aled the six principal persons, Tiberius Alexan- come, according to the revolution of ages; it was der, the commander [under the general] of the the tenth day of the month Lous, [Ab,] upon whole army with Sextus Cerealis, the command-which it was formerly burnt by the king of Ba er 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 Antonias 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 up their arms 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 themises; and that he was not in any case for bylon; although these names took their rise from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them: for upon Titus's retiring, 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 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 clamor, 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: wherein great haste, and, as he was, ran to the holy burning down so vast a work as that was, because upon he rose up in order to have a stop put this would be a mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their go-to the fire; after him followed all his commandvernment while it continued." So Fronto, and ers, and after them followed the several legions Alexander, and Cerealis, grew bold upon that de- in great astonishment: so there was a great claclaration, and agreed to the opinion of Titus. mor and tumult raised, as was natural upon the Then was this assembly dissolved, when Titus disorderly motion of so great an army. Then had given orders to the commanders that the rest did Cæsar, both by calling to the soldiers that of their forces should lie still, but that they were fighting, with a loud voice, and by giving a should make use of such as were most courage-signal to them with his right hand, order them ous 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. to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their ears already dinned by a great noise another way: nor did they attend to the signal he made 4. Now it is true, that on this day the Jews with his hand neither, as still some of them were were so weary, and under such consternation, distracted with fighting, and others with passion. that they refrained from any attacks. But on the But as for the legions that came running thither, next day they gathered their whole force to- neither any persuasions nor any threatenings gether, and ran upon those that guarded the could restrain their violence, but each one's own outward court of the temple very boldly, through passion was his commander at this time; and as the east gate, and this about the second hour of they were crowding into the temple together, the day. These guards received that their attack many of them were trampled on by one another, with great bravery, and by covering themselves while a great number fell among the ruins of the with their shields before, as if it were with a cloisters, which were still hot and smoking, and wall, they drew their squadron close together; were destroyed in the same miserable way with yet it was evident that they could not abide there those whom they had conquered: and when they very long, but would be overborne by the multi-were come near the holy house, they made as if tude of those that sallied 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 some 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 back 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 prerborne, 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 These steps to the altar of burnt-offering seem here either an improper and inaccurate expression of Josepbus, since it was unlawful to make ladder steps, (see the de. scription: of the temples, chap. xiii. and note on An iq. B. iv. ch. viii. sect. 5,) or else those steps or stairs we they did not so much as hear Cæsar'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 upon one another, as at the steps going up to it ran a quantity of their blood, whither also the dead bodies that were slain above [on the al tar] fell down. 7. And now, since Cæsar was noway 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 com manders, and saw it, with what was in it, which he found to be far superior to what the relations now use were invented before the days 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 an acclivity only. of foreigners containe, 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 noly house, and Titus supposing what the fact was, that the house itselt might "et be saved, he came in haste, and endea▼red 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 round about it was made of gold. And besides, one of those that went into the place prevented Cæsar, 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 wheu nobody any longer forbade those that were without to set are to it. And thus was the holy house burnt down, with out Caesar'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 of, 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 canflagration of the holy House. Concerning a false Prophet, and the Signs that preceded this Destruction. high, and the works at the temple were very great, one would have thought the whole city nad 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 clamor of the seditious, who were now surrounded 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 join ed 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 groans and outcries again; Perea* did also return the echo, as well as the mountains round about the [city.] and augmented the force of the entire noise. Yet was 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 were slain more in number than those that slew them, for the ground did nowhere appear visible for the dead bodies that lay on it, but the soldiers went over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them. And now it was that e 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 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 inmense 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 1. WHILE the house was on fire, every thing Jews were heaped up together, while the rich was plundered that came to hand, and ten thou- people had there built themselves chambers [to sand of those that were caught were slain: nor contain such furniture.] The soldiers also came was there a commiseration of any age, or any reto the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer verence of gravity; but children, and old men, [court of the] temple, whither the women and and profane persons, and priests, were all slain children, and a great mixed multitude of the peo in the same manner; so that this war went round ple fled, in number about six thousand. But beall sorts of men, and brought them to destruc-fore Cæsar had determined any thing about these tion, 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, together with the groans of those that were slain; and because this hill was 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 mountain beyond the brook Cedron, as was the mount of Olives, or some others, about such a disease from Jerusalem: which observation is so obvious, people, or given the commanders any orders relating 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 that it is a wonder our commentators here take no notice of it. Reland, I think, here judges well, when he interprets these spikes (of those that stood on the top of the boly 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 ` as Josephus himself hath already assured us, B. v. cn v. sect. 6. BOOK VI.-CHAP. V some were burnt in the cloisters themselves. Nor did any one of them escape with his life. 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 for their deliverance." 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; and 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 as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a start resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus,‡ [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskilful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the temple,] which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it, who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation Besides these, a that was coming upon them. few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: suppose the account of it would seem *Reland here justly takes notice, that these Jews, who had despised the true Prophet, were deservedly abused and deluded by these false ones. Whether Josephus means, that this star was different from that comet which lasted a whole year, I cannot certainly determine. His words most favor their being different one from another. Since Josephus still uses the Syro-Macedonian month Xanthicus for the Jewish month Nisan, this 8th, or as Nicephorus read it, this 9th of Xanthicus or Nisan was almust a week before the Passover on the 14th: about which time we learn from St. Johu that many used to go out of the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves, John xi. 15 with xii. 1, in agreement with Josephus also, B. v. ch. to be a fable were it not related by those that 1 iii. sect. 1. And it might well be, that in the sight of these this extraordinary light might appear. This here seems to be the court of the priests. Both Reland and Havercamp in this place alter the natural punctuation and sense of Josephus, and this contrary to the opinion of Valesius and Dr. Hudson, lest Josephus should say, that the Jews built booths or tents within the temple, at the feast of Tabernacles; which the latter rabbins will not a low to have been the ancient praetice: but then, since it is expressly told us in Nehemiah, viii. 16, that in still elder times, the Jews made booths in the courts of the house of God at that festival, Josephus may well be permitted to say the same. And, indeed, the modern rabbins are of very small authority in all such matters of remote antiquity |