ranks, and obeying the orders that were given them: for which reason the Ro mans were caught unexpectedly, and were obliged to give way to the assaults that were made upon them. Now when these Romans were overtaken, and turned back upon the Jews, they put a stop to their career; yet when they did not take care enough of themselves through the vehemency of their pursuit, were wounded by them: but as still more and more Jews sallied out of the city, the Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put to flight, and ran away from their camp. Nay, things looked as though the entire legion would have been in danger, unless Titus had been informed of the case they were in, and had sent them succours immediately. So he reproached them for their cow. ardice, and brought those back that were running away, and fell himself upon the Jews in their flank, with those select troops that were with him, and slew a considerable number, and wounded more of them, and put them all to flight, and made them run away hastily down the valley. Now, as these Jews suffered greatly in the declivity of the valley, so, when they were gotten over it, they turned about and stood over against the Romans, having the valley between them, and there fought with them. Thus did they continue the fight till noon; but when it was already a little after noon, Titus set those that caine to the assistance of the Romans with him, and those that belonged to the cohorts, to prevent the Jews from making any more sallies, and then sent the rest of the legion to the upper part of the mountain to fortify their camp

5. This march of the Romans seemed to the Jews to be a flight; and as the watchman that was placed upon the wall gave a signal by shaking his garment, there came out a fresh multitude of Jews, and that with such mighty violence, that one might compare it to the running of the most terrible wild beasts. To say the truth, none of those that opposed them could sustain the fury with which they made their attacks; but, as if they had been cast out of an engine, they brake the enemy's ranks to pieces, who were put to flight, and ran away to the mountain; none but Titus himself, and a few others with him, being left in the midst of the acclivity. Now these others, who were his friends, despised the danger they were in, and were ashamed to leave their general, earnestly exhorting him, "to give way to these Jews that are fond of dying, and not to run into such dangers before those that ought to stay before him; to consider what his fortune was, and not, by supplying the place of a common soldier, to venture to turn back upon the enemy so suddenly; and this because he was general in the war, and lord of the habitable earth, on whose preservation the public affairs do all depend." These persuasions Titus seemed not so much as to hear, but opposed those that ran upon him, and smote them on the face; and when he had forced them to go back, he slew them: he also fell upon great numbers as they marched down the hill, and thrust them forward; while those men were so amazed at his courage and his strength, that they could not fly directly to the city, but declined from him on both sides, and pressed after those that fled up the hill; yet did he still fall upon their flank, and put a stop to their fury. In the meantime, a disorder and a terror fell again upon those that were fortifying their camp at the top of the hill, upon their seeing those beneath them running away; insomuch that the whole legion was dispersed, while they thought that the sallies of the Jews upon them were plainly insupportable, and that Titus was himself put to flight; because they took it for granted, that if he had staid the rest would never nave fled for it. Thus were they encompassed on every side by a kind of panic fear, and some dispersed themselves one way and some another, till certain of them saw their general in the very midst of an action, and, being under great concern for him, they loudly proclaimed the danger he was in to the entire legion: and now shame made them turn back, and they reproached one another that they did worse than run away by deserting Cæsar. So they used their utmost force against the Jews, and declining from the strait declivity, they drove them on heaps into the bottom of the valley. Then did the Jews turn about and fight

them; but as they were themselves retiring, and now, because the Romans had the advantage of the ground and were above the Jews, they drove them all into the valley. Titus also pressed upon those that were near him, and sent the legion again to fortify their camp; while he, and those that were with him before, opposed the enemy, and kept them from doing farther mischief; insomuch that if I may be allowed neither to add any thing out of flattery, nor to diminish any thing out of envy, but to speak the plain truth, Cæsar did twice deliver that entire legion when it was in jeopardy, and gave them a quiet opportunity of fortifying their camp.

CHAP. III.

How the Sedition was again revived within Jerusalem, and yet the Jews contrived Snares for the Romans. How Titus also threatened his Soldiers for their

ungovernable Rashness.

1. As now the war abroad ceased for awhile, the sedition within was revived; and on the feast of unleavened bread, which was now come, it being the fourteenth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan,] when it is believed the Jews were first freed from the Egyptians, Eleazar and his party opened the gates of this [inmost court of the] temple, and admitted such of the people* as were desirous to worship God into it. But John made use of this festival as a cloak for his treacherous designs, and armed the most inconsiderable of his own party, the greater part of which were not purified, with weapons concealed under their garments, and sent them with great zeal into the temple, in order to seize upon it; which armed men, when they were gotten in, threw their garments away, and presently appeared in their armour: upon which there was a very great disorder and disturbance about the holy house; while the people, who had no concern in the sedition, supposed that this assault was made against all without distinction; as the zealots thought it was made against themselves only. So these left off guarding the gates any longer, and leaped down from their battlements before they came to an engagement, and fled away into the subterranean caverns of the temple; while the people that stood trembling at the altar and about the holy house were rolled on heaps together, and trampled upon, and were beaten both with wooden and with iron weapons without mercy. Such also as had differences with others slew many persons that were quiet, out of their. own private enmity and hatred, as if they were opposite to the seditious; and all those that had formerly offended any of these plotters were now known, and were now led away to the slaughter: and when they had done abundance of horrid mischief to the guiltless, they granted a truce to the guilty, and let those go off that came out of the caverns. These followers of John also did now seize upon this inner temple, and upon all the warlike engines therein, and then ventured to oppose Simon. And thus that sedition which had been divided into three factions, was now reduced to two,

Here we see the true occasion of those vast numbers of Jews that were in Jerusalem during this siege by Titus, and perished therein; that the siege began at the feast of the Passover, when such prodigious multitudes of Jews and proselytes of the gate were come from all parts of Judea, and from other countries, in order to celebrate that great festival. See the note, B. vi. chap. ix. sect. 3. Tacitus himself informs us, that the number of men, women, and children in Jerusalem, when it was besieged by the Romans, as he had been informed, was 600,000. This information must have been taken from the Romans; for Josephus never mentions the number of those that were besieged, only he lets us know, that of the vulgar, carried dead out of the gates and ouried at the public charges, was the like number of 600,000, chap. xiii, sect. 7. However, when Cestius Gallus came first to the siege, that sum in Tacitus is no way disagreeable to Josephus's history, though they were become much more numerous when Titus encompassed the city at the Passover. As to the number that perished during the siege, Josephus assures us, as we shall see hereafter, they were 1,100,000, besides 97,000 captives; but Tacitus's history of the last part of this siege is not now extant, so we cannot compare his parallel numbers with those in Josephits.

2. But Titus, intending to pitch his camp nearer to the city than Scopus, placed as many of his choice horsemen and footmen as he thought sufficient opposite to the Jews, to prevent their sallying out upon them, while he gave orders for the whole army to level the distance, as far as the wall of the city. So they threw down all the hedges and walls which the inhabitants had made about their gar. dens and groves of trees, and cut down all the fruit-trees that lay between them and the wall of the city, and filled up all the hollow places and the chasms, and demolished the rocky precipices with iron instruments: and thereby made all the place level, from Scopus to Herod's monuments, which adjoined to the pool called the Serpent's Pool.

3. Now at this very time the Jews contrived the following stratagem against the Romans. The bolder sort of the seditious went out at the towers called the Women's Towers, as if they had been ejected out of the city by those who were for peace, and rambled about as if they were afraid of being assaulted by the Romans, and were in fear of one another; while those that stood upon the wall, and seemed to be of the people's side, cried out aloud for peace, and entreated that they might have security for their lives given them, and called for the Romans, promising to open their gates to them; and as they cried out after that manner, they threw stones at their own people, as though they would drive them away from the gates. These also pretended that they were excluded by force, and that they petitioned those that were within to let them in; and rushing upon the Romans perpetually, with violence, they then came back, and seemed to be in great disorder. Now the Roman soldiers thought this cunning stratagem of theirs was to be believed real, and thinking they had the one party under their power, and could punish them as they pleased, and hoping that the other party would open their gates to them, set to the execution of their designs accordingly. But for Titus himself, he had this surpris ing conduct of the Jews in suspicion; for whereas he had invited them to come to terms of accommodation by Josephus but one day before, he could then receive no civil answer from them; so he ordered the soldiers to stay where they were. However, some of them that were set in the front of the works prevented him, and catching up their arms ran to the gates; whereupon those that seemed to have been ejected at the first retired; but as soon as the soldiers were gotten between the towers on each side of the gate, the Jews ran out, and encompassed them round, and fell upon them behind, while that multitude which stood upon the wall threw a heap of stones and darts of all kinds at them, insomuch that they slew a considerable number, and wounded many more; for it was not easy for the Romans to escape, by reason those behind them pressed them forward; be. sides which, the shame they were under for being mistaken, and the fear they were in of their commanders, engaged them to persevere in their mistake: where. fore they fought with their spears a great while, and received many blows from the Jews, though, indeed, they gave them as many blows again, and at last repelled those that had encompassed them about, while the Jews pursued them as they re. tired, and followed them, and threw darts at them as far as the monuments of Queen Helen.

4. After this, these Jews, without keeping any decorum, grew insolent upon their good fortune, and jested upon the Romans for being deluded by the trick they had put upon them, and making a noise with beating their shields, leaped for gladness, and made joyful exclamations; while these soldiers were received with threatenings by their officers, and with indignation by Cæsar himself, [who spake to them thus: "These Jews, which are only conducted by their madness, do every thing with care and circumspection; they contrive stratagems and lay ambushes, and fortune gives success to their stratagems, because they are obe. dient, and preserve their good will and fidelity to one another; while the Romans, to whom fortune uses to be ever subservient, by reason of their good order, and ready submission to their commanders, have now had ill success by their

contrary behaviour; and by not being able to restrain their hands from action, they have been caught; and that which is the most to their reproach, they have gone on without their commanders in the very presence of Cæsar. Truly (says Titus,) the laws of war cannot but groan heavily, as will my father also himself when he shall be informed of this wound that hath been given us, since he who is grown old in wars, did never make so great a mistake. Our laws of war do also ever inflict capital punishment on those that in the least break into good order, while at this time they have seen an entire army run into disorder. How. ever, those that have been so insolent shall be made immediately sensible, that even they, who conquer among the Romans without orders for fighting, are to be under disgrace." When Titus had enlarged upon this matter before the com. manders, it appeared evident that he would execute the law against all those that were concerned; so these soldiers' minds sunk down in despair, as expecting to be put to death. and that justly and quickly. However, the other legions came round about Titus, and entreated his favour to these their fellow-soldiers, and made supplication to him, that he would pardon the rashness of a few on account of the better obedience of all the rest; and promised for them, that they should make amends for their present fault by their more virtuous behaviour for the time

to come.

5. So Cæsar complied with their desires, and with what prudence dictated to him also; for he esteemed it fit to punish single persons by real executions, but that the punishment of great multitudes should proceed no farther than reproofs: so he was reconciled to the soldiers, but gave them a special charge to act more wisely for the future; and he considered with himself how he might be even with the Jews for their stratagem. And now, when the space between the Romans and the wall had been levelled, which was done in four days, and as he was de. sirous to bring the baggage of the army, with the rest of the multitude that fol lowed him, safely to the camp, he set the strongest part of his army over against hat wall which lay on the north quarter of the city, and over against the western part of it, and made his army seven deep, with the footmen placed before them and the horsemen behind them, each of the last in three ranks, while the archers stood in the midst in seven ranks. And now, as the Jews were prohibited, by so great a body of men, from making sallies upon the Romans, both the beasts that bare the burdens, and belonged to the three legions, and the rest of the multitude, marched on without any fear. But as for Titus himself, he was but about twe furlongs distant from the wall, at that part of it where was the corner,* and over against that tower which was called Psephinus; at which tower the compass of the wall belonging to the north bended, and extended itself over against the west. but the other part of the army fortified itself at the tower called Hippicus, and was distant. in like manner, but two furlongs from the city. However, the tenth legion continued in its own place upon the Mount of Olives.

CHAP. IV.

The Description of Jerusalem.

1. THE city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not encompassed with unpassable valleys; for in such places it hath but one wall. The city was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder; at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills that which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length more direct. Accordingly, it was called the Citadel by Perhaps, says Dr. Hudson, here was that gate called the Gate of the Corner, in 2 Chron. xxvi. 9. See sh. iv. sect. 2.

King David; he was the father of that Solomon who built this temple at the first; but it is by us called the Upper Market-place. But the other hill, which was called Acra, and sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a moon when she is horned: over against this there was a third hill, but naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly from the other by a broad valley. However, in those times when the Asamoneans reigned, they filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. They then took off part of the height of Acra, and reduced it to be of less elevation than it was before, that the temple might be superior to it. Now the valley of the cheesemongers, as it was called, and was that which we told you before distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the name of a fountain which hath sweet water in it, and this in great plenty also. But on the outsides these hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and, by reason of the precipices to them belonging on both sides, they are every where unpassable.

2. Now of these three walls the old one was hard to be taken, both by reason of the valleys, and of that hill on which it was built, and which was above them. But besides that great advantage, as to the place where they were situated, it was also built very strong; because David and Solomon, and the following kings, were very zealous about this work. Now that wall began on the north, at the tower called Hippicus, and extended as far as the Xistus, a place so called, and then joining to the council-house, ended at the west cloister of the temple. But if we go the other way westward, it began at the same place, and extended through a place called Bethso to the gate of the Essens; and after that it went southward having its bending above the fountain Siloam, where it also bends again towards the east at Solomon's pool, and reaches as far as a certain place which they called Ophlas, where it was joined to the eastern cloister of the temple. The second wall took its beginning from that gate which they called Gennath, which belonged to the first wall; it only encompassed the northern quarter of the city, and reached as far as the tower Antonia. The beginning of the third wall was at the tower Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north quarter of the city and the tower Psephinus, and then was so far extended till it came over against the monuments of Helena, which Helena was queen of Adiabene, the daughter of Izates; it then extended farther to a great length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns of the kings, and bent again at the tower of the corner, at the monument which is called the Monument of the Fuller, and joined to the old wall at the valley called the Valley of Cedron. It was Agrippa who encompassed the parts added to the old city with this wall, which had been all naked before; for as the city grew more populous, it gradually crept beyond its old limits; and those parts of it that stood northward of the temple, and joined that hill to the city, made it considerably larger, and occasioned that hill, which is in number the fourth, and is called Bezetha, to be inhabited also. It lies over against the tower Antonia, but is di vided from it by a deep valley, which was dug on purpose, and that in order to hinder the foundations of the tower of Antonia from joining to this hill, and thereby affording an opportunity for getting to it with ease, and hindering the security that arose from its superior elevation; for which reason also that depth of the ditch made the elevation of the towers more remarkable. This new built part of the city was called Bezetha, in our language, which, if interpreted in the Grecian language, may be called The New City. Since, therefore, its inhabitants stood in need of a covering, the father of the present king, and of the same name with him, Agrippa, began that wall we spoke of; but he left off building it when he had only laid the foundations, out of the fear he was in of Claudius Cæsar, lest he should suspect that so strong a wall was built in order to make some innovation in public affairs; for the city could no way have been taken, if that wall had been finished in the manner it was begun; as its parts were connected together by stones twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad, which could never have been either easily undermined by any iron tools, or shaken by any engines. The wall