205
[Whiston sect. 1] [sect. 1] WHEN therefore Titus had marched over that desert which lies between
Egypt and Syria, in the manner forementioned, he came to Cesarea, having
resolved to set his forces in order at that place, before he began the
war. Nay, indeed, while he was assisting his father at Alexandria, in settling
that government which had been newly conferred upon them by God, it so
happened that the sedition at Jerusalem was revived, and parted into three
factions, and that one faction fought against the other; which partition
in such evil cases may be said to be a good thing, and the effect of Divine
justice. Now as to the attack the zealots made upon the people, and which
I esteem the beginning of the city's destruction, it hath been already
explained after an accurate manner; as also whence it arose, and to how
great a mischief it was increased. But for the present sedition, one should
not mistake if he called it a sedition begotten by another sedition, and
to be like a wild beast grown mad, which, for want of food from abroad,
fell now upon eating its own flesh.
[Whiston sect. 2] [sect. 5] For Eleazar, the son of Simon, who made the first separation of the
zealots from the people, and made them retire into the temple, appeared
very angry at John's insolent attempts, which he made everyday upon the
people; for this man never left off murdering; but the truth was, that
he could not bear to submit to a tyrant who set up after him. So he being
desirous of gaining the entire power and dominion to himself, revolted
from John, and took to his assistance Judas the son of Chelcias, and Simon
the son of Ezron, who were among the men of greatest power. There was also
with him Hezekiah, the son of Chobar, a person of eminence. Each of these
were followed by a great many of the zealots; these seized upon the inner
court of the temple 206
and laid their arms upon the holy gates, and over the holy fronts of that
court. And because they had plenty of provisions, they were of good courage,
for there was a great abundance of what was consecrated to sacred uses,
and they scrupled not the making use of them; yet were they afraid, on
account of their small number; and when they had laid up their arms there,
they did not stir from the place they were in. Now as to John, what advantage
he had above Eleazar in the multitude of his followers, the like disadvantage
he had in the situation he was in, since he had his enemies over his head;
and as he could not make any assault upon them without some terror, so
was his anger too great to let them be at rest; nay, although he suffered
more mischief from Eleazar and his party than he could inflict upon them,
yet would he not leave off assaulting them, insomuch that there were continual
sallies made one against another, as well as darts thrown at one another,
and the temple was defiled every where with murders.
[Whiston sect. 3] [sect. 11] But now the tyrant Simon, the son of Gioras, whom the people had
invited in, out of the hopes they had of his assistance in the great distresses
they were in, having in his power the upper city, and a great part of the
lower, did now make more vehement assaults upon John and his party, because
they were fought against from above also; yet was he beneath their situation
when he attacked them, as they were beneath the attacks of the others above
them. Whereby it came to pass that John did both receive and inflict great
damage, and that easily, as he was fought against on both sides; and the
same advantage that Eleazar and his party had over him, since he was beneath
them, the same advantage had he, by his higher situation, over Simon. On
which account he easily repelled the attacks that were made from beneath,
by the weapons thrown from their hands only; but was obliged to repel those
that threw their darts from the temple above him, by his engines of war;
for he had such engines as threw darts, and javelins, and stones, and that
in no small number, by which he did not only defend himself from such as
fought against him, but slew moreover many of the priests, as they were
about their sacred ministrations. For notwithstanding these men were mad
with all sorts of impiety, yet did they still admit those that desired
to offer their sacrifices, although they took care to search the people
of their own country beforehand, and both suspected and watched them; while
they were not so much afraid of strangers, who, although they had gotten
leave of them, how cruel soever they were, to come into that court, were
yet often destroyed by this sedition; for those darts that were thrown
by the engines came with that force, that they went over all the buildings,
and reached as far as the altar, and the temple itself, and fell upon the
priests, and those 207
that were about the sacred offices; insomuch that many persons who came
thither with great zeal from the ends of the earth, to offer sacrifices
at this celebrated place, which was esteemed holy by all mankind, fell
down before their own sacrifices themselves, and sprinkled that altar which
was venerable among all men, both Greeks and Barbarians, with their own
blood; till the dead bodies of strangers were mingled together with those
of their own country, and those of profane persons with those of the priests,
and the blood of all sorts of dead carcasses stood in lakes in the holy
courts themselves. And now, "O must wretched city, what misery so
great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans, when they came to purify
thee from thy intestine hatred! 'For thou couldst be no longer a place
fit for God, nor couldst thou long continue in being, after thou hadst
been a sepulcher for the bodies of thy own people, and hadst made the holy
house itself a burying-place in this civil war of thine. Yet mayst thou
again grow better, if perchance thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of
that God who is the author of thy destruction." But I must restrain
myself from these passions by the rules of history, since this is not a
proper time for domestical lamentations, but for historical narrations;
I therefore return to the operations that follow in this sedition. 208
[Whiston sect. 4] [sect. 21] And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one
parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits,
came against John in their cups. Those that were with John plundered the
populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. This Simon had his supply
of provisions from the city, in opposition to the seditious. When, therefore,
John was assaulted on both sides, he made his men turn about, throwing
his darts upon those citizens that came up against him, from the cloisters
he had in his possession, while he opposed those that attacked him from
the temple by his engines of war. And if at any time he was freed from
those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being
drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his
party; and this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come
at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all
other provisions. 209
The same thing was done by Simon, when, upon the other's retreat, he attacked
the city also; as if they had, on purpose, done it to serve the Romans,
by destroying what the city had laid up against the siege, and by thus
cutting off the nerves of their own power. Accordingly, it so came to pass,
that all the places that were about the temple were burnt down, and were
become an intermediate desert space, ready for fighting on both sides of
it; and that almost all that corn was burnt, which would have been sufficient
for a siege of many years. So they were taken by the means of the famine,
which it was impossible they should have been, unless they had thus prepared
the way for it by this procedure.
[Whiston sect. 5] [sect. 27] And now, as the city was engaged in a war on all sides, from these
treacherous crowds of wicked men, the people of the city, between them,
were like a great body torn in pieces. The aged men and the women were
in such distress by their internal calamities, that they wished for the
Romans, and earnestly hoped for an external war, in order to their delivery
from their domestical miseries. The citizens themselves were under a terrible
consternation and fear; nor had they any opportunity of taking counsel,
and of changing their conduct; nor were there any hopes of coming to an
agreement with their enemies; nor could such as had a mind flee away; for
guards were set at all places, and the heads of the robbers, although they
were seditious one against another in other respects, yet did they agree
in killing those that were for peace with the Romans, or were suspected
of an inclination to desert them, as their common enemies. They agreed
in nothing but this, to kill those that were innocent. The noise also of
those that were fighting was incessant, both by day and by night; but the
lamentations of those that mourned exceeded the other; nor was there ever
any occasion for them to leave off their lamentations, because their calamities
came perpetually one upon another, although the deep consternation they
were in prevented their outward wailing; but being constrained by their
fear to conceal their inward passions, they were inwardly tormented, without
daring to open their lips in groans. :Nor was any regard paid to those
that were still alive, by their relations; nor was there any care taken
of burial for those that were dead; the occasion of both which was this,
that every one despaired of himself; for those that were not among the
seditious had no great desires of any thing, as expecting for certain that
they should very soon be destroyed; but for the seditious themselves, they
fought against each other, while they trod upon the dead bodies as they
lay heaped one upon another, and taking up a mad rage from those dead bodies
that were under their feet, became the fiercer thereupon. They, moreover,
were still inventing somewhat or other that was pernicious against themselves;
and when they had resolved upon any thing, they executed it without mercy,
and omitted no method of torment or of barbarity. Nay, John abused the
sacred materials, 210
and employed them in the construction of his engines of war; for the people
and the priests had formerly determined to support the temple, and raise
the holy house twenty cubits higher; for king Agrippa had at a very great
expense, and with very great pains, brought thither such materials as were
proper for that purpose, being pieces of timber very well worth seeing,
both for their straightness and their largeness; but the war coming on,
and interrupting the work, John had them cut, and prepared for the building
him towers, he finding them long enough to oppose from them those his adversaries
that thought him from the temple that was above him. He also had them brought
and erected behind the inner court over against the west end of the cloisters,
where alone he could erect them ; whereas the other sides of that court
had so many steps as would not let them come nigh enough the cloisters.
[Whiston sect. 6] [sect. 39] Thus did John hope to be too hard for his enemies by these engines
constructed by his impiety; but God himself demonstrated that his pains
would prove of no use to him, by bringing the Romans upon him, before he
had reared any of his towers; for Titus, when he had gotten together part
of his forces about him, and had ordered the rest to meet him at Jerusalem,
marched out of Cesarea. He had with him those three legions that had accompanied
his father when he laid Judea waste, together with that twelfth legion
which had been formerly beaten with Cestius; which legion, as it was otherwise
remarkable for its valor, so did it march on now with greater alacrity
to avenge themselves on the Jews, as remembering what they had formerly
suffered from them. Of these legions he ordered the fifth to meet him,
by going through Emmaus, and the tenth to go up by Jericho; he also moved
himself, together with the rest; besides whom, marched those auxiliaries
that came from the kings, being now more in number than before, together
with a considerable number that came to his assistance from Syria. Those
also that had been selected out of these four legions, and sent with Mucianus
to Italy, had their places filled up out of these soldiers that came out
of Egypt with Titus; who were two thousand men, chosen out of the armies
at Alexandria. There followed him also three thousand drawn from those
that guarded the river Euphrates; as also there came Tiberius Alexander,
who was a friend of his, most valuable, both for his good-will to him,
and for his prudence. He had formerly been governor of Alexandria, but
was now thought worthy to be general of the army [under Titus]. The reason
of this was, that he had been the first who encouraged Vespasian very lately
to accept this his new dominion, and joined himself to him with great fidelity,
when things were uncertain, and fortune had not yet declared for him. He
also followed Titus as a counselor, very useful to him in this war, both
by his age and skill in such affairs.
Ch. 2