BOOK VI.

CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE MONTHL

FROM THE GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WERE REDUCEF T THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS.

CHAP. I.

That the Miseries of the Jews still grew worse; and how the Romans made an Assault upon the Tower of Antonia.

THUS did the miseries of Jerusalem grow worse and worse every day, and the seditious were still more irritated by the calamities they were under, even while the famine preyed upon themselves after it had preyed upon the people. And, indeed, the multitude of carcasses that lay in heaps one upon another was a horrible sight, and produced a pestilentiel stench, which was a hinderance to those that would make sallies out of the city, and fight the enemy: but as those were to go in battle array, who had been already used to ten thousand murders, and must tread upon those dead bodies as they marched along, so were they not terrified, nor did they pity men as they marched over them; nor did they deem this affront offered to the deceased to be any ill omen to themselves; but as they had their right hands already polluted with the murders of their own countrymen, and in that condition ran out to fight with foreigners, they seem to me to have cast a reproach upon God himself, as if he were too slow in punishing them: for the war was not now gone on with, as if they had any hope of victory; for they glo. rified after a brutish manner in that despair of deliverance they were already in. And now the Romans, although they were greatly distressed in getting together their materials, raised their banks in one and twenty days, after they had cut down all the trees that were in the country that adjoined to the city, and that for ninety furlongs round about, as I have already related. And, truly, the very view itself of the country was a melancholy thing; for those places which were before adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become a desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down; nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change; for the war had laid all the signs of beauty quite waste; nor if any one that had knowu the place before had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again; but though he were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it notwithstanding.

2. And now the banks were finished, they afforded a foundation for fear both to the Romans and to the Jews; for the Jews expected that the city would be taken, unless they could burn those banks, as did the Romans expect that, if these were once burnt down, they should never be able to take it; for there was mighty scarcity of materials, and the bodies of the soldiers began to fail with such hard labours, as did their souls faint with so many instances of ill success; uav the very calamities themselves that were in the city proved a greater dis. couragement to the Romans than to those within the city; for they found the fighting men of the Jews to be not at all mollified among such their sore afflic tions, while they had themselves perpetually less and less hopes of success, and

their banks were forced to yield to the stratagems of the enemy, their engines to the firmness of their wall, and their closest fights to the boldness of their attack; and, what was their greatest discouragement of all, they found the Jews' courageous souls to be superior to the multitude of the miseries they were under by their sedition, their famine, and the war itself; insomuch that they were ready to imagine, that the violence of their attacks was invincible, and that the alacrity they showed would not be discouraged by their calamities; for what would not those be able to bear if they should be fortunate, who turned their very mis. fortunes to the improvement of their valour? These considerations made the Romans to keep a stronger guard about their banks than they formerly had done.

3. But now John and his party took care for securing themselves afterward, even in case this wall should be thrown down, and fell to their work before the battering-rams were brought against them. Yet did they not compass what they endeavoured to do, but as they were gone out with their torches, they came back under great discouragement before they came near to the banks: and the rea sons were these :-That, in the first place, their conduct did not seem to be unanimous, but they went out in distinct parties, and at distinct intervals, and after a slow manner, and timorously, and, to say all in word, without a Jewish courage; for they were now defective in what is peculiar to our nation, that is, in boldness, in violence of assault, and in running upon the enemy altogether, and in persevering in what they go about, though they do not at first succeed in it; but they now went out in a more languid manner than usual, and at the same time found the Romans set in array, and more courageous than ordinary, and that they guarded their banks both with their bodies and their entire armour, and this to such a degree on all sides, that they left no room for the fire to get among them, and that every one of their souls were in such good courage, that they would sooner die than desert their ranks; for besides their notion that all their hopes were cut off, in case these their works were once burnt, the soldiers were greatly ashamed that subtilty should be quite too hard for courage, madness for armour, multitude for skill, and Jews for Romans. The Romans had now also another advantage, in that their engines for seiges cooperated with them in throwing darts and stones as far as the Jews, when they were coming out of the city; whereby the man that fell became an impediment to him that was next him, as did the danger of going farther make them less zealous in their attempts; and for those that had run under the darts, some of them were terrified by the good order and closeness of the enemies ranks, before they came to a close fight, and others were pricked with their spears, and turned back again: at length they reproached one another for their cowardice, and retired without doing any thing. This attack was made upon the first day of the month Panemus [Tamuz.] So when the Jews were retreated, the Romans brought their engines, although they had all the while stones thrown at them from the tower of Antonia, and were as. saulted by fire and sword, and by all sorts of darts which necessity afforded the Jews make use of; for although these had great dependence on their own wall and a contempt of the Roman engines, yet did they endeavour to hinder the Romans from bringing them. Now these Romans struggled hard, on the contrary to bring them, as deeming that this zeal of the Jews was in order to avoid any impression to be made on the tower of Antonia, because its wall was but weak and its foundations rotten. However, that tower did not yield to the blows given it from the engines; yet did the Romans bear the impressions made by the enemies' darts, which were perpetually cast at them, and did not give way to any of those dangers that came upon them from above, and so they brought their engines to bear. But then, as they were beneath the other, and were sadly wounded by the stones thrown down upon them, some of them threw their shields over their bodies, and partly with their hands, and partly with their bodies, and partly with crows, they undermined its foundations, and with great

ains they removed four of its stones. Then night came upon both sides, and ut an end to this struggle for the present: however, that night the wall was so haken by the battering-rams in that place where John had used his stratagem efore, and had undermined their banks, that the ground then gave way, and the wall fell down suddenly.

4. When this accident had unexpectedly happened, the minds of both parties were variously affected: for though one would expect that the Jews would be dis. couraged, because this fall of their wall was unexpected by them, and they ha nade no provision in that case, yet did they pull up their courage, because the ower of Antonia itself was still standing; as was the unexpected joy of the Ronans at this fall of the wall soon quenched by the sight they had of another wall, which John and his party had built within it. However, the attack of this second wall appeared to be easier than that of the former, because it seemed a thing of greater facility to get up to it through the parts of the former wall that were now hrown down. This new wall appeared also to be much weaker than the tower of Antonia, and, accordingly, the Romans imagined that it had been erected so nuch on the sudden, that they should soon overthrow it: yet did not any body venture now to go up to this wall; for that such as first ventured to do so must certainly be killed.

5. And now Titus, upon consideration that the alacrity of soldiers in war is chiefly excited by hopes and by good words, and that exhortations and promises do frequently make men to forget the hazards they run, nay, and sometimes to despise death itself, got together the most courageous part of his army, and tried what he could do with his men by these methods:-" O fellow soldiers," said e,"to make an exhortation to men to do what hath no peril in it, is, on that very account, inglorious to such to whom that exhortation is made; and, indeed, 30 it is in him that makes the exhortation an argument of his own cowardice also. , therefore, think that such exhortations ought then only to be made use of when affairs are in a dangerous condition, and yet are worthy of being attempted by every one themselves: accordingly, I am fully of the same opinion with you, that t is a difficult task to go up this wall; but that it is proper for those that desire eputation for their valour to struggle with difficulties in such cases, will then ap. Dear, when I have particularly showed that it is a brave thing to die with glory, and that the courage here necessary shall not go unrewarded in those that first egin the attempt. And let my first argument to move you to it be taken from vhat probably some would think reasonable to dissuade you, I mean the constancy na patience of these Jews, even under their ill successes; for it is unbecoming ou, who are Romans and my soldiers, who have in peace been taught how to nake wars, and who have also been used to conquer in those wars, to be inferior > Jews either in action of the hand or in courage of the soul, and this especially when you are at the conclusion of your victory, and are assisted by God himself; or as to our misfortunes, they have been owing to the madness of the Jews, hile their sufferings have been owing to your valour, and to the assistances God ath afforded you; for as to the seditions they have been in, and the famine they re under, and the siege they now endure, and the fall of their walls without our ngines, what can they all be but demonstrations of God's anger against them, nd of his assistance afforded us! It will not, therefore, be proper for you either show yourselves inferior to those to whom you are really superior, or to betray at divine assistance which is afforded you. And, indeed, how can it be esteemed therwise than a base and unworthy thing, that while the Jews, who need not be uch ashamed if they be deserted, because they have long learned to be slaves others, do yet despise death, that they be so no longer; and do make sallies to the very midst of us frequently, not in hopes of conquering us, but merely a demonstration of their courage; we, who have gotten possession of alınost the world that belongs to either land or sea, to whom it will be a great shame we do not conquer them, do not once undertake any attempt against our ene,

mies wherein there is much danger, but sit still idle, with such brave arms as we have, and only wait till the famine and fortune do our business themselves, and this when we have it in our power, with some small hazard, to gain all that we desire for, if we go up to this tower of Antonia, we gain the city; for if there should be any more occasion for fighting against those within the city, which I do not suppose there will, since we shall then be upon the top of the hill,* and be upon our enemies before they can have taken breath, these advantages promise us no less than a certain and sudden victory. As for myself, I shall at present wave any ommendations of those who die in war,† and omit to speak of the immortality of those men who are slain in the midst of their martial bravery: yet cannot I forbear to imprecate upon those who are of a contrary disposition, that they may die in time of peace, by some distemper or other, since their souls are condemned to the grave, together with their bodies; for what man of virtue is there who does not know that those souls which are severed from their fleshly bodies in battles by the sword, and received by the other, that purest of elements, and joined to that company which we are placed among the stars: that they become good demons and propitious heroes, and show themselves as such to their posterity af. terwards? while upon those souls that wear away in and with their distempered bodies, comes a subterranean night, to dissolve them to nothing, and a deep oblivion to take away all the remembrance of them, and this notwithstanding they be clean from all spots and defilements of this world, so that, in this case, the soul at the same time comes to the utmost bounds of its life, and of its body, and of its memorial also. But, since fate hath determined that death is to come of necessity upon all men, a sword is a better instrument for that purpose than any disease whatsoever. Why is it not then a very mean thing for us not to yield up that to the public benefit, which we must yield up to fate? And this discourse have I made upon the supposition that those who first attempt to go upon this wall must needs be killed in the attempt, though still men of true courage have a chance to escape, even in the most hazardous undertakings. For, in the first place, that part of the former wall that is thrown down is easily to be ascended, and for the new built wall it is easily destroyed. Do you, therefore, many of you, pull up your courage, and set about this work and do you mutually encourage and assist one another; and this your bravery will soon break the hearts of your enemics; and, perhaps, such a glorious undertaking as yours is may be ac. complished without bloodshed. For although it be justly to be supposed that the Jews will try to hinder you, at your first beginning, to go up to them, yet when you have once concealed yourselves from them, and driven them away by force, they will not be able to sustain your efforts against them any longer, though but a few of you prevent them, and get over the wall. As for that per son who first mounts the wall, I should blush for shame if I did not make him to be envied of others, by those rewards I would bestow upon him. If such a one escape with his life, he shall have the command of others that are now but his equals; although it be true also, that the greatest rewards ‡ will accrue to such as die in the attempt.

6. Upon this speech of Titus the rest of the multitude were affrighted at so great a danger. But there was one whose name was Sabinus, a soldier that served among the cohorts, and a Syrian by birth, who appeared to be of very great fortitude, both in the actions he had done and the courage of his soul he

* Reland notes here, very pertinently, that the tower of Antonia stood higher than the floor of the temple, or court adjoining to it; and that, accordingly, they descended thence into the temple, as Jose phus elsewhere speaks also. See B. vi. ch. ii. sect. 5.

In this speech of Titus we may clearly see the notions which the Romans then had of death, and of the happy state of those who died bravely in war, and the contrary estate of those who died ignobly their beds by sickness. Reland here also produces two parallel passages, the one out of Ammiama Marcellinus, concerning the Alani, lib. 31, that "they judged that man happy who laid down hi life in battle." The other of Valerius Maximus, lib. xi. c. 6, who says, that "the Cimbri and Celta beri exulted for joy in the army, as being to go out of the world gloriously and happily."

¡See note preceding page.

had showea; although any body would have thought, before he came to his work, that he was of such a weak constitution of body, that he was not fit to be a soldier; for his colour was black, his flesh was lean and thin, and lay close together; but there was a certain heroic soul that dwelt in this small body, which body was, indeed, much too narrow for that peculiar courage which was in him. Accordingly, he was the first that rose up, when he thus spake :-" I readily surrender up myself to thee, O Cæsar! I first ascend the wall, and I heartily wish that my fortune may follow my courage and my resolution. And if some ill fortune grudge me the success of my undertaking, take notice that my ill suc. tess will not be unexpected, but that I choose death voluntarily for thy sake." When he had said this, and spread out his shield over his head with his left hand, and had with his right hand drawn his sword, he marched up to the wall, just about the sixth hour of the day. There followed him eleven others, and no more, that resolved to imitate his bravery; but still this was the principal person of them all, and went first, as excited by a divine fury. Now those that guarded the wall shot at them from thence, and cast innumerable darts upon them from every side; they also rolled very large stones upon them, which overthrew some of those eleven that were with him. But, as for Sabinus himself, he met the darts that were cast at him; and though he were overwhelmed with them, yet did he not leave off the violence of his attack before he had gotten up on the top of the wall, and had put the enemy to flight: for as the Jews were astonished at his great strength and the bravery of his soul, and as, withal, they imagined more of them had got upon the wall than really had, they were put to flight. And now one cannot but complain here of fortune, as still envious at virtue, and always hindering the performance of glorious achievements: this was the caso of the man before us, when he had just obtained his purpose; for he then stumbled at a certain large stone, and fell down upon it headlong, with a very great noise upon which the Jews turned back, and when they saw him to be alone, and fallen down also, they threw darts at him from every side. However, he got upon his knee, and covered himself with his shield, and the first defended himself against them, and wounded many of those that came near him: but he was soon forced to relax his right hand, by the mulcitude of the wounds that had been given him, till, at length, he was quite covered over with darts, before he gave up the ghost. He was one who deserved a better fate, by reason of his bravery; but, as might be expected, he fell under so vast an attempt. As for the rest of his partners, the Jews dashed three of them to pieces with stones, and slew them, as they were gotten up to the top of the wall; the other eight being wounded, were pulled down, and carried back to the camp. These things were done upon the third day of the month Panemus [Tamuz.] 7. Now, two days afterward, twelve of those men that were on the forefront, and kept watch upon the banks, got together, and called to them the standardbearer of the fifth legion, and two others of a troop of horsemen, and one trumpeter: these went without noise, about the ninth hour of the night, through the ruins, to the tower of Antonia; and when they had cut the throats of the first guards of the place, as they were asleep, they got possession of the wall, and ordered the trumpeter to sound his trumpet: upon which the rest of the guard got up on the sudden, and ran away, before any body could see how many there were that were gotten up; for partly from the fear they were in, and partly from the sound of the trumpet which they heard, they imagined a great number of the enemy were gotten up. But as soon as Cæsar heard the signal, he ordered the army to put on their armour immediately, and came thither with his commanders, and first of all ascended, as did the chosen men that were with him. And as the Jews were flying away to the temple, they fell into that mine which John had dug under the Roman banks. Then did the seditious of both the bodies of the Jewish army, as well that belonging to John as that belonging to Simon, drive them way; and, indeed, were no way wanting as to the highest degree of force und