the temple, he slipped, and fell down upon 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 on 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 shattered, and nobody durst come to defend him, and then he yielded to his fate. Now Cæsar was deeply affected on account of this man of so great fortitude, and especially 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 struggled 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 Romans, and with Cæsar himself, but among his enemies also; then did the Jews catch up his dead body, and put the Romans to flight again, and shut them up in the tower of Antonia. Now those that most signalized themselves, and fought most zealously, in this battle of the Jewish side, were one Alexas and Gyphtheus, of John's party, and of Simon's party were Malachias, 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.

CHAP. II.

How Titus gave Orders to demolish the Tower of Antonia, and then persuaded Josephus to exhort the Jews again [to a Surrender.]

§ 1. AND now Titus gave orders to his soldiers 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 desired he would not defile the temple, nor thereby offend against God: that he might, if he pleased, offer the

*This was a remarkable day indeed, the 17th of Panemus [Tamuz,] A.D. 70, when, according to Daniel's prediction, 606 years before, the Romans "in half a week caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease." Dan. 1x. 27. For trom the month of February, A.D. 66, about which time Vespasian entered on this war, to this very time, was just three years and a half. See Bishop Lloyd's Tables of Chronology, published by Mr. Marshall on this year. Nor is it to be omitted, what very nearly confirms this duration of the war, that four years before the war began was somewhat above seven years five months before the destruction of Jerusalem, chap. 5, § 3.

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 Cæsar had given him in charge, and this in the Hebrew language.* So he earnestly prayed them "to spare their own 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; 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 a loud 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 wouldest esteem him to be an enemy to thee; but thou hopest to have that God for thy supporter in this war whom thou hast deprived of his everlasting worship; and thou imputest those sins to the Romans, who to this very time take care to have our laws observed, and almost compel these sacrifices to be still offered to God, which have by thy means been intermitted. Who is there that can avoid groans and lamentations 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 dishonourable to repent, and amend what hath been done amiss, even at the last extremity. 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 the 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 posterity through all ages. This, John, is an excellent example in such a time of danger; and I dare venture to promise that the Romans shall still forgive thee. And take notice, that I, who make this exhortation 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 consider 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 indignation at me again, and makest a clamour at me, and reproachest me; indeed, I cannot deny but I am worthy of worse treatment than all this amounts to, because in opposition to fate I make this kind invitation to thee, and endeavour to force deliverance upon those whom God hath condemned. And who is there that does not know what the writings of the ancient prophets contain in them; and particularly that oracle which is just now going to

The same that in the New Testament is always so called, and was then the commor language of the Jews in Judea, which was the Syrian dialect.

+ Our present copies of the Old Testament want this encomium upon king Jechonial. or Jehoiachin, which it seems was in Josephus' copy.

be fulfilled upon this miserable city? For they foretold that this city should be taken when somebody shall begin the slaughter of his own countrymen. And are not both the city and the entire temple now full of the dead bodies of your countrymen? It is God† therefore, it is God himself, who is bringing on this fire to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, and is going to pluck up this city, which is full of your pollutions."

2. 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 yet did that discourse influence a great many of the better sort, and truly some of them were so afraid of the guards set by the seditious, that they tarried where they were, but still were satisfied that both they and the city wese doomed to destruction. Some also there

were, who, watching a proper opportunity, when they might quietly get away, fled to the Romans, of whom were the high priests Joseph and Jesus, and of the sons of the high priests three, whose father was Ishmael, who was beheaded in Cyrene, and four sons of Matthias, as also one son of the other Matthias, who ran away after his father's death, and whose father was slain by Simon the son of Gioras, with three of his sons, as I have already related; many also of the other nobility went over to the Romans, together with the high priests. Now Cæsar 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 desired 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 danger. But as they did not appear, the seditious gave out again, that those deserters were slain by the Romans, which was done in order to deter the rest from running 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 deserting, by fear of the like treatment.

3. 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 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 entirely into the city, and save that

* Of this oracle, see the note on b. iv. chap. vi. § 3.

Josephus, both here, and in many places elsewhere, speaks so, that it is most evident he was fully satisfied that God was on the Romans' side, and made use of them now for the destruction of that wicked nation of the Jews, which was for certain the true state of this matter; as the prophet Daniel first, and our Saviour himself afterwards, had clearly foretold. See Lit. Accompl. of Proph. p. 64, &c.

Josephus had before told us, b. iv. chap. xiii. § 1. that this fourth son of Mattnias ran away to the Romans 'before' his father's and brethren's slaughter, and not 'after' it, as here. The former account is, in all probability, the truest; for had not that fourth son escaped before the others were caught and put to death, he had been caught and put to death with them. This last account, therefore, looks like an instance of a small inadvertence of Josephus in the place before us.

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 temple, and save the holy house for their own use; for that the Romans would not venture to set the sanctuary on fire, but under the most pressing necessity. Yet did the seditious still more and more contradict 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 distances from one another, insomuch, that all the space round about within the temple 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. Accordingly, 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 transgressions, that the very same indignation which Jews would naturally have against Romans, had they been guilty of such abuses against them, the Romans had now against Jews, for their impiety in regard to their own religious customs. Nay, indeed, there were none of the Roman soldiers, who did not look with a sacred horror upon the holy house, and adored it, and wished that the robbers would repent before their miseries became incurable.

4. 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 before your sanctuary?* Have not you been allowed to put up the pillars thereto belonging, at due distances, and on it to engrave in Greek, and in your own letters, this prohibition, That no foreigner should go beyond that wall? Have we not 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 of both 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 defile 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."t

5. As Josephus explained these things from the mouth of Cæsar, both the robbers 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 towards themselves, 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 a thousand to each tribune, and

Of this partition-wall separating Jews and Gentiles, with its pillar and inscription, see the description of the temples, chap. xv.

That these seditious Jews were the direct occasion of their own destruction, and of the conflagration of their city and temple, and that Titus earnestly and constantly laboured to save both, is here and every where most evident in Josephus.

making Cerealis the 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 danger, and what the commanders suggested to him; for they said, that "he would do more by sitting above in the tower of Antonia, 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 Cæsar looked upon them." With this advice Cæsar 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 unpunished; 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 their work at the hour forementioned, 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.

6. 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 then immediately hand to hand, as they rushed with violence upon them with a great shout. Now, as soon as the rest within the temple heard that shout of those that were upon the watch, they ran out in troops upon them. Then did the Romans receive 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 had been enemies; for the great confused noise that was made on both sides hindered them from distinguishing one another's voices, as did the darkness of the night hinder them from the like distinction by the sight; besides that blindness, which arose otherwise also from the passion 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. However, 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 regularly than the others did, and each of them remembered their watch-word: while the Jews were perpetually dispersed abroad, and made their attacks and retreats 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 of the day, the nature of the fight was discerned by the eye afterwards: 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 Titus; and every one concluded that this day would begin his promotion, if he fought bravely. The great encouragements 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 of