or pursuits. But still there was a tumultuous noise among the Romans from the tower of Antonia, who loudly cried out upon all occasions to their own men to press on courageously, when they were too hard for the Jews, and to stay, when they were retiring backward; so that here was a kind of theatre of war; for what was done in this fight could not be concealed either from Titus or from those that were about him. At length it appeared that this fight, which began at the ninth hour of the night, was not over till past the fifth hour of the day, and that in the same place where the battle began neither party could say they had made the other to retire; but both the armies left the victory almost in uncertainty between them; wherein those that signalized themselves on the Roman side were a great many, but on the Jewish side, and of those that were with Simon, Judas the son of Merto, and Simon the son of Josias; of the Idumeans, James and Simon, the latter of whom was the son of Cathlas, and James was the son of Sosas; of those that were with John, Gyptheus and Alexas, and of the zealots Simon the son of Jairus. 7. In the mean time, the rest of the Roman army had, in seven days' time, overthrown [some] foundations of the tower of Antonia, and had made a ready and broad way to the temple. Then did the legions come near the first court,* and began to raise their banks. The one bank was over against the northwest corner of the inner temple';† another was at that northern edifice which was be. ween the two gates: of the other two, one was at the western cloister of the outer court of the temple; the other against its northern cloister. However, these works were thus far advanced by the Romans, not without great pains and diffi. culty, and particularly by being obliged to bring their materials from the distance. of a hundred furlongs. They had farther difficulties also upon them; sometimes by their overgreat security they were in that they should overcome the Jewish snares laid for them, and by that boldness of the Jews which their despair of es caping had inspired them withal; for some of their horsemen, when they went out to gather wood or hay, let their horses feed, without having their bridles on during the time of foraging; upon which horses the Jews sallied out in whole bo dies, and seized them. And when this was continually done, and Cæsar believed, what the truth was, that the horses were stolen more by the negligence of his own men than by the valour of the Jews, he determined to use greater severity to oblige the rest to take care of their horses: so he commanded that one of those soldiers who had lost their horses should be capitally punished; whereby he so terrified the rest, that they preserved their horses for the time to come; for they did not any longer let them go from them to feed by themselves, but, as if they had grown to them, they went always along with them when they wanted necessaries. Thus did the Romans still continue to make war against the temple, and to raise their banks against it. 8. Now, after one day had been interposed since the Romans ascended the breach, many of the seditious were so pressed by the famine upon the present failure of their ravages, that they got together, and made an attack on those Roman guards that were upon the mount of Olives, and this about the eleventh hour of the day, as supposing, first, that they would not expect an onset, and, in the next place, that they were then taking care of their bodies, and that, therefore, they should easily beat them. But the Romans were apprized of their coming to attack them beforehand, and running together from the neighbouring camps on the sudden, prevented them from getting over their fortification, or forcing the wall that was built about them. Upon this came on a sharp fight, and here many great actions were performed on both sides; while the Romans showed both their courage and their skill in war, as did the Jews come on them with immo. derate violence and intolerable passion. The one party were urged on by shame, and the other by necessity; for it seemed a very shameful thing to the Romans to * Court of the Gentiles let the Jews go, now they were taken in a kind of net; while the Jews had but one hope of saving themselves, and that was in case they could by violence break through the Roman wall; and one, whose name was Pedanius, belonging to a party of horsemen, when the Jews were already beaten and forced down into the valley together, spurred his horse on their flank with great vehemence, and caught up a certain young man belonging to the enemy by his ankle, as he was running away. The man was, however, of a robust body, and in his armour; so low did Pedanius bend himself downward from his horse, even as he was galloping away, and so great was the strength of his right hand and of the rest of his body, as also such skill had he in horsemanship. So this man seized upon that his prey as upon precious treasure, and carried him as his captive to Cæsar: whereupon Titus admired the man that had seized the other for his great strength, and ordered the man that was caught to be punished [with death] for his attempt against the Roman wall, but betook himself to the siege of the temple, and to pressing on the raising of the banks. 9. In the meantime the Jews were so distressed by the fights they had been in, as the war advanced higher and higher, and creeping up to the holy house itself, that they, as it were, cut off those limbs of their body which were infected, in order to prevent the distemper's spreading farther; for they set the northwest cloister, which was joined to the tower of Antonia, on fire, and after that break off about twenty cubits of that cloister, and thereby made a beginning in burning the sanctuary: two days after which, or on the twenty-fourth day of the forenamed month [Panemus or Tamuz,] the Romans set fire to the cloister that joined to the other, when the fire went fifteen cubits farther. The Jews, in like manner, cut off its roof; nor did they entirely leave off what they were about till the tower of Antonia was parted from the temple, even when it was in their power to have stopped the fire; nay, they lay still while the temple was first set on fire, and deemed this spreading of the fire to be for their own advantage. However, the armies were still fighting one against another about the temple, and the war was managed by continual sallies of particular parties against one another. 10. Now there was at this time a man among the Jews; low of stature he was, and of a despicable appearance; of no character either as to his family, or in other respects; his name was Jonathan. He went out at the high priest John's monument, and uttered many other insolent things to the Romans, and challenged the best of them all to a single combat. But many of those that stood there in the army huffed him, and many of them (as they might well be) were afraid of hint Some of them also reasoned thus, and that justly enough, that it was not fit tc fight with a man that desired to die: because those that utterly despaired of deliverance had, besides other passions, a violence of attacking men that could not be opposed, and had no regard to God himself: and that to hazard one's self with a person, whom, if you overcome, you do no great matter, and by whom it is hazardous that you may be taken prisoner, would be an instance not of manly courage, but of unmanly rashness. So there being nobody that came out to ac cept the man's challenge, and the Jew cutting them with a great number of reproaches, as cowards (for he was a very haughty man in himself, and a great despiser of the Romans,) one whose name was Pudens, of the body of horsemen, out of his abomination of the other's words, and of his impudence withal, and, perhaps, out of an inconsiderate arrogance, on account of the other's lowness of stature, ran out to him, and was too hard for him in other respects, but was be trayed by his ill fortune; for he fell down; and as he was down, Jonathan came running to him, and cut his throat; and then standing upon his dead body, he brandished his sword, bloody as it was, and shook his shield with his left hand, and made many acclamations to the Roman army, and insulted over the dead man, and jested upon the Romans; till at length one Priscus a centurion shot a dart at him, as he was leaping and playing the fool with himself, and thereby pierced him through; upon which a shout was set up both by the Jews and the Romans, though on different accounts. So Jonathan grew giddy by the pain of his wounds, and fell down upon the body of his adversary, as a plain instance how suddenly vengeance may come upon men that have success in war without any just deserving the same. CHAP. III. Concerning a Stratagem that was devised by the Jews, by which they burnt many of the Romans; with another Description of the terrible Famine that was in the City. § 1. But now the seditious that were in the temple did every day openly endea. vour to beat off the soldiers that were upon the banks; and on the twenty-seventh day of the forenamed month [Panemus or Tamuz] contrived such a stratagem as this:-They filled that part of the western cloister* which was between the beams and the roof under them with dry materials, as also with bitumen and pitch, and then retired from that place, as though they were tired with the pains they had taken; at which procedure of theirs many of the most inconsiderate among the Romans, who were carried away with violent passions, followed hard after them as they were retiring, and applied ladders to the cloister, and got up to it suddenly but the more prudent part of them, when they understood this unaccountable retreat of the Jews, stood still where they were before. How. ever, the cloister was full of those that were gone up the ladders; at which time the Jews set it all on fire; and as the flame burst out every where on the sud. den, the Romans that were out of the danger were seized with a very great con sternation, as were those that were in the midst of the danger in the utmost distress. So when they perceived themselves surrounded with the flames, some of them threw themselves down backwards into the city, and some among their ene. mies [in the temple ;] as did many leap down to their own men, and broke their limbs to pieces; but a great number of those that were going to take these vio. lent methods were prevented by the fire, though some prevented the fire by their own swords. However, the fire was on the sudden carried so far as to surround those who would have otherwise perished. As for Cæsar himself, he could not, however, but commiserate those that thus perished, although they got up thither without any order for so doing, since there was no way of giving them any relief. Yet was this some comfort to those that were destroyed, that every body might see that person grieve for whose sake they came to their end; for he cried out openly to them, and leaped up, and exhorted those that were about him to do their utmost to relieve them. So every one of them died cheerfully, as carrying along with him these words, and this intention of Cæsar, as a sepulchral monuinent. Some there were, indeed, who retired into the wall of the cloister, which was broad, and were preserved out of the fire, but were then surrounded by the Jews; and although they made resistance against the Jews for a long time, yet were they wounded by them, and at length they all fell down dead. 2. At the last, a young man among them, whose name was Longus, became a decoration to this sad affair, and while every one of them that perished were worthy of a memorial, this man appeared to deserve it beyond all the rest. Now the Jews admired this man for his courage, and were farther desirous of having him slain; so they persuaded him to come down to them upon security given him for his life. But Cornelius his brother persuaded him on the contrary not to tar. nish their own glory, nor that of the Roman army. He complied with this last advice, and lifting up his sword before both armies, he slew himself. Yet was there one Artorius among those surrounded with the fire who escaped by his sub • Of the court of the Gentiles. tility; for when he had with a loud voice called to him Lucius, one of his fellow soldiers that lay with him in the same tent, and said to him,-"I do leave thee heir of all I have, if thou wilt come and receive me." Upon this he came running to receive him readily: Artorius then threw himself down upon him, and saved his own life, while he that received him was dashed so vehemently against the stone pavement by the other's weight, that he died immediately. This melancholy accident made the Romans sad for a while, but still it made them more upon their guard for the future, and was of advantage to them against the delu sions of the Jews, by which they were greatly damaged, through their unac quaintedness with the places and with the nature of the inhabitants. Now this cloister was burnt down as far as John's tower, which he built in the war he made against Simon, over the gates that led to the Xystus. The Jews also cut off the rest of that cloister from the temple, after they had destroyed those that got up to it. But the next day the Romans burnt down the northern cloister en. tirely as far as the east cloister, whose common angle joined to the valley that was called Cedron, and was built over it; on which account the depth was fright. ful. And this was the state of the temple at that time. 3. Now of those that perished by famine in the city the number was prodi. gious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable; for if so much as the shadow of any kind of food did any where appear, a war was commenced presently, and the dearest friends fell a fighting one with another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports of life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food, but the robbers would search them when they were expiring, lest any one should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying: nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the houses like drunken men; they would also, in the great distress they were in, rush into the very same houses two or three times in one and the same day. Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew every thing, while they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would not touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they, at length, abstain from girdles and shoes, and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed: the very wisps of old hay became food to some, and some gathered up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic [drachmæ.] But why do I describe the shameless impudence that the famine brought on men in their eating inanimate things?! while I am going to relate a matter of fact, the like to which no history relates,* either among the Greeks or barbarians. It is horrible to speak of it, and incredible when heard. I had, indeed, willingly omitted this calamity of ours, that I might not seem to deliver what is so portentous to pos terity, but that I have innumerable witnesses to it in my own age; and, besides, my country would have had little reason to thank me for suppressing the mise. ries that she underwent at this time. 4. There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond Jordan; her name was Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethezub, which signifies the House of Hyssop. She was eminent for her family and her wealth, and had fled away to Jerusalem, with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein * What Josephus observes here, that no parallel examples had been recorded before this time of such sieges, wherein mothers were forced by extremity of famine to eat their own children, as had been threatened to the Jews, in the law of Moses, upon obstinate disobedience, and more than once fulfilled 'see my Boyle's Lectures, p. 210-214,) is by Dr. Hudson supposed to have had two or three parallel examples in later ages. He might have had more examples, I suppose, of persons on shipboard, or in a desert island, casting lots for each other's bodies. But all this was only in cases where they knew of no possible way to avoid death themselves but by killing and eating others. Whether such examples come up to the present case may be doubted. The Romans were not only willing but very desirous to grant those Jews in Jerusalem both their lives and their liberties, and to save both their city and thei temple. But the zealots, the robbers, and the seditious, would hearken to no terms of submission They voluntarily chose to reduce the citizens to that extremity, as tc force mothers to this unnatural bar harity, which in all its circumstances has not, I still suppose, been hitherto paralleled among the sest of mankind. at this time. The other effects of this woman had been already seized upon, such I mean as she had brought with her out of Perea, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day running into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great pas sion; and by the frequent reproaches and imprecations she cast at these rapacious villains, she had provoked them to anger against her; but none of them, either out of the indignation she had raised against herself, or out of commise. ration of her case, would take away her life; and if she found any food, she perceived her labours were for others, and not for herself; and it was now be come impossible for her any way to find any more food, while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow, when also her passion fired to a degree beyond the famine itself; nor did she consult with any thing but with her passion and the necessity she was in. She then attempted a most unnatural thing, and snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said,-"O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us even before that slavery comes upon us. Yet are the seditious rogues more terrible than both the other. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets, and a byword to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews." As soon as she had said this, she slew her son, and then roasted him, and ate the one-half of him, and kept the other half by her, concealed. Upon this the seditious came in presently, and smelling the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her, that they would cut her throat immediately, if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied, that "she had saved a very fine portion of it for them ;" and withal uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight, when she said to them," This is mine own son, and what hath been done was mine own doing. Come, eat of this food, for I have eaten of it myself. Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother: but if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one-half, let the rest be reserved for me also." After which those men went out trembling, being never so much affrighted at any thing as they were at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city was full of this horrid action immediately and while every body laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard of action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die, and those already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either to hear or to see such miseries. 5. This sad instance was quickly told to the Romans, some of which could not believe it, and others pitied the distress which the Jews were under; but there were many of them who were hereby induced to a more bitter hatred than ordinary against our nation. But for Caesar, he excused himself before God as to this matter, and said, "that he had proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as an oblivion of all their former insolent practices; but that they, instead of concord, had chosen sedition; instead of peace, war; and, before satiety and abundance, a famine: that they had begun with their own hands to burn down that temple which we have preserved hitherto; and that, therefore, they deserved to eat such food as this was; that, however, this horrid action of eating an own child ought to be covered with the overthrow of their very country itself: and men ought not to leave such a city upon the habitable earth, to be seen by the sun, wherein mothers are thus fed, although such food be fitter for the fathers than for the mothers to eat of, since it is they that continue still in a state of war against us, after they have undergone such miseries as these." And at the same |