down there, while himself, who had but seven of his guards with him, and those unarmed also, went so near as to be seen; but when his adversaries, who were still reproaching him, saw him from the walls, they were so astonished that they supposed all the ships were full of armed men, and threw down their arms, and by signals of intercession they besought him to spare the city.

9. Upon this Josephus threatened them terribly, and reproached them, that when they were the first that took up arms against the Romans, they should spend their force beforehand in civil dissensions, and do what their enemies desired above all things; and that, besides, they should endeavour so hastily to seize upor him, who took care of their safety, and had not been ashamed to shut the gates of their city against him that built their walls: that, however, he would admit of any intercessors from them that might make some excuse for them, and with whom he would make such agreements as might be for the city's security. Hereupon ten of the most potent men of Tiberias came down to him presently: and when he had taken them into one of his vessels, he ordered them to de carried a great way off from the city. He then commanded that fifty others of their senate, such as were men of the greatest eminence, should come to. aim, that they also might give him some security on their behalf. After which, under one new pretence or another, he called forth others, one after another, to make the leagues between them. He then gave order to the masters of those vessels which he had thus filled to sail away immediately for Taricheæ, and to confine those men in the prison there; till at length he took all their senate, consisting of six hundred persons, and about two thousand of the populace, and carried them away to Taricheæ.

10. And when the rest of the people cried out, that it was one Clitus that was the chief author of this revolt, they desired him to spend his anger upon him [only;] but Josephus, whose intention it was to slay nobody, commanded one Levius, belonging to his guards, to go out of the vessel in order to cut off both Clitus's hands; yet was Levius afraid to go out by himself alone to such a large body of enemies, and refused to go. Now Clitus saw that Josephus was in a great pas. sion in the ship, and ready to leap out of it, in order to execute the punishment himself: he begged, therefore, from the shore, that he would leave him one of his hands, which Josephus agreed to upon condition that he would himself cut off the other hand; accordingly he drew his sword, and with his right hand cut off his left, so great was the fear he was in of Josephus himself. people of Tiberias prisoners, and recovered the city again with empty ships* and seven of his guard. Moreover, a few days afterward he retook Gischala, which had revolted with the people of Sepphoris, and gave his soldiers leave to plunder it; yet did he get all the plunder together, and restored it to the inhabitants, and the like he did to the inhabitants of Sepphoris and Tiberias. For when he had subdued those cities, he had a mind, by letting them be plundered, to give them some good instruction, while at the same time he regained their good will by restoring their money again.

And thus he took the

CHAP. XXII.

The Jews make all ready for the War.

And Simon the Son of Gioras falls to plundering.

1. AND thus were the disturbances of Galilee quieted, when, upon thei ceasing to prosecute their civil dissensions, they betook themselves to make preparations for the war with the Romans. Now in Jerusalem the high priest Ananus, and as many of the men of power as were not in the interest

I cannot but think this stratagem of Josephus, which is related both here and in his life. sect. 32, 13. to be one of the finest that ever was invented and executed by any warrior whatsoever

of the Romans, both repaired the walls, and made a great many warlike in struments, insomuch that in all parts of the city darts and all sorts of armou were upon the anvil; although the multitude of the young men were engaged in exercises, without any regularity, and all places were full of tumultuous doings; but the moderate sort were exceedingly sad, and a great many there were, who, out of the prospect they had of the calamities that were coming upon them, made great lamentations. There were also such omens observed as were understood to be forerunners of evils by such as loved peace, but were by those that kindled the war, interpreted so as to suit their own inclinations; and the very state of the city, even before the Romans came against it, was that of a place doomed to destruction. However, Ananus's concern was this, to lay aside, for a while, the preparations for the war, and to persuade the seditious to consult their own interest, and to restrain the madness of those that had the name of Zealots; but their violence was too hard for him, and what end he came to we shall relate hereafter.

2. But as for the Acrabene toparchy, Simon the son of Gioras, got a great number of those that were fond of innovations together, and betook himself to ravage the country; nor did he only harass the rich men's houses, but tormented their bodies, and appeared openly and beforehand to affect tyranny in his govern ment. And when an army was sent against him by Ananus and the other rulers, he and his band retired to the robbers that were at Masada, and staid there, and plundered the country of Idumea with them, till both Ananus and his other adver saries were slain, and until the rulers of that country were so afflicted with the multitude of those that were slain, and with the continual ravage of what they had that they raised an army, and put garrisons into the villages, to secure them from those insults; and in this state were the affairs of Judea at that time.

BOOK III.

CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE YEAR.

FROM VESPASIAN'S COMING TO SUBDUE THE JEWS TO THE
TAKING OF GAMALA.

CHAP. I.

Vespasian is sent into Syria by Nero, in order to make war with the J

1. WHEN Nero was informed of the Romans' ill success in Judea, a concealed consternation and terror, as is usual in such cases, fell upon him; although he openly looked very big, and was very angry, and said, 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 despise such misfortunes, he now pretended so to do, and to have a soul superior to all such sad accidents whatsoever. Yet did the disturbance that was in his soul plainly appear by the solicitude he was in [how to recover his af fairs again.]

2. And as he was deliberating to whom he should commit the care of the east, now it was in so great a commotion, and who might be best able to punish the Jews for their rebellion, and might prevent the same distemper from seizing upon the neighbouring nations also, he found no one but Vespasian equal to the task, and able to undergo the great burden of so mighty a war, seeing he was grown an old man already in the camp, and from his youth had been exercised in warlike exploits: he was also a man that had long ago pacified the west, and made it subject to the Romans, when it had been put into disorder by the Germans; he had also recovered to them Britain by his arms, which had been little known be. fore;* whereby he procured to his father Claudius to have a triumph bestowed on him without any sweat or labour of his own.

3. So Nero esteemed these circumstances as favourable omens, and saw that Vespasian's age gave him sure experience and great skill, and that he had his sons as hostages for his fidelity to himself, and that the flourishing are they were in would make them fit instruments under their father's prudence. Perhaps also there was some interposition of providence, which was paving the way for Vespasian's being himself emperor afterwards. Upon the whole, he sent this man to take upon him the command of the armies that were in Syria; but this not without great encomiumns and flattering compellations, such as necessity required, and such as might mollify him into complaisance. So Vespasian sent his son 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 passed over the Hellespont, came by land into Syria, where he gathered together the Roman forces, with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighbourhood.

Take the confirmation of this in the words of Suetonius, here produced by Dr. Hudson.—“In the reign of Claudius," says he, " Vespasian, for the sake of Narcissus, was sent as a lieutenant of a legion into Germany. Thence he removed into Britain, and fought thirty battles with the enemy." In Vesp. c. 4. We may also here note from Josephus, that Claudius the emperor, who triumphed for the conquest of Britain, was enabled so to do by Vespasian's conduct and bravery, and that he is here styled the father of Vespasian.

CHAP. II.

A great Slaughter of the Jews about Ascalon. Vespasian comes to Ptolemais § 1. Now the Jews, after they had beaten Cestius, were so much elevated with heir unexpected success, 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 presently got together a great multitude of all their most hardy soldiers, and marched away for Ascalon. This is an ancient city that is distant from Jerusalem five hundred and twenty furlongs, and was always an enemy to the Jews; on which account they determined to make their first effort against it, and to make their approaches to it as near as possible. This excursion was led on by three men, who were the chief of them all both for strength and sagacity. Niger called the Peraite, Silas of Babylon, and, besides them, John the Essene. Now Ascalon was strongly walled about, but had almost no assistance to be relied on [near them,] for the garrison consisted of one cohort of footmen, and one troop of horsemen, whose captain was Antonius.

2. These Jews, therefore, out of their anger, marched faster than ordinary, and, as if they had come but a little way, approached very near the city, and were come even to it; but Antonius, who was not unapprized of the attack they were going to make upon the city, drew out his horsemen beforehand, and being neither daunted at the multitude nor at the courage of the enemy, received their first at. tacks with great bravery; and when they crowded to the very walls, he beat them off. Now the Jews were unskilful in war, but were to fight with those that were skilful therein; thev were footmen to fight with horsemen; they were in disorder to fight those that were united together; they were poorly armed to fight those that were completely so; they were to fight more by their rage than by sober counsel, and were exposed to soldiers that were exactly obedient, and did every thing they were bidden upon the least intimation: So they were easily beaten; for as soon as ever their first ranks were once in disorder, they were put to flight by the enemy's cavalry; and those of them that came behind such as crowded to the wall fell upon their own party's weapons, and became one another's enemies and this so long till they all were forced to give way to the attacks of the horsemen, and were dispersed all over the plain; which plain was wide, and all fit for the horsemen; which circumstance was very commodious for the Romans, and occasioned the slaughter of the greatest number of the Jews; for such as ran away they could overrun them and make them turn back; and when they had brought them back after their flight, and driven them together, they ran them through, and slew a vast number of them, insomuch that others encompassed others of them, and drove them before them whithersoever they turned themselves, and slew them easily with their arrows; and the great number there were of the Jews seemed a solitude to themselves, by reason of the distress they were in, while the Romans had such good success with their small number, that they seemed to themselves to be the greater multitude. And as the former strove zealously under their misfortunes, out of the shame of a sudden flight, and hopes of the change in their success, so did the latter feel no weariness, by reason of their good fortune; insomuch that the fight lasted till the evening, till ten thou sand men of the Jews' side 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 small city of Idumea called Sallis: some few also of the Romans were wounded in this battle.

3. Yet were not the spirits of the Jews broken by so great a calamity, but the losses they had sustained rather quickened their resolution 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 second destruction; so when they had lain still so 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 num bers, to Ascalon. But their former ill fortune followed them, as the consequence of their unskilfulness, and other deficiencies in war; for Antonius laid ambushes for them in the passages they were to go through, where they fell into snares un. expectedly, and where they were compassed about with horsemen, before they could form themselves into a regular body for fighting, and were above eight thousand of them slain: so all the rest of them ran away, and with them Niger, who still id a great many bold exploits in his flight. However, they were driven along together by the enemy, who pressed hard upon them, into a certain strong tower belonging to a village called Bezedel. However, Antonius and his party, that they might neither spend any considerable time about this tower, which was hard to be taken, nor suffer their commander, and the most courageous man of them all, to escape from them, they set 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 in nermost part of it, and was preserved; and on the third day afterward he spake out of the ground to those that, with great lamentation, were searching 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 preserved by God's providence to be their commander for the time to come.

4. And now Vespasian took along with him his army from Antioch (which is the metropolis of Syria, and, without dispute, deserves the place of the third* city in the habitable earth that was under the Roman empire, both in magnitude and other marks of prosperity,) where he found King Agrippa, with all his forces, waiting for his coming, and marched to Ptolemais. At this city also the inha bitants of Sepphoris of Galilee met him, who were for peace with the Romans. These citizens had beforehand taken care of their own safety, and being sensible of the power of the Romans, they had been with Cestius Gallus before Vespasian came, and had given their faith to him, and received the security of his right hand, and had received a Roman garrison; and at this time withal they received VesDasian, the Roman general, very kindly, and readily promised that they would assist him against their own countrymen. Now the general delivered them, at their desire, as many horsemen and footmen as he thought sufficient to oppose the incursions of the Jews, if they should come against them. And, indeed, the danger of losing Sepphoris would be no small one, in this war that was now be ginning, seeing it was the largest city of Galilee, and built in a place by nature very strong, and might be a security of the whole nation's [fidelity to the Romans.]

CHAP. III.

A Description of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.

1. Now Phoenicia and Syria encompass about the Galilees, which are two, and called the Upper Galilee and the Lower. They are bounded, towards the sun. setting, with the borders of the territory belonging to Ptolemais, and by Carmei; which mountain had formerly belonged to the Galileans, but now belonged to the Tyrians, to which mountain adjoins Gaba, which is called the city of horsemen, because those horsemen that were dismissed by Herod the king dwelt therein : they are bounded on the south with Samaria and Scythopolis, as far as the river Jordan; on the east with Hippene and Gadaris, and also with Gaulanitis and the

• Spanheim and Reland both agree, that the two cities here esteemed greater than Antioch, the me vopolis of Syria, were Rome and Alexandria; nor is there any occasion for doubt in so plain a case.