24. Now king Agrippa sent an army to make themselves masters of the citadel of Gamala, and over it Equicolus Modius; but the forces that were sent were not enough to encom-. pass the citadel quite round, but lay before it in the open places, and besieged it. But when Ebutius the decurion, who was entrusted with the government of the great plain, heard that I was at Simonias, a village situated in the confines of Galilee, and was distant from him sixty furlongs, he took an hundred horsemen that were with him by night, and a certain number of footmen, about two hundred, and brought the inhabitants of the city Gibea along with him as auxiliaries, and marched in the night, and came to the village where I abode. Upon this I pitched my camp over against him, which had a great number of forces in it; but Ebutius tried to draw us down into the plain, as greatly depending on his horsemen ; but we would not come down; for when I was satisfied of the advantage that his horse would have if we came down into the plain, while we were all footmen, I resolved to join battle with the enemy where I was. Now Ebutius and his party made a courageous opposition for some time; but when he saw that his horse were useless to him in that place, he retired back to the city Gibea, having lost three of his men in the fight. So I followed him directly, with two thousand armed men; and when I was at the city Besara, that lay in the confines of Ptolemais, but twenty furlongs from Gibea where Ebutius abode, I placed my armed men on the outside of the village, and gave orders that they should guard the passes with great care, that the enemy might not disturb us, until we should have carried off the corn, a great quantity of which lay there: it belonged to Bernice the queen, and had been gathered together out of the neighbouring villages into Besara: so I loaded my camels and asses, a great number of which I had brought along with me, and sent the corn into Galilee. When I had done this, I offered Ebutius battle; but when he would not accept of the offer, for he was terrified at our readiness and courage, I altered my route, and marched towards Neopolitanus, because I had heard that the country about Tiberias was laid waste by him. This Neopolitanus was captain of a troop of horse, and had the custody of Scythopolis intrusted to his care by the enemy; and when I had hindered him from doing any farther mischief to Tiberias, I set myself to make provision for the affairs of Galilee.

25. But when John, the son of Levi, who, as we before told you, abode at Gischala, was informed how all things had succeeded to my mind, and that I was much in favour with those that were under me: as also that the enemy were great

ly afraid of me, he was not pleased with it, as thinking my prosperity tended to his ruin. So he took up a bitter envy and enmity against me; and hoping, that if he could inflame those that were under me to hate me, he should put an end to the prosperity I was in; he tried to persuade the inhabitants of Tiberias, and of Sepphoris, (and for those of Gabara he supposed they would be also of the same mind with the others), which were the greatest cities of Galilee, to revolt from their subjection to me, and to be of his party; and told them, that he would command them better than I did. As for the people of Sepphoris, who belonged to neither of us, because they had chosen to be in subjection to the Romans, they did not comply with his proposal; and for those of Tiberias, they did not indeed so far comply, as to make a revolt from under me, but they agreed to be his friends, while the inhabitants of Gabara did go over to John; and it was Simon that persuaded them so to do, one who was both the principal man in the city, and a particular friend and companion of John. It is true, these did not openly own the making a revolt, because they were in great fear of the Galileans, and had frequent experience of the good-will they bore to me; yet did they privately watch for a proper opportunity to lay snares for me; and indeed I thereby came into the greatest danger, on the occasion following:

26. There were some bold young men of the village Dabaritta, who observed that the wife of Ptolemy, the king's procurator, was to make a progress over the great plain with a mighty attendance, and with some horsemen that followed, as a guard to them, and this out of a country that was subject to the king and queen, into the jurisdiction of the Romans; and fell upon them on the sudden, and obliged the wife of Ptolemy to fly away, and plundered all the carriages. They also came to me to Tariches, with four mules loading of garments, and other furniture; and the weight of the silver they brought was not small, and there were five hundred pieces of gold also. Now I had a mind to preserve these spoils for Ptolemy, who was my countryman; and it is prohibited * us

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* How Josephus could say here that the Jewish laws forbade them to "spoil even their enemies," while yet, a little before his time, our Saviour had mentioned it as then a current maxim with them, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour, " and hate thine enemy," Matt, v. 43. is worth our inquiry. I take it that Josephus, having been now for many years an Ebionite Christian, had learned this interpretation of the law of Moses from Christ, whom he owned for the true Messiah, as it follows in the succeeding verses, which, though he might not read in St. Matthew's gospel, yet might he have read much the same exposition in their own Ebionite or Nazarene gospel itself; of which improvements made by Josephus, after he was become a Christian, we have already had several examples in this his life, sect. 3, 13, 15, 19, 21, 23. and shal! have many more therein before its conclusion, as well as we have them elsewhere in all his later writings. VOL. III.

by our laws even to spoil our enemies; so I said to those that brought these spoils, that they ought to be kept in order to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem with them, when they came to be sold. But the young men took it very ill that they did not receive a part of those spoils for themselves, as they expected to have done; so they went among the villages, in the neighbourhood of Tiberias, and told the people, that I was going to betray their country to the Romans, and that I used deceitful language to them, when, I said, that what had been thus gotten by rapine should be kept for the rebuilding of the walls of the city of Jerusalem; although I had resolved to restore these spoils again to their former owner. And indeed they were herein not mistaken as to my intentions; for when I had gotten clear of them, I sent for two of the principal men, Dassion, and Janneus, the son of Levi, persons that were among the chief friends of the king, and commanded them to take the furniture that had been plundered, and to send it to him, and I threatened that I would order them to be put to death by way of punishment, if they discovered this my command to any other person.

27. Now when all Galilee was filled with this rumour, that their country was about to be betrayed by me to the Romans, and when all men were exasperated against me, and ready to bring me to punishment, the inhabitants of Taricheæ did also themselves suppose that what the young men said was true, and persuaded my guards and armed men to leave me when I was asleep, and to come presently to the hippodrome, in order there to take counsel against me their commander. And when they had prevailed with them, and they were gotten together, they found there a great company assembled already, who all joined in one clamour, to bring the man who was so wicked to them as to betray them, to his due punishment; and it was Jesus, the son of Sapphias, who principally set them on. He was ruler in Tiberias, a wicked man, and naturally disposed to make disturbances in matters of consequence; a seditious person he was indeed, and an innovator beyond every body else. He then took the laws of Moses into his hands, and came into the midst of the people, and said, "O my fellow-citizens, if you are not disposed to hate "Josephus on your own account, have regard however to "these laws of your country, which your commander in chief "is going to betray; hate him therefore on both these ac"counts, and bring the man who hath acted thus insolently "to his deserved punishment."

28. When he had said this, and the multitude had openly applauded him for what he had said, he took some of the armed men, and made haste away to the house in which I

lodged, as if he would kill me immediately, while I was wholly insensible of all till this disturbance happened; and by reason of the pains I had been taking, was fallen fast asleep. But Simon, who was intrusted with the care of my body, and was the only person that stayed with me, and saw the violent incursion the citizens made upon me, he awaked me, and told me of the danger I was in, and desired me to let him kill me, that I might die bravely and like a general, before my enemies came in, and forced me [to kill myself,] or killed me themselves. Thus did he discourse to me; but I committed the care of my life to God, and made haste to go out to the multitude. Accordingly I put on a black garment, and hung my sword at my neck, and went by such a different way to the hippodrome, wherein I thought none of my adversaries would meet me; so I appeared among them on the sudden, and fell down flat on the earth, and bedewed the ground with my tears: then I seemed to them all an object of compassion. And when I perceived the change that was made in the multitude, I tried to divide their opinions, before the armed men should return from my house; so I granted them that I had been as wicked as they supposed me to be; but still I entreated them, to let me first inform them for what use I had kept that money which arose from the plunder, and that they, might then kill me if they pleased; and upon the multitude's ordering me to speak, the armed men came upon me, and when they saw me, they ran to kill me; but when the multitude bid them hold their hands, they complied, and expected that as soon as I should own to them that I kept the money for the king, it would be looked on as a confession of my treason, and they should then be allowed to kill me.

29. When therefore silence was made by the whole multitude, I spake thus to them: "O my countrymen, I refuse "not to die, if justice so require. However, I am desirous ❝ to tell you the truth of this matter before I die; for as I "know that this city of yours [Taricheæ] was a city of great "hospitality, and filled with abundance of such men as have " left their own countries, and are come hither to be par"takers of your fortune whatever it be, I had a mind to "build walls about it, out of this money, for which you are so angry with me, while yet it was to be expended in "building your own walls." Upon my saying this, the people of Taricheæ, and the strangers cried out, That "they gave me thanks, and desired me to be of good courage." Although the Galileans, and the people of Tiberias continued in their wrath against me, insomuch that there arose a tumult among them, while some threatened to kill me, and some bid me not to regard them; but when I promised them that I

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would build them walls at Tiberias, and at other cities that wanted them, they gave credit to what I promised, and returned every one to his own home. So I escaped the forementioned danger, beyond all my hopes, and returned to my own house, accompanied with my friends, and twenty armed men also.

30. However, those robbers and other authors of this tumult, who were afraid on their own account, lest I should punish them for what they had done, took six hundred armed men, and came to the house where I abode, in order to set it on fire. When this their insult was told me, I thought it indecent for me to run away, and I resolved to expose myself to danger, and to act with some boldness; so I gave order to shut the doors, and went up into an upper room, and desired that they would send some of their men in to receive the money [from the spoils;] for I told them they would then have no occasion to be angry with me; and when they had sent in one of the boldest men of them all, I had him whipped severely, and I commanded that one of his hands should be cut off, and hung about his neck; and in this case was he put out to those that sent him. At which procedure of mine they were greatly affrighted, and in no small consternation, and were afraid that they should themselves be served in like manner, if they stayed there; for they supposed that I had in the house more armed men than they had themselves, so they ran away immediately, while I, by the use of this stratagem, escaped this their second treacherous design against

me.

31. But there were still some that irritated the multitude against me, and said, that those great men that belonged to the king, ought not to be suffered to live, if they would not change their religion to the religion of those to whom they fled for safety they spake reproachfully of them also, and said, that they were wizards, and such as called in the Romans upon them. So the multitude was soon deluded by such plausible pretences as were agreeable to their own inelinations, and were prevailed on by them. But when I was informed of this, I instructed the multitude again, that those that fled to them for refuge ought not to be persecuted; I also laughed at the allegation about witchcraft, and told them that the Romans would not maintain so many ten thousand soldiers, if they could overcome their enemies by wizards. Upon my saying this, the people assented for a while; but they returned again afterward, as irritated by some ill people, against the great men; nay, they once made an assault upon

*Here we may observe the vulgar Jewish notion of witchcraft; but that our Josephus was too wise to give any countenance to it.