CHAPTER VII. MISCHIEFS THE ZEALOTS DID AT MASADA. HOW § 1. By this time John was beginning to tyrannize, and thought it beneath him to accept of barely the same honours that others had; and joining to himself by degrees a party of the most wicked of them all, he broke off from the rest of the faction. This was brought about by his still disagreeing with the opinions of others, and in giving out injunctions of his own, in a very imperious manner; so that it was evident he was setting up a monarchical 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 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 probation 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 deserted every day, and fled away from the zealots, How JOIN TYRANNIZED OVER THE REST ; AND WHAT 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 that gave them money get clear off, while he that gave them none was voted a traitor. So the upshot was this, that the rich purchased their flight by money, while none but 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 choose 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 to that degree of barbarity, as not to 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 agreement 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 putrify 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 transferred their rage from the living to those that had been slain, and from the dead to the liv-pretence always against them, that they had oppoing. 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, 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 concerning [the rewards of] virtue, and [punishments of] vice, which when these zealots violated, they occasioned the fulfilling 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. 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, ch. ii. sect. 1, "when any one should begin to slay his countrymen in the city," is wanting in our present copies of the Old Testament. Bee Essay on the Oli Testameut, p. 104.112. But this prediction, as Jo-ephus well remarks here, though, with other predictions of the prophets, it was now laughed at by the seditious, was by their very means soon exactly fulfilled. However, I cannot but here take notice of Grotius's positive assertion upon Matt. xxvi. 9, here quoted by Dr. Hudson, that it ought to be taken for granted, as a certain truth, that many predictions of the Jewish prophets were preserved, not in writing, but memory." Whereas, it seems to me so far from certain, that I think as no evidence nor probability at all, sed him when he was first advanced; while every one chose rather to suffer any thing whatsoever in war, than that, when they had been in a voluntary slavery for some time, they should afterwards 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 earnestly against the people, and contended one with another which of them should bring home the greatest prey. But because the city had to struggle with three of the greatest misfortunes, war, and tyranny, and sedition, it ap peared, 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. 2. 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 repository for their effects in the hazards of war, and for the preservation of their bodies at the same time. It is called Masada. Those that were called Sicarii had taken possession of it formerly; but at this time they over-ran the neighbouring countries, aiming only to procure to theinselves necessaries; for the fear they were then in prevented their future 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 mat ters; and at the feast of unleavened bread, which the Jews celebrate in memory of their deliverance from their 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 Engaddi :-in which expedition they prevented those citizens that could have stopped them, before they could arm themselves and fight them. They also dispersed 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 seven hundred. After ward, when they had carried every thing out of their houses, and had seized upon all the fruits that were in a flourishing condition, they brought them into Masada. 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 motion, by means of the robbers. Now as it is in a human body, if the principal part be inflamed, all the members are subject 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 sometimes 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 farther punishment 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. 3. 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 who had concealed themselves, and, when they had fled to the Romans, persuaded their general to come to their city's assistance, and save the remainder of the people; informing him withal, that it was upon 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 pity the calamities these men were in, and arose, in appearance, as though he was going to besiege Jerusalem,-but in reality to deliver them from a [worse] siege they were already under. However he was obliged first to overthrow what 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 is a place of strength, and entered that city on the • By these iepà, or "holy places," as distinct from cities, must be meant "proseucha, or "houses of prayer" out of cities; of which we find mention made in the New Testament and other authors. See Luke vi. 12; Acts xvi. 13, 16; Antiq. b. xiv. ch. x. sect. 23; Josephus's Life, sect, 54. "In qua te quæro proseucha;" Juvenal Sat, iii. ver. 26. They were situated sometimes by the sides of rivers, Acts xvi. 13, or by the sea-side, Antiq. b. xiv, ch. x. sect. 23. So did the seventytwo interpreters go to pray every morning by the sea-side, before they went to their work, b. xii, ch. ii, sect, 12. 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 lood, and revenging themselves on the authors of this surrender; so they seized upon Dolesus (a person not only the first in rank and family in the city, but one that seemed the occasion of sending such an embassy) and slew him, and treated his de d body after a barbarous manner, so very violent was their auger at him, and then ran out of the city. And now as the army was just upon them, the people of Gadara admitted Vespasian with joyful acclamations, and received him from the securit of his right hand, as also a garrison of horsemen and footmen, to guard them against the excursions of the runagates; 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. 4. And now Vespasian sent Placidus against those that had fled from Gadara, with five hundred horsemen, and three thousand footmen, while he returned himself to Cesarea, with the rest of the army. But as soon as these fugitives saw the horsemen that pursued them just at their backs, and before they came to a close fight, they ran together to a certain village, which was called Bethennabris, 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 around, 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 Romans when they were joined close together, and, as it were, walled about with their entire armour, they were not able to find any place where the darts could enter, 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 upon their faces, and others were dispersed by the horsemen. 5. 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 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 terror they were in, till at last the most courageous of them brake through those horsemen and fled to the wall of the village. And now those that guarded the wall were in great doubt what to do; for though they could not bear the thoughts of excluding these that came from Gadara, because of their own people that were among them; and yet if they should admit them, they expected 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 made an assault upon them, and, fighting courageously till it was dark, he got possession of the wall, and of the people that were in the city, when the useless multitude 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 into great fear on every side; so they got together in great numbers, 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 river-side, 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. which fight, hand to hand, fifteen thousand of them were slain, while the number of those that were unwillingly forced to leap into Jordan was prodigious. There were besides, two thousand and two hundred taken prisoners. A mighty prey was taken also, consisting of asses, and sheep, and camels, and oxen. At 6. Now this destruction that fell upon the Jews, as it was not inferior to any of the rest in itself, so did it still appear greater than it really was; and this, because not only the whole of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter, and Jordan could not be passed over, by reason 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 that 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 thought proper. He then put his soldiers on board the ships, and slew such as had fled to the lake, insomuch that all Perea had either surrendered themselves, or were taken by the Romans, as far as Macherus. CHAPTER VIII. HOW VESPASIAN, UPON HEARING OF SOME COMMOTIONS IN GALL,* MADE HASTE TO FINISH THE JEWISH WAR. A DESCRIPTION OF JERICHO, AND OF THE GREAT PLAIN; WITH AN ACCOUNT BESIDES OF THE LAKE ASPHALTITIS. § 1. In the meantime, an account came that there were commotions in Gall, and that Vindex, toge ther with the men of power in that country, had revolted from Nero; which affair is more accu rately described elsewhere. This report thus related to Vespasian, excited him to go on briskly with the war; for he foresaw already 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 empire to peace, he should make the fears for Italy the lighter; while therefore the winter was his hindrance [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 eities 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 Antipatris, 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 Emmaus, where he seized upon the passages which led thence 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 strong holds 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 ten thousand of the people, and carried into captivity above a thousand, and drove away the rest of the multitude, and placed no small part of his own forces in them, who overran and laid waste the whole mountainous country; while he, with the rest of his forces, returned to Einmaus, whence he came down through the country of Samaria, 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 Desius [Sivan]; and on the day following he came to Jericho; on which day Trajan, one of his com manders, joined him with the forces he brought out of Perea, all the places beyond Jordan being subdued already. 2. 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 Scy thopolis northward, but as far as the country. • Gr. Galatia, and so everywhere. Sodom, and the utmost limits of the lake Asphaltitis 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 begins at Julias and the northern quarters, and extends itself southward as far as Somorrhon,* 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 two hundred and thirty furlongs, and its breadth a hundred and twenty, and it is divided in the midst by Jordan. 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, contains a very unwholesome air; it is all destitute of water excepting the river Jordan, which water of Jordan is the occasion why those plantations of palm-trees that are near its banks, are more flourishing, and much more fruitful, as those that are remote from it not so flourishing and fruitful. 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 even flows in little quantities. Accordingly it waters a larger space of ground than any other waters do, and passes along a plain of seventy furlongs long, and twenty broad; wherein it affords nourishment to those most excellent gardens that are thick 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 produces honey from bees: it also bears that balsam which is the most precious of all the fruits in that place, cypresstrees also, and those that bear myrobalanum ; so that he who should pronounce this place to be divine would not be mistaker, 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 wa 3. Notwithstanding which, there is a fountain by ters; the warmth calling forth the sprouts, and Jericho, that runs plentifully, and is very fit for making them spread, and the moisture making watering the ground: it arises near the old city, every one of them take root firmly, and supplying which Joshua, the son of Nun, the general of the that virtue which it stands need of in summer time. Hebrews, took the first of all the cities of the land Now this country is then so sadly burnt up, that of Canaan, by right of war. The report is, that nobody cares to come at it; and if the water be this fountain, at the beginning, caused not only the drawn up before sun-rising, and after that exposed blasting of the earth and the trees, but of the chil- to the air, it becomes exceeding cold, and becomes dren born of women; and that it was entirely of a of a nature quite contrary to the ambient air: as sickly and corruptive nature to all things whatso-in winter agam it becomes warm; and if you go ever, but that it was made gentle, and very whole-into it, it appears very gentle. The ambient air is some 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 mollified, and that the veins of fresh water might be opened: that God also would bring into the place a more temperate 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 operations of his hands, after a skilful manuer, and changed the fountain; and that water, which had been the occasion of barrenness and famine before, from that time did supply a numerous posterity, and afforded great abundance to the country. Ac cordingly, the power of it is so great in watering the ground, that if it do but once touch a country, • Whether this Somorrhon, or Somorrha, ought not to be here written Gomorrha, as some MSS, in a manner have it (for the place meant by Josephus seems to be near Begor, or Zoar, at the very Youth of the Dead Ses, bard by which stood Sodom and Gomorrha), cannot now be certainly determined; but seems by no means improbable. This excellent prayer of Elisha is wanting in our coples, 2 Kings d. 21, 22, though it be referrd to also in the Apostolical Constitutions b. vii. ch. 37; and the success of it is mentioned in them all. 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 one hundred and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, and sixty from Jordan. The country, as far as Jerusalem, is desert and stony; but that as far as Jordan and the lake Asphaltitis 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. 4. 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 so to do. Accordingly, when Vespasian 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 had forced them upwards. Moreover, the change of the colour of this lake is wonderful, for 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 hangs 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 the menstrual blood of women, 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 accordingly it is mixed in a great many medicines. The length of this lake is five hundred and eighty furlongs, where it is extended as far as Zoar, in Arabia; and its breadth is a hundred and fifty. The country of Sodom borders upon it. It was of old a most happy land, 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 inhabitants, it was burnt by lightning; in consequence of which there are still the remainders of that divine fire; and the traces [or shadows] of the five cities are still to be seen, as well as the ashes growing 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. THAT VESPASIAN, AFTER HE HAD TAKEN GADARA, MADE PREPARATION FOR THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM; BUT THAT, UPON HIS HEARING OF THE DEATH OF NERO, HE CHANGED HIS INTENTIONS : AS ALSO, CONCERNING SIMON OF GERASA. § 1. 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 a thousand of those young men 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 adjoining villages, while the men of power fled away, and the weaker part were destroyed, 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 in, by encompassing the city round about on all sides. 2. Now as Vespasian was returned to Cesarea, 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 government, and committed the management of affairs to those vile wretches, Nymphidius and Tigellinus, his unworthy freed-men; 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 freed-men, and slew himself in the suburbs of • See the note on b. v. oh. xiii. sect. 6. | Rome; and how those that occasioned his death were, in no long time, brought themselves to pu nishment; 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 pusillanimous 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 German legions, and thereby put an end to that civil war, -1 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 incohe rent, I have just touched upon every thing briefly. Wherefore Vespasian put off at first his expedition against Jerusalem, and stood waiting whither the empire 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 some 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. 3. And now there arose another war at Jerusa lem. 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 Acrabattene toparchy, which he once had, by Ananus the high-priest, he came to those robbers who had seized upon Masada. At first they suspected him, and only permitted 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 Masada; 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 Of these Roman affairs and tumults under Galba, Otho, and Vite-lus, here only touched upon by Jo ephus, see Tacitus, Suetonina, and Dio, more largely. However, we may observe with Ottius, that Jus phus writes the name of the second of them not Octo, with many others but Otho, with the coins. See also the note on ch, xi, wet, a |