30. Hereupon Vespasian comforted his army on occasion of what happened; and as he found them angry indeed, but rather wanting somewhat to do than any farther exhortations, he gave orders to raise the banks still higher, and to erect three towers, each fifty feet high, and that they should cover them with plates of iron on every side, that they might be both firm by their weight, and not easily liable to be set on fire. These towers he set upon the banks, and placed upon them such as could shoot darts and arrows, with the lighter engines for throwing stones and darts also; and, besides these, he set upon them the stoutest men among the slingers, who not being to be seen by reason of the height they stood upon, and the battlements that protected them, might throw their weapons at those that were upon the wall, and were easily seen by them. Hereupon the Jews, not being easily able to escape those darts that were thrown down upon their heads, nor to avenge themselves on those whom they could not see, and perceiving that the height of the towers was so great, that a dart which they threw with their hand could hardly reach it, and that the iron plates about them made it very hard to come at them by fire, they ran away from the walls, and fled hastily out of the city, and fell upon those that shot at them. And thus did the people of Jotapata resist the Romans, while a great number of them were every day killed, without their being able to retort the evil upon their enemies, nor could they keep them out of the city without danger to themselves.

31. About this time it was that Vespasian sent out Trajan against a city called Japha, that lay near to Jotapata, and that desired innovations, and was puffed up with the unexpected length of the opposition of Jotapata. This Trajan was the commander of the tenth legion, and to him Vespasian committed one thousand horsemen and two thousand footmen. When Trajan came to the city he found it too hard to be taken; for besides the natural strength of its situation, it was also secured by a double wall; but when he saw the people of this city coming out of it, and ready to fight him, he joined battle with them, and after a short re sistance which they made, he pursued after them, and as they fled to their first wall, the Romans followed them so closely, that they fell in together with them; but when the Jews were endeavouring to get again within their second wall, their fellow citizens shut them out, as being afraid that the Romans would force them selves in with them. It was certainly God, therefore, who brought the Romans to punish the Galileans, and did then expose the people of the city every one of them manifestly to be destroyed by their bloody enemies; for they fell upon the gates in great crowds, and earnestly calling to those that kept them, and that by their names also, yet had they their throats cut in the very midst of their suppli cations; for the enemy shut the gates of the first wall, and their own citizens shut the gates of the second, so they were enclosed between two walls, and were slain in great numbers together: many of them were run through by swords of their own men, and many by their own swords, besides an immense number that was slain by the Romans. Nor had they any courage to revenge themselves; for there was added to the consternation they were in from the enemy, their being betrayed by their own friends, which quite broke their spirits; and at last they died, cursing not the Romans, but their own citizens, till they were all destroyed, being in number twelve thousand. So Trajan gathered that the city was empty of people that could fight, and, although there should a few of them be therein, be supposed that they would be too timorous to venture upon any opposition; so he reserved the taking of the city to the general. Accordingly, he sent messengers to Vespasian, and desired him to send his son Titus to finish the victory he had gained. Vespasian hereupon imagining there might be some pains still necessary sent his son with an army of five hundred horsemen, and one thousand footmen So he came quickly to the city, and put his army in order, and set Trajan over the left wing, while he had the right himself, and led them to the siege; and when the soldiers brought ladders to be laid against the wall on every side, the Galileans opposed them from above for a while, but soon afterward they left the walls.

Then dia Titus's men leap into the city, and seized upon it presently; but when those that were in it were gotten together, there was a fierce battle between them: for the men of power fell upon the Romans in the narrow streets, and the women threw whatsoever came next to hand at them, and sustained a fight with them for six hours time; but when the fighting men were spent, the rest of the multitude had their throats cut, partly in the open air and partly in their own houses, both young and old together. So there were no males now remaining besides infants, which, with the women, were carried as slaves into captivity: so that the number of the slain both now in the city and at the former fight was fifteen thousand, and the captives were two thousand one hundred and thirty. This calamity befell the Galileans on the twerty-fifth day of the month Desius [Sivan.]

32. Nor did the Samaritans escape their share of misfortunes at this time; for they assembled themselves together upon the mountain called Gerizzim, which is with them a holy mountain, and there they remained: which collection of theirs, as well as the courageous minds they showed, could not but threaten somewhat of war; nor were they rendered wiser by the miseries that had come upon their neighbouring cities. They also, notwithstanding the great success the Romans had, marched on in an unreasonable manner, depending on their own weakness, and were disposed for any tumult upon its first appearance. Vespasian. therefore, thought it best to prevent their motions, and to cut off the foundation of their attempts; for although all Samaria had ever garrisons settled among them, yet did the number of those that were come to Mount Gerizzim, and their conspiracy together, give ground for fear what they would be at: he, therefore, sent thither Cerealis, the commander of the fifth legion, with six hundred horsemen and three thousand footmen, who did not think it safe to go up the mountain and give them battle, because many of the enemy were on the higher part of the ground; so he encompassed all the lower part of the mountain with his army, and watched them all that day. Now it happened that the Samaritans, who were now destitute of water, were inflamed with a violent heat (for it was summer-time, and the multi tude had not provided themselves with necessaries,) insomuch that some of them died that very day with heat, while others of them preferred slavery before such a death as that was, and fled to the Romans; by whom Cerealis understood that those which still stayed there were very much broken by their misfortunes. So he went up the mountain, and having placed his forces round about the enemy, he, in the first place, exhorted them to take the security of his right hand, and come to terms with him, and thereby save theinselves; and assured them, that, if they would lay down their arms, he would secure them from any harm; but when he could not prevail with them, he fell upon them, and slew them all, being in num ber eleven thousand and six hundred. This was done on the twenty-seventh day of the month Desius [Sivan.] And these were the calamities that befell the Samaritans at this time.

33. But as the people of Jotapata still held out manfully, and bore up under their miseries beyond all that could be hoped for, on the forty-seventh day [of the siege] the banks cast up by the Romans were become higher than the wall; on which day a certain deserter went to Vespasian, and told him how few were left in the city, and how weak they were: and that they had been so worn out with perpetual watching, and also perpetual fighting, that they could not now oppose any force that came against them, and that they might be taken by stratagem, if any one would attack them; for that about the last watch of the night, when they thought they might have some rest from the hardships they were under, and when a morning sleep used to come upon them, as they were thoroughly weary, he said the watch used to fall asleep; accordingly, his advice was, that they should make their attack at that hour. But Vespasian had a suspicion about this deserter, as knowing how faithful the Jews were to one another, and how much they despised any punishments that could be inflicted on them; this last, because one of the people of Jotapata had undergone all sorts of torments, and though

they made him pass through a fiery trial of his enemies in his examination, yet would he inform them nothing of the affairs within the city, and as he was cruci. fied smiled at them. However, the probability there was in the relation itself did partly confirm the truth of what the deserter told them, and they thought he might probably speak truth. However, Vespasian thought they should be no great suf. ferers if the report was a sham: so he commanded them to keep the man in cus tody, and prepared the army for taking the city.

34. According to which resolution they marched without noise, at the hour that had been told them, to the wall; and it was Titus himself that first got upon it, with one of his tribunes, Domitius Sabinus, and had a few of the fifteenth legion along with him. So they cut the throats of the watch, and entered the city very quietly. After these came Cerealis the tribune, and Placidus, and led on those that were under them. Now when the citadel was taken, and the enemy were in the very midst of the city, and when it was already day, yet was not the taking of the city known by those that held it, for a great many of them were fast asleep, and a great mist, which then by chance fell upon the city, hindered those that got up from distinctly seeing the case they were in, till the whole Roman army was gotten in, and they were raised up only to find the miseries they were under; and as they were slaying, they perceived the city was taken. And for the Romans, they so well remembered what they had suffered during the siege, that they spared none, nor pitied any, but drove the people down the precipice from the citadel, and slew them as they drove them down; at which time the dif. ficulties of the place hindered those that were still able to fight from defending themselves; for as they were distressed in the narrow streets, and could not keep their feet sure along the precipice, they were overpowered with the crowd of those that came fighting them down from the citadel. This provoked a great many, even of those chosen men that were about Josephus, to kill themselves with their own hands; for when they saw that they could kill none of the Romans, they resolved to prevent being killed by the Romans, and got together in great numbers in the utmost parts of the city, and killed themselves.

35. However, such of the watch as at the first perceived they were taken, and ran away as fast as they could, went up into one of the towers on the north side of the city, and for a while defended themselves there; but as they were encompassed with a multitude of enemies, they tried to use their right hands when it was too late, and at length cheerfully offered their necks to be cut off by those that stood over them. And the Romans might have boasted, that the conclusion of that siege was without blood [on their side,] if there had not been a centurion, Antonius, who was slain at the taking of the city. His death was occasioned by the following treachery. For there was one of those that were fled into the caverns, which were a great number, who desired that this Antonius would reach him his right hand for his security, and would assure him that he would preserve him and give him his assistance in getting up out of the cavern; accordingly, he incautiously reached him his right hand, when the other man prevented him, and stabbed him under his loins with a spear, and killed him immediately.

36. And on this day it was that the Romans slew all the multitude that ap peared openly: but on the following days they searched the hiding places, and fell upon those that were under ground and in the caverns, and went thus through every age, excepting the infants and the women, and of these there were gathered together as captives twelve hundred and as for those that were slain at the taking of the city and in the former fights, they were numbered to be forty thousand. So Vespasian gave order that the city should be entirely demolished, and all the fortifications burnt down. And thus was Jotapata taken, in the thirteenth year of the reign of Nero, on the first day of the month Panemus [Tamuz.]

CHAP. VIII.

How Josephus was discovered by a Woman, and was willing to deliver himself up to the Romans; and what Discourse he had with his own Men when they endeavoured to hinder him; and what he said to Vespasian when he was brought before him; and after what Manner Vespasian used him

afterwards.

1. AND now the Romans searched for Josephus, both out of the hatred they bore him, and because their general was very desirous to have him taken; for he reckoned that if he were once taken, the greatest part of the war would be over. They then searched among the dead, and looked into the most concealed recesses of the city; but as the city was first taken, he was assisted by a certain supernatural providence; for he withdrew himself from the enemy, when he was in the midst of them, and leaped into a certain deep pit, whereto there adjoined a large den at one side of it, which den could not be seen by those that were above ground; and here he met with forty persons of eminency that had concealed themselves, and with provisions enough to satisfy them for not a few days. So in the daytime he hid himself from the enemy, who had seized upon all places, and in the night-time he got up out of the den, and looked about for some way of escaping, and took exact notice of the watch: but as all places were guarded every where on his account, that there was no way of getting off unseen, he went down again into the den. Thus he concealed himself two days; but on the third day, when they had taken a woman who had been with them, he was discovered. Whereupon Vespasian sent immediately and zealously two tribunes, Paulinus and Gallicanus, and ordered them to give Josephus their right hands as a security for his life, and to exhort him to come up.

2. So they came and invited the man to come up, and gave him assurances that his life should be preserved; but they did not prevail with him; for he gathered suspicions from the probability there was that one who had done so many things against the Romans must suffer for it, though not from the mild temper of those that invited him. However, he was afraid that he was invited to come up in or der to be punished, until Vespasian sent besides these a third tribune, Nicanor, to him; he was one that was well known to Josephus, and had been his familiar acquaintance in old time. When he was come, he enlarged upon the natural mildness of the Romans towards those they have once conquered, and told him that he had behaved himself so valiantly, that the commanders rather admired than hated him that the general was very desirous to have him brought to him, not in order to punish him, for that he could do though he should not come voluntarily, but that he was determined to preserve a man of his courage. He, more. over, added this, that Vespasian, had he been resolved to impose upon him, would not have sent to him a friend of his own, nor put the fairest colour upon the vilest action, by pretending friendship and meaning perfidiousness; nor would he have himself acquiesced, or come to him, had it been to deceive him.

3. Now, as Josephus began to hesitate with himself about Nicanor's proposal, the soldiery were so angry, that they ran hastily to set fire to the den; but the tribune would not permit them so to do, as being very desirous to take the man alive. And now, as Nicanor lay hard at Josephus to comply, and he understood how the multitude of the enemies threatened him, he called to mind the dreams which he had dreamed in the night time, whereby God had signified to him beforehand, both the future calamities of the Jews and the events that concerned the Roman emperors. Now, Josephus was able to give shrewd conjectures about the interpretation of such dreams as have been ambiguously delivered by God. More. ver, he was not unacquainted with the prophecies contained in the sacred books

as being a priest himself, and of the posterity of priests; and just then was he in an ecstacy, and setting before him the tremendous images of the dreams he had lately had, he put up a secret prayer to God, and said," Since it pleaseth thee, who hath created the Jewish nation, to depress the same, and since all their good fortune is gone over to the Romans, and since thou hast made choice of this soul of mine to foretel what is to come to pass hereafter, I willingly give the my hands, and am content to live. And I protest openly, that I do not go ove to the Romans as a deserter of the Jews, but as a minister from thee."

4. When he had said this, he complied with Nicanor's invitation. But when those Jews who had fled with him understood that he yielded to those that invited him to come up, they came about him in a body, and cried out,-“ Nay, indeed, now may the laws of our forefathers, which God ordained himself, well groan to purpose; that God, we mean, who hath created the souls of the Jews of such a temper that they despise death. 0 Josephus! art thou still fond of life? and canst thou bear to see the light in a state of slavery? How soon hast thou for gotten thyself? How many hast thou persuaded to lose their lives for liberty! Thou hast, therefore had a false reputation for manhood, and a like false reputa. tation for wisdom, if thou canst hope for preservation from those against whom thou hast fought so zealously, and art, however, willing to be preserved by them if they be in earnest. But although the good fortune of the Romans hath made thee forget thyself, we ought to take care that the glory of our forefathers may not be tarnished. We will lend thee our right hand and a sword; and if thou wilt die willingly, thou wilt die as general of the Jews; but if unwillingly, thou wilt die as a traitor to them." As soon as they said this, they began to thrust their swords at him, and threatened they would kill him if he thought of yielding himself to the Romans.

5. Upon this Josephus was afraid of their attacking him, and yet thought he should be a betrayer of the commands of God, if he died before they were delivered. So he began to talk like a philosopher to them, in the distress he was then in, when he said thus to them."O my friends, why are we so earnest to kill ourselves? and why do we set our soul and body, which are such dear companions, at such variance? Can any one pretend that I am not the man I was formerly? Nay, the Romans are sensible how that matter stands well enough. It is a brave thing to die in war, but so that it be according to the law of war, by the hand of conquerors. If, therefore, I avoid death from the sword of the Ro mans, I am truly worthy to be killed by my own sword and my own hand: but if they admit of mercy, and would spare their enemy, how much more ought we to have mercy upon ourselves, and to spare ourselves? for it is certainly a fool. ish thing to do that to ourselves which we quarrel with them for doing to us. 1 confess freely, that it is a brave thing to die for liberty, but still so that it be in war, and done by those who take that liberty from us; but in the present case our enemies do neither meet us in battle, nor do they kill us. Now, he is equally a coward who will not die when he is obliged to die, and he who will die when he is not obliged so to do. What are we afraid of when we will not go up to the Romans? Is it death? If so, what we are afraid of when we but suspect our enemies will inflict it on us, shall we inflict it on ourselves for certain? But, it may be said, we must be slaves. And are we then in a clear state of liberty at present? It may also be said, that it is a manly act for one to kill himself. No, certainly, but a most unmanly one; as I should esteem that pilot to be an arrant coward, who, out of fear of a storm, should sink his ship of his own accord. Now, self-murder is a crime most remote from the common nature of all animals and an instance of impiety against God our Creator: nor, indeed, is there any animal that dies by its own contrivance or by its own means, for the desire of life is a law engraven in them all; on which account we deem those that openly take it away from us to be our enemies, and those that do it by treachery are punished for so doing. And do not you think that God is very angry when a man