
and this both on account of the slanders
spread abroad at this time against them,
and on account of what pranks they had
played not long before ; which I am
obliged to describe without fail, though
briefly, that I may the better connect my
narration of future actions with those that
went before.
For, as the Jewish nation is widely
dispersed over all the habitable earth
among its inhabitants, so it is very much
intermingled with Syria, by reason of its
neighbourhood, and had the greatest mul-
titudes in Antioch, by reason of the large-
ness of the city, wherein the kings, after
Antiochus, had afforded them a habitation
with the most undisturbed tranquillity; fur
though Antiochus, who was called Epipha-
nes, laid Jerusalem waste, and spoiled tiie
temple, yet did those that succeeded him
in the kingdom, restore all the donations
that were made of brass to the Jews of
Antioch, and dedicated them to their syna-
gogue ; and granted them the enjoyment
of equal privileges of citizens with the
Greeks themselves ; and, as the succeed-
ing king; treated them after the same
manner, they both multiplied to a great
number, and adorned their temple* glo-
riously by fiue ornaments, and with great
magnificence, in the use of what had been
given them. They also made proselytes
of a great many of the Greeks perpetu-
ally, and thereby, after a sort, brought
them to be a portion of their own bo ly.
But about this time, when the present war
began, and Vespasian was newly sailed to
Syria, and all men had taken up a great
hatred against the Jews, then it was that
a certain person, whose name was Antio-
* Their synagogue.
332
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VII.
chus, being one of the Jewish nation, and
greatly respected on account of his father,
who was governor of the Jews at Anti-
och,* came upon the theatre at a time
when the people of Antioch were assem-
bled together, and became an informer
against his father; and accused both him
and others, that they had resolved to burn
the whole city in one night; he also de-
livered up to them some Jews that were
foreigners, as partners in their resolutions.
When the people heard this, they could
not refrain their passion, but commanded
that those who were delivered up to them
should have fire brought to burn them ;
who were, accordingly, all burnt upon the
theatre immediately. They did also fall
violently upon the multitude of the Jews,
as supposing, that, by punishing them
suddenly, they should save their own city.
As for Antiochus, he aggravated the rage
they were in, and thought to give them a
demonstration of his own conversion, and
of his hatred of the Jewish customs, by
sacrificing after the manner of the Greeks;
he persuaded the rest also to compel them
to do the same, because they would by
that means discover who they were that
had plotted against them, since they would
not do so ; and when the people of Antioch
tried the experiment, some few complied;
but those that would not do so were slain.
As for Antiochus himself, he obtained
soldiers from the Roman commander, and
became a severe master over his own citi-
zens, not permitting them to rest on the
seventh day, but forcing them to do all
that they usually did on the other days ;
and to that degree of distress did he re-
duce them in this matter, that the rest of
the seventh day was dissolved, not only
at Antioch, but the same thing which
took thence its rise was done in other
cities also, in like manner, for some small
time.
Now, after these misfortunes had hap-
pened to the Jews at Antioch, a second
calamity befell them, the description of
which, when we were going about, we
premised the account foregoing ; for upon
this accident, whereby the foursquare
* The Jews at Antioch and Alexandria, the two
principal cities in all the East, had allowed them,
both by the Macedonians, and afterward by the
Romans, a governor of their own, who was exempt
from the jurisdiction of the other civil governors.
He was called sometimes barely "governor," some-
times " ethnarch," and [at Alexandria] "alabarch."
They had the like governors allowed them at
Babylon under their captivity there.
market-place was burnt down, as well as
the archives, and the place where the pub-
lic records were preserved, and the royal
palaces, (and it was not without difficulty
that the fire was then put a stop to, which
was likely, by the fury wherewith it was
carried along, to have gone over the whole
city,) Antiochus accused the Jews as the
occasion of all the mischief that was
done. Now this induced the people of
Antioch, who were now under the imme-
diate persuasion, by reason of the disor-
der they were in, that this calumny was
true ; and would have been under the
same persuasion, even though they had
not borne an ill-will at the Jews before,
to believe this man's accusation, especially
when they considered what had been done
before; and this to such a degree, that
they all fell violently upon those that
were accused ; and this, like madmen, in
a very furious rage also, even as if they
had seen . the Jews in a manner setting
fire themselves to the city ; nor was it
without difficulty that one Cneius Colle-
gas, the legate, could prevail with them to
permit the affairs to be laid before Csesar;
for as to Cesennius Petus, the president
of Syria, Vespasian had already sent him
away ; and so it happened that he was not
yet come back thither. But when Col-
legas had made a careful inquiry into the
matter, he found out the truth, and that
not one of those Jews that were accused
by Antiochus had any hand in it; but
that all was done by some vile persons
greatly in debt, who supposed that, if they
could once set fire to the market-place, and
burn the public records, they should have
no further demands made upon them. So
the Jews were under great disorder and
terror, in the uncertain expectations of
what would be the upshot of those accu-
sations against them.
CHAPTER IV.
Vespasian's reception at Rome — Revolt of tho
German legion — The Samaritans overrun Myria,
but are defeated.
And now, Titus Ccesar, upon the news
that was brought him concerning his fa-
ther, that his coming was much desired by
all the Italian cities, and that Rome espe-
cially received him with great alacrity and
splendour, betook himself to rejoicing and
pleasures to a great degree, as now freed
from the solicitude he had been under,
after the most agreeable manner. For all
men that were in Italy showed their re-
Chap. IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
383
spects to him in their minds, before he
came thither, as if he were already come,
as esteeming the very expectation they
had of him to be his real presence, on
account of the great desires they had to
see him, and because the good-will they
bore him was entirely free and uncon-
strained ; for it was a desirable thing to
the senate, who well remembered the ca-
lamities they had undergone in the late
changes of their governors, to receive a
governor who was adorned with the gra-
vity of old age, and with the highest skill
in the actions of war, whose advancement
would be, as they knew, for nothing else
but for the preservation of those that were
to be governed. Moreover, the people
had been so harassed by their civil mise-
ries, that they were still more earnest for
his coming immediately, as supposing they
should then be firmly delivered from their
calamities, and believed they should then
recover their secure tranquillity and pros-
perity : and for the soldiery, they had the
principal regard to him, for they were
chiefly apprized of his great exploits in
war ; and since they had experienced the
want of skill and want of courage in other
commanders, they were very desirous to
be freed from that great shame they had
undergone by their means, and heartily
wished to receive such a prince as might
be a security and an ornament to them ;
and as this good-will to Vespasian was
universal, those that enjoyed any remark-
able dignities could not have patience
enough to stay in Rome, but made haste
to meet him at a very great distance
from it; nay, indeed, none of the rest
could endure the delay of seeing him, but
did all pour out of the city in such crowds,
and were so universally possessed with the
opinion that it was easier and better for
them to go out than to stay there, that
this was the very first time that the city
joyfully perceived itself almost empty of
its citizeus ; for those that stayed within
were fewer than those that went out; but
as soon as the news was come that he was
hard by, and those that had met him at
first related with what good-humour he
received every one that came to him, then
it was that the whole multitude that had
remained in the city, with their wives and
children, came into the road, and waited for
him there; and for those whom he passed
by, they made all sorts of acclamations on
account of the joy they had to see him,
and the pleasantness of his countenance,
and styled him their benefactor and sa-
viour, and the only person who was wor-
thy to be ruler of the city of Rome ; and
now the city was like a temple, full of
garlands and sweet odours; nor was it
easy for him to come to the royal palace
for the multitude of people that stood
about him, where yet at last he performed
his sacrifices of thanksgivings to his house-
hold gods, for his safe return to the city.
The multitude did also betake themselves
to feasting; which feasts and drink-offer-
ings they celebrated by their tribes and
their families and their neighbourhoods,
and still prayed God to grant that Vespa-
sian, his sons, and all their posterity,
might continue in the Roman government
for a very long time, and that his domi-
nion might be preserved from all opposi-
tion. And this was the manner in which
Rome so joyfully received Vespasian, and
thence grew immediately into a state of
great prosperity.
But before this time, and while Vespa-
sian was about Alexandria, and Titus was
lying at the siege of Jerusalem, a great
multitude of the Germans were in com-
motion, and tended to rebellion; and as
the Gauls in their neighbourhood joined
with them, they conspired together, and
had thereby great hopes of success, and
that they should free themselves from the
dominion of the Romans. The motives
that induced the Germans to this attempt
for a revolt, and for beginning the war,
were these : — In the first place, the nature
[of the people], which was destitute of
just reasonings, and ready to throw them-
selves rashly into danger upon small
hopes; in the next place, the hatred they
bore to those that were their governors,
while their nation had never been con-
scious of subjection to any but to the Ro-
mans, and that by compulsion only. Be-
sides these motives, it was the opportunity
that now offered itself, which, above all
the rest, prevailed with them so to do ;
for when they saw the Roman govern-
ment in a great internal disorder, by the
continual changes of its rulers, and un-
derstood that every part of the habitable
earth under them was in an unsettled and
tottering condition, they thought this was
the best opportunity that could afford it-
self for themselves to make a sedition,
when the state of the Romans was so ill.
Classicus also, and Vitellius, two of their
commanders, puffed them up with such
hopes. These had for a long time been
384
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book YII
openly desirous of such an innovation, and
were induced by the present opportunity to
venture upon the declaration of their sen-
timents; the multitude was also ready;
and when these men told them of what
they intended to attempt, that news was
gladly received by them. So when a
great part of the Germans had agreed to
rebel, and the rest were no better dis-
posed, Vespasian, as guided by Divine
Providence, sent letters to Petilius Cerea-
lis, who had formerly had the command
of Germany, whereby he declared him to
have the dignity of consul, and com-
manded him to take upon him the govern-
ment of Britain ; so he went whither he
was ordered to go, and, when he was in-
formed of the revolt of the Germans, he
fell upon them as soon as they were got-
ten together, and put his army into bat-
tle-array, and slew a great multitude of
them in the fight, and forced them to
leave off their madness, and to grow wiser;
nay, had he not fallen thus suddenly upon
them on the place, it had not been long
ere they would, however, have been
brought to punishment; for as soon as
ever the news of their revolt was come to
Koine, and Caesar Domitian was made
acquainted with it, he made no delay even
at that his age, when he was exceeding
young, but undertook this weighty affair.
He had a courageous" mind, from his fa-
ther, and had made greater improvements
than belonged to such an age ; accordingly
he marched against the barbarians imme-
diately ; whereupon their hearts failed
them at the rumour of his approach, and
they submitted themselves to him with
fear, and thought it a happy thing that
they were brought under their old yoke
again without suffering any further mis-
chief. When, therefore, Domitian had
settled all the affairs of Gaul in such good
order, that it would not be easily put into
disorder any more, he returned to Rome
with honour and glory, as having per-
formed such exploits as were above his
own age, and worthy of such a father.
At the very same time with the before-
mentioned revolt of the Germans, did the
bold attempt of the Scythians against the
Romans occur; for those Scythians who
are called Sarmatians, being a very nu-
merous people, transported themselves
over the Danube into Mysia, without being
perceived : after which, by their violence,
and entirely unexpected assault, they slew
a great many of the Romans that guarded
the frontiers ; and as the consular legate,
Fonteius Agrippa, came to meet them, and
fought courageously against them, he was
slain by them. They then overran all the
region that had been subject to him, tear-
ing and rending every thing that fell in
their way; but when Vespasian was in-
formed of what had happened, and how
Mysia was laid waste, he sent away
Rubrius Galsus to punish these Sarma-
tians; by whose means many of them
perished in the battles he fought against
them, and that part which escaped fled
with fear to their own country. So when
this general had put an end to the war, he
provided for the future security of the
country also; for he placed more and more
numerous garrisons in the place, till he
made it altogether impossible for the bar-
barians to pass over the river any more;
and thus had this war in Mysia a sudden
conclusion.
CHAPTER V.
An account of the Sabbatic River — The Antiochians
petition Titus against the Jews, but are rejected —
Description of the triumphal shows of Vespasian
and Titus.
Now, Titus Caesar tarried some time at
Berytus, as we told you before. He thence
removed, and exhibited magnificent shows
in all those cities of Syria through which
he went, and made use of the captive Jews
as public instances of the destruction of
that nation. He then saw a river as he
went along, of such a nature as deserves to
be recorded in history; it runs in the
middle between Arcea, belonging to
Agrippa's kingdom, and Raphauea. It
hath somewhat very peculiar in it; for
when it runs, its current is strong, and
has plenty of water ; after which its springs
fail for six days together, and leave its
channels dry, as any one may see ; after
which days it runs on the seventh day as
it did before, and as though it had under-
gone no change at all : it hath also been
observed to keep this order perpetually and
exactly; whence it is that they call it the
Sabbatic River, that name being taken
from the sacred seventh day among the
Jews.
But when the people of Antioch were
informed that Titus was approaching, they
were so glad at it, that they could not
keep within their walls, but hastened
away to give him the meeting ; nay, they
proceeded as far as thirty furlongs, and
more, with that intention. These were
Chap. V.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
385
not the 'men only, but a multitude of wo-
men also, with their children, did the
same; and when they saw him coming up
to them, they stood on both sides of the
way, and stretched out their right hands,
saluting, aud making all sorts ot acclama-
tions to him, and turned back together with
him. They also, among all the acclamations
they made to him, besought him all the
way they went, to eject the Jews out of
their city ; yet did not Titus at all yield
to this their petition, but gave them the
bare hearing of it quietly. However, the
Jews were in a great deal of terrible fear,
under the uncertainty they were in what
his opinion was, and what he would do to
them ; for Titus did not stay at Antioch,
but continued his progress immediately
to Zeugma, which lies upon the Euphrates,
whither came to him messengers from
Vologeses, king of Parthia, and brought
him a crown of gold upon the victory he
had gained over the Jews; which he
accepted of, and feasted the king's mes-
sengers, and then came back to Antioch.
And when the senate and people of An-
tioch earnestly entreated him to come
upon their theatre, where their whole
multitude was assembled, and expected
him, he complied with great humanity;
but when they pressed him with much
earnestness, and continually begged of
him, that he would eject the Jews out of
their city, he gave them this very perti-
nent answer : — " How can this be done,
since that country of theirs, whither the
Jews roust be obliged then to retire, is
destroyed, and no place will receive them
besides?" Whereupon the people of An-
tioch, when they had failed of success in
this their first request, made him a second ;
for they desired that he would order those
tables of brass to be removed, on which
the Jews' privileges were engraven. How-
ever, Titus would not grant that neither,
but permitted the Jews of Antioch to
continue to enjoy the very same privileges
in that city which they had before, and
then departed for Egypt; and as he came
to Jerusalem in his progress, and com-
pared the melancholy condition he saw it
then in, with the ancient glory of the city,
and called to mind the greatness of its
present ruins, as well as its ancient splen-
dour, he could not but pity the destruc-
tion of the city, so far was he from boast-
ing that so great and goodly a city as that
was had been by him taken by force;
nay, he frequently cursed those that had
Vol. II.— 25
JL-
been the authors of their revolt, and had
brought such a punishment upon the city ;
insomuch that it only appeared that be
did not desire that such a calamity as this
punishment of theirs amounted to should
be a demonstration of his courage. _ Yet
was there no small quantity of the riches
that had been in that city still found
among its ruins, a great deal of which the
Romans dug up ; but the greatest part
was discovered by those who were captives,
and so they carred it away ; I mean the
gold and silver ; and the rest of that most
precious furniture which the Jews had,
and which the owners had treasured up
under ground, against the uncertain for-
tunes of war.
So Titus took the journey he intendod
into Egypt, and passed over the desert
very suddenly, and came to Alexandria,
and took up a resolution to go to Rome
by sea. And as he was accompanied by
two legions, he sent each of them again to
the places whence they had before come ;
the fifth he sent to Mysia; and the fif-
teenth to Pannonia : as for the leaders of
the captives, Simon and John, with the
other 700 men, whom he had selected out
of the rest as being eminently tall and
handsome of body, he gave order that they
should be soon carried to Italy, as resolv-
ing to produce them in his triumph. So
when he had had a prosperous voyage to
his mind, the city of Rome behaved itself
in his reception, and their meeting him at
a distance, as it did in the case of his
father. But what made the most splendid
appearance in Titus's opinion was, when
his father met him, and received him; but
still the multitude of the citizens con-
ceived the greatest joy when they saw
J them all three together,* as they did at
this time : nor were many days overpast
when they determined to have but one
triumph, that should be common to both
of them, on account of the glorious exploits
they had performed, although the senate
had decreed each of them a separate tri-
umph by himself. So when notice had
been given beforehand of the day appointed
for this pompous solemnity to be made, on
account of their victories, not^ one of the
immense multitude was left in the city,
but everybody went out so far as to gain
only a station where they might stand,
and left only such a passage as was neces-
* Vespasiac and his two sons, Titus and Domi-
tinn.
386
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VII.
sary for those that were to be seen to go
along it.
Now all the soldiery marched out be-
forehand by companies, and in their seve-
ral ranks, under their several commanders,
in the night-time, and were about the
gates, not of the upper palaces, but those
Dear the temple of Isis; for there it was
that the emperors had rested the foregoing
night. And as soon as ever it was day,
Vespasian and Titus came out, crowned
with laurel, and clothed in those ancient
purple habits which were proper to their
family, and then went as far as Octavian's
Walks ; for there it was that the senate,
and the principal rulers, and those that
had been recorded as of the equestrian
order, waited for them. Now a tribunal
had been erected before the cloisters, and
ivory chairs had been set upon it, when
they came and sat down upon them.
"Whereupon the soldiery made an acclama-
tion of joy to them immediately, and all
gave them attestatious of their valour;
while tbey were themselves without their
arms, and only in their silken garments,
and crowned with laurel: then Vespasian
accepted of these shouts of theirs; but
while they were still disposed to go on in
such acclamations, he gave them a sigual
of silence. And when everybody entirely
held their peace, he stood up, and cover-
ing the greatest part of his head with his
cloak, he put up the accustomed solemn
prayers ; the like prayers did Titus put up
also; after which prayers Vespasian made
a short speech to all the people, and then
sent away the soldiers to a dinner pre-
pared for them by the emperors. Then
did he retire to that gate which was called
the Gate of the Pomp, because pompous
shows do always go through that gate;
there it was that they tasted some food;
and when they had put on their triumphal
garments, and had offered sacrifices to the
gods that were placed at the gate, they
sent the triumph forward, and marched
through the theatres, that they might the
more easily be seen by the multitude.
Now it is impossible to describe the
multitude of the shows as they deserve,
and the magnificence of them all; such
indeed as a man could not easily think of
as performed either by the labour of work-
men, or the variety of riches, or the rari-
ties of nature ; for almost all such curiosi-
ties as the most happy men ever get by
piecemeal were here heaped one upon
another, and those both admirable and
costly in their nature; and all brought
together on that day, demonstrated the
vastness of the dominions of the Romans ;
for there was here to be seen a mighty
quantity of silver and gold and ivory, con-
trived into all sorts of things, and did not
appear as carried along in pompous show
only, but, as a man may say, running
along like a river. Some parts were com-
posed of the rarest purple hangings, and
so carried along; and others accurately
represented to the life what was embroid-
ered by the arts of the Babylonians.
There were also precious stones that were
transparent, some set in crowns of gold,
and some in other ouches, as the workmen
pleased ; and of these such a vast number
were brought, that we could not but thence
learn how vainly we imagined any of them
to be rarities. The images of the gods
were also carried, being as well wonderful
for their largeness, as made very artifi-
cially, and with great skill of the work-
men ; nor were any of these images of any
other than very costly materials ; and
many species of animals were brought,
every one in their own natural ornaments.
The men also who brought every one of
these shows were great multitudes, and
adorned with purple garments, all over
interwoven with gold ; those that were
chosen for carrying these pompous shows,
having also about them such magnificent
ornaments as were both extraordinary and
surprising. Besides these, one might see
that even the great number of the cap-
tives was not unadorned, while the variety
that was in their garments, and their fine
texture, concealed from the sight the de-
formity of their bodies. But what afforded
the greatest surprise of all, was the struc-
ture of the pageants that were borne along ;
for, indeed, he that met them, could not
but be afraid that the bearers would not
be able firmly enough to support them,
such was their magnitude ; for many of
them were so made that they were on
three or even four stories, one above an-
other. The magnificence also of their
structure afforded one both pleasure and
surprise; for upon many of them were
laid carpets of gold. There was also
wrought gold and ivory fastened about
them all : and many resemblances of the
war, and those in several ways, and
variety of contrivances, affording a most
lively portraiture of itself; for there
Chap. V.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
387
laid
was to be seen a happy country
waste, and entire squadrons of enemies
slain ; while some of them ran away, and
some were carried into captivity; with
walls of great altitude and magnitude
overthrown, and ruined by machines ; with
the strongest fortifications taken, and the
walls of most populous cities upon the
tops of hills seized on, and an army pour-
ing itself within the walls ; as also every
place full of slaughter and supplications
of the enemies, when they were no longer
able to lift their hands in way of opposi-
tion. Fire also sent upon temples was
here represented, and houses overthrown
and falling upon their owners ; rivers also,
after they came out of a large and melan-
choly desert, ran down, not into a land
cultivated, nor as drink for men, or for
cattle, but through a land still on fire
upon every side ; for the Jews related
that such a thing they had undergone
during this war. Now the workmanship
of these representations was so magnifi-
cent and lively in the construction of the
things, that it exhibited what had been
done to such as did not see it, as if
they had been there really present. On
the top of every one of these pageants
was placed the commander of the city
that was taken, and the manner wherein he
was taken. Moreover, there followed those
pageants a great number of ships ; and for
the other spoils, they were carried in great
plenty. But for those that were taken in
the temple of Jerusalem, they made the
greatest figure of them all ; that is, the
golden table of the weight of many ta-
lents ; the candlestick also, that was made
of gold, though its construction were now
changed from that which we made use of:
for its middle shaft was fixed upon a basis,
and the small branches were produced out
of it to a great length, having the like-
ness of a trident in their position, and
had every one a socket made of brass for
a lamp at the tops of them. These lamps
were in number seven, and represented
the dignity of the number seven among
the Jews; and the last of all the spoils
was carried the law of the Jews. After
these spoils passed by a great many men,
carrying the images of Victory, whose
structure was entirely either of ivory or
of gold. After which Vespasian marched
in the first place, and Titus followed him ;
Domitian also rode along with them, and
mate a glorious appearance, and rode
on a horse that was worthy of admira-
tion.
Now the last part of this pompous show
was at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus,
whither when they were come, they stood
still j for it was the Rinnans' ancient cus-
tom to stay till somebody brought the
news that the general of the enemy was
slain. This general was Simon, the son
of Gioras, who had then been led in this
triumph among the captives; a rope had
also been put upon his head, and he bad
been drawn into a proper place in the
forum, and had withal been tormented by
those that drew him along; .Mid the law
of the Romans required that malefactors
condemned to die should be slain there.
Accordingly, when it was related that
there was an end of him, and all the peo-
ple had set up a shout for joy, they then
began to offer those sacrifices which they
had consecrated, in the prayers used in
such solemnities ; which wheu they had
finished, they went away to the palace.
And as for some of the spectators, the em-
perors entertained them at their own feast ;
and for all the rest there were noble pre-
parations made for their feasting at home;
for this was a festival day to the city of
Rome, as celebrated for the victory ob-
tained by their army over their enemies,
for the end that was now put to their civil
miseries, and for the commencement of
their hopes of future prosperity and hap-
piness.
After these triumphs were over, and af-
ter the affairs of the Romans were settled
on the surest foundations, Vespasian re-
solved to build a temple to Peace, which
he finished in so short a time, and in so
glorious a manner, as was beyond all hu-
man expectations and opinion : for he hav-
ing now by Providence a vast quantity of
wealth, besides what he had formerly
gained in his other exploits, he had this
temple adorned with picturesaud statues;
for in this temple were collected and de-
posited all such rarities a3 men aforetime
used to wander all over the habitable
world to see, when they had a desire to
see them one after another : he also laid
up therein, as ensigns of his glory, those
golden vessels and instruments that were
taken out of the Jewish temple. But still
he gave order that they should lay up their
law, and the purple vails of the holy place,
in the royal palace itself, and keep them
there.
388
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VII,
CHAPTER VI.
The city Macherus — Lncilius Bassus takes the
citadel and other places.
Now Lucilius Bassus was sent as legate
into Judea, and there he received the army
from Cerealis Vitellius, and took that
citadel which was in Herodium, together
with the garrison that was in it; after
which he got together all the soldiery that
was there, (which was a large body, but
dispersed into several parties,) with the
tenth legion, and resolved to make war
upon Macherus; for it was highly neces-
sary that this citadel should be demolished,
lest it might be a means of drawing away
many into a rebellion, by reason of its
strength ; for the nature of the place was
very capable of affording the surest hopes
of safety to those that possessed it, as well
as delay and fear to those that should at-
tack it; for what was walled in was itself
a very rocky hill, elevated to a very great
height; which circumstance alone made it
very hard to be subdued. It was also so
contrived by nature, that it could not be
easily ascended ; for it is, as it were,
ditched about with such valleys on all
sides, and to such a depth, that the eye
cannot reach their bottoms, and such as
are not easily to be passed over, and even
such as it is impossible to fill up with
earth ; for that valley which cuts it on
the west, extends to threescore furlongs,
and did not end till it came to the lake
Asphaltitis; on the same side it was also
that Macherus had the tallest top of its
hill elevated above the rest. But then for
the valleys that lay on the north and south
sides, although they are not so large as
that already described, yet is it in like
manner an impracticable thing to think of
getting over them ; and for the valley that
lies on the east side, its depth is found to
be no less than 100 cubits. It extends as
far as a mountain that lies over against
Macherus, with which it is bounded.
Now, when Alexander [Janneus], the
king of the Jews, observed the nature of
this place, he was the first who built a
citadel here, which afterward was demo-
lished by Gabinius, when he made war
against Aristobulus ; but, when Herod
came to be king, he thought the place to
be worthy of the utmost regard, and of
being built upon in the firmest manner,
and this especially because it lay so near
to Arabia; for it is seated in a convenient
place on that account, and hath a prospect
toward that country ; he therefore sur-
rounded a large space of ground with
walls and towers, and built a city there,
out of which city there was a way that
led up to the very citadel itself on the top
of the mountain ; nay, more than this,
he built a wall round that top of the hill,
and erected towers at the corners, of 160
cubits high; in the middle of which place
he built a palace, after a magnificent
manner, wherein were large and beautiful
edifices. He also made a great many re-
servoirs for the reception of water, that
there might be plenty of it ready for all
uses, and those in the most proper places
that were afforded him there. Thus did
he, as it were, contend with the nature
of the place, that he might exceed its
natural strength and security (which yet
itself rendered it hard to be taken) by
those fortifications which were made by
the hands of men. Moreover, he put a
large quantity of darts and other ma-
chines of war into it, and contrived to get
every thing thither that might any way
contribute to its inhabitants' security,
under the longest siege possible.
Now, within this place there grew a
sort of rue, that deserves our wonder on
account of its largeness, for it was noway
inferior to any fig-tree whatsoever, either
in height or in thickness; and the report
is, that it had lasted ever since the times
of Herod, and would probably have lasted
much longer, bad it not been cut down
by those Jews who took possession of the
place afterward ; but still in that valley,
which encompasses the city on the north
side, there is a certain place called Baaras,
which produces a root of the same name
with itself;* its colour is like to that of
flame, and toward the evening it sends
out a certain ray like lightning : it is not
easily taken by such as would do it, but
recedes from their hands, nor will yield
itself to be taken quietly, until either the
urine of a woman, or blood, be poured
upon it; nay, even then it is certain
death to those that touch it, unless any
one take and hang the root itself dowa
from his hand, and so carry it away. It
may also be taken another way, without
danger, which is this : they dig a trench
* This strange account of the place and root
Baaras seems to have been taken from the magi-
cians, and the root to have been made use of, in the
days of Josephus, in that superstitious way of cast-
ing out demons, supposod by him to have been
derived from King Solomon.
Chap. VI.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
389
quite round about it, till the bidden pari
of the root be very small, they then tie a
do<r to it, and, when the dog tries hard to
follow him that tied him, this root is
easily plucked up, but the dog dies imme-
diately, as if it were instead of the man
that would take the plant away; nor after
this need any one be afraid of taking it
into their hands. Yet, after all this pains
in getting, it is only valuable on account
of one virtue it hath, that if it be only
brought to sick persons, it quickly drives
away those called demons, which are no
Other than the spirits of the wicked, that
enter into any men that are alive and kill
them, unless they can obtain some help
against them. Here are also fountains
of hot water that flow out of this place,
which have a very different taste one from
the other; for some of them are bitter,
and others of them are plainly sweet.
Here are also many eruptions of cold
'waters, and this not only in the places
that lie lower, and have their fountains
near one another, but what is still more
wonderful, here is to be seen a certain cave
hard by, whose cavity is not deep, but it
is covered over by a rock that is promi-
nent: above this rock there stand up two
[hills or] breasts, as it were, but a little
distant one from another, the one of which
sends out a fountain that is very cold, and
the other sends out one that is very hot;
which waters, when they are mingled to-
gether, compose a most pleasant bath;
they are medicinal indeed for other mala-
dies, but especially good for strengthening
the nerves. This place has in it also
mines of sulphur and alum.
Now, when Bassus had taken a full
view of the place, he resolved to besiege
it by filling up the valley that lay on the
east side ; so he fell hard to work, and
took great pains to raise his banks so soon
as possible, and by that means to render
the siege easy. As for the Jews that were
caught in this place, they separated them-
selves from the strangers that were with
them, and they forced those strangers, as
an otherwise useless multitude, to stay in
the lower part of the city, and undergo
the principal dangers, while they them-
selves seized on the upper citadel, and
held it, and this both on account of its
strength, and to provide for their own
safety. They also supposed they might
obtain their pardon, in case they should
at last surrender the citadel. However,
they were willing to make trial, in the
first place, whether the hopes they had of
avoiding a siege would come to any thing;
with which intention they made sallies
everyday, and fought with those that met
them; in which conflicts they were many
of them slain, as they therein slew many
of the Romans; but still it was the op-
portunities that presented themselves,
which chiefly gained both sides their vic-
tories; these were gained by the Jews,
when they fell upon the Romans as they
were off their guard ; but by the Romans,
when, upon the others' sallies against
their banks, they foresaw their coming,
and were upon their guard when they
received them ; but the conclusion of this
siege did not depend upon these bicker-
ings; but a certain surprising accident,
relating to what was done in this siege,
forced the Jews to surrender the citadel.
There was a certain young man among
the besieged, of great boldness, and very
active of his hand, his name was Eleazar;
he greatly signalized himself in those sal-
I lies, and encouraged the Jews to go out
in great numbers, in order to hinder the
raising of the banks, and did the Romans
a vast deal of mischief when they came
to fio-hting; he so managed matters, that
those who sallied out made their attacks
easily, and returned back without danger,
aud this by still bringing up the rear him-
self. Now it happened, that, on a certain
time when the fight was over, and both
sides were parted, and retired home, lie,
in way of contempt of the enemy, and
thinking that none of them would begin
the fight again at that time, stayed with-
out the gates, and talked with those that
were upou the wall, aud his mind was
wholly intent upon what they said. ^ Now
a certain person belonging to the Roman
camp, whose name was Rufus, by birth
an Egyptian, ran upon him suddenly,
when^iobody expected such a thing, and
carried him off with his armour itself;
while, in the mean time, those that saw it
from the wall were under such an amaze-
ment, that Rufus prevented their ^assist-
ance, and carried Eleazar to the Roman
camp. So the general of the Romans
ordered that he should be taken up naked,
set before the city to be seen, and sorely
whipped before their eyes. Upon this
sad accident that befell the young man,
the Jews were terribly confounded, and the
city, with one voice, sorely lamented him,
and the mourning proved greater than
could well be supposed upon the calamity
390
WARS OF THE JEWS.
Book VII
of a single person. When Bassus per-
ceived that, he began to think of using a
stratagem against the enemy, and was de-
sirous to aggravate their grief, in order to
prevail with them to surrender the city
for the preservation of that man. Nor
did he fail of his hope; for he commanded
them to set up a cross, as if he were just
going to hang Eleazar upon it immedi-
ately : the sight of this occasioned a sore
grief among those that were in the cita-
del, and they groaned vehemently, and
cried out that they could not bear to see
him thus destroyed. Whereupon Eleazar
besought them not to disregard him, now
he was going to suffer a most miserable
death, and exhorted them to save them-
selves, by yielding to the Roman power
and good fortune, since all other people
were now conquered by them. These
men were greatly moved with what he
said, there being also many within the
city that interceded for him, because he
was of an eminent and very numerous
family ; so they now yielded to their pas-
sion of commiseration, contrary to their
usual custom. Accordingly they sent out
immediately certain messengers, and treat-
ed with the Romans, in order to a sur-
render of the citadel to them, and desired
that they might be permitted to go away,
and take Eleazar along with them. Then
did the Romans and their general accept
of these terms ; while the multitude of
strangers that were in the lower part of
the city, hearing of the agreement that
was made by the Jews for themselves
alone, were resolved to fly away privately,
in the night-time ; but as soon as they
had opened their gates, those that had
come to terms with Bassus told him of it;
whether it were that they envied the
others' deliverance, or whether it were
done out of fear, lest an occasion should
be taken against them upon their escape,
is uncertain. The most courageous, there-
fore, of those men that went out prevented
the enemy, and got away, and fled for it ;
but for those men that were caught with-
in, they were slain, to the number of
1700, as were the women and the chil-
dren made slaves ; but, as Bassus thought
he must perform the covenant he had
made with those that had surrendered the
citadel, he let them go, and restored
Eleazar to them.
When Bassus had settled these affairs,
he marched hastily to the forest of Jar-
den, as it is called; for he had heard that
a great many of those that had fled from
Jerusalem and Macherus formerly, were
there gotten together. When he was,
therefore, come to the place, and under-
stood that the former news was no mis-
take, he, in the first place, surrounded the
whole place with his horsemen, that such
of the Jews as had boldness enough to try
to break through, might have no way pos- i
sible for escaping, by reason of the situa-
tion of these horsemen ; and for the foot-
men, he ordered them to cut down the
trees that were in the wood whither they
were fled. So the Jews were under a
necessity of performing some glorious ex-
ploit, and of greatly exposing themselves
in a battle, since they might, perhaps,
thereby escape. So they made a general
attack, and with a great shout fell upon
those that surrounded them, who received
them with great courage; and so while
the one side fought desperately, and the
others would not yield, the fight was pro-
longed on that account. But the event
of the battle did not answer the expecta-
tion of the assailants ; for so it happened
that no more than twelve fell on the Ro-
man side, with a few that were wounded ;
but not one of the Jews escaped out of this
battle, for they were all killed, being in
the whole not fewer in number than 3000,
together with Judas, the son of Jairus,
their general ; concerning whom we have
before spoken, that he had been captain
of a certain band at the siege of Jerusa-
lem, and by going down into a certain vault
under ground had privately . made his
escape.
About the same time it was that Caesar
sent a letter to Bassus, and to Liberius
Maximus, who was the procurator [of
Judea], and gave order that all Judea
should be exposed to sale ; for he did not
found any city there, but reserved the
country for himself. However, he as-
signed a place for 800 men only, whom
he had dismissed from bis army, which he
gave them for their habitation ; it is called
Eminaus, aud is distant from Jerusalem
threescore furlongs. He also laid a tri-
bute upon the Jews wheresoever they
were, and enjoined every one of them to
bring two drachmae every year into the
capitol, as they used to pay the same to
the temple at Jerusalem. And this was
the state of the Jewish affairs at this
time
Chap. VII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
391
CHAPTER VII.
Misfortunes of Antiochus, king of Commagene —
Clemency of Vespasian — The Alans ravage the
countries of the Modes and Armenians.
And now, in the fourth year of the reign
of Vespasian, it came to pass that Antio-
chus, the king of Commagene, with all his
family, fell into very great calamities. The
occasion was this : — Cesennius Petus, who
was president of Syria at this time, whe-
ther it was done out of regard to truth, or
whether out of hatred to Antiochus, (for
which was the real motive was never
to Caesar, and therein told him that
thoroughly discovered,) sent an epistle
Antiochus, with his son Epiphanes, had
resolved to rebel against the Romans, and
had made a league with the king of Par-
thia to that purpose : that it was there-
fore fit to prevent them, lest they prevent
us, and begin such a war as may cause a
general disturbance in the Roman empire.
Now Cfesar was disposed to take some
care about the matter, since this discovery
was made; for the neighbourhood of the
kiugdoms made this affair worthy of
greater regard ; for Samosata, the capital
of Commagene, lies upon Euphrates, and,
upon any such design, could afford an easy
passage over it to the Parthians, and could
also afford them a secure reception. Pe-
tus was accordingly believed, aud had au-
thority given him of doing what he should
think proper in the case ; so he set about
it without delay, and fell upon Com-
magene before Antiochus and his people
had the least expectation of his coming :
he had with him the tenth legion, as also
some cohorts and troops of horsemen.
These kings also came to his assistance :
Aristobulus, king of the country called
Chalcidene, and Sohemus, who was called
king of Etnesa : nor was there any oppo-
sition made to his forces when they en-
tered the kingdom ; for no one of that
country would so much as lift up his hand
against them. When Antiochus heard
this unexpected news, he could not thiuk
in the least of making war with the Ro-
mans, but determined to leave his whole
kingdom in the state wherein it now was,
and to retire privately, with his wife and
children, as thinking thereby to demon-
strate himself to the Romans to be inno-
cent as to the accusation laid against him.
So he went away from that city as far as
120 furlongs, into a plain, and there
pitched his tents.
Petus then sent some of his men to
seize upon Samosata, and by their means
took po.-session of that city, while ho went
himself to attack Antiochus with the rest
of his army. However, the king was not
prevailed upon by the distress he was in
to do any thing in the way of war against
the Romans, but bemoaned bis own hard
fate, and endured with patience what he
was not able to prevent. Rut his sons,
who were young and inexperienced in war,
but of strong bodies, were not easily in-
duced to bear this calamity without light-
ing. Epiphanes, therefore, and Callini-
cus betook themselves to military force ;
and, as the battle was a sore one, and
lasted all the day long, they showed their
own valour in a remarkable manner; and
nothing but the approach of night put a
period thereto, and that without any di-
minution of their forces; yet would not
Antiochus, upon this conclusion of the
fight, continue there by any means, but
took his wife and his daughters, and fled
away with them to Celicia; and, by so doing,
quite discouraged the miuds of his own
soldiers. Accordingly, they revolted, and
went over to the Romans, out of the de-
spair they were in of his keeping the
kingdom ; and his case was looked upon
by all as quite desperate. It was there-
fore necessary that Epiphanes and his
soldiers should get clear of their enemies be-
fore they became entirely destitute of any
confederates ; nor were there any more
than ten horsemen with him, who passed
with him over Euphrates, whence they
went undisturbed to Vologeses, the king
of Parthia, where they were not regarded
as fugitives; but had the same respect
paid them as if they had retained their
ancient prosperity.
Now, when Antiochus was come to Tar-
sus in Celicia, Petus ordered a centurion
to go to him, and send him in bonds to
Home. However, Vespasian could not
endure to have a king brought to him in
that manner, but thought it fit rather to
have a regard to the ancient friendship
that had been between them, than to pre-
serve an inexorable anger upon pretence
of this war. Accordingly, he gave orders
that they should take off his bonds, while
he was still upon the road, and that he
should not come to Rome, but should now
go and live at Lacedemou ; he also gave
him large revenues, that he might not
only live in plenty, but like a king also.
When Epiphanes, who before was in great
392
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VU
fear for his father, was informed of this,
his mind was freed from that great and
almost incurable concern it had been un-
der. He also hoped that Cassar would be
reconciled to them, upon the intercession
of Vologeses ; for, although he lived in
plenty, he knew not how to bear living
out of the Roman empire. So Caesar
gave him leave, after an obliging manner,
and he came to Rome ; and, as his father
came quickly to him from Lacedemon, he
had all sorts of respect paid him there,
and there he remained.
Now there was a nation of the Alans,
which we have formerly mentioned some-
where as being Scythians,* and inhabit-
ing at the lake Meotis. This nation,
about this time, laid a design of falling
upon Media and the parts beyond it, in
order to plunder them ; with which inten-
tion they treated with the king of Hyrcania ;
for he was master of that passage which
King Alexander [the Great] shut up with
iron gates. This king gave them leave to
come through them ; so they came in
great multitudes, and fell upon the Medes
unexpectedly and plundered their country,
which they found full of people, and re-
plenished with abundance of cattle, while
nobody durst make any resistance against
them ; for Pacorus., the king of the coun-
try, had fled away for fear, into places
where they could not easily come at him,
and had yielded up every thing he had to
them, and had only saved his wife and his
concubines from them, and that with diffi-
culty, also, after they had been made cap-
tives, by giving them 100 talents for their
ransom. These Alans, therefore, plundered
the country without opposition, and with
great ease, and then proceeded as far as
Armenia, laying all waste before them.
Now Tiridates was king of that country,
who met them and fought them, but had
like to have been taken alive in the bat-
tle ; for a certain man threw a net over
him from a great distance, and had soon
drawn him to him, unless he had imme-
diately cut the cord with his sword, and
ran away and prevented it. So the Alans,
being still more provoked by this sight,
laid waste the country, and drove a great
multitude of the men, and a great quan-
tity of the other prey they had gotten out
of both kingdoms, along with them,
and then retreated back to their own
country.
* This is now wanting.
CHAPTER VIII.
Massada besieged by Flavius Silva.
When Bassus was dead in Judea, Fla-
vius Silva succeeded him as procurator
there; who, when he saw that all the rest
of the country was subdued in this war,
and that there was but only one strong-
hold that was still in rebellion, he got all
his army together that lay in different
places, and made an expedition against it.
This fortress was called Massada. It was
one Eleazar, a potent man, and the com-
mander of these Sicarii, that had seized
upon it. He was a descendant from that
Judas who had persuaded abundance of
the Jews, as we have formerly related, not
to submit to the taxation when Cyrenius
was sent into Judea to make one ; for
then it was that the Sicarii got together
against those that were willing to submit
to the Romans,-and treated them in all re-
spects as if they had been their enemies,
both by plundering them of what they had,
by driving away their cattle, and by set-
ting fire to their houses : for they said that
they differed not at all from foreigners, by
betraying, in so. cowardly a manner, that
freedom which Jews thought worthy to be
contended for to the utmost, and by own-
ing that they preferred slavery under the
Romans before such a contention. Now
this was in reality no better than a pre-
tence, and a cloak for the barbarity which
was made use of by them, and to colour
over their own avarice, which they after-
ward made evident by their own actions;
for those that were partners with them in
their rebellion, joined also with them in
the war ^against the Romans, and went
further lengths with them in their impu-
dent undertakings against them ; and when
they were again convicted of dissembling
in such their pretences, they still more
abused those that justly reproached them
for their wickedness; and indeed that was
a time most fertile in all manner of wicked
practices, insomuch that no "kind of evil
deeds were then left undone; nor could
any one so much as devise any bad thing
that was new, so deeply were they all in-
fected, and strove with one another in
their single capacity, and iu their commu-
nities, who should run the greatest lengths
in impiety toward God, and in unjust ac-
tions toward their neighbours; the men
of power oppressing the multitude, and
the multitude earnestly labouring to de-
stroy the men of power. The one part
Chap. VIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
were desirous of tyrannizing over others ;
and the rest of offering violence to others,
and of plundering such as were richer than
themselves. They were the Sicarii who
first began these transgressions, and first
became barbarous toward those allied to
them, and left no words of reproach unsaid,
and no works of perdition untried, in or-
der to destroy those whom their contri-
vances affected. Yet did John demon-
strate by his actions, that these Sicarii
were more moderate than he was himself,
for he not only slew such as gave him
good counsel to do what was right, but
treated them worst of all, as the most bit-
ter enemies that he had among all the
citizens ; nay, he filled his entire country
with 10,000 instances of wickedness, such
as a man who was already hardened suffi-
ciently in his impiety toward God, would
naturally do ; for the food was unlawful
that was set upon his table, and he re-
jected those purifications that the law of
his country had ordained ; so that it was
no longer a wonder if he, who was so mad
in his impiety toward God, did not ob-
serve any rules of gentleness and common
affectiou toward men. Again, therefore,
what mischief was there which Simon the
son of Gioras did not do ? or what kind
of abuses did he abstain from as to those
very free men who had set him up for a
tyrant ? What friendship or kindred were
there that did not make him more bold in
his daily murders ? for they looked upon
the doing of mischief to strangers only, as
a work beneath their courage, but thought
their barbarity toward their nearest rela-
tions would be a glorious demonstration
thereof. The Idumeans also strove with
these men who should be guilty of the
greatest madness ! for they [all], vile
wretches as they were, cut the throats of
the high priests, that so no part of a reli-
gious regard to God might be preserved;
they thence proceeded to destroy utterly
the least remains of apolitical government,
and introduced the most complete scene of
iniquity in all instances that were practica-
ble; under which scene, that sort of people
that were called Zealots grew up, and who
indeed corresponded to the name; for
they imitated every wicked work; nor, if
their memory suggested any evil thing
that had formerly been done, did they
avoid \zealously to pursue the same ; and
although they gave themselves that name
from their zeal for what was good, yet did
it agree to them only by way of irony, on
account of those they had unjustly treated
by their wild and brutish disposition, or
as thinking the greatest mischiefs to be
the greatest good. Accordingly, they all
met with such ends as God deservedly
brought upon them in way of punishment ;
for all such miseries have been sent upon
them as man's nature is capable of under-
going, till the utmost period of their lives,
and till death came upon them in various
ways of torment : yet might one say justly
that they suffered less than they had done,
because it was impossible they could be
punished according to their deserving :
but to make a lamentation according to
the deserts of those who fell under these
men's barbarity, this is not a proper place
for it: I therefore now return again to
the remaining part of the present narra-
tion.
For now it was that the Roman general
came, and led his army against Eleazar
and those Sicarii who held the fortress
Massada together with him ; and for the
whole country adjoining, he presently
gained it, and put garrisons into the most
proper places of it : he also built a wall
quite round the entire fortress, that none
of the besieged might easily escape; he
also set his men to guard the several parts
of it : he also pitched his camp in such an
agreeable place as he had chosen for the
siege, and at which place the rock belong-
ing to the fortress did make the nearest
approach to the neighbouring mountain,
which yet was a place of difficulty for get-
ting plenty of provisions; for it was not
only food that was to be brought from a
great distance [to the army], and this with
a great deal of pain to those Jews who
were appointed for that purpose, but water
was also to be brought to the camp, be-
cause the place afforded no fountain that
was near it. "When, therefore, Silva had
ordered these affairs beforehand, he fell to
besieging the place ; which siege was
likely to stand in need of a great deal of
skill and pains, by reason of the strength
of the fortress, the nature of which I will
now describe.
There was a rock, not small in circum-
ference, and very high. It was encom-
passed with valleys of such vast depth
downward, that the eye could not reach
their bottoms; they were abrupt, and such
as no animal could walk upon, excepting
at two places of the rock, where it sub.-ides,
in order to afford a passage for ascent,
though not without difficulty. Now, of
394
WARS OF THE JEWS.
the ways that lead to it, one is that from
the lake Asphaltitis, toward the sun-
rising, and another on the west, where the
ascent is easier : the one of these ways is
called the Serpent, as resembling that
animal in its narrowness, and its perpetual
windings; for it is broken off at the pro-
minent precipices of the rock, and returns
frequently into itself, and lengthening
again by little and little, hath much ado
to proceed forward ; and he that would
walk along it must first go on one leg and
then on the other ; there is also nothing
but destruction, in case your feet slip;
for on each side there is a vastly deep
chasm and precipice, sufficient to quell
the courage of everybody by the terror it
infuses into the mind. When, therefore,
a man hath gone along this way for thirty
furlongs, the rest is the top of the hill, not
ending at a small point, but is no other
than a plain upon the highest part of the
mountain. Upon this top of the hill,
Jonathan the high priest first of all built
a fortress- and called it Massada; after
which the rebuilding of this place em-
ployed the care of King Herod to a great
degree; he also built a wall round about
the entire top of the hill, seven furlongs
long ; it was composed of white stone ; its
height was twelve, and its breadth eight
cubits; there were also erected upon that
wall thirty-eight towers, each of them fifty
cubits high; out of which you might
pass into lesser edifices, which were built
on the inside, round the entire wall; for
the king reserved the top of the hill,
which was of a fat soil, and better mould
than any valley, for agriculture, that such
as committed themselves to this fortress
for their preservation, might not even
there be quite destitute of food, in case
there should ever be want of it from abroad.
Moreover, he built a palace therein at the
western ascent : it was within, and beneath
the walls of the citadel, but inclined to its
north side. Now the wall of this palace
was very high and strong, and had at its
four corners towers sixty cubits high.
The furniture also of the edifices, and of
the cloisters, and of the baths, was of great
variety, and very costly ; and these build-
ings were supported by pillars of single
stones on every side : the walls also and
the floors of the edifices were paved with
stones of several colours. He also had cut
many and great pits, as reservoirs for wa-
ter, out of the rocks, at every one of the
places that were inhabited, both above and
[Book VII.
round about the palace, and before the
wall ; and by this contrivance he endea-
voured to have water for several uses, as if
there had been fountains there. Here
was also a road digged from the palace,
and leading to the very top of the moun-
tain, which yet could not be seen by such
as were without [the walls] ; nor indeed
could enemies easily make use of the plain
roads; for the road on the east side, as we
have already taken notice, could not be
walked upon, by reason of its nature ; and
for the western road, he built a large
tower at its narrowest place, at no less a
distance from the top of the hill than 1000
cubits; which tower could not possibly be
passed by, nor could it be easily taken ;
nor indeed could those that walked along
it without any fear (such was his contri-
vance) easily get to the end of it ; and af-
ter such a manner was "the citadel fortified,
both by nature and by the hands of men,
in order to frustrate the attacks of ene-
mies.
As for the furniture that was within
this fortress, it was still more wonderful
on account of its splendour and long con-
tinuance ; for here was laid up corn in
large quantities', and such as would subsist
men for a long time ; here was also wine
and oil in abundance, with all kinds of
pulse and dates heaped up together; all
which Eleazer found there when he and
his Sicarii got possession of the fortress by
treachery. These fruits were also fresh
and full ripe, and noway inferior to such
fruits newly laid in, although they were
little short of 100 years from the laying in
these provisions [by Herod], till the place
was taken by the Romans; nay, indeed,
when the Romans got possession of those
fruits that wejje left, they found them not
corrupted all that while : nor should we
be mistaken, if we supposed that the air
was here the cause of their enduring so
long, this fortress being so high, and so
free from the mixture of all terrene and
muddy particles of matter. There was
also found here a large quantity of all
sorts of weapons of war, which had been
treasured up by that king, and were suffi-
cient for 10,000 men : there was cast iron,
and brass and tin, which show that he had
taken much pains to have all things here
ready for the greatest occasions ; for the
report goes how Herod thus prepared this
fortress on his own account, as a refuge
against two kinds of danger; the one for
fear of the multitude of the Jews, lest
CHAr.VIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
they should depose him and restore their
Former kings to the government; the other
danger was greater and more terrible,
which arose from Cleopatra, queen of
Egypt, who did not conceal her intentions,
but spoke often to Antony, and desired
him to cut off Herod, and entreated him
to bestow the kingdom of Judea upon
her. And certainly it is a great wonder
that Antony did never comply with her
commands in this point, as he was so
miserably enslaved to his passion for her;
nor should any one have been surprised
if she had been gratified in such her re-
quest. So the fear of these dangers made
Herod rebuild Massada, and thereby leave
it for the finishing stroke of the llomans
in this Jewish war.
Since, therefore, the Roman commander
Silva had now built a wall on the outside,
round about this whole place, as we have
said already, and had thereby made a most
accurate provision to prevent auy one of
the besieged running away, he undertook
the siege itself, though he found but one
single place that would admit of the
banks he was to raise; for behind that
tower which secured the road that led to
the palace, and to the top of the hill from
the west, there was a certain eminency of
the rock, very broad and very prominent,
but 300 cubits beneath the highest part
of Massada; it was called the White Pro-
montory. Accordingly, he got upon that
part of the rock, and ordered the army
to briug earth ; and when they fell to that
work with alacrity, and abundance of them
together, the bank was raised, and became
solid for 200 cubits in height. Yet was
not this bank thought sufficiently high for
the use of the engines that were to be set
upon it; but still another elevated work,
of great stoues compacted together, was
raised upon that bank : this was fifty cu-
bits, both in breadth and height. The
other machines that were now got ready
were like to those that had been first de-
vised by Vespasian, and afterward by
Titus, for sieges.
There was also a tower made of the
height of sixty cubits, and all over plated
with iron, out of which the llomans threw
darts and stones from the engines, and
soon made those that fought from the
walls of the place to retire, and would
not let them lift up their heads above the
works. At the same time, Silva ordered
that great battering-ram which he had
made, to be brought thither, and to be
set against the wall, and to make frequent
batteries against it. which, with some dif-
ficulty, broke down a part of the wall,
and <|uite overthrew it. Eowever, the
Sicarii made haste, and presently built
another wall within that, which should
not be liable to the same misfortune from
the machines with the other: it was made
soft and yielding, and so was capable of
avoiding the terrible blows that affected
the other. It was framed after the fol-
lowing manner : — They laid together great
beams of wood lengthways, one cl
the end of another, and the same way in
which they were cut : there were two of
these rows parallel to one another, and
laid at such a distance from each other as
the breadth of the wall required, and
earth was put into the space between
those rows. Now, that the earth might
not fall away upon the elevation of this
bank to a greater height, they further laid
other beams over across them, and thereby
bound those beams together that lay
lengthways. This work of theirs was
like a real edifice; and when the ma-
chines were applied, the blows were weak-
ened by its yielding ; and as the materials
by such concussion were shaken closer to-
gether, the pile by that means became
firmer than before. When Silva saw this,
he thought it best to endeavour the taking
of this wall by setting fire to it; so he
gave order that the soldiers should throw
a greater number of burning torches upon
it: accordingly, as it was chiefly made of
wood, it soon took fire ; and when it was
once set on fire, its hollowness made that
fire spread to a mighty flame. Now, at
the very beginning of this fire, a north
wind that then blew proved terrible to the
Romans ; for, by bringing the flame
downward, it drove it upon them, and
they were almost in despair of success, as
fearing their machines would be burnt;
but after this, on a sudden, the wind
changed into the south, as if it were clone
by Divine Providence; and blew strongly
the contrary way, and carried the flame
and drove it against the wall, which was
now on fire through its entire thickness.
So the Romans, having now assistance
from God, returned to their camp with
jojr, and resolved to attack their enemies
the very next day; on which occasion
they set their watch more carefully that
night, lest any of the Jews should run
away from them without being discovered.
However, neither did Eleazar once
396
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Buok VII.
think of flying away, nor would he per-
mit any one else to do so ; but when he
saw their wall burnt down by the fire, and
could devise no other way of escaping, or
room for their further courage, and setting
before their eyes what the Romans would
do to them, their children, and their
wives, if they got them into their power,
he consulted about having them all slain.
Now, as he judged this to be the best
thing they could do in their present cir-
cumstances, he gathered the most cou-
rageous of his companions together, and
encouraged them to take that course by a
speech* which he made to them in the
manner following : — " Since we, long ago,
my generous friends, resolved never to be
servants to the Romans, nor to any other
than to God himself,' who alone is the
true and just Lord of mankind, the time
is now come that obliges us to make that
resolution true in practice. And let us
not at this time bring a reproach upon
ourselves for self-contradiction, while we
formerly would not undergo slavery,
though it were then without danger, but
must now, together with slavery, choose
such punishments also as are intolerable :
I mean this upon the supposition that the
Romans once reduce us under their power
while we are alive. We were the very
first that revolted from them, aud we are
the last that fight against them ; and I
cannot but esteem it as" a favour that God
hath granted us, that it is still in our
power to die bravely, and in a state of
freedom, which hath not been the case of
others, who were conquered unexpectedly.
It is very plain that we shall be taken
within a day's time ; but it is still an eli-
gible thing to die after a glorious manner,
together with our dearest friends. This
is what our enemies themselves cannot by
any means hinder, although they be very
desirous to take us alive. Nor can we pro-
pose to ourselves any more to fight them
and beat them. It had been proper, in-
deed, for us to have conjectured at the
* These speeches introduced, under the person
of Eleazar, are exceeding remarkable, and on the
noblest subjects, the contempt of death, and the
dignity and immortality of the soul; and that not
only among the Jews, but among the Indians them-
selves also; and are worthy an attentive perusal.
It seems that the philosophic lady who survived
(see chap, ix.) remembered the substance of these
discourses, as spoken by Eleazar, and so Josephus
clothed them in his own words : as they contain the
Jewish notions on this subject, as understood by
Josephus, they cannot but deserve a suitable regard
at the present day.
purpose of God much sooner, and at the
very first, when we were so desirous
of defending our liberty, and when we
received such sore treatment from one an-
other, and worse treatment from our ene-
mies, and to have been sensible that the
same God, who had of old taken the Jew-
ish nation into his favour, had now con-
demned them to destruction ; for had he
either continued favourable, or been but
in a lesser degree displeased with us, he
had not overlooked the destruction of so
many men, or delivered his most holy city
to be burnt and demolished by our ene-
mies. To be sure, we weakly hoped to
have preserved ourselves, and ourselves
alone, still in a state of freedom, as if we
had been guilty of no sins ourselves
against God, nor been partners with those
of others ; we also taught other men to
preserve their liberty. Wherefore, con-
sider how God hath convinced us that our
hopes were in vain, by bringing such dis-
tress upon us in the desperate state we
are now in, and which is beyond all our
expectations ; for the nature of this for-
tress, which was in itself unconquerable,
hath not proved a means of our deliver-
ance; and even while we have still great
abundance of food, and a great quantity
of arms, and other necessaries more than
we want, we are openly deprived by God
himself of all hopes of deliverance ; for
that fire which was driven upon our ene-
mies did not, of its own accord, turn back
upon the wall which we had built : this
was the effect of God's anger against us
for our manifold sins, which we have
been guilty of in a most insolent and ex-
travagant manner with regard to our own
countrymen ; the punishments of which
let us not receive from the Romans, but
from God himself, as executed by our own
hands, for these will be more moderate
than the other. Let our wives die before
they are abused, and our children before
they have tasted of slavery; and, after we
have slain them, let us bestow that glo-
rious benefit upon one another mutually,
and preserve ourselves in freedom, as an
excellent funeral monument for us. But
first let us destroy our money and the for-
tress by fire ; for I am well assured that
this will be a great grief to the Romans,
that they shall not be able to seize upon
our bodies, and shall fail of our wealth
also : and let us spare nothing but our
provisions ; for they will be a testimonial
when we are dead that we were not subdued
Chap. VIII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
397
for want of necessaries; but that, accord-
ing to our original resolution, we have
preferred death before slavery."
This was Eleazar's speech to them.
Yet did not the opinion of all the auditors
acquiesce therein; but, although some of
them were very zealous to put his advice
in practice, and were in a manner filled
with pleasure at it, and thought death to
be a good thing, yet had those that were
most effeminate a commiseration for their
wives and families ; and when these men
were especially moved by the prospect of
their own certain death, they looked wist-
fully at one another, and by the tears that
were in their eyes, declared their dissent
from his opinion. When Eleazar saw
these people in such fear, and that their
souls were dejected at so prodigious a pro-
posal, he was afraid lest, perhaps, these
effeminate persons should, by their la-
mentations and tears, enfeeble those that
heard what he had said courageously ; so
he did not leave off exhorting them, but
stirred up himself, and, recollecting pro-
per arguments for raising their courage,
he undertook to speak more briskly and
fully to them, and that concerning the
immortality of the soul. So he made a
lamentable groan, and fixing his eyes in-
tently on those that wept, he spake thus :
" Truly, I was greatly mistaken when I
thought to be assisting to brave men who
struggled hard for their liberty, and to
such as were resolved either to live with
honour, or else to die; but I find that
you are such people as are no better than
others, either in virtue or in courage, and
are afraid of dying, though you be deli-
vered thereby from the greatest miseries,
while you ought to make no delay in this
matter, nor to await any one to give you
good advice; for the laws of our country,
and of God himself, have, from ancient
times, and as soon as ever we could use
our reason, continually taught us, and
our forefathers have corroborated the same
doctrine by their actions and by their
bravery of mind, that it is life that is a
calamity to men, and not death ; for
this last affords our souls their liberty,
and sends them by a removal into their
own place of purity, where they are to be
insensible of all sorts of misery; for,
while souls are tied down to a mortal body,
they are partakers of its miseries ; and
really to speak the truth, they are them-
selves dead; for the union of what is di-
vine to what is mortal, is disagreeable. It
3 K
is true, the power of the soul is great,
even when it is imprisoned in a mortal
body; for by moving it after a way that
is invisible, it makes the body a sensible
instrument, and causes it to advance far-
ther in its actions than mortal nature
could otherwise do. However, when it is
freed from that weight which draws it
down to the earth, and is connected with
it, it obtains its own proper place, and
does then become a partaker of that
blessed power, and those abilities, which
are then every way incapable of being
hindered in their operations. It conti-
nues invisible, indeed, to the eyes of men,
as does God himself; for certainly it is
not itself seen, while it is in the body;
for it is there after an invisible manner,
and, when it is freed from it, it is still not
seen. It is this soul which hath one na-
ture, and that an incorruptible one also;
but yet is it the cause of the change that
is made in the body ; for whatsoever it
be which the soul touches, that lives and
flourishes ; and from whatsoever it is re-
moved, that withers away and dies : such
a degree is there in it of immortality.
Let me produce the state of sleep as a
most evident demonstration of the truth
of what I say; wherein souls, when the
body does not distract them, have the
sweetest rest depending on themselves,
and conversing with God, by their alliance
to him ; they then go everywhere, and '
foretell many futurities beforehand : and
why are we afraid of death, while we are
pleased with the rest that we have in
sleep ? and how absurd a thing is it to
pursue after liberty while we are alive,
and yet to envy it to ourselves where it
will be eternal ! We, therefore, w7ho have
been brought up in a discipline of our
own, ought to become an example to
others of our readiness to die ; yet, if we
do not stand in need of foreigners to sup-
port us in this matter, let us' regard those
Iudians who profess the exercise of phi-
losophy ; for these good men do but un-
willingly undergo the time of life, and
look upon it as a necessary servitude, and
make haste to let their souls loose from
their bodies ; nay, when no misfortune
presses them to it, nor drives them upon
it, these have such a desire of a life of
iin mortality, that they tell other men be-
forehand that they are about to depart ;
and nobody hinders them, but every one
thinks them happy men, and gives them
letters to be carried to their familiar
398
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VII.
friends [that are dead] ; so firmly and
certainly do they believe that souls con-
verse with one another [in the other
world]. So when these men have heard
all such commands that were to be given
them, they deliver their body to the fire ;
and, in order to their getting their soul a
separation from the body, in the greatest
purity, they die in the midst of hymns of
commendations made to them ; for their
dearest friends conduct them to their
death more readily than do any of the
rest of mankind conduct their fellow-citi-
zens when they are going a very long
journey, who, at the same time, weep on
their own account, but look upon the
others as happy persons, as so soon to be
made partakers of the immortal order of
beings. Are not we, therefore, ashamed to
have lower notions than the Indians? and
by our own cowardice to lay a base reproach
upon the laws of our country, which are
so much desired and imitated by all man-
kind ? But put the case that we had
been brought up under another persua-
sion, and taught that life is the greatest
good which men are capable of, and that
death is a calamity; however, the circum-
stances we are now in ought to be an in-
ducement to us to beaf such calamity
courageously, since it is by the will of
God, and by necessity, that we are to die;
for it now appears that God hath made
such a decree against the whole Jewish
nation, that we are to be deprived of this
life which [he knew] we would not make
a due use of; for do not you ascribe the
occasion of your present condition to
yourselves, nor think the Romans are the
true occasion that this war we have had
with them is become so destructive to us
all : these things have not come to pass
by their power, but a more powerful cause
hath intervened, and made us afford them
an occasion of their appearing to be con-
querors over us. What Horn an weapons,
I pray you, were those by which the Jews
of Cesarea were slain ? On the contrary,
when they were noway disposed to rebel,
but were all the while keeping their se-
venth-day festival, and did not so much
as lift up their hands against the citizens
of Cesarea, yet did those citizens run upon
them in great crowds, and cut their
throats, and the throats of their wives
and children, and this without any regard
to the Romans themselves, who never
took us for their enemies, till we revolted
from them. But some may be ready to
say, that truly the people of Cesarea had
always a quarrel against those that lived
among them, and that when an opportu-
nity offered itself, they only satisfied the
old rancour they had against them. What
then shall we say to those of Scythopolis,
who ventured to wage war with us on ac-
count of the Greeks ? Nor did they do
it by way of revenge upon the Romans,
when they acted in concert with our coun-
trymen. Wherefore, you see how little
our good-will and fidelity to them profited
us, while they were slain, they and their
whole families, after the most inhuman
manner, which was all the requital that
was made them for the assistance they had
afforded the others ; for that very same
destruction which they had prevented
from falling upon the others, did they
suffer themselves from them, as if they
had been ready to be the actors against
them. It would be too long for me to
speak at this time of every destruction
brought upon us : for you cannot but
know, that there was not any one Syrian
city which did not slay their Jewish in-
habitants, and were not more bitter enemies
to us than were the Romans themselves :
nay, even those of Damascus, when they
were able to allege no tolerable pretence
against us, filled their city with the most
barbarous slaughter of our people, and
cut the throats of 18,000 Jews, with their
wives and children. And as to the mul-
titude of those that were slain in Egypt,
and that with torments also, we have been
informed they were more than 60,000 ;
those, indeed, being in a foreign country,
and so naturally meeting with nothing to
oppose against their enemies, were killed
in the manner before mentioned. As for
all those of us who have waged war
against the Romans in our own country,
had we not sufficient reason to have sure
hopes of victory ? For we had arms and
walls and fortresses so prepared as not to
be easily taken, and courage not to be
moved by any dangers in the cause of
liberty, which encouraged us all to revolt
from the Romans. But then these ad-
vantages sufficed us but for a short time,
and only raised our hopes, while they
really appeared to be the origin of our
miseries ; for all we had hath been taken
from us, and all hath fallen under our
enemies, as if these advantages were only
to render their victory over us the more
glorious, and were not disposed for the
preservation of those by whom these pre-
CiiAr. IX.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
390
parations were made. And, as for those
that are already dead in the war, it is rea-
sonable we should esteem them blessed, for
they are dead in defending, and not in
betraying their liberty ; but as to the
multitude of those that are now under the
Romans, who would not pit}- their condi-
tion ? and who would not make haste to die,
before he would suffer the same miseries
with them? Some of them have been put
upon the rack, and tortured with fire and
whippings, and so died. Some have been
half devoured by wild beasts, and yet
have been reserved alive to be devoured
by them a second time, in order to afford
laughter and sport to our enemies ; and
such of those as are alive still, are to be
looked on as the most miserable, who, be-
ing so desirous of death, could not come
at it. And where is now that great city,
the metropolis of the Jewish nation, wbich
was fortified by so many walls round
about, which had so many fortresses and
large towers to defend it, which could
hardly contain the instruments prepared
for the war, and which had so many ten
thousands of men to fight for it ? Where
is this city that was believed to have God
himself inhabiting therein ? It is now
demolished to the very foundations ; and
hath nothing but that monument of it
preserved. I mean the camp of those
that have destroyed it, which still dwells
upon its ruins ; some unfortunate old men
also lie upon the ashes of the temple, and
a few women are there preserved alive by
the enemy for our bitter shame and re-
proach.. Now, who is there that revolves
these things in his mind, and yet is able
to bear the sight of the sun, though he
might live out of danger ? Who is there
so much his country's enemy, or so un-
manly, and so desirous of living, as not
to repent that he is still alive ? And I
cannot but wish that we had all died
before we had seen that holy city demo-
lished by the hands of our enemies, or
the foundations of our holy temple dug
up after so profane a manner. But since
we had a generous hope that deluded us,
as if we might, perhaps, have been able
to avenge ourselves on our enemies on that
account, though it be now become vanity,
and hath left us alone in this distress, let
us make haste to die bravely. Let us
pity ourselves, our children, and our
wives, while it is in our power to show
pity to them ; for we are born to die, as
well as those were whom we have begot-
ten j* nor is it in the power of the most
happy of our race to avoid it. But for
abuses and slavery, and the sight of our
wives led away after an ignominious man-
ner, with their children, these are not
such evils as are natural and necessary
among men ; although such as do not pre-
fer death before those miseries, when it is
in their power so to do, must undergo even
them, on account of their own cowardice.
We revolted from the Ilomans with great
pretensions to courage ; and when, at the
very last, they invited us to preserve our-
selves, we would not comply with them.
Who will not, therefore, believe that they
will certainly be in a rage at us, iu case
they can take us alive ? Miserable wfill
then be the young men, who will be
strong enough in their bodies to sustain
many torments ! miserable also will bo
those of elder years, who will not be able
to bear those calamities which young men
might sustain ! One man will be obliged
to hear the voice of his son imploring
help of his father, when his hands are
bound ! But certainly our hands are still
at liberty, and have a sword in them :
let them then be subservient to us in
our glorious design ; let us die before we
become slaves under our enemies, and let
us go out of the world, together with our
children and our wives, in a state of free-
dom. This it is that our laws command
us to do ; this it is that our wives and
children crave at our hands; nay; God
himself hath brought this necessity upon
us ; while the Ilomans desire the contrary,
and are afraid lest any of us should die
before we are taken. Let us, therefore,
make haste, and instead of affording them
so much pleasure, as they hope for in get-
ting us under their power, let us leave
them an example, which shall at once
cause their astonishment at our death, and
their admiration of our hardiness therein."
CHAPTER IX
The inhabitants of the fortress, at the instigation
of Eleazar, destroy each other.
Now, as Eleazar was proceeding on in
this exhortation, they all cut him off short,
and made haste to do the work, as full of
an unconquerable ardour of mind, and
moved with a demoniacal fury. So they
went their ways, as one still endeavouring
to be before another, and as thinking that
* Roland here sets down a parallel aphorism of
one of the Jewish rabbins, " We are born that we
may die, and die that we may live."
400
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[Book VII-
this eagerness would be a demonstration
of their courage and good conduct, if they
could avoid appearing in the last class:
so great was the zeal they were in to slay
their wives and children, and themselves
also ! Nor, indeed, when they came to
the work itself, did their courage fail
them, as one might imagine it would have
done ; but they then held fast the same
resolution, without wavering, which they
had upon the hearing of Eleazar's speech,
while yet every one of them still retained
the natural passion of love to themselves
and their families, because the reasoning
they went upon appeared to them to be
very just, even with regard to those that
were dearest to them; for the husbands
tenderly embraced their wives, and took
their children into their arms, and gave
the longest parting kisses to them, with
tears in their eyes. Yet at the same time
did they complete what they had resolved
on, as if they had been executed by the
hands of strangers, and they had nothing
else for their comfort but the necessity
they were in of doing this execution, to
avoid that prospect they had of the mise-
ries they were to suffer from their enemies.
Nor was there at length any one of these
men found that scrupled to act their part
in this terrible execution, but every one
of them despatched his dearest relations.
Miserable men indeed were they ! whose
distress forced them to slay their own
wives and children with their own hands,
as the lightest of those evils that were be-
fore them. So .they being not able to
bear the grief they were under for what
they had done any longer, and esteeming
it an injury to those they had slain, to
live even the shortest space of time after
them, they presently laid all they had
in a heap, and set fire to it. They then
chose ten men by lot out of them, to slay
all the rest ; every one of whom laid him-
self down by his wife and children on the
ground, and threw his arms about them,
and they offered their necks to the stroke
of those who by lot executed that melan-
choly office: and when these ten had,
without fear, slain them all, they made
the same rule for casting lots for them-
selves, that he whose lot it was, should
first kill the other nine, and, after all,
should kill himself. Accordingly, all
these had courage sufficient to be noway
behind one another in doing or suffering;
so for a conclusion, the nine offered their
necks to the executioner, and he, who was
the last of all, took a view of all the other
bodies, lest perchauce some or other
among so many that were slain should
want his assistance to be quite despatched;
and when he perceived that they were all
slain, he set fire to the palace, and with
the great force of his hand ran his sword
entirely through himself, and fell down
dead near to his own relations. So these
people died with this intention, that they
would leave not so much as one soul
among them all alive to be subject to the
Romans. Yet was there an ancient wo-
man, and another who was of kin to Elea-
zar, and superior to most women in pru-
dence and learning, with five children, who
had concealed themselves in caverns un-
der ground, and had carried water thither
for their drink, and were hidden there
when the rest were intent upon the slaugh-
ter of one another. Those others were 960
in number, the women and children being
withal included in that computation. This
calamitous slaughter was made' on the fif-
teenth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan].
Now for the Romans, they expected
that they should be fought in the morning,
when, accordingly, they put on their ar-
mour, and laid bridges of planks upon
their ladders from their banks, to make an
assault upon the fortress, which they did ;
but saw nobody as an en'emy, but a terri-
ble solitude on every side, with a fire
within the place, as well as a perfect
silence. So they were at a loss to guess
at what had happened. At length they
made a shout, as if it had been at a blow
given by the battering-ram, to try whether
they could bring any one out that was
within; the women heard this noise and
came out of their underground cavern, and
informed the Romans what had been done,
as it was done; and the second of them
clearly described all, both what was said
and what was done, and the manner of it;
yet did they not easily give their attention
to such a desperate undertaking, and did
not believe it could be as they said ; they
also attempted to put the fire out, and
quickly cutting themselves a way through
it, they came within the palace, and so
met with the multitude of the slain, but
could take no pleasure in the fact, though
it were done to their enemies. Nor could
they do other than wonder at the courage
of their resolution, and the immovable
contempt of death, which so great a num-
ber of them had shown, when they went
through with such an action as that was.
Chap. X.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
401
CHAPTER X.
The Sicarii fleo to Alexandria — Destruction of the
Jewish temple built by Onias.
When Massada was thus taken, the
general left a garrison in the fortress to
keep it, and he himself went away to
Cesarea; for there were now no enemies
left in the country, it being all overthrown
by so long a war. Yet did this war afford
disturbances and dangerous disorders even
in places very far remote from Judea; for
still it came to pass that many Jews were
slain at Alexandria in Egypt : for as many
of the Sicarii as were able to fly thither,
out of the seditious wars in Judea, were
not content to have saved themselves, but
must needs be undertaking to make new
disturbances, and persuaded many of those
that entertained them to assert their
liberty, to esteem the Romans to be no
better than themselves, and to look upon
God as their only Lord and Master. But
when part of the Jews of reputation op-
posed them, they slew some of them, and
with the others they were very pressing in
their exhortations to revolt from the Ro-
mans ; but when the principal men of the
senate saw what madness they were come
to, they thought it no longer safe for
themselves to overlook them. So they
got all the Jews together to an assembly,
and accused the maduess of the Sicarii,
and demonstrated that they had been the
authors of all the evils that had come upon
them. They said also, that " these men,
now they were run away from Judea, hav-
ing no sure hope of escapiug, because as
soon as ever they shall be known, they
will be soon destroyed by the Romans,
they come hither and fill us full of those
calamities which belong to them, while we
have not been partakers with them in any
of their sins." Accordingly, they ex-
horted the multitude to have a care, lest
they should be brought to destruction by
their means, and to make their apology to
the Romans for what had been done, by
delivering these men up to them; who
being thus apprized of the greatness of the
danger they were in, complied with what
was proposed, and ran with great violence
upon the Sicarii, and seized upon them ;
and, indeed, 000 of them were caught im-
mediately : but as to all those that fled
into Egypt, and to the Egyptian Thebes,
it was not long ere they were caught also,
and brought back, whose courage, or
whether we ought to call it madness, or
Vol. II.— 26
hardiness in their opinions, everybody was
amazed at; for when all sorts of torments
and vexations of their bodies that could
be devised were made use of to them, they
could not get any one of them to comply
so far as to confess, or seem to confess,
that Caesar was their lord ; but they pre-
served their own opinion, in spite of all
the distress they were brought to, as if
they received these torments and the fire
itself, with bodies insensible of pain, and
with a soul that in a manner rejoiced un-
der them. But what was most of all
astonishing to the beholders, was the cou-
rage of the children; for not one of these
children was so far overcome by these tor-
ments, as to name Caesar for their lord.
So far does the strength of the courago
[of the soul] prevail over the weakness of
the body.
Now Lupus did then govern Alexandria,
who presently sent Caesar word of this
commotion; who having in suspicion the
restless temper of the Jews for innovation,
and being afraid lest they should get to-
gether again, and persuade some others to
join with them, gave orders to Lupus to
demolish that Jewish temple, which was
in the region called Onion, and was in
Egypt, which was built and had its deno-
mination from the occasion following:
Onias, the son of Simon, one of the Jew-
ish high priests, fled from Antiochus, the
king of Syria, when he made war with the
Jews, and came to Alexandria; and as
Ptolemy received him very kindly on ac-
count of his hatred to Antiochus, he as-
sured him, that if he would comply with
his proposal, he would bring all the Jews
to his assistance ; and when the king agreed
to do it so far as he was able, he desired
him to give him leave to build a temple
somewhere in Egypt, and to worship God
according to the customs of his own coun-
try; for that the Jews would then be so
much readier to fight against Antiochus,
who had laid waste the temple at Jerusa-
lem, and that they would then come to
him with greater good-will ; aud that, by
granting them liberty of conscience, very
many of them would come over to him.
So Ptolemy complied with his proposals,
and gave him a place 180 furlongs distant
from Memphis.* That Nomos was called
* Josephus hero speaks of Antiochus, who pro-
faned the temple, as now alive, when Onias had
leave given him by Philometor to build his temple;
whereas it seems not to have been actually built
till about fifteen years afterward. Yet, because it
402
WARS OP THE JEWS.
[Book VIx
the Nomos of Heliopolis, where Onias built
a fortress and a temple, not like to that at
Jerusalem, but such as resembled a tower.
He built it of large stones to the height
of sixty cubits; he made the structure of
the altar in imitation of that in our own
country, and in like manner adorned with
gifts, excepting the make of the candle-
stick, for he did not make a candlestick,
but had a [single] lamp hammered out of
a piece of gold, which illuminated the
place with its rays, and which he hung by
a chain of gold; but the entire temple was
encompassed with a wall of burnt brick,
though it had gates of stone. The king
also gave him a large country for a revenue
in money, that both the priests might have
a plentiful provision made for them, and
that God might have great abundance of
what things were necessary for his worship.
Yet did not Onias do this out of a sober
disposition, but he had a mind to contend
with the Jews at Jerusalem, and could not
forget the indignation he had for being
banished thence. Accordingly, he thought
that by building this temple he should
draw away a great number from them to
limself. There had been also a certain
incient prediction made by a [prophet]
whose name was Isaiah, about 600 years
before, that this temple should be built by
a man that was a Jew in Egypt. And
this is the history of the building of that
temple.
And now Lupus, the governor of Alex-
andria, upon the receipt of Caesar's letter,
came to the temple and carried out of it
some of the donations dedicated thereto,
and shut up the temple itself; and as
Lupus died a little afterward, Paulinus
succeeded him. This man left none of
these donations there, and threatened the
priests severely if they did not bring them
all out; nor did he permit any who were
desirous of worshipping God there so much
as to come near the whole sacred place ;
but when he had shut up the gates, he
made it entirely inaccessible, insomuch
that there remained no longer the least
footsteps of auy divine worship that had
been in that place. Now the duration
of the time from the building of this
temple till it was shut up again was 343
years.
is said that OnLas went to Philometor, during the
lifetime of that Antiochus, it is probable he peti-
tioned, and perhaps obtained his leave then, though
it were not actually built or finished till fifteen
years afterward.
CHAPTER XL
Conclusion.
And now did the madness of the Sicarii,
like a disease, reach as far as the cities of
Cyrcne ; for one Jonathan, a vile person,
and by trade a weaver, came thither, and
prevailed with no small number of the
poorer sort to give ear to him ; he also led
them into the desert, upon promising them
that he would show them signs and appa-
ritions; and as for the other Jews of
Cyrene, he concealed his knavery from
them, and put tricks upon them; but those
of the greatest dignity among them in-
formed Catullus, the governor of the
Libyan Pentapolis, of his march into the
desert, and of the preparations he had
made for it. So he sent out after him both
horsemen and footmen, and easily over-
came them, because they were unarmed
men : of these, many were slain in the
fight, but some were taken alive, and
brought to Catullus. As for Jonathan,
the head of this plot, he fled away at that
time ; but upon a great and very diligent
search which was made all the country
over for him, he was at last taken ; and
when he was brought to Catullus, he de-
vised a way whereby he both escaped pu-
nishment himself, and afforded an occasion
to Catullus of doing much mischief; for
he falsely accused the richest men among
the Jews, and said that they had put him
upon what he did.
Now Catullus easily admitted of these
his calumnies, and aggravated matters
greatly, and made tragical exclamations
that he might also be supposed to have
had a hand in the finishing of the Jewish
war; but what was still harder, he did not
only give a too easy belief to his stories,
but he taught the Sicarii to accuse men
falsely. He bade this Jonathau, there-
fore, name one Alexander, a Jew, (with
whom he had formerly had a quarrel, and
openly professed that he hated him;) he
also got him to name his wife Bernice, as
concerned with him. These two Catullus
ordered to be slain in the first place ; nay,
after them he caused all the rich and
wealthy Jews to be slain, being no fewer
in all than 3000. This, he thought, he
might do safely, because he confiscated
their effects, and added them to Cassar's
revenues.
Nay, indeed, lest any Jews that lived
elsewhere should convict him of his vil-
lany, he extended his false accusations
Chap. XI.]
further, and persuaded Jonathan, and cer-
tain others that were caught with him, to
bring an accusation of attempts for inno-
vation against the Jews that were of the
best character, both at Alexandria and at
Rome. One of these, against whom this
treacherous accusation was laid, was Jose-
phus, the writer of these books. However,
this plot, thus contrived by Catullus, did
not succeed according to his hopes; for
though he came himself to Rome, and
brought Jonathan and his companions
along with him in bonds, and thought he
should have had no further incpuisition
made as to those lies that were forged un-
der his government, or by his means, yet
did Vespasian suspect the matter, and
made an inquiry how far it was true; and
when he understood that the accusation
laid against the Jews was an unjust one,
he cleared them of the crimes charged upon
them; and this, on account of Titus's con-
cern about the matter, and brought a de-
served punishment upon Jonathan ; for he
was first tormented and then burnt alive.
But as to Catullus, the emperors were
so gentle to him, that he underwent no
severe condemnation at this time : yet
was it not long before he fell into a com-
plicated and almost incurable distemper,
WARS OF THE JEWS.
403
and died miserably. He was not only
afflicted in body, but the distemper in his
mind was more heavy upon him than the
other; for he was terribly disturbed, and
continually cried out, that he saw the
ghosts of those whom he had slain stand-
ing before him. Whereupon he was not
able to contain himself, but leaped out of
his bed, as if both torments and fire were
brought to him. This his distemper grew
still a great deal worse continually, and
his very entrails were so corroded, that
they fell out of his body, and in that con-
dition he died. Thus he became as great
an instance of Divine Providence as ever
was, and demonstrated that God punishes
wicked men.
And here we shall put an end to this
our history; wherein we formerly pro-
mised to deliver the same with all accu-
racy, to such as should be desirous of un-
derstanding after what manner this war
of the Romans with the Jews was managed.
Of which history, how good the style is,
must be left to the determination of the
readers, but for the agreement with the
facts, I shall not scruple to say, and that
boldly, that truth hath been what I have
alone aimed at through its entire composi-
tion.
END OF THE WARS.
=n
FLAYIUS JOSEPHTJS AGAINST APION.'
BOOK I.
1 suppose that, by my books of the
"Antiquities of the Jews," most excel-
lent Epaphroditus,"}" I have made it evi-
dent to those that peruse them, that our
Jewish nation is of very great antiquity,
and had a distinct subsistence of its own
originally; as also, I have therein declared
how we came to inhabit this country
wherein we now live. Those Antiquities
contain the history of 5000 years, and are
taken out of our sacred books; but are
translated by me into the Greek tongue.
However, since I observe a considerable
number of people giving ear to the re-
proaches that are laid against us by those
who bear ill-will to us, and will not believe
what I have written concerning the anti-
quity of our nation, while they take it for
a plain sign that our nation is of a late
date, because they are not so much as
vouchsafed a bare mention by the most
famous historiographers among the Gre-
cians, I, therefore, have thought myself
under an obligation to write somewhat
• This first book lias a wrong title. It is not
written against Apion, as is the first part of the se-
cond book, but against those Greeks in general who
would not believe Josephus's former accounts of the
very ancient state of the Jewish nation, in his XX.
books of Antiquities ; and particularly against Aga-
tharchides, Manetho, Cheremon, and Lysimachus.
It is one of the most learned, excellent, and useful
books of all antiquity ; and upon Jerome's perusal
of this and the following books, he declares, that it
seems to him a miraculous thing " how one that
was a Hebrew, who bad been from his infancy
instructed in sacred learning, should be able
to produce such a number of testimonies out of pro-
fane authors, as if he had read over all the Grecian
libraries." Manasseh-Ben-Israel esteemed these
two books so excellent, as to translate them into
Hebrew.
f Since Flavius Josephus wrote [or finished] his
books of Antiquities on the thirteenth of Domitian
[A. D. 93], and after that wrote the Memoirs of his
own Life, as an appendix to the books of Antiqui-
ties, and at last his two books against Apion, and
yet dedicated all those writings to Epaphroditus,
he can hardly be that Epaphroditus who was for-
merly secretary to Nero, and was slain on the
fourteenth [or fifteenth] of Domitian, after he had
been for a good while in banishment ; but another
Epaphroditus, a freedman, and procurator of Tra-
jan, (Luke i. 3.)
404
briefly about these subjects, in order to
convict those that reproach us of spite and
voluntary falsehood, and to correct the ig-
norance of others, and withal to instruct
all those who are desirous of knowing the
truth of what great antiquity we really
are. As for the witnesses whom I shall
produce for the proof of what I say, they
shall be such as are esteemed to be of the
greatest reputation for truth, and the most
skilful in the knowledge of all antiquity,
by the Greeks themselves. I will also
show, that those who have written so re-
proachfully and falsely about us, are to be
convicted by what they have written them-
selves to the contrary. I shall also en-
deavour to give an account of the reasons
why it has so happened, that there has not
been a great "number of Greeks who have
made mention of our nation in their his-
tories; I will, however, bring those Gre-
cians to light who have not omitted such
our history, for the sake of those that
either do not know them, or pretend not
to know them already.
And now, in the first place, I cannot
but greatly wonder at those men who sup-
pose that we must attend to none but
Grecians, when we are inquiring about the
most ancient facts, and must inform our-
selves of their truth from them only, while
we must not believe ourselves nor other
men; for I am convinced, that the very
reverse is the truth of the case. I mean
this, if we will not be led by vain opinions,
but will make inquiry after truth from
facts themselves; for they will find, that
almost all which concerns the Greeks hap-
pened not long ago; nay, one may say, is
of yesterday only. I speak of the build-
ing of their cities, the inventions of their
arts, and the description of their laws;
and as for their care about the writing
down of their histories, it is very near the
last thing they set about. However, they
acknowledged themselves so far, that they
were the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and
the Phoenicians, (for I will not now reckon
Book I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEHIUS AGAINST APION.
405
ourselves among them,) that have pre-
Berved the memorials of the most ancient
and most lasting traditions of mankind ;
for almost all these nations inhabit such
countries as arc least subject to destruction
from the world about them : and these also
have taken especial care to have nothing
omitted of what was [remarkably] done
among them ; but their history was
esteemed sacred, and put into public ta-
bles, as written by men of the greatest
wisdom they had among them. But as
for the place where the Grecians inhabit,
ten thousand destructions have overtaken
it, and blotted out the memory of former
actions ; so that they were ever beginning
a new way of living, and supposed that
every one of them was the origin of their
new state. It was also late, and with dif-
ficulty, that they came to know the letters
they now usej for those that would ad-
vance their use of these letters to the
greatest autiquity, pretend that they
learned them from the Phoenicians and
from Cadmus ; yet is nobody able to de-
monstrate that they have any writing pre-
served from that time, neither in their
temples, nor in any other public monu-
ments. This appears, because the time
when those lived who went to the Trojan
war, so many years afterward, is in great
doubt, and great inquiry is made, whether
the Greeks used their letters at that time ;
and the most prevailing opinion, and that
nearest the truth is, that the present way
of using those letters was unknown at that
time. However, there is not any writing
which the Greeks agree to be genuine
among them more ancient than Homer's
poems,* who must plainly be confessed
later than the siege of Troy; nay, the re-
port goes, that even he did not leave the
poems in writing, but that their memory
was preserved in songs, and they were put
together afterward, and that this is the
reason of such a number of variations as
are found in them. As for those who set
themselves about writing their histories, I
mean such as Cadmus of Miletus, and
Acusilaus of Argos, and any others that
maybe mentioned as succeeding Acusilaus,
they lived but a little while before the
Persian expedition into Greece. But then
for those that first introduced philosophy,
and the consideration of things celestial
* Josephus does not say " there was no more an-
sient writings among the Greeks than Homer's
poems," but that they did not fully own any writings
pretending to such antiquity as genuine.
and divine among them, such as 1'hcre-
cydes the Syrian, aud Pythagoras, and
Thales, all with one consent agree that
they learned what they knew of the Egyp-
tians and Chaldeans, and wrote but little.
Aud these are the things which are sup-
posed to be the oldest of all among the
Greeks ; and they have such ado to believe
that the writings ascribed to those men are
genuine.
How can it then be other than an ab-
surd thing for the Greeks to be so proud,
and to vaunt themselves to be the only
people that are acquainted with antiquity,
and that have delivered the true accounts
of those early times after an accurate man-
ner ! Nay, who is there that cannot
easily gather from the Greek writers
themselves, that they knew but little on
any good foundation when they set to
write, but rather wrote their histories from
their own conjectures ? Accordingly, they
confute one another in their own books on
purpose, and are not ashamed to give us
the most contradictory accounts of the
same things : and I should spend my time
to little purpose if I should pretend to
teach the Greeks that which they know
better than I already, what a great disa-
greement there is between Hellauicus and
Acusilaus about their genealogies ; in how
many cases Acusilaus corrects Hesiod ; or
after what manner Ephorus demonstrates
Hellanicus to have told lies in the greatest
part of his history ; as does Timeus in like
manner as to Ephorus, and the succeeding
writers do to Timeus, and all the latter
writers do to Herodotus ;* nor could
Timeus agree with Antiochus and Philis-
tius, or with Callias, about the Sicilian
history, no more than do the several
writers of the Atthidse follow one another
about the Athenian affairs; nor do the
historians the like that wrote the Argolics,
about the affairs of the Argives. And
now what need I say auy more about par-
ticular cities aud smaller places, while in
* It well deserves to be considered, that Josephus
here says, that all the following Greek historians
looked on Herodotus as a fabulous author; aud
that Manetho, the most authentic writer of the
Egyptian history, greatly complains of his mistakes
in the Egyptian affairs : also that Strabo, the most
accurate geographer and historian, esteemed hiui
such; that Xenophon, the much more accurate his-
torian in the affairs of Cyrus, implies that Ilcro-
dotus's account of that great man is almost entirely
romantic. We must not, therefore, always depend
on the authority of Herodotus, where it is unsup-
ported by other evidence, but ought to compare the
other evidences with his, and, if it prepoudeiaPo,
to prefer it before his.
406
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book 1.
the most approved writers of the expedi-
tion of the Persians, and of the actions
which were therein performed, there are
so great differences? Nay, Thucydidcs
himself is accused by some as writing what
is false, although he seems to have given
us the most exact history of the affairs of
his own lime.
As for the occasion of so great a disa-
greement of theirs, there may be assigned
many that are very probable, if any have
a mind to make an inquiry about them ;
but I ascribe these contradictions chiefly to
two causes, which I will now mention, and
still think what I shall mention in the
first place to be the principal of all. For
if we remember, that in the beginning the
Greeks had taken no care to have public
records of their several transactions pre-
served, this must for certain have afforded
those that would afterward write about
those ancient transactions, the opportunity
of making mistakes, and the power of
making lies also ; for this original record-
ing of such ancient transactions hath not
only been neglected by the other states of
Greece, but even among the Athenians
themselves also, who pretend to be abori-
gines, and to have applied themselves to
learning, there are no such records extant ;
nay, they say themselves that the laws of
Draco concerning murders, which are now
extant in writing, are the most ancient of
their public records ; which Draco yet
lived but a little before the tyrant Pisis-
tratus. For as to the Arcadians, who
•make such boasts of their antiquity, what
need I speak of them in particular, since
it was still later before they got their let-
ters, and learned them, and that with dif-
ficulty also ?
There must, therefore, naturally arise
great differences among writers, when they
had no original records to lay for their
foundation, which might at once inform
those who had an inclination to learn, and
contradict those that would tell lies. How-
ever, we are to suppose a second occasion,
besides the former, of these contradictions ;
it is this, that those who were the most
zealous to write history were not solicitous
for the discovery of truth, although it was
very easy for them always to make such
a profession ; but their business was to de-
monstrate that they could write well, and
make an impression upon mankind there-
by; and in what manner of writing they
thought they were able to exceed others,
to that did they apply themselves. Some
of them betook themselves to the writing
of fabulous narrations; some of them en-
deavoured to please the cities or the kings,
by writing in their commendation; others
of them fell to finding faults with transac-
tions, or with the writers of such transac-
tions, and thought to make a great figure
by so doing. And, indeed, these do what
is of all things the most contrary to true
history; for it is the great character of
true history, that all concerned therein,
both speak and write the same things;
while these men, by writing differently
about the same things, think they shall be
believed to write with the greatest regard
to truth. We, therefore, [who are Jews,]
must yield to the Grecian writers as to
language and eloquence of composition;
but then we shall give them no such pre-
ference as to the verity of ancient history,
and least of all as to that part which con-
cerns the affairs of our several countries.
As to the care of writing down the re-
cords from the earliest antiquity among
the Egyptians and Babylonians ; that the
priests were intrusted therewith, and em-
ployed a philosophical concern about it;
that they were the Chaldean priests that
did so among. the Babylonians, and that
the Phoenicians, who were mingled among
the Greeks, did especially make use of
their letters, both for the common affairs
of life, and for the delivering down the
history of common transactions, I think I
may omit any proof, because all men allow
it so to be : but now as to our forefathers,
that they took no less care about writing
such records, (for I will not say they took
greater care than the others I spoke of,)
and that they committed that matter to
their high priests and to their prophets,
and that these records have been written
all along down to our own times with the
utmost accuracy, — nay, if it be not too
bold for me to say it, our history will be
so written hereafter, — I shall endeavour
briefly to inform you.
For our forefathers did not only appoint
the best of these priests, and those tkat
attended upon the divine worship, for
that design from the beginning, but made
provision that the stock of the priests
should continue unmixed and pure ; for
he who is partaker of the priesthood must
propagate of a wife of the same nation,
without having auy regard to money, or
any other dignities; but he is to make a
scrutiny, and take his wife's genealogy
from the ancient tables, and procure many
Book I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
407
witnesses to it ; and this is our practice,
not only in Judea, but wheresoever any
body of men of our nation do live; and
even there, an exact catalogue of our
priests' marriages is kept ; I mean at
Egypt and at Babylon, or in any other
place of the rest of the habitable earth,
whithersoever our priests are scattered ;
for they send to Jerusalem the ancient
names of their parents in writing, as well
as those of their remoter ancestors, and
signify who are the witnesses also ; but
if any war falls out, such as have fallen
out, a great many of them already, when
Antiochus Epiphanes made an invasion
upon our country, as also when Pompey
the Great and Quintilius Varus did so
also, and principally in the wars that have
happened in our own times, those priests
that survive them compose new tables of
genealogy out of the old records, and ex-
amine the circumstances of the women
that remain ; for still they do not admit
of those that have been captives, as sus-
pecting that they had conversation with
some foreigners ; but what is the strongest
argument of our exact management in this
matter is what I am now going to say,
that we have the names of our high priests
from father to son, set down in our re-
cords, for the interval of 2000 years ; and
if any one of these have been transgressors
of these rules, they are prohibited to pre-
sent themselves at the altar, or to be par-
takers of any other of our purifications ;
and this is justly, or rather necessarily
done, because every one is not permitted
of his own accord to be a writer, nor is
there any disagreement in what is written ;
they being only prophets that have writ-
ten the original and earliest accounts of
things as they learned them of God him-
self by inspiration ; and others have writ-
ten what hath happened in their own
times, and that in a very distinct manner
also.
For we have not an innumerable multi-
tude of books among us, disagreeing from,
and contradicting one another [as the
Greeks have], but only twenty-two books,
which contain the records of all the
past times; which are justly believed
to be divine ; and of them five belong to
Moses, which contain his laws and the
traditions of the origin of mankind till
his death. This interval of time was lit-
tle short of 8000 years ; but as to the
time from the death of Moses till the
reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who
reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who
were after Moses, wrote down what was
done in their times in thirteen books.
The remaining four bonks contain hymns
to God, and precepts for the conduct of
human life. It is true, our history
hath been written since Artaxerxes very
particularly, but hath not been esteemed
of the like authority with the former by
our forefathers, because there hath not
been an exact succession of prophets since
that time ; and how firmly we have given
credit to those books of our own nation,
is evident by what we do ; for, during so
many ages as have already passed, no one
has been so bold as either to add any
thing to them, to take any thing from
them, or to make any change in them ;
but it becomes natural to all Jews, imme-
diately and from their very birth, to esteem
those books to contain divine doctrines,
and to persist in them, and, if occasion
be, willingly to die for them. For it is
no new thing for our captives, many of
them in number, and frequently in time,
to be seen to endure racks and deaths of
all kinds upon the theatres, that they
may not be obliged to say one word
against our laws and the records that con-
tain them ; whereas there are none at all
among the Greeks who would undergo the
least harm on that account, no, nor in
case all the writings that are among them
were to be destroyed ; for they take them
to be such discourses as are framed agree-
ably to the inclinations of those that write
them ; and they have justly the same
opinion of the ancient writers, since they
see some of the present generation bold
enough to write about such.affairs, wherein
they were not present, nor had concern
enough to inform themselves about them
from those that knew them ; examples of
which may be had in this late war of ours,
where some persons have written histories,
and published them, without having been
in the places concerned, or having been
near them when the actions were done ;
but these men put a few things together
by hearsay, and insolently abuse the
world, and call these writings by the name
of Histories.
As for myself, I have composed a true
history of that whole war, and all the
particulars that occurred therein, as hav
ing been concerned in all its transactions;
for I acted as generel of those among us
that are named Galileans, as long as it
was possible for us to make any opposi-
l.
408
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AriON.
[Book 1.
tion. I was then seized on by the Ro-
mans, and became a captive. Vespasian
also and Titus had me kept under a guard,
and forced me to attend them continually.
At the first I was put into bonds ; but
was set at liberty afterward, and sent to
accompany Titus when he came from
Alexandria to the siege of Jerusalem ;
during which time there was nothing done
which escaped my knowledge ; for what
happened in the Roman camp I saw, and
wrote down carefully; and what informa-
tions the deserters brought [out of the
city], I was the only man that understood
them. Afterward, I got leisure at Rome;
and when all my materials were prepared
for that work, I made use of some persons
to assist me in learning the Greek tongue,
and by these means I composed the his-
tory of those transactions ; and I was so
well assured of the truth of what I re-
lated, that I first of all appealed to those
that had the supreme command in that
war, Vespasian and Titus, as witnesses for
me, for to them I presented those books
first of all, and after them to many of the
Romans who had been in the war. I
also sold them to many of our men who
understood the Greek philosophy ; among
whom were Julius Archelaus, Herod
[king of Chalcis], a person of great gra-
vity, and King Agrippa himself, a person
that deserved the greatest admiration.
Now, all these men bore their testimony to
me, that I had the strictest regard to truth ;
who yet would not have dissembled the mat-
ter^ nor been silent, if I, out of ignorance,
or out of favour to any side, either had
given false colours to actions, or omitted
any of them.
There have been, indeed, some bad
men, who have attempted to calumniate
my history, and took it to be a kind of
scholastic performance for the exercise
of young men. A strange sort of accu-
sation and. calumny this! since every one
that undertakes to deliver the history of
actions truly, ought to know them accu-
rately himself in the first place, as either
having been concerned in them himself,
or been informed of them by such as
knew them. Now, both these methods
of knowledge I may very properly pre-
tend to in the composition of both my
works; for, as I said, I have translated
the Antiquities out of our sacred books ;
which I easily could do, since I was a
priest by my birth, and have studied that
philosophy which is contained in those
writings : and as for the History of the
War, I wrote it as having been an actor
myself in many of its transactions, an
eye-witness in the greatest part of the
rest, and was not unacquainted with any
thing whatsoever that was either said or
done in it. . How impudent, then, must
those deserve to be esteemed, who undertake
to contradict me about the true state of af-
fairs ! who, although they pretend to have
made use of both the emperors' own me-
moirs, yet they could not be acquainted
with our affairs who fought against them.
This digression I have been obliged to
make, out of necessity, as being desirous
to expose the vanity of those that profess
to write histories; and I suppose I have
sufficiently declared that this custom of
transmitting down the histories of ancient
times hath been better preserved by those
nations which are called Barbarians, than
by the Greeks themselves. I am now
willing, in the next place, to say a few
things to those who endeavour to prove
that our constitution is but of late time,
for this reason, as they pretend, that the
Greek writers have said nothing about us;
after which I shall produce testimonies
for our antiquity out of the writings of
foreigners : I shall also demonstrate that
such as cast reproaches upon our nation
do it very unjustly.
As for ourselves, therefore, we neither
inhabit a maritime country, nor do we
delight in merchandise, nor in such a mix-
ture with other men as arises from it; but
the cities we dwell in are remote from the
sea, and having a fruitful country for our
habitation, we take pains in cultivating
that only. Our principal care of all is
this, to educate our children well ; and we
thiuk it to be the most necessary business
of our whole life, to observe the laws that
have been given us, and to keep those
rules of piety that have been delivered
down to us. Since, therefore, besides
what we have already taken notice of, we
have had a peculiar way of living of our
own, there was no occasion offered us in
ancient ages for intermixing among the
Greeks, as they had for mixing among
the Egyptians, by their intercourse of ex-
porting and importing their several goods;
as they also mixed with the Phoenicians,
who lived by the seaside, by means of
their love of lucre in trade and merchan-
dise. Nor did our forefathers betake
themselves, as did some others, to robbe-
ry; nor did they, in order to gain more
Book I.]
FLAVIUS J03EPHUS AGAINST AriON.
409
wealth, fall into foreign wars, although
our eouutry contained many ten thou-
sands of men of courage sufficient for
that purpose; for this reason it was that
the Phoenicians themselves came soon by
trading and navigation to be known to the
Grecians, and by their means the Egyp-
tians became known to the Grecians also,
as did all those people whence the Phoeni-
cians in long voyages over the seas carried
wares to the Grecians. The Medes also
and the Persians, when they were lords
of Asia, became well known to them ; and
this was especially true of the Persians,
who led their armies as far as the other
continent [Europe]. The Thracians were
also known to them by the nearness of
their countries, and Scythians by the
means of those that sailed to Pontus ; for
it was so in general that all maritime na-
tions, and those that inhabited near the
eastern or western seas, became most
known to those that were desirous to be
writers ; but such as had their habitations
farther from the sea, were, for the most
part, unknown to them : which things
appear to have happened as to Europe
also, where the city of Rome, that hath
this long time been possessed of so much
power, and hath performed such great
actions in war, is never yet mentioned by
Herodotus, nor by Thucydides, nor by
any one of their contemporaries; and it
was very late, and with great difficulty,
that the Romans became known to the
Greeks. Nay, those that were reckoned
the most exact historians (and Ephorus
for one) were so very ignorant of the
Gauls and the Spaniards, that he supposed
the Spaniards, who inhabit so great a part
of the western regions of the earth, to be
no more than one city. Those historians
also have ventured to describe such cus-
toms as were made use of by them, which
they never had either done or said ; and
the reason why these writers did not know
the truth of their affairs, was this, that
they had not any commerce together; but
the reason why they wrote such falsities
was this, that they had a mind to appear
to know things which others had not
known. How can it then be any wonder
if our nation was no more known to many
of the Greeks, nor had given them any
occasion to mention them in their writings,
while they were so remote from the sea,
and had a conduct of life so peculiar to
themselves ?
Let us now put the case, therefore, that
we made use of this argument concerning
the Grecians, in order to prove that their
nation was not ancient, because nothing is
said of them in our records ; would not
they laugh at us all, and probably give
the same reasons for our silence that 1
have now alleged, and would produce
their neighbouring nations as witnes
their own antiquity ? Now, the very
same thing will I endeavour to do ; for I
will bring the Egyptians and the Phoeni-
cians as my principal witnesses, because
nobody can complain of their testimony
as false, on account that they are known
to have borne the greatest ill-will toward
us : I mean this as to the Egyptians, in
general all of them, while of the Phoeni-
cians, it is known the Tyrians have been
most of ail in the same ill disposition to-
ward us: yet do I confess that I cannot
say the same of the Chaldeans, since our
first leaders and ancestors were derived
from them ; and they do make mention
of us Jews in their records, on account
of the kindred there is between us. Now,
when I shall have made my assertions
good, so far as coucerus the others, I will
demonstrate that some of the Greek
writers have made mention of us Jews
also, that those who envy us may not have
even this pretence for contradicting what
I have said about our nation.
I shall begin with the writings of the
Egyptians ; not, indeed, of those that
have written in the Egyptian language,
which it is impossible for me to do. Rut
Manetho was a man who was by birth an
Egyptian, yet had he made himself mas-
ter of the Greek learning, as is very evi-
dent : for he wrote the history of his own
country in the Greek tongue, by translat-
ing it, as he saith himself, out of their
sacred records : he also finds great fault
with Herodotus for his ignorance and false
relations of Egyptian affairs. Now, this
Mauetho, in the second book of his Egyp-
tian History, writes concerning us in the
following manner : I will set down his
very words, as if I were to bring the very
man himself into a court for a witness : —
" There was a king of ours, whose name
was Timaus. Under him it came to pass,
I know not how, that God was averse to
us, and there came, after a surprising man-
ner, men of ignoble birth out of the east-
ern parts, and had boldness enough to
make an expedition into our country, and
with ease subdued it by force, yet without
our hazarding a battle with them. So
410
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book I.
when they had gotten those that governed
us under their power, they afterward
burnt down our cities, and demolished
the temples of the gods, and used all the
inhabitants after a most barbarous man-
ner : nay, some they slew, and led their
children and their wives into slavery. At
length they made one of themselves king,
whose name was Salatis ; he also lived at
Memphis, and made both the upper and
lower regions pay tribute, and left garri-
sions in places that were the most proper
for them. He chiefly aimed to secure the
eastern parts, as foreseeing that the Assy-
rians, who had then the greatest power,
would be desirous of that kingdom, and
invade them ; and as he found in the
Saite Nomos [Seth-roite] a city very pro-
per for his purpose, and which lay upon
the Bubastic channel, but with regard to
a certain theologic notion was called Ava-
ris, this he rebuilt, and made very strong
by the walls he built about it, and by a
most numerous garrison of 240,000 armed
men whom he put into it to keep it.
Thither Salatis came in summer time,
partly to gather his corn, and pay his
^soldiers their wages, and partly to exercise
his armed men, and thereby to terrify
foreigners. When this man had reigned
thirteen years, after him reigned another,
whose name was Beon, for forty-four
years ; after him reigned another, called
Apachnas, thirty-six years and seven
months; after him Apophis reigned sixty-
one years, and then Jonias fifty years and
one month ; after all these reigned Assis
forty-nine years and two months. And
these six were the first rulers among them,
who were all along making war with the
Egyptians, and were very desirous gradu-
ally to destroy them to- the very roots.
This whole nation was styled Hycsos,
that is, Shepherd-kings ; for the first syl-
lable, Hyc, according to the sacred dialect,
denotes a king, as is Sos a shepherd,
but this according to the ordinary dialect;
and of these is compounded Hycsos : but
some say that these people were Arabians."
Now, in another copy it is said that this
word does not denote kings, but, on the
contrary, denotes Captive Shepherds, and
this on account of the particle Hyc ; for
that Hyc, with the aspiration, in the
Egyptian tongue, again denotes Shepherds,
and that expressly also; and this to me
seems the more probable opinion, and
more agreeable to ancient history. [But
Manetho goes on] : — " These people,
whom we have before named kings, and
called shepherds also, and their descend-
ants," as he says, " kept possession of
Egypt 511 years." After these, he says,
" That the kings of Thebais and of the
other parts of Egypt made an insurrec-
tion against the shepherds, and that there
a terrible and long war was made between
them." He says further, " That under
a king, whose name was Alisphragmutho-
sis, the shepherds were subdued by him,
and were indeed driven out of other parts
of Egypt, but were shut up in a place
that contained 10,000 acres: this place
was named Avaris." Manetho says,
" That the shepherds built a wall round
all this place, which was a large and strong
wall, and this in order to keep all their
possessions and their prey within a place
of strength, but that Thummosis, the son
of Alisphragmuthosis, made an attempt to
take them by force and by siege, with
480,000 men to lie round about them;
but that upon his despair of taking the
place by that siege, they came to a com-
position with them, that they should leave
Egypt, and go without any harm to be
done them, whithersoever they would;
and that, after this composition was made,
they went away with their whole families
and effects, not fewer in number than
240,000, and took their journey from
Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria :
but that, as they were in fear of the As-
syrians, who had then the dominion over
Asia, they built a city in that country,
which is now called Judea, and that large
enough to contain this great number of
men, and called it Jerusalem."* Now
Manetho, in another book of his, says,
" That this nation, thus called Shepherds,
were also called Captives, in their sacred
books." And this account of his is the
truth ; for feeding of sheep was the em-
ployment of our forefathers in the most
ancient ages ;f and, as they led such a
wandering life in feeding sheep, they were
called Shepherds. Nor was it without
reason that they were called Captives by
the Egyptians, since one of our ancestors,
Joseph, told the king of Egypt that he
was a captive, and afterward sent for his
brethren into Egypt by the king's permis-
sion ; but, as for these matters, I shall
* Here we have an account of the first building
of the city of Jerusalem, according to Manetho,
when the Phoenician shepherds were expelled out
of Egypt, about thirty-seven years before Abraham
came out of Haran.
f Gen. xlvi. 32, 34; xlvii. 3, 4.
Book I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
Ill
make a more exact inquiry about them
elsewhere.*
But now I shall produce the Egyptians
as witnesses to the antiquity of our na-
tion. I shall, therefore, here bring in
Manetho again, and what he writes as to
the order of the times in this case, and
thus he speaks: — "When this people or
shepherds were gone out of Egypt to Je-
rusalem, Tethmosis, the kiug of Egypt,
who drove them out, reigned afterward
twentj'-five years and four months, and
then died ; after him his son Chebrou took
the kingdom for thirteen years ; after whom
came Amenophis, for twenty years and
seven months : then came his sister
Amesses, for twenty-one years and nine
months ; after her came Mephres, for
twelve years and nine months ; after him
was Mephramuthosis, for twenty-five years
and ten months; after him was Tethmo-
this, for nine years and eight months ;
after him came Amenophis, for thirty
years and ten months; after him came
Orus, for thirty-six years and five months ;
then came his daughter Acenchres, for
twelve years and one month ; then was
her brother Rathotis, for nine years ; then
was Acencheres, for twelve years and five
months ; then came another Acencheres,
for twelve years and three months ; after
him Armais, for four years and one month;
after him was Itamesses, for one year and
four months; after him came Armessus
Miammoun, for sixty-six years and two
months ; after him Amenophis, for nine-
teen years and six montlis ; after him
came Sethosis, and Rainesses, who had an
army of horse, and a naval force. This
king, appointed his brother Armais to be
his deputy over Egypt. [In another
copy it stood thus : — After him came
Sethosis, and Harnesses, two brethren, the
former of whom had a naval force, and in
a hostile manner destroyed those that met
him upon the sea; but, as he slew Ha-
rnesses in no long time afterward, so he
appointed another of his brethren to be
his deputy over Egypt.] He also gave
him all the other authority of a king, but
with these injunctions only, that he
should not wear the diadem, nor be inju-
rious to the queen, the mother of his chil-
dren, and that he should not meddle with
the other concubines of the king ; while
he made an expedition against Cyprus and
Phoenicia, and besides against the Assy-
* This is now wanting.
rians and the Medes. He then subdued
them all, some by his arms, some without
fighting, and some by the terror of his
great army ; and being puffed up by the
great successes he had had, lie went on
still the more boldly, and overthrew the
cities and countries that lay in the eastern
parts; but, after some considerable time,
Armais, who was left in Egypt, did all
those very things by way of opposition,
which his brother had forbidden him to
do, without fear ; for he used violence to
the queen, and continued to make use of
the rest of the concubines, without sparing
any of them; nay, at the persuasion of
his friends he put on the diadem, and set
up to oppose his brother ; but then he
who was set over the priests of Egypt,
wrote letters to Sethosis, and informed him
of all that had happened, and how his
brother had set up to oppose him : he,
therefore, returned back to Pelusium im-
mediately, and recovered his kingdom
again. The country, also, was called from
his name Egypt ; for Manetho says that
Sethosis himself was called Egyptus, as
was his brother Armais called Hauaus."
This is Manetho's account; and evident
it is from the number of years by him
set down belonging to this interval, if
they be summed up together, that these
shepherds, as they are here called, who
were no other than our forefathers, were
delivered out of Egypt, and came theuee,
and inhabited this country 393 years be-
fore Danaus came to Argos; although the
Argives look upon him as their most an-
cient kiug. Manetho, therefore, bears
this testimony to two points of the greatest
consequence to our purpose, and those
from the Egyptian records themselves. In
the first place, that we came out of au-
other country into Egypt; aud that withal
our deliverance out of it was so ancient in
time, as to have preceded the siege of Troy
almost 1000 years; but then, as to those
things which Manetho adds, not from the
Egyptian records, but, as he confesses him-
self, from some stories of an uncertain
original, I will disprove them hereafter
particularly, and shall demonstrate that
they are no better than incredible fables.
1 will now, therefore, pass from these
records, and come to those that belong to
the Phoenicians, and concern our nation,
and shall produce attestations to what I
have said out of them. There are tin u
records among the Tyrians that take in
the history of many years, and these are
412
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AriON.
[Book I.
public writings, and are kept with great
exactness, and include ' accounts of the
facts done among them, and such as con-
cern their transactions with other nations
also : those I mean which were worthy of
remembering. Therein it was recorded
that the temple was built by King Solomon
at Jerusalem, 143 years and eight months
before the Tyrians built Carthage ; and in
their annals the building of our temple is
related : for Hiram, the king of Tyre, was
the friend of Solomon our king, and had
such friendship transmitted down to him
from his forefathers. He thereupon was
ambitious to contribute to the splendour
of this edifice of Solomon, and made him
a present of 120 talents of gold. He also
cut down the most excellent timber out
of that mountain, which is called Liba-
nus, and sent it to him for adorning its
roof. Solomon also not only made him
many other presents, by way of requital,
but gave him a country in Galilee also,
that was called Chabulon; but there was
another passion, a philosophic inclination
of theirs, which cemented the friendship
that was betwixt them ; for they sent mu-
tual problems to one another, with a de-
sire to have them unriddled by each other,
wherein Solomon was superior to Hiram,
as he was wiser than him in other re-
spects;* and many of the epistles that
passed between them are still preserved
among the Tyrians. Now, that this may
not depend on my bare word, I will pro-
duce for a witness, Dius, one that is be-
lieved to have written the Phoenician His-
tory after an accurate manner. This
Dius, therefore, writes thus, in his Histo-
ries of the Phoenicians : — " Upon the death
of Abibalus, his son Hiram took the
kingdom. This king raised banks at the
eastern part of the city, and enlarged it;
he also joined the temple of Jupiter Olym-
pus, which stood before in an island by
itself, to the city, by raising a causeway
between them, aud adorned that temple
with donations of gold. He, moreover,
went up to Libanus, and had timber cut
down for the building of temples. They
say further, that Solomon, when he was
king of Jerusalem, sent problems to Hi-
ram to be solved, and desired he would
send others back for him to solve, and that
he who could not solve the problems pro-
posed to him, should pay money to him
that solved them; and when Hiram had
* 1 Kings ix. 13.
agreed to the proposals, but was not able
to solve the problems, he was obliged to
pay a great deal of money, as a penalty for
the same. As also they relate, that one
Abdemon, a man of Tyre, did solve the
problems, and proposed others which Solo-
mon could not solve, upon which he was
obliged to repay a great deal of money to
Hiram." These things are attested to by
Dius, and confirm what we have said upon
the same subjects before.
And now I shall add Menander the
Ephesian as an additional witness. This
Menander wrote the Acts that were done
both by the Greeks and Barbarians, un-
der every one of the Tyrian kings ; and
had taken much psdns to learn their his-
tory out of their own records. Now, when
he was writing about those kings that had
reigned at Tyre, he came to Hiram, and
says thus : — " Upon the death of Abibalus,
his son Hiram took the kingdom ; he
lived fifty-three years, and reigned thirty-
four. He raised a bank on that called
the Broad Place, and dedicated that golden
pillar which is in Jupiter's temple; he
also went and cut down timber from the
mountain called Libanus, and got timber
of cedar for the roofs of the temples. He
also pulled down the old temples, and
built new ones : besides this, he conse-
crated the temples of Hercules and Astarte.
He first built Hercules's temple, in the
month Peritus, and that of Astarte, when
he made his expedition against the Tit vans,
who would not pay him their tribute ; and
when he had subdued them to himself, he
returned home. Under this king there
was a younger son of Abdemon, who mas-
tered the problems which Solomon, king
of Jerusalem, had recommended to be
solved." Now the time from this king to
the building of Carthage, is thus calcu-
lated : — " Upon the death of Hiram, Balea-
zarus his son took the kingdom ; he lived
forty-three years, and reigned seven years :
after him succeeded his son Abdastartus ;
he lived twenty-nine years, and reigned
nine years. Now four sons of his nurse
plotted against him and slew him, the eld-
est of whom reigned twelve years : after
them came Astartus, the son of Deleastar-
tus; he lived fifty -four years, and reigned
twelve years: after him came his brother
Aserymus; he lived fifty -four years, and
reigned nine years: he was slain by his
brother Pheles, who took the kingdom,
and reigned but eight months, though he
lived fifty years : he was slain by Ithoba-
Book I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
413
lus, the priest of Astarte, who reigned
thirty-two years, and lived sixty-eight
years: he was succeeded hy his son
Badezorns, who lived forty-five years, and
reigned six years; he was succeeded by
Matgcnus his son: he lived thirty-two
years, and reigned nine years ; Pygmalion
succeeded him: he lived fifty-six years,
and reigned forty-seven years. Nov?, in
the seventh year of his reign, his Bister
fled away from him, and built the city of
Carthage in Libya." So the whole time
from the reign of Hiram till the building
of Carthage, amounts to the sum of 155
years and eight months. Since then the
temple was built at Jerusalem in the
twelfth year of the reign of Hiram, there
were from the building of the temple un-
til the building of Carthage, 143 years
and eight months. Wherefore, what oc-
casion is there for alleging any more testi-
monies out of the Phoenician histories [on
the behalf of our nation], since what I
have said is so thoroughly confirmed al-
ready ? and to be sure our ancestors came
into this country long before the building
of the temple ; for it was not till we had
gotten possession of the whole land by
war that we built our temple. And this
is the point that I have clearly proved
out of our sacred writings in my Anti-
quities.
I will now relate what hath been writ-
ten concerning us in the Chaldean histo-
ries; which records have a great agree-
ment with our books in other things also.
Berosus shall be witness to what I say :
he was by birth a Chaldean, well known
by the learned, on account of his publica-
tion of the Chaldean books of astronomy
and philosophy among the Greeks. This
Berosus, therefore, following the most an-
cient records of that nation, gives us a
history of the deluge of waters that then
happened, and of the destruction of man-
kind thereby, and agrees with Moses's
narration thereof. He also gives us an
account of that ark wherein Noah, the
origin of our race, was preserved, when it
was brought to the highest part of the
Armenian mountains : after which he
gives us a catalogue of the posterity of
Noah, and adds the years of their chrono-
logy, and at length comes down to Nabo-
lassar, who was king of Babylon, and of
the Chaldeans. And when he was relating
the acts of this king, he describes to us
how he sent his son Nabuchodonosor
against Egypt, and against our land, with
3 L
a great army, upon his being informed
that they had revolted from him ; and how,
by that means, he subdued them all, and
set our temple that was at Jerusalem on
fire; nay, and removed our people en-
tirely out of their own country, and trans-
ferred them to Babylon; when it so hap-
pened that our city was desolate during
the interval of seventy years, until the
days of Cyrus, king of Persia. He then
says, "That this Babylonian king con-
quered Egypt, and Syria, and Phoenicia,
and Arabia; and exceeded in his exploits
all that had reigned before him in Babylon
and Chaldea." A little after which Be-
rosus subjoins what follows in his History
of Ancient Times: I will set down Bero-
sus's own accounts, which are these : —
"When Nabolassar, father of Nabuchodo-
nosor, heard that the governor whom he
had set over Egypt and over the parts of
Celesyria and Phoenicia had revolted from
him, he was not able to bear it any
longer; but committing certain parts of
his army to his son Nabuchodonosor, who
was then but young, he sent him against
the rebel: Nabuchodonosor joined battle
with him, and conquered him, and reduced
the country under his dominion again.
Now it so fell out, that his father Nabo-
lassar fell into a distemper at this time,
and died in the city of Babylon, after he
had reigned twenty-nine years. But as
he understood, in a little time, that his
father Nabolassar was dead, he set the
affairs of Egypt and the other countries in
order, and committed the captives he had
taken from the Jews, and Phoenicians, and
Syrians, and of the nations belonging to
Egypt, to some of his friends, that they
might conduct that part of the forces that
had on heavy armour, with the rest of his
ba^ace, to Babylonia, while he went iu
haste, having but a few with him, over the
desert to Babylon; whither when he was
come, he found the public affairs had been
managed by the Chaldeans, and that the
principal persons among them had pre-
served the kingdom for him. Accordingly,
he now entirely obtained all his father's
dominions. He then came, and ordered
the captives to be placed as colonies in the
most proper places of Babylonia: but for
himself, he adorned the temple of Belus,
and the other temples, after an elegant
manner, out of the spoils he had taken in
this war. He also rebuilt the whole city,
and added another to it on the outside,
and so far restored Babylon, that none
114
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book 1
L
who should besiege it afterward might
have it in their power to divert the river,
so as to facilitate an entrance into it; and
this he did by building three walls about
the inner city,, and three about the outer.
Some of these walls he built of burnt brick
and bitumen, and some of brick only. So
when he had thus fortified the city with
walls, after an excellent manner, and had
adorned the gates magnificently, he added
a new palace to that which his father had
dwelt in, and this close by it also, and
that more eminent in its height, and in
its great splendour. It would perhaps re-
quire too long a narration, if any one were
to describe it. However, as prodigiously
large and magnificent as it was, it was
finished in fifteen days. Now in this
palace he erected very high walks, sup-
ported by stone pillars, and by planting
what was called a pensile paradise, and
replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he
rendered the prospect of an exact resem-
blance of a mountainous country. This
he did to please his queen, because she
had been brought up in Media, and was
fond of a mountainous situation."
This is what Berosus relates concerning
the before-mentioned king, as he relates
many other things about him also in the
third book of his Chaldean History;
wherein he complains of the Grecian
writers for supposing, without any found-
ation, that Babylon was built by Semi-
ramis, queen of Assyria, and for her false
pretence to those wonderful edifices thereto
relating, as if they were her own work-
manship; as indeed in these affairs, the
Chaldean History cannot but be the most
credible. Moreover, we meet with a con-
firmation of what Berosus says, in the
archives of the Phoenicians, concerning
this king Nabuchodonosor, that he con-
quered all Syria and Phoenicia; in which
case Philostratus agrees with the others
in that history which he composed, where
he mentions the siege of Tyre; as does
Megasthenes also, in the fourth book of
his Indian History, wherein he pretends
to prove that the before-mentioned king of
the Babylonians was superior to Hercules
in strength, and the greatness of his ex-
ploits ; for he says that he conquered a
great part of Libya, and conquered Iberia
also. Now, as to what I have said before
about the temple at Jerusalem, that it was
fought against by the Babylonians, and
burnt by them, but was opened again
when Cyrus had taken the kingdom of
Asia, shall now be demonstrated from
what Berosus adds further upon that head ;
for thus he says in his third book : — " Na-
buchodonosor, after he had begun to build
the before-mentioned wall, fell sick, and
departed this life, when he had reigned
forty-three years; whereupon his son Evil-
merodach obtained the kingdom. He
governed public affairs after an illegal and
impure manner, and had a plot laid against
him by Neriglissoor, his sister's husband,
and was slain by him when he had reigned
but two years. After he was slain, Neri-
glissoor, the person who plotted against
him-, succeeded him in the kingdom, and
reigned four years ; his son Laborosoar-
chod obtained the kingdom, though he was
but a child, and kept it nine months ; but
by reason of the very ill temper and ill
practices he exhibited to the world, a plot
was laid against him also by his friends,
and he was tormented to death. After
his death, the conspirators got together,
and by common consent put the crown
upon the head of Nabonnedus, a man of
Babylon, and one who belonged to that
insurrection. In his reign it was that the
walls of the city of Babylon were curiously
built with burnt brick and bitumen ; but
when he was come to the seventeenth year
of his reign, Cyrus came out of Persia
with a great army; and having already
conquered all the rest of Asia, he came
hastily to Babylonia. When Nabonnedus
perceived he was coming to attack him, he
met him with his forces, and joining battle
with him, was beaten, and fled away with
a few of his troops with him, and was shut
up within the city Borsippus. Hereupon
Cyrus took Babylon, and gave order that
the outer walls of the city should be de-
molished, because the city had proved
very troublesome to him, and cost him a
great deal of pains to take it. He then
marched away to Borsippus, to besiege
Nabonnedus ; but as Nabonnedus did not
sustain the siege, but delivered himself
into his hands, he was at first kindly
used by Cyrus, who gave him Carmania,
as a place for him to inhabit in, but sent
him out of Babylonia. Accordingly, Na-
bonnedus spent the rest of his time in that
country, and there died."
These accounts agree with the true his-
tory in our books ; for in them it is writ-
ten that Nebuchadnezzar, in the eighteenth
year of his reign, laid our temple desolate,
and so it lay in that state of obscurity for
fifty years; but that in the second yeai
Book I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
415
of the reigu of Cyrus, its foundations
were kid, ;md it was finished again in the
second year of D;irius. I will now add
the records of the Phoenicians; for it will
not be altogether superfluous to give the
reader demonstrations more than enow on
this occasion. In them we have this enu-
meration of the times of their several
kings : — " Nabuchodonosoi besieged Tyre
for thirteen years in the days of Ithobal,
their king; after him reigned Baal, ten
years ; after him were judges appointed,
who judged the people : Ecmbalus, the
son of Balsacus, two montns; Chelbes,
the son of Abdeus, ten months ; Abhar,
the high priest, three months ; Mitgonus
and Gerastratus, the sons of Abdclemus,
were judges six years ; after whom Bala-
torus reigned one year; after his death
they sent and fetched Merbalus from Ba-
bylon, who reigned four years ; after his
death they sent for his brother Hiram,
who reigned twenty years. Under his
reign Cyrus became king of Persia." So
that the whole interval is fifty-four years,
besides three months ; for in the seventh
year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he
began to besiege Tyre ; and Cyrus the
Persian took the kingdom in the four-
teenth year of Hiram. So that the re-
records of the Chaldeans and Tyrians
agree with our writings about this temple;
and the testimonies here produced are an
indisputable and undeniable attestation
to the antiquity of our nation ; and I
suppose that what I have already said
may be sufficient to such as are not very
contentious.
But now it is proper to satisfy the in-
quiry of those that disbelieve the records
of barbarians, and think none but Greeks
to be worthy of credit, and to produce
many of these very Greeks who were ac-
quainted with our nation, and to set be-
fore them such as upon occasion have
made mention of us in their own writings.
Pythagoras, therefore, of Samos, lived in
very ancient times, and was esteemed a
person superior to all philosophers, in wis-
dom and piety toward God. Now it is
plain that he did not only know our doc-
trines, but was in very great measure a
follower and admirer of them. There is
not, indeed, extant, any writing that is
owned for his; but mauy there are who
have written his history, of whom Her-
mippus is the most celebrated, who was a
person very inquisitive in all sorts of his-
tory. Now this Herinippus, in his first
book concerning Pythagoras, speaks thus :
" That Pythagoras, upon the death of one
of his associates, whose name was Calli-
phon, a Crotoniatc by birth, affirmed that
this man's soul conversed with him both
night and day, and enjoined him not to
pass over a place where an ass had fallen
down ; as also not to drink of such waters
as caused thirst again ; and to abstain
from all sorts of reproaches." After
which he adds thus : " This he did and
said in imitation of the doctrines of the
Jews and Thracians, which he transferred
into his own philosophy." For it is very
truly affirmed of this Pythagoras, that he.
took a great many of the laws of the Jews
into his own philosophy. Nor was our
nation unknown of old to several of the
Grecian cities, and, indeed, was thought
worthy of imitation by some of them.
This is declared by Thcophrastus, in his
writings concerning laws ; for he says that
" the laws of the Tyrians forbid men to
swear foreign oaths." Among which he
enumerates some others, and particularly
that called Corban ; which oath can only
be found among the Jews, and declares
what a man may call " A thing devoted to
God." Nor, indeed, was Herodotus, of
Halicarnassus, unacquainted with our na-
tion, but mentions it after a way of his
own, when he saith thus, in the second
book concerning the Colchians. His
words are these : — " The only people who
were circumcised in their privy members
originally, were the Colchians, the Egyp-
tians, and the Ethiopians; but the Phoe-
nicians and those Syrians that are in Pa-
lestine, confess that they learned it from
the Egyptians ; and as for those Syrians
who live about the rivers Thermoden and
Parthemius, and their neighbours the Ma-
crones, they say they have lately learned
it from the Colchians ; for these are the
only people that are circumcised among
mankind, and appear to have done the
very same thing with the Egyptians; but
as for the Egyptians and Ethiopians them-
selves, I am not able to say which of them
received it from the other." This, there-
fore, is what Herodotus says, that " the
Syrians that are in Palestine are circum-
cised." But there are no inhabitants of
Palestine that are circumcised excepting
the Jews; and, therefore, it must be his
knowledge of them that enabled him to
speak so much concerning them. Chcri-
lus also, a still more ancient writer, and a
poet, makes mention of our nation, and
416
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AFION.
[Book I.
informs us that it came to the assistance
of King Xerxes, in his expedition against
Greece ; for, in his enumeration of all
those nations, he last of all inserts ours
among the rest, when he says — " At the
last there passed over a people, wonderful
to be beheld; for they spake the Phoeni-
cian tongue with their mouths ; they
dwelt in the Solymean mountains, near a
broad lake : their heads were sooty ; they
had round rasures on them : their heads
and faces were like nasty horse-heads also,
that had been hardened in the smoke."
I think, therefore, that it is evident to
everybody that Cherilus means us, because
the Solymean mountains are in our coun-
try, wherein we inhabit, as is also the lake
called Asphaltitis; for this is a broader
and larger lake than any other that is in
Syria : and thus does Cherilus make men-
tion of us. But now that not only the
lowest sort of the Grecians, but those that
are held in the greatest admiration for
their philosophic improvements among
them, did not only know the Jews, but
when they lighted upon any of them ad-
mired them also, it is easy for any one to
know ; for Clearchus, who was the scho-
lar of Aristotle, and inferior to no one of
the Peripatetics whomsoever, in his first
book concerning sleep, says that "Aristo-
tle, his master, related what follows of a
Jew," and sets down Aristotle's own dis-
course with him. The account is this, as
written down by him : — " Now, for a great
part of what this Jew said, it would be
too long to recite it; but what includes in
it both wonder and philosophy, it may not
be amiss to discourse of. Now, that I
may be plain with thee, Hyperochides, I
shall herein seem to thee to relate won-
ders, and what will resemble dreams them-
selves. Hereupon Hyperochides answered
modestly, and said, For that very reason it
is that all of us are very desirous of hear-
ing what thou art going to say. Then
replied Aristotle, For this cause it will be
the best way to imitate that rule of the
rhetoricians, which recpuires us first to give
an account of the man, and of what na-
tion he was, that so we may not contra-
dict our master's directions. Then said
Hyperochides, Go on, if it so pleases
thee. This man then [answered Aristo-
tle] was by birth a Jew, and came from
Celesyria ; these Jews are derived from
the Indian philosophers; they are named
by the Indians Calami, and by the Syrians
Judaei, and took their name from the
country they inhabit, which is called
Judea; but for the name of their
city it is a very awkward one, for they
call it Jerusalem. Now this man, when
he was hospitably treated by a great many,
came down from the upper country to the
places near the sea, and became a Grecian,
not only in his language, but in his soul
also ; insomuch that when we ourselves
happened to be in Asia about the same
places whither he came, he conversed with
us and with other philosophical persons, and
made a trial of our skill in philosophy ;
and, as he had lived with many learned
men, he communicated to us more infor-
mation than he received from us." This
is Aristotle's account of the matter, as
given us by Clearchus; which Aristotle
discoursed also particularly of the great
and wonderful fortitude of this Jew in
his diet, and continent way of living, as
those that please may learn more about
him from Clearchus' s book itself; for I
avoid setting down any more than is suffi-
cient for my purpose. Now Clearchus
said this by way of digression, for his
main design was of another nature ; but
for Hecateus of Abdera, who was both a
philosopher, and one very useful in an
active life, he was contemporary with
King Alexander in his youth, and after-
ward with Ptolemy, the son of Lagus ; he
did not write about the Jewish affairs by-
the-by only, but composed an entire book
concerning the Jews themselves ; out of
which book I am willing to run over a few
things, of which I have been treating by
way of epitome. And. in the first place I
will demonstrate the time when this He-
cateus lived ; for he mentions the fight
that was between Ptolemy and Demetrius
about Gaza, which was fought in the ele-
venth year after the death of Alexander,
and in the 117th olympiad, as Castor says
in history. For when he had set down
this olympiad, he says further, that " on
this olympiad, Ptolemy, the son of Lagus,
beat in battle Demetrius, the son of An-
tigonus, who was named Poliorcetes, at
Gaza." Now, it is agreed by all, that
Alexander died in the 114th olympiad ;
it is, therefore, evident that our nation
flourished in his time, and in the time of
Alexander. Again, Hecateus says to the
same purpose, as follows : — " Ptolemy got
possession of the places in Syria after the
battle at Gaza; and mauy, when they
heard of Ptolemy's moderation and hu-
manity, went along with him to Egypt,
Book I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
417
and were willing to assist him in Ins af-
fairs ; one of whom (Hecateus says) was
Hezekiah, the high priest of the Jews; a
man of about sixty-six years of age, and
in great dignity among his own people.
He was a very sensible man, and could
speak very movingly, and was very skilful
in the management of affairs, if any other
man ever were so ; although, as he says,
all the priests of the Jews took tithes of
the products of the earth, and managed
public affairs, and were in number not
above 1500 at the most." Hecateus
mentions this Hezekiah a second time,
and says that, " as he was possessed of so
great a dignity, and was become familiar
with us, so did he take certain of those
that were with him, and explained to
them all the circumstances of their peo-
ple ; for he had all their habitations and
polity down in writing." Moreover,
Hecateus declares again, "what regard
we have for our laws, and that we resolve
to endure any thing rather than transgress
them, because we think it right for us to
do so." Whereupon he adds, that, "al-
though they are in a bad reputation among
their neighbours, and among all those that
come to them, and have been often treated
injuriously by the kings and governors of
Persia, yet can they not be dissuaded from
actin^ what they think best; but that
when they are stripped on this account,
and have torments inflicted upon them,
and they are brought to the most terrible
kinds of death, they meet them after a
most extraordinary manner, beyond all
other people, and will not renounce the
religion of their forefathers." Hecateus
also produces demonstrations not a few of
this their resolute tenaciousness of their
laws, when he speaks thus : — " Alexander
was once at Babylon, and had an intention
to rebuild the temple of Belus that was
fallen to decay, and, in order thereto, he
commanded all his soldiers in general to
bring earth thither. But the Jews, and
they only, would not comply with that
command; nay, they underwent stripes
and great losses of what they had on this
account, till the king forgave them, and
permitted them to live in quiet." He
adds further, that " when the Macedonians
came to them in that country, and demo-
lished the [old] temples and the altars,
they assisted them in demolishing them
all ; but [for not assisting them in re-
building them] they either underwent
losses, or sometimes obtained forgiveness."
Vol. II.— 27
He adds further, that "these men deserve
to be admired on that account." He also
speaks of the mighty populousness of our
nation, and says that " the Persians for-
merly carried away many ten thousands
of our people to Babylon, as also that not
a few ten thousands were removed after
Alexander's death into Egypt and Phoe-
nicia, by reason of the sedition that was
arisen in Syria." The same person takes
notice in his history how large the coun-
try is which we inhabit, as well as of its
excellent character, and says that "the
land in which the Jews inhabit contains
3,000,000 of arouroe, and is generally of a
most excellent and most fruitful soil ; nor
is Judea of lesser dimensions." The
same man describes our city Jerusalem
also itself as of a most excellent structure,
and very large, and inhabited from the
most ancient times. He also discourses
of the multitude of men in it, and of the
construction of our temple, after the fol-
lowing manner : — " There are many strong
places and villages (says he) in the coun-
try of Judea ; but one strong city there is,
about fifty furlongs in circumference,
which is inhabited by 120,000 men, or
thereabouts: they call it Jerusalem.
There is, about the middle of the city,
a wall of stone, the length of which_ is
500 feet, and the breadth 100 cubits, with
double cloisters; wherein there is a square
altar, not made of hewn stone, but com-
posed of white stones gathered together,
having each side twenty cubits long, and
its altitude ten cubits. Hard by it is a
large edifice, wherein there is an altar and
a candlestick, both of gold, and in weight
two talents; upon these there is a light
that is never extinguished, neither by
night nor by day. There is no image, nor
any thing, nor any donations therein : no-
thing at all is there planted, neither grove,
nor any thing of that sort. The priests
abide therein both nights and days, per-
forming certain purifications, and drinking
not the least drop of wine while they are
in the temple." Moreover, he attests that
we Jews went as auxiliaries along with
King Alexander, and after him with his
successors. I will add further what he
says he learned when he was himself with
the same army, concerning the actions of
a man that was a Jew. His words are
,these :— " As I was myself going to the
Red Sea, there followed us a man whose
name was Mosollam; he was one of the
Jewish horsemen who conducted us ; he
413
FLAVIUS JOSErHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book I.
was a person of great courage, of a strong
body, and by all allowed to be tbe most
skilful archer that was either among the
Greeks or barbarians. Now this man, as
people were in great numbers passing along
the road, and a certain augur was observ-
ing an augury by a bird, and requiring
them all to stand still, inquired what they
stayed for. Hereupon the augur showed
him the bird from whence he took his
augury, and told him that if the bird
stayed where he was, they ought all to
stand still ; but that if he got up, and
flew onward, they must go forward ; but
that if he flew backward, they must retire
again. Mosollam made no reply, but
drew his bow, and shot at the bird, and
hit him, and killed him ; and as the augur
and some others were very angry, and
wished imprecations upon him, he an-
swered them thus : Why are you so mad
as to take this most unhappy bird into
your hands ? for how can this bird give us
any true information concerning our march,
which could not foresee how to save him-
self? for had he been able to foreknow
what was future, he would not have come
to this place, but would have been afraid
lest Mosollam the Jew would shoot at him,
and kill him." But of Hecateus's testi-
monies we have said enough, for as to such
as desire to know more of them, they may
easily obtain them from his book itself.
However, I shall not think it too much
for me to name Agatharchides, as having
made mention of us Jews, though in way
of derision at our simplicity, as he sup-
poses it to be; for when he was discoursing
of the affairs of Stratonice, " how she came
out of Macedonia into Syria, and left her
husband Demetrius, while yet Seleucus
would not marry her as she expected, but
during the time of his raising an army at
Babylon, stirred up a sedition about An-
tioch ; aud how after that the king came
back, and upon his taking of Antioch, she
fled to Seleucia, and had it in her power
to sail away immediately, yet did she com-
ply with a dream which forbade her so to
do, and so was caught and put to death."
When Agatharchides had premised this
story, and had jested upon Stratonice for
her superstition, he gives a like example
of what was reported concerning us, and
writes thus: — "There are a people called
Jews, who dwell in a city the strongest of'
all other cities, which the inhabitants call
Jerusalem, aud are accustomed to rest on
every seventh day ; on which times they
make no use of their arms, nor medd«;»
with husbandry, nor take care of any
affairs of life, but spread out their hands
in their holy places, and pray till the even-
ing. Now it came to pass, that when
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, came into this
city with his army, these men, in observing
this mad custom of theirs, instead of
guarding the city, suffered their country
to submit itself to a bitter lord ; and their
law was openly proved to have commanded
a foolish practice.* This accident taught
all other men but the Jews to disregard
such dreams as these were, and not to fol-
low the like idle suggestions delivered as
a law, when, in such uncertainty of human
reasonings, they are at a loss what they
should do." Now this our procedure
seems a ridiculous thing to Agatharchides,
but will appear to such as consider it
without prejudice a great thing, and what
deserved a great many encomiums ; I
mean, when certain men constantly prefer
the observation of their laws, and their
religion toward God, before the preserva-
tion of themselves and their country.
Now, that some writers have omitted to
mention our nation, not because they
knew nothing of us, but because they en-
vied us, or for some other unjustifiable
reasons, I think I can demonstrate by
particular instances; for Hieronymus, who
wrote the History of [Alexander's] suc-
cessors, lived at the same time with He-
cateus, and was a friend of King Antigonus,
and president of Syria. Now, it is plain
that Hecateus wrote an entire book con-
cerning us, while Hieronymus never men-
tions us in his history, although he was
bred up very near to the places where we
live. Thus different from one another are
the inclinations of men ; while the one
.thought we deserved to be carefully re-
membered, as some ill-disposed passion
blinded the other's mind so entirely, that
he could not discern the truth. And now,
certainly, the foregoing records of the
Egyptians, and Chaldeans, and Phoeni-
cians, together with so many of the' Greek
writers, will be sufficient for the demon-
stration of our antiquity. Moreover, be-
sides those before mentioned, Theophilus,
Theodotus, and Mnaseas, aud Aristo-
phanes, and Hermogenes, Euhemerus also,
and Conon, and Zopyrion, and perhaps
many others (for I have not lighted upon
* Not their law, but the superstitious interpreta-
tion of their leaders.
bOOK I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
no
all the Greek books) Lave made distinct
mention of us. It is true, many of the
men before mentioned have made great
mistakes about the true accounts of our
nation in the earliest times, because they
had not perused our sacred books; yet
have they all of them afforded their testi-
mony to our antiquity, concerning which
I am now treating. However, Demetrius
Phalerus, and the elder Philo, with Eupo-
lcmus, have not greatly missed the truth
about our affairs; whose lesser mistakes
ought therefore to be forgiven them ; for
it was not in their power to understand
our writings with the utmost accuracy.
One particular there is still remaining
behind of what I at first proposed to speak
to, and that is to demonstrate that those
calumnies and reproaches, which "some
have thrown upon our nation, are lies, and
to make use of those writers' own testi-
monies against themselves : and that in
general this self-contradiction hath hap-
pened to many other authors by reason of
their ill-will to some people, I conclude,
is not unknown to such as have read his-
tories with sufficient care; for some of
them have endeavoured to disgrace the no-
bility of certain nations, and of some of
the most glorious cities, and have cast re-
proaches upon certain forms of govern-
ment. Thus hath Theopompus abused
the city of Athens, Polycrates that of La-
cedemon, as hath he that wrote the Tripo-
liticus (for he is not Theopompus, as is
supposed by some,) done by the city of
Thebes. Timeusalso hath greatly abused
the foregoing people and others also ; and
this ill treatment they use chiefly when
they have a contest with men of the great-
est reputation ; some, out of envy and
malice, and others as supposing that by
this foolish talking of theirs, they may be
thought worthy of being remembered
themselves ; and, indeed, they do by no
means fail of their hopes, with regard to
the foolish part of mankind, but men of
sober judgment still condemn them of
great malignity.
Now the Egyptians were the first that
cast reproaches upon us; in order to
please which nation, some others under-
took to pervert the truth, while they would
neither own that our forefathers came into
Egypt from another country, as the fact
Was, nor give a true account of our depar-
ture thence; and indeed the Egyptians
took many occasions to hate us and euvy
us : in the first place, because our ancestors
had had the dominion over their country,*
and when they were delivered from them,
and gone to their own country a^ain, they
lived there in prosperity. In the next
place, the difference of our religion from
theirs hath occasioned great enmity be-
tween us, while our way of divine worship
did as much exceed that which their laws
appointed, as does the nature of God ex-
ceed that of brute beasts ; for so far they
all agree through the whole country, to
esteem such animals as gods, although
they differ from one another in the pecu-
liar worship they severally pay to them ;
and certainly, meu they are entirely of
vain and foolish minds, who have thus ac-
customed themselves from the beginning
to have such bad notions concerning their
gods, and could not think of imitating that
decent form of divine worship which was
made use of, though', when they saw our
institutions approved of by many others,
they could not but envy us on that ac-
count; for some of them have proceeded
to that degree of folly and meanness in
their conduct, as not to scruple to contra-
dict their own ancient records, nay, to con-
tradict themselves also in their writings,
and yet were so blinded by their passions
as not to discern it.
And now I will turn my discourse to
one of their principal writers, whom I have
a little before made use of as a witness to
our antiquity : I mean Manetho.f He
promised to interpret the Egyptian history
out of their sacred writings, and premised
this : that " our people had come into
Egypt, many ten thousands in number,
and subdued its inhabitants;" and when
he had further confessed that "we went
out of that country afterward, and settled
iu that country which is now called Judca,
* Tho Phoenician shepherds, **-horn Josephus
mistook for tho Israelites.
f "In reading this and the remaining sectioil? of
this book, and some parts of the next, one may
easily perceive that our usually cool and candid
author, Josephus, was too highly offecded witii the
impudent calumnies of Manetho, and the oth-.-r bit-
ter enemies of the Jews, with whom he hid now to
deal, and was thereby betrayed into a greater heat
and passion than ordinary, and that by cons.
he does not hear reason with his usual fairness and
impartiality; he seems to depart sometimes from
the brevity and sincerity of a faithful historian,
which is his grand character, and indulges the pro-
lixity and colours of a pleader and a disputant:
accordingly, I confess, I always read these sections
with less pleasure than I do the rest of his writ-
ings; though I fully believe the reproaches cast
on the Jews, which he here endeavours to confute
and expose, were wholly groundless and unreason-
ble." — Whiston.
420
FLAYIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
[Book I.
and there built Jerusalem and its temple."
Now thus far he followed his ancient re-
cords; but after this he permits himself,
in order to appear to have written what
rumours and reports passed abroad about
the Jews, and introduces incredible nar-
rations, as if he would have the Egyp-
tian multitude, that had the leprosy
and other distempers, to have been
mixed with us, as he says they were,
and that they were condemned to fly out
of Egypt together; for he mentions Ame-
nophis, a fictitious king's name, though on
that account he durst not set down the
number of years of his reign, which yet he
had accurately done as to the other kings
he mentions ; he then ascribes certain
fabulous stories to this king, as having in
a manner forgotten how he had already
related that the departure of the shepherds
for Jerusalem had been 518 years before;
for Tethmosis was king when they went
awa}T. Now, from his days, the reigns of
the intermediate kings, according to Ma-
netho, amounted to 393 years, as he says
himself, till the two brothers Sethos and
Hermeus; the one of whom, Sethos, was
called by that other name of Egyptus;
and the other, Hermeus, by that of Danaus.
He also says that Sethos cast the other out
of Egypt, and reigned fifty-nine years, as
did his eldest son Rhampses reign after
him sixty-six years. "When Manetho,
therefore, had acknowledged that our
forefathers had gone out of Egypt so many
years ago, he introduces his fictitious king
Amenophis, and says thus: "This king
was desirous to become a spectator of the
gods, as had Orus, one of his predecessors
in that kingdom, desired the same before
him; he also communicated that his de-
sire to his namesake Amenophis, who was
the son of Papis, and one that seemed to
partake of a divine nature, both as to wis-
dom and the knowledge of futurities."
Manetho adds — " How this namesake of
his told him that he might see the gods if
he would clear the whole country of the
lepers and of the other impure people ;
and the king was pleased with this injunc-
tion, and got together all that had any de-
fects in their bodies out of Egypt. And
that their number was 80,000; whom he
sent to those quarries which are on the
east side of the Nile, that they might
work in them, and might be separated
from the rest of the Egyptians." He says
further, that "there were some of the
learned priests that were polluted with the
leprosy; but that still this Amenophis,
the wise man and the prophet^ was afraid
that the gods would be angry at him and
at the king, if there should appear to have
been violence offered them ; who also
added this further [out of his sagacity
about futurities], that certain people would
come to the assistance of these polluted
wretches, and would conquer Egypt, and
keep it in their possession thirteen years:
that, however, he durst not tell the king
of these things, but that he left a writing
behind him about all those matters, and
then slew himself, which made the king
disconsolate."
After which he writes thus, verbatim :
" After those that were sent to work in the
quarries had continued in that miserable
state for a long while, the king was desired
that he would set apart the city Avaris,
which was then left desolate of the
shepherds, for their habitation and pro-
tection ; which desire he granted them.
Now this city, according to the ancient
theology, was Trypho's city. But when
these men were gotten into it, and found
the place fit for a revolt, they appointed
themselves a ruler out of the priests of
Heliopolis, whose name was Osarsiph, and
they took their oaths that they would be
obedient to him in all things. He then,
in the first place, made this law for them,
that they should neither worship the
Egyptian gods, nor should abstain from
any one of those sacred animals which
they have in the highest esteem, but kill
and destroy them all ; that they should
join themselves to nobody but to those
that were of this confederacy. When he
had made such laws as these, and many
more such as were mainly opposite to the
customs of the Egyptians,* he gave order
that they should use the multitude of the
hands they had in building walls about
their city, and make themselves ready for
a war with King Amenophis, while he did
himself take into his friendship the other
priests and those that were polluted with
them, and sent ambassadors to those
shepherds who had been driven out of the
land by Tethmosis to the city called Jeru-
salem ; whereby he informed them of his
own affairs, and of the state of those
others that had been treated after such an
ignominious manner, and desired that they
* This is a very valuable testimony of Manetho,
that the laws of Osarsiph, or Moses, were not
made in compliance with, but in opposition to, the
customs of the Egyptians.
Book L"!
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
421
would come with one consent to his as-
sistance in this war against Egypt. He
also promised that he would, in the first
place, bring them back to their ancient
city and country Avaris, and provide a
plentiful maintenance for their multitude ;
that he would protect them and fight
for them as occasion should require, and
would easily reduce the country under
their dominion. These shepherds were
all very glad. of this message, and came
away with alacrity all together, being in
number 200,000 men ; and in a little
time they came to Avaris. And now
Amenophis, the king of Egypt, upon his
being informed of their invasion, was in
great confusion, as calling to mind what
Amenophis, the son of Papis, had foretold
him ; and in the first place, he assembled
the multitude of the Egyptians, and took
counsel with their leaders, and sent for
their sacred animals to him, especially for
those that were principally worshipped in
their temple, antl gave a particular charge
to the priests distinctly, that they should
hide the images of their gods with the
utmost care. He also sent his son Sethos,
who was also named Harnesses from his
father Rhampses, being but five years old,
to a friend of his. He then passed on
with the rest of the Egyptians, being
800,000 of the most warlike of them,
against the enemy, who met them. Yet
did he not join battle with them j but
thinking that would be to fight against
the gods, he returned back and came to
Memphis, where he took Apis and the
other sacred animals which he had sent
for to him, and presently marched into
Ethiopia, together with his whole army
and multitude of Egyptians ; for the king
of Ethiopia was under an obligation to
him, on which account he received him,
and took care of all the multitude that
was with him, while the country supplied
all that was necessary for the food of the
men. He also allotted cities and villages
for this exile, that was to be from its be-
ginning during those fatally determined
thirteen years. Moreover, he pitched a
camp for his Ethiopian army, as a guard
to King Amenophis, upon the borders of
Egypt. And this was the state of things
in Ethiopia. But for the people of Jeru-
salem, when they came down together
with the polluted Egyptians, they treated
the men in such a barbarous manner, that
those who saw how they subdued the
before mentioned country, and the horrid
wickedness they were guilty of, thought it
a most dreadful thing; for they did not
only set the cities and villages on fire, but
were not satisfied till they had been guilty
of sacrilege, and destroyed the images of
the gods, and used them in roasting those
sacred animals that used to be worshipped,
aud forced the priests and prophets to be
the executioners and murderers of those
animals, and then ejected them naked out
of the country. It was also reported that
the priest who ordained their polity and
their laws, was by birth of Heliopolis;
and his name Osarsiph, from Osiris, who
was the god of Heliopolis; but that when
he was gone over to these people, his name
was changed, and he was called Moses."
This is what the Egyptians relate about
the Jews, with much more, which I omit
for the sake of brevity. But still Mane-
tho goes on, that "after this, Amenophis
returned from Ethiopia with a great army,
as did his son Rhampses with another
army also, and that both of them joined
battle with the shepherds and the polluted
people, and beat them and slew a great
many of them, and pursued them to the
bounds of Syria." These and the like
accounts are written by Manetho. But I
will demonstrate that he trifles, and tells
arrant lies, after I have made a distinction
which will relate to what I am going to
say about him ; for this Manetho had
granted and confessed that this nation
was not originally Egyptian, but that they
had come from another country, and
subdued Egypt, and then went away again
out of it. But that those Egyptians who
were thus diseased in their bodies were not
mingled with us afterward, and that Moses
who brought the people out was not one of
that company, but lived many generations
earlier, I shall endeavour to demonstrate
from Manetho's own accouuts themselves.
Now, for the first occasion of this
fiction, Manetho supposes what is no bet-
ter than a ridiculous thing; for he says
that " King Amenophis desired to see the
gods." What gods, I pray, did he desire
to see ? If he meant the gods whom their
laws ordained to be worshipped, the ox,
the goat, the crocodile, and the baboon,
he saw them already ; but for the heavenly
gods," how could he see them, and what
should occasion this his desire ? To be
sure, it was because another king before
him had already seen them. He had
then been informed what sort of gods
they were, and after what manner they
:=n
422
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book I
had been seen, insomuch that he did not j
stand in need of any new artifice for
obtaining this sight. However, the pro-
phet, by whose means the king thought
to compass his design was a wise man.
If so, how came he not to know that such
his desire was impossible to be accom-
plished ? for the event did not succeed.
And what pretence could there be to
suppose that the gods would not be seen
by reason of the people's maims in their
bodies, or leprosy ? for the gods are not
angry at the imperfection of bodies, but
at wicked practices ; and as to 80,000
lepers, and those in an ill state also, how
is it possible to have them gathered to-
gether in one day ? nay, how came the
king not to comply with the prophet ? for
his injunction was, that those that were
maimed should be expelled out of Egypt,
while the king only sent them to work in
the quarries, as if he were rather in want
of labourers, than intended to purge his
country. He says further, that " this
prophet slew himself, as foreseeing the
anger of the gods, and those events which
were to come upon Egypt afterward ; and
that he left this prediction for the king
in writing. Besides, how came it to pass
that this prophet did not foreknow his
own death at the first ? nay, how came he
not to contradict the king in his desire to
see the gods immediately ? how came that
unreasonable dread upon him of judg-
ments that were not to happen in his life-
time; or what worse thing could he suffer,
out of the fear of which he made haste
to kill himself? But now let us see the
silliest thing of all : — The king, although
he had been informed of these things,
and terrified with the fear of what was to
come, yet did not he even then eject these
maimed people out of his country, when
it had been foretold him that he was to
clear Egypt of them ; but, as Manetho
says, " He then, upon their request, gave
them that city to inhabit, which had for-
merly belonged to the shepherds, and was
called Avaris; whither when they were
gone in crowds (he says) they chose one
that had formerly been priest of Helio-
polis ; and that this priest first ordained
that they should neither worship the gods,
nor abstain from those animals that were
worshipped by the Egyptians, but should
kill and eat them all, and should associate
with nobody but those that had conspired
with them ; and that he bound the multi-
tude by oaths to be sure to continue in
those laws; and that when he had built a
wall about Avaris, he made war against
the king." Manetho adds also, that " this
priest sent to Jerusalem to invite that
people to come to his assistance, and pro-
mised to give them Avaris ; for that it
had belonged to the forefathers of those
that were coming from Jerusalem, and
that when they were come, they made a
war immediately against the king, and
got possession of all Egypt." He says
also, that " the Egyptians came with an
army of 200,000 men, and that Ameno-
phis, the king of Egypt, not thinking that
he ought to fight against the gods, ran
away presently into Ethiopia, and com-
mitted Apis and certain other of their
sacred animals to the priests, and com-
manded them to take care of preserving
them." He says further, that " the people
of Jerusalem came accordingly upon the
Egyptians, and overthrew their cities, and
burnt their temples, and slew their horse-
men, and, in short, abstained from no
sort of wickedness nor barbarity : and for
that priest who settled their polity and
their laws," he says " he was by birth of
Heliopolis, and his name was Osarsiph,
from Osiris, the god of Heliopolis; but
that he changed his name, and called
himself Moses." He then says, that " on
the thirteenth year afterward, Amenophis,
according to the fatal time of the duration
of his misfortunes, came upon them out
of Ethiopia with a great army, and joining
battle with the shepherds and with the
polluted people, overcame them in battle,
and slew a great many of them, and pur-
sued them as far as the bounds of Syria."
Now Manetho does not reflect upon the
improbability of his lie; for the leprous
people, and the multitude that was with
them, although they might formerly have
been angry at the king, and at those that
had treated them so coarsely, and this
according to the prediction of the pro-
phet; yet certainly, when they were come
out of the mines, and had received of the
king a city, and a country, they would
have grown milder toward him. How-
ever, had they ever so much hated him
in particular, they might have laid a
private plot against himself, but would
hardly have made war against all the
Egyptians : I mean this on the account
of the great kindred they who were so
numerous must have had among them.
Nay still, if they had resolved to fight
with the men, they would not have had
Book I.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST AHON.
423
impudence enough to fight with their gods;
nor would they have ordained laws quite
contrary to those of their own country,
and to those in which they had been bred
up themselves. Yet are we beholden to
Manetho, that he does not lay the princi-
pal charge of this horrid transgression
upon those that came from Jerusalem,
but says that the Egyptians themselves
were the most guilty, and that they were
their priests that contrived these things,
and made the multitude take their oaths
for doing so ; but still how absurd is it to
suppose that none of these people's own
relations or friends should be prevailed
with to revolt, nor to undergo the hazards
of war with them ; while these polluted
people were forced to send to Jerusalem,
and bring their auxiliaries from thence !
What friendship, I pray, or what relation
was there formerly between them that
required this assistance ? On the contrary,
these people were enemies, and greatly
differed from them in their customs. He
says, indeed, that they complied immedi-
ately, upon their promising them that
they should conquer Egypt ; as if they
did not themselves very well know that
country out of which they had been
driven by force. Now, had these men
been in want, or lived miserably, perhaps
they might have undertaken so hazardous
an enterprise ; but as they dwelt in a
happy city, and had a large country, and
one better than Egypt itself, how came it
about, that for the sake of those that had
of old been their enemies, of those that
were maimed in their bodies, and of those
whom none of their own relations would
endure, they should run such hazards in
assisting them ? For they could not fore-
see that the king would run away from
them : on the contrary, he saith himself,
that " Amenophis's son had 300,000 men
with him, and met them at Pelusium."
Now, to be sure, those that came could
not be ignorant of this; but for the king's
repentance and flight, how could they
possibly guess at it ? He then says, that
" those who came from Jerusalem, and
made this invasion, got the granaries of
Egypt into their possession, and perpe-
trated many of the most horrid actions
there." And thence he reproaches them,
as though he had not himself introduced
them as enemies, or as though he might
accuse such as were invited from another
place for so doing, when the natural
Egyptians themselves had done the same
things before their coming, and had taken
oaths so to do. However, " Ameno-
phis, some time afterward, came upon
them, and conquered them in a battle, and
slew his enemies, and drove them before
him as far as Syria" As if Egypt were
so easily taken by people that came from
any place whatsoever; and as if those
that had conquered it by war, when they
were informed that Amenophia was alive,
did neither fortify the avenues out of
Ethiopia into it, although they had great
advantages for doing it, nor did get their
other forces ready for their defence ; but
that he followed them over the sandy de-
sert, and slew them as far as Syria; while
yet it is not an easy thing for an army
to pass over that country, even without
fighting.
Our nation, therefore, according to
Manetho, was not derived from Egypt, nor
wire any of the Egyptians mingled with
us, for it is to be supposed that many of
the leprous and distempered people were
dead in the mines, since they had been
there a long time, and in so ill a condition ;
many others must be dead in the battles
that happened afterward, and more still
in the last battle and flight after it.
It now remains that I debate with Ma-
netho about Moses. Now the Egyptians
acknowledge him to have been a wonder-
ful and a divine person ; nay, they would
williugly lay claim to him themselves,
though after a most abusive and incredi-
ble manner; and pretend that he was of
Heliopolis, and one of the priests of that
place, and was ejected out of it among
the rest, on account of his leprosy ; al-
though it had been demonstrated out of
their records, that he lived 518 years
earlier, and then brought our forefathers
out of Egypt into the country that is now
inhabited by us. But now that he was
not subject in his body to any such ca-
lamity, is evident from what he himself
tells us ; for he forbade those that had the
leprosy either to continue in a city, or to
inhabit a village, but commanded that
they should go about by themselves with
their clothes rent ; and declares that such
as either touch them, or live under the
same roof with them, should be esteemed
unclean ; nay, more, if any one of their
disease be healed, and he recover his
natural constitution again, he appointed
them certain purifications and washings
with" spring-water, and the shaving off all
their hair, and enjoins that they shall offer
424
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book 1.
many sacrifices, and those of several kinds,
and then at length to be admitted into the
city holy; although it were to be expected
that, on the contrary, if he had been un-
der the same calamity, he should have
taken care of such persons beforehand,
and have had them treated after a kinder
manner, as affected with a concern for
those that were to be under the like mis-
fortunes with himself. Nor was it only
those leprous people for whose sake he
made these laws, but also for such as
should be maimed in the smallest part of
their body, who yet are not permitted by
him to officiate as priests ; nay, although
any priest, already initiated, should have
such a calamity fall upon him afterward,
he ordered him to be deprived of his
honour of officiating. How can it then
be supposed that Moses should ordain
such laws against himself, to his own re-
proach and damage who so ordained them ?
Nor, indeed, is that other notion of Ma-
netho at all probable, wherein he relates
the change of bis name, and says that " he
was formerly called Osarsiph ;" and this
a name noway agreeable to the other,
while his true name was Moiises, and sig-
nifies a person who is preserved out of
the water, for the Egyptians call water
Moii. I think, therefore, I have made it
sufficiently evident that Manetho, while
he followed his ancient records, did not
much mistake the truth of the history ;
but that when he had recourse to fabulous
stories, without any certain author, he
either forged them himself, without any
probability, or else gave credit to some
men who spake so, out of their ill-will
to us.
And now I have done with Manetho, I
will inquire into what Cheremon says ;
for he also, when he pretended to write
the Egyptian history, sets down the same
name for this king that Manetho did,
Amenophis, as also of his son Harnesses,
and then goes on thus : — " The goddess
Isis appeared to Amenophis in his sleep,
and blamed him that her temple had been
demolished in the war ; but that Phriti-
phantes, the sacred scribe, said to him,
that, in case he would purge Egypt of the
men that had pollutions upon them, he
should be no longer troubled with such
frightful apparitions. That Amenophis
accordingly chose out 250,000 of those
that were thus diseased, and cast them
out cf the country: that Moses and Jo-
seph were scribes, and Joseph was a sa-
cred scribe ; that their names were Egyp-
tian originally; that of Moses had been
Tisithen, and that of Joseph, Peteseph :
that these two came to Pelusium, and
lighted upon 380,000 that had been left
there by Amenophis, he not being willing
to carry them into Egypt; that these
scribes made a league of friendship with
them, and made with them an expedition
against Egypt : that Amenophis could
not sustain their attacks, but immediately
fled into Ethiopia, and left his wife with
child behind him, who lay concealed in
certain caverns, and there brought forth a
son, whose name was Messene, and who,
when he was grown up to man's estate,
pursued the Jews into Syria, being about
200,000 men, and then received his father
Amenophis out of Ethiopia."
This is the account Cheremon gives us.
Now, I take it for granted, that what 1
have said already hath plainly proved the
falsity of both these narrations; for had
there been any real truth at the bottom,
it was impossible that they should so
greatly disagree about the particulars ;
but for those that invent lies, what they
write easily will give us very different ac-
counts, while they forge what they please,
out of their own heads. Now, Manetho
says that the king's desire of seeing the
gods was the origin of the ejection of the
polluted people ; but Cheremon feigns
that it was a dream of his own, sent upon
him by Isis, that was the occasion of it.
Manetho says, that the person who fore-
showed this purgation of Egypt to the
king was Amenophis; but this man says
it was Phritiphautes. As to the numbers
of the multitude that were expelled, they
agree exceedingly well, the former reck-
oning them 80,000, and the latter about
250,000 ! Now, for Manetho, he de-
scribes these polluted persons as sent first
to work in the quarries, and says, that
after that the city Avaris was given them
for their habitation. As also, he relates
that it was not till after they had made
war with the rest of the Egyptians, that
they invited the people of Jerusalem to
come to their assistance ; while Cheremon
says only, that they were gone out of
Egypt, and lighted upon 380,000 men
about Pelusium, who had been left there
by Amenophis, and so they invaded
Egypt with them again ; that thereupon
Amenophis fled into Ethiopia; but then
this Cheremon commits a most ridiculous
blunder in not informing us who this army
Book I.]
of so many ten thousands were, or whence
they came ; whether they were native
Egyptians, or whether they came from a
foreign country. Nor, indeed, has this
mau, who forged a dream from Isis about
the leprous people, assigned the reason
why the king would not bring them into
Egypt. Moreover, Cheremon sets down
Joseph as driven away at the same time
with Moses, who yet died four generations
before Moses ; which four generations
make almost 170 years. Besides all this,
Harnesses, the son of Amenophis, by Ma-
netho's account, was a young man, and
assisted his father in his war, and left the
country at the same time with him, and
fled into Ethiopia : but Cheremon makes
him to have been born in a certain cave,
after his father was dead, and that he then
overcame the Jews in battle, and drove
them into Syria, being in number about
200,000. Oh the levity of the man ! for
he neither told us who these 380,000
were, nor how the 430,000 perished; whe-
ther they fell in war, or went over to Ha-
rnesses; and, what is the strangest of all,
it is not possible to learn out of him, who
they were whom he calls Jews, or to which
of these two parties he applies that deno-
mination, whether to the 250,000 leprous
people, or to the 380,000 that were about
Pelusium. But, perhaps, it will be looked
upon as a silly thing in me to make any
larger confutation of such writers as suffi-
ciently confute themselves; for had they
been only confuted by other men, it had
been more tolerable.
I shall now add to these accounts about
Menetho and Cheremon, somewhat about
Lysimachus, who hath taken the same
topic of falsehood with those before men-
tioned, but hath gone far beyond them in
the incredible nature of his forgeries ;
which plainly demonstrates that he con-
trived them out of his virulent hatred of
our natiou. His words are these : — "The
people of the Jews being leprous and
scabby, and subject to certain other kinds
of distempers, in the days of Bocchoris,
king of Egypt, they fled to the temple,
and got their food there by begging ; and,
as the numbers were very great that were
fallen under these diseases, there arose a
scarcity in Egypt. Hereupon Bocchoris,
the king of Egypt, sent some to consult
the oracle of [Jupiter] Amnion about this
scarcity. The god's answer was this, that
he must purge his temples of impure and
impious men, by expelling them out of
FLAVIUS JOSELMIUS AGAINST APION.
42.3
those temples into desert places ; nut, as
to the scabby and leprous people, he must
drown them, and purge his temples, the
sun having an indignation at these men
being suffered to live ; and by this means
the land will bring forth its fruits. Upon
Bocchoris's having received these oracles,
he called for their priests, and the attend-
ants upon their altars, and ordered thorn to
make a collection of the impure people,
and to deliver them to the soldiers, to
carry them away into the desert ; but to
take the leprous people, and wrap them
in sheets of lead, and let them down into
the sea. Hereupon the scabby and le-
prous people were drowned, and the rest
were gotten together, and sent into desert
places, in order to be exposed to destruc-
tion. In this case they assembled them-
selves together, and took counsel what
they should do ; and determined, that,
as the night was coming on, they should
kindle fires and lamps, and keep watch ;
that they also should fast the next night,
and propitiate the gods, in order to obtain
deliverance from them. That, on the
next day, there was one Moses, who ad-
vised them that they should venture upon
a journey, and go along one road till they
should come to places fit for habitation :
that he charged them to have no kind re-
gards for any man, nor give good counsel
to any, but always to advise them for the
worst; and to overturn all those temples
and altars of the gods they should meet
with : that the rest commended what he
had said with one consent, and did what
they had resolved on, and so travelled
over the desert. But that the difficulties
of the journey being over, they came to a
country inhabited, and that there they
abused the men, and plundered and burnt
their temples, and then came into that
laud which is called Judea, and there they
built a city, and dwelt therein, and that
their city was named Hierosyla, from this
their robbing of the temples ; but that
still, upon the success they had afterward,
they, through course of time, changed its
denomination, that it might not be a
reproach to them, and called the city
Hierosolyma, and themselves Hierosoly-
mites."
Now this man did not discover and men-
tion the same king with the others, but
feigned a newer name, and passing by the
dream and the Egyptian prophet, he brings
him to [Jupiter] Amnion, in order to gain
oracles about the scabby and leprous peo-
i26
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
Book II.
pie ; for he says that the multitude of
Jews were gathered together at the tem-
ples. Now, it is uncertain whether he
ascribes these names to these lepers, or to
those that were subject to such diseases
among the Jews only ; for he describes
them as a people of the Jews. What
people does he mean ? foreigners, or those
of that country ? Why then dost thou
call them Jews, if they were Egyptians ?
But if they were foreigners, why dost thou
not tell us whence they came ? And how
could it be that, after the king had thrown
many of them into the sea, and ejected
the rest into desert places, there should be
still so great a multitude remaining? Or
after what manner did they pass over the
desert, and get the land which we now
dwell in, and build our city, and that tem-
ple which hath been so famous among all
mankind ? And besides, he ought to have
spoken more about our legislator than by
giving us his bare name ; and to have in-
formed us of what nation he was, and
what parents he was derived from ; and
to have assigned the reasons why he un-
dertook to make such laws concerning
the gods, and concerning matters of in-
justice with regard to men during that
journey. For, in case the people were
by birth Egyptians, they would not on the
sudden have so easily changed the cus-
toms of their country ;- and in case they
had been foreigners, they had for certain
some laws or other which had been kept
by them from long custom. It is true,
that in regard to those who had ejected
them, they might have sworn never to
bear good-will to them, and might have
had a plausible reason for so doing. But
if these men resolved to wage an implaca-
ble war against all men, in case they had
acted as wickedly as he relates of them,
and this while they wanted the assistance
of all men, this demonstrates a kind of
mad conduct indeed ; but not of the men
themselves, but very greatly so of him
that tells such lies about them. He hath
also impudence enough to say that a name
[Hierosyla] implying " Bobbers of the
temples,"* was given to their city, and
that this name was afterward changed.
The reason of which is plain, that the
former name brought reproach and hatred
upon them in the times of their posterity,
while, it seems, those that built the city
thought they did honour to the city by
giving it such a name. So we see that
this fine fellow had such an unbounded
inclination to reproach us, that he did not
understand that robbery of temples is not
expressed by the same word and name
among the Jews as it is among the Greeks.
But why should a man say any more to
a person who tells such impudent lies !
However, since this book is risen to a
competent length, I will make another be-
ginning, and endeavour to add what still
remains to perfect my design in the follow-
ing book.
BOOK II.
In the former book, most honoured
Epaphroditus, I have demonstrated our
antiquity, and confirmed the truth of what
I have said, from the writings of the
Phoenicians, and Chaldeans, and Egyp-
tians. I have, moreover, produced many
of the Grecian writers, as witnesses there-
to. I have also made a refutation of Ma-
netho and Cheremon, and of certain others
of our enemies. I shall now,f therefore,
begin a confutation of the remaining au-
thors who have written any thing against
* That is the meaning of Hierosyla in Greek,
not in Hebrew.
f The former part of this second book is written
against the calumnies of Apion, and then more
briefly against the like calumnies of Apollonius
Molo. But after that, Josephus leaves off the more
us; although, I confess, I have had a
doubt upon me about Apion, | the gram-
marian, whether I ought to take the trou-
ble of confuting him or not ; for some of
his writings contain much the same accu-
sations which the others have laid against
us, some things that he hath added are
very frigid and contemptible, and for the
greatest part of what he says, it is very
scurrilous, and, to speak no more than the
plain truth, it shows him to be a very un-
learned person, and what he lays together,
particular reply to those adversaries of the Jews,
and gives an excellent description and vindication
of that theocracy which was settled for the Jewish
nation by Moses.
J Called by Tiberius, " Cymbalum Mundi," the
drum of the world.
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST AriON.
12:
L
looks like the work of a man of very bad
morals, and of one no better in his whole
life than a mountebank. Yet, because
there arc a great many men so very foolish,
that the}- are rather caught by such ora-
tions than by what is written with care,
and take pleasure in reproaching other
men, and cannot abide to hear them com-
mended, I thought it to be necessary not
to let this man go off without examina-
tion, who had written such an accusation
against us, as if he would bring us to
make an answer in open court. For I
also have observed, that many men are
very much delighted when they see a
man who first began to reproach another,
to be himself exposed to contempt on ac-
count of the vices he hath himself been
guilty of. However, it is not a very easy
thing to go over this man's discourse, nor
to know plainly what he means : yet does
he seem, amid a great confusion and dis-
order in his falsehoods, to produce, in the
first place, such things as resemble what
we have examined already, and relate to
the departure of our forefathers out of
Egypt; and, in the second place, he ac-
cuses the Jews that are inhabitants of
Alexandria; as, in the third place, he
mixes with those things such accusations
as concern the sacred purifications, with
the other legal rites used in the temple.
Now, although I cannot but think that
I have already demonstrated, and that
abundantly more than was necessary,
that our fathers were not originally Egyp-
tians, nor were thence expelled, either on
account of bodily diseases, or on any
other calamities of that sort; yet will I
briefly take notice of what Apion adds
upon that subject ; for in his third book,
which relates to the affairs of Egypt, he
speaks thus : — " I have heard of the an-
cient men of Egypt, that Moses was of
Heliopolis, and that he thought himself
obliged to follow the customs of his fore-
fathers, and offered his prayers in the open
air, toward the city walls; but that he
reduced them all to be directed toward
suurising, which was agreeable to the
situation of Heliopolis : that he also set
up pillars instead of gnomons, under which
was represented a cavity like that of a
boat, and the shadow that fell from their
tops fell down upon that cavity, that it
might go round about the like course as
the sun itself goes round in the other."
This is that wonderful relation which we
have given us by this grammarian. But
that it is a false one is so plain, that it
stands in need of few words to prove it,
J but is manifest from the works of Moses ;
for when he erected the first tabeftacle to
God, he did himself neither give order for
any such kind of representation to be
made at it, nor ordain that those that came
after him should make such an one. More-
over, when, in a future age, Solomon built
his temple in Jerusalem, he avoided all
such needless decorations as Apion hath
here devised. He says, further, how
" he had heard of the ancient men, that
Moses was of Heliopolis." To be sure
that was because, being a younger man
himself, he believed those that by their
elder age were acquainted and conversed
with him ! Now this grammarian as he
was, could not certainly tell which was the
poet Homer's country, no more than he
could which was the country of Pytha-
goras, who lived comparatively but a little
while ago : yet does he thus easily deter-
mine the age of Moses, who preceded
them such a vast number of years, as de-
pending on his ancient men's relation;
which shows how notorious a liar he was.
But then as to his chronological determina-
tion of the time when he says he brought
the leprous people, the blind, and the
lame out of Egypt, see how well this
most accurate grammarian of ours agrees
with those that have written before him.
Manetho says that the Jews departed
out of Egypt in the reign of Teth-
mosis, 393 years before Danaus fled to
Argos ; Lysimachus says it was under
King Bocchoris, that is 1700 years ago;
Molo and some others determined it as
every one pleased ; but this Apion of
ours, as deserving to be believed before
them, hath determined it exactly to have
been in the seventh olympiad, and the
first year of that olympiad ; the very same
year in which he says that Carthage was
built by the Phoenicians. The reason why
he added this building of Carthage was,
to be sure, in order, as he thought, to
strengthen his assertion by so evident a
character of chronology. But he was not
aware that this character confutes his as-
sertion; for if we may give credit to the
Phoenician records, as to the time of the
first coming of their colony to Carthage,
they relate that Hiram their king was
above 150 years earlier than the building
of Carthage, concerning whom 1 have
formerly produced testimonials out of
those Phoenicians records, as also that this
428
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGSINST AriON.
[Book II.
Hiram was a friend of Solomon, when he
was building the temple at Jerusalem, and
gave him great assistance in his building
that temple ; while still Solomon himself
built that temple 612 years after the Jews
came out of Egypt. As for the number
of those that were expelled out of Egypt,
he hath contrived to have the very same
number with Lysimachus, and says they
were 110,000. He then assigns a certain
wonderful and plausible occasion for the
name of Sabbath, for he says, that " when
the Jews had travelled a six days' jour-
ney, they had swellings on their groins ;
and that on this account it was that they
rested on the seventh day, as having got
safely to that country which is now called
Judea; that then they preserved the lan-
guage of the Egyptians, and called that
day the Sabbath, for that malady of swell-
ings on their groin was named Sabbatosis
by the Egyptians." And would not a
man now laugh at this fellow's trifling, or
rather hate his impudence in writing thus ?
We must, it seems, take it for granted
that all these 110,000 men must have
these swellings. But, for certain, if those
men had been blind and lame, and had
all sorts of distempers upon them, as
Apion says they had, they could not have
gone one single day's journey ; but if they
had been all able to travel over a large
desert, and besides that to fight and con-
quer those that opposed them, they had
not all of them had swellings on their
groins after the sixth day was over : for
no such distemper comes naturally, and
of necessity upon those that travel ; but
still when they are many ten thousands in
a camp together, they constantly march a
settled pace [in a day]. Nor is it at all
probable that such a thing should happen
by chance : this would be prodigiously ab-
surd to be supposed. However, our ad-
mirable author Apion had before told us,
that " they came to Judea in six days'
time;" and again, that " Moses went up
to a mountain that lay between Egypt and
Arabia, which was called Sinai, and was
concealed there forty days, and that when
he came down from thence he gave laws to
the Jews." But then, how was it possible
for them to tarry forty days in a desert place
where there was no water, and at the same
time to pass all over the country between
that and Judea in six days ? And as for
this grammatical translation of the word
Sabbath, it either contains an instance
of his great impudence or gross igno-
rance ; for the words Sabbo and Sabbath
are widely different from one another ;
for the word Sabbath in the Jewish lan-
guage denotes rest from all sorts of work j
but the word Sabbo, as he affirms, denotes,
among the Egyptians, a malady of a
swelling in the groin.
This is that novel account which the
Egyptian Apion gives us concerning the
Jews' departure out of Egypt, and is no
better than a contrivance of his own. But,
why should we wonder at the lies he tells
about our forefathers, when he affirms
them to be of Egyptian original, when he
lies also about himself ? for although he
was born at Oasis in Egypt, he pretends
to be, as a man may say, the top man of
all the Egyptians ; yet does he forswear
his real country and progenitors, and by
falsely pretending to be born at Alexan-
dria, cannot deny the pravity of his fami-
ly ; for you see how justly he calls those
Egyptians whom he hates and endeavours
to reproach, for had he not deemed Egyp-
tians to be a name of great reproach, lie
would not have avoided the name of an
Egyptian himself j as we know that those
who boast of their own countries, value
themselves upon the denomination they
acquire thereby, and reprove such as un-
justly lay claim thereto. As for the
Egyptians' claim to be of our kindred, they
do it on one of the following accounts :
I mean, either as they value themselves
upon it, and pretend to bear that relation
to us ; or else as they would draw us in
to be partakers of their own infamy.
But this fine fellow Apion seems to broach
this reproachful appellation against us
[that we were originally Egyptians], in
order to bestow it on the Alexandrians as
a reward for the privilege they had given
him of being a fellow-citizen with them :
he also is apprized of the ill-will the
Alexandrians bear to those Jews who are
their fellow-citizens, and so proposes to
himself to reproach them, although he
must thereby include all the other Egyp-
tians also, while in both cases he is no
better than an impudent liar.
But let us now see what those heavy and
wicked crimes are, which Apion charges
upon the Alexandrian Jews : " They came
(says he) out of Syria, and inhabited near
the tempestuous sea, and were in the
neighbourhood of the dashing of the
waves." Now, if the place of habitation
includes any thing that is reproachful, this
man reproaches not his own real country
-I
Rook II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
429
TEgypt], but what he pretends to be his
own country, Alexandria ; for all are
agreed in this, that the part of that citj
which is near the sea, is the best part of
all for habitation. Now, if the Jews
gained that part of the city by force, and
have kept it hitherto without impeach-
ment, this is a mark of their valour; but
in reality it was Alexander himself that
gave them that place for their habitation,
when they obtained equal privileges there
with the Macedonians. Nor can I devise
what Apion would have said, had their
habitation been at Necropolis, and not
been lixed hard by the royal palace [as it
is] ; nor had their nation had the deno-
mination of Macedonians given them till
this very day [as they have]. Had this
man now read the epistles of king Alex-
ander, or those of Ptolemy, the son of
Lagus, or met with the writings of the
succeeding kings, or that pillar which is
still standing at Alexandria, and contains
the privileges which the great [Julius]
Ca3sar bestowed upon the Jews; had this
man, I say, known these records, and yet
hath the impudence to write in contra-
diction to them, he hath shown himself to
be a wicked man; but if he knew nothing
of these records, he hath shown himself
to be a man very ignorant; nay, when he
appears to wonder how Jews could be
called Alexandrians, this is another like
instance of his ignorance ; for all such as
are called out to be colonies, although they
be ever so far remote from one another
in their original, receive their names from
those that bring them to their new habi-
tations. And what occasion is there to
speak of others, when those of us Jews
that dwell at Antioch are named Antio-
Ichians, because Seleucus, the founder of
that city, gave them the privileges be-
longing thereto? After the like manner
do those Jews that inhabit Ephesus and
the other cities of Ionia enjoy the same
name with those that were originally born
there, by the grant of the succeeding
princes; nay, the kindness aud humanity
of the Romaus hath been so great, that it
hath granted leave to almost all others to
take the same name of Romans upon
them; I mean not particular men only,
but entire and large nations themselves
also ; for those anciently named Iberi,
and Tyrcheni, and Sabiui, are now called
Romani : and if Apion reject this way of
obtaining the privilege of a citizen of
Alexandria, let him abstain from calling
3M
himself an Alexandrian hereafter ; for
otherwise, how can he who was born in the
very heart of Egypt be an Alexandrian, if
this way p,f accepting such a privilege, of
what he would have us deprived, be once
abrogated ? Although, indeed, these Ro-
mans, who are now the lords of the habit-
able earth, have forbidden the Egyptians
to have the privileges of any city whatso-
ever, while this fine fellow, who is willing
to partake of such a privilege himself as
he is forbidden to make use of, endeavours
by calumnies to deprive those of it that
have justly received it; for Alexander
did not, therefore, get some of our nation
to Alexandria, because he wanted inhabit-
ants for this his city, on whose building
he had bestowed so much pains ; but this
was given to our people as a reward ; be-
cause he had, upon a careful trial, found
them all to have been men of virtue and
fidelity to him ; for, as Hecateus says
concerning us, " Alexander honoured our
nation to such a degree, that, for the
equity and the fidelity which the Jews
had exhibited to him, he permitted them
to hold the country of Samaria free from
tribute. Of the same mind also was
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, as to those
Jews who dwelt at Alexandria. For he
intrusted the fortresses of Egypt into
their hands, as believing they would keep
them faithfully and valiantly for him ;
and when he was desirous to secure the
government of Cyrene, and the other
cities of Libya to himself, he sent a paity
of Jews to inhabit them. And for his
successor Ptolemy, who was called Phila-
delphus, he did not only set all those of
our nation free, who were captives under
him, but did frequently give money [for
their ransom]; and, what was his greatest
work of all, he had a great desire of
knowing our laws, and of obtaining the
books of our sacred scriptures; accord-
ingly, he desired that such men might be
sent him as might interpret our law to
him; and, in order to have them well
compiled, he committed that care to no
ordinary persons, but ordained that De-
metrius Phalereus, aud Andreus, and
Aristeas — the first, Demetrius, the most
learned person of his age, and the others,
such as were intrusted with the guard of
his body — should take the care of this
matter : nor would he certainly have been
so desirous of learning our law and the
philosophy of our nation, had he despised
the men that made use of it, or had he
430
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AriON.
"Book II.
not indeed had them in great admiration.
Now, this Apion was unacquainted with
almost all the kings of those Macedonians
whom he pretends to have been his pro-
genitors who were yet very well affected
toward us; for the third of those Ptole-
mies, who was called Euergetes, when he
had gotten possession of all Syria by force,
did not offer his thank-offerings to the
Egyptian gods for his victory, but came
to Jerusalem, and according to our own
laws, offered many sacrifices to God, and
dedicated to him such gifts as were suita-
ble to such a victory : and as for Ptolemy
Philometor and his wife Cleopatra, they
committed their whole kingdom to Jews,
when Onias and Dositheus, both Jews,
whose names are laughed at by Apion,
were the generals of their whole army ;
but certainly, instead of reproaching them,
he ought to admire their actions, and
return them thanks for saving Alexandria,
whose citizen he pretends to be ; for
when these Alexandrians were making
war with Cleopatra the queen, and were
in danger of being utterly ruined, these
Jews brought them to terms of agreement,
and freed them from the miseries of a civil
war. "But then," says Apion, " Onias
brought a small array afterward upon the
city at the time when Thermus, the Ro-
man ambassador, was there present."
Yes, do I venture to say, and that he did
rightly and very justly in so doing; for
that Ptolemy who was called Physco, upon
the death of his brother Philometor, came
from Cyrene, and would have ejected
Cleopatra as well as her sons out of their
kingdom, that he might obtain it for
himself unjustly. For this cause then it
was that Onias undertook a war against
him on Cleopatra's account; nor would
he desert that trust the royal family had
reposed in him in their distress. Accord-
ingly, God gave a remarkable attesta-
tion to his righteous procedure ; for when
Ptolemy Physco had the presumption to
fight against Onias' s army, and had caught
all the Jews that were in the city [Alex-
andria], with their children and wives,
and exposed them naked and in bonds to
his elephants, that they might be trodden
upon and destroyed, and when he had
made those elephants drunk for that pur-
pose, the event proved contrary to his
preparations ; for these elephants left the
Jews who were exposed to them, and fell
violently upon Physco's friends and slew
a great number of them ; nay, after this,
Ptolemy saw a terrible ghost, which pro-
hibited his hurting those men ; his very
concubine, whom he loved so well, (some
call her Ithaca, and others Irene,) making
supplication to him that he would not
perpetrate so great a wickedness. So he
complied with her request, and repented
of what he either had already done, or
was about to do ; whence it is well known
that the Alexandrian Jews do with good
reason celebrate this day, on the account
that they had thereon been vouchsafed
such an evident deliverance from God.
However, Apion, the common calumniator
of men, hath the presumption to accuse
the Jews for making this war against
Physco, when he ought to have com-
mended them for the same. This man
also makes mention of Cleopatra, the last
queen of Alexandria, and abuses us, be-
cause she was ungrateful to us ; whereas
he ought to have reproved her, who in-
dulged herself in all kinds of injustice
and wicked practices, both with regard to
her nearest relations, and husbands who
had loved her, and indeed in general with
regard to all the Romans, and those
emperors that were her benefators ; who
also had her sister Arsinoe slain in a
temple, when she had done her no harm :
moreover, she had her brother slain by
private treachery, and she destroyed the
gods of her country, and the sepulchres
of her progenitors ; and while she had
received her kingdom from the first Caesar,
she had the impudence to rebel against
his son* and successor; nay, she corrupted
Antony with her love-tricks, and rendered
him an enemy to his country, and made
him treacherous to his friends, and [by
his means] despoiled some of their royal
authority, and forced others in their mad-
ness to act wickedly ; but what need I
enlarge upon this head any further, when
she left Antony in his fight at sea, though
he were her husband, and the father of
their common children, and compelled
him to resign up his government, with
the army, and to follow her [into Egypt] ;
nay, when last of all Caesar had taken
Alexandria, she came to that pitch of
cruelty, that she declared she had some
hope of preserving her affairs still, in case
she could kill the Jews, though it were
with her own hand ; to such a degree of
barbarity and perfidiousness had she ar-
rived ; and doth any one think that we
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPnuS AGAINST APION.
431
cannot boast ourselves of any thing, if,
as Apion says, this queen did not at a
time of famine distribute wheat among
us ? However, she at length met with
the punishment she deserved. As for us
Jews, we appeal to the great Caesar what
assistance we brought him, and what
fidelity we showed to him against the
Egyptians ; as also to the senate and its
decrees, and the epistles of Augustus
Caesar, whereby our merits [to the Ro-
mans] are justified. Apion ought to have
looked upon those epistles, and in parti-
cular to have examined the testimonies
given on our behalf, under Alexander and
all the Ptolemies, and the decrees of the
senate and of the greatest Roman empe-
rors ; and if Gcrinauicus was not able to
make a distribution of corn to all the in-
habitants of Alexandria, that only shows
what a barren time it was, and how great
a want there was then of corn, but tends
nothing to the accusation of the Jews;
for what all the emperors have thought
of the Alexandrian Jews is well known,
for this distribution of wheat was no other-
wise omitted with regard to the Jews,
than it was with regard to the other inha-
bitants of Alexandria ; but they still
were desirous to preserve what the kings
had formerly intrusted to their care — I
mean the custody of the river ; nor did
those kings think them unworthy of hav-
ing the entire custody thereof upon all
occasions.
But besides this, Apion objects to us
thus : " If the Jews (says he) be citizens
of Alexandria, why do they not worship
the same gods with the Alexandrians ?"
To which I give this answer : Siuce you
are yourselves Egyptians, why do you
fight it out one against another, and have
implacable wars about your religion ? At
this rate we must not call you all Egyp-
tians, nor indeed in general men, because
you breed up with great care beasts of a
nature quite contrary to that of men,
although the nature of all men seems to
be one and the same. Now, if there be
such differences in opinion among you
Egyptians, why are you surprised that
those who came to Alexandria from ano-
ther country, and had original laws of
their own before, should persevere in the
observance of those laws ? But still he
charges us with being the authors of sedi-
tion : which accusation, if it be a just
one, why is it not laid against us all, since
we are known to be all of one mind ?
Moreover, those that search into such mat-
ters will soon discover that the authors
of sedition have been such citizens of Al-
exandria as Apion is; for while they were
the Grecians and Macedonians who were
in possession of this city, there was no se-
dition raised against us, and we were per-
mitted to observe our ancient solemnities;
but when the number of the Egyptians
therein came to be considerable, the times
grew confused, and then these sedi-
tions brake out still more and more,
while our people continued uucorrupted.
These Egyptians, therefore, were the au-
thors of these troubles, who not having
the constancy of Macedonians, nor the
prudence of Grecians, indulged all of
them the evil manners of the Egyptians,
and continued their ancient hatred against
us ; for what is here so presumptuously
charged upon us, is owing to the differ-
ences that are among themselves; while
many of them have not obtained the pri-
vileges of citizens in proper times, but
style those who are well known to have
had that privilege extended to them all,
no other than foreigners; for it does not
appear that any of the kings have ever
formerly bestowed those privileges of
citizens upon Egyptians, no more than
have the emperors done it more lately ;
while it was Alexander who introduced us
into this city at first, the kings augmeuted
our privileges therein, and the Romans
have been pleased to preserve them always
jnviolable. Moreover, Apion would lay
a blot upon us, because we do not erect
images to our emperors, as if those empe-
rors did not know this before, or stood in
need of Apion as their defender ; whereas
he ought rather to have admired the mag-
nanimity and modesty of the Romans,
whereby they do not compel those that
are subject to them to transgress the laws
of their countries, but are willing to re-
ceive the honours due to them after such
a manner as those who are to pay them
esteem consistent with piety and with their
own laws; for they do not thank people
for conferring honours upon them, when
they are compelled by violence so to do
Accordingly, since the Grecians and some
other nations think it a right thing to
make images, nay, when they have painted
the pictures of their parents, and wive-,
and children, they exult for joy; and
some there are who take pictures for them-
selves of such persons as were noway re-
lated to them : nay, some take the pictures
432
FLAVIUS JOSEPKUS AGAINST APION.
"Book II
of such servants as they -were fond of.
What wonder is it then if such as these
appear willing to pay the same respect to
their princes and lords? But then our
legislator hath forbidden us to make
images, not by way of denunciation before-
hand, that the Roman authority was not
to be honoured, but as despising a thing
that was neither necessary nor useful for
either God or man; and he forbade them,
as we shall prove hereafter, to make these
images for any part of the animal creation,
and much less for God himself, who is no
part of such animal creation. Yet hath
our legislator nowhere forbidden us to pay
honours to worthy men, provided they be
of another kind, and inferior to those we
pay to God ; with which honours we will-
ingly testify our respect to our emperors,
and to the people of Rome ; we also^offer
perpetual sacrifices for them ; nor do we
only offer them every day at the common
expenses of all the Jews, but although we
offer no other such sacrifices out of our
common expenses, no not for our own chil-
dren, yet do we this as a peculiar honour
to the emperors, and to them alone, while
we do the same to no other person whom-
soever. And let this suffice for an answer
in general to Apion as to what he says
with relation to the Alexandrian Jews.
However, I cannot but admire those
other authors who furnished this man with
such his materials ; I mean Possidonius
and Apollonius [the son of] Molo, who
while they accuse us for not worshipping
the same gods whom others worship, they
think themselves not guilty of impiety
when they tell lies of us, and frame absurd
and reproachful stories about our temple ;
whereas it is a most shameful thing for
freemen to forge lies on any occasion, and
much more so to forge them about our
temple, which was so famous over all the
world, and was preserved so sacred by us;
for Apion hath the impudence to pretend,
that " the Jews placed an ass's head in
their holy place ;" and he affirms that
this was discovered when Antiochus Epi-
phaues spoiled our temple, and found that
ass's head there made of gold, and worth
a great deal of money. To this my first
answer shall be this, that had there been
any such thing among us, an Egyptian
ought by no means to have thrown it in
our teeth, since an ass is not a more con-
temptible animal than ,* and goats,
* It cannot be ascertained at this distance of'tiine,
to what particular animal Josephus hero alludes,
and other such creatures, which among
them are gods. But besides this answer,
I say further, how comes it about that
Apion does not understand this to be no
other than a palpable lie, and to be con-
futed by the thing itself as utterly incredi-
ble ? Eor we Jews are always governed
by the same laws, in which we constantly
persevere; and although many misfor-
tunes have befallen our city, as the like
have befallen others, and although Theos
[Epiphanes], and Pompey the Great, and
Licinius Crassus, and last of all Titus.
Csesar, have concpuered us in war, and got-
ten possession of our temple, yet has none
of them found any such thing there, nor
indeed any thing but what was agreeable
to the strictest piety ; although what they
found we are not at liberty to reveal to
other nations. But for Antiochus [Epi-
phanes], he had no just cause for that
ravage in our temple that he made; he
only came to it when he wanted money,
without declaring himself our enemy, and
attacked us while we were his associates
and his friends : nor did he find any thing
there that was ridiculous. This is attested
•by many worthy writers — Polybius of
Megalapolis,- Strabo of Cappadocia, Nico-
laus of Damascus, Timagenes, Castor the
chronologer, and Apollodorus, who all say
that it was out of Antiochus's want of
money that he broke his league with the
Jews, and despoiled their temple when it
was full of gold and silver. Apion ought
to have had a regard to these facts, unless
he had himself had either an ass's heart,
or a dog's impudence; of such a dog I
mean as they worship ; for he had no other
external reason for the lies he tells of us.
As for us Jews, we ascribe no honour or
power to asses, as do the Egyptians to
crocodiles and asps, when they esteem
such as are seized upon by the former, or
bitten by the latter, to be happy persons,
and persons worthy of God. Asses are
the same with us which they are with
other wise men, viz. creatures that bear
the burdens that we lay upon them; but
if they come to our threshing-floors and
eat our corn, cr do not perform what we
impose upon them, we beat them with a
great many stripes; because it is their
business to minister to us in our husband-
ry affairs. But this Apion of ours was
but it is not unlikely that it was the ox or cow,
both of which, in common with many other ani-
mals, were held in great reverence by the Egyp
tians.
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPH US AGAINST APION.
433
either perfectly unskilful in the composi-
tion of such fallacious discourses, or how-
ever, when he hegan [somewhat better],
he was not able to persevere in what he had
undertaken, since he hath no manner of
success in those reproaches he casts upon us.
He adds another Grecian fable, in order
to reproach us. In reply to which, it
would be enough to say that they who
presume to speak about divine worship,
ought not .to be ignorant of this plain
truth, that it is a degree of less impurity
to pass through temples, than to forge
wicked calumnies of its priests. Now,
such men as he are more zealous to justify
a sacrilegious king than to write what is
just and what is true about us, and about
our temple ; for when they are desirous of
gratifying Antiochus, and of concealing
that perfidiousness and sacrilege which he
was guilty of, with regard to our nation,
when he wanted money, they endeavour
to disgrace us, and tell lies even relating
to futurities. Apion becomes other men's
prophet upon this occasion, and say's, that
" Antiochus found in our temple a bed and
a man lying upon it, with a small table
before him, full of dainties, from the
[fishes of the] sea, and the fowls of the
dry land ; that this man was amazed at
these dainties thus set before him ; that
he immediately adored the king, upon his
coming in, as hoping that he would afford
him all possible assistance ; that he fell
down upon his knees, and stretched out to
hi in his right hand, and begged to be r»-
leased : and that when the king bade him
sit down, and tell him who he was, and
why he dwelt there, and what was the
meaning of those various sorts of food that
were set before him, the man made a la-
mentable complaint, and with sighs, and
tears in his eyes, gave him this account
of the distress he was in; and said that he
was a Greek, and that as he went over
this province, in order to get his living, he
was seized upon by foreigners, on a sud-
den, and brought to this temple, and shut
up therein, and was seen by nobody, but
was fattened by these curious provisions
thus set before him : and that truly at the
first such unexpected advantages seemed
to him matter of great joy; that, after a
while they brought a suspicion upon him,
and at length astonishment, what their
meaning should be ; that at last he in-
quired of the servants that came to him,
■ and was by them iuformed that it was in
order to the fulfilling a law of the Jews,
Vol. II.— 28
which they must not tell him, that he was
thus fed ; and that they did the same at a
set time every year: that they used to
catch a Greek foreigner, and fatten him
thus up every year, and then lead him to
a certain wood, and kill him, and sacri-
fice with their accustomed solemnities,
and taste of his entrails, and take an oath
upon this sacrificing a Greek, that they
would ever be at enmity with the Greeks;
and that then they threw the remaining
parts of the miserable wretch into a cer-
tain pit." Apion adds further, that "the
man said there were but a few days to
come ere he was to be slain, and implored
Antiochus that, out of the reverence ho
bore to the Grecian gods, he would disap-
point the snares the Jews laid for his
blood, and would deliver him from the
miseries with which he was encompassed."
Now this is such a most tragical fable, as
is full of nothing but cruelty and impu-
dence ; yet does it not excuse Antiochus
of his sacrilegious attempts, as those who
wrote it in his vindication are willing to
suppose ; for he could not presume be-
forehand that he should meet with any
such thing in coming to the temple, but
must have found it unexpectedly. He
was, therefore, still an impious person,
that was given to unlawful pleasures, and
had no regard to God in his actions. But
[as for Apion] he hath done whatever
his extravagant love of lying hath dictated
to him, as it is most easy to discover by a
consideration of his writings ; for the dif-
ference of our laws is known not to regard
the Grecians only, but they are princi-
pally opposite to the Egyptians, and to
some other nations also : for while it so
falls out, that men of all countries come
sometimes and sojourn among us, how
comes it about that we take an oath, and
conspire only against the Grecians, and
that by the effusion of their blood also ?
Or how is it possible that all the Jews
should get together to these sacrifices, and
the entrails of one mau should be sufficient
for so many thousands to taste of them, as
Apion pretends? Or why did not the
king carry this man, whosoever he was,
and whatsoever was his name (which is
not set down in Apion's book) with great
pomp back into his own country ? when
he might thereby have been esteemed a
religious person himself, and a mighty
lover of the Greeks, and might thereby
have procured himself great assistance
from all men against that hatred the Jews
434
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book II
bore to him. But I leave this matter;
for the proper way to confute fools is not
to use bare words, but to appeal to the
things themselves that make against them.
Now then, all. such as ever saw the con-
struction of our temple, of what nature it
was, know well enough how the purity of
it was never to be profaned; for it had
four several courts," encompassed with
cloisters round about, every one of which
had by our law a peculiar degree of sepa-
ration from the rest. Into the first court
everybody was allowed to go, even foreign-
ers; and none but women, during their
courses, were prohibited to pass through
it ; all the Jews went into the second court,
as well as their wives, when they were
free from all uncleauness ; into the third
went the Jewish men when they were
clean and purified ; into the fourth went
the priests, having on their sacerdotal gar-
ments; but for the most sacred place,
none went in but the high priests, clothed
in their peculiar garments. Now there is
so great caution used about these offices
of religion, that the priests are appointed
to go into the temple but at certain hours :
for, in the morning, at the opening of the
inner temple, those that are to officiate
receive the sacrifices, as they do again at
noon, till the doors are shut. Lastly, it
is not so much as lawful to carry any ves-
sel into the holy house"; nor is there any
thing therein, but the altar [of incense],
the table [of show-bread], the censer, and
the candlestick, which are all written in
the law : for there is nothing further there,
nor are there any mysteries performed
that may not be spoken of; nor is there
any feasting within the place. For what
I have now said is publicly known, and
supported by the testimony of the whole
people, and their operations are very ma-
nifest; for, although there be four courses
of the priests, and every one of them
have above 5000 men in them, yet do
they officiate on certain days only ; and
when those days are over, other priests
succeed iu the performance of their sacri-
fices, and assemble together at midday,
aud receive the keys of the temple, and
the vessels by tale, without any thing re-
lating to food or drink beiug carried into
* It is remarkable that Josephus hero reckons
up four distinct courts of the temple : that of the
Gentiles, that of the. women of Israel, that of the
men of Israel, and that of the priests; as also that
the court of the women admitted the husbands of
those wives that were therein ; while the court of
the men did nut admit any women into it at all.
the temple ; nay, we are not allowed tc
offer such things at the altar excepting
what is prepared for the sacrifices.
What, then, can we say of Apion, but
that he examined nothing that concerned
these things, while still he uttered incre-
dible words about them? But it is a
great shame for a grammarian not to be
able to write true history. Now, if he
knew the purity of our temple, he hath
eutirely omitted to take notice of it; but
he forges a story about the seizing of a
Grecian, about ineffable food, and the
most delicious preparation of dainties;
And pretends that strangers could go into
a place whereinto the noblest men among
the Jews are not allowed to enter, unless
they be priests. This, therefore, is the
utmost degree of impiety, and a volun-
tary lie, in order to the delusion of those
who will not examine into the truth of
matters. Whereas, s.uch unspeakable
mischiefs as are above refated, have been
occasioned by such calumnies that are
raised upon us.
Nay, this miracle of piety derides us
further, and adds the following pretended
facts to his former fable ; for he says that
this man related how, "while the Jews were
once in a long war with the Idumeans, there
came a man out of one of the cities of the
Idumeans, who there had worshipped Apol-
lo. This man, whose name is said to have
been Zabidus, came to the Jews, and pro-
mised that he would deliver Apollo, the
god of Dora, into their hands, and that
he would come to our temple, if they
would all come up with him, and bring
the whole multitude of the Jews with
them ; that Zabidus made him a certain
wooden instrument, and put it round
about him, and set three rows of lamps
therein, aud walked after such a manner,
that he appeared to those that stood a
great way off him to be a kind of star
walking upon the earth : that the Jews
were terribly frighted at so surprising an
appearance, and stood very quiet at a
distance ; and that Zabidus, while they
continued so very quiet, went into the
holy house and carried off that golden
head of an ass, (for so facetiously does he
write,) aud then went his way back again
to Dora in great haste." And say you
so, sir ! as I may reply ; then does Apion
load the ass, (that is, himself,) and lays
on him a burden of fooleries and lies; for
he writes of places that have no being; and
not knowing the cities be speaks of, he
Book II.]
changes their situation; for Idumea bor-
ders upon our country, and is near to
Gaza, in which there is no such city as
Dora, although there be, it is true, a city
named Dora in Phoenicia, near Mount
Carmel, but it is four days' journey from
Idumea. Now, then, why does this man
accuse us because we have not gods in
common with other nations ? — if our fore-
fathers were so easily prevailed upon to
have Apollo come to them, and thought
they saw him walking upon the earth,
aud the stars with him ; for certainly
those who have so many festivals, wherein
they light lamps, must yet, at this rale,
have never seen a candlestick ! But still
it seems that, while Zabidus took his jour-
ney over the country, where were so many
ten thousands of people, nobody met him.
He also, it seems, even in a time of war,
found the walls of Jerusalem destitute of
guards. I omit the rest. Now the doors
of the holy house were seventy cubits
high, and twenty cubits broad, they were
all plated over with gold, and almost of
solid gold itself, and there were no fewer
than twenty men required to shut them
every day ; nor was it lawful ever to leave
them open, though it seems this lamp-
bearer of ours opened them easily, or
thought he opened them, as he thought
he had the ass's head in his hand. AYhe-
ther, therefore, he returned it to us again,
or whether Apion took it and brought it
into the temple again, that Autiochus
might hud it, and afford a handle for a
second fable of Apion, is uucertaiu.
Apion also tells a false story when he
mentions an oath of ours, as if we "swore
by God, the maker of the heaven aud
earth and sea, to bear no good-will to any
foreigner, aud particularly to none of the
Greeks." Now this liar ought to have
said directly that " we would bear no
good-will to any foreigner, aud particu-
larly to none of the Egyptians." For
then his story about the oath would have
sfpuared with the rest of his original for-
geries, in case our forefathers had been
driven away by their kinsmen the Egyp-
tians, not on account of any wickedness
they had been guilty of, but ou account of
the calamities they were under ; for as to
the Grecians, we are rather remote from
them in place than different from them
in our institutions, insomuch that we
have no enmity with them, nor any jea-
lousy of them. On the contrary, it hath
bo happened, that many of them have
FLAVIUS JOSEPHDS AGAINST APION.
43;
come over to our laws, and some of them
have continued in their observation, al-
though others of them had not courage
enough to persevere, and so departed from
them again ; nor did anybody ever hear
this oath sworn by us; Apion, it seems,
was the only person that heard it, for he,
indeed, was the first composer of it.
However, Apion deserves to be ad-
mired for his great prudence, as to what
I am going to say, which is this, " That
there is a plain mark among us, that we
neither have just laws, nor worship God
as we ought to do, because we are not
governors, but are rather in subjection to
(! entiles, sometimes to one nation, some-
times to another; and that .our city has
been liable to several calamities, while
their city [Alexandria] hath been of old
time an imperial city, and not used to be
in subjection to the Romans." But now
this man had better leave off his boasting;
for everybody but himself would think that
Apion said what he hath said against
himself; for there are very few nations
that have had the good fortune to conti-
nue many generations in the principality,
but still the mutations in human affairs
have put them iuto subjection under
others; and most nations have been often
subdued, aud brought into subjection by
others. Now for the Egyptians, perhaps,
they are the only nation that have had
this extraordinary privilege, to have never
served any of those monarchs who sub-
dued Asia and Europe, and this on ac-
count, as they pretend, that the gods fled
iuto their country and saved themselves,
by being changed into the shapes of wild
beasts. Whereas these Egyptians are the
very people that appear to have never, in
all the past ages, had one day of freedom,
no not so much as from their own lords.
For I will not reproach them with re-
lating the manner how the Persians used
them, aud this not once only, but many
times, when they laid their cities waste,
demolished their temples, and cut the
throats of those animals whom they
esteemed to be gods ; for it is not reason-
able to imitate the clownish ignorance of
Apion, who hath no regard to the misfor-
tunes of the Athenians, or of the Lacede-
monians, the latter of whom were styled
by all men the most courageous, and the
former the most religious, of the Grecians.
I say nothing of such kings as have been
famous for piety, particularly of one of
them whose name was Cresus, nor what
436
FLAVIUS JOSErHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book II.
calamities he met with in his life ; I say
nothing of the citadel of Athens, of the
temple at Ephesus, of that at Delphi, nor
of ten thousand others which have been
burnt down, while nobody cast reproaches
on those that were the sufferers, but on
those that were the actors therein. But
now we have met with Apion, an accuser
of our uation, though one that still for-
gets the miseries of his own people, the
Egyptians ; but it is that Sesostris, who
was once so celebrated a king of Egypt,
that hath blinded him. Now we will not
boast of our kings, David and Solomon,
though they conquered many nations ;
accordingly we will let them alone. How-
ever, Apion is ignorant of what everybody
knows, that the Egyptians were servants
to the Persians, and afterward to the Ma-
cedonians, when they were lords of Asia,
and were no better than slaves, while we
have enjoyed liberty formerly ; nay, more
than that, have had the dominion of the
cities that lie round about us, and this
nearly for 120 years together, until Pom-
peius Magnus. And when all the kings
everywhere were conquered by the lio-
mans, our ancestors were the only people
who continued to be esteemed their con-
federates and friends, on account of their
fidelity to them.
"But," says Apicn, "we Jews have
not had any wonderful men among us, not
any inventors of arts, nor any eminent
for wisdom." He then enumerates So-
crates and Zeno and Cleanthes, and some
others of the same sort ; and, after all, he
adds himself to them, which is the most
wonderful thing of all that he says, and
pronounces Alexandria to be happy, be-
cause it has such a citizen as he is in it ;
for he was the fittest man to be a witness
to his own deserts, although he hath ap-
peared to all others no better than a
wicked mountebank, of a corrupt life and
ill discourses ; on which account one may
justly pity Alexandria, if it should value
itself upon such a citizen as he is. But
as to our own men, we have had those
who have been as deserving of commenda-
tion as any other whosoever ; and such as
have perused our Antiquities cannot be
ignorant of them.
As to the other things which he sets
down as blameworthy, it may, perhaps,
be the best way to let them pass without
apology, that he may be allowed to be his
own accuser, and the accuser of the rest
of the Egyptians. However, he accuses
us for sacrificing animals, and for abstain-
ing from swine's flesh, and laughs at ua
for the circumcision of our males. Now,
as for our slaughter of tame animals for
sacrifices, it is common to us and to all
other men ; but this Apion, by making it
a crime to sacrifice them, demonstrates
himself to be an Egyptian ; for had he
been either a Grecian or a Macedonian
[as he pretends to be], he had not shown an
uneasiness at it; for those people glory in
sacrificing whole hecatombs to the gods,
and make use of those sacrifices for feast-
ing ; and yet is not the world thereby
rendered destitute of cattle, as Apion was
afraid would come to pass. Yet, if all
men had followed the manners of the
Egyptians, the world had certainly been
made desolate as to mankind, but had
been filled full of the wildest sort of brute
beasts, which, because they suppose them
to be gods, they carefully nourish. How-
ever, if any one should ask Apion which of
the Egyptians he thinks to be the most wise,
and most pious of them all, he would cer-
tainly acknowledge the priests to be so ;
for the histories say that two things were
originally committed to their care by their
kings' injunctions, the worship of the
gods, and the support of wisdom and phi-
losophy. Accordingly, these priests are
all circumcised, and abstain from swine's
flesh ; nor does any one of the other
Egyptians assist them in slaying those
sacrifices they offer to the gods. Apion
was therefore quite blinded in his mind,
when, for the sake of the Egyptians, he
contrived to reproach us, and to accuse
such others as not only make use of that
conduct of life which he so much abuses,
but have also taught other men to be cir-
cumcised, as says Herodotus ; which
makes me think that Apion is hereby
justly punished for his casting such re-
proaches on the laws of his own country;
for he was circumcised himself of ne-
cessity, on account of an ulcer ; and
when he received no benefit by such cir-
cumcision, but the wound became putrid,
he died in great torment. Now, men of
good tempers ought to observe their own
laws concerning religion accurately, and
to persevere therein, but not presently to
abuse the laws of other nations, while this
Apion deserted his own laws, and told
lies about ours; and this was the end of
Apiou's life, and this shall be the conclu-
sion of our discourse about him.
But now, since Apollonius Molo, and
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST AriON.
437
Iiysimachus, and some others, write trea-
tises about our lawgiver Moses, and about
our laws, which are neither just nor true,
and this partly out of ignorance, but
chiefly out of ill-will to us, while they ca-
lumniate Moses as an impostor and de-
ceiver, and pretend that our laws teach us
wickedness, but nothing that is virtuous,
I have a mind to discourse briefly, accord-
ing to my ability, about our whole consti-
tution of government, and about the par-
ticular branches of it; for I suppose it
will thence become evident that the laws
we have given us are disposed after the
best manner for the advancement of piety,
for mutual communion with one another,
for a general love of mankind, as also for
justice, and for sustaining labours with
fortitude, and for a contempt of death ;
and I beg of those that shall peruse this
writing of mine, to read it without partial-
ity ; for it is not my purpose to write an
encomium upon ourselves, but I shall es-
teem this as a most just apology for us,
and taken from those our laws, according
to which we lead our lives, against the
many and the lying objections that have
been made against us. Moreover, since
this Apollonius does not do like Apion,
and lay a continued accusation against
us, but does it only by starts, and up and
down his discourse, while he sometimes
reproaches us as atheists, and man-haters,
and sometimes hits us in the teeth with
our want of courage, and yet sometimes,
on the contrary, accuses us of too great
boldness, and madness in our conduct ;
nay, he says that we are the weakest of
all the barbarians, and that this is the rea-
son why we are the only people who have
made no improvements in human life ;
now I think I shall have then sufficiently
disproved all these his allegations, when
it shall appear that our laws enjoin the
very reverse of what he says, and that we
very carefully observe those laws our-
selves ; and if I be compelled to make
mention of the laws of other nations, that
are contrary to ours, those ought deserved-
ly to thank themselves for it, who have
pretended to depreciate our laws in com-
parison of their own ; nor will there, I
think, be any room after that for them to
pretend, either that we have no such laws
ourselves, an epitome of which I will pre-
sent to the reader, or that we do not,
above all men, continue in the observa-
tion of them.
To begin then a good way backward, I
would advance this, in the fi.*st place, that
those who have been admirers of good
order, and of living under common laws,
and who began to introduce them, may
well have this testimony tha^ they arc
better than other men, both for modera-
tion and such virtue as is agreeable to
nature. Indeed, their endeavour was to
to have every thing they ordained believed
to be very ancient, that they might not
be thought to imitate others, but might
appear to have delivered a regular way of
living to others after them. Since then
this is the case, the excellency of a legis-
lator is seen in providing for the people's
living after the best manner, and in pre-
vailing with those that are to use the laws
he ordains for them, to have a good opi-
nion of them, and in obliging the multi-
tude to persevere in them, and to make
no changes in them, neither in prosperity
nor adversity. Now, I venture to say,
that our legislator is the most ancient of
all the legislators whom we have any-
where heard of; for as for the Lycurguses,
and Solons, and Zaleucus Locrensis, and
all those legislators who are so admired by
the Greeks, they seem to be of yesterday,
if compared with our legislator, insomuch
as the very name of law was not so much
as knowu in old times among the Grecians.
Homer is a witness to the truth of this
observation, who never uses that term in
all his poems ; for, indeed, there was then
no such thina; among; them, but the multi-
tude was governed by wise maxims, and
by the injunctions of their king. It was
also a long time that they continued in the
use of these unwritten customs, although
they were always changing them upon
several occasions; but for our legislator,
who was of so much greater autujuity
than the rest, (as even those that speak
agaiust us upon all occasions do always
confess,) he exhibited himself to the peo-
ple as their best governor and counsellor,
and included in his legislation the entire
conduct of their lives, and prevailed with
them to receive it, and brought it so to pass,
that those that were made acquainted with
his laws did most carefully observe them.
But let us consider his first and greatest
work ; for when it was resolved on by our
forefathers, to leave Egypt and return to
their own country, this Moses took the
many ten thousands that were of the peo-
ple, and saved them out of many despe-
rate distresses, and brought them home in
safety. And certainly it was here no-
438
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Boos U,
eessary to travel over a country without
water, and full of sand, to overcome their
enemies, and, during these battles, to pre-
serve their children, and their wives, and
their prey ; on all which occasions he be-
came an excellent general of an army,
and a most prudent counsellor, and one
that took the truest care of them all : he
also so brought it about, that the whole mul-
titude depended upon him ; and while he
had them always obedient to what he en-
joined, he made no manner of use of his
authority for his own private advantage,
which is the usual time when governors
gain great powers to themselves, and pave
the way for tyranny, and accustom the
multitude to live very dissolutely ; where-
as, when our legislator was in so great au-
thority, he, on the contrary, thought he
ought to have regard to piety, and show
his great good-will to the people; and by
this means he thought he might show the
great degree of virtue that was in him,
and might procure the most lasting securi-
ty to those who had made him their go-
vernor. When he had, therefore, come
to such a good resolution, and had per-
formed such wonderful exploits, we had
just reason to look upon ourselves as hav-
ing him for a divine governor and coun-
sellor ; and when he had first persuaded
himself that his actions and designs were
agreeable to God's will, .he thought it his
duty to impress, above all things, that no-
tion upon the multitude ; for those who
have once believed that God is the inspec-
tor of their lives, will not permit them-
selves in any sin ; and this is the charac-
ter of our legislator : he was no impostor,
no deceiver, as his revilers say, though un-
justly, but such an one as they boast Mi-
nos to have been among the Greeks, and
other legislators after him ; for some of
them suppose that they had their laws
from Jupiter, while Minos said that the
revelation of his laws was to be referred
to Apollo, and his oracle at Delphi,
whether they really thought they were so
derived, or supposed, however, that they
could persuade the people easily that so
it was; but which of these it was who
made the best laws, and which had the
greatest reason to believe that God was
their author, it will be easy, upon com-
paring those laws themselves together, to
determine ; for it is time that we come to
that point. Now, there are innumerable
differences in the particular customs and
laws that are among all mankind, which a
man may briefly reduce under the follow-
ing heads : — Some legislators have permit-
ted their governments to be under mo-
narchies, others put them under oligar-
chies, and others under a republican form ;
but our legislator had no regard to any of
these forms, but he ordained our govern-
ment to be what, by a strained expression,
may be termed a Theocracy, by ascribing
the authority and the power to God, and
by persuading all the people to have a re-
gard to him, as the author of all the good
things enjoyed either in common by all
mankind, or by each one in particular, and
of all that they themselves obtained by
praying to him in their greatest difficul-
ties. He informed them that it was im-
possible to escape God's observation, either
in any of our outward actions, or in any
of our inward thoughts. Moreover, he
represented God as unbegotten, and im-
mutable, through all eternity, superior to
all mortal conceptions in pulchritude ;
and, though known to us by his power,
yet unknown to us as to his essence. I
do not now explain how these notions of
God are the sentiments of the wisest
among the Grecians, and how they were
taught them upon the principles that he
afforded them. However, they testify,
with great assurance, that these notions
are just, and agreeable to the nature of
God, and to his majesty; for Pythagoras,
and Anaxagoras, and Plato, and the Stoic
philosophers that succeeded them, and al-
most all the rest, are of the same senti-
ments, and had the same notions of the
nature of God; yet durst not these men
disclose those true notions to more than a
few, because the body of the people were
prejudiced with other opinions before-
hand. But our legislator, who made his
actions agree to his laws, did not only
prevail with those that were his contempo-
raries to agree with these his notions, but
so firmly imprinted this faith in God upon
all their posterity, that it never could be
removed. The reason why the constitu-
tion of this legislation was ever better di-
rected to the utility of all than other le-
gislations were, is this, that Moses did not
make religion a part of virtue, but he saw
and he ordained other virtues to be parts
of religion ; I mean justice, and fortitude,
and temperance, and a universal agree-
ment of the members of the community
with one another ; for all our actions and
studies, and all our words [in Moses's set-
tlement] have a reference to piety to-
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
439
ward G-odj for he hath left none of these
in Mispcnse, or undetermined; for there
arc two ways of coming at any sort of
learning, and a moral conduct of life; the
one is by instruction in words, the other
by practical exercises. Now, other law-
givera have separated these two ways in
their opinions, and choosing one of those
ways of instructions, or that which best
pleased every one of them, neglected the
other. Thus did the Lacedemonians and
the Cretans teach by practical exercises,
but not by words; while the Athenians,
and almost all the other Grecians, made
laws about what was to be done, or left
undone, but had no regard to the exer-
cising them thereto in practice.
But for our legislator, he very carefully
joined these two methods of instruction
together; for he neither left these practi-
cal exercises to go on without verbal in-
struction, nor did he permit the hearing
of the law to proceed without the exer-
cises for practice ; but beginning immedi-
ately from the earliest infancy, and the
appointment of every one's diet, he left
nothing of the very smallest cousequence
to be done at the pleasure and disposal
of the person himself. Accordingly, he
made a fixed rule of law what sorts of
food they should abstain from, and what
sorts they should use ; as also, what com-
munion they should have with others,
what great diligence they should use in
their occupations, and what times of rest
should be interposed, that by living under
that law as under a father and a master,
we might be guilty of no sin, neither vo-
luntary nor out of ignorance ; for he
did not suffer the guilt of ignorance to go
on without punishment, but demonstrated
the law to be the best and most necessary
instruction of all others, permitting the
people to leave off their other employ-
ments, and to assemble together for the
hearing of the law, and learning it ex-
actly, and this not once or twice, or often-
er, but every week ; which thing all the
other legislators seem to have neglected.
And, indeed, the greatest part of man-
kind are so far from living according to
their own laws, that they hardly know
them ; but when they have sinned, they
learn from others that they have trans-
gressed the law. Those also whu are in
the highest and principal posts of the
government, confess they are not acquaint-
ed with those laws, and are obliged to
take such persons for their assessors in
public administrations as profess to have
skill in those laws ; but for our p
if anybody do but ask any of them about
our laws, he will more readily tell them
all than he will tell his own name, and
this in consequence of our having learned
them immediately as soon as ever we be-
came sensible of any thing, and of our
having them, as it were, engraven on our
souls. Our transgressors of them are but
few; and it is impossible, when any do
offend, to escape punishment.
And this very thing it is that princi-
pally creates such a wonderful agreement
of minds among us all; for this entire
agreement of ours in all our notions con-
cerning God, and our having no difference
in our course of life and manners, pro-
cures among us the most excellent con-
cord of these our manners that is any-
where among mankind ; for no other peo-
ple but we Jews have avoided all dis-
courses about God, that auy way contra-
dict one another, which yet are frequent
among other nations ; and this is true,
not only among ordinary persons, accord-
ing as every one is affected, but some of
the philosophers have been insolent
enough to indulge such contradictions,
while some of them have undertaken to
use such words as entirely take away the
nature of God, as others of them have
taken away his providence over mankind.
Nor can any one perceive among us any
difference in the conduct of our lives;
but all our works are common to us all.
We have one sort of discourse concerning
God, which is conformable to our law,
and affirms that he sees all things ; as
also, we have but one way of speaking
concerning the conduct of our lives, that
all other things ought to have piety for
their end; and this anybody may hear
from our women and servants themselves.
Hence hath arisen that accusation which
some make against us, that we have not
produced men that have been the inven-
tors of new operations, or of new ways
of speaking ; for others think it a fiue
thing to persevere in nothing that has
been delivered down from their fore-
fathers, and these testify it to be an in-
stance of the sharpest wisdom when these
men venture to transgress those traditions;
whereas we, on the contrary, suppose it
to be our only wisdom and virtue to
admit no actions nor supposals that are
contrary to our original laws ; which pro-
cedure of ours is a just and sure sign that
440
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AriON.
[Bock. It.
our law is admirably constituted ; for
such laws as are not thus well made, are
convicted upon trial to want amendment.
But while we are ourselves persuaded
that our law was made agreeably to the
will of God, it would be impious for us
not to observe the same; for what is there
in it that anybody would change ! and
what can be invented better ! or what can
we take out of other people's laws that
will exceed it ! Perhaps some would have
the entire settlement of our government
altered. And where shall we 6nd a better
or more righteous constitution than ours,
while this makes us esteem God to be the
governor of the universe, and permits the
priests in general to be the administrators
of the principal affairs, and withal intrusts
the government over the other priests
to the chief high priest himself; which
priests our legislator, at their first appoint-
ment, did not advance to that dignity for
their riches, or any abundance of other
possessions, or any plenty they had as the
gifts of fortune ; but he intrusted the
principal management of divine worship
to those that exceeded others in an ability
to persuade men, and in prudence of con-
duct. These men had the main care of
the law and of the other parts of the
people's conduct committed to them; for
they were the priests who were ordained
to be the inspectors of alL, and the judges
in doubtful cases, and the punishers of
those that were condemned to suffer
punishment.
What form of government then can be
more holy than this? what more worthy
kind of worship can be paid to God than
we pay, where the entire body of the
people are prepared for religion, where an
extraordinary degree of care is required
in the priests, and where the whole polity
is so ordered as if it were a certain reli-
gious solemnity ? For what things foreign-
ers, when they solemnize such festivals,
are not able to observe for a few days'
time, and call them Mysteries and Sacred
Ceremonies, we observe with great plea-
sure and an unshaken resolution during
our whole lives. What are the thinks
then that we are commanded or forbidden ?
They arc simply and easily known. The
first command is concerning God, and
affirms that God contains all things, and
is a being every way perfect and happy,
self-sufficient, and supplying all other
beings ; the beginning, the middle, and
the end of all things. He is manifest in
his works and benefits, and more conspi-
cuous than any other being whatsoever;
but as to his form and magnitude, he is
most obscure. All materials, let them be
ever so costly, are unworthy to compose
an image for him; and all arts are unart-
ful to express the notion we ought to have
of him. We can neither see nor think
of any thing like him, nor is it agreeable
to piety to form a resemblance of him.
We see his works, the light, the heaven,
the earth, the sun and the moon, the
waters, the generations of animals, the
productions of fruits. These things hath
God made, not with hands, not with la-
bour, nor as wanting the assistance of any
to co-operate with him ; but as his will
resolved they should be made and be
good also, they were made, and became
good immediately. All men ought to
follow this Being, and to worship him in
the exercise of virtue ; for this way of
worship of God is the most holy of all
others.
There ought also to be but one temple
for one God; for likeness is the constant
foundation of agreement. This temple
ought to be common to all men, because
he is the common God of all men. His
priests are to be continually about his
worship, over whom he that is the first by
his birth is to be their ruler perpetually.
His business must be to offer sacrifices to
God, together with those priests that are
joined with him, to see that the laws be
observed, to determine controversies, and
to punish those that are convicted of
injustice ; while he that does not submit to
him shall be subject to the same punish-
ment, as if he had been guilty of impiety
towai'ds God himself. When we offer
sacrifices to him, we do it not in order to
surfeit ourselves, or to be drunken ; for
such excesses are against the will of God,
and would be an occasion of injuries and
of luxury ; but by keeping ourselves so-
ber, orderly, and ready for our other
occupations, and being more temperate
than others. And for our duty at the
sacrifices themselves, we ought, in the
first place, to pray* for the common wel-
fare of all, and after that our own ; for
we are made for fellowship one with
another ; and he who prefers the common
good before what is peculiar to himself,
is above all acceptable to God. And let
our prayers and supplications be made
See 1 Kings vifi., 2 Chron. vi.
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
-Ml
humbly to God, not [so much] that he
would give us what is good, (for he hath
already given that of his own accord, and
hath proposed the same publicly to all,)
as that we may duly receive it, and when
we have received it, may preserve it.
Now the law has appointed several puri-
fications at our sacrifices, whereby we are
cleansed after a funeral, after what some-
times happens to us in bed, and after
accompanying with our wives, and upon
many other occasions, too long now to set
down. And this is our doctrine concern-
ing God and his worship, and is the same
that the law appoints for our practice.
But then, what are our laws about
marriage ? That law owns no other mix-
ture of sexes but that which nature hath
appointed, of a man with his wife, and
that this be used only for the procreation
of children. But it abhors the mixture
of a male with a male; and if any one
do that, death is his punishment. It com-
mands us also, when we marry, not to
have regard to portion, nor to take a wo-
man by violence, nor to persuade her
deceitfully and knavishly ; but demand
her in marriage of him who hath power
to dispose of her, and is fit to give her
away by the nearness of his kindred ; for,
saith the Scripture, " A woman is inferior
to her husband in all things."* Let her,
therefore, be obedient to him ; not so,
that he should abuse her, but that she
may acknowledge her duty to her hus-
band ; for God hath given the authority
to the husband. A husband, therefore,
is to lie only with his wife whom he hath
married ; but to have to do with another
man's wife is a wicked thing ; which, if
any one venture upon, death is inevitably
his puuishment : no more can he avoid
the same who forces a virgin betrothed to
another man, or entices another man's
wife. The law, moreover, enjoins us to
bring up all our offspring, and forbids
women to cause abortion of what is be-
gotten, or to destroy it afterward ; and if
any woman appears to have so done, she
will be a murderer of her child, by de-
stroying a living creature, and diminishing
human kind; if any one, therefore, pro-
ceeds to such fornication or murder, he
cannot be clean. Moreover, the law en-
joins, that after the man and wife have
lain together in a regular way, they shall
bathe themselves ; for there is a defile-
* This text is nowhere in our present copies of
the Old Testament.
ment contracted thereby, both in soul
and body, as if they had gone into another
country; for indeed the soul, by being
united to the body, is subject to miseries,
and is not freed therefrom again but by
death ; on which account the law requires
this purification to be entirely performed.
Nay, indeed, the law does not permit
us to make festivals at the births of our
children, and thereby afford occasion of
drinking to excess ; but it ordains that the
very beginning of our education should
be immediately directed to sobriety. It
also commands us to bring those children
up in learning and to exercise them in
the laws, and make them acquainted with
the acts of their predecessors, in order to
their imitation of them, and that they
may be nourished up in the laws from
their infancy, and might neither trans-
gress them, nor yet have any pretence for
their ignorance of them.
Our law hath also taken care of the
decent burial of the dead, but without any
extravagant expenses for their funerals,
and without the erection of any illustrious
monuments for them ; but hath ordcrod
that their nearest relations should perform
their obsequies : and hath shown it to be
regular, that all who pass by when any
one is buried, should accompany the
funeral, and join in the lamentation. It
also ordains, that the house and its inha-
bitants should be purified after the funeral
is over, that every one may thence learn
to keep at a great distance from the
thoughts of being pure, if he hath been
once guilty of murder.
The law ordains also, that parents
should be honoured immediately after
God himself, and delivers that sou who
does not requite them for the benefits he
hath received from them, but is deficient
on any such occasion, to be stoned. It
also says, that the young men should pay
due respect to every elder, since God is
the eldest of all beings. It does not give
leave to conceal any thing from our friends,
because that is not true friendship which
will nut commit all things to their fidelity :
it also forbids the revelation of secrets,
even though an enmity arise between
them. If any judge takes bribes, his
punishment is death : he that overlooks
one that offers him a petition, and this
when he is able to relieve him, he is a
guilty person. What is not by any one
intrusted to another, ought not to be
required back again. No one is to touch
442
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
[Book. II
another's goods. He that lends money,
must not demand usury for its loan.
These, and many more of the like sort,
are the rules that unite us in the bands
of society one with another.
It will be also worth our while to see
what equity our legislator would have us
exercise in our intercourse with strangers;
for it will thence appear that he made the
best provision he possibly could, both
that we should not dissolve our own
constitution, nor show any envious mind
toward those that would cultivate a
friendship with us. Accordingly, our
legislator admits all those that have a
mind to observe our laws, so to do; and
this after a friendly manner, as esteeming
that a true union, which not only extends
to our own stock, but to those that would
live after the same manner with us ; yet
does he not allow those that come to us
by accident only to be admitted into com-
munion with us.
However, there are other things which
our legislator ordained for us beforehand,
which, of necessity, we ought to do in
common to all men ; as to afford fire, and
water, and food to such as want it; to
show them the roads ; and not to let any
one lie unburied. He also would have us
treat those that are esteemed our enemies
with moderation ; for he doth not allow
us to set their country on fire, nor permit
us to cut down those trees that bear fruit :
nay, further, he forbids us to spoil those
that have been slain in war. He hath
also provided for such as are taken captive,
that they may not be injured, and espe-
cially that the women may not be abused.
Indeed, he hath taught us gentleness
and humanity so effectually, that he hath
not despised the care of brute beasts, by
permitting no other than a regular use of
them, and forbidding any other; and if
any of them come to our houses, like
supplicants, we are forbidden to slay them :
nor may we kill the dams, together with
their young ones ; but we are obliged,
even in an enemy's country, to spare and
not kill those creatures that labour for
mankind. Thus hath our lawgiver con-
trived to teach us an equitable conduct
every way, by using us to such laws as
instruct us therein; while at the same
time he hath ordained, that such as break
these laws should be punished, without
the allowance of any excuse whatsoever.
Now the greatest part of offences with
us are capital ; as if any one be guilty of
adultery; if any one force a virgin; it
any one be so impudent as to attempt an
unnatural crime ; or if, upon another's
making an attempt upon him, he submits
to be so used. There is also a law for
slaves of the like nature, that can never
be avoided. Moreover, if any one cheats
another in measure or weights, or makes a
knavish bargain and sale, in order to cheat
another ; if any one steal what belongs to
another, and takes what he never depo-
sited; all these have punishments allotted
them, not such as are met with among
other nations, but more severe ones. And
as for attempts of unjust behaviour to-
ward parents, or impiety against God,
though they be not actually accomplished,
the offenders are destroyed immediately.
However, the reward for such as live ex-
actly according to the laws, is not silver
or gold ; it is not a garland of olive-
branches or of smallage, nor any such pub-
lic sign of commendation ; but every good
man hath his own conscience bearing wit-
ness to himself, and by virtue of our
legislator's prophetic spirit, and of the
firm security God himself affords such an
one, he believes that God hath made this
grant to those- that observe these law*,
even though they be obliged readily to
die for them, that they shall come into
being again, and at a certain revolution
of things receive a better life than they
had enjoyed before. Nor would I venture
to write thus at this time, were it not well
known to all by our actions that many of
our people have many a time bravely re-
solved to endure any .sufferings, rather
than speak one word against our law.
Nay, indeed, in case it had so fallen out,
that our nation had not been so thoroughly
known among all men as they are, and our
voluntary submission to our laws had not
been so open and manifest as it is, but
that somebody had pretended to have
written these laws himself, and had read
them to the Greeks, or had pretended that
he met with men out of the limits of the
known world, that had such reverend no-
tions of God, and had continued for along
time in the firm observance of such laws
as ours, I cannot but suppose that all men
would admire them on a reflection upon
the frequent changes they had therein
been themselves subject to; and this while
those that have attempted to write some-
what of the same kind for politic govern-
ment, and for laws, are accused as com-
posing monstrous things, and are said to
3ooic II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEl'HUS AGAINST APION.
143
have undertaken an impossible task upon
them. And here I will say not lung ot
those other philosophers who have under-
taken any thing of this nature in their
writings. But even Plato himself, who
is so admired by the Greeks on account
of that gravity in his manner and force in
his words, and that ability he had to per-
suade men beyond all other philosophers,
is little better than laughed at and exposed
to ridicule on that account, by those that
pretend to sagacity in political affairs ; al-
though he that shall diligently peruse his
writings, will find his precepts to be some-
what gentle, and pretty near to the cus-
toms of the generality of mankind. Nay,
Plato himself confesseth that it is not safe
to publish the true notion concerning God
among the ignorant multitude. Yet do
some men look upon Plato's discourses as
no better than certain idle words set off
with great artifice. However, they admire
Lycurgus as the principal lawgiver; and
all men celebrate Sparta for having con-
tinued in the firm observance of his laws
for a very long time. So far then we
have gained, that it is to be confessed a
mark of virtue to submit to laws.* But
then let such as admire this in the Lace-
demonians compare that duration of theirs
with more than 2000 years which our po-
litical government hath continued; and
let them further consider, that though the
Lacedemonians did seem to observe then-
laws exactly while they enjoyed their
liberty, yet that when they underwent a
change in their fortune, they forgot almost
all those laws; while we, having been un-
der ten thousand changes in our fortune,
by the changes that happened among the
kings of Asia, have never betrayed our
laws under the most pressing distresses
sve have been in ; nor have we neglected
them either out of sloth or for a liveli-
hood. Nay, if any one will consider it,
the difficulties and labours laid upon us
have been greater than what appears _ to
have been borne by the Lacedemonian
fortitude, while they neither ploughed
their land, nor exercised any trades, but
lived in their own city, free from all such
pains-taking, in the enjoyment of pleuty,
and using such exercises as might improve
•:■:■ << I will," says he, " boldly declare my opinion,
though the whole world be offended at it. I pre-
fer this little book of the Twelve Tallies alone to
nil the volumes of the philosophers. I find it to
be not only of more weight, but also much more
useful." — (He. Be Oratore.
their bodies, while they mane use of other
men as thevr servants for all die necessa-
ries of life, and had their food prepared
for them by the others; and the-.., good
and humane actions they do for no other
purpose but this, that by their actions and
their sufferings they may be able to con-
quer all those against whom they make
war. I need not add this, that they have
not been fully able to observe their laws;
for not only a few single persons, but mul-
titudes of them, have in heaps neglected
those laws, and have delivered themselves,
together with their arms, into the hands of
their enemies.
Now, as for ourselves, I venture to say,
that no one can tell of so many ; nay, not
of more than one or two that have be-
trayed our laws, no not out of fear of
death itself; I do not mean such an easy
death as happens in battles, but that which
comes with bodily torments, and seems to
be the severest kind of death of all others.
Now I think, those that have conquered
us have put us to such deaths, not out of
their hatred to us when they had subdued
us, but rather out of their desire of seeing
a surprising sight, which is this, whether
there be such men in the world who believe
that no evil is to them so great as to be
compelled to do or to speak any thing con-
trary to their own laws. Nor ought men
to wonder at us, if we are more courageous
in dying for our laws than all other men
are; for other men do not easily submit
to the easier things in which we are insti-
tuted; I mean working with our hands,
and eating but little, and being com
to eat and drink, not at random, or at
every one's pleasure, or being under in-
violable rules in lying with our wives, m
magnificent furniture, and again in the
observation of our times of rest; while
those that can use their swords in war,
and can put their enemies to flight when
they attack them, cannot bear to submit
to such laws about their way of living:
whereas our being accustomed willingly
to submit to laws in these instances, ren-
ders us fit to show our fortitude upon
other occasions also.
Yet do the Lysiinachi and the Molones,
and some other writers (unskilful sophists
as they are, and the deceivers of young
men) reproach us as the vilest of all man-
kind. Now I have no mind to make an
inquiry into the laws of other nations ; for
the custom of our country is to keep our
own laws, but not to accuse the laws of
444
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book II.
others. And, indeed, our legislator hath
expressly forbidden us to laugh at and re-
vile those that are esteemed gods by other
people, on account of the very name of
God ascribed to them. But since our an-
tagonists think to run us down upon the
comparison of their religion and ours, it
is not possible to keep silence here, espe-
cially while what I shall say to confute
these men will not be now first said, but
hath been already said by many, and
these of the highest reputation also ; for
who is there among those that have been
admired among the Greeks for wisdom,
who hath not greatly blamed both the
most famous poets, and most celebrated
legislators, for spreading such notions
originally among the body of the people
concerning the gods? such as these, that
they may be allowed to be as numerous
as they have a mind to have them ; that
they are begotten one by another, and
that after all the kinds of generation you
can imagine. They also distinguish them
in their places and ways of living, as they
would distinguish several sorts of animals :
as some to be under the earth ; some to
be in the sea ; and the most ancient of
them all to be bound in hell ; and for
those to whom they have allotted heaven,
they have set over them one, who in title
is their father, but in his actions a tyrant
and a lord ; whence it came to pass that
his wife, and brother, and daughter (which
daughter he brought forth from his own
head) made a conspiracy against him to
seize upon him and confine him, as he had
himself seized upon and confined his own
father before.
And justly have the wisest men thought
these notions deserved severe rebukes;
they also laugh at them for determining
that we ought to believe some of the gods
to be beardless and young, and others of
them to be old, and to have beards ac-
cordingly ; that some are set to trades :
that one god is a smith, and another
goddess is a weaver; that one god is a
warrior, and fights with men; that some
of them are harpers, or delight in archery;
and besides, that mutual seditions arise
among them, and that they quarrel about
men, and this so far, that they not only
lay hands upon one another, but that they
are wounded by men, and lament, and
take on for such their afflictions ; but what
.s the grossest of all in point of lascivious-
ness, are those unbounded lusts ascribed
to almost all of them, and their amours,
which how can it be other than a most
absurd supposal, especially when it reaches
to the male gods, and to the female
goddesses also? Moreover, the chief of
all the gods, and their first father himself,
overlooks those goddesses whom he hath
deluded and begotten with child, and
suffers them to be kept in prison, or
drowned in the sea. He is also so bound
up by fate, that he cannot save his own
offspring, nor can he bear their deaths
without shedding of tears. These are line
things indeed ! as are the rest that follow.
Adulteries, truly, are so impudently
looked on in heaven by the gods, that
some of them have confessed they envied
those that were found in t"he very act ; and
why should they not do so, when the
eldest of them, who is their king also, hath
not been able to restrain himself in the
violence of his lust from lying with his
wife, so long as they might get into their
bedchamber ? Now, some of the gods
are servants to men, and will sometimes
be builders for a reward, and sometimes
will be shepherds ; while others of them,
like malefactors, are bound in a prison of
brass; and what sober person is there
who would not-be provoked at such stories,
and rebuke those that forged them, and
condemn the great silliness of those that
admit them for true ! Nay, others there
are that have advanced a certain tiuior-
ousness and fear, as also madness and
fraud, and any other of the vilest passions,
into the nature and form of gods, and
have persuaded whole cities to offer sacri-
fices to the better sort of them ; on which
account they have been absolutely forced
to esteem some gods as the givers of good
things, and to call others of them averters
of evil. They also endeavour to move
them, as they would the vilest of men, by
gifts and presents, as looking for nothing
else than to receive some great mischief
from them, unless they pay them such
wages.
Wherefore, it deserves our inquiry what
should be the occasion of this unjust
management, and of these scandals about
the Deity. And, truly, I suppose it to
be derived from the imperfect knowledge
the heathen legislators had at first of the
true nature of God; nor did they explain
to the people even so far as they did com-
prehend of it : nor did they compose the
other parts of their political settlements
according to it, but omitted it as a thing
of very little consequence, and gave leave
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
445
both to the poets to introduce what gods
they pleased, and those suhject to all sorts
of passions, and to the orators to procure
political decrees from the people for the
admission of such foreign gods as they
thought proper. The painters also, and
statuaries of Greece, had herein great
power, as each of them could contrive a
shape [proper for a god] ; the one to be
formed out of clay, and the other by mak-
ing a bare picture of such a one ; but
those workmen that were principally ad-
mired, had the use of ivory, and of gold
as the constant materials for their new
statues [whereby it comes to pass that
some temples are quite deserted, while
others are in great esteem, and adorned
with all the rites of all kinds of purifica-
tion]. Besides this, the first gods, who
have long flourished in the honours done
them, are now grown old [while those
that flourished after them are come in
their room as a second rank, that I may
speak the most honourably of them that I
can] ; nay, certain other gods there are
who are newly introduced, and newly
worshipped [as we, by way of digression,
have said already, and yet have left their
places of worship desolate] ; and for their
temples, some of them are already left
desolate, and others are built anew, ac-
cording to the pleasure of men ; whereas
they ought to have preserved their opi-
nion about God, and that worship which
is due to him, always and immutably the
same.
But now, this Apollonius Molo was one
of these foolish and proud men. How-
ever, nothing that I have said was un-
known to those that were real philoso-
phers among the Greeks, nor were they
unacquainted with those frigid pretences
of allegories [which had been alleged for
such things] : on which account they
justly despised them, but have still agreed
with us as to the true and becoming no-
tions of God; whence it was that Plato
would not have political settlements to
admit of any one of the other poets, and
dismisses even Homer himself, with a
garland on his head, and with ointment
poured upon him, and this because he
should not destroy the right notions of
God with his fables. Nay,' Plato princi-
pally imitated our legislator in this point,
that he enjoined his citizens to have the
main regard to this precept : " That every
one of them should learn their laws accu-
rately." He also ordained that they
3N
should not admit of foreigners intermix-
ing with their own people at random ; and,
provided that the commonwealth should
keep itself pure, and consist of such only
as persevered in their own laws. Apol-
lonius Molo did noway consider this,
when he made it one branch of his
accusation against us, that we do not
admit of such as have different notions
about God, nor will we have fellowship
with those that choose to observe a way
of living different from ourselves ; yet is
not this method peculiar to us, but com-
mon to all other men; not among the
ordinary Grecians only, but among such
of those Grecians as are of the greatest
reputation among them. Moreover, the
Lacedemonians continued in their way of
expelling foreigners, and would not, in-
deed, give leave to their own people
to travel abroad, as suspecting that those
two things would introduce a dissolution
of their own laws : and, perhaps, there
may be some reason to blame the rigid
severity of the Lacedemonians, for they
bestowed the privilege of their city on no
foreigners, nor would give leave to them
to stay among them : whereas we, though
we do not think fit to imitate other insti-
tutions, yet do we willingly admit of those
that desire to partake of ours, which I
think I may reckon to be a plain indica-
tion of our humanity, and at the same
time of our magnanimity also.
But I shall say no more of the Lacede-
monians. As for the Athenians, who
glory in having made their city to be
common to all men, what their behaviour
was, Apollonius did not know, while they
punished those that spoke contrary to
their laws about the gods, without mercy;
for on what other account was it that So-
crates was put to death by them ? Cer-
tainly, he neither betrayed their city to
its enemies, nor was he guilty of sacrilege
with regard to their temples ; but, on
this account, that he swore certain new
oaths, and that he affirmed, either in earn-
est, or, as some say, only in jest, that a
certain demon used to make signs to him
[what he should not do]. For these rea-
sons he was condemned to driuk poison,
and kill himself. His accuser also com-
plained that he corrupted the young men,
by inducing them to despise the political
settlement and laws of their city : and
thus was Socrates, the citizen of Athens,
puuished. There was also Anaxagoras,
who, although he was of Clazornenae, was
446
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
[Book II.
within a few suffrages of being condemned
to die, because be said the sun, which
the Athenians thought to be a god, was a
ball of fire. They also made this public
proclamation, " That they would give a
talent to any one who would kill Diago-
ras of Melos," because it was reported
that he laughed at their mysteries. Porta-
goras also, who was thought to have writ-
ten somewhat that was not owned for
truth by the Athenians about the gods,
had been seized upon, and put to death,
if he had not fled immediately. Nor
need we wonder that they thus treated
such considerable men, when they did not
even spare women;, for they very lately
slew a certain priestess, because she was
accused by somebody that she initiated
people into the worship of strange gods,
it having been forbidden so to do by one of
their laws ; and a capital punishment had
been decreed to such as introduced a
strange god ; it being manifest that they
who make use of such a law, do not be-
lieve those of other nations to be really
gods, otherwise they bad not envied them-
selves the advantage of more gods than
they already had ; and this was the happy
administration of the affairs of the Athe-
nians ! Now, as to the Scythians, they
take a pleasure in killing men, and differ
little from brute beasts ; yet do they think
it reasonable to have their institutions
observed. They also slew Anacharsis, a
person greatly admired for his wisdom
among the Greeks, when he returned to
them, because he appeared to come
fraught with Grecian customs. We find
many punished among the Persians, on
the same account. Apollonius was greatly
pleased with the laws of the Persians,
and was an admirer of them, because the
Greeks enjoyed the advantage of their
courage, and had the very same opinion
about the gods which they had. This
last was exemplified in the temples they
burnt, and their courage in coming, and
almost entirely enslaving the Grecians.
However, Apollonius has imitated all the
Persian institutions, and that by his offer-
ing violence to other men's wives, and
castrating his own sons. Now, with us,
it is a capital crime, if any one does thus
abuse even a brute beast ; and as for us,
neither hath the fear of our governors,
nor a desire of following what other na-
tions have in so great esteem, been able
to withdraw us from our laws ; nor have
we exerted our courage in raising up wars
to increase our wealth, but only for tht.
observation of our laws; and when we
with patience bear other losses, yet when
any person would compel us to break our
laws, then it is that we choose to go to
war, though it be beyond our ability to
pursue it, and bear the greatest calamities
to the last with much fortitude ; and, in-
deed, what reason can there be why we
should desire to imitate the laws of other
nations, while we see they are not ob-
served by their own legislators ? And
why do not the Lacedemonians think of
abolishing that form of their government
which suffers them not to associate with
any others, as well as their contempt of
matrimony ? And why do not the Eleans
and Thebans abolish that unnatural and
impudent lust, which makes them lie with
males ? For they will not show a suffi-
cient sign of their repentance of what
they of old thought to be very excellent,
and very advantageous in their practices,
unless they entirely avoid all such actions
for the time to come : nay, such things
are inserted into the body of their laws,
and had once such a power among the
Greeks, that they ascribed these unnatu-
ral practices to the gods themselves, aQ
part of their good character ; and, indeed,
it was according to the same manner that
the gods married their own sisters. This
the Greeks contrived as an apology for
their own absurd and unnatural pleasures.
I omit to speak concerning punishments,
and how many ways of escaping them,
the greatest part of legislators have af-
forded malefactors, by "ordaining that, for
adulteries, fines in money should be al-
lowed, and for corrupting [virgins] they
need only marry them ;* as also what ex-
cuses they may have in denying the facts,
if any one should attempt to inquire into
them; for among most other nations, it is
a studied art how men may transgress
their laws; but no such thing is permit-
ted among us ; for though we be deprived
of our wealth, of our cities, or of other
advantages we have, our law continues
immortal ; nor can any Jew go so far from
his own country, nor be so affrighted at
the severest lord, as not to be more af-
frighted at the law than at him. If, there-
fore, this be the disposition we are under,
with regard to the excellency of our laws,
let our enemies make us this concession,
* Or " for corrupting other men's wives, the samt
allowance."
=y
Book II.]
FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS AGAINST APION.
117
that our laws are most excellent; and if
6till tlicy imagine that though we so firmly
adhere to them, yet are they bad laws
notwithstanding, what penalties then do
they deserve to undergo who do not ob-
serve their own laws, which they esteem
superior? Whereas, therefore, length of
time is esteemed to be the truest touchstone
in all cases, I would make that a testimo-
nial of the excellency of our laws, and of
that belief thereby delivered to us con-
cerning God ; for as there hath been a very
long time for this comparison, if any one
will but compare its duration with the
duration of the laws made by other legis-
lators, he will find our legislator to have
been the most ancient of them all.
We have already demonstrated that our
laws have been such as have always in-
spired admiration and imitation into all
other men ; nay, the earliest Grecian phi-
losophers, though in appearance they ob-
served the laws of their own countries,
yet did they, in their actions and their
philosophic doctrines, follow our legislator,
and instructed men to live sparingly, and
to have friendly communication one with
another. Nay, further, the multitude of
mankind itself have had a great inclination
of a long time to follow our religious ob-
servances ; for there is not any city of the
Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor
any nation whatsoever, whither our cus-
tom of resting on the seventh day hath not
come, and by which our fasts and lighting
up lamps, and many of our prohibitions
as to our food, are not observed; they
also endeavour to imitate our mutual con-
cord with one another, and the charitable
distribution of our goods, and our dili-
gence in our trades, and our fortitude in
undergoing the distresses we are in, on
account of our laws ; and, what is here
matter of the greatest admiration, our
law hath no bait or pleasure to allure men
to it, but it prevails by its own force ; aud,
as God himself pervades all the world, so
hath our law passed through all the world
also. So that, if any one will but reflect
on his own country, and his own family,
he will have reason to give credit to what
I say. It is, therefore, but just, either to
condemn all mankind of indulging a
wicked disposition, when they have been
so desirous of imitating laws that are to
them foreign and evil in themselves, ra-
ther than following laws of their own that
are of a better character, or else our ac-
cusers must leave off their spite against
us; nor are we guilty of any envious be-
haviour toward them, when we honour
our own legislator, and believe what he,
by his prophetic authority, hath taught us
concerning God; for though we should
not be able ourselves to understand the
excellency of our own laws, yet would the
great multitude of those that desire to
imitate them, justify us in greatly valuing
ourselves upon them.
But as for the [distinct] political laws
by which we are governed, I have deli-
vered them accurately in my books of
Antiquities; and have only mentioned
them now, so far as was necessary to my
present purpose, without proposiug to
myself either to blame the laws of other
nations, or to make an encomium upon
our own, but in order to convict those
that have written about us unjustly, and
in an impudent affectation of disguising
the truth : aud now I think I have suffi-
ciently completed what I proposed in
writing these books ; for whereas our ac-
cusers have pretended that our nation are
a people of very late original, I have de-
monstrated that they are exceedingly an-
cient; for I have produced as witnesses
thereto many ancient writers, who have
made mention of us in their books, while
they had said no such writer had so done.
Moreover, they had said that we were
sprung from the Egyptians, while I have
proved that we came from another country
into Egypt : while they had told lies of
us, as if we were expelled thence on ac-
count of diseases on our bodies, it has ap-
peared on the contrary, that we returned
to our country by our own choice, and
with sound and strong bodies. Those ac-
cusers reproached our legislator as a vile
fellow; whereas, God in old time bare
witness to his virtuous conduct ; and,
since that testimony of God, time itself
hath been discovered to have borne wit-
ness to the same thing.
As to the laws themselves, more words
are unnecessary, for they are visible in
their own nature, and appear to teach not
impiety, but the truest piety in the world.
They do not make men hate one another,
but encourage people to communicate what
they have to one another freely ; they are
enemies to injustice, they take care of
righteousness, they banish idleness and
expensive living, and instruct men to be
content with what they have, and to be
laborious in their callings; they forbid
men to make war from a desire of getting
148
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AriON.
[Book IL
more, but make men courageous in de-
fending the laws ; they are inexorable in
punishing malefactors : they admit no
sophistry of words, but are always esta-
blished by actions themselves, which ac-
tions we ever propose as surer demonstra-
tions than what is contained in writing
only j on which account I am so bold as
to say that we are become the teachers
of other men, in the greatest number of
things, and those of the most excellent
nature only; for what is more excellent
than inviolable piety? what is more just
than submission to laws ? and what is
more advantageous than mutual love and
concord ? and this so far that we are to be
neither divided by calamities, nor to be-
come injurious and seditious in prosperity;
but to contemn death when we are in war,
and in peace to apply ourselves to our
mechanical occupations, or to our tillage
of the ground ; while we in all things and
all ways are satisfied that God is the in-
spector and governor of our actions. If
these precepts had either been written at
first, or more exactly kept by any others
before us, we should have owed them
thanks as disciples owe to their masters;
but if it be visible that we have made use
of them more than any other men, and if
we have demonstrated that the original
invention of them is our own, let the .
Apions and the Molones, with all the" rest
of 'those that delight in lies and reproaches,
stand confuted; but let this and the fore-
going book be dedicated to thee, Epaphro-
ditus, who art so great a lover of truth,
and by thy means to those that have been
in like manner desirous to be acquainted
with the affairs of our nation.
END OF JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION.
AN EXTRACT
OUT OP JOSEPHUS'S DISCOURSE TO THE GREEKS CONCERNING
HADES.
1. Now as to Hades, wherein the souls
of the righteous and unrighteous are de-
tained, it is necessary to speak of it.
Hades is a place in the world not regu-
larly finished ; a subterraneous region,
wherein the light of this world does not
shine ; from which circumstance, that in
this region the light does not shine, it
cannot but be there must be in it per-
petual darkness. This region is allotted
as a place of custody for souls, in which
angels are appointed as guardians to them,
who distribute to them temporary punish-
ment, agreeable to every one's behaviour
and manners.
2. In this region there is a certain place
set apart as a lake of unquenchable fire,
whereinto we suppose no one hath hither-
to been cast ; but it is prepared for a day
aforedetermined by God, in which one
righteous sentence shall deservedly be
passed upon all men; when the unjust,
and those that have been disobedient to
God, and have given honour to such idols
as have been the vain operations of the
hands of men as to God himself, shall be
adjudged to this everlasting punishment,
as having been the causes of defilement;
while the just shall obtain an incorruptible
and never-fading kingdom. These are
now, indeed, confined in Hades, but not
in the same place wherein the unjust are
confined.
3. For there is one descent into this
region, at whose gate we believe there
stands an archangel with a host ; which
gate when those pass through that are
couducted down by the angels appointed
over souls, they do not go the same way,
but the just are guided to the right hand,
and are led with hymns, sung by the
angels appointed over that place, unto a
region of light, in which the just have
dwelt from the beginning of the world ;
not constrained by necessity, but ever
enjoying the prospect of the good things
Vol. II.— 29
they see, and rejoicing in the expectation
of those new enjoyments which will be
peculiar to every one of them, and esteem-
ing those things beyond what we have
here : with whom there is no place of toil,
no burning heat, no piercing cold, nor
any briers there ; but the countenance of
the fathers and of the just, which they
see, always smiles upon them, while they
wait for that rest and eternal new life
in heaverfwhich is to succeed this region.
This place we call the bosom of Abra-
ham.
4. But as to the unjust, they are
dragged by force to the left hand by the
angels allotted for punishment, no longer
going with a good will, but as prisoners
driven by violence ; to whom are sent the
angels appointed over them to reproach
them, and threaten them with their terri-
ble looks, and to thrust them still down-
ward. Now those angels that are set
over these souls drag them into the neijdi-
bourhood of hell itself ; who, when they
are hard by it, continually hear the noise
of it, and do not stand clear of the hot
vapour itself; but when they have a near
view of this spectacle, as of a terrible and
exceeding great prospect of fire, they are
struck with a fearful expectation of a
future judgment, and in effect punished
thereby : and not only so, but where they
see the place [or choir] of the fathers
and of the just, even hereby are they
punished ; for a chaos deep and large is
fixed between them; insomuch that a just
man that hath compassion upon them
caunot be admitted, nor can one that is
unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt,
it, pass over it.
5. This is the discourse concerning
Hades, wherein the souls of all men are
confined until a proper season, which God
hath determined, when he will make a
resurrection of all men from the dead ;
not procuring a transmigration of souls
449
450
JOSEPHUS'S DISCOURSE CONCERNING HADES.
from one body to another, but raising
again those very bodies which you Greeks,
seeing to be dissolved, do not believe
[their resurrection]. But learn not to dis-
believe it ; for while you believe that the
soul is created and yet is made immortal
by God, according to the doctrine of Plato,
and this in time, be not incredulous,
but believe that God is able, when he hath
raised to life that body which was made
as a compound of the same element, to
make it immortal; for it must never be
said of God, that he is able to do some
things and unable to do others. We
have, therefore, believed that the body
will be raised again; for although it be
dissolved, it is not perished ; for the earth
receives its remains, and preserves them ;
and while they are like seed, and are
mixed among the more fruitful soil, they
flourish ; and what is sown is, indeed,
sown bare grain, but at the mighty
sound of God the Creator it will sprout
up, and be raised in a clothed and glorious
condition, though not before it has been
dissolved and mixed [with the earth]. So
that we have not rashly believed the re-
surrection of the body ; for although it be
dissolved for a time on account of the
original transgression, it exists still, and
is cast into the earth as into a potter's
furnace, in order to be formed again, not in
order to rise again such as it was before,
but in a state of purity, and so as never
to be destroyed any more. And to every
body shall its own soid be restored. And
when it hath clothed itself with that
body, it will not be subject to misery;
but being itself pure, it will continue
with its pure body, and rejoice with it;
with which it having walked righteously
now in this world, and never having had
it as a snare, it will receive it again with
great gladness. But as for the unjust,
they will receive their bodies not changed,
not freed from diseases or distempers,
nor made glorious, but with the same
diseases wherein they died ; and such as
they were in their unbelief, the same
shall they be when they shall be faithfully
judged.
G. For all men, the just as well as the
unjust, shall be brought before God the
Word; for to him hath the Father com-
mitted aU judgment; and he, in order to
fulfil the will of his Father, shall come
as judge, whom we call Christ. For
Minos and Rhadamanthus are not the
judges, as you Greeks do suppose, but
he whom God and the Father hath
glorified, ; CONCERNING WHOM WE HAVE
ELSEWHERE GIVEN A MORE PARTICU-
LAR ACCOUNT, FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE
who seek after truth. This person
exercising the righteous judgment of the
Father toward all men, hath prepared
a just sentence for every one, according
to his works ; at whose judgment-seat,
when all men, and angels, and demons
shall stand, they will send forth one
voice, and say, just is thy judgment :
the rejoinder to which will bring a just
sentence upon both parties, by giving
justly to those that have done well an
everlasting fruition; but allotting to the
lovers of wicked works eternal punish-
ment. To these belong the unquenchable
fire, and that without end, and a certain
fiery worm never dying, and not destroy-
ing the body, but continuing its eruption
out of the body with never-ceasing grief :
neither will sleep give ease to these men,
nor will the night afford them comfort;
death will not free them from their
punishment, nor will the interceding pray-
ers of their kindred profit them ; for the
just are no longer seen by them, nor are
they thought worthy of remembrance.
But the just shall remember only their
righteous actions, whereby they have at-
tained the heavenly kingdom, in which
there is no sleep, no sorrow, no corrup-
tion, no care, no night, no day mea-
sured by time : no sun driven in his
course along the circle of heaven by ne-
cessity, and measuring out the bounds
and conversions of the .seasons, for the
better illumination of the life of men ;
no moon decreasing and increasing, or
introducing a variety of seasons, nor will
she then moisten the earth : no burn-
ing sun, no Bear turning round [the
pole], no Orion to rise, no wandering of
innumerable stars. The earth will not
then be difficult to be passed over; nor
will it be hard to find out the court of
paradise ; nor will there be any fearful
roaring of the sea, forbidding the passen-
gers to walk on it; even that will be
made easily passable to the just, though
it will not be void of moisture. Heaven
will not then be uninhabitable by men,
and it will not be impossible to discover
the way of ascending thither. The earth
will not be uncultivated, nor require too
much labour of men, but will bring forth
its fruits of its own accord, and will be
well adorned with them. There will be
JOSEPHUS'S DISCOURSE CONCERNING HADES.
451
lio more generations of wild beasts, nor
will the substance of the rest of the
animals shoot out any more ; for it will
not produce men; but the number of the
righteous will continue, and never fail,
together with righteous angels and spirits
[of God], and with Lis word, as a choir
of righteous men and women that never
grow old, and continue in an incorrup-
tible state, singing hjmns to God, who
hath advanced them to that happiness, by
the means of a regular institution of life ;
with whom the whole creation also will
lift up a perpetual hymn from corruption
to incorruptwn, as glorified by a splendid
and a pure spirit. It will not then be
restrained by a bond of necessity, but with
a lively freedom shall offer up a voluntary
hymn, and shall praise him that made them,
together with with the angels, and spirits,
and men, now freed from all bondage.
7. And now if you Gentiles will be
persuaded by these motives, and leave
your vain imaginations about your pedi-
grees, and gaining of riches, and philo-
sophy, and will not spend your time about
subtilities of words, and thereby lead
your minds into error, and if you will
apply your ears to the hearing of the
inspired prophets, the interpreters both of I
God and of his word, and will believe in
God, you shall both be partakers of these
things, and obtain the good things that
are to come: you shall see the ascent
unto the immense heaven plainly, and
that kingdom which is there : For what
God hath now concealed in silence [will
be then made manifest], iclmi neither eye
hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor hath
it entered into the heart of man the thing*
that God hath prepared for them that
love him.
8. In lohatsoever ivaj/s I shall find you,
in them shall I judge you entirely} so
cries the end of cdl things. And he who
hath at first lived a virtuous life, but
toward the latter end falls into vice,
these labours by him before endured shall
be altogether vain and unprofitable, even
as in a play brought to an ill catastro-
phe. Whosoever shall have lived wicked-
ly and luxuriously may repent : how-
ever, there will be need of much time
to conquer an evil habit; and even after
repentance, his whole ljfe must be guarded
with great care and diligence, after the
manner of a body, which, after it hath
been a long time afflicted with a distem-
per, requires a stricter diet and method
of living : for though it may be possible,
perhaps, to break off the chain of our
irregular affections at once, yet our amend-
ment cannot be secured without the grace
of God, the prayers of good men, the
help of the brethren, and our own sincere
repentance and constant care. It is a
good thing not to sin at all; it is also
good, having sinned, to repent ; as it is
best to have health always, but it is a
good thing to recover from a distemper.
To God be glory ami dominion for ever
and ever, Amen.
END OF THE EXTRACT CONCERNING HADES.
DISSERTATION I.
THE TESTIMONIES OF JOSEPHUS CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST, JOHN THE
BAPTIST, AND JAMES THE JUST, VINDICATED.
Since we meet with several important
testimonies in Josephus, the Jewish his-
torian, concerning John the Baptist, the
forerunner of Jesus of Nazareth, con-
cerning Jesus of Nazareth himself, and
concerning James the Just, the brother
of Jesus of Nazareth ; and since the
principal testimony, which is that con-
cerning Jesus of Nazareth himself, has
of late been greatly questioned by many,
and rejected by some of the learned as
spurious, it will be fit for me, who have
ever declared my firm belief that these
testimonies were genuine, to set down fairly
some of the original evidence and citations
I have met with in the first fifteen cen-
turies concerning them, and then to make
proper observations upon that evidence,
for the reader's more complete satisfaction.
But before I produce the citations them-
selves out of Josephus, give me leave to
prepare the reader's attention, by setting
down the sentiments of perhaps the most
learned person, and the most competent
judge that ever was, as to the authority
of Josephus, — I mean of Joseph Scaligcr
in the Prolegomena to his book, De Emen-
datione Temporum, p. 17: — "Josephus
is the most diligent and the greatest lover
of truth of all writers ; nor are we afraid
to affirm of him, that it is more safe to
believe him, not only as to the affairs of
the Jews, but also as to those that are
foreign to them, than all the Greek and
Latin writers, and this, because his fidelity
and his compass of learning are every-
where conspicuous."
THE ANCIENT CITATIONS OF THE TESTIMONIES OF JOSEPHUS FROM HIS
OWN TIME TILL THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
About A. D. 110. Tacit. Annal. lib.
xv. cap. 44. — Nero, in order to stifle the
rumour [as if he had himself set Rome
on fire], ascribed it to those people who
were hated for their wicked practices, and
called by the vulgar Christians : these he
punished exquisitely. The a uthor of th is
name teas Christ, who, in the reign of
Tiberius, was brought to punishment by
Pontius Pilate the procurator.
About A. D. 147. Just. Mart. Dialog,
cum Tnjpho, p. 234. — You [Jews] knew
that Jesus was risen from the dead, and-
ascended into heaven, as the prophecies
did foretell was to happen.
About A. D. 230. Origcn. Comment.
in Matth. p. 230. — This James was of so
shining a character among the people, on
account of his righteousness, that Flavius
Josephus, when, in his twentieth book of
the Jewish Antiquities, he had a mind to
set down what was the cause why the
452
people suffered such miseries, till the very
holy house was demolished, he said that
these things befell them by the anger of
God, on account of what they had dared
to do to James, the brother of Jesus, who
was called Christ: and wonderful it is,
that, while he did not receive Jesus for
Christ, he did, nevertheless, bear witness
that James was so righteous a man. He
says further, that the people thought that
they suffered these things for the sake of
James.
About A. D. 250. Contr. Oels. lib. i.
pp. 35, 36. — I would say to Celsus, who
personates a Jew, that admitted of John
the Baptist, and how "he baptized Jesus,
that one who lived but a little while after
John and Jesus, wrote, how that John
was a baptizer unto the remission of sins:
for Josephus testifies in the eighteenth
book of Jewish Antiquities, that John
was the Baptist, and that he promised
DISSERTATION I.
453
purification to those that wore baptized.
The same Josephus also, although he did
not believe in Jesus as Christ, when he
was inquiring after the cause of the de-
struction of Jerusalem, and of the demo-
lition of the temple, and ought to have
said that their machinations against Jesus
were the cause of those miseries coming
on the people, because they had slain that
Christ, who was foretold by the prophets,
he, though as it were unwillingly, and
yet as one not remote from the truth, says :
— " These miseries befell the Jews by
way of revenge for James the Just, who
was the brother of Jesus, that was called
Christy because they had slain him who
was a most righteous person." Now this
James was he whom that genuine disciple
of Jesus, Paul, said he had seen as the
Lord's brother [Gal. i. 19] ; which rela-
tion implies not so much nearness of
blood, or the sameness of education, as it
does the agreement of manners and preach-
ing. If, therefore, he says the desolation
of Jerusalem befell the Jews for the sake
of James, with how much greater reason
might he have said that it happened for
the sake of Jesus ! &c.
About A. D. 324. Euscb. Demonstr.
Ecun. lib. iii. p. 124. — Certainly the at-
testation of those I have already produced
concerning our Saviour may be sufficient.
However, it may not be amiss, if, over
and above, we make use of Josephus the
Jew for a further witness ; who, in the
eighteenth book of his Antiquities, when
he was writing the history of what hap-
pened under Pilate, makes mention of our
Saviour in these words : — Now there was
about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it
be lawful to call him a man, for he was a
doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such
men as had a veneration for truth ; he
drew over to him both many of the Jews
and many of the Gentiles : he was the
Christ. And when Pilate, at the sugges-
tion of the principal men among us, had
condemned him to the cross, those that
loved him at first did not forsake him, for
he appeared to them alive again the third
day, as the divine prophets had spoken of
these, and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him; whence the tribe
of Christians, so named from him, are
not extinct at this day. If, therefore, we
have this historian's testimony, that he
not only brought over to himself the
twelve apostles with the seventy disciples,
but many of the Jews and many of the
Gentiles also, he must manifestly have
had somewhat in him extraordinary above
the rest of mankind; for how otherwise
could he draw over so many of the ,Jr\vs
and of the Gentiles, uulcss he performed
admirable and amazing works, and used a
method of teaching that was not common ?
Moreover, the Scripture of the Acts of
the Apostles bears witness, that there
were many ten thousands of Jews who
were persuaded that he was the Christ of
God, who was foretold by the prophets
[Acts xi. 20].
About A. D. 330. Bist. Eccles. lib. i.
cap. 11. — Now the divine Scripture of the
Gospels makes mention of John the Bap-
tist as having his head cut off" by the
younger Herod. Josephus also concurs
in this history, and makes mention of
Herodias by name, as wife of his brother,
whom Herod had married, upon divorcing
his former lawful wife. She was the
daughter of Aretas, king of the Petrean
Arabians; and which Herodias he had
parted from her husband while he was
alive : on which account also, when he
had slain John, he made war with Arctaa
[Aretas made war with him], because his
daughter had been used dishonourably;
in which war, when it came to a battle,
he says that all Herod's army was de-
stroyed, and that he suffered this because
of his wicked contrivance against Johu.
Moreover, the same Josephus, by acknow-
ledging John to have been a most right-
eons man and the Baptist, conspires in
his testimony with what is written in the
Gospels. He also relates that Herod lost
his kingdom for the sake of the s.une He-
rodias, together with whom he was him-
self condemned to be banished to Vienna,
a city of Gaul. And this is his account
in the eighteenth book of the Antiquities,
where he writes thus of John verbatim : — ■
Some of the Jews thought that the de-
struction of Herod's army came from God,
and that very justly, as a punishment for
what he did against John that was called
the Baptist, for Herod slew him, who was
a good man, and one that commanded the
Jews to exercise virtue, both as to right-
eousness toward one another, and piety
toward God, and so to come to baptism,
for that by this means the washing [with
water] would appear acceptable to him,
when they made use of it, not in order to
the putting away [or the remission] of
some sins [only], but for the purification
of the body, supposing still that the soul
454
DISSERTATION I.
were thoroughly purified beforehand by
righteousness. Now when [many] others
came in crowds about him, for they were
greatly delighted in hearing his words,
Herod was afraid that this so great power
of persuading men might tend to some
sedition or other, for they seemed to be
disposed to do every thing he should advise
them to ; so he supposed it better to pre-
vent any attempt for a mutation from him
by cutting him off, than after any such
mutation should be brought about, and
the public should suffer, to repent [of such
negligence]. Accordingly, he was sent a
prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper,
to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned,
and was there put to death. When Jose-
phus had said this of John, he makes
mention also of our Saviour in the same
history, after this manner: — Now there
was about this time one Jesus, a wise man,
if it be lawful to call him a man, for he
was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher
of such men as receive the truth with
pleasure ; he drew over to him both many
of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles
also : he was the Christ. And when
Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal
men among us, had condemned him to the
cross, those that loved him at the first did
not forsake him, for he appeared to them
alive again the third day, as the divine
prophets had foretold these, and ten thou-
sand other wonderful things concerning
him. And still the tribe of Christians,
so named from him, are not extinct at
this day. And since this writer, sprung
from the Hebrews themselves, hath de-
livered things above in his own work, con-
cerning John the Baptist and our Saviour,
what room is there for any further eva-
sion ? &c.
Now James was so wonderful a person,
and was so celebrated by all others for
righteousness, that the judicious Jews
thought this to have been the occasion of
that siege of Jerusalem, which came on
presently after his martyrdom, and that
it befell them for no other reason, than
that impious fact they were guilty of
against him. Josephus, therefore, did not
refuse to attest thereto in writing, by the
words following: — These miseries befell
the Jews by way of revenge for James
the Just, who was the brother of Jesus
that was called Christ, on this account,
that they had slain him who was a most
righteous person.
The same Josephus declares the manner
of his death in the twentieth book of the
Antiquities, in these words: — Caesar sent
Albinus into Judea to be procurator, when
he had heard that Festus was dead. Now
Ananus junior, who, as we said, had been
admitted to the high-priesthood, was in
his temper bold and daring in an extraor-
dinary manner. He was also of the sect
of the Sadducees, who are more savage in
judgment than any of the other Jews, as
we have already signified. Since, there-
fore, this was the character of Ananus, he
thought he had now a proper opportunity
[to exercise his authority], because Festus
was dead, and Albinus was but upon the
road ; so he assembles the sanhedrim of
judges, and brings before them James,
the brother of Jesus, who was called
Christ, and some others [of his com-
panions], and when he had formed an
accusation against them, as breakers of the
law, he delivered them to be stoned : but
as for those who seemed the most equi-
table of the citizens, and those who were
the most uneasy at the breach of the laws,
they disliked what was done. They also
sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him
to send to Ananus that he should act so
no more, for .that what he had already
done could not be justified, &c.
About A. D. 360. Ambrose or Hcge-
sippus de Excid. Urb. Hierosolym. lib. ii.
cap. 12. — We have discovered that it was
the opinion and belief of the Jews, as
Josephus affirms, (who is an author not to
be rejected, when he writes against him-
self,) that Herod lost his army, not by the
deceit of men, but by the anger of God,
and that justly, as an effect of revenge for
what he did to John the Baptist, a just
man, who had said to him, It is not lawful
for thee to have thy brother's wife.
The Jews themselves also bear witness
to Christ, as appears by Josephus, the
writer of their history, who says thus :— -
That there was at that time a wise man,
if, says he, it be lawful to have him called
a man, a doer of wonderful works, who
appeared to his disciples after the third
day from his death, alive again, according
to the writings of the prophets, who fore-
told these and innumerable other miracu-
lous events concerning him ; from whom
began the congregation of Christians, and
hath penetrated among all sorts of meu :
nor does their remain any nation in the
lloman world, which continues strangers
to his religion. If the Jews do not believe
us, let them at least believe their own
DISSERTATION I.
i:.:
writers. Josephus, whom they esteem a
very great man, hath said this, and yet
hath he spoken truth after such a manner,
and so far was his mind wandered from
tlu> right way, that even he was not a be-
liever, as to what he himself said : but
thus he spake in order to deliver historical
truth, because he thought it not lawful
for him to deceive, while yet he was no
believer, because of the hardness of his
heart, and his perfidious intention. How-
ever, it was no prejudice to the truth that
he was not a believer; but this adds more
weight to his testimony, that while he
was an unbeliever, and unwilling this
should be true, he has not denied it to
be so.
About A. D. 400. Jlirro>rt/m. de Vir.
lUustr. in Joscpho. — Joseph us, in the
eighteenth book of Antiquities, most ex-
pressly acknowledges, that Christ was slain
by the Pharisees on account of the great-
ness of bis miracles ; and that John the
Baptist was truly a prophet; and that
Jerusalem was demolished on account of
the slaughter of James the apostle. Now
he wrote concerning our Lord after this
manner: — At the same time there was
Jesus, a wise man, if yet it be lawful to
call him a man, for he was a doer of won-
derful works, a teacher of those who will-
ingly receive the truth. He had many
followers both of the Jews and of the
Gentiles : he was believed to be Christ.
And when, by the envy of our principal
men, Pilate had condemned him to the
cross, yet notwithstanding, those who had
loved him at first persevered, for he ap-
peared to them alive on the third day, as
the oracles of the prophets had foretold
many of these, and other wonderful things
concerning him : and the sect of Christians,
so named from him, are not extinct at this
day.
About A. D. 410. Isoclorus Pdusiota,
the Scholar of Chrysostom, lib. iv. epist.
225. — There was one Josephus, a Jew of
the greatest reputation, and one that was
zealous of the law; one also that para-
phrased the Old Testament with truth,
and acted valiantly for the Jews, and had
showed that their settlement was nobler
than can be described by words. Now
since he made their interest give place to
truth, for he would not support the opi-
nion of impious men, I think it necessary
to set down his words. What then does
he say ? Now there was about that time
Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call
him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful
works, a teacher of such men as receive
the truth with pleasure, lie drew over
to him both many of the Jews, and many
<>f the Gentiles: he was the Christ. And
when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men among us, had condemned
him to the cross, those that loved him at
first did not forsake him, for he appeared
to them the third day alive again, as the
divine prophets had said these, and a vast
number of other wonderful things con-
cerning him ; and the tribe of Christians,
so named from him, are not extinct at
this day. Now I cannot but wonder
greatly at this man's love of truth in many
respects, but chiefly where he says —
" Jesus was a teacher of men which re-
ceived the truth with pleasure."
About A. D. 440. Sozomon. Wist.
Eccles. lib. i. cap. 1. — Now Josephus, the
son of Matthias, a priest, a man of very
great note both among the Jews and the
Romans, may well be a witness of credit
as to the truth of Christ's history ; for
he scruples to call him a man, as being a
doer of wonderful works, and a teacher of
the words of truth : he names him Christ
openly ; and is not ignorant that he was
condemned to the cross, and appeared on
the third day alive ; and that ten thou-
sand other wonderful things were foretold
of him by the divine prophets. He testi-
fies also, that those whom he drew over
to him, being many of the Gentiles as
well as of the Jews, continued to love
him ; and that the tribe named from him
was not then extinct. Now he seems to
me, by this his relation, almost to pro-
claim that Christ is God. However, he
appears to have been so affected by the
strangeness of the thing, as to run as it
were in a sort of middle way, so as not
to put any indignity upon believers in
him, but rather to afford his suffrage to
them.
About A. D. 510. Cassiodorus Hist.
Tripartit. e So::omcno. — Now Josephus,
the son of Matthias, and a priest, a man of
great nobility among the Jews, and of a
great dignity among the Romans, shall tie
a witness to the truth of Christ's history :
for he dares not call him a man, as a doer
of famous works, and a teacher of true
doctrines; he names him Christ opcnlj ;
and is not ignorant that he was condemned
to the cross, and appeared on the third
day alive, and that an infinite number
of other wonderful things were foretold
456
DISSERTATION I.
of him by the holy prophets. Moreover,
he testifies also, that there were then
alive many whom he had chosen, both
Greeks and Jews, and that they continued
to love him; and that, the sect which was
named from him was by no means extinct
at that time.
About A. D. 640. Chron. Alex. p.
514. — Now Josephus also relates in the
eighteenth book of Antiquities, how John
the Baptist, that holy man, was beheaded
on account of Herodias, the wife of Philip,
the brother of Herod himself ; for Herod
had divorced his former wife, who was
still alive, and had been his lawful wife :
she was the daughter of Aretas, king of
the Petreans. When, therefore, Herod
had taken Herodias away from her hus-
band, while he was yet alive, (on whose
account he slew John also,) Aretas made
war against Herod, because his daughter
had been dishonourably treated : in which
war he says, that all Herod's army was
destroyed, and that he suffered that
calamity because of the wickedness he
had been guilty of against John. The
same Josephus relates, that Herod lost
his kingdom on account of Herodias, and
that with her he was banished to Lyons,
P. 526, 527.]— Now that our Saviour
taught his doctrines - three years, is de-
monstrated both by other necessary rea-
sonings, as also out of the holy Gospels,
and out of Josephus's writings, who was
a wise man among the Hebrews, &c.
P. 584, 586.] — Josephus relates in the
fifth book of the [Jewish] war, that Jeru-
salem was taken in the third [second]
year of Vespasian, as after forty years
since they had dared to put Jesus to
death : in which time he says, that James
the brother of our Lord, and bishop of
Jerusalem, was thrown down [from the
temple], and slain of them by stoning.
About A. D. 740. Anastasius Abbas
vim lr. Jud. — Now Josephus, an author
and writer of your own, says of Christ,
that he was a just and good man, showed
and declared so to be by divine grace,
who gave aid to many by signs and
miracles.
About A. D. 790. Georgius Syncel-
lus Chron. p. 839. — These miseries befell
the Jews by way of revenge for James
the Just, who was the brother of Jesus
that was called Christ, on the account
that they had slain him who was a most
righteous person. Now as Ananus, a
person of that character, thought he had
a proper opportunity, becaixse Festus was
dead, and Albinuswas but upon the road,
so he assembles the sanhedrim of judges,
and brings before them James, the bro-
ther of Jesus, who was called Christ, and
some of his companions; and when he
had formed an accusation against them,
as breakers of the laws, he delivered
them to be stoned ; but as for those that
seemed the most equitable of the citizens,
and those that were the most uneasy at the
breach of the laws, they disliked what
was done. They also sent to the king
[Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ana-
nus that he should act so no more, for
that what he had already done could not
be justified, &c.
About A. D. 850. Johan.Malela Chron.
lib. x. — From that time began the des-
truction of the Jews, as Josephus, the
philosopher of the Hebrews, hath writ-
ten ; who also said this, that from the
time the Jews crucified Christ, who was
a good and a righteous man, (that is, if
it be fit to call such an one a man, and
not a God,) the land of Judea was never
free from trouble. These things the
same Josephus the Jew has related in
his writings.
About A. D. 860. Photius Cod. lib.
xlviii. — I have read the treatise of Jose-
phus about the universe, whose title I have
elsewhere read to be, Of the Substance
of the Universe. It is contained in two
very small treatises. He treats of the
origin of the world in a brief manner.
However, he speaks of the divinity of
Christ, who is our true God, in a way
very like to what we use, declaring that
the same name of Christ belongs to him,
and writes of his ineffable generation of
the Father after such a manner as cannot
be blamed ; which thing may perhaps
raise a doubt in some, whether Josephus
was the author of the work, though the
phraseology does not at all differ from
this man's other works. However, I have
found in some papers, that this discourse
was not written by Josephus, but by one
Caius, a presbyter.
Cod. ccxxxvii.] Herod, the tetrarch of
Galilee and of Perea, the son of Herod
the Great, fell in love, as Josephus says,
with the wife of his brother Philip, whose
name was Herodias, who was the grand-
daughter of Herod the Great, by his son
Aristobulus, whom he had slain. Agrippa
was also her brother. How Herod took
DISSERTATION I.
457
her away from her husband and married
her. This is he that slew John the
Baptist, that great man, the forerunner
[of .Christ], being afraid (as Josephus
says) lest he should raise a sedition
among (he people ; for they all followed
the directions of John, on account of the
excellency of his virtue. In his time was
the passion of our Saviour.
Cod. xxiii.] I have read the Chronicle
of Justus of Tiberias. He omits the
greatest part of what was most necessary
to be related ; but as infected with Jewish
prejudices, being also bimself a Jew by
birth, he makes no mention at all of the
advent, or of the acts done, or of the
miracles wrought by Christ.
The time uncertain. Macarius in Actis
sanctorum,, torn. v. p. 149, ap. Fabric.
Joseph, p. 61. — Josephus, a priest of Jeru-
salem, and one that wrote with truth the
history of the Jewish affairs, bears witness
that Christ, the true God, was incarnate
and crucified, and the third day rose
again ; whose writings are reposited in
the public library. Thus he says : — Now
there wras about this time Jesus, a wise
man, if it be lawful to call him a man,
for he was a doer of wonderful works, a
teacher of such men as received the truth
with pleasure ; he drew over to him both
mauy of the Jews, and many of the
Gentiles also : this was the Christ. And
when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men among us, had condemned
him to the cross, those that loved him
at the fii-st did not forsake him, for he
appeared to them alive again the third day,
as the divine prophets had foretold these,
and ten thousand other wonderful things
concerning him. And still the tribe of
Christians, so named from him, are not
extinct at this day. ' Since, therefore,
the writer of the Hebrews had engraven
this testimony concerning our Lord and
Saviour in his own books, what defence
can there remain for the unbelievers ?
About A. D. 980. Suidas in voce
Jesous. — We have found Josephus, who
hath written about the taking of Jerusa-
lem, (of whom Eusebius Pamphili makes
frequent mention in his ecclesiastical his-
tory,) saying openly in his memoirs of
the captivity, that Jesus officiated in the
temple with the priests. This we have
found Josephus saying, a man of ancient
times, and not very long after the apos-
tles, &c.
About A. D. 1060. Ccdrenus Com-
pend. HistOT. p. 196. — Josephus does in-
deed write concerning John the Baptist
as follows : — Some of the Jews thought
that the destruction of Herod's army
came from God, and that ho was punished
very justly for what punishment he had
inflicted on John, that was called the
Baptist} for Herod slew him, who was a
good man, and commanded the Jews to
exercise virtue, both by righteousness
toward one another, and piety toward
God, and so to come to baptism. But as
concerning Christ, the same Josephus
says, that about that time there was
Jssus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call
him a man, for he was a doer of wonder-
ful works, and a teacher of such men
as receive the truth with pleasure, for
that Christ drew over many even from
the Gentiles; whom when Pilate had
crucified, those who at first had loved him
did not leave off to preach concerning
him, for he appeared to them the third
day alive again, as the divine prophets
had testified and spoken these and other
wonderful things concerning him.
About A. D. 1080. Theophylact in
Joan. lib. xiii. — The city of the Jews was
taken, and the wrath of God was kindled
against them ; as also Josephus witnesses,
that this came upon them on account of
the death of Jesus.
About A. D. 1120. Zonarus Annal.
torn. i. p. 267. — Josephus, in the eigh-
teenth book of Antiquities, writes thus
concerning our Lord and God Jesus
Christ : — Now there was about this time
Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call
him a man, for he was a doer of wonder-
ful works, a teacher of such men as re-
ceive the truth with pleasure. He drew
over to him many of the Jews, and many
of the Gentiles : he was the Christ. And
when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men among us, had condemned
him to the cross, those that had loved him
at first did not forsake him, for he ap-
peared to them the third day alive again,
as the divine prophets had said these, and
ten thousand other wonderful things con-
cerning him : and the tribe of Christians,
so named from him, are not extinct at
this day.
About A. D. 1120. Glycas Annal.
p. 234. — Then did Philo, that wise man,
and Josephus, flourish. This last was
styled, The lover of truth, because he com-
mended John, who baptized our Lord ;
and because he bore witness that Christ, in
458
DISSERTATION I.
like manner, was a wise man, and the
doer of great miracles ; and that when he
was crucified he appeared the third day.
About A. D. 1170. Gotfridus Viterbiensis
Citron, p. 36G, e Vers. Rufini. — Josephus
relates that a very great war arose between
Aretas, king of the Arabians, and Herod,
on account of the sin which Herod had
committed against John. Moreover, the
same Josephus writes thus concerning
Christ : — There was at this time Jesus, a
wise man, if at least it be lawful to call
him a man, for he was a doer of wonder-
ful works, a teacher of such men as will-
ingly hear truth. He also drew over to
him many of the Jews, and many of the
Gentiles : he was Christ. And when Pi-
late, at the accusation of the principal men
of our nation, had decreed that he should
be crucified, those that had loved him from
the beginning did not forsake him, for he
appeared to them the third day alive again,
according to what the divinely inspired
prophets had foretold, that these and in-
numerable other miracles should come to
pass about him. Moreover, both the
name and sect of Christians, who were
named from him, continue in being unto
this day.
About A. D. 13G0. Mcephorus Gallis-
tus Hid. Eccles. lib. i. p. 90, 91. — Now this
[concerning Herod the tetrarch] is attested
to, not only by the book of the holy Gos-
pels, but by Josephus, that lover of truth;
who also makes mention of Herodias, his
brother's wife, whom Herod had taken
away from him, while he was alive, and
married her, having divorced his former
lawful wife, who was the daughter of Are-
tas, king of the Petrean Arabians. This
Herodias he had married, and lived with
her : on which account also, when he had
slain John, he made war with Aretas,
because his daughter had been dishonour-
ably used ; in which war he relates that
all Herod's army was destroyed, and that
he suffered this on account of the most
unjust slaughter of John. He also adds
that John was a most righteous man.
Moreover, he makes mention of his bap-
tism, agreeing in all points thereto relat-
ing with the Gospel. He also informs us
that Herod lost his kingdom on account
of Herodias, with whom also he was con-
demned to be banished to Vienna, which
was their place of exile, and a city bor-
dering upon Caul, and lying near the
utmost bounds of the west.
About A. D. 1450. Hardmannus
Schedelius Chron. p. 110. — Josephus tl/e
Jew, who was called Flavins, a priest, and
the son of Matthias, a priest of that na-
tion, a most celebrated historian, and very
skilful in many things : he was certainly
a good man, and of an excellent character,
who had the highest opinion of Christ.
About A. D. 1480. Platina do Vitis
Pontificum in Christo. — I shall avoid
mentioning what Christ did until the 30th
year of his age, when he was baptized by
John, the son of Zacharias, because not
only the Gospels and Epistles are full of
those acts of his, which he did in the
most excellent and most holy manner, but
the books of such as were quite remote
from his way of living and acting and
ordaining are also full of the same. Fla-
vius Josephus himself, who wrote twenty
books of Antiquities in the Greek tongue,
when he had proceeded as far as the go-
vernment of the Emperor Tiberius, says,
there was in those days Jesus, a certain
wise man, if at least it be lawful to call
him a man, for he was a doer of wonder-
ful works, and a teacher of men, of such
especially as willingly hear the truth. On
this account he drew over to him many
both of the Jews and Gentiles : he was
Christ. But when Pilate, instigated by
the principal men of our natiou, had
decreed that he should be crucified, yet
did not those that loved him from the be-
ginning forsake him : and besides, he ap-
peared to them the third day after his
death alive, as the divinely inspired pro-
phets had foretold, that these and innu-
merable other miracles should come to
pass about him. And the famous name
of Christians, taken from him, as well as
their sect, do still continue in being.
The same Josephus also affirms that
John the Baptist, a true prophet, and on
that account one that was had in esteem
by all men, was slain by Herod, the son
of Herod the Great, a little before the
death of Christ, in the castle Macherus;
not because he was afraid for himself and
his kingdom, as the same author says, but
because he had incestuously married .He-
rodias, the sister of Agrippa, and the wife
of that excellent person his brother Philip.
About A. D. 1480. Triihemius Abbas
de Scripior. Eccles. — Josephus the Jew,
although he continued to be a Jew, did
frequently commend the Christians; and,
in the eighteenth book of Antiquities,
wrote down an eminent testimony con-
cerning our Lord Jesus Christ.
DISSERTATION I. 410
OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FOREGUlXd EVIDENCE AND CITATIONS.
I. The style of all these original testi-
monies belonging to Josephus is exactly
the style of the same Josephus, and espe-
cially the style ahout those parts of his
Antiquities wherein we find these testi-
monies. This is denied by nobody as to
the other, concerning John the Baptist
and James the Just, and is now become
equally undeniable as to that concerning
Christ,
II. These testimonies, therefore, being
confessedly and undeniably written by Jo-
sephus himself, it is next to impossible
that he should wholly omit some testi-
mony concerning Jesus Christ; nay, while
his testimonies of John the Baptist and
of James the Just are so honourable, and
give them so great characters, it is also
impossible that his testimony concerning
Christ should be other than very honour-
able, or such as afforded him a still greater
character also. Could the very same
author, who gave such a full and advan-
tageous character of John the Baptist, the
forerunner of Jesus of Nazareth, all whose
disciples were by him directed to Jesus of
Nazareth, as to the true Messias, and all
of whom became afterward the disciples
of Jesus of Nazareth, say nothing honour-
able of that Jesus of Nazareth himself;
aud this in a history of those very times
in which he was born and lived and died,
and that while the writer lived but a little
after him in the same country in which
he was born aud lived and died ? This is
almost incredible. And further, could
the very same author, who gave such an
advantageous character of James the Just,
and this under the very appellation of
James the brother of Jesus, ich<> was called
Christ, which James was one of the prin-
cipal disciples or apostles of this Jesus
Christ, and had been many years the only
Christian bishop of the believing Jews of
Judea and Jerusalem, in the very days,
and in the very country of this writer;
could he, I say, wholly omit any, nay, a
very honourable account of Jesus Christ
himself, whose disciple and bishop this
James most certainly was ? This is also
almost incredible. Hear what Ittigius,
one of the wisest and learnedest of all
those who have lately inclined to give up
the testimony concerning Christ, as it
stands iu our copies, for spurious, says
upon this occasion: — "If any one object
to me, that Josephus hath not omitted
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ,
nor James the disciple of Christ, and that
therefore he could not have done the part
of a good historian, if he had been en-
tirely silent concerning Christ, I shall
freely grant that Josephus was not en-
tirely silent concerning Christ; nay, 1
shall further grant, that, when Josephus
was speaking of Christ, he did not abstain
from his commendation; for we are not
to determine from that inveterate hatred
which the modern Jews bear to Christ,
what was the behaviour of those Jews,
upon whom the miracles that were daily
wrought by the apostles iu the name of
Christ imprinted a sacred horror."
III. The famous clause in this testi-
mony of Josephus coucernin^ Christ, This
was Christ, or the Christ, did not mean
that this Jesus was the Christ of God, '>r
the true Messias of the Jews, but that
this Jesus was distinguished from all
others of that name, of which there were
not a few, as mentioned by Josephus
himself, by the addition of the other
name of Christ ; or that this person was
no other than he whom all the world knew
by the name of Jesus Christ, and his
followers by the name of Christians. This
I esteem to be a clear case, and that from
the arguments following.
(1.) The Greeks and llomans, for whose
use Josephus wrote his Antiquities, could
no otherwise understand these words.
The Jews indeed, aud afterward the
Christians, who knew that a great Messias,
a person that was to be Christ, the Anoint-
ed of God, that was to perform the office
of a Kiny, a Priest, and a Prophet, to
God's people, might readily so understand
this expression; but Josephus, as I have
already noted, wrote here, not to Jews or
Christians, but to Greeks and. llomans,
who knew nothing of this, but knew very
well that an eminent person lived in
Judea, whose name was Jesus Chrst, or
Jesus Christ, had founded a new and nu-
merous sect, which took the latter of
those names, and were everywhere from
him called Chrestians, or Christians ; in
which sense alone could they understand
these words of Josephus, and in which
sense I believe he desired they should
understand them : nor does Josephus ever
use the Hebrew term Messiah in any of
his writings, nor the Greek term Christ
in any such acceptation elsewhere.
460
DISSERTATION I.
(2.) • Josephus himself as good as ex-
plains his own meaning, and that by the
last clause of this very passage, where he
says the Christians were named from this
Christ, without a syllable, as though he
really meant he was the true Messiah, or
Christ of God, He further seems to me
to explain this his meaning in that other
place, where alone he elsewhere mentions
this name of Christ, that is, when upon
occasion of the mention of James, when
he was condemned by Ananus, he calls
him the brother of 'Jesus, not that was
the true Messiah, or the true Christ, but
only that was called Christ
(3.) It was quite beside the purpose of
Josephus to declare himself here to be
a Christian, or a believer in Jesus as the
true Messiah. Had he intended so to
do, he would surely have explained the
meaning of the word Christ to his Greek
and Roman readers : he would surely have
been a great deal fuller and larger in bis
accounts of Christ, and of the Christian
religion : nor would such a declaration at
that time have recommended him, or his
nation, or his writings, to either the
Greeks or the Romans ; of his reputation
with both which people he is known to
have been, in the writing of these Antiqui-
ties, very greatly solicitous.
(4.) Josephus's usual way of writing
is historical and declarative of facts, and
of the opinions of others, and but rarely
such as directly informs us of his own
opinion, unless we prudently gather it
from what he says historically, or as the
opinions of others. This is very observ-
able in the writings of Josephus, and in
particular as to what he says of John the
Baptist and of James the Just; so that
this interpretation is most probable, as
most agreeable to Josephus's way of writ-
ing in parallel cases.
(5.) This seems to be the universal
sense of all the ancients without exception,
who cite this testimony from him ; and
though they almost everywhere own this
to be the true reading, yet do they every-
where suppose Josephus to be still an
unbelieving Jew, and not a believing
Christian : nay, Jerom appears so well
assured of this interpretation, and that
Josephus did not mean to declare any
more by these words than a common
opinion, that, according to his usual way
of interpreting authors, not to the words
but to the sense (of which we have, I
think, two more instances in his accounts
out of Jesephus, now before us,) ho
renders this clause, credebatur esse Chris-
tus, i. e. he was believed to be Christ.
Nor is the parallel expression of Pilate to
be otherwise understood, when he made
that inscription upon the cross, This is
Jesus the King of the Jews;* which is
well explained by himself elsewhere, and
corresponds to the import of the present
clause, What shall I do with Jesus who is
called Christ ?~\ And we may full as
well prove from Pilate's inscription upon
the cross, that he hereby declared him-
self a believer in Christ, for the real king
of the Jews, as we can from these words
of Josephus, that he hereby declared
himself to be a real believer in him, as
the true Messiah
IV. Though Josephus did not design
here to delare himself openly to be a
Christian, yet could he not possibly be-
lieve all that he here asserts concerning
Jesus Christ, unless he were so far a
Christian as the Jewish Nazarenes or Ebi-
onites then were, who believed Jesus of
Nazareth to be the true Messiah, without
believing he was more than a man ; who
also believed. the necessity of the obser-
vation of the ceremonial law of Moses in
order to salvation for all mankind, which
were the two main articles of those Jew-
ish Christians' faith, though in opposition
to all the thirteen apostles of Jesus Christ
in the first century, and in opposition to
the whole catholic church of Christ in
the following centuries also. Accordingly,
I have elsewhere proved, that Josephus
was no other, in his own mind and con-
science, than a Nazarene or Ebionite
Jewish Christian : and have observed that
this entire testimony, and all that Jose-
phus says of John the Baptist, and of
James, as well as his absolute silence
about all the rest of the apostles and their
companions, exactly agrees to him under
that character, and no other. And, in-
deed, to me it is most astonishing, that
all our learned men, who have of late
considered these testimonies of Josephus,
except the converted Jew Galatinus,
should miss such an obvious and natural
observation. We all know this from St.
James'sJ own words, that so many ten
thousands of Jews as believed in Christ,
in the first century, were all zealous of
the ceremonial law, or were no other than
* Matt, xxvii. 31. f Matt, xxvii. 17, 22.
% Acts xxi. 20.
DISSERTATION I.
4G1
Nazarene or Ebionite Christians; and, by
consequence, if there were any reason to
think our Josephus to be, in any sense, a
believer or a Christian, as from all these
testimonies there were very great ones,
all those and many other reasons could
not but conspire to assure us he was no
other than a Nazarene or Ebionite Chris-
tian ; and this I take to be the plain and
evident key of this whole matter.
V. Since, therefore, Josephus appears
to have been in his own heart and con-
science no other than a Nazarene or Ebi-
onite Christian, and by consequence with
them rejected all our Greek Gospels and
Greek books of the New Testament, and
received only the Hebrew Gospel of the
Nazarenes or Ebionites, styled by them
The Gospel according to the Hebrews, or
according to the twelve apostles, or even
according to Matthew, we ought always
to have that Nazarene or Ebionite Gospel,
with the other Nazarene or Ebionite frag-
ments in view, when we consider any
passages of Josephus relating to Christ
or to Christianity. Thus, since that Gos-
pel omitted all that is in the beginning of
our St. Matthew's and St. Luke's Gospel,
and began with the ministry of John
the Baptist : in which first parts of the
gospel history are the accounts of the
slaughter of the infants, and of the enrol-
ment or taxation under Augustus Caesar
and Herod, it is no great wonder that
Josephus has not taken care particularly
and clearly to preserve those histories to
us. Thus, when we find that Josephus
calls James the brother of Christ, by the
the name of James the Just, and describes
him as a most just or righteous man, in
an especial manner, we are to remember
that such is his name and character in
the Gospel according to the Hebrews, and
the other Ebionite remains of Hege-
sippus, but nowhere else, that I remem-
ber, in the earliest antiquity ; nor are we
to suppose they herein referred to any
other than that righteousness which was
by the Jewish law, wherein St. Paul,*
before he embraced Christianity, pro-
fesseth himself to have been blameless.
Thus when Josephus, with other Jews,
ascribed the miseries of that nation under
Vespasian and Titus, with the destruction
of Jerusalem, to the barbarous murder
of James the Just, we must remember,
what we learn from the Ebionite fragments
* Philip, iii. 4-6.
30
of Hegesippus, that these Ebionites in-
terpreted a prophecy of Isaiah as fore-
telling this very murder, and those conse-
quent miseries: Let us take away /he
just one, for he is unprofitable to us;
therefore shall tin// rut the fruits of tht ir
own ways* Thus when Josephus Bays,
as we have seen, that the most equitable
citizens of Jerusalem, and those that were
most zealous of the law, were very un-
easy at the condemnation of this James
and some of his friends or fellow Chris-
tians, by the high priest and sanhedrim,
about A. D. 62, and declares, that lie him-
self was one of those Jews who thought
the terrible miseries of that nation effects
of the vengeance of God for their murder
of this James, about A. D. 6S, we may
easily see those opinions could only be
the opinions of converted Jews or Ebi-
onites. The high priest and sanhedrim,
who always persecuted the Christians, and
now condemned these Christians, and the
body of those unbelieving Jews, who
are supposed to suffer for murdering this
James, the head of the Nazarene or
Ebionite Christians in Judea, could not,
to be sure, be of that opinion ; nor could
Josephus himself be of the same opinion,
as he declares he was, without the strong-
est inclinations to the Christian religion,
or without being secretly a Christian Jew,
i. e. a Nazarene or Ebionite ; which thing
is, by the way, a very great additional
argument that such he was, and no other.
Thus, lastly, when Josephus is cited in
Suidas as affirming that Jesus officiated
with the priests in the temple, this ac-
count is by no means disagreeable to the
pretensions of the Ebionites. Hegesip-
pus affirms the very same of James the
Just also.
VI. In the first citation of the famous
testimony concerning our Saviour from
Tacitus, almost all that was true of the
Jews is directly taken by him out of Jose-
phus, as will be demonstrated under the
third Dissertation hereafter.
VII. The second author I have alleged
for it is Justin Martyr, one so nearly
coeval with Josephus, that he might be
born about the time when he wrote his
Antiquities, appeals to the same Antiqui-
ties by that very name : and though he
docs not here directly quote them, yet
does he seem to me to allude to this very
testimony in them concerning our Saviour,
* Isa. iii. 10.
462
DISSERTATION I.
when he affirms in this place to Trypho
the Jew, That his nation originally knew
tlmt Jesus was vixen from the dead, and
ascended into heaven, as the prophecies did
for* till was to happen. Since there nei-
ther now is, nor probably in the days of
Justin was any other Jewish testimony
extant, which is so agreeable to what Jus-
tin here affirms of those Jews, as is this
of Josephus the Jew before us ; nor indeed
does he seem to me to have had any
thing else particularly in his view here,
but this very testimony, where Josephus
says that Jesus appeared to his followers
alive the third day after his crucifixion,
as the divine prophets had foretold these,
and ten thousand other wonderful things
concerning him.
VIII. The third author I have quoted
for Josephus's testimonies of John the
Baptist, of Jesus of Nazareth, and of
James the Just, is Origen, who is indeed
allowed on all hands to have quoted him
for the excellent characters of John the
Baptist, and of James the Just, but whose
supposed entire silence about this testi-
mony concerning Christ is usually alleged
as the principal argument against its being
genuine, and particularly as to the clause,
This teas the Christ, and that, as we
have seen, because he twice assures us,
that, in his opinion, Josephus did not him-
self acknowledge Jesus for Christ. Now
as to this latter clause, I have already
showed, that Josephus did not here, in
writing to the Greeks and Romans, mean
any such thing by those words as Jews
and Christians naturally understand by
them : I have also observed, that all the
ancients allow still, with Origen, that
Josephus did not, in the Jewish and Chris-
tian sense, acknowledge Jesus for the
true Messiah, or the true Christ of God,
notwithstanding their express quotation
of that clause in Josephus as genuine : so
that unless we suppose Origen to have
had a different notion of these words from
all the other ancients, we cannot conclude
from this assertion of Origen's, that he
had not those words in his copy, not to
say that it is, after all, much more likely
that his copy a little differed from the
other copies in this clause, or indeed,
omitted it entirely, than that he, on its
account, must be supposed not to have
had the rest of this testimony therein,
though indeed I see no necessity of mak-
ing any such supposal at all. However,
it seems to me, that Origen affords us four
several indications that the main parts at
least of this testimony itself were in his
copy.
(1.) When Origen introduces Jose-
phus's testimony concerning James the
Just, that he thought the miseries of the
Jews were an instance of the divine ven-
geance on that nation for putting James
to death instead of Jesus, he uses an ex-
pression noway necessary to his purpose,
nor occasioned by any words of Josephus
there, that they had slain that Christ
which was foretold in the prophecies.
Whence could this expression come here
into Origen's mind, when he was quoting
a testimony of Josephus's concerning the
brother of Christ, but from his remem-
brance of a clause in the testimony of the
same Josephus concerning Christ himself,
that the prophets had foretold his death
and resurrection, and ten thousand other
wonderful things concerning him?
(2.) How came Origen to be so surprised
at Josephus's ascribing the destruction
of Jerusalem to the Jews murdering
James the Just, and not to their murder-
ing of Jesus, as we have seen he was, if
he had not known that Josephus had
spoken of Jesus and his death before, and
that he had a very good opinion of Jesus,
which yet he could learn noway so au-
thentically as from this testimony ? Nor
do the words he here uses, that Josephus
was not remote from the truth, perhaps
allude to any thing else but to this very
testimony before us.
(3.) How came the same Origen, upon
another slight occasion, when he had just
set down that testimony of Josephus con-
cerning James the Just, the brother of
Jesus who was called Christ, to say, that
it may be questioned whether the Jews
thought Jesus to be a man, or whether they
did not suppose him to be a being of a
divimrr kind? This looks so very like to
the fifth and sixth clauses of this testi-
mony in Josephus, that Jesus was a wise
man, if it be lawful to call him a man,
that it is highly probable Origen thereby
alluded to them : and this is the more to
be depended on, because all the unbeliev-
ing Jews, and all the rest of the Nazarene
Jews, esteemed Jesus with one consent as
a mere man, the son of Joseph and Mary ;
and it is not, I think, possible to produce
any one Jew but Josephus, who in a sort
of compliance with the Romans and the ca-
tholic Christians, who thought him a God,
would say any thing like his being a God.
L=
DISSERTATION I.
403
(4.) How came Origen to affirm twice,
BO expressly, that Josephus did not him-
self oicn, in the Jewish and Christian
sense, that Jesus was Christ, notwithstand-
ing his quotations of such eminent testi-
monies out of him for John the Baptist
his forerunner, and for James the Just his
brother, and one of his principal disciples ?
There is no passage in all Josephus so
likely to persuade Origen of this as is the
famous testimony before us, wherein, as he
and all the ancients understood»it, he Avas
generally called Christ, indeed, but not
any otherwise than as the common name
whence the sect of Christians was derived,
and where he all along speaks of those
Christians as a sect then in being, whose
author was a wonderful person, and his
followers great lovers of him and of the
truth, yet as such a sect as he had not
joined himself to ; which exposition, asit is
a very natural one, so was it, I doubt, but
too true of our Josephus at that time ;
uor can I devise any other reason but this,
and the parallel language of Josephus
elsewhere, when he speaks of James as
the brother, not of Jesus who was Christy
but of Jesus who xoas called Christ, that
could so naturally induce Origen and
others to be of that opinion.
IX. There are two remarkable pas-
sages in Suidas and Theophylact, already
set down, as citing Josephus; the former
that Jesus officiated with the priests in the
temple, and the latter that the destruction
of Jerusalem, and miseries of the Jews,
were owing to their putting Jesus to death,
which are in none of our present copies,
nor cited thence by any ancienter authors ;
nor, indeed, do they seem altogether con-
sistent with the other more authentic
testimonies : however, since Suidas cites
his passage from a treatise of Josephus's
called Memoirs of the Jcics' Captivity, a
book never heard of elsewhere, and since
both citations are not at all disagreeable
to Josephus's character as a Nazarene or
Ebionite, I dare not positively conclude
they are spurious, but must leave them
in suspense, for the further consideration
of the learned.
X. As to that great critic Photius, in
the ninth century, who is supposed not to
have had this testimony in his copy of
Josephus, or else to have esteemed it spu-
rious, because in his extracts out of Jose-
phus's Antiquities it is not expressly men-
tioned ; this is a strange thing indeed !
that a section which had been cited out of
Josephus's copies all along before the
days of Photius, as well as it has been all
along cited out of them since his days,
should be supposed not to be in his copy,
because he does not directly mention it
in certain short and imperfect extracts,
noway particularly relating to such mat-
ters. Those who lay a stress on this
silence of Photius seem little to have
attended to the nature and brevity of
those extracts. They contain little or
nothing, as he in effect professes at their
entrance, but what concerns Antipater,
Herod the Great, and his brethren and
family, with their exploits, till the days
of Agrippa, jun., and Cumanus, the
governor of Judca, fifteen years after the
death of our Saviour, without one word
of Pilate, or what happened under his
government, which yet was the only pro-
per place in which this testimony could
come to be mentioned. However, since
Photius seems, therefore, as we have seen,
to suspect the treatise ascribed by some
to Josephus of the Universe, because it
speaks very high things of the eternal
generation and divinity of Christ, this
looks very like his knowledge and belief
of somewhat really in the same Josephus,
which spake in a lower manner of him,
which could be hardly any other passage
than this. testimony before us. And since,
as we have also seen, when he speaks of
the Jewish history of Justus of Tiberias,
as infected with the prejudices of the
Jews, in taking no manner of notice of
the advent, of the acts, and of the mira-
cles of Jesus Christ, while yet he never
speaks so of Josephus himself, this most
naturally implies also, that there was not
the like occasion here as there, but that
Josephus had not wholly omitted that
advent, those acts, or miracles, which
yet he has done everywhere else, in the
books seen by Photius, as well as Justus
of Tiberias, but in this famous testimony
before us, so that it is most probable
Photius not only had this testimony in his
copy, but believed it to be genuine also.
XI. As to the silence of Clement of
Alexandria, who cites the Antiquities of
Josephus, but never cites any of the testi-
monies now before us, it is no strange
thing at all, since he never cites Jose
phus but once, and that for a point of
chronology only, to determine how many
years had passed from the days of Moses
to the days of Josephus, so that his
silence may almost as well be alleged
464
DISSERTATION II.
against a hundred other remarkable pas-
seges in Josephus's works as against these
before us.
XII. Nor does the like silence of
Tertullian imply that these testimonies, or
any of them, were not in the copies of
his age. Tertullian never once hints at
any treatises of Josephus's but those
against Apion, and that in general only
for a point of chronology : nor does it
any way appear that Tertullian ever saw
any of Josephus's writings besides, and
far from being certain that he saw even
those. He had particular occasion in his
dispute against the Jews to quote Jose-
phus, above any other writer, to prove the
completion of the prophecies of the Old
Testament in the destruction of Jerusa-
lem, and miseries of the Jews at that
time, of which he there discourses, yet
does he never once quote him upon that
solemn occasion ; so that it seems to me,
that Tertullian never read either the
Greek Antiquities of Josephus, or his
Greek books of the Jewish wars; nor is
this at all strange in Tertullian, a Latin
writer, that lived in Africa, by none of
which African writers is there any one
clause, theft I know of, cited out of any of
Josephus's writings : nor is it worth my
while, in such numbers of positive cita-
tions of these clauses, to mention the
silence of other later writers, as being
here of very small consequence.
DISSERTATION II.
CONCERNING GOD'S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM TO OFFER UP ISAAC HIS
SON FOR A SACRIFICE.
Since this command of God to Abra-
ham* has of late been greatly mistaken
by some, who venture to reason about
very ancient facts from very modern no-
tions, and this without a due regard to
either the customs, or opinions, or circum-
stances of the times whereto those facts
belong, or indeed to the true reasons of
the facts themselves ; since the mistakes
about those customs, opinions, circum-
stances, and reasons have of late so far
prevailed, that the very same action of
Abraham's, which was so celebrated by
St. Paul,f St. James,J the author to the
Hebrews, § Philo,|j and Josephus, ^[ in the
first century, and by innumerable others
since, as an uncommon instance of signal
virtue, of heroic faith in God, and piety
toward him ; nay, is in the sacred his-
tory** highly commended by the divine
angel of tfie covenant, in the name of God
himself, and promised to be plentifully
rewarded ; since this command, I say, is
now at last in the eighteenth century be-
come a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
offence among us, and that sometimes to
persons of otherwise good sense, and of a
religious disposition of mind also, I shall
' Gen. xxii. f Rom. iv. 16-25. v
% James ii. 21-32. \ Ileb. xi. 17-19.
|| Phil, de Gygant. p. 294. f Jos. Ant b. i. c. xiii.
** Gen. xxii. 15-18.
endeavour to set this matter in its true,
i. e., in its ancient and original light, for
the satisfaction of the inquisitive. In
order whereto we are to consider,
1. That, till this very profane age, it
has been, I think, universally allowed by
all sober persons, who owned themselves
the creatures of God, that the Creator
has a just right over all his rational crea-
tures, to protract their lives to what
length he pleases; to cut them off when
and by what instruments he pleases; to
afflict them with what sickness he pleases,
and to remove them from one state or
place in this his great palace of the uni-
verse to another as he pleases ; and that
all those rational creatures are bound in
duty and interest to acquiesce under the
divine disposal, and to resign themselves
up to the good providence of God in all
such his dispensations toward them. I
do not mean to intimate that God may,
or ever does act in these cases, after a
mere arbitrary manner, or without suffi-
cient reason, believing, according to the
whole tenor of natural and revealed re-
ligion, that he hatcth nothing that he hath
made;* that whatsoever he does, how
melancholy soever it may appear at first
sight to us, is really intended for the good
* Wisd. xi. 24.
DISSERTATION II.
4G5
of bis creatures, and at the upshot of
things will fully appear so to be ; but
that still he is not obliged, nor does in
general give his creatures an account of
the particular reasons of such his dispen-
sations toward them immediately, but
usually tries and exercises their faith and
patience, their resignation and obedience,
in their present state of probation, and
reserves those reasons to the last day, the
day of the revelation of the righteous judg-
ment of God.*
2. That the entire histories of the past
ages, from the days of Adam till now,
show, that Almighty God has ever exer-
cised his power over mankind, and that
without giving them an immediate account
of the reasons of such his conduct ; and
that withal the best and wisest men in all
ages, heathens as well as Jews and Chris-
tians, Marcus Antoninus as well as the
patriarch Abraham and St. Paul, have
ever humbly submitted themselves to this
conduct of divine providence, and always
confessed that they were obliged to the
undeserved goodness and mercy of God
for every enjoyment, but could not de-
mand any of them of his justice, no, not
so much as the continuance of that life
whereto those enjoyments do appertain.
When God was pleased to sweep the
wicked race of men away by a flood, the
young innocent infants as well as the
guilty old sinners; when he was pleased
to shorten the lives of men after the flood,
and still downward till the days of David
and Solomon ; when he was pleased to
destroy impure Sodom and Gomorrah by
fire aud brimstone from heaven, and to
extirpate the main body of the Amorites
out of the land of Cauaan, as soon as their
iniquities icere futt,^ and in these instances
included the young innocent infants, to-
gether with the old hardened sinners;
when God was pleased to send an angel,
and by him to destroy 185,000 Assyrians
(the number attested to by Berosus the
Chaldean, as well as by our own Bibles,)
in the days of Hezekhth, most of which
seem to have had no other peculiar guilt
upon them than that common to soldiers
in war, of obeying, without reserve, their
king Sennacherib, his generals and cap-
tains : and when at the plague of Athens,
London, or Marseilles, &c, so many thou-
sand righteous men and women, with
innocent babes, were swept away on a
* Horn. ii. 5.
Vol. II.— 80
f Gen.
16.
sudden by a fatal contagion, I do not re-
member that sober men have complained
that God dealt unjustly with such his
creatures, in those to us seemingly severe
dispensations : nor are we certain when
any such seemingly severe dispensations
are really such, nor do we know but
shortening the lives of men may some-
times be the greatest blessing to them, and
prevent or put a stop to those courses of
gross wickedness which might bring them
to greater misery in the world to come :
nor is it indeed fit for such poor, weak,
and ignorant creatures as we are, in the
present state, to call our Almighty, and
All-wise, and All-good Creator and Bene-
factor, to an account upon any such occa-
sions ; since we cannot but acknowledge,
that it is he that hath made us, and not
ice ourselves;* that we are nothing, and
have nothing of ourselves independent on
him, but that all we are, all we have, and
all we hope for, is derived from him, from
his free and undeserved bounty, which,
therefore, he may justly take from us in
what way soever, and whensoever he
pleases ; all wise and good men still say-
ing in such cases with the pious Psalmist,
xxxix. 9, " I was dumb, I opened not my
mouth, because thou didst it ;" and with
patient Job i. 21, ii. 10, "Shall we re-
ceive good at the hand of God, and shall
we not receive evil ? The Lord gave, and
the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the
name of the Lord." If, therefore, this
shortening or taking away the lives of men
be no objection against any divine com-
mand for that purpose, it is full as strong
against the present system of the world,
against the conduct of divine providence
in general, and against natural religion,
which is founded on the justice of that
providence, and is noway peculiar to re-
vealed religion, or to the fact of Abraham,
now before us : nor is this case much
different from what was soon after the
days of Abraham thoroughly settled, after
Job's and his friend's debates, by the in-
spiration of Alihu, and the determination
of God himself, where the divine pro-
vidence was at length thoroughly cleared
and justified before all the world, as it
will be, no question, more generally cleared
and justified at the final judgment.
3. That, till this profane age, it has
also, I think, been universally allowed by
all sober men, that a command of God,
* Ps. c. 3.
466
DISSERTATION II.
when sufficiently made known to be so, is
abundant authority for the taking away
the life of any person whomsoever. 1
doubt both ancient and modern princes,
generals of armies, and judges, even those
of the best reputation also, have ventured
to take many men's lives away upon much
less authority : nor, indeed, do the most
skeptical of the moderns care to deny
this authority directly ; they rather take
a method of objecting somewhat more
plausible, though it amount to much the
same : they say, that the apparent disa-
greement of any command to the mora)
attributes of God, such as this of the
slaughter of an only child seems plainly to
be, will be a greater evidence that such a
command does not come from God, than
any pretended revelation can be that it
does. But as to this matter, although
divine revelations have so long ceased,
that we are not well acquainted with the
manner of conveying such revelations with
certainty to men, and by consequence the
apparent disagreement of a command with
the moral attributes of God ought at
present, generally, if not constantly, to
deter men from acting upon such a pre-
tended revelation, yet was there no such
uncertainty in the days of the old pro-
phets of God, or of Abraham, the friend
of God* who are ever found to have had
an entire certainty of those their revela-
tions : and what evidently shows they
were not deceived is this, that the events
and consequences of things afterward al-
ways corresponded, and secured them of
the truth of such divine revelations.
Thus, the first miraculous voice from
heaven, "j" calling to Abraham not to exe-
cute this com maud, and the performance
of these eminent promises made by the
second voiee,| on account of his obedience
to that command, are demonstrations that
Abraham's commission for what he did
was truly divine, and are an entire justifi-
cation of his conduct in this matter. The
words of the first voice from heaven will
come hereafter to be set down in a fitter
place, but the glorious promises made to
Abraham's obedience by the second voice
•nust here be produced from verses 15, 16,
17, 18. "And the angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham out of heaven the
second time, and said, By myself have I
sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou
* Isa. xli. 8.
f Gen. xxii. 11, 12.
X Gen. xxii. 17, 18.
hast done this thing, and hast not with-
held thy son, thine ouly son. from me,
that in blessing I will bless thee, and in
multiplying I will multiply thy seed aa
the stars of heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the seashore ; and thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies : and in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my
voice." Every one of which promises
have been eminently fulfilled ; and, what
is chiefly remarkable, the last and princi-
pal of them, that in Abraham's seed all
the nations of the earth should be blessed,
was never promised till this time. It had
been twice promised him, chap. xii. ver.
3, and xviii. 18, that in himself should all
the families of the earth be blessed ; but
that this blessing was to belong to future
times, and to be bestowed by the means of
one of his late posterity, the Messias, that
great seed and son of Abraham only, was
never revealed before, but, on such an
amazing instance of his faith and obe-
dience as was this his readiness to offer up
his only begotten son Isaac, was now first
promised, and has been long ago per-
formed, in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of David, the son of Abraham,*
which highly deserves our observation in
this place : nor can we suppose that any
thing else than clear conviction that this
command came from God, could induce
so good a man, so tender a father as
Abraham was, to sacrifice his only be-
loved son, and to lose thereby all the
comfort he received from him at present,
and all the expectation he had of a nu-
merous and happy posterity from him
hereafter.
4. That, long before the days of Abra-
ham, the demons or heathen gods had
required and received human sacrifices,
and particularly that of the offerer's own
children, and this both before and after
the deluge. This practice had been in-
deed so long left off in Egypt, and the
custom of sacrificing animals there was
confined to so few kinds in the days of
Herodotus, that he would not believe
they had ever offered human sacrifices at
all, for he says :f " That the fable, as if
Hercules was sacrificed to Jupiter in
Egypt, was feigned by the Greeks, who
were entirely unacquainted with the nature
of the Egyptians and their laws; for how
should they sacrifice men, with whom it
* Matt. i. 1.
f Ap. Marsh. Chron. p. 303.
DISSERTATION II.
4G7
is unlawful to sacrifice any brute beast?
(boars, and bulls, and pure calves, and
ganders, only excepted.") However, it
is evident from Sanchoniatho, Manetho,
Pausanias, Diodorus Siculus, Philo, Plu-
tarch, and Porphyry, that such sacrifices
were frequent both in Phoenicia and
Egypt, and that long before the days of
Abraham, as Sir John Marshani and
Bishop Cumberland have fully proved ;
tfay, that in other places (though not in
Egypt) this cruel practice contiuued long
after Abraham, and this till the very
third, if not also to the fifth century of
Christianity, before it was quite abolished.
Take the words of the original authors in
English, as most of them occur in their
originals, in Sir John Marsham's Chroni-
cou, p. 70-78, 300-30t.
" * Cronus offered up his only begotten
son, as a burnt-offering, to his father
Ouranus, when there was a famine and a
pestilence."
" -j- Cronus, whom the Phoenicians
name Israel [it should be 77], and who
was after his death consecrated into the
star Saturn, when he was king of the
country, and had by a nymph of that
country, named Anobret, an only begotten
son, whom, on that account, they called
Jeud, (the Phoenicians to this day calling
an only begotten son by that name,) he,
in his dread of very great dangers that
lay upon the country from war, adorned
his son with royal apparel, and built an
altar, and offered him in sacrifice."
u| The Phoenicians, when they were
in great dangers by war, by famine, or
by pestilence, sacrificed to Saturn one
of the dearest of their people, whom they
chose by public suffrage for that purpose :
and Sauchoniatho's Phoenician history is
full of such sacrifices." [These hitherto
1 take to have been before the flood.]
" § In Arabia, the Dumatii sacrificed a
child every year."
"|| They relate, that of old the [Egyp-
tian] kings sacrificed such men as were
of the same colour with Typho, at the
sepulchre of Osiris."
" ^[ Manetho relates, that they burnt
Typhonean men alive in the city Idithyia
[or llithyia], and scattered their ashes
like chaff that is winnowed; and this was
• Philo. Bib. ex. Sanchon. p. 76.
f Philo. Bib. ex. Sanchon. p. 77.
f Porphyry, p. 78. § Porphyry, p. 77.
|j Diod. p. 78. \ Plutarch, p. 78.
done publicly, and at a set season, in the
dog-days."
" * The barbarous nations did a long
time admit of the slaughter of children,
as of a holy practice, and acceptable to
the gods. And this thing both private
persons, and kings, aud entire nations
practise at proper seasons."
" f The human sacrifices, that were
enjoined by the Dodonean oracle, men-
tioned in Pausanias's Achaics, iu the
tragical story of Coresus aud Callirrhoe,
sufficiently intimate that the Phoenician
and Egyptian priests had set up this Do-
donean oracle before the time of Amosis,
who destroyed that barbarous practice in
Egypt"
Isque adytie h<ec tristia dicta reportat,
Sanguine placastis ventos, it oirgine ccesa,
Cum primum Uiacus Danai venittis ad oras ;
Sanguine quaerendi redituu, animaque litandum
Argolica.%
He from the gods this dreadful answer brought,
0 Grecians, when the Trojan shores you sought,
Your passage with a virgin's bloo 1 was bought;
So must j'our safe return be bought again,
And Grecian blood once more atone the main.
DsYDBK.
These bloody sacrifices were, for certain,
instances of the greatest degree of im-
piety, tyranny, and cruelty in the world,
that either wicked demons, or wicked
men, who neither made nor preserved
mankind, who had therefore no right over
them, nor were they able to make them
amends in the next world for what they
thus lost or suffered iu this, should, after
so inhuman a manner, command the
taking away the lives of men, and par-
ticularly of the offerer's own children,
without the commission of any crime.
This was, I think, an abomination derived
from him who was a murderer from ihe
beginning ;§ a crime truly aud properly
diabolical.
5. That, accordingly, Almighty God
himself, under the Jewish dispensation,
vehemently condemned the pagans, and
sometimes the Jews themselves, for this
crime ; and for this, among other heinous
sins, cast the idolatrous nations (nay,
sometimes the Jews too) out of Pales-
tine. Take the principal texts thereto re-
lating, as they lie in order in the Old
Testament.
"|| Thou shalt not let any of thy seed
pass through the fire to Molech. — Defile
* Xonnulli ap. Philon. p. 76.
f Cumbcrl. Sanchon. p. 38.
X Virg. iEneid. b. ii. ver. 115.
j! Johu viii. 44.
Lev. xviii. 21.
468
DISSERTATION II.
not yourselves in any of these things, for
in all these the nations are defiled, which
I cast out before you," &c.
" * Whosoever he be of the children of
Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in
Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto
Molech, he shall surely be put to death :
the people of the land shall stone him
with stones."
" -j-Take heed to thyself, that thou be
not snared by following the nations, after
that they be destroyed from before thee ;
and that thou inquire not after their
gods, saying, How did these nations serve
their gods ? even so will I do likewise.
Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy
God ; for every abomination of the Lord,
which he hateth, have they done unto
their gods : for even their sons and their
daughters have they burnt in the fire
to their gods." See chap, xviii. 9 ; 2
Kings xvii. 17.
" | And Ahaz made his son to pass
through the fire, according to the abo-
minations of the heathen, whom the Lord
cast out before the children of Israel."
" § Moreover, Ahaz burnt incense in
the valley of the son of Hinnom, and
burnt his children [his son, in Josephus]
in the fire, after the abominations of the
heathen, whom the Lord had cast out
before the children of Israel."
" || And the Sepharvites burnt their
children in the fire to Adrammelech and
Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim,
&c."
"^[ And Josiah defiled Topheth, which
is in the valley of the children of Hin-
nom, that no one might make his son or
his daughter to pass through the fire unto
Molech."
it ** Yea, they sacrificed their sons and
their daughters unto demons ; and shed
innocent blood, the blood of their sons
and of their daughters, whom they sa-
crificed unto the idols of Canaan, and
the land was polluted with blood." See
Isa. lvii. 5.
u -j~j- fpijg children of Judah hath done
evil in my sight, saith the Lord; they
have set their abomination in the house
which is called by my name, to pollute
it : and they have built the high places
of Tophet, which is in the valley of the
Bon of Hinnom, to burn their sous and
* Lev. xx. 2.
J 2 Kings xvi. 3.
jl 2 Kings xvii. 31.
** Ps. cvi. 37, 33.
t Dcut. xii.30, 31.
§ 2 Chron. xxvii. 3.
f 2 Kings xxii. 10.
•ft Jer. vii. 30-32.
their daughters in the fire, which I com-
manded them not, nor came it into my
heart."
"♦Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil
upon this place, the which whosoever
heareth, his ears shall tingle, because they
have forsaken me, and have estranged
this place, and have burnt incense unto
other gods, whom neither they nor their
fathers have known, nor the kings of
Judah, and have filled this place with the
blood of innocents. They have built also
the high places of Baal, to burn their sons
with fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal,
which I commanded not, nor spake it,
neither came it into my mind," &c.
" f They built the high places of Baal,
which are in the valley of the son of Hin-
nom, to cause their sons and their daugh-
ters to pass through the fire unto Molech,
which I commanded them not, neither
came it into my mind that they should
do this abomination to cause Judah to
sin."
" | Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons
and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne
unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed
unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy
whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast
slain my children, and delivered them to
cause them to pass through the fire for
them ?" See chap, xx.; 1 Cor. x. 20.
" § Thou hatest the old inhabitants of
thy holy laud, for doing most odious
works of witchcraft, and wicked sacrifices;
and also those merciless murderers of
children, and devourers of man's flesh,
and feasts of blood, with their priests, out
of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and
the parents that killed with their own
hands souls destitute of help."
6. That Almighty God never permitted,
in any one instance, that such a human
sacrifice should actually be offered to him-
self, (though he had a right to have re-
quired it, if he had so pleased,) under the
whole Jewish dispensation, which yet was
full of many other kinds of sacrifices, and
this at a time when mankind generally
thought such sacrifices of the greatest vir-
tue for the procuring pardon of sin, and
the divine favour. This the ancient re-
cords of the heathen world attest. Take
their notion in the words of Philo Byblius,
the translator of Sanchoniatho. " || It
* Jer. xix. 8-5. f Jer. xxxii. 35.
X Ezek. xvi. 20, 21. \ Wisd. xii. 4-6.
|| Ap. Marsh, p. 76, 77.
DISSERTATION II.
469
was the custom of the ancients, in the
greatest calamities and dangers, for the
governors of the city or nation, in order
to avert the destruction of all, to devote
their beloved son to be slain, as a price of
redemption to the punishing [or avenging]
demons; and those so devoted were killed
after a mystical manner." This the his-
tory of the king of Moab,* when he was
in great distress in his war against Israel
and Judah, informs us of; who then took
his eldest son, that should have reigned in
his stead, and offered him for a burnt-
offering upon the city irnll. This also the
Jewish prophet Micah-}" implies, when he
inquires, " Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord, and bow myself before the High
God ? Shall I come before him with
burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands
of rams, with ten thousands of fat kids of
the goats ? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body
for the sin of my soul V No, certainly,
"for he hath showed thee, 0 man, what is
good ; and what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to humble thyself, to walk with thy
God ?"
It is true, God did here try the faith and
obedience of Abraham to himself, whether
they were as strong as the pagans ex-
hibited to their demons or idols ; yet did
he withal take effectual care, and that by
a miraculous interposition also, to prevent
the execution, and provided himself a
ram as a vicarious substitute, to supply
the place of Isaac immediately. | "And
the angel of the Lord called unto Abra-
ham, and said, Abraham, Abraham ; and
he said, Here am I; and he said, Lay not
thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou
any thing unto him ; for now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold a ram caught in a
thicket by his horns; and Abraham went
and took the ram, and offered him up for
a burnt-offering in the stead of his son."
Thus though Jeptha§ has by many been
thought to have vowed to offer up hisonly
daughter and child for a sacrifice, and that
as bound on him, upon supposition of his
vow. by a divine law, Lev. xxvii. 28, 29,
of which opinion I was once myself; yet
* 2 Kings iii. 27.
J Gen. xxii. 11-13.
f Micah vi. 6-8.
§ Judg. xi. 36-39.
upon more mature consideration I have,
for some time, thought this to be a mis-
take, and that his vow extended only to
her being devoted to serve God at the ta-
bernacle, or elsewhere, in a state of per-
petual virginity; and that neither that
law did enjoin any human sacrifices, nor
do we meet with any example of its exe-
cution in this sense afterward. Philo
never mentions any such law, no more
than Josephus : and when Josephus
thought that Jeptha had made such a
vow and executed it, he is so far from
hinting at its being done in compliance
with any law of God, that he expressly
condemns him for it, as having acted con-
trary thereto; or, in his own words, " *as
having offered an oblation neither con-
formable to the law, nor acceptable to
God, nor weighing with himself what
opinion the hearers would have of such a
practice."
7. That Isaac being at this time, ac-
cording to Josephus, f who is herein justly
followed by Archbishop Usher,J no less
than twenty-five years of age, and Abraham
being, by consequence, one hundred and
twenty-five, it is not to be supposed that
Abraham could bind Isaac, in order to
offer him in sacrifice, but by his own free
consent ; which free consent of the party
who is to suffer seems absolutely neces-
sary in all such cases; and which free
consent St. Clement, as well as Josephus,
distinctly takes notice of on this occasion.
St. Clement describes it thus: — §" Isaac,
being fully persuaded of what he knew
was to come, cheerfully yielded himself up
for a sacrifice." And for Josephus, ||
after introducing Abraham in a pathetic
speech, laying before Isaac the diviue
command, and exhorting him patiently and
joyfully to submit to it, he tells us, that
"Isaac very cheerfully consented;" and
then introduces him, in a short but very
pious answer, acquiescing in the proposal;
and adds, that " he then immediately and
and readily went to the altar to be sacri-
ficed." Nordid Jeptha^" perform his rash
vow, whatever it were, till his daughter had
given her consent to it.
8. It appears to me that Abraham never
despaired entirely of the interposition of
Providence for the preservation of Isaac,
although in obedience to the command ho
prepared to sacrifice him to God. This
* Antiq.b. v. c.vii. t Antiq. b. i. 0. xiii.
t Ush. An. ad A. M. 21. £ Stem, sect. 31.
f Antiq. b. i. c. xiii. % Judg.xi. 36, 37.
470
DISSERTATION II.
seems tome intimated in Abraham's words
to bis servants, on tbe third day, when he
was in sight of the mountain on which he
was to offer his son Isaac : * " We will go
and worship, and we will come again to
you." As also in his answer to his son,
when he inquired, " Behold the fire and
tbe wood, but wbere is the lamb for a
burnt-offering? And Abraham said, My
son, God will provide himself a lamb for
a burnt-offering." Both these passages
look to me somewhat like such an expec-
tation.
9. However, it appears most evident,
that Abraham, and I suppose Isaac also,
firmly believed, that if God should permit
Isaac to be actually slain as a sacrifice, he
would certainly and speedily raise him
again from the dead. This, to be sure, is
supposed in the words already quoted, that
both he and his son would go and worship,
and come again to the servants; and is
clearly and justly collected from this his-
tory by the author to the Hebrews, chap,
xi. 17-19 : " By faith Abraham when he
was tried offered up Isaac : and he that
had received the promises offered up his
only begotten, of whom it was said, that
in Isaac shall thy seed be called, account-
ing or reasoning that God was able to raise
him from the dead." And this reasoning
was at once very obvious, and wholly un-
deniable, that since God was truth itself,
and had over and over promised that be
wouldf " multiply Abraham exceedingly ;
that he should be a father of many nations ;
that his name should be no longer Abram,
but Abraham, because a father of many
nations God had made him, &c. ; that
Sarai his wife should be called Sarah, that
he would bless her, and give Abraham a
son also of her; and that he would bless
him ; and she should become nations, and
kings of people should be of her," &c,
and that | " in Isaac should his seed be
called." And since withal it is here sup-
posed that Isaac was to be slain as a sa-
crifice, before he was married, or had any
seed, God was, for certain, obliged by his
promises, in these circumstances, to raise
Isaac again from the dead, and this was
an eminent instance of that fa ith whereby
§ A braham believed God, and it was im-
puted to him for righteousness, viz. that
if God should permit Isaac to be sacri-
ficed, he would certainly and quickly raise
* Gen. xxii. 5, 7.
% Gen. xxi. 12.
f Gen. xvii. 2-C, 16.
\ Gen. xv. 6.
him up again from the dead,* from whence
also he received him in a figure, as the au-
thor to the Hebrews here justly observes.
10. That the firm and just foundation
of Abraham's faith and assurance in God
for such a resurrection was this, besides
the general consideration of the divine ve-
racity, that during the whole time of his
sojourning in strange countries, in Ca-
naan and Egypt, ever since he had been
called out of Chaldea or Mesopotamia, at
seventy-five years of age,^ he had had
constant experience of a special, of an
overruling, of a kind and gracious Provi-
dence over him, till this his 125th year,
which against all human views had con-
tinually blessed him and enriched him,
and in his elder age had given him first
Ishmael by Hagar, and afterward promised
him Isaac to " J spring from his own body
now dead,§ and from the deadness of Sa-
rah's womb, when she was past age, and
when it ceased to be with Sarah after the
manner of women, "|| and had actually
performed that and every other promise,
how improbable soever that performance
had appeared, he had ever made to him,
and this during fifty entire years together ;
so that although, at his first exit out of
Chaldea or Mesopotamia, he might have
been tempted to " stagger at such a pro-
mise of God through unbelief,"^[ yet
might he now after fifty years constant
experience be justly strong in faith, giv-
ing glory to God, asbeing fully persuaded ,
that what God had promised, the resur-
rection of Isaac, he was both able and will-
ing to perform.
11. That this assurance, therefore, that
God, if he permitted Isaac to be slain,
would infallibly raise him again from the
dead, entirely alters the state of the case
of Abraham's sacrificing Isaac to the true
God, from that of all other human sacri-
fices whatsoever offered to false ones, all
those others being done without the least
promise or prospect of such a resurrec-
tion; and this, indeed, takes away all pre-
tence of injustice in the divine command,
as well as of all inhumanity or cruelty in
Abraham's obedience to it.
12. That, upon the whole, this com-
mand to Abraham, and what followed upon
it, looks so very like an intention of God
to typify or represent beforehand in Isaac,
■■■ Heb. xi. 19.
Horn. iv. 19.
Gen. xviii. 11.
f Gen. xii. 4.
\ Heb. xi. 11.
\ Rom. iv. 20, 21.
DISSERTATION II.
471
a beloved ox only begotten son, what was I
to happen long afterward to the great son
and seed of Abraham, the Messiah, the I
beloved and the "only begotten of the
Father, whose day Abraham saw by faith
beforehand, and rejoiced to see it,"*!
viz. that he, " by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God should be cru-
ciiiid, and slaiu"t as a sacrifice, and
should he raised again the third day, and
this at Jerusalem also, and that, in the
mean time, God would accept of the sacri-
fices of rams, and the like animals, at the
same city Jerusalem, that one cannot easily
avoid the application. This seems the
reason why Abraham was obliged to go to
the land of Moriah, or Jerusalem; and
why it is noted, that it was the third day\
that he came to the place, which implies
that the return back, after the slaying of
the sacrifice, would naturally be the third
day also j and why this sacrifice was not
Ishmael the son of the flesh only, but
Isaac the son by promise, the beloved son
of Abraham, and why Isaac was styled the
only son, or only begotten son§ of Abra-
ham, though he had Ishmael besides ; and
why Isaac himself was to bear the icood\\
on which he was to be sacrificed ; and why
the place was no other than the land of
Moriah,^ or vision, i. e. most probable a
place where the Shecinah or Messiah had
been seen, and God by him worshipped,
even before the days of Abraham, and
where lately lived, and perhaps now lived,
Melchisedeck, the grand type of the Mes-
siah, (who might then possibly be present
at the sacrifice,) and why this sacrifice was
to be offered either on the mountain called
afterward distinctly Moriah, where the
temple stood, and where all the Mosaic
sacrifices were afterward to be offered, as
Josephus** and the generality suppose, or,
perhaps, as others suppose, that where the
Messiah himself was to be offered, its
neighbour mount Calvary. This seems
also the reason why the ram was substi-
tuted as a vicarious sacrifice instead of
Isaac. These circumstances seem to me
very peculiar and extraordinary, and to
render the present hypothesis extremely
probable. Nor, perhaps, did St. Clement
mean any thing else, when in his forecited
passage he says, that " Isaac was fully
persuaded of what he knew was to come ;"
• John viii. 56.
+ Gen. xxii. 2, 4.
j| Gen. xxii. 6.
Antiq. b. i. c. xiii.
f Acts ii. 23.
\ Heb. xi. 17.
\ John xix. 17.
and, therefore, "cheerfully yielded him-
self up for a sacrifice." Nor, indeed,
that name of this place, Jehovah Jweh,
which continued till the days of Moses,
and signified, God will see, or rather, God
will provide, seem to be given it by Abra-
ham on any other account, than that God
would there, in the fulness of time, " pro-
vide himself a lamb [that lamb of God,
which was to take away the sins of the
world]* for a burnt-offering."
But if, now after all, it be objected, that
how peculiar and how typical soever the
circumstances of Abraham and Isaac might
be in themselves, of which the heathens
about them could have little nut inn, yet
such a divine command to Abraham for
slaying his beloved son Isaac must, how-
ever, be of very ill example to the Gen-
tile world, and that it probably did either
first occasion, or, at least, greatly encou-
rage their wicked practices in offering
their children for sacrifices to their idols,
I answer by the next consideration.
13. That this objection is so far from
truth, that God's public and miraculous
prohibition of the execution of this com-
mand to Abraham, (which command itself
the Gentiles would not then at all be sur-
prised at, because it was so like to their
own usual practices,) as well as God's sub-
stitution of a vicarious oblation, seems to
have been the very occasion of the immediate
oblation of those impious sacrifices by Teth-
mosis, or Amosis, among the neighbour-
ing Egyptians, and of the substitution of
more inoffensive ones there instead of them.
Take the account of this abolition, which we
shall presently prove was about the time of
Abraham's offering up his son Isaac, as
it is preserved by Porphyry, from Mane-
tho, the famous Egyptian historian and
chronologcr, which is also cited from Por-
phyry by Eusebius and Theodoret.
" Amosis,*! says Porphyry, "abolished
the law for slaying of men in Ileliopolis
of Egypt, as Manetho bears witness, in
his book of Anticpuity and Piety. They
were sacrificed to Juno and were examined,
as were the pure calves, that were also
sealed with them : they were sacrificed
three in a day. In whose stead Amosis
commanded that men of wax, of the same
number, should be substituted."
Now, I have lately shown, that these
Egyptians had Abraham in great venera-
tion, and that all the wisdom of those
• John i. 29.
■J- Marsn. p. 301.
472
DISSERTATION III.
Egyptians, in which Moses teas afterward
learned, was derived from no other than
from Abraham. Now it appears evidently,
by the forecited passage, that the first abo-
lition of these human sacrifices, and the
substitution of waxen images in their
stead, and particularly at Heliopolis, in
the north-east part of Egypt, in the neigh-
bourhood of Beersheba, in the south of
Palestine, where Abraham now lived, at
the distance of about one hundred and
twenty miles only, was in the days, and by
the order of Tethmosis or Amosis, who
was the first of the Egyptian kings, after
the expulsion of the Phoenician shepherds.
Now, therefore, we are to inquire when
this Tethmosis or Amosis lived, and com-
pare his time with the time of the sacri-
fice of Isaac. Now, if we look into my
chronological table, published A. D. 1721,
we shall find that the hundred and twen-
ty-fifth year of Abraham, or which is all
one, the twenty-fifth year of Isaac, falls
into A. M. 2573, or into the thirteenth
year of Tethmosis or Amosis, which is the
very middle of his twenty-five years reign ;
so that this abolition of human sacrifices
in Egypt, and substitution of others in
their room, seems to have been occasioned
by the solemn prohibition of such a sacri-
fice in the case of Abraham, and by the
following substitution of a ram in its
stead : which account of this matter not
only takes away the groundless suspicions
of the moderns, but shows the great sea-
sonableness of the divine prohibition of
the execution of this command to Abra-
ham, as probably the direct occasion of
putting a stop to the barbarity of the
Egyptians in offering human sacrifices,
and that for many, if not for all genera-
tions afterward.
DISSERTATION III.
TACITUS'S ACCOUNTS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE JEWISH NATION, AND OF
THE PARTICULARS OF THE LAST JEWISH WAR ; THAT THE FORMER
WAS PROBABLY WRITTEN IN OPPOSITION TO JOSEPHUS'S ANTIQUI-
TIES, AND THAT THE LATTER WAS FOR CERTAIN ALMOST ALL
DIRECTLY TAKEN FROM JOSEPHUS'S HISTORY OF THE JEWISH WAR.
Since Tacitus, the famous Roman his-
torian, who has written more largely and
professedly about the origin of the Jewish
nation, about the chorography of Judea,
and the last Jewish war under Cestius,
Vespasian, and Titus, than any other old
Roman historian ; and since both Jose-
phus and Tacitus were in favour with
the same Roman emperors, Vespasian,
Titus, and P/omitian ; and since Tacitus
was an eminent pleader and writer of
history at Rome, during the time or not
long after our Josephus had been there
studying the Greek language, reading the
Greek books, and writing his own works
in the same Greek language, which lan-
guage was almost universally known at
Rome in that age; and since, therefore,
it is next to impossible to suppose that
Tacitus could be unacquainted with the
writings of Josephus, it cannot but be
highly proper to compare their accounts
of Judea, of the Jews, and Jewish affairs
together. Nor is it other than a very
surprising paradox to me, how it has oeen
possible, for learned men, particularly for
the several learned editors of Josephus
and Tacitus, to be so very silent about
this matter as they have hitherto been,
especially when not only the correspond-
ence of the authors as to time and
place, but the likeness of the subject-
matter and circumstances is so very often
so very remarkable ; nay, indeed, since
many of the particular facts belonged
peculiarly to the region of Judea, and to
the Jewish nation, and are such as could
hardly be taken by a foreigner from any
other author than from our Josephus, this
strange silence is almost unaccountable,
if not inexcusable. The two only other
writers whom we know of, whence such
Jewish affairs might be supposed to be
taken by Tacitus, who never appears to
have been in Judea himself, are Justus
of Tiberias, a Jewish historian, contem-
porary with Josephus, and one Autonius
Juliauus, once mentioned by Minutiua
DISSERTATION III.
473
Felix in his Octavius, sect. 33, as having
written on the same subject with Jose-
phus, and both already mentioned by me
on another occasion, Dissert. I. As to
Justus of Tiberias, he could not be the
historian whence Tacitus took his Jewish
affairs, because, as we have seen, in the
place just cited, the principal passage in
Tacitus of that nature, concerning Christ,
and his sufferings under the emperor
Tiberius, and by his procurator Pontius
Pilate, was not there, as we know from the
testimony of Photius, Cod. xxx. And as
to Antonius Julianus, his very name shows
him to have been not a Jew, but a Ro-
man. He is never mentioned by Jose-
phus, and so probably knew no more of
the country or affairs of Judea than Taci-
tus himself. He was, I suppose, rather
an epitomizer of Josephus, and not so
early as Tacitus, than an original historian
himself before him. Nor could so exact
a writer as Tacitus ever take up with such
poor and almost unknown historians as
these were, while Josephus's seven books
of the Jewish war were then so common ;
were in such great reputation at Rome ;
were attested to, and recommended by
Vespasian and Titus the emperors, by
King Agrippa, and King Archelaus, and
Herod, king of Chalcis ; and he was there
honoured with a statue : and these his
books were reposited at the public library
at Rome, as we know from Josephus
himself, from Eusebius, and Jerom, while
we never hear of any other history of
the Jews that had then and there any such
attestations or recommendations. Some
things, indeed, Tacitus might take from
the Roman records of this war, I mean
from the Commentaries of Vespasian,
which are mentioned by Josephus himself,
in his own Life, sect. 65, vol. iv., and
some others from the relations of Roman
people, where the affairs of Rome were
concerned ; as also other affairs might be
remembered by old officers and soldiers
that had been in the Jewish war. Ac-
cordingly, I still suppose that Tacitus had
some part of his information these ways,
and particularly where he a little differs
from or makes additions to Josephus :
but then, as this will all reach no further
than three or four years during this war,
so will it by no means account for that
abridgment of the geography of the coun-
try, and entire series of the principal
facts of history thereto relating, which
are in Tacitus, from the days of Anti-
ochus Epiphanes, 240 years before that
war, with which Antiochus both Jose-
phus and Tacitus begin their distinct
histories of the Jews, preparatory to the
history of this last war. Nor could Taci-
tus take the greatest part of those earlier
facts belonging to the Jewish nation from
the days of Moses, or to Christ and the
Christians in the days of Tiberius, from
Roman authors ; of which Jewish and
Christian affairs those authors had usually
very little knowledge, and which the
heathen generally did grossly pervert and
shamefully falsify : and this is so true
as to Tacitus's own accounts of the origin
of the Jewish nation, that the reader may
almost take it for a constant rule, that
when Tacitus contradicts Josephus's Jew-
ish Antiquities, he either tells direct
falsehoods, or truths so miserably dis-
guised, as renders them little better than
falsehoods, and hardly ever lights upon
any thing relating to them that is true
and solid, but when the same is in those
Autiquities at this day ; of which matters
more will be said in the notes on this
history immediately following.
HISTORY OF THE JEWS.
Book V. Chap. II.
Since we are now going to relate the
final period of this famous city [Jerusa-
lem], it seems proper to give an account
of its original.* — The tradition is, that
the Jews ran away from the island of
Crete, and settled themselves on the coast
of Libya, and this at the time when
* Most of these stories are so entirely ground-
less, and so contradictory to one another, that they
do not deserve a serious confutation. It is strange
Tacitus could persuade himself thus crudely to set
them down.
Saturn was driven out of his kingdom by
the power of Jupiter : an argument for it
is fetched from their name. The mountain
Ida is famous in Crete ; and the neigh-
bouring inhabitants are named Idsei,
which, with a barbarous augment, be-
comes the name of Judasi [Jews]. Some
say they were a people that were very
numerous in Egypt, under the reign of
Isis, and that the Egyptians got free from
that burden by sending them into the
474
DISSERTATION III.
adjoining countries, under their captains
Hierosplymus and Judas. The greatest
part say they were those Ethiopians whom
fear and hatred obliged to change their
habitations in the reign of King Cepheus.*
There are those which report they were
Assyrians, who, wanting lands, got toge-
ther, and obtained part of Egypt, and
soon afterward settled themselves in cities
of their own, in the lands of the Hebrews,
and the parts of Syria that lay nearest to
them.f Others pretend their origin to be
more eminent, and that the Solymi, a peo-
ple celebrated in Homer's poems, were the
founders of this nation, and gave this their
own name Hierosolyina to the city which
they built there. J
Chap. III.] Many authors agree, that
when once an infectious distemper was
arisen in Egypt, and made men's bodies
impure, Bocchoris their king went to the
oracle of [Jupiter] Hammon, and begged
he would grant him some relief against
this evil, and that he was enjoined to
purge his nation of them, and to banish
this kind of men into other countries, as
hateful to the gods :§ that when he had
sought for, and gotten them all together,
they were left in a vast desert; that here-
upon the rest devoted themselves to weep-
ing and inactivity ; but one of those exiles,
Moses by name, advised them to look for
no assistance from any of the gods, or
from any of mankind, since they had been
abandoned by both, but bade them believe
in him, as in a celestial leader, || by whose
help they had already gotten clear of their
present miseries. They agreed to it; and
though they wereunacquaiuted with every
thing, they began their journey at random :
but nothing tired them so much as want
of water ; and now they laid themselves
down on the ground to a great extent, as
just ready to perish, when a herd of wild
* One would wonder how Tacitus or any hea-
thens could .suppose the African Ethiopians, under
Cepheus, who are known to be blacks, could be
the parents of the Jews, who are known to be
whites.
f This account comes nearest the truth ; and this
Tacitus might have from Josephus, only disguised
by himself.
\ This Tacitus might have out of Josephus,
Antii|. b. vii. c. iii.
£ Strange doctrine to Josephus! who truly ob-
serves "ii this occasion, that the gods are angry not
at bodily imperfections, but at wicked practices.
Apioo, b. i.
|| This believing in Moses as in a,cel<:xii<<l leader,
seems a blind confession of Tacitus that Moses pro-
fessed to have his laws from God.
asses came from feeding, and went to a
rock overshadowed by a grove of trees.
Moses followed them, as conjecturing that
there was [thereabout] some grassy soil,
and so he opened large sources of water
for them.* That was an ease to them ;
and when they had journeyed continually
six entire days, f on the seventh they drove
out the inhabitants, and obtained those
lands wherein their city and temple were
dedicated.
Chap. IV.] As for Moses, in order to
secure the nation firmly to himself, he
ordained new rites, and such as were con-
trary to those of other men. All things
are with them profane which with us are
sacred ; and again, those practices are al-
lowed among them which are by us es-
teemed most abominable. J
They place the image of that animal in
their most holy place, by whose indication
it was that they had escaped their wan-
dering condition and their thirst. §
They sacrifice rams, by way of reproach,
to [Jupiter Hammon]. An ox is also
sacrificed, which the Egyptians worship
under the name of ^>i's.||
They abstain from swine's flesh, as a
memorial of .that miserable destruction
which the mange, to which that creature
is liable, brought on them, and with which
they had been defiled. ^[
That they had endured a long famine,
they attest still by their frequent fastings.**
And that they stole the fruits of the
earth, we have an argument from the
bread of the Jews, which is unlea-
vened.ff
* This looks also like a plain confession of Taci-
tus, that Moses brought the Jews water out of a
rock in great plenty, which he might have from
Josephus, Antiq. b. iii. c. i.
f Strange indeed, that 600,000 men should
travel above 200 miles over the deserts of Arabia
in sis days, and concpuer Judea the seventh !
X This is not true in general, but only so far,
that the Israelites were by circumcision and other
rites to be kept separate from the wicked and idol-
atrous nations about them.
# This strange story contradicts what the same
Tacitus will tell us presently, that when Pompey
went into the holy of holies he found no image
there.
|| These are only guesses of Tacitus or his heathen
authors, but no more.
^f Such memorials of what must have been very
reproachful, are strangers to the rest of mankind,
nod without any probability.
** The Jews had but one solemn fast of old in
the whole year, the great day of expiation.
ft Unleavened bread was only used at the pass-
over.
DISSERTATION III.
475
It is generally supposed they rest on
the seventh day,* because that day gave
them [the first] rest from their labours.
Besides which, they are idle on every
seventh year.f as being pleased with a
lazy life. Others say, that they do honour
thereby to Saturn ;| or, perhaps, the
Idsei gave them this part of their religion,
■who [as we said above] were expelled to-
gether with Saturn, and who, as we have
been informed, were the founders of this
nation ; or else it was because the star
Saturn moves in the highest orb, and of
the seven planets exerts the pr/n?ipal part
of that energy whereby mankind are go-
verned : and, indeed, that most of the
heavenly bodies exert their power, and
perform their courses, according to the
number seven. §
Chap. V.] These rites, by what man-
ner soever they were first begun, are
supported by their antiquity. || The rest
of their institutions are awkward, ^[ im-
pure, and got ground by their pravity ;
for every vile fellow, despising the rites
of his forefathers, brought thither their
tribute and contributions, by which
means the Jewish commonwealth was
augmented. And because among them-
selves there is an unalterable fidelity
and kindness always ready at hand, but
bitter enmity to all others,** they are a
people separated from others in their
food, and in their beds; though they be
the lewdest nation upon earth, yet will
* It is very strange that Tacitus should not know
or confess that the Jews' seventh <l"y. and seventh
year of rest, were in memory of the seventh, or
Sabbath-day's rest, after the six days of creation.
Every Jew, as well as every Christian, could have
informed him of those matters.
f A Btrange hypothesis of the origin of the sab-
batic year, and without all good foundation. Taci-
tus probably had never heard of the Jews' year of
jubilee, so he says nothing of it.
J As if the Jews, in the days of Moses, or long
before, knew that the Greeks and Romans would
long afterward call the seventh day of the week
Saturn's day; which Dio observes was not so called
of old time; and it is a question whether, before
the Jews fell into idolatry, they ever heard of such
a star or god as Saturn. Amos v. 25; Acts
vii. 43.
$ That the sun, moon, and stars rule over the
affairs of mankind, was a heathen, and not a Jewish
notion. Neither Jews nor Christians were permit-
ted to deal in astrology, though Tacitus seems to
have been deep in it.
|] This acknowledgment of the antiquity of Moses,
and of his Jewish settlement, was what the heathens
cared not always to own.
* What these pretended awkward and impure.
Institutions were, Tacitus does not inform us.
** Josephus shows the contrary, as to the laws
of Moses, coutr. Apion, b. ii.
they not corrupt foreign women, ' though
nothing In- esteemed unlawful among
themselves."}"
They have ordained circumcision of the
parts of generation, that tiny may there-
by be distinguished from other people :
the proselytes|' to their religion have the
same usage.
They are taught nothing sooner than
to despise the gods, to renounce their
country, ami to have their parents, chil-
dren, and brethren in the utmost con-
tempt :§ but still they take care to increase
and multiply, for it is esteemed utterly
unlawful to kill any of their children.
They also look on the souls of those
that die in battle, or are put feo death
for their crimes, as eternal. Hence
comes their love of posterity and con-
tempt of death.
They derive their custom of burying,
instead of burning, their dead, from the
Egyptians :|| they have also the same care
of the dead with them, and the same per-
suasion about the invisible world below :
but of the gods above, their opinion is
contrary to theirs. The Egyptians wor-
ship abundance of animals, and images of
various sorts.
The Jews have no notion of any more
than one divine being,^[ and that known
only by the mind. They esteem such to
be profane who frame images of gods, out
of perishable matter, and in the shape of
men. That this being is supreme and
eternal, immutable and unperishable, is
their doctrine. According!}-, they have
no images in their cities, much less in
their temples : they never grant this
piece of flattery to kings, or this kind of
* A high, and, I doubt, a false commendation
of the Jews.
f An entirely false character, and contrary to
their many laws against uncleanness. Seo Jose-
phus, Antiq. b. iii. c. xi.
J The proselytes of justice only, not the prose-
lyte- ni tin- gate.
2 How dues this agree with that unalterable
fidelity and kindness which Tacitus told us the
Jews had toward one another? unless ho only
means that they preferred the divine commands
before their nearest relations, which is the i
degree of. Jewish and Christian piety.
|| This custom is at least as old anion"; the He-
brews as the days of Abraham, and the cave of
Machpelah, Long before the Israelites went into
Egypt Gen. xxiii. 1-20; x.w. 8-10.
• These are valuable concessions, which Tacitus
here makes, as to the unspotted pietyofthe Jewish
nation, in the worship of one infinite, invisible
Cod, and absolute rejection id' all idolatry, and of
all worship of images, nay. of the image of tLo
Emperor Caius himself, or of affording it a place in
their temple.
476
DISSERTATION III.
honour to emperors.* But because their
priests, when they play on the pipe and
the timbrels, wear ivy round their head,
and a golden vinef has been found in
their temple, some have thought that
they worshipped our father Bacchus, the
conqueror of the East ; whereas the cere-
monies of the Jews do not at all agree with
those of Bacchus ; for he appointed rites
that were of a jovial nature, and fit for
festivals, while the practices of the Jews
are absurd and sordid.
Chap. VI.] The limits of Judea east-
erly are bounded by Arabia : Egypt lies
on the south : on the west are Phoenicia
and the [great] sea. They have a pros-
pect of Syria on their north quarter, as
at some distance from them. J
The bodies of the men are healthy, and
such as will bear great labours.
They have not many showers of rain :
their soil is very fruitful : the produce of
their land is, like ours, in great plenty. §
They have also, besides ours, two trees
peculiar to themselves, the balsam-tree and
the palm-tree. Their groves of palms are
tall and beautiful. The balsam-tree is not
very large. As soon as any branch is
swelled, the vines quake as for fear, if you
bring an iron knife to cut them. They
are to be opened with the broken piece of
a stone, or with the shell of a fish. The
juice is useful in physic.
Libanus is their principal mountain, and
is very high, and yet, what is very strange
to be related, it is always shadowed with
trees,- and never free from snow. The
same mountain supplies the river Jordan
with water, and affords it its fountains also.
Nor is this Jordan earned into the sea ;
it passes through one and a second lake
undiminished, but it is stopped by the
third.) |
This third lake is vastly great in cir-
* All these concessions were to be learned from
Josephus, and almost only from him ; out of whom,
therefore, I conclude Tacitus took the finest part
of his character of the Jews.
f This particular fact, that there was a golden
vine in the front of the Jewish temple, was in all
probability taken by Tacitus out of Josephus : but
as tin- Jewish priests were never adorned with ivy,
the signal of Bacchus, how Tacitus came to ima-
gine this, I cannot tell.
+ St: the chorography of Judea in Josephus, Of
the War, b. iii. : whence most probably Tacitus
framed this short abridgment of it. It comes in both
authors naturally before Vespasian's first campaign.
£ The latter branch of this Tacitus might have
from Josephus, Of the War, b. iv. c. viii. The
other is not in the present copies.
|| These accounts of Jordan, of its fountains de-
rived from Mount Libanus, and of the two lakes it
cumference, as if it were a sea.* It is of
an ill taste, and is pernicious to the adjoin-
ing inhabitants by its strong smell. The
wind raises no waves there, nor will it
maintain either fishes, or such birds as use
the water. The reason is uncertain, but
the fact is thus, that bodies cast into it are
borne up, as by somewhat solid. Those
who can and those who cannot swim are
equally borne up by it.f At a certain time
of the yearj it casts out bitumen : the
manner of gathering it, like other arts,
has been taught by experience. The li-
quor is of its own nature of a black co-
lour ; and if you pour vinegar upon it, it
clings together, and swims on the top.
Those whose business it is take it in their
hands and pull it into the upper parts of
the ship, after which it follows, without
further attraction, and fills the ship full,
till you cut it off: nor can you cut it off
either with a brass or an iron instrument,
but it cannot bear the touch of blood,
or of a cloth wet with the menstrual pur-
gations of women, as the ancient authors
say. But those that are acquainted with
the place assure us, that these waves of
bitumen are driven along, and by the hand
drawn to the- shore; and that when they
are dried by the warm steams from the
earth and the force of the sun, they are cut
in pieces with axes and wedges, as timber
and stones are cut in pieces.
Chap. VII.] Not far from this lake are
those plains, which are related to have been
of old fertile, and to have had many§ ci-
ties full of poople, but to have been burnt
up by a stroke of lightning : it is also said,
that the footsteps of that destruction still
remain, and that the earth itself appears as
burnt earth, and has lost its natural fer-
tility : aud that as an argument thereof,
all the plants that grow of their own ac-
cord, or are planted by the hand, whether
they arrive at the degree of an herb, or
runs through, and its stoppage by the third, are ex-
actly agreeable to Josephus, Of the War, b. iii. c. x.
* No less than 580 furlongs long and 150 broad,
in Josephus, Of the War, b. iv. c. viii.
"f" Strabo says, that a man could not sink into the
water of this lake so deep as the navel.
J Josephus never says that this bitumen was cast
out at a certain time of the year only, and Strabo says
the direct contrary, but Pliny agrees with Tacitus.
g This is exactly according to Josephus, and
must have been taken from him in the place fore-
cited, and that particularly because it is peculiar to
him, so far as I know, in all antiquity. The rest
thought the cities were in the very same place
where now the lake is, but Jcsephus and Tacitus
say they were in >ts neighbourhood only, which is
Mr. Reland's opinioa also.
DISSERTATION III.
177
of a flower, or at complete maturity, be-
come black and empty, and, as it were,
vanish into ashes. As for myself, as I am
willing to allow that these once famous
cities were burnt by fire from heaven, so
would I suppose that the earth is infected
with the vapour of the lake, and the spirit
or air that is over it thereby corrupted;
and that by this means the fruits of the
earth, both corn and grapes, rot away,
both the soil and the air being equally un-
wholesome.
The river Belus does also run into the
sea of Judea; and the sands that are col-
leeted about its mouth, when you mix ni-
tre with them, are melted into glass : this
sort of shore is but small, but its sand,
for the use of those that carry it off, is in-
exhaustible.
Chap. VIII.] A great part of Judea is
composed of scattered villages ; it also has
larger towns : Jerusalem is the capital city
of the whole nation. In that city there
was a temple of immense wealth ; in the
first parts that are fortified is the city it-
self; next it the royal palace. The tem-
ple is enclosed in its most inward recesses.
A Jew can come no farther than thegates;
all but the priests are excluded by their
threshold. While the East was under the
dominion of the Assyrians, the Medes,
and the Persians, the Jews were of all
slaves the most despicable.*
f After the dominion of the Macedo-
nians prevailed, King Antiochus tried to
conquer their superstition, and to intro-
duce the customs of the Greeks; but he
was disappointed of his design, which was
to give this most profligate nation a change
for the better, and that was by his war
with the Parthians, for at this time Ar-
saces had fallen off [from the Macedoni-
ans]. Then it was that the Jews set kings
over them, because the Macedonians were
become weak, the Parthians were not yet
very powerful, and the Romans were very
remote : which kings, when they had been
expelled by the mobility of the vulgar,
and had recovered their dominion by war,
attempted the same things that kings used
to do, I mean they introduced the de-
struction of cities, the slaughter of bre-
* A great slander against the Jews, without any-
just foundation. Josephus would have informed
him letter.
f Here begins Josephus's and Tacitus's true ac-
counts of the Jews preliminary to the last war. See
Of tho War, prorcni.
3P
thren, of wives, and parents, but still went
on in their superstition ; for they took upon
thorn withal the honourable dignity of the
high-priesthood, as a firm secu.ity to their
power and authority.
CriAP. IX.] The first of the Romans
that conquered the Jews was Cneiua Pom-
peius, who entered the temple by right
of victory. Thence the report was every-
where divulged, that therein was no image
of a god, but an empty place, and myste-
ries, most secret places that have nothing
in them. The walls of Jerusalem were
then destroyed, but the temple continued
still. Soon afterward arose a civil war
among us; and when therein these pro-
vinces were reduced under Marcus Anto-
nius, Pacorus, king of the Parthians, got
possession of Judea, but was himself slain
by Paulus Ventidius, and the Parthians
were driven beyond Euphrates; and for
the Jews, Caius Socius subdued them.
Antonius gave the kingdom to Herod;
and when Augustus conquered Antonius,
he still augmented it.
After Herod's death, one Simon, with-
out waiting for the disposition of Caesar,
took upon him the title of king, who was
brought to punishment by [or under]
Quintilius Varus, when he was president
of Syria. Afterward the nation was re-
duced, and the children of Herod go-
verned it in three partitions.
Under Tiberius the Jews had rest.
After some time they were enjoined to
place Caius Caesar's statue in the temple;
but rather than permit that, they took up
arms;* which sedition was put an end to
by the death of Caesar.
Claudius, after the kings were either
dead or reduced to smaller dominions,
gave the province of Judea to Roman
knights, or to freedmen, to be governed
by them. Among whom was Antonius
Felix, one that exercised all kind of
barbarity and extravagance, as if he had
royal authority, but with the disposition
of a slave. He had married Drusilla,
the grand-daughter of Autonius, so that
Felix was the grand-daughter's husband,
and Claudius the grandson of the same
Autonius.
* They came to Petronius, the president of
Syria, in vast numbers, but without arms, and as
humble supplicants only. See Tacitus presently,
where ho afterward sets this matter almost right,
according to Josephus, and by way of correction,
for that account is in his annals, which were
written alter this, which is in his histories.
478
DISSERTATION III.
AXXAL. Book XII.
But be that was the brother of Pallas,
whose surname was Felix, did not act
with the same moderation [as did Pallas
himself]. He had been a good while ago
■et over Judea, and thought he miaht
be guilty of all sorts of wickedness with
impunity, while he relied on so sure an
authority.
The Jews had almost given a specimen
of sedition ; and even after the death of
Caius was known, and they had not
obeyed his command, there remained a
degree of fear, lest some future prince
should renew that command [for the set-
ting up the prince's statue in their tem-
ple]. And in the mean time, Felix, by
the use of unseasonable remedies, blew
up the coals of sedition into a flame, and
was imitated by his partner in the govern-
ment, Ventidius Cumanus; the country
being thus divided between them, that
the nation of the Galileans were under
Cumanus, and the Samaritans under Felix,
which two nations were of old at vari-
ance, but now, out of contempt of their
governors, did less restrain their hatred ;
they then began to plunder one another,
to send in parties of robbers, to lie in
wait, and sometimes to fight battles, and
withal to bring spoils and prey to the pro-
curators [Cumanus and Felix]. Where-
upon these procurators began to rejoice j
yet when the mischief grew considerable,
soldiers were sent to quiet them, but the
soldiers were killed ; and the province
had been in the flame of war, had not
Quadratus, the president of Syria, afforded
his assistance. Nor was it long in dispute
whether the Jews who had killed the
soldiers in the mutiny should be put to
death: it was agreed they should die;
ouly Cumanus and Felix occasioned a
delay ; for Claudius, upon hearing the
causes as to this rebellion, had given
[Quadratus] authority to determine the
case, even as to the procurators them-
selves; but Quadratus showed Felix among
the judges, and took him into his seat of
judgment, on purpose that he might dis-
courage his accusers. So Cumanus was
condemned for those flagitious actions,
of which both he and Felix had been
guilty, and peace was restored to the
province.*
HISTOR. Book V. Chap. X.
However, the Jews had patience till
Gessius Florus was made procurator.
Under him it was that the war began.
Then CestiusGallus, the president of Syria,
attempted to appease it, tried several
battles, but generally with ill success.
Upon his death,* whether it came by
fate, or that he was weary of his life, is
uncertain, Vespasian had the good fortune,
by his reputation and excellent officers,
and a victorious army, in the space of two
summers, to make himself master of all
the open country, and of all the cities,
Jerusalem excepted.
[Flavius Vespasianus, whom Nero had
chosen for his general, managed the Jew-
ish war with three legions. Histor. b. i.
c. x.]
The next year, which was employed in
a civil war at [home], so far as the Jews
were concerned, passed over in peace.
When Italy was pacified, the care of
foreign parts was revived. The Jews
were the only people that stood out, which
* Josephus says nothing of the death of Cestius '
BO Tacitus seems to have known nothing in parti-
cular about it.
452
increased the rage [of the Romans]. It
was also thought most proper that Titus
should stay with the army, to prevent any
accident or misfortune which the new
government might be liable to.
[Vespasian had put an end to the Jew-
ish war : the siege of Jerusalem was the
only enterprise remaining, which was a
work hard and difficult, but rather from
the nature of the mountain, and the obsti-
nacy of the Jewish superstition, than
because the besieged had strength enough
to undergo the distresses [of a siege].
We have already informed the reader
that Vespasian had with him three le-
gions, well exercised in war. Histor.
b. ii. c. v.]
When Vespasian was a very young
man, it was promised him that he should
arrive at the highest pitch of fame : but
what did first of all seem to confirm the
omen was his triumphs and consulship,
and the glory of his victories over the
Jews. When he had once obtained these,
* Here seems to be a great mistake about the
Jewish affairs in Tacitus. See Of the War, b. ii.
c. xii.
DISSERTATION in.
470
ho believed it was portended that he
should come to the empire.*
There is between Judea and Syria a
mountain and a god, both called by the
same name of Garmd, though our pre-
decessors have informed us that this god
had no image, aud no temple, and, indeed,
no more than an altar and solemn wor-
ship. Vespasian was once offering a sacri-
fice there, at a time when he had some
secret thought in his mind : the priest,
whose name was Basilides, when he over
and over looked at the entrails, said,
Vespasian, whatever thou art ahout, whe-
ther the building of thy house, or enlarge-
ment of thy lands, or augmentation of thy
slaves, thou art granted a mighty seat,
very large bounds, a huge number of men.
These doubtful answers were soon spread
abroad by fame, and at this time were
explained: nor was any thing so much in
public vogue ; and very many discourses
of that nature were made before him, and
the more because they foretold what he
expected.
Mucianus and Vespasianus went away,
having fully agreed on their designs ; the
former to Antioch, the latter to Caesarea.
Antioch is the capital of Syria, and Cae-
sarea the capital of Judea. The com-
mencement of Vespasian's advancement
to the empire was at Alexandria, where
Tiberius Alexander made such haste, that
he obliged the legions to take the oath of
fidelity to him on the calends of July,
which was ever after celebrated as the
day of his inauguration, althoughf the
army in Judea had taken the oath on the
fifth of the nones of July, with that
eagerness that they would not stay for
his son Titus, who was then on the road,
returning out of Syria, c. lxxix. Ves-
pasian delivered over the strongest part
of his forces to Titus, to enable him to
finish what remained of the Jewish war.
Hist. b. iv. c. li.
During those months in which Vespa-
* Josephus takes notice in general of those many
omens of Vespasian's advancement to the empire,
and distinctly adds his own remarkable prediction
of it also. Antiq. b. iii. c. viii.
f This although seems to imply that Vespasian
was proclaimed emperor in Judea before he was
bo proclaimed at Alexandria, as the whole history
of Josephus implies, and the place where now
Vespasian was, which was no other than Judea,
requires also, though the inauguration day might
bo celebrated afterward from his first proclamation
at the great city Alexandria, only then the nones
or ides in Tacitus and Suetonius must be of June,
and not of July.
sian continued at Ah sandria, waiting for
the usual set time of the summer gal
wind, and stayed fur settled fair weather
at sea, many miraculous events happened,
by which the good-will of heaven, and a
kind of inclination of the Deity in his
favour, was declared.
A certain man of the vulgar sort at
Alexandria, well known for the decay of
his eyes, kneeled down by him, and
groaned, and begged of him the cure of
his blindness, as by the admonition of
Serapis, that god which this superstitions
nation worships above others. lie also
desired that the emperor would be pleased
to put some of his spittle upon the balls
of his eyes. Another infirm man there,
who was lame of his hand, prayed Caesar,
as by the same god's suggestion, to tread
upon him with his foot. Vespasian at
first began to laugh at them, and to reject
them ; and when they were instant with
him, he sometimes feared he should have
the reputation of a vain person, and some-
times upon the solicitation of the infirm,
he flattered himself, and others flattered
him, with the hopes of succeeding. At
last he ordered the physicians to give
their opinion, wdiether this sort of blind-
ness and lameness were curable by the
art of man or not? The physicians an-
swered uncertainly, that the one had not
his visual faculty utterly destroyed, and
that it might be restored, if the obstacles
were removed ; that the other's limbs
were disordered, but if a healing virtue
were made use of, they were capable of
being made whole. Perhaps, said they,
the gods are willing to assist, and that the
emperor is chosen by divine interposition :
however, they said at last, that if the
cures succeeded, Ctusar would have the
glory, if not, the poor miserable objects
would only be laughed at. Whereupon
Vespasian imagined that his good fortuue
would be universal, and that nothing on
that account could be incredible; bo he
looked cheerfully, and in the sight of the
multitude, who stood in great expectation,
he did what they desired him : upon
which the lame hand was recovered, and
the blind man saw immediately. Doth
these cures* are related to this day by
those that were present, and when speak-
ing falsely will get no reward.
* The miraculous cures done by Vespasia i are
attested to both by Suetonius in Vespasian, sect.
7, and by Dio, p. 217, and seem to me well attested.
Our Saviour Beems to have overruled the heathen
480
DISSERTATION III.
BookY. Chap. I.
At the beginning of the same year,
Titus Caesar, who was pitched upon by
his father to finish the conquest of Judea,
and, while both he and his father were
private persons, was celebrated for his
martial conduct, acted now with greater
vigour and hopes of reputation, the kind
inclinations both of the provinces and of
the armies striving one with another who
should most encourage him. He was
also himself in a disposition to show that
he was more than equal to his fortune;
and when he appeared in arms, he did all
things after such a, ready and graceful
way, treating all after such an affable
manner, and with such kind words, as
invited the good-will and good wishes of
all. He appeared also in his actions and
in his place in the troops ; he mixed with
the common soldiers, yet without any
stain to his honour as a general.* He
was received in Judea by three legions,
the fifth and the tenth, and the fifteenth,
who were Vespasian's old soldiers^ Syria
also afforded him the twelfth, and Alex-
andria soldiers out of the twenty-second
and twenty-third legions. Twenty cohorts"!'
of auxiliaries accompanied him, as also
eight troops of horse.
King Agrippa also was there, and King
Sohemus, and the auxiliaries of King
Antiochus, and a strong body of Arabians,
who, as is usual in nations that are neigh-
bours to one another, went with their
accustomed hatred against the Jews, with
many others out of the city of Rome, as
every one's hopes led him of getting
early into the general's favour, before
others should prevent them.
oracle of Serapis to procure tho divine approbation
to Vespasian's advancement to the empire of
Rome, as he suggested the like approbation to the
advancement both of Vespasian and Titus to Jose-
phus. which two were to be his chosen instruments
in bringing on that terrible destruction upon the
Jewish nation, which he had threatened to execute
by those Rinnan armies. Nor could any other
Roman generals than Vespasian and Titus, at that
time, in human probability, have prevailed over the
Jew-', and destroyed Jerusalem, as this whole his-
tory in Josephus implies. Josephus also every-
where supposes Vespasian and Titus raised up to
command against Judea and Jerusalem, and to
govern the Roman empire by divine providence,
and not in the ordinary way; as also, he always
supposes this destruction a divine judgment on the
Jews fur their sins.
* This character of Titus agrees exactly with
the history of Josephus upon all occasions.
y These twenty cohorts and eight troops of horse
are not directly enumerated by Josephus, Antiq.
b. v. e. i.
He entered into the borders of the
enemies' country with these forces, in ex-
act order of war : and looking carefully
about him, and being ready for battle, he
pitched his camp not far from Jerusalem
Chap. X.] When, therefore, he had
pitched his camp, as we said just now,
before the walls of Jerusalem, he pomp-
ously showed* his legions ready for an
engagement.
Chap. XI.] The Jews formed their
camp under the very wallsf [of the city],
and if they succeeded, they resolved to
venture farther, but if they were beaten
back, that was their place of refuge.
When a body of cavalry J were sent against
them, and with them cohorts, that were
expedite and nimble, the fight was doubt-
ful ; but soon afterward the enemies gave
ground, and on the following days there
were frequent skirmishes before the gates,
till after many losses they were driven
into the city. The Romans then betook
themselves to the siege, for it did not
seem honourable to stay till the enemies
were reduced by famine. § The soldiers
were very eager to expose themselves to
dangers, part of them out of true valour,
many out of a brutish fierceness, and
others out of a desire of rewards.
Titus had Rome, and the riches and
pleasures of it before his eyes, all which
seemed to be too long delayed, unless
Jeruselam could be soon destroyed.
The city|| stood on a high elevation,
and it had great works and ramparts to
secure it, such indeed as were sufficient
for its fortification, had it been on plain
ground ; for there were two hills, of a
vast height, which were enclosed by walls
made crooked by art, or [naturally] bend-
* This word in Tacitus, pompously shoired his
legions, looks as if that pompous show, which was
some months afterward in Josephus, ran in his
mind. Antiq. b. v. e. ix.
f These first bickerings and battles near the
walls of Jerusalem, are at large in Josephus, Antiq.
b. v. c. ii.
| Josephus distinctly mentions these horsemen
or cavalry, 600 in number, among whom Titus had
like to have been slain or taken prisoner, Antiq.
b. v. c. ii.
§ Such a deliberation and resolution, with this
very reason, that it would be dishonourable to
stay till the Jews were starved out by famine, is
in Josephus, Antiq. b. v. c. xii.
j| This description of the city of Jerusalem, its
two hills, its three walls, and four towers, <fcc, are
in this place at large in Josephus, Antiq. b. v.
c. iv. See also Pompey's siege, b. xiv. c. iv.
DISSERTATION III.
481
ing inward, that tbcy might flank the
besiegers, and casts darts on them side-
way. The extreme parts of the rock were
craggy, and the towers, when they had
the advantage of the ground, were 60
feet high : when they were built on the
plain ground they were not built lower
than 120 feet: they were of uncommon
beauty, and to those who looked at them
at a great distance, they seemed equal.
Other walls there were beneath the royal
palace, besides the tower of Antonia, with
its top particularly conspicuous. It was
called so by Herod, in honour of Marcus
Antonius.
Chap. XII.] The temple was like a
citadel, having walls of its own, which
had more labour and pains bestowed on
them than the rest. The cloisters where-
with the temple was enclosed were an
excellent fortification.
They had a fountain of water that ran
perpetually ; and the mountains were
hollowed under ground ; they had more-
over pools* and cisterns for the preserva-
tion of rain-water.
They that built this city foresaw, that,
from the difference of their conduct of
life from their neighbours, they should
have frequent wars ; thence it came to
pass that they had provisions for a long
siege. After Pompey's conquest also
their fear and experience had taught them
generally what they should want.j-
Moreover, the covetous temper that
prevailed under Claudius gave the Jews
an opportunity of purchasing for money
leave! to fortify Jerusalem; so they built
walls in time of peace, as if they were
going to war, they being augmented in
number by those rude multitudes of peo-
ple that retired thither on the ruin of the
other cities; for every obstinate fellow
* Of these pools, see Josephus, b. v. c. xi. The
cisterns are not mentioned by him here, though
they be mentioned by travellers. See Iceland's
Palestine, torn. i. p. 304.
f This is Taeitus's or the Romans' own hypo-
thesis, unsupported by Josephus.
\ This sale of leave for the Jews to build the
walls of Jerusalem for money is also Taeitus's or
the Romans' own hypothesis, unsupported by Jose-
phus. Nor is Josephus's character of Claudius
near so bad, as to other things also, as it is in
Tacitus and Suetonius. Dio says, he was far from
covetousness in particular. The others seem to
have misrepresented his meek and quiet temper
and learning, but without ambition, and his great
kindness to the Jews, as the most contemptible
folly. See Antiq. b. xix. c. iv. He was, in-
deed, much ruled at first by a very bad minister,
Pallas ; and at last was ruled and poisoned by a
very bad wife, Agrippina.
Vol. II.— 31
ran away thither, and there became more
seditious than before.
There were three captains, and as many
armies. Simon had the remotest and
largest part of the walls under him. John,
who was also called Bar Gtioras [the boo
of Gioras], had the middle parts of the
city under him ; and Eleazar had fortified
the temple itself. John and Simon were
superior in multitude and strength of
arms, Eleazar was superior by Lis situa-
tion; but battles, factions, and burnings
were common to them all ; and a great
cmautity of corn was consumed by fire.
After a while John sent some who, under
the pretence of offering sacrifice, might
slay Eleazar and his body of troops, which
they did, and got the temple under their
power. So the city now was parted into
two factions, until, upon the coming of
the Romans, this war abroad produced
peace between these that were at home.
Chap. XIII.] Such prodigies* had
happened as this nation, which is super-
stitious enough in its own way, would not
agree to expiate by the ceremonies of
the Roman religion, nor would they atone
the gods by sacrifices and vows, as these
used to do on the like occasions. Annies
were seen to fight in the sky, and their
armour looked of a brigh*. red colour, and
the temple shone with sudden flashes of
fire out of the clouds. The doors of the
temple were opened on a suddeu, and a
voice greater than human was heard, that
the gods were retiring ; and at the same
time was there a great motion perceived,
as if they were going out of it, which
some esteemed to be causes of terror. The
greater part had a firm belief that it was
contained in the old sacerdotal books, that
at this very time the east would prevail
and that some that came out of Judea
should obtain the empire of the world,
which obscure oracle foretold Vespasian
and Titus; but the generality of the com-
mon people, as usual, indulged their own
inclinations, and when they had once in-
terpreted all to forebode grandeur to them-
selves, adversity itself could not persuade
them to change their minds, though it were
from falsehood to truth.")"
We have been informed that the num-
ber of the besieged, of every age, and of
both sexes, male and female, was six
* Theso prodigies, and more, are at large in Jo-
sephus, Antiq. b. vi. c. v.
f This interpretation and reflections are in Jose-
phus, Antiq. b. vi. c. v.
482
DISSERTATION III.
hundred thousand.* There were weapons
for all that could carry them, and more
than could be expected, for their number
were bold enough to do so. The men
and the women were equally obstinate ;
and when they supposed they were to be
carried captive, they were more afraid of
life than of death.
Against this city and nation Titus
Crcsar resolved to fight by ramparts and
ditches, since the situation of the place
did not admit of taking it by storm or
surprise. He parted the duty among the
legions; and there were no further en-
gagements, until whatever had been in-
vented for the taking of cities by the an-
cients, or by the ingenuity of the moderns,
was got ready.
ANNAL. Book XV.
Nero, in order to stifle the rumour [as
if he had himself set Rome on fire], as-
cribed it to those people who were hated
for their wicked practices, and called by
the vulgar Christians; these he punished
exquisitely. The author of this name
was Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius,
was brought to punishment by Pontius
Pilate, the procurator.-}- For the present
this pernicious superstition was in part
suppressed, but it brake out again, not
only over Judea, whence this mischief first
sprang, but in the city of Rome also, whi-
ther do run from every quarter and make
a noise, all the flagrant and shameful enor-
mities. At first, therefore, those were
seized who confessed, afterward a vast
multitude were detected by them, and
were convicted, not so much as really
guilty of setting the city on fire, but as
hating all mankind ; nay, they made a
mock of them as they perished, and de-
stroyed them by putting them into the
skins of wild beasts, and setting dogs upon
them to tear them to pieces. Some were
nailed to crosses, and others flamed to
death ; they were also used in the night-
time instead of torches, for illumination.
Nero had offered his own gardens for this
spectacle. He also gave them Circensian
games, and dressed himself like a driver
of a chariot, sometimes appearing among
the common people, sometimes in the
circle itself; whence a commiseration arose,
though the punishments were levelled at
guilty persons, and such as deserve to be
made the most flagrant examples, as if
these people were destroyed, not for the
public advantage, but to satisfy the bar-
barous humour of one man.
iV. B. Since I have set down all the
vile calumnies of Tacitus upon the Chris-
tians as well as the Jews, it will be proper,
before I come to my observations, to set
down two heathen records in their favour,
and those hardly inferior in antiquity, and
of much greater authority than Tacitus, I
mean Pliny's epistle to Trajan, when he
was proconsul of Bithynia, with Trajan's
answer or rescript to Pliny, cited by Ter-
tullian, Eusebius, and Jerom. These
are records of so great esteem with
Havcrcamp, the last editor of Josephus,
that he thinks they not only deserve to
be read, but almost to be learned by heart
also.
PLINY'S EPISTLE TO TRAJAN.
About A. D. 112.
Sir, it is my constant method to apply
myself to you for the resolution of all my
doubts, for who can better govern my
dilatory way of proceeding, or instruct my
* The number G00.O00 for the besieged is no-
where in Josephus, but is there for the poor buried
at the public charge, Antiq. 1). v. c. xii., which
might be about the number of the besieged under
Cestius Gallus, though they were many more after-
ward at Titus's siege, as Josephus implies, Antiq.
b. vi. c. ix.
f This passage seems to have been directly taken
from Josephus's famous testimony concerning
Christ, and the Christians, Antiq. b. xviii. c. iii., of
which Disser). I. before.
ignorance ? I have never been present at the
examination of the Christians [by others],
on which account I am unacquainted with
what uses to be inquired into, and what
and how far they used to be punished :
nor are my doubts small, whether there
be not a distinction to be made between
the ages [of the accused], and whether
tender youth ought to have the same pu-
nishment with strong men ? whether there
be not room for pardon upon repentance ?*
* Till now it seems repentance was not commonly
allowed those that had been once Christians, but
though they recanted, and returned to idolatry, yet
DISSERTATION' III.
483
or whether it may not he an advantage to
one that had been a Christian, that he has
forsaken Christianity ? whether the bare
name,* without any crimes besides, or the
crimes adhering to that name, be to be
punished ? In the mean time, I have
taken this course about those who have
been brought before me as Christians : —
T asked them whether they were Chris-
tians or not ? If they confessed that they
were Christians, I asked them again, and
a third time, intermixing threatenings
with the questions : if they persevered in
their confession, I ordered them to be
executed ;y for I did not doubt but, let
their confession be of any sort whatsoever,
this positiveness and inflexible obstinacy
deserved to be punished. There have
been some of this mad sect whom I took
notice of in particular as Roman citizeus,
that they might bo sent to that city.t
After some time, as is usual in such ex-
aminations, the crime spread itself, and
many more cases came before me. A libel
was sent me, though without an author,
containing many names [of persons ac-
cused]. These denied that they were
Christians now, or ever had been. They
called upon the gods, and supplicated to
your image,§ which I caused to be brought
to me for that purpose, with frankincense
and wine : they also cursed Christ :|| none
of which things, as it is said, can any of
those that are really Christians be com-
pelled to do ; so I thought fit to let them
go. Others of them, that Were named in
the libel, said they were Christians, but
presently denied it again ; that, indeed,
were they commonly put to death. This was per-
secution in perfection.
* This was the just and heavy complaint of the
ancient Christians, that they commonly suffered for
that bare name, without the pretence of any
crimes they could prove against them. This was
also persecution in perfection !
f Amazing doctrine ! that a firm and fixed reso-
lution of keeping a good conscience should lie
thought without dispute to deserve death, and this
by such comparatively excellent heathens as Pliny
and Trajan !
X This was the case of St. Paul, who, being a
citizen of Rome, was allowed to appeal unto Ccesar,
and was sent to J!<ia<: accordingly. Acts xxii.
25-29 ; xxv. 25 ; xxvi. 32 ; xxvii." '
J Amazing stupidity! that the emperor's image,
even while he was alive, should he allowed capable
of divine worship, even by such comparatively ex-
cellent heathens as Pliny and Trajan.
|| Take here a parallel account out of the martyr-
dom of Polyearp, sect. 9. The proconsul said — "Re-
proach Christ.*' Polyearp replied — " Eighty and
six years have I now served Christ, and lie has
never done me the hast wrong; how then can I
blaspheme my King and my Saviour V
they had been Christians, hut had i
to be so, some three years, Borne many
more; and one there was that Baid he had
not been so these twenty years. All these
worshipped your image, and the images
of our gods: these also cursed Christ.
However, they assured me, that the main
of their fault, or of their mistake was
this, — that they were wont, on a stated
day, to meet together before it was light,
and to sing a hymn to Christ, as a god,
alternately; and to oblige themselves by
a sacrament [or oath], not to do any thing
that was ill, but that they would commit
no theft, or pilfering, or adultery ) that
they would not break their promises, or
deny what was deposited with them, when
it was re<|uired back again : after which
it was their custom to depart, and to meet
again at a common but innocent meal,*
which yet they had left off upon that
edict which I published at your command,
and wherein I had forbidden any such
conventicles. These examinations made
me think it necessary to inquire, by tor-
ments, what the truth was, which I did of
two servant-maids, which were called
deaconesses; but still I discovered no
more, than that they were addicted to a
bad and an extravagant superstition.
Hereupon I have put off any further ex-
aminations, and have recourse to you; for
the affair seems to be well worth consulta-
tion, especially on account of the number
of those that are in danger ;f for there are
many of every age, of every rank, and of
both sexes, which are now and hereafter
likely to be called to account, and to be in
danger ; for this superstition is spread
like a contagion, not only into cities and
towns, but into country villages also,which
yet there is reason to hope may be stop-
ped and corrected. To be sure, the tem-
ples, which were almost forsaken, begin
already to be frequented; and the holy
solemnities, which were long intermitted,
begin to be revived. The sacrifices begin
to sell well everywhere, of which very
few purchasers had of late appeared ;
whereby it is easy to suppose how great a
multitude of men may be amended, if
place for repentance be admitted.
'■' This must, most probably, be the feast of
charity.
me of late are very loath to believe that the
Christians wore numerous in the second century ;
but this is such an evidence that they were very
numerous, at least in Bithynia, even in the I
ning of that century, as is wholly undeniable.
484
DISSERTATION III.
TRAJAN'S EPISTLE TO PLINY.
My Pliny — You have taken the me-
thod which you ought, in examining the
causes of those that had been accused as
Christians ; for, indeed, no certain and
general form of judging can be ordained
in this case. These people are not to be
himself to be a Christian, and makes it
plain that he is not so by supplicating tc
our gods, although he had been so for-
merly, may be allowed pardon, upon his
repentance. As for libels sent without
an author, they ought to have no place
sought for ; but if they be accused, and ; in any accusation whatsoever, for that
convicted, they are to be punished, but would be a thing of very ill example, and
with this caution, that he who denies i not agreeable to my reign.
OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PASSAGES TAKEN OUT OF TACITUS.
I. We see here what great regard the
best of the Roman historians of that age,
Tacitus, had to the history of Josephus,
while, though he never names him, as he
very rarely names any of those Roman
authors whence he derives other parts of
his history, yet does it appear that he
refers to his seven books of the Jewish
Wars several times in a very few pages,
aud almost always depends on his accounts
of the affairs of the Romans and Partis-
ans, as well as of the Jews, during no
fewer than 240 years, to which those
books extend.
II. Yet does it appear that when he
now and then followed other historians
or reports concerning the Romans, the
Parthians, or the Jews, during that long
interval, he was commonly mistaken in
them, and had better have kept close to
Josephus, than hearken to any of his
other authors or informers.
III. It also appears highly probable
that Tacitus had seen the Antiquities of
Josephus, and knew that the most part
of the accounts he produced of the origin
of the Jewish nation entirely contradicted
those Antiquities. He also could hardly
avoid seeing that those accounts contra-
dicted one another also, and were child-
ish, absurd, and supported by no good
evidence whatsoever : as also, he could
hardly avoid seeing that Josephus's ac-
counts in those Antiquities were authentic,
substantial, and thoroughly attested to
by the ancient records of that nation,
and of the neighbouring nations also,
which, indeed, no one can now avoid see-
ing, that carefully peruses and considers
them.
IV. Tacitus, therefore, in concealing
the greatest part of the true ancient his-
tory of the Jewish nation, which lay be-
fore him in Josephus, and producing such
fabulous, ill-grounded, aud partial his-
tories, which he had from the heathens,
acted a most unfair part ; and this pro-
cedure of his is here the more gross, in
regard he professed such great impartial-
ity, Hist. b. i. c. i., and is allowed to have
observed that impartiality in the Roman
affairs also.
V. Tacitus's hatred and contempt of
God's peculiar people, the Jews, and his
attachment to the grossest idolatry, su-
perstition, and astral fatality of the Ro-
mans, were, therefore, so strong in him,
as to overbear all restraints of sober reason
and equity in the case of those Jews,
though he be" allowed so exactly to have
followed them on other occasions relating
to the Romans.
VI. Since, therefore, Tacitus was so
bitter against the Jews, and since he
knew that Christ was a Jew himself, and
that his apostles and first followers were
Jews, and also knew that the Christian
religion was derived into the Roman pro-
vinces from Judea, it is no wonder that
his hatred and contempt of the Jews ex-
tended itself to the Christians also, whom
the Romans usually confounded with the
Jews : as, therefore, his hard words of
the Jews appear to have been generally
groundless, and hurt his own reputation,
instead of theirs, so ought we to esteem
his alike hard words of the Christians to
be blots upon his own character, and not
theirs.
VII. Since, therefore, Tacitus, soon
after the publication of Josephus's An-
tiquities, and in contradiction to them, was
determined to produce such idle stories
about the Jews, and since one of those
idle stories is much the same as that pub-
lished in Josephus against Apion, from
Manetho and Lysimachus, and nowhere
else met with so fully in all antiquity,
it is most probable that those Antiqui-
ties of Josephus were the very occasion
DISSERTATION III.
185
of Tacitus giving us these stories, as
we know from Josephus himself, contr.
Apion, b. i. s. 1, that the same Antiqui-
ties were the very occasion of Apion's
publication of his equally scandalous
stories about them, and which Josephus
so thoroughly confuted in his two books
written agaiust them. And if Tacitus, as
I suppose, had also read those two books,
his procedure in publishing such stories,
after he had seen so thorough a confuta-
tion of them, was still more highly crimi-
nal. Nor will Tacitus' s fault be much
less, though we suppose he neither saw
the Antiquities, nor the books against
Apion, because it was so very easy for
him, then at Kome, to have had more au-
thentic accounts of the origin of the
Jewish nation, and of the nature of the
Jewish and Christian religions, from the
Jews and Christians themselves, which,
he owns, were very numerous there in his
days ; so that his publication of such idle
stories is still utterly inexcusable.
VIII. It is, therefore, very plain, after
all, that notwithstanding the encomiums
of several of our learned critics upon
Tacitus, and hard suspicions upon Jose-
phus, that all the (involuntary) mistakes
of Josephus, in all his large works put
together, their quality, as well as quantity,
considered, do not amount to near so
great a sum, as do these gross errors and
misrepresentations of Tacitus about the
Jews amount to in a few pages; so little
reason have some of our later and lesser
critics to prefer the Greek and Roman
profane historians and writers to the Jew-
ish, and particularly to Josephus. Such
later and lesser critics should have learned
more judgment and modesty from their
great father Joseph Scaligcr, when, as we
have seen, after all his deeper inquiries, he
solemnly pronounces, Be Emend. T< mp.
Prolegom. p. 17, — that "Josephus was
the most diligent and the greatest lover
of truth of all writers;" and is not afraid
to affirm, that " it is more safe to believe
him, not only as to the affairs of the
Jews, but also as to those that are foreign
to them, than all the Greek and Latin
writers, and this because his fidelity and
compass of learning are everywhere con-
spicuous."
END OF THE DISSERTATIONS.
TABLE OF JEWISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES,
PARTICULARLY OF THOSE MENTIONED IN JOSEPHUS'S WORKS.
Of the Jewish 31easures of Length.
Inches.
Cubit, the standard 21
Zereth, or large span 10.5
Small span 7
Palm, or hand's breadth 3.5
Inch, or thumb's breadth 1.16
Digit, or finger's breadth 0.875
Orgyia, or fathom 84
Ezekiel's Cannek, or reed 126
Arabian Cannah, or pole 168
Schoenus, line or chain 1,680
Sabbath-day's journey 42,000
Jewish mile 84,000
Stadium, or furlong 8,400
Parasang 252,000
Feet.
1
0
0
0
0
0
7
10
14
140
3,500
7,000
700
21,000
Inches.
9
10*
7
3*
1.16
0.875
0
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
Of the Jewish Measures of Capacity.
Cub. Inches.
Corus, or Chomer 8,072.74
Seah, or Saton.... 269.091
Ditto, according to Josephus 828.28
Hin 134.54
Hin, according to Josephus 414 . 12
Omer, or Assaron 80 . 722
Cab 44.859
Log 11.21
Metretes, or Syrian firkin 207
Pints or Pounds.
BathorEpha 807.274 27.83
278.3
9.266
28.3
4.
14
2,
1.
0,
7,
4633
3
78
544
39
125
Of the Jewish Weights and Coins.
£ 8. d.
Stater, Siclus, or shekel of the sanctuary, the standard 0 2 6
Tyrian coin, equal to the shekel 0 2 6
Bekah, half of the shekel 0 13
Drachma Attica, one-fourth 0 0 7£
Drachma Alexandrina, or Darchon, or Adarchon, one-half. 0 1 3
Gerah, or Obolus, one-twentieth 0 0 1J
Maneh, or Mna — 100 shekels in weight, 21,900 grains Troy
Manch, Mna, or Mina, as a coin — 60 shekels 7 10 0
Talent of silver— 3000 shekels 375 0 0
Drachma of gold, not more than 0 11
Shekel of gold, not more than 0 4 4
Daric of gold , 10 4
Talent of gold, not more than 648 0 0
486
TABLE OF THE JEWISH MONTHS.
487
Table of the Jewish Months in Joscphus and others, toith the Syro- Macedonian
names Joscphus gives them, and the names of the Julian or Roman Months
corresponding to them:
Hebrew Names.
(1.) Nisan.
(2.) Jyar.
(3.) Sivan.
Tamuz.
Ab.
Elul.
Tisri.
Marchesvan.
Casleu.
Tebeth.
Shebat.
Adar.
(4-)
(5.)
(6.)
(7-)
(8.)
(9.)
(10.)
(11.)
(12.)
(13.) Veadar, or the
Syro-Macedonian Names.
Xanthicus.
Artemisius.
Dsesius.
Panemus.
Lous.
Gorpiaeus.
Hyperberetaeus.
Dius.
Apellaaus.
Andynaeus.
Peritius.
Dystrus.
Second Adar, intercalated.
Roman Names.
March and April,
April and May.
May and June.
June and July.
July and August.
August and September
September and October.
October and November.
November and December.
December and January.
January and February.
February and March.
THE END.
llljS1 Hi
Date Due
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