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 face, and greatly lamented their own mad conduct : and their nerves were so terribly loosened, that they could not flee away. And here one may 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, any other way than by famine. And thus did the Romans, 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 two strong for all mechanical engines whatsoever. So they now left these towers of themselves, or rather they were ejected out of them by God himself, and fled immediately to that valley which was under Siloam. Where they again recovered themselves 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 depressed to make their attacks with sufficient force, and their power was now broken with fear and affliction; they were repulsed by the guards; and dispersing themselves at a distance from each other, went down into the subterranean caverns. So the Romans being now become masters 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 A. D. 70. Thirty-seven years and a half after the crucifixion of the Messiah. 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 person in them, and laid waste a great many of the rest and 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 corpses, of such as died by the famine. They then stood in horror at the sight; and went out without touching any thing. But although they had this commiseration for such as were destroyed 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 the very 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 so it happened, that though the slayers left off at the evening: yet did the fire greatly prevail in the night. And as all was burning, came that eighth day of the month Gorpieus, or Elul, or 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 account so much deserve these sore misfortunes, as by producing such a generation of men as were the occasions of this its overthrow. CHAP. IX. OF CESAR'S CONDUCT ON THE REDUCTION OF THE CITY; THE NUMBER OF THE CAPTIVES, AND OF THOSE THAT PERISHED IN THE SIEGE; ALSO CONCERNING THOSE THAT HAD ESCAPED INTO THE SUBTERRANEAN CAVERNS; AMONG WHOM WERE THE TYRANTS, SIMON AND JOHN. NOW when Titus was come into the up per city, he admired several places of strength in it, and particularly those strong towers which the tyrants, in their mad conduct, had relinquished. For when he saw titude, that were above seventeen years old, he put them into bonds, and sent them to the number 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 dur their solid altitude, and the largeness of their several stones, and the exactness of their joints; as also how great was their breadth,† Egyptian mines. Titus also sent a great and how extensive their length, he expressed himself after the manner 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 anying the days wherein Fronto was distinguishmachines, do towards overthrowing these towers?" At which time he had many such discourses to his friends. He also let such go free, as had been bound by the tyrants, and were left in prison. 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. ing these men, there perished, for want of food, eleven thousand. Some of whom did not taste any food, through the hatred their guards bore to them and others would not take 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 number of those that were carried captive, during this whole war, was computed to be ninety-seven thousand: as was the number of those that perished during the whole siege eleven hundred thousand. The greater part of whom were, indeed, of the same nation, with the citizens of Jerusalem: but not belonging to the city itself. For they were come up from all the country to the feast of unleavened bread; and were on a sudden shut up by an army; which at the very first occasioned so great a straitness 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 contain so many people in it, is manifest by that number of And now, since the soldiers were already tired with killing men, and yet there appeared to be a vast multitude still remaining alive; Cæsar gave orders, that they should kill none but those that were in arms, but should take the rest alive. But, together with those whom they had orders to slay, they slew the aged, and the infirm. But for those that 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 Cæsar set one of his freed-men; as also Fronto, one of his own friends: which last was to determine every one's fate, ac-them, which was taken under Cestins. Who cording 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 mul * See Book V. chap. 4. + See the several predictions, that the Jews, if they became obstinate in their idolatry and wickedness, should be sent again, or sold into Egypt, for their punishment; Deut. xxviii, 68; Jer. xliv. 7; Hos. viii. 13; ix. 3; xi. 5; Esd. xv. 10-13, with Authentic Records, Part I. pag. 49, 121, and Reland, Palestina, Tom. II. pag. 715. The whole multitude of Jews that were destroyed during the entire seven years before this time, in all the countries of, and bordering on, Judea, is summed up by being desirous of informing Nero of the flower of the city, who otherwise was disposed to contemn that nation, entreated the high-priests, if the thing were possible, to take the number of their whole multitude. So these highpriests did so upon the coming of that feast archbishop Usher, from Lypsius, out of Josephus, at the year of Christ 70, and amounts to 1,337,490. Nor could there have been that number of Jews in Jerusalem to be destroyed in 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, Judea, and Perea, and other remoter regions to the Passover, in vast numbers: and therein cooped up, as in prison, by the Roman army: as Josephus himself well observes elsewhere, V. 3. 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, belonging to every sacrifice: (for it is not lawful for them to feast singly by themselves.) And many of us are twenty in a company. Now, the number of sacrifices was two hundred and fifty six thousand, and five hundred: which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feasted together, amounts to two millions, seven hundred thousand, and two hundred persons that were pure and holy. For as to those that have the leprosy, or the gonorrhoea; or such as are otherwise polluted, it is not lawful for them to be partakers of this sacrifice. Nor, indeed, for any foreigners who come hither to worship. get away immediately while others were so greedy of gain, that they would go in among the corpses that lay on 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 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 distress he was in, till he was forced to surrender him|| self, as we shall relate hereafter. So he was reserved for the triumph, and to be then slain; as was John condemned to perpetual ́imprisonment. And now the Romans set fire to Ac- to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down, and entirely demolished its walls. Now this vast multitude is, indeed, collected 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 inhabitants. Accordingly the multitude of those that therein perished exceeded all the destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world. For, to speak only of what was publicly known, the Romans slew some of them; some they carried captives; and others they made a 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 two thousand persons: partly by their own hands, and partly by one another: but chiefly destroyed by the famine. But then, the stench of the dead bodies was so offensive to those that found them, that some were obliged to UNNNNNNNN CHAP. X. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE HISTORY OF JERUSALEM. HUS was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpieus, or Elul. It has been taken § five times before: though this was the second time of its desolation. For Shishak, king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the Nor is it possi ble, in the nature of things, that in any other nation such vast numbers should be gotten together, and perish in the siege of any one city whatsoever, as now happened in Jerusalem. sand. Two millions, five hundred, and sixty-five thou † A. D. 70. * This number of a company of one paschal lamb, be-dience to him. See the note on 'II. 19. tween 10 and 20, agrees exactly with the number 13, at our Saviour's last Passover. As to the whole number of the Jews, that used to come up to the Passover, and eat of it at Jerusalem, see the note on II. 14. This number ought to be here, indeed, just ten times the number of the lambs, or just 2,565,000, by Josephus's own reasoning. Whereas it is, in his present copies, no less than 2,700,000, which last number is, however, nearest the other number in the place now cited, which is 3,000,000. But what is here chiefly remarkable is this, that no foreign nation ever came thus to destroy the Jews at any of their solemn festivals, from the days of Moses till this time: but came now upon their apostasy from God, and from obe Besides these five here enumerated, who had taken Jerusalem of old, Josephus, upon farther recollection, reckons a sixth, Antiq. XII. 1, who should have been here inserted in the second place: I mean Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. lonians, four hundred, seventy-seven years, and six months after him. And from king David, who was the first of the † Jews who reigned therein, to this destruction under Titus, were one thousand, one hundred, and seventy-nine years. But from its first build city but still preserved it. But before all these, the king of Babylon conquered it, and made it desolate: one thousand, four hundred, sixty-eight years, and six months, after it was first built. But he who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites: and is in our own tongue called Melchise-ing till this last destruction, were two thoudek, 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. However, David, king of the Jews, ejected the Canaanites, and settled his own people therein. It was demolished entirely by the Baby N Why the great Bochart should say, De Phoenic. Colon. II. 4, that There are in this clause of Josephus as many mistakes as words," I by no means understand. Josephus thought Melchisedek first built, or rebuilt, and adorned this city, and that it was then called Salem: aş Psal. Ixxvi. 2; that it afterward came to be called Jerusalem and that Melchisedek, being a priest as well as a king, built to the true God therein a temple, or place for public divine worship and sacrifice. All which things may be very true, for ought we know to the contrary. And for the word pov, or temple, as if it must needs belong to the great temple built by Solomon long afterward; Josephus himself uses vaoç for the small tabernacle of Moses, Antiq. III. 6. He also here presently uses sand, one hundred, and seventy-seven years. Yet hath not its great antiquity, 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 sufficient to preserve it from being destroyed. And thus ended the siege of Jerusalem. po for a large splendid synagogue of the Jews at An. tioch only, VII. 3. † Of the tribe of Judah. Or, Glory. N. B. This is the proper place for such as have closely attended to these latter books of the war, to peruse, and that with equal attention, those distinct and plain predictions of Jesus of Nazareth, in the Gospels thereto relating, as compared with their exact completions in Jose phus's History. Upon which completions, as Dr. Whit by well observes, Annot. on Matt. xxiv. 2, no small part of the evidence for the truth of the Christian religion depends. BOOK BOOK VII. Containing an Interval of about Three Years. FROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS, TO THE SEDITION OF THE JEWS CHAP. I. AT CYRENE. OF THE DEMOLITION OF THE ENTIRE CITY OF JERUSALEM Now guard, the tenth legion; with certain troops So of horsemen, and companies of footmen. having entirely completed this war, he was desirous to commend his whole army, on account of the great exploits they had performed; and to bestow proper rewards on such as had signalized themselves therein. He had, therefore, an elevated tribunal made for him as soon as the army had no more in the midst of the place where he had forpeople to slay, or to plunder, because merly encamped, and stood upon it with his there remained none to be the objects of their principal commanders about him; and spake fury; (for they would not have spared any, so as to be heard by the whole army in the had there remained any other such work to manner following: "That he returned them be done :) Cæsar gave orders that they should abundance of thanks for their good will, which demolish the entire city and temple: but they had shewed to him. He commended should leave as many of the towers standing them for that ready obedience they had exas were of the greatest eminency, viz. Pha-hibited in this whole war: which obedience saelus, Hippicus, and Mariamne: and so had appeared in the many and great dangers much of the wall as enclosed the city on the which they had undergone; as also for that west side. This wall was spared, in order to courage they had shewn, and had thereby afford à camp for such as were to lie in gar- augmented of themselves their country's rison: as were the towers also spared in order power; and had made it evident to all men, to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city that neither the multitude of their enemies, the it was, and how well fortified, which the Ro- strength of their places, the largeness of their man valor had subdued. But for all the rest cities, nor their rash boldness and brutish rage, of the wall, it was so completely levelled with were sufficient at any time to get clear of the the ground, by those that dug it up to the Roman valor: although some of them might foundation, that there was left nothing to have fortune in many respects on their side. make those who came thither believe it had He said further, that it was but reasonable for ever been inhabited. This was the end which them to put an end to this war, now it had Jerusalem came to, by the madness of those lasted so long: for that they had nothing betthat were for innovations:*-a city otherwise ter to wish for when they entered into it. of great magnificence, and of mighty fame And that this happened more favourably for among all mankind. them, and more for their glory, that all the Romans had willingly accepted of these for a Cæsar now resolved to leave there, as a This was the immediate cause of the ruin of the Jewish capital. But it was only the effect of their long existing and provoking obduracy. God punished them by rendering their stubbornness the principal instrument of their destruction. B. |