consider that it is not fit for Romans to undertake any small work; and that none but God himself could with ease accomplish any great thing whatsoever.

2. These arguments prevailed with the commanders. So Titus gave orders that the army should be distributed to their several shares of this work; and, in. decd, there now came upon the soldiers a certain divine fury, so that they did not only part the whole wall that was to be built among them, nor did only one legion strive with another, but the lesser divisions of the army did the same; insomuch that each soldier was ambitious to please his decurion, each decurion his centu. rion, each centurion his tribune, and the ambition of the tribunes was to please their superior commanders; while Cæsar himself took notice of and rewarded the like contention in those commanders; for he went round about the works many times every day, and took a view of what was done. Titus began the wall from the camp of the Assyrians, where his own camp was pitched, and drew it down to the lower parts of Cenopolis; thence it went along the valley of Cedron to the Mount of Olives; it then bent towards the south, and encompassed the mountain as far as the rock called Peristerion, and that other hill which lies next it, and is over the valley which reaches to Siloam; whence it bended again to the west, and went down to the valley of the fountain, beyond which it went up again at the monument of Ananus the high priest, and encompassing that moun. tain where Pompey had formerly pitched his camp, it returned back to the north side of the city, and was carried on as far as a certain village called the House of the Erebinthi; after which it encompassed Herod's monument, and there, on the east, was joined to Titus's own camp, where it began. Now, the length of this wall was forty furlongs, one only abated. Now, at this wall without were erected thirteen places to keep garrison in, whose circumferences put together amounted to ten furlongs; the whole was completed in three days: so that what would naturally have required some months was done in so short an interval as is incredible. When Titus had, therefore, encompassed the city with this wall, and put garrisons into proper places, he went round the wall at the first watch of the night, and observed how the guard was kept; the second watch he allotted to Alexander; the commanders of legions took the third watch. They also cast lots among themselves who should be upon the watch in the night-time, and who should go all night long round the spaces that were interposed between the gar.

risons.

3. So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the market-places like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead, wheresoever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it, and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves; for many died as they were burying others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come. Nor was there any lamentations made under these calamities nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natura passions; for those that were just going to die looked upon those that were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they brake open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies, and plundered them of what they had, and carrying off the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the points of their swords in their dead bodies; and in order to prove what metal they were made of, they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for those that entreated them to lend them their right

hand and their sword to dispatch them, they were too proud to grant their re quests, and left them to be consumed by the famine. Now every one of these died with their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the seditious alive behind them. Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies. But af terwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from the walls into the valleys beneath.

4. However, when Titus in going his rounds along those valleys saw them full of dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction running about them, he gave a groan, and spreading out his hands to heaven, called God to witness that this was not his doing; and such was the sad case of the city itself. But the Romans were very joyful, since none of the seditious could now make sallies out of the city, because they were themselves disconsolate, and the famine already touched them also. These Romans besides had great plenty of corn and other necessaries out of Syria, and out of the neighbouring provinces; many of which would stand near to the wall of the city, and show the people what great quantities of pro. visions they had, and so make the enemy more sensible of their famine, by the great plenty, even to satiety, which they had themselves. However, when the seditious still showed no inclinations of yielding, Titus, out of his commiseration of the people that remained, and out of his earnest desire of rescuing what was still left of these miseries, began to raise his banks again, although materials for them were hard to be come at; for all the trees that were about the city had been al ready cut down for the making of the former banks. Yet did the soldiers bring with them other materials from the distance of ninety furlongs, and thereby raised banks in four parts much greater than the former, although this was done only at the tower of Antonia. So Cæsar went his rounds through the legions, and hastened on the works, and showed the robbers that they were now in his hands. But these men, and these only, were incapable of repenting of the wickedness they had been guilty of; and separating their souls from their bodies, they used them both as if they belonged to other folks and not to themselves: for no gentle affection could touch their souls, nor could any pain affect their bodies, since they could still tear the dead bodies of the people, as dogs do, and fill the prisons with those that were sick.

CHAP. XIII.

The great Slaughters and Sacrilege that were in Jerusalem.

§ 1. ACCORDINGLY Simon would not suffer Matthias, by whose means he go possession of the city, to go off without torment. This Matthias was the son of Boethus, and was one of the high priests, one that had been very faithful to the people, and in great esteem with them: he, when the multitude were distressed by the zealots, among whom John was numbered, persuaded the people to admit this Simon to come in to assist them, while he had made no terms with him, nor ex pected any thing that was evil from him. But when Simon was come in, and had gotten the city under his power, he esteemed him that had advised them to admit him as his enemy equally with the rest, as looking upon that advice as a piece of his simplicity only: so he had him then brought before him, and condemned to die for being on the side of the Romans, without giving him leave to make his defence. He condemned also his three sons to die with him; for as to the fourth, he prevented him by running away to Titus before. And when he begged for this, that he might be slain before his sons, and that as a favour, on account that he had procured the gates of the city to be opened to him, he gave order that he should be slain the last of them also; so he was not slain till he had seen his sons slain before his eyes, and that by being produced over against

the Romans; for such a charge had Simon given to Ananus, the son of Bamadus, who was the most barbarous of all his guards. He also jested upon him, and toid him, that he might now see whether those to whom he intended to go over would send him any succours or not; but still he forbade their dead bodies should be buried. After the slaughter of these, a certain priest, Ananias, the son of Masambulus, a person of eminency, as also Aristeus, the scribe of the sanhedrim, and born at Emmaus, and with him fifteen men of figure among the people, were slain. They also kept Josephus's father in prison, and inade public proclamation, that no citizen whatsoever should either speak to him himself, or go into his com pany among others, for fear he should betray them. They also slew such as joined in lamenting these men without any farther examination.

2. Now when Judas, the son of Judas, who was one of Simon's under officers, and a person intrusted by him to keep one of the towers, saw this procedure of Simon, he called together ten of those under him, that were most faithful to him (perhaps this was done partly out of pity to those that had so barbarously been put to death, but principally in order to provide for his own safety,) and spake thus to them:-"How long shall we bear these miseries? or what hopes have we of deliverance by thus continuing faithful to such wicked wretches? Is not the famine already come against us? Are not the Romans in a manner gotten within the city? Is not Simon become unfaithful to his benefactors? and is there not reason to fear he will very soon bring us to the like punishment, while the security the Romans offer us is sure? Come on, let us surrender up this wall, and save ourselves and the city. Nor will Simon be very much hurt, if, now he despairs of deliverance, he be brought to justice a little sooner than he thinks Now these ten were prevailed upon by those arguments; so he sent the rest of those that were under him some one way and some another, that no discovery might be made of what they had resolved upon. Accordingly, he called to the Romans from the tower about the third hour; but they, some of them out of pride, despised what he said, and others of them did not believe him to be in earnest, though the greatest number delayed the matter, as believing they should get possession of the city in a little time without any hazard. But when Titus was just coming thither with his armed men, Simon was acquainted with the matter before he came, and presently took the tower into his own custody before it was surrendered, and seized upon these men, and put them to death in the sight of the Romans themselves; and when he had mangled their dead bodies, he threw them down before the wall of the city.

on.

3. In the meantime Josephus, as he was going round the city, had his head wounded by a stone that was thrown at him, upon which he fell down as giddy; upon which fall of his the Jews made a sally, and he had been hurried into the city, if Cæsar had not sent men to protect him immediately; and as these men were fighting, Josephus was taken up, though he heard little of what was done. So the seditious supposed they had now slain that man whom they were the most desirous of killing, and made thereupon a great noise in way of rejoicing. This accident was told in the city; and the multitude that remained became very dis consolate at the news. as being persuaded that he was really dead, on whose ac count alone they could venture to desert to the Romans. But when Josephus's mother heard in prison that her son was dead, she said to those that watched about her, that "she had always been of opinion, since the siege of Jotapata. (that he would be slain,] and she should never enjoy him alive any more." She also made great lamentation privately to the maid servants that were about her and said, "This was all the advantage she had of bringing so extraordinary a person as this son into the world, that she should not be able even to bury that son of hers, by whom she expected to have been buried herself." However, this false report did not put his mother to pain, nor afford merriment to the robbers long; for Josephus soon recovered of his wound, and came out, and cried out aloud-"That it would not be long ere they should be punished for this wound

they had given him." He also made a fresh exhortation to the people to come out upon the security that would be given them. This sight of Josephus encouraged the people greatly, and brought a great consternation upon the sedi.

tious.

4. Hereupon some of the deserters, having no other way, leaped down from the wall immediately, while others of them went out of the city with stones, as if they would fight them; but thereupon they fled away to the Romans. But here a worse fate accompanied these than what they had found within the city; and they met with a quicker dispatch from the too great abundance they had among the Romans than they could have done from the famine among the Jews; for when they came first to the Romans, they were puffed up by the famine, and swelled like men in a dropsy: after which they all on the sudden overfilled those bodies that were before empty, and so burst asunder, excepting such only as were skilful enough to restrain their appetites, and by degrees took in their food into bodies unaccustomed thereto. Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved; for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrement of the Jews' bellies; for the deserters used to swallow such pieces of gold, as we told you before, when they came out; and for these did the seditious search them all; for there was a great quantity of gold in the city, insomuch that as much was now sold [in the Roman camp] for twelve Attic [drams] as was sold before for twenty-five. But when this contrivance was discovered in one instance, the fame of it filled their several camps, that the deserters came to them full of gold. So the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night's time about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected.

5. When Titus came to the knowledge of this wicked practice, he had like to have surrounded those that had been guilty of it with his horse, and have shot them dead; and he had done it, had not their number been so very great, and those that were liable to this punishment would have been manifold more than those whom he had slain. However, he called together the commanders of the auxiliary troops he had with him, as well as the commanders of the Roman legions (for some of his own soldiers had been also guilty herein, as he had been informed,) and had great indignation against both sorts of them, and said to them," What! have any of my own soldiers done such things as this out of the uncertain hope of gain, without regarding their own weapons, which are made of silver and gold? Moreover, do the Arabians and Syrians now first of all begin to govern themselves as they please, and to indulge their appetites in a foreign war, and then out of their barbarity in murdering men, and out of their hatred to the Jews, get it ascribed to the Romans?" for this infamous practice was said to be spread among some of his own soldiers also. Titus then threatened, that he would put such men to death, if any of them were discovered to be so insolent as to do so again moreover, he gave it in charge to the legions, that they should make a search after such as were suspected, and should bring them to him. But it appeared that the love of money was too hard for all their dread of punishment, and a vehement desire of gain is natural to men, and no passion is so venturesome as covetousness; otherwise such passions have certain bounds, and are subordinate to fear. But, in reality, it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction. This, therefore, which was forbidden by Cæsar under such a threatening, was ventured upon privately against the deserters, and these barbarians would go out still, and meet those that ran away before any saw them, and looking about them to see that no Romans spied them, they dissected them, and pulled this polluted money out of their bowels; which money was still found in a few of them, while yet a

great many were destroyed by the bare hope there was of thus getting by them; which miserable treatment made many that were deserting to return back again into the city.

6. But as for John, when he could no longer plunder the people, he betook himself to sacrilege, and melted down many of the sacred utensils, which had been given to the temple, as also many of those vessels which were necessary for such as ministered about holy things, the caldrons, the dishes, and the tables; nay, he did not abstain from those pouring vessels that were sent them by Augustus and his wife; for the Roman emperors did ever both honour and adorn this temple; whereas this man, who was a Jew, seized upon what were the donations of foreign. ers, and said to those that were with him, that it was proper for them to use divine things, while they were fighting for the Divinity, without fear; and that such whose warfare is for the temple, should live of the temple: on which account be emptied the vessels of that sacred wine and oil which the priests kept to be poured on the burnt-offerings, and which lay in the inner court of the temple, and distributed it among the multitude, who, in their anointing themselves, and drinking, used [each of them] above a hin of them. And here I cannot but speak my mind, and what the concern I am under dictates to me, and it is this:-I suppose, that had the Romans made any longer delay in coming against these villains, that the city would either have been swallowed up by the ground opening upon them, or been overflowed by water, or else been destroyed by such thunder as the country of Sodom* perished by; for it had brought forth a generation of men much more atheistical than were those that suffered such punishments; for by their madness it was that all the people came to be destroyed.

7. And, indeed, why do I relate these particular calamities? while Manneus, the son of Lazarus, came running to Titus at this very time, and told him, that there had been carried out through that one gate, which was intrusted to his care, no fewer than a hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty dead bodies, in the interval between the fourteenth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan,] when the Romans pitched their camp by the city, and the first day of the month Pane mus [Tamuz.] This was itself a prodigious multitude: and though this man was not himself set as a governor at that gate, yet was he appointed to pay the public stipend for carrying these bodies out, and so was obliged of necessity to number them, while the rest were buried with their relations; though all their burial was but this, to bring them away, and cast them out of the city. After this man there ran away to Titus many of the eminent citizens, and told him the entire number of the poor that were dead, and that no fewer than six hundred thousand were thrown out at the gates; though still the number of the rest could not be discovered: and they told him farther, that, when they were no longer able to carry out the dead bodies of the poor, they laid their corpses on heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein; as also that a medimnus of wheat was sold for a talent, and that when a while afterward, it was not possible to gather herbs, by reason the city was all walled about, some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search the common shores and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung which they got there; and what they of old could not endure so much as to see, they now used for food. When the Romans barely heard all this, they commiserated their case; while the seditious, who saw it also, did not repent, but suffered the same distress to come upon themselves; for they were blinded by that fate which was already coming upon the city, and upon themselves also.

Josephus, both here and before, B. iv. ch. viii. sect. 4, esteems the land of Sodom not as part of the Jake Asphaltitis, or under its waters, but near it only, as Tacitus also took the same notion from him Hist. v. vi. 7, which the great Reland takes to be the very truth, both on his note on this place, and in his Palestina, tom. i. p. 254-258; though I rather suppose part of that region of Pentapolis to be now undes the waters of the south part of that sea, but perhaps not the whole country.