 Book 7, chapters 6 and 7 of the Wars of the Jews. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Wars of the Jews by Josephus. Translated by William Weston. Chapter 6 and 7. Chapter 6. Concerning Macarus and how Lucilius Bassus took that citadel and other places. 1. Now Lucilius Bassus was sent as legate into Judea, and there he received the army from Serialus Vitellianus and took that citadel which was in Herodium together with the garrison that was in it. 2. After which he got together all the soldiery that was there, which was a large body but dispersed into several parties, with the tenth legion, and resolved to make war upon Macarus. 3. For it was highly necessary that this citadel should be demolished, lest it might be a means of drawing away many into a rebellion by reason of its strength. 4. For the nature of the place was very capable of affording the surest hopes of safety to those that possessed it, as well as delay and fear to those that should attack it. 5. For what was wild in was itself a very rocky hill, elevated to a very great height, which circumstance alone made it very hard to be subdued. 6. It was also so contrived by nature that it could not be easily ascended, for it is, as it were, ditched about with such valleys on all sides, and to such a depth that the eye cannot reach their bottoms, and such as are not easily to be passed over, and even such as it is impossible to fill up with earth. 7. For that valley, which cuts it on the west, extends to three score furlands, and did not end till it came to the lake Asphaltidus. On the same side it was also that Macarus had the tallest top of its hill elevated above the rest. 8. But then for the valleys that lay on the north and south sides, although they be not so large as that already described, yet it is in like manner an impracticable thing to think of getting over them. 9. And for the valley that lies on the east side, its depth is found to be no less than a hundred cubits. It extends as far as a mountain that lies over against Macarus, with which it is bounded. 2. Now when Alexander, Janius, the king of the Jews, observed the nature of this place, he was the first who built a citadel there, which afterwards was demolished by Gabinius when he made war against Aristotleus. 3. But when Herod came to be king, he thought the place to be worthy of the utmost regard and of being built upon in the firmest manner, and this especially because it lay so near to Arabia, for it is seated in a convenient place on that account and hath a prospect toward that country. 4. He therefore surrounded a large space of ground with walls and towers, and built a city there, out of which city there was a way that led up to the very citadel itself on the top of the mountain. 5. Nay, more than this, he built a wall round that top of the hill, and erected towers at the corners of 160 cubits high. 6. In the middle of which place he built a palace, after a magnificent manner, wherein were large and beautiful edifices. 7. He also made a great many reservoirs for the reception of water, that there might be plenty of it ready for all uses, and those in the properest places that were afforded him there. 8. Thus did he, as it were, contend with the nature of the place, that he might exceed its natural strength and security, which yet itself rendered it hard to be taken by those fortifications which were made by the hands of men. 9. Moreover, he put a large quantity of darts and other machines of war into it, and contrived to get everything thither that might anyway contribute to its inhabitants' security under the longest siege possible. 3. Now within this place there grew a sort of rue that deserves our wonder on account of its largeness. Footnote. Spanheim observes here that in Gracia Major in Sicily they had rue prodigiously great and durable like this rue at Macorus, and footnote. 4. For it was no way inferior to any fig tree whatsoever, either in height or in thickness, and the report is that it had lasted ever since the times of Herod, and would probably have lasted much longer had it not been cut down by those dews who took possession of the place afterward. 5. But still in that valley which encompasses the city on the north side there is a certain place called Barus, which produces a root of the same name with itself, its color is like to that of flame, and towards the evenings it sends out a certain ray like lightning. 6. It is not easily taken by such as would do it, but recedes from their hands, nor will yield itself to be taken quietly until either the urine of a woman or her menstrual blood be poured upon it. 7. Nay, even then it is certain death to those that touch it, unless any one take and hang the root itself down from his hand, and so carry it away. 8. It may also be taken another way without danger which is this. 9. They dig a trench quite around it till the hidden part of the root be very small. They then tie a dog to it, and when the dog tries hard to follow him that tied him, this root is easily plucked up, but the dog dies immediately as if it were instead of the man that would take the plant away. 10. Nor after this need any one be afraid of taking it into their hands. Yet after all this pains in getting, it is only valuable on account of one virtue at half, that if it be only brought to sick persons, it quickly drives away those called demons, which are no other than the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men that are alive and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against them. 11. This strange account of the place and root, Barus, seems to have been taken from the magicians, and the root to have been made use of in the days of Josephus, in that superstitious way of casting out demons, supposed by him to have been derived from King Solomon, of which we have already seen he had a great opinion. 12. We also may hence learn the true notion Josephus had of demons and demoniacs exactly like that of the Jews and Christians in the New Testament and the first four centuries. 13. Here are also fountains of hot water that flow out of this place, which have a very different taste one from the other, for some of them are bitter and others of them are plainly sweet. 14. Here are also many eruptions of cold waters, and this not only in the places that lie lower and have their fountains near one another, but what is still more wonderful, here is to be seen a certain cave hard by, whose cavity is not deep, but it is covered over by a rock that is prominent. 15. Above this rock there stand up two hills or breasts as it were, but a little distant one from another, the one of which sends out a fountain that is very cold, and the other sends out one that is very hot, which waters when they are mingled together, compose a most pleasant bath. 16. They are medicinal indeed for other maladies, but especially good for strengthening the nerves. This place has in it also mines of sulfur and alum. 4. Now when Bassus had taken a full view of this place, he resolved to besiege it by filling up the valley that lay on the east side. So he fell hard to work and took great pains to raise his banks as soon as possible, and by that means to render the siege easy. 7. As for the Jews that were caught in this place, they separated themselves from the strangers that were with them, and they forced those strangers, as an otherwise useless multitude, to stay in the lower part of the city and undergo the principal dangers, while they themselves seized on the upper citadel and held it, and this both on account of its strength and to provide for their own safety. 8. They also supposed they might obtain their pardon in case they should at last surrender the citadel. However, they were willing to make trial in the first place whether the hopes they had of avoiding a siege would come to anything, with which intention they made sallies every day and fought with those that met them, in which conflicts they were many of them slain, as they therein slew many of the Romans. 9. But still it was the opportunities that presented themselves which chiefly gained both sides their victories. These were gained by the Jews when they fell upon the Romans as they were off their guard, but by the Romans, when upon the other sallies against their banks, they foresaw their coming and were upon their lard when they received them. 10. But the conclusion of this siege did not depend upon these bickering, but a certain surprising accident relating to what was done in this siege forced the Jews to surrender the citadel. 11. There was a certain young man among the besieged of great boldness and very active of his hand. His name was Eleazar. He greatly signalized himself in those sallies and encouraged the Jews to go out in great numbers in order to hinder the raising of the banks, and did the Romans a vast deal of mischief when they came to fighting. 12. He so managed matters that those who sallied out made their attacks easily and returned back without danger, and this by still bringing up the rear himself. 13. Now it happened that on a certain time when the fight was over and both sides were parted and retired home, he, in way of contempt of the enemy, and thinking that none of them would begin the fight again at that time, stayed without the gates and talked with those that were upon the wall. 14. And his mind was wholly intent upon what they said. Now a certain person belonging to the Roman camp whose name was Rufus by birth in Egyptian ran upon him suddenly when nobody expected such a thing and carried him off with his armor itself, while in the meantime those that saw it from the wall were under such an amazement that Rufus prevented their assistance and carried Eleazar to the Roman camp. 15. So the general of the Romans ordered that he should be taken up naked, set before the city to be seen, and sorely whipped before their eyes. Upon this sad accident that befell the young man, the Jews were terribly confounded, and the city with one voice sorely lamented him, and the mourning proved greater than could well be supposed upon the calamity of a single person. 16. When Bassus perceived that, he began to think of using a stratagem against the enemy, and was desirous to aggravate their grief in order to prevail with them to surrender the city for the preservation of that man. 17. Nor did he fail of his hope, for he commanded them to set up a cross as if he were just going to hang Eleazar upon it immediately. 18. The sight of this occasioned a sore grief among those that were in the citadel, and they groaned vehemently, and cried out that they would not bear to see him thus destroyed. 19. Whereupon Eleazar besought them not to disregard him, now he was going to suffer a most miserable death, and exhorted them to save themselves by yielding to the Roman power and good fortune, since all other people were now conquered by them. 20. These men were greatly moved with what he said, there being also many within the city that interceded for him, because he was of an eminent and very numerous family. So they now yielded to their passion of commissuration, contrary to their usual custom. 21. Accordingly they sent out immediately certain messengers and treated with the Romans in order to a surrender of the citadel to them, and desired that they might be permitted to go away and take Eleazar along with them. 22. Then did the Romans and their general accept of these terms, while the multitude of strangers that were in the lower part of the city, hearing of the agreement that was made by the Jews for themselves alone, were resolved to fly away privately in the night time. 23. But as soon as they had opened their gates, those that had come to terms with Bassus told him of it. Whether it were that they envied the other's deliverance, or whether it were done out of fear, lest an occasion should be taken against them upon their escape is uncertain. 24. The most courageous therefore of these men that went out prevented the enemy and got away and fled for it, but for those men that were caught within they—rest of text is lost. 5. When Bassus had settled these affairs he marched hastily to the forest of Jardin, as it is called, for he had heard that a great many of those that had fled from Jerusalem and Macorus formerly were there gotten together. 6. When he was therefore come to the place and understood that the former news was no mistake, he in the first place surrounded the whole place with his horsemen, that such of the Jews as had boldness enough to try to break through might have no way possible for escaping by reason of the situation of those horsemen, and for the footmen he ordered them to cut down the trees that were in the wood whither they were fled. So the Jews were under a necessity of performing some glorious exploit and of greatly exposing themselves in a battle, since they might perhaps thereby escape. 7. So they made a general attack and with a great shout fell upon those that surrounded them who received them with great courage, and so while the one side fought desperately and the others would not yield, the fight was prolonged on that account. 8. But the event of the battle did not answer the expectation of the assailants, for so it happened that no more than twelve fell on the Roman side with a few that were wounded. 9. But not one of the Jews escaped out of this battle, but they were all killed, being in the whole not fewer in number than three thousand, together with Judas the son of Jairus their general, concerning whom we have before spoken, that he had been a captain of a certain band at the siege of Jerusalem and by going down into a certain vault underground had privately made his escape. 6. About the same time it was that Caesar sent a letter to Bassus and to Liberius Maximus, who was the procurator of Judea, and gave order that all Judea should be exposed to sail, for he did not found any city there but reserved the country for himself. 7. Footnote. It is very remarkable that Titus did not people this now desolate country of Judea but ordered it to be all sold, nor indeed is it properly peopled at this day but lies ready for its old inhabitants the Jews and their future restoration and footnote. 8. However he assigned a place for eight hundred men only, whom he had dismissed from his army, which he gave them for their habitation. It is called Emmaus and is distant from Jerusalem three score furlongs. 9. Footnote. That the city of Emmaus or Arraindus in Josephus and others which was the place of the government of Julius africanus were slain to the number of one thousand seven hundred as were the women and the children made slaves. 10. But as Bassus thought he must perform the covenant he had made with those that had surrendered the citadel he let them go and restored Eleazar to them in the beginning of the third century and which he then procured to be rebuilt and after which rebuilding it was called Nicopolis is entirely different from that Emmaus which is mentioned by St. Luke twenty four thirteen and under the name Amaeus also. 11. But he justly thinks that that in St. Luke may well be the same with his Amaeus before us especially since the Greek copies here usually make it sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem as does St. Luke though the Latin copies say only thirty. 12. The place also allotted for these eight hundred soldiers as for a Roman garrison in this place would most naturally be not so remote from Jerusalem as was the other Amaeus or Nicopolis and footnote. 13. He also laid a tribute upon the Jews where so ever they were and enjoined every one of them to bring two drachmae every year into the capital as they used to pay the same to the temple at Jerusalem and this was the state of the Jewish affairs at this time. Chapter 7. Concerning the calamity that befell Antiochus king of Comagene as also concerning the Allens and what great mischiefs they did to the Medes and Armenians. 1. And now in the fourth year of the reign of Vespasian it came to pass that Antiochus the king of Comagene with all his family fell into very great calamities. The occasion was this. 2. Secenius Pettus who was president of Syria at this time whether it were done out of regard to truth or whether out of hatred to Antiochus for which was the real motive was never thoroughly discovered sent an epistle to Caesar and therein told him that Antiochus with his son Epiphanes had resolved to rebel against the Romans and had made a league with the king of Parthia to that purpose. 3. That it was therefore fit to prevent them lest they prevent us and begin such a war as may cause a general disturbance in the Roman Empire. 4. Now Caesar was disposed to take some care about the matter since this discovery was made. For the neighborhood of the kingdoms made this a fair worthy of greater regard. 5. For Samosedda the capital of Comagene lies upon Euphrates and upon any such design could afford an easy passage over it to the Parthians and could also afford them a secure reception. 6. Pettus was accordingly believed and had authority given him of doing what he should think proper in the case so he said about it without delay and fell upon Comagene before Antiochus and the people had the least expectation of his coming. 7. He had with him the 10th legion as also some cohorts and troops of horsemen. 8. These kings also came to his assistance. Aristopolis king of the country called Chelsedain and Sohamas who was called king of Emesa. 9. Nor was there any opposition made to his forces when they entered the kingdom for no one of that country would so much as lift up his hand against them. 10. When Antiochus heard this unexpected news he could not think in the least of making war with the Romans but determined to leave his whole kingdom in the state wherein it now was and to retire privately with his wife and children as thinking thereby to demonstrate himself to the Romans to be innocent as to the accusation laid against him. 11. So he went away from that city as far as 120 furlongs into a plain and there pitched his tents. 12. Pettus then sent some of his men to seize upon Samosate and by their means took possession of that city while he went himself to attack Antiochus with the rest of his army. 13. However the king was not prevailed upon by the distress he was in to do anything in the way of war against the Romans but bemoaned his own hard fate and endured with patience what he was not able to prevent. 14. But his sons who were young and unexperienced in war but of strong bodies were not easily induced to bear this calamity without fighting. 15. Epiphanes therefore and Colinicus betook themselves to military force and as the battle was a sore one and lasted all the day long they showed their own valor in a remarkable manner and nothing but the approach of night put a period there too and that without any diminution of their forces. 16. Yet would not Antiochus upon this conclusion of the fight continue there by any means but took his wife and his daughters and fled away with them to Cilicia and by so doing quite discouraged the minds of his own soldiers. 17. Accordingly they revolted and went over to the Romans out of the despair they were in of his keeping the kingdom and his case was looked upon by all as quite desperate. 18. It was therefore necessary that Epiphanes and his soldiers should get clear of their enemies before they became entirely destitute of any confederates. 19. Nor were there any more than ten horsemen with him who passed with him over Euphrates once they went undisturbed to Voligesses the king of Parthiae where they were not disregarded as fugitives but had the same respect paid them as if they had retained their ancient prosperity. 3. Now when Antiochus was come to Tarsus in Cilicia Petus ordered a centurion to go to him and sent him in bonds to Rome. However Vespasian could not endure to have a king brought to him in that manner but thought it fit rather to have a regard to the ancient friendship that had been between them than to preserve an inexorable anger upon pretense of this war. 4. Accordingly he gave orders that they should take off his bonds while he was still upon the road and that he should not come to Rome but should now go and live at Lecetamon. He also gave him large revenues that he might not only live in plenty but like a king also. 5. When Epiphanes who before was in great fear for his father was informed of this their minds were freed from that great and almost incurable concern they had been under. 6. He also hoped that Caesar would be reconciled to them upon the intercession of Bologessi's for although he lived in plenty he knew not how to bear living out of the Roman Empire. So Caesar gave him leave after an obliging manner and he came to Rome and as his father came quickly to him from Lecetamon he had all sorts of respect paid him there and there he remained. 4. Now there was a nation of the Allens which we have formerly mentioned somewhere as being Scythians and inhabiting at the Lake Mayotes. This nation about this time laid a design of falling upon media and the parts beyond it in order to plunder them. 5. With much intention they treated with the king of Hercania for he was master of that passage which King Alexander the Great shut up with iron gates. 6. This king gave them leave to come through them so they came in great multitudes and fell upon the Medes unexpectedly and plundered their country which they found full of people and replenished with abundance of cattle while nobody durst make any resistance against them. 7. For Peorus the king of the country had fled away for fear into places where they could not easily come at him and had yielded up everything he had to them and had only saved his wife and his concubines from them and that with difficulty also after they had been made captives by giving them a hundred talents for their ransom. 8. These Allens therefore plundered the country without opposition and with great ease and proceeded as far as Armenia laying all waste before them. 9. Now Tiridates was king of that country who met them and fought them but had liked to have been taken alive in the battle. 10. For a certain man threw a net over him from a great distance and had soon drawn him to him unless he had immediately cut the cord with his sword and ran away and prevented it. 11. So the Allens being still more provoked by this sight laid waste to the country and drove a great multitude of the men and a great quantity of the other prey they had gotten out of both kingdoms along with them and then retreated back to their own country. End of book 7, chapters 6 and 7. 8. Part 1 9. Concerning Masada and those Zikarii who kept it and how Silva betook himself to form the siege of that citadel, Eleazar's speeches to the besieged. 10. When Bassas was dead in Judea, Flavius Silva succeeded him as procurator there, who when he saw that all the rest of the country was subdued in this war and that there was but one only stronghold that was still in rebellion, he got all his army together that lay in different places and made an expedition against it. This fortress was called Masada. 11. It was one Eleazar, a potent man, and the commander of these Zikarii that had seized upon it. He was a descendant from that Judas who had persuaded abundance of the Jews, as we have formerly related, not to submit to the taxation when Cyrenius was sent into Judea to make one, for then it was that the Zikarii got together against those that were willing to submit to the Romans and treated them in all respects as if they had been their enemies, both by plundering them of what they had, by driving away their cattle, and by setting fire to their houses, for they said that they differed not at all from foreigners, by betraying, in so cowardly a manner, that freedom which Jews thought worthy to be contended for to the utmost, and by owning that they preferred slavery under the Romans before such a contention. 12. Now this was in reality no better than a pretense and a cloak for the barbarity which was made use of by them, and to color over their own avarice, which they afterwards made evident by their own actions, for those that were partners with them in their rebellion joined also with them in their war against the Romans, and went further lengths with them in their impudent undertakings against them, and when they were again convicted of dissembling in such their pretenses, they still more abused those that justly reproached them for their wickedness. And indeed that was a time most fertile in all manner of wicked practices, in so much that no kind of evil deeds were then left undone. Nor could any one so much as devise any bad thing that was new, so deeply were they all infected, and strove with one another in their single capacity and in their communities, who should run the greatest lengths in impiety towards God, and in unjust actions towards their neighbors, the men of power oppressing the multitude, and the multitude earnestly laboring to destroy the men of power. The one part were desirous of tyrannizing over others, and the rest of offering violence to others, and of plundering such as were richer than themselves. They were the Sicarii who first began these transgressions, and first became barbarous toward those allied to them, and left no words of reproach unsaid, and no works of perdition untried, in order to destroy those whom their contrivances affected. Yet did John demonstrate by his actions that these Sicarii were more moderate than he was himself, for he not only slew all such as gave him good counsel to do what was right, but treated them worst of all, as the most bitter enemies that he had among all the citizens, nay, he filled his entire country with ten thousand instances of wickedness, such as a man who was already hardened sufficiently in his impiety towards God would naturally do, for the food was unlawful that was set upon his table, and he rejected those purifications that the law of his country had ordained, so that it was no longer a wonder if he, who was so mad in his impiety towards God, did not observe any rules of gentleness and common affection towards men. Again, therefore, what mischief was there which Simon the son of Gaiorus did not do, or what kind of abuses did he abstain from as to those very free men who had set him up for a tyrant? What friendship or kindred were there that did not make him more bold in his daily murders? For they looked upon the doing of mischief to strangers only as a work beneath their courage, but thought their barbarity towards their nearest relations would be a glorious demonstration thereof. The Aidumeans also strove with these men who should be guilty of the greatest madness, for they all, vile wretches as they were, cut the throats of the high priests, that so no part of a religious regard to God might be preserved. They then proceeded to destroy utterly the least remains of a political government, and introduced the most complete scene of iniquity in all instances that were practicable, under which scene that sort of people that were called zealots grew up, and who indeed corresponded to the name, for they imitated every wicked work. Nor, if their memory suggested any evil thing that had formerly been done, did they avoid zealously to pursue the same, and although they gave themselves that name from their zeal for what was good, yet did it agree to them only by way of irony, on account of those they had unjustly treated by their wild and brutish disposition, or as thinking the greatest mischiefs to be the greatest good. Accordingly they all met with such ends as God deservedly brought upon them in way of punishment. For all such miseries have been sent upon them as man's nature is capable of undergoing, till the utmost period of their lives, and till death came upon them in various ways of torment. Yet might one say justly that they suffered less than they had done, because it was impossible they could be punished according to their deserving. To make a lamentation according to the desserts of those who fell under these men's barbarity, this is not a proper place for it. I therefore now return again to the remaining part of the present narration. For now it was that the Roman general came, and led his army against Eleazar and those Sicarii who held the fortress Masada together with him, and for the whole country adjoining he presently gained it, and put garrisons into the most proper places of it. He also built a wall quite round the entire fortress, that none of the besieged might easily escape. He also set his men to guard the several parts of it, he also pitched his camp in such an agreeable place as he had chosen for the siege, and at which place the rock belonging to the fortress did make the nearest approach to the neighboring mountain, which yet was a place of difficulty for getting plenty of provisions, for it was not only food that was to be brought from a great distance to the army, and this with a great deal of pain to those Jews who were appointed for that purpose, but water was also to be brought to the camp, because the place afforded no fountain that was near it. When therefore Silva had ordered these affairs beforehand he fell to besieging the place, which siege was likely to stand in need of a great deal of skill and pains by reason of the strength of the fortress, the nature of which I will now describe. There was a rock, not small in circumference and very high. It was encompassed with valleys of such vast depth downward that the eye could not reach their bottoms. They were abrupt, and such as no animal could walk upon, accepting at two places of the rock where it subsides in order to afford a passage for ascent, though not without difficulty. Now, of the ways that lead to it, one is that from the lake as falterus, towards the sun rising, and another on the west, where the ascent is easier. The one of these ways is called the serpent, as resembling that animal in its narrowness and its perpetual windings, for it is broken off at the prominent precipices of the rock and returns frequently into itself, and lengthening again by little and little hath much adieu to proceed forward, and he that would walk along it must first go on one leg and then on the other. There is also nothing but destruction in case your feet slip, for on each side there is a vastly deep chasm and precipice sufficient to quell the courage of every body by the terror it infuses into the mind. When, therefore, a man hath gone along this way for thirty furlongs, the rest is the top of the hill, not ending at a small point, but it is no other than a plain upon the highest part of the mountain. Upon this top of the hill, Jonathan the High Priest first of all built a fortress and called it Masada, after which the rebuilding of this place employed the care of King Herod to a great degree. He also built a wall round about the entire top of the hill, seven furlongs long. It was composed of white stone, its height was twelve, and its breadth eight cubits. There were also erected upon that wall thirty eight towers, each of them fifty cubits high, out of which you might pass into lesser edifices, which were built on the inside round the entire wall. For the King reserved the top of the hill, which was of a fat soil, and better mould than any valley for agriculture, that such as committed themselves to this fortress for their preservation might not even there be quite destitute of food, in case they should ever be in want of it from abroad. Moreover he built a palace therein at the western ascent, it was within and beneath the walls of the citadel, but inclined to its north side. Now the wall of this palace was very high and strong, and had at its four corners towers sixty cubits high. The furniture also of the edifices, and of the cloisters, and of the baths, was of great variety and very costly. And these buildings were supported by pillars of single stones on every side. The walls and also the floors of the edifices were paved with stones of several colours. He also had cut many and great pits, as reservoirs for water, out of the rocks, and at every one of the places that were inhabited, both above and round about the palace, and before the wall. And by this contrivance he endeavoured to have water for several uses, as if there had been fountains there. Here was also a road, digged from the palace, and leading to the very top of the mountain, which yet could not be seen by such as were without the walls, nor indeed could enemies easily make use of the plain roads. For the road on the east side, as we have already taken notice, could not be walked upon by reason of its nature, and for the western road he built a large tower at its narrowest place, at no less a distance from the top of the hill than a thousand cubits. Which tower could not possibly be passed by, nor could it be easily taken, nor indeed could those that walked along it without any fear, such was its contrivance, easily get to the end of it, and after such a manner was this citadel fortified, both by nature and by the hands of men, in order to frustrate the attacks of enemies. As for the furniture that was within this fortress, it was still more wonderful on account of its splendour and long continuance, for here was laid up corn in large quantities, and such as would subsist men for a long time. Here was also wine and oil in abundance, with all kinds of pulse and dates heaped up together, all which Eleazar found there, when he and his Sicarii got possession of the fortress by treachery. These fruits were also fresh and full ripe, and no way inferior to such fruits newly laid in, although they were little short of a hundred years from the laying in these provisions by Herod till the place was taken by the Romans. Nay, indeed, when the Romans got possession of those fruits that were left, they found them not corrupted all that while, nor should we be mistaken if we supposed that the air was here the cause of their enduring so long, this fortress being so high, and so free from the mixture of all terrain and muddy particles of matter. There was also found here a large quantity of all sorts of weapons of war, which had been treasured up by that king, and were sufficient for ten thousand men. There was cast iron, and brass, and tin, which show that he had taken much pains to have all things here ready for the greatest occasions. For the report goes how Herod thus prepared this fortress on his own account, as a refuge against two kinds of danger, the one for fear of the multitude of the Jews lest they should depose him and restore their former kings to the government. The other danger was greater and more terrible, which arose from Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, who did not conceal her intentions, but spoke often to Antony, and desired him to cut off Herod, and entreated him to bestow the kingdom of Judea upon her. And certainly it is a great wonder that Antony did never comply with her commands in this point, as he was so miserably enslaved to his passion for her. Nor should any one have been surprised if she had been gratified in such her request, so the fear of these dangers made Herod rebuild Masada, and thereby leave it for the finishing stroke of the Romans in this Jewish war. Since, therefore, the Roman commander Silva had now built a wall on the outside round about this whole place, as we have said already, and had thereby made a most accurate provision to prevent any one of the besieged running away, he undertook the siege itself, though he found but one single place that would admit of the banks he was to raise, for behind that tower which secured the road that led to the palace and to the top of the castle. In the middle of the hill from the west there was a certain eminency of the rock, very broad and very prominent, but three hundred cubits beneath the highest part of Masada. It was called the white promontory. Accordingly he got upon that part of the rock and ordered the army to bring earth, and when they fell to that work with alacrity and abundance of them together the bank was raised, and became solid for two hundred cubits in height. Yet was not this bank thought sufficiently high for the use of the engines that were to be set upon it, but still another elevated work of great stones compacted together was raised upon that bank. This was fifty cubits both in breadth and height. The other machines that were now got ready were like to those that had been first devised by Vespasian, and afterwards by Titus for sieges. There was also a tower made of the height of sixty cubits, and all over plated with iron, out of which the Romans threw darts and stones from the engines, and soon made those that fought from the walls of the place to retire, and would not let them lift up their heads above the works. At the same time Silva ordered that great battering ram which he had made to be brought thither, and to be set against the wall, and to make frequent batteries against it, which with some difficulty broke down a part of the wall and quite overthrew it. However the Sicarii made haste, and presently built another wall within that, which should not be liable to the same misfortune from the machines with the other. It was made soft and yielding, and so was capable of avoiding the terrible blows that affected the other. It was framed after the following manner. They laid together great beams of wood lengthways, one close to the end of another, and the same way in which they were cut. There were two of these rows parallel to one another, and laid at such a distance from each other as the breadth of the wall required, and earth was put into the space between those rows. Now that the earth might not fall away upon the elevation of this bank to a greater height, they further laid other beams overcrossed them, and thereby bound those beams together that lay lengthways. This work of theirs was like a real edifice, and when the machines were applied the blows were weakened by its yielding, and as the materials by such concussion were shaken closer together the pile by that means became firmer than before. When Silva saw this, he thought it best to endeavour the taking of this wall by setting fire to it, so he gave orders that the soldiers should throw a great number of burning torches upon it. Accordingly, as it was chiefly made of wood, it soon took fire, and when it was once set on fire its hollowness made that fire spread to a mighty flame. Now at the very beginning of this fire a north wind that then blew proved terrible to the Romans, for by bringing the flame downward it drove it upon them, and they were almost in despair of success as fearing their machines would be burnt. But after this on a sudden the wind changed into the south as if it were done by divine providence, and blew strongly the contrary way, and carried the flame and drove it against the wall, which was now on fire through its entire thickness. So the Romans, having now assistance from God, returned to their camp with joy, and resolved to attack their enemies the very next day, on which occasion they set their watch more carefully that night lest any of the Jews should run away from them without being discovered. End of Book 7, Chapter 8, Part 1 Book 7, Chapter 8, Part 2 of The Wars of the Jews. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by David Leeson. The Wars of the Jews by Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston. Chapter 8, Part 2 However, neither did Eleazar once think of flying away, nor would he permit anyone else to do so. But when he saw their wall burned down by the fire, and could devise no other way of escaping, or room for their further courage, and setting before their eyes what the Romans would do to them, their children and their wives, if they got them into their power, he consulted about having them all slain. Now as he judged this to be the best thing they could do in their present circumstances, he gathered the most courageous of his companions together, and encouraged them to take that course by a speech which he made to them in the manner following. Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time has now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice. And let us not at this time bring a reproach upon ourselves for self-contradiction, while we formerly would not undergo slavery, though it were then without danger, but must now, together with slavery, choose such punishments also as are intolerable. I mean this upon the supposition that the Romans once reduce us under their power while we are alive. We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the last that fight against them, and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God hath granted us that it is still in our power to die bravely and in a state of freedom which hath not been the case of others who were conquered unexpectedly. It is very plain that we shall be taken within a day's time, but it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious manner, together with our dearest friends. This is what our enemies themselves cannot by any means hinder, although they be very desirous to take us alive. Nor can we propose to ourselves any more to fight them and beat them. It had been proper indeed for us to have conjectured at the purpose of God much sooner, and at the very first, when we were so desirous of defending our liberty, and when we received such sore treatment from one another, and worse treatment from our enemies, and to have been sensible that the same God, who had of old taken the Jewish nation into his favor, had now condemned them to destruction. Nor had he either continued favorable, or been but in a lesser degree displeased with us, he had not overlooked the destruction of so many men, or delivered his most holy city to be burnt and demolished by our enemies. To be sure, we weakly hoped to have preserved ourselves and ourselves alone, still in a state of freedom, as if we had been guilty of no sinned ourselves against God, nor been partners with those of others. We also taught other men to preserve their liberty. Therefore consider how God hath convinced us that our hopes were in vain, by bringing such distress upon us in the desperate state we are now in, and which is beyond all our expectations. For the nature of this fortress which was in itself unconquerable hath not proved a means of our deliverance, and even while we have still great abundance of food, and a great quantity of arms, and other necessaries more than we want, we are openly deprived by God himself of all hope of deliverance. For that fire which was driven upon our enemies did not of its own accord turn back upon the wall which we had built. This was the effect of God's anger against us for our manifold sins, which we have been guilty of in a most insolent and extravagant manner with regard to our own countrymen, the punishments of which let us not receive from the Romans, but from God himself, as executed by our own hands, for these will be more moderate than the other. Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted of slavery, and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually, and preserve ourselves in freedom, as an excellent funeral monument for us. But first let us destroy our money and the fortress by fire, for I am well assured that this will be a great grief to the Romans, that they shall not be able to seize upon our bodies, and shall fall of our wealth also, and let us spare nothing but our provisions, for they will be a testimonial when we are dead that we were not subdued for want of necessaries, but that according to our original resolution we have preferred death before slavery. This was Eleazar's speech to them, yet did not the opinions of all the auditors acquiesced therein, but although some of them were very zealous to put his advice in practice, and were in a manner filled with pleasure at it, and thought death to be a good thing, yet had those that were most effeminate a commiseration for their wives and families, and when these men were especially moved by the prospect of their own certain death they looked wistfully at one another, that were in their eyes declared their dissent from his opinion. When Eleazar saw these people in such fear, and that their souls were dejected at so prodigious a proposal, he was afraid lest perhaps these effeminate persons should, by their lamentations and tears, enfeeble those that heard what he had said courageously, for he did not leave off exhorting them, but stirred up himself, and recollecting proper arguments for raising their courage, he undertook to speak more briskly and fully to them, and that concerning the immortality of the soul, so he made a lamentable groan, and fixing his eyes intently on those that wept he spake thus. Truly I was greatly mistaken when I thought to be assisting to brave men who struggled hard for their liberty, and to such as were resolved either to live with honor or else to die. But I find that you are such people as are no better than others, either in virtue or in courage, and are afraid of dying, though you be delivered thereby from the greatest miseries, while you ought to make no delay in this matter, or to await any one to give you good advice. For the laws of our country, and of God himself, have from ancient times, and as soon as ever we could use our reason, continually taught us, and our forefathers have corroborated the same doctrine by their actions and by their bravery of mind, that it is life that is a calamity to men and not death, for this last affords our souls their liberty, and sends them by a removal into their own place of purity, where they are to be insensible of all sorts of misery, for while souls are tied down to a mortal body, they are partakers of its miseries, and really to speak the truth they are themselves dead, for the union of what is divine to what is mortal is disagreeable. It is true the power of the soul is great, even when it is imprisoned in a mortal body, for by moving it after a way that is invisible it makes the body a sensible instrument, and causes it to advance further in its actions than mortal nature could otherwise do. However, when it is freed from that weight which draws it down to the earth and is connected with it, it obtains its own proper place, and does then become a partaker of that blessed power and those abilities which are then every way incapable of being hindered in their operations. It continues invisible indeed to the eyes of men, as does God himself, for certainly it is not itself seen while it is in the body, for it is there after an invisible manner, and when it is freed from it it is still not seen. It is this soul which hath one nature, and that an incorruptible one also, but yet it is the cause of the change that is made in the body, for whatsoever it be which the soul touches, that lives and flourishes, and from whatsoever it is removed, that withers away and dies, such a degree is there in it of immortality. Let me produce the state of sleep as a most evident demonstration of the truth of what I say, wherein souls, when the body does not distract them, have the sweetest rest depending on themselves and conversing with God by their alliance to him. They then go everywhere and foretell many futurities beforehand, and why are we afraid of death while we are pleased with the rest that we have in sleep, and how absurd a thing is it to pursue after liberty while we are alive, and yet to envy it to ourselves where it will be eternal. We, therefore, who have been brought up in a discipline of our own, ought to become an example to others of our readiness to die. Yet, if we do stand in need of foreigners to support us in this matter, let us regard those Indians who profess the exercise of philosophy, for these good men do but unwillingly undergo the time of life, and look upon it as a necessary servitude, and make haste to let their souls loose from their bodies, nay, when no misfortune presses them to it nor drives them upon it, these have such a desire of a life of immortality that they tell other men beforehand that they are about to depart, and nobody hinders them, but everyone thinks them happy men, and gives them letters to be carried to their familiar friends that are dead, so firmly and certainly do they believe that souls converse with one another in the other world. So when these men have heard all such commands that were given them, they deliver their body to the fire, and in order to their getting their soul a separation from the body in the greatest purity, they die in the midst of hymns of commendations made to them, for their dearest friends conduct them to their death more readily than do any of the rest of mankind, conduct their fellow citizens when they are going a very long journey, who at the same time weep on their own account, but look upon the others as happy persons, as so soon to be made partakers of the immortal order of beings. Are not we therefore ashamed to have lower notions than the Indians, and by our own cowardice to lay a base reproach upon the laws of our country which are so much desired and imitated by all mankind? But put the case that we had been brought up under another persuasion, and taught that life is the greatest good which men are capable of, and that death is a calamity. However the circumstances we are now in ought to be an inducement to us to bear such calamity courageously, since it is by the will of God, and by necessity that we are to die. It now appears that God hath made such a decree against the whole Jewish nation that we are to be deprived of this life which he knew we would not make a due use of. For do not you ascribe the occasion of our present condition to yourselves, nor think the Romans are the true occasion that this war we have had with them is become so destructive to us all? These things have not come to pass by their power, but a more powerful cause hath intervened, and made us afford them an occasion of their appearing to be conquerors over us. What Roman weapons, I pray you, were those by which the Jews at Caesarea were slain? On the contrary, when they were no way disposed to rebel, but were all the while keeping their seventh day festival, and did not so much as lift up their hands against the citizens of Caesarea? Yet did those citizens run upon them in great crowds and cut their throats, and the throats of their wives and children, and this without any regard to the Romans themselves, who never took us for their enemies till we revolted from them? But some may be ready to say that truly the people of Caesarea had always a quarrel against those that lived among them, and that when an opportunity offered itself, they only satisfied the old rankor they had against them. What then shall we say to those of Sithopolis, who ventured to wage war with us on account of the Greeks? Nor did they do it by way of revenge upon the Romans, when they acted in concert with our countrymen? Wherefore you see how little our goodwill and fidelity to them profited us, while they were slain, they and their whole families, after the most inhuman manner, which was all the requital that was made them for the assistance they had afforded the others, for that very same destruction which they had prevented from falling upon the others did they suffer themselves from them, as if they had been ready to be the actors against them? It would be too long for me to speak at this time of every destruction brought upon us, for you cannot but know that there was not any one Syrian city which did not slay their Jewish inhabitants, and were not more bitter enemies to us than were the Romans themselves. Nay, even those of Damascus, when they were able to allege no tolerable pretense against us, filled their city with the most barbarous slaughters of our people, and cut the throats of eighteen thousand Jews with their wives and children. And as to the multitude of those that were slain in Egypt, and that with torments also, we have been informed they were more than sixty thousand, those indeed being in a foreign country, and so naturally meeting with nothing to oppose against their enemies, were killed in the manner forementioned. As for all those of us who have waged war against the Romans in our own country, had we not sufficient reason to have sure hopes of victory? For we had arms and walls and fortresses so prepared as not to be easily taken, and courage not to be moved by any dangers in the cause of liberty, which encouraged us all to revolt from the Romans. But then these advantages sufficed us but for a short time, and only raised our hopes, while they really appeared to be the origin of our miseries. For all we had hath been taken from us, and all hath fallen under our enemies, as if these advantages were only to render their victory over us the more glorious, and were not disposed for the preservation of those by whom these preparations were made. And as for those that are already dead in the war, it is reasonable that we should esteem them blessed, for they are dead in defending and not in betraying their liberty. But as to the multitude of those that are now under the Romans, who would not pity their condition, and who would not make haste to die before he would suffer the same miseries with them? Some of them have been put upon the rack, and tortured with fire and whippings, and so died. Some have been half devoured by wild beasts, and yet have been reserved alive to be devoured by them a second time, in order to afford laughter and sport to our enemies, and such of those as are alive still are to be looked on as the most miserable, who, being so desirous of death, could not come at it. And where is now that great city, the metropolis of the Jewish nation, which was fortified by so many walls round about, which had so many fortresses and large towers to defend it, which could hardly contain the instruments prepared for the war, and which had so many ten thousands of men to fight for it? Where is this city that was believed to have God himself inhabiting therein? It is now demolished to the very foundations, and hath nothing but that monument of it preserved, I mean the camp of those that hath destroyed it, which still dwells upon its ruins. Some unfortunate old men also lie upon the ashes of the temple, and a few women are there preserved alive by the enemy, for our bitter shame and reproach. Now who is there that revolves these things in his mind, and yet is able to bear the sight of the sun, though he might live out of danger? Who is there so much his country's enemy, or so unmanly, and so desirous of living, as not to repent that he is still alive? And I cannot but wish that we had all died before we had seen that holy city demolished by the hands of our enemies, or the foundations of our holy temple dug up after so profane a manner. But since we had a generous hope that diluted us, as if we might perhaps have been able to avenge ourselves on our enemies on that account, though it be now become vanity, and hath left us alone in this distress, let us make haste to die bravely, let us pity ourselves, our children and our wives, while it is in our own power to show pity to them. For we were born to die, as well as those were whom we have begotten, nor is it in the power of the most happy of our race to avoid it. But for abuses and slavery, and the sight of our wives led away after an ignominious manner with their children, these are not such evils as are natural and necessary among men, although such as do not prefer death before those miseries when it is in their power so to do must undergo even them, on account of their own cowardice, we revolted from the Romans with great pretensions to courage, and when, at the very last, they invited us to preserve ourselves, we would not comply with them. Who will not therefore believe that they will certainly be in a rage at us in case they can take us alive? Miserable will then be the young men who will be strong enough in their bodies to sustain many torments. Miserable also will be those of elder years who will not be able to bear those calamities which young men might sustain. One man will be obliged to hear the voice of his son implore help of his father when his hands are bound. But certainly our hands are still at liberty, and have a sword in them. Let them then be subservient to us in our glorious design, let us die before we become slaves under our enemies, and let us go out of the world together with our children and our wives in a state of freedom. This it is that our laws command us to do. This it is that our wives and children crave at our hands. Nay, God himself hath brought this necessity upon us, while the Romans desire the contrary, and are afraid lest any of us should die before we are taken. Let us therefore make haste, and instead of affording them so much pleasure as they hope for in getting us under their power, let us leave them an example which shall at once cause their astonishment at our death and their admiration of our hardiness therein. CHAPTER IX. How the people that were in the fortress were prevailed on by the words of Eliezer to women and five children only accepted an old man. CHAPTER IX. How the people that were in the fortress were prevailed on by the words of Eliezer to women and five children only accepted an old man. Now as Eliezer was proceeding on in this exhortation, they all cut him off short and made haste to do the work, as full of an unconquerable ardor of mind, and moved with a demoniacal fury. So they went their ways, as one still endeavoring to be before another, and as thinking that this eagerness would be a demonstration of their courage and good conduct, if they could avoid appearing in the last class. So great was the zeal they were in to slay their wives and their children and themselves also, nor indeed when they came to the work itself did their courage fail them, as one might imagine it would have done, but they then held fast the same resolution, without wavering, which they had upon the hearing of Eliezer's speech, while yet every one of them still retained the natural passion of love to themselves and their families, because the reasoning they went upon appeared to them to be very just, even with regard to those that were dearest to them. For the husbands tenderly embraced their wives and took their children into their arms, and gave the longest parting kisses to them, with tears in their eyes. Yet at the same time did they complete what they had resolved on, as if they had been executed by the hands of strangers, and they had nothing else for their comfort but the necessity they were in of doing this execution, to avoid that prospect they had of the miseries they were to suffer from their enemies. Nor was there at length any one of these men found that scrupled to act their part in this terrible execution, but every one of them dispatched his dearest relations. Miserable men indeed were they, whose distress forced them to slay their own wives and children with their own hands, as the lightest of those evils that were before them. So they, being not able to bear the grief they were under for what they had done any longer, and esteeming it an injury to those they had slain to live even the shortest space of time after them, they presently laid all they had upon a heap and set fire to it. They then chose ten men by lot out of them to slay all the rest, every one of whom laid himself down by his wife and children on the ground, and threw his arms about them, and they offered their necks to the stroke of those who by lot executed that melancholy office. And when these ten had without fear slain them all, they made the same rule for casting lots for themselves, that he whose lot it was should first kill the other nine, and after all should kill himself. Accordingly all these had courage sufficient to be no way behind one another in doing or suffering, so for a conclusion the nine offered their necks to the executioner, and he who was the last of all took a view of all the other bodies, lest perchance some or other among so many that were slain should want his assistants to be quite dispatched, and when he perceived that they were all slain he set fire to the palace, and with the great force of his hand ran his sword entirely through himself, and fell down dead near to his own relations. So these people died with this intention, that they would not leave so much as one soul among them all alive to be subject to the Romans. Yet there was an ancient woman, and another who was of kin to Eleazar, and superior to most women in prudence and learning, with five children, who had concealed themselves in caverns underground, and had carried water thither for their drink, and were hidden there when the rest were intent upon the slaughter of one another. Those others were nine hundred and sixty in number, the women and children being with all included in that computation. This calamitous slaughter was made on the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus. Now for the Romans they expected that they should be fought in the morning, when accordingly they put on their armor and laid bridges of planks upon their ladders from their banks to make an assault upon the fortress which they did, but saw nobody as an enemy, but a terrible solitude on every side, with a fire within the place as well as a perfect silence, so they were at a loss to guess at what had happened. At length they made a shout, as if it had been at a blow given by the battering ram, to try whether they could bring any one out that was within. The women heard this noise, and came out of their underground cavern, and informed the Romans what had been done as it was done, and the second of them clearly described all both what was said and what was done, and this manner of it. Yet did they not easily give their attention to such a desperate undertaking, and did not believe it could be as they said. They also attempted to put the fire out, and quickly cutting themselves away through it, they came within the palace, and so met with the multitude of the slain. But could take no pleasure in the fact, though it were done to their enemies, nor could they do other than wonder at the courage of their resolution, and the immovable contempt of death which so great a number of them had shown when they went through with such an action as that was. Chapter 10. That many of the Sicarii fled to Alexandria also, and what dangers they were in there, on which account that temple which had formerly been built by Onias the High Priest was destroyed. When Masada was thus taken, the general left a garrison in the fortress to keep it, and he himself went away to Caesarea, for there were now no enemies left in the country, but it was all overthrown by so long a war. Yet did this war afford disturbances and dangerous disorders even in places very far remote from Judea? For still it came to pass that many Jews were slain at Alexandria in Egypt. For as many of the Sicarii, as were able to fly, thither, out of the seditious wars in Judea, were not content to have saved themselves, but must needs be undertaking to make new disturbances, and persuaded many of those that entertained them to assert their liberty, to esteem the Romans to be no better than themselves, and to look upon God as their only Lord and Master. But when part of the Jews of reputation opposed them, they slew some of them, and with the others they were very pressing in their exhortations to revolt from the Romans. But when the principal men of the Senate saw what madness they were come to, they thought it no longer safe for themselves to overlook them. So they got all the Jews together to an assembly, and accused the madness of the Sicarii, and demonstrated that they had been the authors of all the evils that had come upon them. They said also that these men, now that they were run away from Judea, having no sure hope of escaping, because as soon as ever they shall be known, they will soon be destroyed by the Romans, they come hither and fill us full of those calamities which belong to them, while we have not been partakers with them in any of their sins. Accordingly they exhorted the multitude to have a care lest they should be brought to destruction by their means, and to make their apology to the Romans for what had been done by delivering these men up to them, who being thus apprised of the greatness of the danger they were in, complied with what was proposed, and ran with great violence upon the Sicarii, and seized upon them, and indeed six hundred of them were caught immediately, but as to all those that fled into Egypt and to the Egyptian Thebes, it was not long ere they were caught also and brought back, whose courage, or whether we ought to call it madness, or hardiness in their opinions, every body was amazed at, for when all sorts of torments and vexations of their bodies that could be devised were made use of to them, they could not get any one of them to comply so far as to confess, or seem to confess, that Caesar was their lord, but they preserved their own opinion, in spite of all the distress they were brought to, as if they received these torments and the fire itself with bodies insensible of pain, and with a soul that in a manner rejoiced under them. But what was most of all astonishing to the beholders was the courage of the children, for not one of these children was so far overcome by these torments as to name Caesar for their lord. So far does the strength of the courage of the soul prevail over the weakness of the body. Now Lupus did then govern Alexandria, who presently sent Caesar word of this commotion, who having in suspicion the restless temper of the Jews for innovation, and being afraid lest they should get together again and persuade some others to join with them, gave orders to Lupus to demolish that Jewish temple which was in the region called Onion, and was in Egypt, which was built and had its denomination from the occasion following. Onius, the son of Simon, one of the Jewish high priests fled from Antiochus, the king of Syria, when he made war with the Jews and came to Alexandria, and as Ptolemy received him very kindly on account of hatred to Antiochus, he assured him that if he would comply with his proposal he would bring all the Jews to his resistance, and when the king agreed to do it, so far as he was able, he desired him to give him leave to build a temple somewhere in Egypt and to worship God according to the customs of his own country, for that the Jews would then be so much readyer to fight against Antiochus who had laid waste the temple at Jerusalem, and that they would then come to him with greater good will, and that by granting them liberty of conscience very many of them would come over to him. So Ptolemy complied with his proposals and gave him a place 180 furlongs distant from Memphis. That gnomos was called the gnomos of Heliopolis, where Onius built a fortress and a temple not like to that at Jerusalem but such as resembled a tower. He built it of large stones to the height of sixty cubits, he made the structure of the altar in imitation of that in our own country, and in like manner adorned with gifts, accepting the make of the candlestick, for he did not make a candlestick, but had a single lamp hammered out of a piece of gold, which illuminated the place with its rays and which he hung by a chain of gold. But the entire temple was encompassed with a wall of burnt brick, though it had gates of stone. The king also gave him a large country for a revenue in money, that both the priests might have a plentiful provision made for them, and that God might have great abundance of what things were necessary for his worship. Yet did not Onius do this out of a sober disposition, but he had a mind to contend with the Jews at Jerusalem, and could not forget the indignation he had for being banished thence. Accordingly, he thought that by building this temple he should draw away a great number from them to himself. There had been also a certain ancient prediction made by a prophet whose name was Isaiah, about six hundred years before, that this temple should be built by a man that was a Jew in Egypt, and this is the history of the building of that temple. And now Lupus, the governor of Alexandria, upon the receipt of Caesar's letter, came to the temple, and carried out of it some of the donations dedicated there too, and shut up the temple itself. And as Lupus died a little afterward, Paulinus succeeded him. This man left none of those donations there, and threatened the priests severely if they did not bring them all out, nor did he permit any who were desirous of worshipping God there to so much as come near the whole sacred place. But when he had shut up the gates, he made it entirely inaccessible, in so much that there remained no longer the least footsteps of any divine worship that had been in that place. Now the duration of the time from the building of this temple till it was shut up again was three hundred and forty-three years. Chapter 11 Concerning Jonathan, one of the Sicarii, that stirred up a sedition in Cyrene, and was a false accuser of the innocent. And now did the madness of the Sicarii, like a disease, reach as far as the cities of Cyrene, for one Jonathan, a vile person, and by trade a weaver, came thither and prevailed with no small number of the poorer sort to give ear to him. He also led them into the desert, upon promising them that he would show them signs and apparitions, and as for the other Jews of Cyrene, he concealed his navery from them, and put tricks upon them. But those of the greatest dignity among them informed Catullus, the governor of the Libyan pentapolis, of his march into the desert, and of the preparations he had made for it. So he sent out after him both horsemen and footmen, and easily overcame them, because they were unarmed men. Of these many were slain in the fight, but some were taken alive, and brought to Catullus. As for Jonathan, the head of this plot, he fled away at that time, but upon a great and very diligent search, which was made all the country over for him, he was at last taken. And when he was brought to Catullus, he devised a way whereby he both escaped punishment himself, and afforded an occasion to Catullus of doing much mischief, for he falsely accused the richest men among the Jews, and said that they had put him upon what he did. Now Catullus easily admitted of these his columnaries, and aggravated matters greatly, and made tragical exclamations, that he might also be supposed to have had a hand in the finishing of the Jewish war. But what was still harder, he did not only give a too easy belief to his stories, but he taught the Sicarii to accuse men falsely. He bid this Jonathan, therefore, to name one Alexander a Jew, with whom he had formerly had a quarrel, and openly professed that he hated him. He also got him to name his wife Bernice as concerned with him. These two Catullus ordered to be slain in the first place. Nay, after them, he caused all the rich and wealthy Jews to be slain, being no fewer in all than three thousand. This he thought he might do safely, because he confiscated their effects, and added them to Caesar's revenues. Nay, indeed, lest any Jews that lived elsewhere should convict him of his villainy, he extended his false accusations further, and persuaded Jonathan, and certain others that were caught with him, to bring an accusation of attempts for innovation against the Jews that were of the best character both at Alexandria and at Rome. One of these, against whom this treacherous accusation was laid, was Josephus, the writer of these books. However, this plot, thus contrived by Catullus, did not succeed according to his hopes, for though he came himself to Rome, and brought Jonathan and his companions along with him in bonds, and thought that he should have no further inquisition made as to the lies that were forged under his government, or by his means, yet did Vespasian suspect the matter and made an inquiry how far it was true. And when he understood that the accusation laid against the Jews was an unjust one, he cleared them of the crimes charged upon them, and this, on account of Titus's concern about the matter, and brought a deserved punishment upon Jonathan, for he was first tormented and then burnt alive. But as to Catullus, the emperors were so gentle to him that he underwent no severe condemnation at this time, yet was it not long before he fell into a complicated and almost incurable distemper, and died miserably. He was not only afflicted in body, but the distemper in his mind was more heavy upon him than the other, for he was terribly disturbed, and continually cried out that he saw the ghosts of those whom he had slain standing before him, whereupon he was not able to contain himself, but leaped out of his bed as if both torments and fire were brought to him. Thus his distemper grew still a great deal worse and worse continually, and his very entrails were so corroded that they fell out of his body, and in that condition he died. Thus he became as great an instance of divine providence as ever was, and demonstrated that God punishes wicked men. And here we shall put an end to this our history wherein we formerly promised to deliver the same with all accuracy, to such as should be desirous of understanding after what manner this war of the Romans with the Jews was managed. Of which history, how good the style is, must be left to the determination of the readers, but as for its agreement with the facts I shall not scruple to say, and that boldly, that truth hath been what I have alone aimed at through its entire composition. William Weston.