not be made confiftent. So he gave them an ambiguous liberty to do as they advised, and permitted the prifoners to go along no other road than that which led to Tiberias only. So they readily believed what they defired to be true, and went along fecurely, with their effects the way which was allowed them, while the Romans feized upon all the road that led to Tiberias, that none of them might go out of it, and fhut them up in the city. Then came Vefpafian, and ordered them all to ftand in the ftadium and commanded them to kill the old men, together with the others that were ufelefs, which were in number a thoufand and two hundred. Out of the young men he chofe fix thoufand of the strongest, and fent them to Nero, to dig through the Ifthmus, and fold the remainder for flaves, being thirty thousand and four hundred, befides fuch as he made a prefent of to Agrippa; for as to thofe that belonged to his kingdom, he gave him leave to do what he pleafed with them: However, the king fold thefe alfo for flaves; but for the reft of the multitude, who were Trachonites, and Gaulanites, and of Hippos, and fome of Gadara, the greatest part of them were feditious perfons and fugitives, who were of fuch fhameful characters, that they preferred war before peace. These prifoners were taken on the eighth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul.]

BOOK IV.

Containing the Interval of about one year.

[From the Siege of Gamala, to the coming of TITUS to Befiege

Jerufalem.]

CHAP. I.

The Siege and taking of Gamala.

§ 1. NOW all thofe Galileans who after the taking of Jotapata had revolted from the Romans, did, upon the conqueft of Taricheæ deliver themselves up to them again. And the Romans received all the fortreffes and the cities, excepting Gifchala and those that had feized upon mount Tabor; Gamala alfo, which is a city over against Taricheæ, but on the other fide of the lake, confpired with them. This city lay upon the borders of Agrippa's kingdom, as alfo did Sogana and Seleucia. And there were both parts of Gaulanitis; for Sogana was a part of that called the Upper Gaulanitis, as was Gamala of the lower; while Seleucia was fituated at the lake Semechonitis, which lake is thirty furlongs in breadth, and fixty in length; its marfhes reach as far as the place Daphne, which in other refpects is a delicious place, and hath fuch fountains as fupply water to what is called Little Jordan, under the temple of the golden calf, where it is fent into great Jordan. Now Agrippa had united Sogana and Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the very beginning of the revolt from the Romans; yet did not Gamala accede to them, but relied upon the difficulty of the place, which was greater than that of Jotapata, for it was fituated upon a rough ridge of a high mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle; where it begins to afcend, it lengthens itself, and declines as much downward before as behind, infomuch that it is like a camel in figure, from whence it is fo named, although the people of the country do not pronounce it accurately: Both on the fide and the face there are abrupt parts divided from the reft, and ending in vaft deep valleys; yet are the parts behind, where they are joined to the

*

Here we have the exact fituation of one of Jeroboam's golden calves, at the exit of little jordan into great Jordan, near a place called Daphne, but of old Dan. See the note on Antiq B. VIII. sh. viii. 2 Vol. I. But Reland fuspects, that eyen here we should read Dan inftead of Daphne, there being no where else any mention of a place called Daphne hereabouts. G g

VOL. III.

mountain, fomewhat easier of afcent than the other; but then' the people belonging to the place have cut an oblique ditch here, and made that hard to be afcended alfo. On its acclivity, which is ftrait, houfes are built, and thofe very thick and clofe to one another. The city alfo hangs fo ftrangely, that it looks as if it would fall down upon itself, fo fharp is it at the top. It is expofed to the fouth, and its fouthern mount, which reaches to an immenfe height, was in the nature of a citadel to the city; and above that was a precipice, not walled about, but extending itfelf to an immenfe depth. There was alfo a fpring of water within the wall, at the utmoft limits of the city.

2. As this city was naturally hard to be taken, fo had Jofephus, by building a wall about it, made it ftill ftronger, as alfo by ditches and mines underground. The people that were in it were made more bold by the nature of the place, than the people of Jotapata had been, but it had much fewer fighting men in it; and they had fuch a confidence in the fituation of the place, that they thought the enemy could not be too many for them; for the city had been filled with those that had fled to it for fafety, on account of its ftrength; on which account they had been able to refift those whom Agrippa sent to befiege it for leven months together.

3. But Vefpafian removed from Emmaus, where he had laff pitched his camp before the city Tiberias (now Emmaus, if it be interpreted, may be rendered a warm bath, for therein is a fping of warm water, uteful for healing), and came to Gamala; yet was its fituation fuch, that he was not able to encompafs it all round with foldiers to watch it; but where the places were practicable, he fent men to watch it, and feized upon that mountain which was over it. And as the legions, according to their ufual custom, were fortifying their camp upon that mountain, he began to caft up banks at the bottom, at the part towards the eaft, where the higheft tower of the whole city was, and where the fifteenth legion pitched their camp; while the fifth legion did duty over against the midst of the city, and whilft the tenth legion filled up the ditches and the valleys. Now at this time it was that as king Agrippa was come nigh the walls, and was endeavouring to fpeak to those that were on the walls, about a furrender, he was hit with a ftone on his right elbow by one of the flingers; he was then immediately furrounded with his own men. But the Romans were excited to fet about the fiege, by their indigna tion on the king's account, and by their fear on their own account, as concluding that thofe men would omit no kinds of barbarity against foreigners and enemies, who were fo enraged against one of their own nation, and one that advised them to nothing but what was for their own advantage.

4. Now when the banks were finished, which was done on the fudden, both by the multitude of hands, and by their being accustomed to fuch work, they brought the machines ;

but Chares and Jofeph, who were the most potent men in the city, fet their armed men in order, though already in a fright, because they did not fuppofe that the city could hold out long, fince they had not a fufficient quantity either of water, or of other neceffaries. However thefe their leaders encouraged them, and brought them out upon the wall, and for a while indeed they drove away thofe that were bringing the machines.; but when thofe machines threw darts and ftones at them, they retired into the city; then did the Romans bring battering rams to three several places, and made the wall fhake [and tall J. They then poured in over the parts of the wall that were thrown down, with a mighty found of trumpets and noife of armour, and with a fhout of the foldiers, and brake in by force upon those that were in the city; but these men fell upon the Romans for fome time, at their firft entrance, and prevented their going any farther, and with great courage beat them back; and the Romans were fo overpowered by the greater multitude of the people, who beat them on every fide, that they were obliged to run into the upper parts of the city. Whereupon the people turned about, and fell upon their enemies, who had attacked them, and thrust them down to the lower parts, and as they were diftreffed by the narrowness and difficulty of the place, flew them; and as thefe Romans could neither beat those back that were above them, nor escape the force of their own men that were forcing their way forward, they were compelled to fly into their enemies houfes, which were low; but thefe houles, being thus full of foldiers, whofe weight they could not bear, fell down fuddenly; and when one houfe fell, it shook down a great many of thofe that were under it, as did those do to fuch as were under them. By this means a vaft number of the Romans perished, for they were fo terribly diftreffed, that although they faw the houfes fubfiding, they were compelled to leap upon the tops of them; fo that a great many were ground to powder by thefe ruins, and a great many of thofe that got from under them, loft fome of their limbs, but still a greater number were fuffocated by the duft that arofe from thofe ruins. The people of Gamala fuppofed this to be an affiftance afforded them by God, and without regarding what damage they fuffered themselves, they prefled forward, and thruft the enemy upon the tops of their houles, and when they ftumbled in the fharp and narrow ftreets, and were perpetually falling down, they threw their ftones or darts at them, and flew them. Now the very ruins afforded them ftones enow, and for iron weapons the dead men of the enemies fide afforded them what they wanted; for, drawing the fwords of thofe that were dead, they made ufe of them to dispatch fuch as were only half dead; nay, there were a great number who, upon their falling down from the tops of the houses, stabbed themselves, and died after that manner; nor indeed was it ealy for thofe that were beaten back, to fly

away, for they were fo unacquainted with the ways, and the duft was fo thick, that they wandered about without knowing one another, and fell down dead among the crowd.

5. Those therefore that were able to find the ways out of the city retired. But now Vefpafian always ftaid among thofe that were hard fet; for he was deeply affected with feeing the ruins of the city falling upon his army, and forgot to take care of his own prefervation. He went up gradually towards the highest parts of the city before he was aware, and was left in the midft of dangers, having only a very few with him; for even his fon Titus was not with him at that time, having been then fent into Syria, to Mucianus. However, he thought it not fafe to fly, nor did he esteem it a fit thing for him to do; but calling to mind the actions he had done from his youth, and recollecting his courage, as if he had been excited by a divine tury, he covered himself and thofe that were with him with their thields, and formed a teftudo over both their bodies and their armour, and bore up against the enemy's attacks, who came running down from the top of the city; and without fhowing any dread to the multitude of the. men or of their darts, he endured all, until the enemy took notice of that divine courage that was within him, and remitted of their attacks; and when they preffed lefs zealously upon him, he retired, though without fhowing his back to them till he was gotten out of the walls of the city. Now a great number of the Romans tell in this battle, among whom was Ebutius, the decurion, a man who appeared not only in this engagement, wherein he fell, but every where, and in former engagements to be of the trueft courage, and one that had done very great mifchief to the Jews. But there was a centurion whose name was Gallus, who during this diforder being encompaffed about, he and ten other foldiers privately crept into the house of a certain perfon, where he heard them talking at fupper what the people intended to do against the Romans, or about themselves (for both the man himself and those with him were Syrians). So he got up in the night time, and cut all their throats, and efcaped, together with his foldiers to the Romans.

6. And now Vefpafian comforted his army, which was much dejected by reflecting on their ill fuccefs, and becaufe they had never before fallen into fuch a calamity, and befi des this, because they were greatly afhamed that they had left their general alone in great dangers. As to what concerned himself, he avoided to fay any thing, that he might by no means feem to complain of it; but he faid, That we ought to bear manfully what ufually falls out in war, and this by confidering what the nature of war is, and how it can never be that we must conquer without bloodshed on our own fide; for there ftands about us that fortune which is of its own nature mutable; that while they had killed fo many ten thou