contrary, not to tarnish their own glory, nor that of the Roman 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 surrounded by the fire, who escaped by his subtility. For he 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 will leave thee heir of all I have, if thou wilt come, and receive me." Upon this the man 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 melancholy accident made the Romans sad for a while; but still it made them more upon their guard for the future; and was of advantage to them against the delusions of the Jews: by which they were greatly damaged, through their ignorance of the places, and of the nature of the inhabitants. Now this cloyster was burnt down as far as John's tower, which he built, in the war he made against Simon, over the gates that led to the Xystus. The Jews also cut off the rest of that cloyster from the temple, after they had destroyed those that got up to it. But the next day the Romans burnt down the northern cloyster entirely, as far as the east cloyster; whose common angle joined to the valley of Cedron; and was built over it. On which account the understood this unaccountable retreat of the Jews, stood still where they were before. However, the cloyster was full of those that were gone up the ladders. At which time the Jews set it all on fire. And as the flame burst out every where on the sudden, the Romans that were out of the danger were seized with a very great consternation; as were those that were in the midst of the danger in the utmost distress. So when they perceived themselves surrounded with the flames, some threw them-ceive me." selves down backwards into the city, and some among their enemies in the temple: as did many leap down to their own men, and brake their limbs to pieces. But a great number of those that were going to take these violent methods were prevented by the fire; while others prevented the fire by their own swords. However, the fire was on the sudden carried so far, as to surround those which would have otherwise perished. As for Cæsar himself he could not 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 destroyed, that every person 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 So every one of them died cheerfully: as carrying along with him these words, and this intention of Cæsar, as a sepulchral monument. Some there were in-depth was frightful. And this was the state deed who retired into the wall of the cloyster, of the temple at that time. 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 last a young man among them, whose name was Longus, became a decoration to this sad affair; and while every one of them that perished were worthy of a memorial, this man appeared to deserve it beyond all the rest. The Jews admired this man for his courage, and were farther 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 Now of those that perished by famine in the city the number was prodigious; and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable. For if so much as the shadow of any kind of food did any where appear, a war was presently commenced; and the dearest friends began fighting 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 expiring; lest any one should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying. Nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stum-. bling 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 honses, two or three times in the same day. Moreover their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew every thing; while they gathered and ate such things as the most sordid animals would not touch: nor did they at length abstain from girdles, and shoes; and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed. Even whisps of old hay became food for some, and some gathered up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four attic drachmæ. But why do I describe the shameless impudence that the famine brought on men in their eating inanimate things? While I am going to relate a fact, which has no parallel in history, † either among the Greeks or Barbarians. 1 had, indeed, willingly omitted this calamity of ours, that I might not seem to deliver what is so portentous to posterity: but that I have innumerable 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 named Mary, that dwelt beyond Jordan; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethezob; which 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 treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day run * One shekel. What Josephus observes here, that no parallel examples had been recorded before his time of such sieges, wherein mothers were forced by extremity of famine, to eat their own children, as had been threatened to the Jews, in the law of Moses, upon obstinate disobedience, and more than once fulfilled; is by Dr. Hudson supposed to have had two or three parallel examples in later ages. He might have had more examples, I suppose, of persons on ship-board, or in a desert island, casting lots for each other's bodies. But all this was only in cases where they knew of no possible way to avoid death ning into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion; and by the frequent reproaches and imprecations she cast at these rapacious villains, she had provoked them to anger against her. But none of them, either out of the indignation she had raised against herself, or out of commiseration of her case, would take away her life. And if she found any food she perceived her labors 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 degree beyond the famine itself, she consulted with nothing but with her passion, and the necessity she was in. She then attempted a most unnatural thing and snatching up her son, which was sucking at her breast, she said, "O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee, in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, 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. Therefore, be thou my food; and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets, and a by-word 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 her son, and, roasted him, and ate the one-half of him, and kept the other half concealed. Upon this the seditious came in presently; and smelling the scent of this food, they threatened that they would cut her throat immediately, if she did not shew them what food she had gotten ready. She replied, that she had saved a very fine portion of it for them and at the same time themselves, but by killing and eating others. Whether such examples come up to the present case may be doubted. The Romans were not only willing, but very desirous, to grant these Jews in Jerusalem both their lives, and their liberties, and to save both their city, and their temple. But the zealots, the robbers, and the. seditious would hearken to no terms of submission. They voluntarily chose to reduce the citizens to that extremity, as to force mothers to this unnatural barbarity; which in all its circumstances, has not, I still suppose, been hitherto paralleled among the rest of mankind. uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with horror, and amazement; and stood astonished at the sight: when she said to them, "This is my own son: and what hath been done was my 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 abominate this my sacrifice; as I have eaten one-half, let the rest be reserved for me also." At these words the men went out trembling; 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 every body 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 already dead were esteemed happy; because they had not lived longenough either to hear, or to see such mi. series. This sad story was quickly told to the Romans, some of whom could not believe it; and others pitied the distress the Jews were under. But there were many of them who were hereby induced to a more bitter hatred than ordinary against our nation. But for Cæsar he excused himself before God, as to this matter, and said, "I have proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as an oblivion of all their former insolent practices: but they, instead of concord, have chosen sedition; instead of peace, war; and before satiety and abundance, a famine. They have begun with their own hands to burn down that temple which I have preserved hitherto : and, therefore, they have deserved to eat such food as this was. However, this horrid action of eating an own child ought to be covered with the overthrow of their 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 be fitter for the fathers than for the mothers to eat of; since it is they that continue still in a state of war against us, after they have undergone such miseries as these." And at the same time that he said this, he reflected on the desperate 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 of which it only was probable they might have repented. CHAP. IV. OF THE PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HOLY HOUSE BY FIRE. Now two of the legions had completed their banks, on the eighth day of the month Lous, or Ab. Whereupon Titus gave orders that the battering rams should be brought, and set over against the western 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 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 immense pains removed the outermost stones; yet was the gate still upheld by the inner stones, and stood still unhurt: till the workmen despairing of all such attempts by engines and crows, brought their ladders to the cloysters. 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 backwards 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. cumstance they were called battering rams, were used to make breaches in the walls of fortified places. B. the at the loss of what was now burning, as to grow wiser thereby for the time to come. But as though the holy house itself had been on fire already, they whetted 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 cloysters that were round about together at one time, but only by parts. the Jews also at the same time; while those | spectators. However, they did not so grieve that bore the ensigns fought hard for them: as deeming it a terrible thing, and what would tend to their great shame, if they permitted 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 their 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 Titus perceived that his endeavors to spare a foreign temple turned to the damage of his own 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 sanguinary 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 the conquerors. Titus objected this to these men, as a cunning trick of theirs. And as he had been informed of their other barbarities towards 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 extreme distress 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 resentment; and he dismissed them accordingly; though he did not give them the same privileges that he had afforded to others. And now the soldiers had already 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 cloysters. Upon seeing this fire all about them the spirits of the Jews sunk, 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 On the next day, Titus commanded part of his army to quench the fire, and to make a road for the more easy marching up of the regions: while he himself gathered the commanders together. Of those 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; Larcius Lepidus, the commander of the tenth legion; and Titus Frigius, the commander of the fifteenth legion. There was also with them Eternius, the leader of the two legions that came from Alexandria, and Marcus Antonius Julianus, procurator of Judea. After these came together also 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 that house was standing at which house it was that they used to assemble together, Others were of opinion, that in case the Jews would leave it, and none of them would lay their arms up in it, he 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, "Although the Jews should get upon that holy house, and fight us thence, yet ought we not to revenge ourselves on things that are inanimate, instead of the men themselves. And he added, that he was not in any case for burning down so vast a work as that was: because this would be a mischief to the Romans themselves: as it would be an ornament to their government while it continued. So : Fronto, Alexander, and Cerealis, grew bold upon that declaration; and agreed to the opinion of Titus. Then was this assembly dissolved; when Titus had given order 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 the attack. So he commanded that the chosen men taken out of the cohorts should make their way through the ruins, and quench the fire. 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 attacked the Romans again; when those that guarded the holy house fought with those that quenched the fire that was burning 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 soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being 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 upward, the Jews made a great clamor, such as so mighty an affliction required; and ran together to prevent it. And 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 On this day the Jews were so weary, and under such a consternation, that they refrained from any attacks. But on the next day by But on the next day they gathered 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 covering themselves with their shields before, as if it were with a wall, they drew their squadron close together. Yet was it evident that they could not abide there very long; but would be overborne by the multitude of those that sallied out upon them, and by the heat of their passion. However, Cæsar seeing, from the tower of Antonia, that this squadron was likely to give way, sent some chosen horsemen to support them. Hereupon the Jews found themselves unable 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 getting off, the Jews turned upon them, and fought them. And as those Romans came back upon them, they retreated again, until about the fifth hour of the day they were overborne, and shut themselves up in the inner court of the temple. So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia: and resolved to storm the temple, the next 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 fire. And now that fatal day was come according to the revolution of ages: it was the tenth day of the month, Lous, or Ab: upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon. Although * See Antiq. X. 8, and Constitut. Apost. V. 20. about it. Now a certain person came running to Titus, and told him of this fire, as he was reposing in his tent, after the last battle; upon which he arose in great haste; and ran to the holy house; in order to have a stop put to the fire. After him went all his commanders, and after them followed the several legions, in great astonishment. So there was a great clamor and tumult raised, as was natural upon the disorderly motion of so great an army. Then did Cæsar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a loud voice; and by giving and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench the 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: some of them being distracted with fighting and others with passion. But as for the legions that came running thither, neither any persuasion, nor threatenings could re |