BOOK III. Containing the Interval of about one year. [From VESPASIAN's coming to fubdue the Jews, to the taking of Gamala.] CHAP. I. Vefpafian is fent into Syria by Nero, in order to make war with the Jews. 1. WHEN Nero was informed of the Romans ill fuccefs in Judea, a concealed confternation and terror, as is ufual in fuch cafes, fell upon him; although he openly looked very big, and was very angry, and faid, that what had happened was rather owing to the negligence of the commander, than to any valour of the enemy: And as he thought it fit for him, who bare the burden of the whole empire, to defpife fuch misfortunes, he now pretended fo to do, and to have a foul fuperior to all fuch fad accidents what foever. Yet did the disturbance that was in his foul plainly appear by the folicitude he was in how to recover his affairs again.] 2. And as he was deliberating to whom he thould commit the care of the eaft, now it was in fo great a commotion, and who might be beft able to punith the Jews for their rebellion, and might prevent the fame diftemper from feizing upon the neighbouring nations alfo ; he found no one but Vefpafian equal to the tafk, and able to undergo the great burden of fo mighty a war, feeing he was growing an old man already in the camp, and from his youth had been exercised in warlike exploits He was alfo a man that had long ago pacified the weft, and made it subject to the Romans, when it had been put into diforder by the Germans; he had also recovered to them Britain by his arms, which had been little known before * ; whereby he procured to his father Claudius to have a triumph bestowed on him, without any sweat or labour of his own. *Take the confirmation of this in the words of Suetonius, here produced by Dr. Hudion In the reign of Claudius," fays he, "Vefpafian, for the fake of Narciffus, was fent as a lieutenant of a legion into Germany. Thence he removed into Britain, and fought thirty battles with the enemy." In Vefp 4 We may alfo here note from Jofephus, that Claudius the emperor, who triumphed for the conquest of Britain, was enabled fo to do by Vefpafian s conduct and bravery, and that he is here ftyled the father of Velpafian," 3. So Nero esteemed thefe circumftances as favourable omens, and faw that Vefpafian's age gave him fure experience, and great fkill, and that he had his fons as hoftages for his fidelity to himself, and that the flourishing age they were in would make them fit inftruments under their father's prudence. Perhaps also there was fome interpofition of Providence, which was paving the way for Vefpafian's being himself em peror afterwards. Upon the whole, he fent this man to take upon him the command of the armies that were in Syria; but this not without great encomiums and flattering compellations, fuch as neceffity required, and fuch as might mollify him into complaifance. So Vefpafian fent his fon Titus from Achaia, where he had been with Nero, to Alexandria, to bring back with him from thence the fifth and the tenth legions, while he himself, when he had paffed over the Hellefpont, came by land into Syria, where he gathered together the Roman forces, with a confiderable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighbourhood. CHA P. II. A great Slaughter of the Jews about Alcalon. Vefpafian comes to Ptolemais. 1. NOW the Jews after they had beaten Ceftius, were much elevated with their unexpected fuccefs, that they could not govern their zeal, but like people blown up into a flame by their good fortune, carried the war to remoter places. Accordingly they prefently got together a great multitude of all their moft hardy foldiers, and marched away for Afcalon. This is an ancient city that is diftant from Jerufalem five hundred and twenty furlongs, and was always an enemy to the Jews; on which account they determined to make their firft effort against it, and to make their approaches to it as near as poffible. This excurfion was led on by three men, who were the chief of them all, both for ftrength and fagacity, Niger called the Peraite, Silas of Babylon, and befides them John the Eflene. Now Afcalon was ftrongly walled about, but had almost no affiftance to be relied on [near them], for the garrison confifted of one cohort of footmen, and one troop of horsemen, whofe captain was Antonius. 2. The Jews, therefore, out of their anger, marched faster than ordinary, and, as it they had come but a little way, approached very near the city, and were come even to it; but Antonius, who was not unapprised of the attack they were going to make upon the city drew out his horfemen before, hand, and being neither daunted at the multitude, nor at the courage of the enemy, received their firft attacks with great bravery; and when they crowded to the very walls, he beat VOL. III. A a them off. Now the Jews were unfkilful in war, but were to fight with thofe that were skitful therein; they were footmen' to fight with horsemen; they were in diforder, to fight those that were united together; they were poorly armed to fight those that were completely fo; they were to fight more by their rage than by fober counfel, and were expofed to foldiers that were exactly obedient, and did every thing they were bidden upon the least intimation. So they were eafily beaten; for as foon as ever their first ranks were once in diforder, they were put to flight by the enemy's cavalry, and those of them that came behind fuch as crowded to the wall, fell upon their own party's weapons, and became one another's enemies; and this fo long till they all were forced to give way to the attacks of the horsemen, and were difperfed all the plain over, which plain was wide, and all fit for the horsemen; which circumflance was very commodious for the Romans, and occafioned the flaughter of the greatest number of the Jews; for fuch as ran away, they could over-run them, and make them turn back; and when they had brought them back after their flight, and driven them together, they run them through, and flew a vaft number of them, infomuch that others encompaffed others of them, and drove them before them whitherfoever they turned themselves, and flew them eafily with their arrows; and the great number there were of the Jews feemed a folitude to themselves, by reafon of the diffrefs they were in, while the Romans had fuch good fuccefs with their small number, that they feemed to themselves to be the greater multitude. And as the former ftrove zealously under their misfortunes, out of the fhame of a fudden flight, and hopes of the change in their fuccefs, fo did the latter feel no weariness by reafon of their good fortune; infomuch that the fight lafted till the evening, till ten thousand men of the Jews fide lay dead, with two of their generals, John and Silas, and the greater part of the remainder were wounded, with Niger, their remaining general, who fled away together to a mall city of Idumea, called Sallis; fome few alfo of the Romans were wounded in this battle. 3. Yet were not the fpirits of the Jews broken by fo great a calamity, but the loffes they had fuftained rather quickened their refolution for other attempts; for overlooking the dead bodies which lay under their feet, they were enticed by their former glorious actions to venture on a fecond deftruction; fo when they had lain ftill fo little a while that their wounds were not yet thoroughly cured, they got together all their forces, and came with greater fury, and in much greater numbers to Afcalon. But their former ill fortune followed them, as the confequence of their unfkilfulnefs, and other deficien cies in war; for Antonius laid ambushes for them in the paffages they were to go through, where they fell into fnares unexpectedly, and where they were compassed about with horses men, before they could form themfelves into a regular body for fighting and were above eight thoufand of them flain: So all the rest of them ran away, and with them Niger, who still did a great many bold exploits in his flight. However, they were driven along together by the enemy, who preffed hard upon them, into a certain ftrong tower belonging to a village called Bezedel. However, Antonius and his party, that they might neither spend any confiderable time about this tower, which was hard to be taken, nor fuffer their commander, and the most courageous man of them all, to escape from them, they fet the wall on fire; and as the tower was burning, the Romans went away rejoicing, as taking it for granted that Niger was destroyed; but he leaped out of the tower into a subterraneous cave, in the innermoft part of it, and was preserved; and on the third day afterward he fpake out of the ground to those that with great lamentation were fearching for him, in order to give him a decent funeral; and when he was come out, he filled all the Jews with an unexpected joy, as though he were preferved by God's providence to be their commander for the time to come. 4. And now Vefpafian took along with him his army from Antioch (which is the metropolis of Syria, and, without difpute, deferves the place of the third city in the habitable earth that was under the Roman empire, both in magnitude, and other marks of profperity,) where he found king Agripga, with all his forces, waiting for his coming, and marched to Ptolemais. At this city alfo the inhabitants of Sepphoris of Galilee met him, who were for peace with the Romans. These citizens had beforehand taken care of their own fafety, and being fenfible of the power of the Romans, they had been with Cellius Gallus, before Vefpafian came, and had given their faith to him, and received the fecurity of his right hand, and had received a Roman garrifon; and at this time withal they received Vefpafian, the Roman general very kindly, and readily promifed that they would aflift him against their own countrymen. Now the general delivered them, at their defire, as many horfemen and footmen as he thought fufficient to oppose the incurfions of the Jews, if they fhould come against them. And indeed the danger of lofing Sepphoris would be no fmall one, in this war that. was now beginning, feeing it was the largest city of Galilee, and built in a place by nature very strong, and might be a fecurity of the whole nation's [fidelity to the Romans.] * Spanheim and Reland both agree, that the two cities here esteemed greater than Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, were Rome and Alexandria; nor is there any occafion for doubt in fo plain a cafe. CHA P. III. A Defcription of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. 1. NOW Phenicia and Syria encompass about the Galilees, which are two, and called the Upper Galilee, and the Lower. They are bounded, towards the fun-fetting, with the borders of the territory belonging to Ptolemais, and by Carmel; which mountain had formerly belonged to the Galileans, but now belonging to the Tyrians, to which mountain adjoins Gaba, which is called "the city of horsemen," because those horsemen that were difmiffed by Herod the king dwelt therein; they are bounded on the fouth with Samaria, and Scythopolis, as far as the river Jordan; on the eaft with Hippene and Gadaris, and alfo with Gaulonitis, and the borders of the kingdom of Agrippa; its northern parts are bounded by Tyre, and the country of the Tyrians. As for that Galilee which is called the Lower, it extends in length from Tiberias to Zabulon, and of the maritime plaçes Ptolemais is its neighbour; its breadth is from the village called Xaloth. which lies in the great plain, as far as Berlabe, from which beginning alfo is taken the breadth of the Upper Galilee, as far as the village Baca, which divides the land of the Tyrians from it; its length is alfo from Meloth to Thella, a village near to Jordan. 2. Thefe two Galilees, of fo great largenefs, and encompaffed with to many nations of foreigners, have been always able to make a strong refiftance on all occafions of war; for the Galileans are inured to war from their infancy, and have been always very numerous; nor hath the country been ever deftitute of men of courage, or wanted a numerous set of them: For their foil is univerfally rich and fruitful, and full of the plantations of trees of all forts, infomuch, that it invites the moft flothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its fruitfulnefs: Accordingly it is all cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it lies idle. Moreover, the cities lie here very thick, and the very many villages there are here are every where fo full of people, by the richness of their foil, that the very leaft of them contained above fifteen thousand inhabitants. 3. In fhort, if any one will fuppofe that Galilee is inferior to Perea in magnitude, he will be obliged to prefer it before it in its ftrength; for this is all capable of cultivation, and is every where fruitful; but for Perea, which is indeed much larger in extent, the greater part of it is defert, and rough, and much lefs difpofed for the production of the milder kinds of fruits; yet hath it a moift foil [in other parts, and produces all kinds of fruits, and its plains are planted with trees of all forts, while yet the olive tree, the vine, and the palm trees, are chiefly cultivated there. It is alfo fufficiently watered with |