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bodies and other advantages, did yet submit to the Romans, which they would not have suffered, had they not known that God was with them. As for themselves, what can they depend on in this their opposition, when the greatest part of their city is already taken? and when those that are within it are under greater mise. ries than if they were taken, although their walls be still standing? For that the Romans are not unacquainted with that famine which is in the city, whereby the people are already consumed, and the fighting men will in a little time be so too, for although the Romans should leave off the siege, and not fall upon the city with their swords in their hands, yet was there an insuperable war that beset then within, and was augmented every hour; unless they were able to wage war with famine, and fight against it, or could alone conquer their natural appetites." He added this farther,- "How right a thing it was to change their conduct, before their calamities were become incurable, and to have recourse to such advice as might preserve them, while opportunity was offering them for so doing: for that the Romans would not be mindful of their past actions to their disadvantage, unless they persevered in their insolent behaviour to the end; because they were naturally mild in their conquests, and preferred what was profitable before what their passions dictated to them; which profit of theirs lay not in leaving the city empty of inhabitants nor the country a desert: on which account Cæsar did now offer them his right hand for their security: whereas, if he took the city by force, he would not save any of them, and this especially if they rejected his offers in these their utmost distresses; for the walls that were already taken could not but assure them that the third wall would quickly be taken also. And although their fortifications should prove too strong for the Romans to break through them, yet would the famine fight for the Romans against them."

4. While Josephus was making this exhortation to the Jews, many of them jested upon him from the wall, and many reproached him; nay, some threw their darts at him; but when he could not himself persuade them by such open good advice, he betook himself to the histories belonging to their own nation, and cried out aloud,—“O miserable creatures! are you so unmindful of those that used to assist you, that you will fight by your weapons and by your hands against the Romans? when did we ever conquer any other nation by such means? and when was it that God, who is the Creator of the Jewish people, did not avenge them when they had been injured? Will not you turn again and look back, and consider whence it is that you fight with such violence, and how great a supporter you have profanely abused? Will not you recall to mind the prodigious things done for your forefathers and this holy place, and how great enemies of yours were by him subdued under you? I even tremble myself in declaring the works of God before your ears that are unworthy to hear them; however, hearken to me, that you may be informed how you fight not only against the Romans, but against God himself. In old time there was one Necao, king of Egypt, who was also called Pharaoh; he came with a prodigious army of soldiers, and seized Queen Sarah, the mother of our nation. What did Abraham our progenitor ther do? Did he defend himself from this injurious person by war, although he had three hundred and eighteen captains under him, and an immense army under each of them? Indeed, he deemed them to be no number at all without God's assistance, and only spread out his hands towards this holy place,* which you have now polluted, and reckoned upon him as upon his invincible supporter, instead of his own army. Was not our queen sent back, without any defilement, to her husband the very next evening? while the king of Egypt fled away, adoring this place, which you have defiled by shedding thereon the blood of your own countrymen; and he also trembled at those visions which he saw in the night

Josephus supposes, in this his admirable speech to the Jews, that not Abraham only, but Pharaoh, king of Egypt, prayed towards a temple at Jerusalem, or towards Jerusalem itself, in which were Moun Zion and Mount Moriah, on which the tabernacle and temple did afterwards stand; and this long before either the Jewish tabernacle or temple was built. Nor is the famous command given byGod to Abraham to go two orthree days journey on purpose to offer up his son Isaac there, unfavourable to such a notion

season, and bestowed both silver and gold on the Hebrews, as on a people beloved by God. Shall I say nothing, or shall I mention the removal of our fathers into Egypt, who when they were used tyrannically, and were fallen under the power of foreign kings for four hundred years together, and might have defended themselves by war and by fighting, did yet do nothing but commit themselves to God? Who is there that does not know how Egypt was overrun with all sorts of wild beasts, and consumed by all sorts of distempers? how their land did not bring forth its fruit? how the Nile failed of water? how the ten plagues of Egypt fol. lowed upon one another? and how by those means our fathers were sent away under a guard, without any bloodshed, and without running any dangers, because God conducted them as his peculiar servants! Moreover, did not Palestine groan under the ravages the Assyrians* made, when they carried away our sacred ark? as did their idol Dagon, and as also did that entire nation of those that carried it away; how they were smitten with a loathsome distemper in the secret parts of their bodies, when their very bowels came down together with what they had eaten, till those hands that stole it away were obliged to bring it back again, and that with the sound of cymbals and timbrels, and other oblations, in order to appease the anger of God for their violation of his holy ark. It was God who then became our general, and accomplished these great things for our fathers, and this because they did not meddle with war and fighting, but committed it to him to judge about their affairs. When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, brought along with him all Asia, and encompassed this city round with his army, did he Call by the hands of men? were not those hands lifted up to God in prayers, without meddling with their arms, when an angel of God destroyed that prodigious army in one night? when the Assyrian king, as he arose the next day, found a hundred fourscore and five thousand dead bodies, and when he, with the remainder of his army fled away from the Hebrews, though they were unarmed, and did not pursue them. You are also acquainted with the slavery we were under at Babylon, where the people were captives for seventy years; yet were they not delivered into freedom again before God made Cyrus his gracious instrument in bringing it about: accordingly, they were set free by him, and did again restore the worship of their deliverer at his temple. And, to speak in general, we can produce no example wherein our fathers got any success by war, or failed of success when without war they committed themselves to God. When they stayed at home, they conquered, as pleased their judge; but when they went out to fight, they were always disappointed: for example, when the king of Babylon besieged this very city, and our king Zedekiah fought against him, con rary to what predictions were made to him by Jeremiah the prophet, he was at once taken prisoner, and saw the city and the temple demolished. Yet how much greater was the moderation of that king than is that of your present governors, and that of the people then under him, than is that of you at this time? for when Jeremiah cried out aloud, how very angry God was at them, because of their transgressions. and told them they should be taken prisoners, unless they would surrender up their city, neither did the king nor the people put him to death: but for you (to pass over what you have done within the city, which I am not able to describe, as your wickedness deserves,) you abuse me, and throw darts at me, who only exhort you to save yourselves, as being provoked when you are put in mind of your sins, and cannot bear the very mention of those crimes which you every day perpetrate. For another example, when Antiochus, who was called Epi *Note here, that Josephus, in this his same admirable speech, calls the Syrians, nay, even the Philistimes on the most south part of Syria, Assyrians; which Reland observes as what was common among the ancient writers. Note also, that Josephus might well put the Jews in mind, as he does here more than once, of their wonderful and truly miraculous deliverance from Sennacherib king of Assyria, while the Roman army, and himself with them, were now encamped upon and beyond that very spot of ground where the Assyrian army lay 780 years before, and which retained the very name of the Camp of the Assyrians to that very day. See chap. vii. sect. 3, and chap. xii. sect. 2.

phanes, lay before this city, and had been guilty of many indignities against God. and our forefathers met him in arms, they then were slain in the battle, this city was plundered by our enemies, and our sanctuary made desolate for three years and six months. And what need I bring any more examples? Indeed, what can it be that hath stirred up an army of the Romans against our nation? is it not the impiety of the inhabitants? Whence did our servitude commence? was it not derived from the seditions that were among our forefathers, when the madness of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, and our mutual quarrels, brought Pompey upon this city, and when God reduced those under subjection to the Romans who were un worthy of the liberty they had enjoyed. After a siege, therefore, of three months, they were forced to surrender themselves, although they had not been guilty of such offences with regard to our sanctuary and our laws as you have; and this while they had much greater advantages to go to war than you have. Do not we know what end Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, came to, under whose reign God provided that this city should be taken again upon account of the people's offences? When Herod, the son of Antipater, brought upon us Sosius, and Sosius brought upon us the Roman army, they were then encompassed and besieged for six months, till, as a punishment for their sins, they were taken, and the city was plundered by the enemy. Thus it appears that arms were never given to our nation, but that we are always given up to be fought against and to be taken; for I suppose that such as inhabit this holy place ought to commit the disposal of all things to God, and then only to disregard the assistance of men, when they resign themselves up to their arbitrator who is above. As for you, what have you done of those things that are recommended by our legislator and what have you not done of those things that he hath condemned? How much more impious are you than those which were so quickly taken? You have not avoided so much as those sins that are usually done in secret; I mean thefts and treacherous plots against men, and adulteries. You are quarrelling about rapines and murders, and invent strange ways of wickedness. Nay, the temple itself is become the receptacle of all, and this divine place is polluted by the hands of those of our own country; which place hath yet been reverenced by the Romans, when it was at a distance from them, when they have suffered many of their own customs to give place to our law. And, after all this, do you expect him whom you have so impiously abused to be your supporter? To be sure, then you have a right to be petitioners, and to call upon him to assist you, so pure are your hands! Did your king [Hezekiah] lift up such hands in prayer to God against the King of Assyria, when he destroyed that great army in one night? And do the Romans commit such wickedness, as did the king of Assyria, that you may have reason to hope for the like vengeance upon them? Did not that king accept of money from our king on this condition, that he should not destroy the city; and yet contrary to the oath he had taken, he came down to burn the temple while the Ro. mans do demand no more than that accustomed tribute which our fathers paid to their fathers; and if they may but once obtain that, they neither aim to destroy this city nor to touch this sanctuary; nay, they will grant you tesides, that your posterity shall be free, and your possessions secured to you, and will preserve your holy laws inviolate to you. And it is plain madness to expect that God should appear as well disposed towards the wicked as towards the righteous since he knows when it is proper to punish men for their sins immediately; ac cordingly, he brake the power of the Assyrians the very first night that they pitched their camp. Wherefore, had he judged that our nation was worthy of freedom, or the Romans of punishment, he had immediately inflicted punishment upon those Romans, as he did upon the Assyrians, when Pompey began to med. dle with our nation, or when, after him, Sosius came up against us, or when Ves pasian laid waste Galilee, or, lastly, when Titus came first of all near to this city; although Magnus and Sosius did not only suffer nothing, but took the city by

force; as did Vespasian go from the war he had made against you to receive the empire; and as for Titus, those springs that were formerly almost dried up* when they were under your power, since he has come, run more plentifully than they did before: accordingly, you know that Siloam, as well as all the other springs that were without the city, did so far fail that water was sold by distinct measures; whereas they now have such a great quantity of water for your enemies, as is sufficient not only for drink both for themselves and their cattle, but for watering their gardens also. The same wonderful sign you had also experience of for merly, when the forementioned king of Babylon made war against us, and when he took the city and burnt the temple; while yet I believe the Jews of that age were not so impious as you are. Wherefore, I cannot but suppose that God is fled out of his sanctuary, and stands on the side of those against whom you fight. Now, even a man, if he be but a good man, will fly from an impure house, and will hate those that are in it; and do you persuade yourselves that God will abide with you in your iniquities, who sees all secret things, and hears what is kept most private? Now, what crime is there, I pray you, that is so much as kept secret among you, or is concealed by you? nay, what is there that is not open to your very enemies? for you show your transgressions after a pompous manner, and contend one with another which of you shall be more wicked than another; and you make a public demonstration of your injustice, as if it were virtue. However, there is a place left for your preservation, if you be willing to accept of it; and God is easily reconciled to those that confess their faults and repent of them. O hard-hearted wretches as you are! cast away all your arms, and take pity of your country already going to ruin; return from your wicked ways, and have regard to the excellency of that city you are going to betray, to that excellent temple, with the donations of so many countries in it. Who could bear to

be the first that should set that temple on fire? who could be willing that these things should be no more? and what is there that can better deserve to be preserved? O insensible creatures, and more stupid than are the stones themselves! And if you cannot look at these things with discerning eyes, yet, however, have pity upon your families, and set before every one of your eyes your children, and wives, and parents, which will be gradually consumed either by famine or by war. I am sensible that this danger will extend to my mother and wife, and to that family of mine which hath been by no means ignoble, and, indeed, to one that hath been very eminent in old time; and, perhaps you may imagine that it is on their account only that I give you this advice: if that be all, kill them; nay, take my own blood as a reward, if it may but procure your preservation; for I am ready to die, in case you will but return to a sound mind after my death."'

CHAP. X.

How a great many of the People earnestly endeavoured to desert to the Romans: as also, what intolerable Things those that stayed behind suffered by Famine, and the sad Consequences thereof.

§ 1. As Josephus was speaking thus with a loud voice, the seditious would neither yield to what he said, nor did they deem it safe for them to alter their conduct; but as for the people, they had a great inclination to desert to the Romans: accordingly, some of them sold what they had, and even the most precious things that had been laid up as treasures by them, for a very small matter, and swallowed

This drying up of the Jerusalem fountain of Siloam, when the Jews wanted it, and its flowing abundantly when the enemies of the Jews wanted it, and these both in the days of Zedekiah and of Titus (and this last as a certain event well known by the Jews at that time, as Josephus, here tells them openly to their faces,) are very remarkable instances of a divine Providence for the punishment of the Jewish sation, when they were grown very wicked, at both those times of the destruction of Jerusaleni.

down pieces of gold that they might not be found out by the robbers; and when they had escaped to the Romans, went to stool, and had wherewithal to provide plentifully for themselves: for Titus let a great number of them go away into the country whither they pleased. And the main reasons why they were so ready to desert were these, that now they should be freed from those miserics which they had endured in that city, and yet should not be in slavery to the Romans: however, John and Simon, with their factions, did more carefully watch these men's going out, than they did the coming in of the Romans; and if any one did but afford the least shadow of suspicion of such an intention, his throat was cut immediately.

2. But as for the richer sort, it proved all one to them whether they staid in the city or attempted to get out of it; for they were equally destroyed in both cases; for every such person was put to death under this pretence, that they were going to desert, but in reality that the robbers might get what they had. The madness of the seditious did also increase together with their famine, and both those miseries were every day inflamed more and more; for there was no corn which any where appeared publicly, but the robbers came running into, and searched men's private houses; and then if they found any, they tormented them, because they had denied they had any, and if they found none, they tormented them worse, because they supposed they had more carefully concealed it. The indication they made use of, whether they had any or not, was taken from the bodies of these miserable wretches; which, if they were in good case, they supposed they were in no want at all of food, but if they were wasted away, they walked off without searching any farther: nor did they think it proper to kill such as these, because they saw they would very soon die of themselves for want of food. Many there were, indeed, who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort, but of barly, if they were poorer. When these had so done, they shut themselves up in the inmost rooms of their houses, and eat the corn they had gotten; some did it without grinding it, by reason of the extremity of the want they were in, and others baked bread of it, according as necessity and fear dictated to them: a table was nowhere laid for a distinct meal, but they snatched the bread out of the fire, half-baked, and eat it very hastily.

3. It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting [for want of it.] But the famine was too hard for all other passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to mo. desty; for what was otherwise worthy of reverence was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths; and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants; and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives; and while they ate after this manner, yet were they not concealed in so doing; but the seditious everywhere came upon them imme. diately, and snatched away from them what they had gotten from others; for when they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within had gotten some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in, and took pieces of what they were eating almost up out of their very throats, and this by force: the old men, who held their food fast, were beaten; and if the women hid what they had between their hands, their hair was torn for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the ground, as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten and shook them down upon the floor. But still were they more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented their coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right. They also invented terrible methods of torments, to discover where any food was, and they were these; to stop up the passages of the privy parts of the

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