the Romans, for to gain their victories as cheap as they could, fince they are not forced to fight, but only to enlarge their own dominions. So he repelled the Jews in great measure by the Arabian archers, and the Syrian flingers, and by thofe that threw ftones at them, nor was there any intermiffion of the great number of their offenfive engines. Now the Jews fuffered greatly by thefe engines, without being able to escape from them, and when thefe engines threw their ftones or javelins a great way, and the Jews were within their reach, they preffed hard upon the Romans, and fought defperately, without sparing either foul or body, one part fuccouring another by turns, when it was tired down.

19. When therefore Vefpafian looked upon himself as in a manner befieged by thefe fallies of the Jews, and when his banks were now not far from the walls, he determined to make ufe of his battering ram. This battering ram is a vaft beam of wood like the maft of a fhip, its forepart is armed with a thick piece of iron at the head of it, which is fo carved as to be like the head of a ram, whence its name is taken. This ram is fung in the air by ropes paffing over its middle, and is hung like the balance in a pair of fcales from another beam, and braced by ftrong beams that pafs on both fides of it in the nature of a crofs. When this ram is pulled backward by a great number of men with united force, and then thruft forward by the fame men, with a mighty noife, it batters the walls with that iron part which is prominent. Nor is there any tower fo ftrong, or walls fo broad, that can refift any more than its first batteries, but all are forced to yield to it at laft. This was the experiment which the Roman general betook himself to, when he was eagerly bent upon taking the city; but found lying in the field fo long to be to his difadvantage, becaufe the Jews would never let him be quiet. So thefe Romans brought the feveral engines for galling an enemy nearer to the walls, that they might reach fuch as were upon the wall, and endeavoured to fruftrate their attempts; these threw ftones and javelins at them, in the like manner did the archers and flingers come both together clofer to the wall. This brought matters to fuch a pafs that none of the Jews durft mount the walls, and then it was that the other Romans brought the battering ram which was cafed with hurdles all over, and in the upper part was lecured by fkins that covered it, and this both for the fecurity of themfelves and of the engine. Now at the very first stroke of this engine the wall was fhaken and a terrible clamour was raifed by the people within the city, as if they were already taken.

20. And now when Jofephus faw this ram ftill battering the fame place, and that the wall would quickly be thrown down by it, he refolved to elude for a while the force of the engine; With this defign he gave orders to fill facks with chaff, and to hand them down before that place where they faw the ram al

ways battering, that the ftroke might be turned afide, or that the place might feel lefs of the ftrokes by the yielding nature of the chaff. This contrivance very much delayed the attempts of the Romans, becaufe, let them remove their engine to what part they pleased, thofe that were above it removed their facks, and placed them over against the ftrokes it made, infomuch that the wall was no way hurt, and this by diverfion of the ftrokes, till the Romans made an oppofite contrivance of long poles, and by tying hooks at their ends cut off the facks. Now when the battering ram thus recovered its force, and the wall having been but newly built, was giving way, Jofephus and thofe about him had afterward immediate recourfe to fire to defend themfelves withal; whereupon they took what materials foever they had that were but dry, and made a fally three ways, and fet fire to the machines, and the hurdles, and the banks of the Romans themselves; nor did the Romans well know how to come to their affiftance, being at once under a confternation at the Jews boldnefs, and being prevented by the flames from coming to their affiftance; for the materials being dry with the bitumen and pitch that were among them, as was brimstone alfo, the fire caught hold of every thing immediately, and what coft the Romans a great deal of pains was in one hour confumed.

21. And here a certain Jew appeared worthy of our relation and commendation; he was the fon of Sameas, and was called Eleazar, and was born at Saab in Galilee. This man took up a ftone of a vast bignefs, and threw it down from the wall upon the ram, and this with fo great a force that it brake off the head of the engine. He alfo leaped down, and took up the head of the ram from the midst of them, and without any concern, carried it to the top of the wall, and this while he stood as a fit mark to be pelted by all his enemies. Accordingly he received the ftrokes upon his naked body, and was wounded with five darts; nor did he mind any of them while he went up to the top of the wall, where he flood in the fight of them all, as an inftance of the greatest boldness; after which he drew himself on a heap with his wounds upon him, and fell down together with the head of the ram. Next to him two brothers fhewed their courage, their names were Netir and Philip, both of them of the village Ruma, and both of them Galileans alfo; these men leaped upon the foldiers of the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with fuch a noise and force as to diforder their ranks, and to put to flight all upon whom foever they made their affaults.

22. After thefe men's performances, Jofephus, and the reft of the multitude with him, took a great deal of fire, and burnt both the machines, and their coverings, with the works belonging to the fifth, and to the tenth legion, which they put to flight; when others followed them immediately, and buried thofe inftruments, and all their materials under ground. How

ever, about the evening the Romans erected the battering ram again against that part of the wall which had fuffered before; where a certain Jew that defended the city from the Romans, hit Vefpafian with a dart in his foot, and wounded him a little, the diflance being to great that no mighty impreffion could be made by the dart thrown fo far off. However this caused the greatest diforder among the Romans; for when thofe who ftood near him faw his blood, they were disturbed at it, and a report went abroad through the whole army that the general was wounded, while the greateft part left the fiege, and came running together with furprise and fear to the general; and before them all came Titus, out of the concern he had for his father, infomuch that the multitude were in great confufion, and this out of the regard they had for their general, and by reason of the agony that the fon was in. Yet did the enemy foon put an end to the fon's fear, and to the diforder the army was under, for being fuperior to his pains, and endeavouring foon to be feen by all that had been in a fright about him, he excited them to fight the Jews more brifkly; for now every body was willing to expofe himself to danger immediately, in order to avenge their general, and then they encouraged one another with loud voices, and ran haftily to the walls.

23. But ftill Jofephus and thofe with him, although they fell down dead one upon another by the darts and ftones which the engines threw upon them, yet did not they defert the wall, but fell upon those who managed the ram, under the protection of the hurdles, with fire, and iron weapons, and ftones; and thefe could do little or nothing, but fell perpetually, while they were feen by those whom they could not fee for the light of their own flame thone about them, and made them a moft vifible mark to the enemy as they were in the day time, while the engines could not be feen at a great diftance, and fo what was thrown at them was hard to be avoided, for the force with which thefe engines threw ftones and darts made them hurt feveral at a time and the violent noife of the ftones that were caft by the engines were fo great, that they carried away the pinnacles of the wall, and broke off the corners of the towers; for no body of men could be fo ftrong as not to be overthrown, to the laft rank by the largenefs of the ftones. And any one may learn the force of the engines by what happened this very night; for as one of thofe that flood round about Jofephus was near the wall, his head was carried away by fuch a ftone, and his fcull was flung as far as three furlongs. In the day time, alfo, a woman with child had her belly fo violently ftruck, as he was just come out of her houle, that the infant was carried to the diftance of halt a furlong, fo great was the force of that engine. The noife of the inftruments themselves was very terrible, the found of the darts and stones that were thrown by them, was fo allo; of the fame fort was that noise the dead bodies made, when they were dafhed against the wall;

and indeed dreadful was the clamour which these things raifed in the women within the city, which was echoed back at the fame time by the cries of fuch as were flain; while the whole fpace of ground whereon they fought ran with blood, and the wall might have been afcended over by bodies of the dead carcaffes; the mountains alfo contributed to increase the noife by their echoes, nor was there on that night any thing of terror wanting, that could either affect the heating, or the fight; yet did a great part of those that fought fo hard for Jotapata fall manfully, as were a great part of them wounded. However, the morning watch was come ere the wall yielded to the machines employed against it, though it had been battered without intermiffion. However, thofe within covered their bodies with their armour, and raised works over against that part which was thrown down, before those machines were laid, by which the Romans were to afcend into the city.

24. In the morning Vefpafian got his army together, in order to take the city by ftorm, after a little recreation upon the hard pains they had been at the night before; and. as he was defirous to draw off thofe that oppofed him from the places where the wall had been thrown down, he made the most courageous of the horsemen get off their horfes, and placed them in three ranks over against thofe ruins of the wall, but covered with their armour on every fide, and with poles in their hands, that so these might begin their afcent as foon as the inftruments for fuch afcent were laid; behind them he placed the flower of the footmen; but for the rest of the horse, he ordered them to extend themselves over against the wall, upon the whole hilly country, in order to prevent any from efcaping out of the city when it should be taken; and behind thefe he placed the archers round about, and commanded them to have their darts ready to fhoot. The fame commands he gave to the flingers, and to thofe that managed the engines, and bid them to take up other ladders, and have ready to lay upon thofe parts of the wall which were yet untouched, that the besieged might be engaged in trying to hinder their afcent by them, and leave the guard of the parts that were thrown down, while the rest of them should be over-borne by the darts caft at them, and might afford his men an entrance into the city.

25. But Jofephus, understanding the meaning of Vespafian's contrivance. fet the old men, together with those that were tired out, at the found parts of the wall, as expecting no harm from thofe quarters, but fet the ftrongest of his men at the place where the wall was broken down, and before them all fix men by themselves, among whom he took his share of the first and greatest danger. He alfo gave orders, That" when the legions made a fhout they thould top their ears, that they might not be affrighted at it, and that, to avoid the multitude of the enemies darts, they should bend down on their knees, and

cover themselves with their fhields, and that they should retreat a little backward for a while, till the archers should have emptied their quivers; but that, when the Romans fhould lay their inftruments for afcending the walls, they fhould leap out on the fudden, and with their own inftruments fhould meet the enemy, and that every one fhould ftrive to do his best, in order, not to defend his own city, as if it were poffible to be preserved, but in order to revenge it, when it was already detroyed; and that they fhould fet before their eyes how their old men were to be flain, and their children and wives were to be killed immediately by the enemy; and that they would beforehand spend all their fury on account of the calamities just coming upon them, and pour it out on the actors."

26. And thus did Jofephus difpofe of both his bodies of men: But then for the ulelefs part of the citizens, the women and children, when they faw their city encompaffed by a threefold army, (for none of the ufual guards that had been fighting before were removed), when they alfo faw not only the walls thrown down, but their enemies, with fwords in their hands, as alfo the hilly country above them fhining with their weapons, and the darts in the hands of the Arabian archers, they made a final and lamentable outcry of the deftruction, as if the mifery were not only threatened, but actually come upon them already. But Jofephus ordered the women to be fhut up in their houfes, left they fhould render the warlike actions of the men too effeminate, by making them commiferate their condition, and commanded them to hold their peace, and threatened them if they did not, while he came himself before the breach, where his allotment was; for all those who brought ladders to the other places, he took no notice of them, but earnestly waited for the fhower of arrows that was coming.

27. And now the trumpeters of the feveral Roman legions founded together, and the army made a terrible fhout, and the darts, as by order, flew fo faft, that they intercepted the light. However, Jofephus's men remembered the charges he had given them, they stopped their ears at the founds, and covered their bodies against the darts; and as to the engines that were fet ready to go to work, the Jews ran out upon them, before thofe that thould have used them were gotten upon them. And now, on the afcending of the foldiers, there was a great conflict, and many actions of the hands, and of the foul, were exhibited, while the Jews did earnestly endeavour, in the extreme danger they were in, not to fhew lefs courage, than those who, without being in danger, fought fo ftoutly against them; nor did they leave itruggling with the Romans till they either fell down dead themfelves, or killed their antagonists. But the Jews grew weary with defending themselves continually, and had not enew to come in their places, and fuccour them; while on the fide of the Romans fresh men ftill fucceeded those that were tired, and ftill new men foon got upon the machines