time that he said this, he reflected on the desperate condition these men must be in; nor could he expect that such men could be recovered to sobriety of mind after they had indured those very sufferings, for the avoiding whereof it only was probable they might have repented. CHAP. IV. When the Banks were completed, and the Battering-Rams brought and could d nothing, Titus gave Orders to set Fire to the Gates of the Temple: in no long Time after which the holy House itself was burnt down, even against his Consent. § 1. AND now two of the legions had completed their banks on the eighth day of the month Lous [Ab.] Whereupon Titus gave orders that the battering-rams should be brought, and set over against the western edifice of the inner temple; for, before these were brought, the firmest of all the other engines had battered the wall for six days together without ceasing, without making any impresssion upon it; but the vast largeness and strong connection of the stones was superior to that engine and to the other battering-rams also. Other Romans did, indeed, undermine the foundations of the northern gate, and, after a world of pains, removed the outermost stones; yet was the gate still upheld by the inner stones, and stool still unhurt; till the workmen, despairing of all such attempts by engines and crows, brought their ladders to the cloisters. Now the Jews did not interrupt them in so doing; but when they were gotten up they fell upon them and fought with them; some of them they thrust down, and threw them back. wards headlong others of them they met and slew: they also beat many of those that went down the ladders again, and slew them with their swords before they could bring their shields to protect them; nay, some of the ladders they threw down from above when they were full of armed men: a great slaughter was made of the Jews also at the same time, while those that bare the ensigns fough hard for them, as deeming it a terrible thing, and what would tend to their great shame if they permitted them to be stolen away. Yet did the Jews at length get Dossession of these engines, and destroyed those that had gone up the ladders, while the rest were so intimidated by what those suffered who were slain that they re sired, although none of the Romans died without having done good service be fore his death. Of the seditious those that had fought bravely in the former battles did the like now; as besides them did Eleazar, the brother's son of Simon the tyrant. But when Titus perceived that his endeavours to spare a foreign temple turned to the damage of his soldiers, and made them be killed, he gave order to set the gates on fire. 2. In the mean time there deserted to him Ananus, who came from Emmaus, the most bloody of all Simon's guards, and Archilaus, the son of Magadatus, they hoping to be still forgiven, because they left the Jews at a time when they were the conquerors. Titus objected this to these men as a cunning trick of theirs; and as he had been informed of their other barbarities towards the Jews, he was going in all haste to have them both slain. He told them, “that they were only driven to this desertion because of the utmost distress they were in, and did not come away of their own good disposition; and that those did not deserve to be preserved, by whom their own city was already set on fire, out of which fire they now hurried themselves away." However, the security he had promised deserters overcame his resentments, and he dismissed them accordingly, though he did not give them the same privileges that he had afforded to others. And now the soldiers had already put fire to the gates, and the silver that was over them quickly carried the flames to the wood that was within it, whence it spread itself all on the sudden, and caught hold of the cloisters. Upon the Jew seeing this fire all about them, their spirits sunk, together with their bodies, and they were under such astonishment that not one of them made any haste either to defend himself or to quench the fire, but they stood as mute spectators of it only. However, they did not so grieve at the loss of what was now burning as to grow wiser thereby for the time to come; but, as though the holy house itself had been on fire already, they whetted their passions against the Romans. This fire prevailed during that day and the next also; for the soldiers were not able to burn all the cloisters that were round about together at one time, but only by pieces. 3. But then, on the next day, Titus commanded part of his army to quench the fire, and to make a road for the more easy marching up of the legions, while he himself gathered the commanders together. Of those there were assembled the six principal persons, Tiberius Alexander, the commander [under the general] of the whole army, with Sextus Cerealis, the commander of the fifth legion, and Larcius Lepidus the commander of the tenth legion, and Titus Frigius, the commander of the fifteenth legion; there was also with them Eternius, the leader of the two legions that came from Alexandria, and Marcus Antonius Julianus, procurator of Judea: after these came together also the rest of the procurators and tribunes. Titus proposed to these, that they should give him their advice what should be done about the holy house. Now some of these thought "it would be the best way to act according to the rules of war [and demolish it,] because the Jews would never leave off rebelling while that house was standing, at which house it was that they used to get all together." Others of them were of opinion, that "in case the Jews would leave it, and none of them would lay their arms up in it, he might save it; but that in case they got upon it, and fought any more, he might burn it; because it must then be looked upon not as a holy house, but as a citadel; and that the impiety of burning it would then belong to those that forced this to be done, and not to them." But Titus said, that "although the Jews should get upon that holy house, and fight us thence, yet ought we not to revenge ourselves on things that are inanimate instead of the men themselves; and that he was not in any case for burning down so vast a work as that was, because this would be a mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their government while it continued." So Fronto, and Alexander, and Cerealis, grew bold upon that declaration, and agreed to the opinion of Titus. Then was this assembly dissolved, when Titus had given order to the comman ders that the rest of their forces should lie still, but that they should make use of such as were most courageous in this attack. So he commanded that the chosen men that were taken out of the cohorts should make their way through the ruins, and quench the fire. 4. Now, it is true, that on this day the Jews were so weary, and under such consternation, that they refrained from any attacks. But on the next day they gathered their whole force together, and ran upon those that guarded the outward court of the temple very boldly through the east gate, and this about the second hour of the day. These guards received that their attack with great bravery and by covering themselves with their shields before, as if it were with a wall, they drew their squadrons close together; yet was it evident that they could no abide there very long, but would be overborne by the multitude of those that sal lied out upon them, and by the heat of their passion. However, Cæsar seeing, from the tower of Antonia, that this squadron was likely to give way, he sent soine chosen horsemen to support them. Hereupon the Jews found themselves not able to sustain their onset, and, upon the slaughter of those in the forefront, many of the rest were put to flight. But as the Romans were going off, the Jews turned upon them, and fought them; and as those Romans came back upon them, they retreated again, until about the fifth hour of the day they were overborne, and shut themselves up in the inner [court of the] temple. 5. So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house. But as for that house, God had for certain long ago doomed it to the fire and now that fatal day was come, according to the revo iution of ages; it was the tenth day of the month Lous [Ab,] upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon: although these flames took their rise from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them: for upon Titus's reti. ring, the seditious lay still for a little while, and then attacked the Romans again, when those that guarded the holy house fought with those that quenched the fire that was burning in the inner [court of the] temple; but these Romans put the Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the holy house itself. At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried only by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of it. As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamour, such as so mighty an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it: and now they spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered any thing to restrain their force, since that holy house was perishing, for whose sake it was that they kept such a guard about it. 6. And now a certain person came running to Titus, and told him of this fire, as he was resting himself in his tent after the last battle; whereupon he rose up in great haste, and, as he was, ran to the holy house, in order to have a stop put to the fire; after him followed all his commanders, and after them followed the several legions in great astonishment: so there was a great clamour and tumult raised, as was natural upon the disorderly motion of so great an army. Then did Cæsar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting with a loud voice and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their ears already dinned by a greater noise another way: nor did they attend to the signal he made with his hand neither, as still some of them were distracted with fighting, and others with passion. But as for the legions that came running thither, neither any persuasions nor any threatenings could restrain their violence; but each one's own passion was his commander at this time; and as they were crowding into the temple together, many of them were trampled on by one another, while a great number fell among the ruins of the cloisters, which were still hot and smoking, and were destroyed in the same miserable way with those whom they had conquered: and when they were come near the holy house, they made as if they did not so much as hear Caesar's orders to the contrary; but they encouraged those that were before them to set it on fire. As for the seditious, they were in too great distress already to afford their assistance [towards quenching the fire:] they were every where slain, and every where beaten; and as for a great part of the people, they were weak, and without arms, and had their throats cut wherever they were caught. Now round about the altar lay dead bodies heaped one upon another, as at the steps* going up to it ran a great quantity of their blood, whither also the dead bodies that were slain above [on the altar] fell down. 7. And now, since Cæsar was no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, he went into the holy place of the temple, with his commanders, and saw it, with what was in it, which he found to be far superior to what the relations of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted of and believed about it. But as the flame had not as yet reached to its inward parts, but was still consuming the rooms that were about the holy house, and Titus supposing, what the fact was, that the house These steps to the altar of burnt-offering seem here either an improper and inaccurate expression of Josephus, since it was unlawful to make ladder steps (see the description of the temples, chap. xii. and note on Antiq. B. iv. ch. viii. sect. 5,) or else those steps or stairs we now use were invented before the dave of Herod the Great, and had been here built by him; though the later Jews always deny it, and say, that even Herod's altar was ascended to by au acclivity only. itself might yet be saved, he came up in haste, and endeavoured to persuade the soldiers to quench the fire; and gave order to Liberalius, the centurion, and one of those spearmen that were about him, to beat the soldiers that were refractory with their staves, and to restrain them: yet were their passions too hard for the regards they had for Cæsar, and the dread they had of him who forbade them, as was their hatred of the Jews, and a certain vehement inclination to fight them too hard for them also. Moreover, the hope of plunder induced many to go on, as having this opinion, that all the places within were full of money, and as seeing that all around about it was made of gold. And, besides, one of those that went into the place prevented Caesar, when he ran so hastily out to restrain the soldiers, and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate, in the dark; whereby the flame burst out from within the holy house itself immediately, when the commanders retired, and Cæsar with them, and when nobody any longer forbade those that were without to set fire to it. And thus was the holy house burnt down without Cæsar's approbation. 8. Now, although any one would justly lament the destruction of such a work as this was, since it was the most admirable of all the works that we have seen or heard, both for its curious structure and its magnitude, and also for the vast wealth bestowed upon it, as well as for the glorious reputation it had for its holiness; yet might such a one comfort himself with this thought, that it was fate that decreed it so to be, which is inevitable, both as to living creatures and as to works and places also. However, one cannot but wonder at the accuracy of this period thereto relating; for the same month and day were now observed, as I said before, wherein the holy house was burnt formerly by the Babylonians. Now the number of years that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by King Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, are collected to be one thousand one hundred and thirty, besides seven months and fifteen days; and from the second building of it, which was done by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus the king, till its destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred thirty-nine years and forty-five days. CHAP. V. The great Distress the Jews were in upon the Conflagration of the Holy House Concerning a false Prophet, and the Signs that preceded this Destruction. § 1. WHILE the holy house was on fire, every thing was plundered that came t. hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain: nor was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity, but children and old men, and profane persons, and priests, were all slain in the same manner; so that this war went round all sorts of men, and brought them to destruction, and as well those that made supplication for their lives as those that defended themselves by fighting. The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, toge. ther with the groans of those that were slain; and because this hill was high, and the works at the temple were very great one would have thought the whole city had been on fire. Nor can one imagine any thing either greater or more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamour of the seditious, who were now sur rounded with fire and sword. The people also that were left above were beaten back upon the enemy, and under a great consternation, and made sad moans at the calamity they were under the multitude also that was in the city joined in this outcry with those that were upon the hill: and, besides, many of those that were worn away by the famine, and their mouths almost closed, when they saw the fire of the holy house, they exerted their utmost strength, and brake out into Toans and outcries again: Perea* did also return the echo, as well as the moun wins round about [the city,] and augmented the force of the entire noise. Yet as the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it; that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that vere slain more in number than those that slew them: for the ground did no where appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers wen over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them. And now it was that the multitude of the robbers were thrust out [of the inner court of the temple] by the Romans, and had much ado to get into the outward court, and from thence into the city, while the remainder of the populace fled into the cloister of that outer court. As for the priests, some of them plucked up from the holy house the spikest that were upon it, with their bases, which were made of lead, and shot them at the Romans instead of darts. But then, as they gained nothing by so doing, and as the fire burst out upon them, they retired to the wall, that was eight cubits broad, and there they tarried; yet did two of these of eminence among them, who might have saved themselves by going over to the Romans, or have borne up with courage, and taken their fortune with the others, throw themselves into the fire, and were burnt, together with the holy house: their names were Meirus, the son of Belgas, and Joseph, the son of Daleus. 2. And now the Romans, judging that it was in vain to spare what was round about the holy house, burnt all those places, as also the remains of the cloisters and the gates, two excepted; the one on the east side and the other on the south; both which, however, they burnt afterward. They also burnt down the treasury. chambers, in which was an immense quantity of money, and an immense number of garments, and other precious goods there reposited; and, to speak all in a few words, there it was that the entire riches of the Jews were heaped up together while the rich people had there built themselves chambers [to contain such fur niture.] The soldiers also came to the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer [court of the] temple, whither the women and children, and a great mixed multi tude of the people, fled, in number about six thousand. But before Cæsar had determined any thing about these people, or given the commanders any orders re. lating to them, the soldiers were in such a rage that they set that cloister on fire; by which means it came to pass, that some of these were destroyed by throwing themselves down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloisters themselves. Not did any one of them escape with his life. A false prophet was the occasion‡ of these people's destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that "God commanded them to get up upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deli erance." Now there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose on the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; that this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. Now a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for when such a seducer makes him believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress him, then it is that the patient is full of hopes of such his deliverance. 3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such This Perea, if the word be not mistaken in the copies, cannot well be that Perea which was beyond Jordan, whose mountains were at a considerable distance from Jordan, and much too remote from Jerusalem to join this echo at the conflagration of the temple; but Perea must be rather some mountains be yond the brook Cedron, as was the mount of Olives, or some others, about such a distance from Jerusa em: which observation 's so obvious, that it is a wonder our commentators here take no notice of it. + Reland, I think, bere judges well, when he interprets these spikes (of those that stood on the top of the holy house) with sharp points: they were fixed into lead to prevent the birds from sitting there, and defiling the holy house; for such spikes there were now upon it, as Josephus himself hath already assured us, B. v. ch. v. sect. 6. Reland here justly takes notice, that these Jews, who had despised the true Prophet,were deservedly abused and deluded by these false ones. |