THE WARS OF

THE
J EW S
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE
DESTRUCTION OF
JERUSALEM

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
 THE WARS OF THE
JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

Flavius Josephus

William Whiston, Translator [1737]

2
Although Josephus had deep misgivings about the revolt, it became inevitable, due to reasons he discusses
in his history, primarily the abuses of the Romans; this spurred the growth of fanatical Messianic Jewish
movements which believed that the world was coming to an end shortly. In 66 C.E. the Masada was
seized by the Zealots and the Romans were on the march; Josephus was appointed the commander of
Galilee.

Josephus had to fight a defensive war against overwhelming force while refereeing internecine squabbles
in the Jewish ranks. In 67 C.E. Josephus and other rebels were cornered in a cave during the siege of
Jotapata and took a suicide pact. However, Josephus survived, and was taken hostage by the Romans, led
by Vespasian.

Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the
ruler of the 'entire world'. Josephus joined the Romans, for which he was branded a traitor. He acted as
consultant to the Romans and a go-between with the revolutionaries. Unable to convince the rebels to
surrender, Josephus ended up watching the second destruction of the Temple and the defeat of the Jewish
nation.

His prophecy became true in 68 C.E. when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a
result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Roman and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family
name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78
C.E., the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 C.E. He
wrote Against Apion in about 96-100 C.E. and The Life of Josephus, his autobiography, about 100. He
died shortly after.

Despite his ambivalent role, Josephus was an eyewitness to history, and his writings are considered
authoritative. These texts are key to understanding a pivotal point in world history, which has tragic
repercussions even to this day.

J.B.H.

3
 PREFACE
1. (1) WHEREAS the war which the Jews made with the Romans hath been the greatest of all those, not
only that have been in our times, but, in a manner, of those that ever were heard of; both of those wherein
cities have fought against cities, or nations against nations; while some men who were not concerned in
the affairs themselves have gotten together vain and contradictory stories by hearsay, and have written
them down after a sophistical manner; and while those that were there present have given false accounts
of things, and this either out of a humor of flattery to the Romans, or of hatred towards the Jews; and
while their writings contain sometimes accusations, and sometimes encomiums, but no where the accurate
truth of the facts; I have proposed to myself, for the sake of such as live under the government of the
Romans, to translate those books into the Greek tongue, which I formerly composed in the language of
our country, and sent to the Upper Barbarians; (2) Joseph, the son of Matthias, by birth a Hebrew, a priest
also, and one who at first fought against the Romans myself, and was forced to be present at what was
done afterwards, [am the author of this work].

2. Now at the time when this great concussion of affairs happened, the affairs of the Romans were
themselves in great disorder. Those Jews also who were for innovations, then arose when the times were
disturbed; they were also in a flourishing condition for strength and riches, insomuch that the affairs of
the East were then exceeding tumultuous, while some hoped for gain, and others were afraid of loss in
such troubles; for the Jews hoped that all of their nation which were beyond Euphrates would have raised
an insurrection together with them. The Gauls also, in the neighborhood of the Romans, were in motion,
and the Geltin were not quiet; but all was in disorder after the death of Nero. And the opportunity now
offered induced many to aim at the royal power; and the soldiery affected change, out of the hopes of
getting money. I thought it therefore an absurd thing to see the truth falsified in affairs of such great
consequence, and to take no notice of it; but to suffer those Greeks and Romans that were not in the wars
to be ignorant of these things, and to read either flatteries or fictions, while the Parthians, and the
Babylonians, and the remotest Arabians, and those of our nation beyond Euphrates, with the Adiabeni, by
my means, knew accurately both whence the war begun, what miseries it brought upon us, and after what
manner it ended.

3. It is true, these writers have the confidence to call their accounts histories; wherein yet they seem to me
to fail of their own purpose, as well as to relate nothing that is sound. For they have a mind to demonstrate
the greatness of the Romans, while they still diminish and lessen the actions of the Jews, as not discerning
how it cannot be that those must appear to be great who have only conquered those that were little. Nor
are they ashamed to overlook the length of the war, the multitude of the Roman forces who so greatly
suffered in it, or the might of the commanders, whose great labors about Jerusalem will be deemed
inglorious, if what they achieved be reckoned but a small matter.

4. However, I will not go to the other extreme, out of opposition to those men who extol the Romans nor
will I determine to raise the actions of my countrymen too high; but I will prosecute the actions of both
parties with accuracy. Yet shall I suit my language to the passions I am under, as to the affairs I describe,
and must be allowed to indulge some lamentations upon the miseries undergone by my own country. For
that it was a seditious temper of our own that destroyed it, and that they were the tyrants among the Jews
who brought the Roman power upon us, who unwillingly attacked us, and occasioned the burning of our
holy temple, Titus Caesar, who destroyed it, is himself a witness, who, daring the entire war, pitied the
people who were kept under by the seditious, and did often voluntarily delay the taking of the city, and
allowed time to the siege, in order to let the authors have opportunity for repentance. But if any one

4
makes an unjust accusation against us, when we speak so passionately about the tyrants, or the robbers, or
sorely bewail the misfortunes of our country, let him indulge my affections herein, though it be contrary
to the rules for writing history; because it had so come to pass, that our city Jerusalem had arrived at a
higher degree of felicity than any other city under the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the
sorest of calamities again. Accordingly, it appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from the
beginning of the world, if they be compared to these of the Jews (3) are not so considerable as they were;
while the authors of them were not foreigners neither. This makes it impossible for me to contain my
lamentations. But if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him attribute the facts themselves to
the historical part, and the lamentations to the writer himself only.

5. However, I may justly blame the learned men among the Greeks, who, when such great actions have
been done in their own times, which, upon the comparison, quite eclipse the old wars, do yet sit as judges
of those affairs, and pass bitter censures upon the labors of the best writers of antiquity; which moderns,
although they may be superior to the old writers in eloquence, yet are they inferior to them in the
execution of what they intended to do. While these also write new histories about the Assyrians and
Medes, as if the ancient writers had not described their affairs as they ought to have done; although these
be as far inferior to them in abilities as they are different in their notions from them. For of old every one
took upon them to write what happened in his own time; where their immediate concern in the actions
made their promises of value; and where it must be reproachful to write lies, when they must be known by
the readers to be such. But then, an undertaking to preserve the memory Of what hath not been before
recorded, and to represent the affairs of one's own time to those that come afterwards, is really worthy of
praise and commendation. Now he is to be esteemed to have taken good pains in earnest, not who does no
more than change the disposition and order of other men's works, but he who not only relates what had
not been related before, but composes an entire body of history of his own: accordingly, I have been at
great charges, and have taken very great pains [about this history], though I be a foreigner; and do
dedicate this work, as a memorial of great actions, both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians. But for some
of our own principal men, their mouths are wide open, and their tongues loosed presently, for gain and
law-suits, but quite muzzled up when they are to write history, where they must speak truth and gather
facts together with a great deal of pains; and so they leave the writing such histories to weaker people, and
to such as are not acquainted with the actions of princes. Yet shall the real truth of historical facts be
preferred by us, how much soever it be neglected among the Greek historians.

6. To write concerning the Antiquities of the Jews, who they were [originally], and how they revolted
from the Egyptians, and what country they traveled over, and what countries they seized upon afterward,
and how they were removed out of them, I think this not to be a fit opportunity, and, on other accounts,
also superfluous; and this because many Jews before me have composed the histories of our ancestors
very exactly; as have some of the Greeks done it also, and have translated our histories into their own
tongue, and have not much mistaken the truth in their histories. But then, where the writers of these affairs
and our prophets leave off, thence shall I take my rise, and begin my history. Now as to what concerns
that war which happened in my own time, I will go over it very largely, and with all the diligence I am
able; but for what preceded mine own age, that I shall run over briefly.

7. [For example, I shall relate] how Antiochus, who was named Epiphanes, took Jerusalem by force, and
held it three years and three months, and was then ejected out of the country by the sons of Asamoneus:
after that, how their posterity quarreled about the government, and brought upon their settlement the
Romans and Pompey; how Herod also, the son of Antipater, dissolved their government, and brought
Sosins upon them; as also how our people made a sedition upon Herod's death, while Augustus was the
Roman emperor, and Quintilius Varus was in that country; and how the war broke out in the twelfth year

5
of Nero, with what happened to Cestius; and what places the Jews assaulted in a hostile manner in the
first sallies of the war.

8. As also [I shall relate] how they built walls about the neighboring cities; and how Nero, upon Cestius's
defeat, was in fear of the entire event of the war, and thereupon made Vespasian general in this war; and
how this Vespasian, with the elder of his sons (4) made an expedition into the country of Judea; what was
the number of the Roman army that he made use of; and how many of his auxiliaries were cut off in all
Galilee; and how he took some of its cities entirely, and by force, and others of them by treaty, and on
terms. Now, when I am come so far, I shall describe the good order of the Romans in war, and the
discipline of their legions; the amplitude of both the Galilees, with its nature, and the limits of Judea. And,
besides this, I shall particularly go over what is peculiar to the country, the lakes and fountains that are in
them, and what miseries happened to every city as they were taken; and all this with accuracy, as I saw
the things done, or suffered in them. For I shall not conceal any of the calamities I myself endured, since I
shall relate them to such as know the truth of them.

9. After this, [I shall relate] how, When the Jews' affairs were become very bad, Nero died, and
Vespasian, when he was going to attack Jerusalem, was called back to take the government upon him;
what signs happened to him relating to his gaining that government, and what mutations of government
then happened at Rome, and how he was unwillingly made emperor by his soldiers; and how, upon his
departure to Egypt, to take upon him the government of the empire, the affairs of the Jews became very
tumultuous; as also how the tyrants rose up against them, and fell into dissensions among themselves.

10. Moreover, [I shall relate] how Titus marched out of Egypt into Judea the second time; as also how,
and where, and how many forces he got together; and in what state the city was, by the means of the
seditious, at his coming; what attacks he made, and how many ramparts he cast up; of the three walls that
encompassed the city, and of their measures; of the strength of the city, and the structure of the temple
and holy house; and besides, the measures of those edifices, and of the altar, and all accurately
determined. A description also of certain of their festivals, and seven purifications of purity, (5) and the
sacred ministrations of the priests, with the garments of the priests, and of the high priests; and of the
nature of the most holy place of the temple; without concealing any thing, or adding any thing to the
known truth of things.

11. After this, I shall relate the barbarity of the tyrants towards the people of their own nation, as well as
the indulgence of the Romans in sparing foreigners; and how often Titus, out of his desire to preserve the
city and the temple, invited the seditious to come to terms of accommodation. I shall also distinguish the
sufferings of the people, and their calamities; how far they were afflicted by the sedition, and how far by
the famine, and at length were taken. Nor shall I omit to mention the misfortunes of the deserters, nor the
punishments inflicted on the captives; as also how the temple was burnt, against the consent of Caesar;
and how many sacred things that had been laid up in the temple were snatched out of the fire; the
destruction also of the entire city, with the signs and wonders that went before it; and the taking the
tyrants captives, and the multitude of those that were made slaves, and into what different misfortunes
they were every one distributed. Moreover, what the Romans did to the remains of the wall; and how they
demolished the strong holds that were in the country; and how Titus went over the whole country, and
settled its affairs; together with his return into Italy, and his triumph.

12. I have comprehended all these things in seven books, and have left no occasion for complaint or
accusation to such as have been acquainted with this war; and I have written it down for the sake of those

6
that love truth, but not for those that please themselves [with fictitious relations]. And I will begin my
account of these things with what I call my First Chapter.

ENDNOTES

(1) I have already observed more than once, that this History of the Jewish War was Josephus's first work,
and published about A.D. 75, when he was but thirty-eight years of age; and that when he wrote it, he was
not thoroughly acquainted with several circumstances of history from the days of Antiochus Epiphanes,
with which it begins, till near his own times, contained in the first and former part of the second book, and
so committed many involuntary errors therein. That he published his Antiquities eighteen years afterward,
in the thirteenth year of Domitian, A.D. 93, when he was much more completely acquainted with those
ancient times, and after he had perused those most authentic histories, the First Book of Maccabees, and
the Chronicles of the Priesthood of John Hyrcanus, etc. That accordingly he then reviewed those parts of
this work, and gave the public a more faithful, complete, and accurate account of the facts therein related;
and honestly corrected the errors he had before run into.

(2) Who these Upper Barbarians, remote from the sea, were, Josephus himself will inform us, sect. 2, viz.
the Parthians and Babylonians, and remotest Arabians [of the Jews among them]; besides the Jews
beyond Euphrates, and the Adiabeni, or Assyrians. Whence we also learn that these Parthians,
Babylonians, the remotest Arabians, [or at least the Jews among them,] as also the Jews beyond
Euphrates, and the Adiabeni, or Assyrians, understood Josephus's Hebrew, or rather Chaldaic, books of
The Jewish War, before they were put into the Greek language.

(3) That these calamities of the Jews, who were our Savior’s murderers, were to be the greatest that had
ever been sence the beginning of the world, our Savior had directly foretold, Matthew 24:21; Mark 13:19;
Luke 21:23, 24; and that they proved to be such accordingly, Josephus is here a most authentic witness.

(4) Titus.

(5) These seven, or rather five, degrees of purity, or purification, are enumerated hereafter, B. V. ch. 5.
sect. 6. The Rabbins make ten degrees of them, as Reland there informs us.

7
 The Wars Of The Jews

Or

The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem

Book I
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS.

FROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, TO THE DEATH OF

CHAPTER 1.
HOW THE CITY JERUSALEM WAS TAKEN, AND THE TEMPLE PILLAGED [BY
ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES]. AS ALSO CONCERNING THE ACTIONS OF THE MACCABEES,
MATTHIAS AND JUDAS; AND CONCERNING THE DEATH OF JUDAS.

1. AT the same time that Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, had a quarrel with the sixth Ptolemy
about his right to the whole country of Syria, a great sedition fell among the men of power in Judea, and
they had a contention about obtaining the government; while each of those that were of dignity could not
endure to be subject to their equals. However, Onias, one of the high priests, got the better, and cast the
sons of Tobias out of the city; who fled to Antiochus, and besought him to make use of them for his
leaders, and to make an expedition into Judea. The king being thereto disposed beforehand, complied with
them, and came upon the Jews with a great army, and took their city by force, and slew a great multitude
of those that favored Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled
the temple, and put a stop to the constant practice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years
and six months. But Onias, the high priest, fled to Ptolemy, and received a place from him in the Nomus
of Heliopolis, where he built a city resembling Jerusalem, and a temple that was like its temple (1)
concerning which we shall speak more in its proper place hereafter.

2. Now Antiochus was not satisfied either with his unexpected taking the city, or with its pillage, or with
the great slaughter he had made there; but being overcome with his violent passions, and remembering
what he had suffered during the siege, he compelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their country, and to
keep their infants uncircumcised, and to sacrifice swine's flesh upon the altar; against which they all
opposed themselves, and the most approved among them were put to death. Bacchides also, who was sent
to keep the fortresses, having these wicked commands, joined to his own natural barbarity, indulged all
sorts of the extremest wickedness, and tormented the worthiest of the inhabitants, man by man, and
threatened their city every day with open destruction, till at length he provoked the poor sufferers by the
extremity of his wicked doings to avenge themselves.

3. Accordingly Matthias, the son of Asamoneus, one of the priests who lived in a village called Modin,
armed himself, together with his own family, which had five sons of his in it, and slew Bacchides with
8
daggers; and thereupon, out of the fear of the many garrisons [of the enemy], he fled to the mountains;
and so many of the people followed him, that he was encouraged to come down from the mountains, and
to give battle to Antiochus's generals, when he beat them, and drove them out of Judea. So he came to the
government by this his success, and became the prince of his own people by their own free consent, and
then died, leaving the government to Judas, his eldest son.

4. Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus would not lie still, gathered an army out of his own countrymen,
and was the first that made a league of friendship with the Romans, and drove Epiphanes out of the
country when he had made a second expedition into it, and this by giving him a great defeat there; and
when he was warmed by this great success, he made an assault upon the garrison that was in the city, for
it had not been cut off hitherto; so he ejected them out of the upper city, and drove the soldiers into the
lower, which part of the city was called the Citadel. He then got the temple under his power, and cleansed
the whole place, and walled it round about, and made new vessels for sacred ministrations, and brought
them into the temple, because the former vessels had been profaned. He also built another altar, and began
to offer the sacrifices; and when the city had already received its sacred constitution again, Antiochus
died; whose son Antiochus succeeded him in the kingdom, and in his hatred to the Jews also.

5. So this Antiochus got together fifty thousand footmen, and five thousand horsemen, and fourscore
elephants, and marched through Judea into the mountainous parts. He then took Bethsura, which was a
small city; but at a place called Bethzacharis, where the passage was narrow, Judas met him with his
army. However, before the forces joined battle, Judas's brother Eleazar, seeing the very highest of the
elephants adorned with a large tower, and with military trappings of gold to guard him, and supposing that
Antiochus himself was upon him, he ran a great way before his own army, and cutting his way through
the enemy's troops, he got up to the elephant; yet could he not reach him who seemed to be the king, by
reason of his being so high; but still he ran his weapon into the belly of the beast, and brought him down
upon himself, and was crushed to death, having done no more than attempted great things, and showed
that he preferred glory before life. Now he that governed the elephant was but a private man; and had he
proved to be Antiochus, Eleazar had performed nothing more by this bold stroke than that it might appear
he chose to die, when he had the bare hope of thereby doing a glorious action; nay, this disappointment
proved an omen to his brother [Judas] how the entire battle would end. It is true that the Jews fought it out
bravely for a long time, but the king's forces, being superior in number, and having fortune on their side,
obtained the victory. And when a great many of his men were slain, Judas took the rest with him, and fled
to the toparchy of Gophna. So Antiochus went to Jerusalem, and staid there but a few days, for he wanted
provisions, and so he went his way. He left indeed a garrison behind him, such as he thought sufficient to
keep the place, but drew the rest of his army off, to take their winter-quarters in Syria.

6. Now, after the king was departed, Judas was not idle; for as many of his own nation came to him, so
did he gather those that had escaped out of the battle together, and gave battle again to Antiochus's
generals at a village called Adasa; and being too hard for his enemies in the battle, and killing a great
number of them, he was at last himself slain also. Nor was it many days afterward that his brother John
had a plot laid against him by Antiochus's party, and was slain by them.

CHAPTER 2.
CONCERNING THE SUCCESSORS OF JUDAS, WHO WERE JONATHAN AND SIMON, AND
JOHN HYRCANUS.

9
1. WHEN Jonathan, who was Judas's brother, succeeded him, he behaved himself with great
circumspection in other respects, with relation to his own people; and he corroborated his authority by
preserving his friendship with the Romans. He also made a league with Antiochus the son. Yet was not all
this sufficient for his security; for the tyrant Trypho, who was guardian to Antiochus's son, laid a plot
against him; and besides that, endeavored to take off his friends, and caught Jonathan by a wile, as he was
going to Ptolemais to Antiochus, with a few persons in his company, and put him in bonds, and then made
an expedition against the Jews; but when he was afterward driven away by Simon, who was Jonathan's
brother, and was enraged at his defeat, he put Jonathan to death.

2. However, Simon managed the public affairs after a courageous manner, and took Gazara, and Joppa,
and Jamnia, which were cities in his neighborhood. He also got the garrison under, and demolished the
citadel. He was afterward an auxiliary to Antiochus, against Trypho, whom he besieged in Dora, before he
went on his expedition against the Medes; yet could not he make the king ashamed of his ambition,
though he had assisted him in killing Trypho; for it was not long ere Antiochus sent Cendebeus his
general with an army to lay waste Judea, and to subdue Simon; yet he, though he was now in years,
conducted the war as if he were a much younger man. He also sent his sons with a band of strong men
against Antiochus, while he took part of the army himself with him, and fell upon him from another
quarter. He also laid a great many men in ambush in many places of the mountains, and was superior in
all his attacks upon them; and when he had been conqueror after so glorious a manner, he was made high
priest, and also freed the Jews from the dominion of the Macedonians, after one hundred and seventy
years of the empire [of Seleucus].

3. This Simon also had a plot laid against him, and was slain at a feast by his son-in-law Ptolemy, who put
his wife and two sons into prison, and sent some persons to kill John, who was also called Hyrcanus. (2)
But when the young man was informed of their coming beforehand, he made haste to get to the city, as
having a very great confidence in the people there, both on account of the memory of the glorious actions
of his father, and of the hatred they could not but bear to the injustice of Ptolemy. Ptolemy also made an
attempt to get into the city by another gate; but was repelled by the people, who had just then admitted of
Hyrcanus; so he retired presently to one of the fortresses that were about Jericho, which was called
Dagon. Now when Hyrcanus had received the high priesthood, which his father had held before, and had
offered sacrifice to God, he made great haste to attack Ptolemy, that he might afford relief to his mother
and brethren.

4. So he laid siege to the fortress, and was superior to Ptolemy in other respects, but was overcome by him
as to the just affection [he had for his relations]; for when Ptolemy was distressed, he brought forth his
mother, and his brethren, and set them upon the wall, and beat them with rods in every body's sight, and
threatened, that unless he would go away immediately, he would throw them down headlong; at which
sight Hyrcanus's commiseration and concern were too hard for his anger. But his mother was not
dismayed, neither at the stripes she received, nor at the death with which she was threatened; but stretched
out her hands, and prayed her son not to be moved with the injuries that she suffered to spare the wretch;
since it was to her better to die by the means of Ptolemy, than to live ever so long, provided he might be
punished for the injuries he done to their family. Now John's case was this: When he considered the
courage of his mother, and heard her entreaty, he set about his attacks; but when he saw her beaten, and
torn to pieces with the stripes, he grew feeble, and was entirely overcome by his affections. And as the
siege was delayed by this means, the year of rest came on, upon which the Jews rest every seventh year as
they do on every seventh day. On this year, therefore, Ptolemy was freed from being besieged, and slew
the brethren of John, with their mother, and fled to Zeno, who was also called Cotylas, who was tyrant of
Philadelphia.

10
5. And now Antiochus was so angry at what he had suffered from Simon, that he made an expedition into
Judea, and sat down before Jerusalem and besieged Hyrcanus; but Hyrcanus opened the sepulcher of
David, who was the richest of all kings, and took thence about three thousand talents in money, and
induced Antiochus, by the promise of three thousand talents, to raise the siege. Moreover, he was the first
of the Jews that had money enough, and began to hire foreign auxiliaries also.

6. However, at another time, when Antiochus was gone upon an expedition against the Medes, and so
gave Hyrcanus an opportunity of being revenged upon him, he immediately made an attack upon the
cities of Syria, as thinking, what proved to be the case with them, that he should find them empty of god
troops. So he took Medaba and Samea, with the towns in their neighborhood, as also Shechem, and
Gerizzim; and besides these, [he subdued] the nation of the Cutheans, who dwelt round about that temple
which was built in imitation of the temple at Jerusalem; he also took a great many other cities of Idumea,
with Adoreon and Marissa.

7. He also proceeded as far as Samaria, where is now the city Sebaste, which was built by Herod the king,
and encompassed it all round with a wall, and set his sons, Aristobulus and Antigonus, over the siege;
who pushed it on so hard, that a famine so far prevailed within the city, that they were forced to eat what
never was esteemed food. They also invited Antiochus, who was called Cyzicenus, to come to their
assistance; whereupon he got ready, and complied with their invitation, but was beaten by Aristobulus and
Antigonus; and indeed he was pursued as far as Scythopolis by these brethren, and fled away from them.
So they returned back to Samaria, and shut the multitude again within the wall; and when they had taken
the city, they demolished it, and made slaves of its inhabitants. And as they had still great success in their
undertakings, they did not suffer their zeal to cool, but marched with an army as far as Scythopolis, and
made an incursion upon it, and laid waste all the country that lay within Mount Carmel.

8. But then these successes of John and of his sons made them be envied, and occasioned a sedition in the
country; and many there were who got together, and would not be at rest till they brake out into open war,
in which war they were beaten. So John lived the rest of his life very happily, and administered the
government after a most extraordinary manner, and this for thirty-three entire years together. He died,
leaving five sons behind him. He was certainly a very happy man, and afforded no occasion to have any
complaint made of fortune on his account. He it was who alone had three of the most desirable things in
the world, - the government of his nation, and the high priesthood, and the gift of prophecy. For the Deity
conversed with him, and he was not ignorant of any thing that was to come afterward; insomuch that he
foresaw and foretold that his two eldest sons would not continue masters of the government; and it will
highly deserve our narration to describe their catastrophe, and how far inferior these men were to their
father in felicity.

CHAPTER 3.
HOW ARISTOBULUS WAS THE FIRST THAT PUT A DIADEM ABOUT HIS HEAD; AND
AFTER HE HAD PUT HIS MOTHER AND BROTHER TO DEATH, DIED HIMSELF, WHEN
HE HAD REIGNED NO MORE THAN A YEAR.

1. FOR after the death of their father, the elder of them, Aristobulus, changed the government into a
kingdom, and was the first that put a diadem upon his head, four hundred seventy and one years and three
months after our people came down into this country, when they were set free from the Babylonian
slavery. Now, of his brethren, he appeared to have an affection for Antigonus, who was next to him, and
made him his equal; but for the rest, he bound them, and put them in prison. He also put his mother in

11
bonds, for her contesting the government with him; for John had left her to be the governess of public
affairs. He also proceeded to that degree of barbarity as to cause her to be pined to death in prison.

2. But vengeance circumvented him in the affair of his brother Antigonus, whom he loved, and whom he
made his partner in the kingdom; for he slew him by the means of the calumnies which ill men about the
palace contrived against him. At first, indeed, Aristobulus would not believe their reports, partly out of
the affection he had for his brother, and partly because he thought that a great part of these tales were
owing to the envy of their relaters: however, as Antigonus came once in a splendid manner from the army
to that festival, wherein our ancient custom is to make tabernacles for God, it happened, in those days,
that Aristobulus was sick, and that, at the conclusion of the feast, Antigonus came up to it, with his armed
men about him; and this when he was adorned in the finest manner possible; and that, in a great measure,
to pray to God on the behalf of his brother. Now at this very time it was that these ill men came to the
king, and told him in what a pompous manner the armed men came, and with what insolence Antigonus
marched, and that such his insolence was too great for a private person, and that accordingly he was come
with a great band of men to kill him; for that he could not endure this bare enjoyment of royal honor,
when it was in his power to take the kingdom himself.

3. Now Aristobulus, by degrees, and unwillingly, gave credit to these accusations; and accordingly he
took care not to discover his suspicion openly, though he provided to be secure against any accidents; so
he placed the guards of his body in a certain dark subterranean passage; for he lay sick in a place called
formerly the Citadel, though afterwards its name was changed to Antonia; and he gave orders that if
Antigonus came unarmed, they should let him alone; but if he came to him in his armor, they should kill
him. He also sent some to let him know beforehand that he should come unarmed. But, upon this
occasion, the queen very cunningly contrived the matter with those that plotted his ruin, for she persuaded
those that were sent to conceal the king's message; but to tell Antigonus how his brother had heard he had
got a very the suit of armor made with fine martial ornaments, in Galilee; and because his present sickness
hindered him from coming and seeing all that finery, he very much desired to see him now in his armor;
because, said he, in a little time thou art going away from me.

4. As soon as Antigonus heard this, the good temper of his brother not allowing him to suspect any harm
from him, he came along with his armor on, to show it to his brother; but when he was going along that
dark passage which was called Strato's Tower, he was slain by the body guards, and became an eminent
instance how calumny destroys all good-will and natural affection, and how none of our good affections
are strong enough to resist envy perpetually.

5. And truly any one would be surprised at Judas upon this occasion. He was of the sect of the Essens, and
had never failed or deceived men in his predictions before. Now this man saw Antigonus as he was
passing along by the temple, and cried out to his acquaintance, (they were not a few who attended upon
him as his scholars,) "O strange!" said he, "it is good for me to die now, since truth is dead before me, and
somewhat that I have foretold hath proved false; for this Antigonus is this day alive, who ought to hare
died this day; and the place where he ought to be slain, according to that fatal decree, was Strato's Tower,
which is at the distance of six hundred furlongs from this place; and yet four hours of this day are over
already; which point of time renders the prediction impossible to be fill filled." And when the old man had
said this, he was dejected in his mind, and so continued. But in a little time news came that Antigonus was
slain in a subterraneous place, which was itself also called Strato's Tower, by the same name with that
Cesarea which lay by the sea-side; and this ambiguity it was which caused the prophet's disorder.

12
6. Hereupon Aristobulus repented of the great crime he had been guilty of, and this gave occasion to the
increase of his distemper. He also grew worse and worse, and his soul was constantly disturbed at the
thoughts of what he had done, till his very bowels being torn to pieces by the intolerable grief he was
under, he threw up a great quantity of blood. And as one of those servants that attended him carried out
that blood, he, by some supernatural providence, slipped and fell down in the very place where Antigonus
had been slain; and so he spilt some of the murderer's blood upon the spots of the blood of him that had
been murdered, which still appeared. Hereupon a lamentable cry arose among the spectators, as if the
servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place; and as the king heard that cry, he inquired what
was the cause of it; and while nobody durst tell him, he pressed them so much the more to let him know
what was the matter; so at length, when he had threatened them, and forced them to speak out, they told;
whereupon he burst into tears, and groaned, and said, "So I perceive I am not like to escape the all-seeing
eye of God, as to the great crimes I have committed; but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman
pursues me hastily. O thou most impudent body! how long wilt thou retain a soul that ought to die on
account of that punishment it ought to suffer for a mother and a brother slain! How long shall I myself
spend my blood drop by drop? let them take it all at once; and let their ghosts no longer be disappointed
by a few parcels of my bowels offered to them." As soon as he had said these words, he presently died,
when he had reigned no longer than a year.

CHAPTER 4.
WHAT ACTIONS WERE DONE BY ALEXANDER JANNEUS, WHO REIGNED TWENTY-
SEVEN YEARS.

1. AND now the king's wife loosed the king's brethren, and made Alexander king, who appeared both
elder in age, and more moderate in his temper than the rest; who, when he came to the government, slew
one of his brethren, as affecting to govern himself; but had the other of them in great esteem, as loving a
quiet life, without meddling with public affairs.

2. Now it happened that there was a battle between him and Ptolemy, who was called Lathyrus, who had
taken the city Asochis. He indeed slew a great many of his enemies, but the victory rather inclined to
Ptolemy. But when this Ptolemy was pursued by his mother Cleopatra, and retired into Egypt, Alexander
besieged Gadara, and took it; as also he did Amathus, which was the strongest of all the fortresses that
were about Jordan, and therein were the most precious of all the possessions of Theodorus, the son of
Zeno. Whereupon Theodopus marched against him, and took what belonged to himself as well as the
king's baggage, and slew ten thousand of the Jews. However, Alexander recovered this blow, and turned
his force towards the maritime parts, and took Raphia and Gaza, with Anthedon also, which was
afterwards called Agrippias by king Herod.

3. But when he had made slaves of the citizens of all these cities, the nation of the Jews made an
insurrection against him at a festival; for at those feasts seditions are generally begun; and it looked as if
he should not be able to escape the plot they had laid for him, had not his foreign auxiliaries, the Pisidians
and Cilicians, assisted him; for as to the Syrians, he never admitted them among his mercenary troops, on
account of their innate enmity against the Jewish nation. And when he had slain more than six thousand of
the rebels, he made an incursion into Arabia; and when he had taken that country, together with the
Gileadires and Moabites, he enjoined them to pay him tribute, and returned to Areathus; and as Theodorus
was surprised at his great success, he took the fortress, and demolished it.

13
4. However, when he fought with Obodas, king of the Arabians, who had laid an ambush for him near
Golan, and a plot against him, he lost his entire army, which was crowded together in a deep valley, and
broken to pieces by the multitude of camels. And when he had made his escape to Jerusalem, he provoked
the multitude, which hated him before, to make an insurrection against him, and this on account of the
greatness of the calamity that he was under. However, he was then too hard for them; and, in the several
battles that were fought on both sides, he slew not fewer than fifty thousand of the Jews in the interval of
six years. Yet had he no reason to rejoice in these victories, since he did but consume his own kingdom;
till at length he left off fighting, and endeavored to come to a composition with them, by talking with his
subjects. But this mutability and irregularity of his conduct made them hate him still more. And when he
asked them why they so hated him, and what he should do in order to appease them, they said, by killing
himself; for that it would be then all they could do to be reconciled to him, who had done such tragical
things to them, even when he was dead. At the same time they invited Demetrius, who was called
Eucerus, to assist them; and as he readily complied with their requests, in hopes of great advantages, and
came with his army, the Jews joined with those their auxiliaries about Shechem.

5. Yet did Alexander meet both these forces with one thousand horsemen, and eight thousand mercenaries
that were on foot. He had also with him that part of the Jews which favored him, to the number of ten
thousand; while the adverse party had three thousand horsemen, and fourteen thousand footmen. Now,
before they joined battle, the kings made proclamation, and endeavored to draw off each other's soldiers,
and make them revolt; while Demetrius hoped to induce Alexander's mercenaries to leave him, and
Alexander hoped to induce the Jews that were with Demetrius to leave him. But since neither the Jews
would leave off their rage, nor the Greeks prove unfaithful, they came to an engagement, and to a close
fight with their weapons. In which battle Demetrius was the conqueror, although Alexander's mercenaries
showed the greatest exploits, both in soul and body. Yet did the upshot of this battle prove different from
what was expected, as to both of them; for neither did those that invited Demetrius to come to them
continue firm to him, though he was conqueror; and six thousand Jews, out of pity to the change of
Alexander's condition, when he was fled to the mountains, came over to him. Yet could not Demetrius
bear this turn of affairs; but supposing that Alexander was already become a match for him again, and that
all the nation would [at length] run to him, he left the country, and went his way.

6. However, the rest of the [Jewish] multitude did not lay aside their quarrels with him, when the [foreign]
auxiliaries were gone; but they had a perpetual war with Alexander, until he had slain the greatest part of
them, and driven the rest into the city Berneselis; and when he had demolished that city, he carried the
captives to Jerusalem. Nay, his rage was grown so extravagant, that his barbarity proceeded to the degree
of impiety; for when he had ordered eight hundred to be hung upon crosses in the midst of the city, he had
the throats of their wives and children cut before their eyes; and these executions he saw as he was
drinking and lying down with his concubines. Upon which so deep a surprise seized on the people, that
eight thousand of his opposers fled away the very next night, out of all Judea, whose flight was only
terminated by Alexander's death; so at last, though not till late, and with great difficulty, he, by such
actions, procured quiet to his kingdom, and left off fighting any more.

7. Yet did that Antiochus, who was also called Dionysius, become an origin of troubles again. This man
was the brother of Demetrius, and the last of the race of the Seleucidse. (3) Alexander was afraid of him,
when he was marching against the Arabians; so he cut a deep trench between Antipatris, which was near
the mountains, and the shores of Joppa; he also erected a high wall before the trench, and built wooden
towers, in order to hinder any sudden approaches. But still he was not able to exclude Antiochus, for he
burnt the towers, and filled up the trenches, and marched on with his army. And as he looked upon taking
his revenge on Alexander, for endeavoring to stop him, as a thing of less consequence, he marched
directly against the Arabians, whose king retired into such parts of the country as were fittest for engaging
14
the enemy, and then on the sudden made his horse turn back, which were in number ten thousand, and fell
upon Antiochus's army while they were in disorder, and a terrible battle ensued. Antiochus's troops, so
long as he was alive, fought it out, although a mighty slaughter was made among them by the Arabians;
but when he fell, for he was in the forefront, in the utmost danger, in rallying his troops, they all gave
ground, and the greatest part of his army were destroyed, either in the action or the flight; and for the rest,
who fled to the village of Cana, it happened that they were all consumed by want of necessaries, a few
only excepted.

8. About this time it was that the people of Damascus, out of their hatred to Ptolemy, the son of Menhens,
invited Aretas [to take the government], and made him king of Celesyria. This man also made an
expedition against Judea, and beat Alexander in battle; but afterwards retired by mutual agreement. But
Alexander, when he had taken Pella, marched to Gerasa again, out of the covetous desire he had of
Theodorus's possessions; and when he had built a triple wall about the garrison, he took the place by
force. He also demolished Golan, and Seleucia, and what was called the Valley of Antiochus; besides
which, he took the strong fortress of Gamala, and stripped Demetrius, who was governor therein, of what
he had, on account of the many crimes laid to his charge, and then returned into Judea, after he had been
three whole years in this expedition. And now he was kindly received of the nation, because of the good
success he had. So when he was at rest from war, he fell into a distemper; for he was afflicted with a
quartan ague, and supposed that, by exercising himself again in martial affairs, he should get rid of this
distemper; but by making such expeditions at unseasonable times, and forcing his body to undergo greater
hardships than it was able to bear, he brought himself to his end. He died, therefore, in the midst of his
troubles, after he had reigned seven and twenty years.

CHAPTER 5.
ALEXANDRA REIGNS NINE YEARS, DURING WHICH TIME THE PHARISEES WERE THE
REAL RULERS OF THE NATION.

1. NOW Alexander left the kingdom to Alexandra his wife, and depended upon it that the Jews would
now very readily submit to her, because she had been very averse to such cruelty as he had treated them
with, and had opposed his violation of their laws, and had thereby got the good-will of the people. Nor
was he mistaken as to his expectations; for this woman kept the dominion, by the opinion that the people
had of her piety; for she chiefly studied the ancient customs of her country, and cast those men out of the
government that offended against their holy laws. And as she had two sons by Alexander, she made
Hyrcanus the elder high priest, on account of his age, as also, besides that, on account of his inactive
temper, no way disposing him to disturb the public. But she retained the younger, Aristobulus, with her as
a private person, by reason of the warmth of his temper.

2. And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist her in the government. These are a certain
sect of the Jews that appear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the laws more accurately.
low Alexandra hearkened to them to an extraordinary degree, as being herself a woman of great piety
towards God. But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselves into her favor by little and little, and
became themselves the real administrators of the public affairs: they banished and reduced whom they
pleased; they bound and loosed [men] at their pleasure; (4) and, to say all at once, they had the enjoyment
of the royal authority, whilst the expenses and the difficulties of it belonged to Alexandra. She was a
sagacious woman in the management of great affairs, and intent always upon gathering soldiers together;
so that she increased the army the one half, and procured a great body of foreign troops, till her own

15
nation became not only very powerful at home, but terrible also to foreign potentates, while she governed
other people, and the Pharisees governed her.

3. Accordingly, they themselves slew Diogenes, a person of figure, and one that had been a friend to
Alexander; and accused him as having assisted the king with his advice, for crucifying the eight hundred
men [before mentioned.] They also prevailed with Alexandra to put to death the rest of those who had
irritated him against them. Now she was so superstitious as to comply with their desires, and accordingly
they slew whom they pleased themselves. But the principal of those that were in danger fled to
Aristobulus, who persuaded his mother to spare the men on account of their dignity, but to expel them out
of the city, unless she took them to be innocent; so they were suffered to go unpunished, and were
dispersed all over the country. But when Alexandra sent out her army to Damascus, under pretense that
Ptolemy was always oppressing that city, she got possession of it; nor did it make any considerable
resistance. She also prevailed with Tigranes, king of Armenia, who lay with his troops about Ptolemais,
and besieged Cleopatra, (5) by agreements and presents, to go away. Accordingly, Tigranes soon arose
from the siege, by reason of those domestic tumults which happened upon Lucullus's expedition into
Armenia.

4. In the mean time, Alexandra fell sick, and Aristobulus, her younger son, took hold of this opportunity,
with his domestics, of which he had a great many, who were all of them his friends, on account of the
warmth of their youth, and got possession of all the fortresses. He also used the sums of money he found
in them to get together a number of mercenary soldiers, and made himself king; and besides this, upon
Hyrcanus's complaint to his mother, she compassionated his case, and put Aristobulus's wife and sons
under restraint in Antonia, which was a fortress that joined to the north part of the temple. It was, as I
have already said, of old called the Citadel; but afterwards got the name of Antonia, when Antony was
[lord of the East], just as the other cities, Sebaste and Agrippias, had their names changed, and these given
them from Sebastus and Agrippa. But Alexandra died before she could punish Aristobulus for his
disinheriting his brother, after she had reigned nine years.

CHAPTER 6.
WHEN HYRCANUS WHO WAS ALEXANDER'S HEIR, RECEDED FROM HIS CLAIM TO
THE CROWN ARISTOBULUS IS MADE KING; AND AFTERWARD THE SAME HYRCANUS
BY THE MEANS OF ANTIPATER, IS BROUGHT BACK BY ABETAS. AT LAST POMPEY IS
MADE THE ARBITRATOR OF THE DISPUTE BETWEEN THE BROTHERS.

1. NOW Hyrcanus was heir to the kingdom, and to him did his mother commit it before she died; but
Aristobulus was superior to him in power and magnanimity; and when there was a battle between them, to
decide the dispute about the kingdom, near Jericho, the greatest part deserted Hyrcanus, and went over to
Aristobulus; but Hyrcanus, with those of his party who staid with him, fled to Antonia, and got into his
power the hostages that might he for his preservation (which were Aristobulus's wife, with her children);
but they came to an agreement before things should come to extremities, that Aristobulus should be king,
and Hyrcanus should resign that up, but retain all the rest of his dignities, as being the king's brother.
Hereupon they were reconciled to each other in the temple, and embraced one another in a very kind
manner, while the people stood round about them; they also changed their houses, while Aristobulus went
to the royal palace, and Hyrcanus retired to the house of Aristobulus.

2. Now those other people which were at variance with Aristobulus were afraid upon his unexpected
obtaining the government; and especially this concerned Antipater (6) whom Aristobulus hated of old. He

16
was by birth an Idumean, and one of the principal of that nation, on account of his ancestors and riches,
and other authority to him belonging: he also persuaded Hyrcanus to fly to Aretas, the king of Arabia, and
to lay claim to the kingdom; as also he persuaded Aretas to receive Hyrcanus, and to bring him back to his
kingdom: he also cast great reproaches upon Aristobulus, as to his morals, and gave great commendations
to Hyrcanus, and exhorted Aretas to receive him, and told him how becoming a filing it would be for him,
who ruled so great a kingdom, to afford his assistance to such as are injured; alleging that Hyrcanus was
treated unjustly, by being deprived of that dominion which belonged to him by the prerogative of his
birth. And when he had predisposed them both to do what he would have them, he took Hyrcanus by
night, and ran away from the city, and, continuing his flight with great swiftness, he escaped to the place
called Petra, which is the royal seat of the king of Arabia, where he put Hyrcanus into Aretas's hand; and
by discoursing much with him, and gaining upon him with many presents, he prevailed with him to give
him an army that might restore him to his kingdom. This army consisted of fifty thousand footmen and
horsemen, against which Aristobulus was not able to make resistance, but was deserted in his first onset,
and was driven to Jerusalem; he also had been taken at first by force, if Scaurus, the Roman general, had
not come and seasonably interposed himself, and raised the siege. This Scaurus was sent into Syria from
Armenia by Pompey the Great, when he fought against Tigranes; so Scaurus came to Damascus, which
had been lately taken by Metellus and Lollius, and caused them to leave the place; and, upon his hearing
how the affairs of Judea stood, he made haste thither as to a certain booty.

3. As soon, therefore, as he was come into the country, there came ambassadors from both the brothers,
each of them desiring his assistance; but Aristobulus's three hundred talents had more weight with him
than the justice of the cause; which sum, when Scaurus had received, he sent a herald to Hyrcanus and the
Arabians, and threatened them with the resentment of the Romans and of Pompey, unless they would
raise the siege. So Aretas was terrified, and retired out of Judea to Philadelphia, as did Scaurus return to
Damascus again; nor was Aristobulus satisfied with escaping [out of his brother's hands,] but gathered all
his forces together, and pursued his enemies, and fought them at a place called Papyron, and slew about
six thousand of them, and, together with them Antipater's brother Phalion.

4. When Hyrcanus and Antipater were thus deprived of their hopes from the Arabians, they transferred the
same to their adversaries; and because Pompey had passed through Syria, and was come to Damascus,
they fled to him for assistance; and, without any bribes, they made the same equitable pleas that they had
used to Aretas, and besought him to hate the violent behavior of Aristobulus, and to bestow the kingdom
on him to whom it justly belonged, both on account of his good character and on account of his
superiority in age. However, neither was Aristobulus wanting to himself in this case, as relying on the
bribes that Scaurus had received: he was also there himself, and adorned himself after a manner the most
agreeable to royalty that he was able. But he soon thought it beneath him to come in such a servile
manner, and could not endure to serve his own ends in a way so much more abject than he was used to; so
he departed from Diospolis.

5. At this his behavior Pompey had great indignation; Hyrcanus also and his friends made great
intercessions to Pompey; so he took not only his Roman forces, but many of his Syrian auxiliaries, and
marched against Aristobulus. But when he had passed by Pella and Scythopolis, and was come to Corea,
where you enter into the country of Judea, when you go up to it through the Mediterranean parts, he heard
that Aristobulus was fled to Alexandrium, which is a strong hold fortified with the utmost magnificence,
and situated upon a high mountain; and he sent to him, and commanded him to come down. Now his
inclination was to try his fortune in a battle, since he was called in such an imperious manner, rather than
to comply with that call. However, he saw the multitude were in great fear, and his friends exhorted him
to consider what the power of the Romans was, and how it was irresistible; so he complied with their
advice, and came down to Pompey; and when he had made a long apology for himself, and for the
17
justness of his cause in taking the government, he returned to the fortress. And when his brother invited
him again [to plead his cause], he came down and spake about the justice of it, and then went away
without any hinderance from Pompey; so he was between hope and fear. And when he came down, it was
to prevail with Pompey to allow him the government entirely; and when he went up to the citadel, it was
that he might not appear to debase himself too low. However, Pompey commanded him to give up his
fortified places, and forced him to write to every one of their governors to yield them up; they having had
this charge given them, to obey no letters but what were of his own hand-writing. Accordingly he did
what he was ordered to do; but had still an indignation at what was done, and retired to Jerusalem, and
prepared to fight with Pompey.

6. But Pompey did not give him time to make any preparations [for a siege], but followed him at his
heels; he was also obliged to make haste in his attempt, by the death of Mithridates, of which he was
informed about Jericho. Now here is the most fruitful country of Judea, which bears a vast number of
palm trees (7) besides the balsam tree, whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones, and at the incisions they
gather the juice, which drops down like tears. So Pompey pitched his camp in that place one night, and
then hasted away the next morning to Jerusalem; but Aristobulus was so aftrighted at his approach, that he
came and met him by way of supplication. He also promised him money, and that he would deliver up
both himself and the city into his disposal, and thereby mitigated the anger of Pompey. Yet did not he
perform any of the conditions he had agreed to; for Aristobulus's party would not so much as admit
Gabinius into the city, who was sent to receive the money that he had promised.

CHAPTER 7.
HOW POMPEY HAD THE CITY OF JERUSALEM DELIVERED UP TO HIM BUT TOOK THE
TEMPLE BY FORCE. HOW HE WENT INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES; AS ALSO WHAT
WERE HIS OTHER EXPLOITS IN JUDEA.

1. At this treatment Pompey was very angry, and took Aristobulus into custody. And when he was come
to the city, he looked about where he might make his attack; for he saw the walls were so firm, that it
would be hard to overcome them; and that the valley before the walls was terrible; and that the temple,
which was within that valley, was itself encompassed with a very strong wall, insomuch that if the city
were taken, that temple would be a second place of refuge for the enemy to retire to.

2. Now as be was long in deliberating about this matter, a sedition arose among the people within the city;
Aristobulus's party being willing to fight, and to set their king at liberty, while the party of Hyrcanus were
for opening the gates to Pompey; and the dread people were in occasioned these last to be a very
numerous party, when they looked upon the excellent order the Roman soldiers were in. So Aristobulus's
party was worsted, and retired into the temple, and cut off the communication between the temple and the
city, by breaking down the bridge that joined them together, and prepared to make an opposition to the
utmost; but as the others had received the Romans into the city, and had delivered up the palace to him,
Pompey sent Piso, one of his great officers, into that palace with an army, who distributed a garrison
about the city, because he could not persuade any one of those that had fled to the temple to come to terms
of accommodation; he then disposed all things that were round about them so as might favor their attacks,
as having Hyrcanus's party very ready to afford them both counsel and assistance.

3. But Pompey himself filled up the ditch that was oil the north side of the temple, and the entire valley
also, the army itself being obliged to carry the materials for that purpose. And indeed it was a hard thing
to fill up that valley, by reason of its immense depth, especially as the Jews used all the means possible to

18
repel them from their superior situation; nor had the Romans succeeded in their endeavors, had not
Pompey taken notice of the seventh days, on which the Jews abstain from all sorts of work on a religious
account, and raised his bank, but restrained his soldiers from fighting on those days; for the Jews only
acted defensively on sabbath days. But as soon as Pompey had filled up the valley, he erected high towers
upon the bank, and brought those engines which they had fetched from Tyre near to the wall, and tried to
batter it down; and the slingers of stones beat off those that stood above them, and drove them away; but
the towers on this side of the city made very great resistance, and were indeed extraordinary both for
largeness and magnificence.

4. Now here it was that, upon the many hardships which the Romans underwent, Pompey could not but
admire not only at the other instances of the Jews' fortitude, but especially that they did not at all intermit
their religious services, even when they were encompassed with darts on all sides; for, as if the city were
in full peace, their daily sacrifices and purifications, and every branch of their religious worship, was still
performed to God with the utmost exactness. Nor indeed when the temple was actually taken, and they
were every day slain about the altar, did they leave off the instances of their Divine worship that were
appointed by their law; for it was in the third month of the siege before the Romans could even with great
difficulty overthrow one of the towers, and get into the temple. Now he that first of all ventured to get
over the wall, was Faustus Cornelius the son of Sylla; and next after him were two centurions, Furius and
Fabius; and every one of these was followed by a cohort of his own, who encompassed the Jews on all
sides, and slew them, some of them as they were running for shelter to the temple, and others as they, for
a while, fought in their own defense.

5. And now did many of the priests, even when they saw their enemies assailing them with swords in their
hands, without any disturbance, go on with their Divine worship, and were slain while they were offering
their drink-offerings, and burning their incense, as preferring the duties about their worship to God before
their own preservation. The greatest part of them were slain by their own countrymen, of the adverse
faction, and an innumerable multitude threw themselves down precipices; nay, some there were who were
so distracted among the insuperable difficulties they were under, that they set fire to the buildings that
were near to the wall, and were burnt together with them. Now of the Jews were slain twelve thousand;
but of the Romans very few were slain, but a greater number was wounded.

6. But there was nothing that affected the nation so much, in the calamities they were then under, as that
their holy place, which had been hitherto seen by none, should be laid open to strangers; for Pompey, and
those that were about him, went into the temple itself (8) whither it was not lawful for any to enter but the
high priest, and saw what was reposited therein, the candlestick with its lamps, and the table, and the
pouring vessels, and the censers, all made entirely of gold, as also a great quantity of spices heaped
together, with two thousand talents of sacred money. Yet did not he touch that money, nor any thing else
that was there reposited; but he commanded the ministers about the temple, the very next day after he had
taken it, to cleanse it, and to perform their accustomed sacrifices. Moreover, he made Hyrcanus high
priest, as one that not only in other respects had showed great alacrity, on his side, during the siege, but as
he had been the means of hindering the multitude that was in the country from fighting for Aristobulus,
which they were otherwise very ready to have done; by which means he acted the part of a good general,
and reconciled the people to him more by benevolence than by terror. Now, among the Captives,
Aristobulus's father-in-law was taken, who was also his uncle: so those that were the most guilty he
punished with decollatlon; but rewarded Faustus, and those with him that had fought so bravely, with
glorious presents, and laid a tribute upon the country, and upon Jerusalem itself.

19
7. He also took away from the nation all those cities that they had formerly taken, and that belonged to
Celesyria, and made them subject to him that was at that time appointed to be the Roman president there;
and reduced Judea within its proper bounds. He also rebuilt Gadara, (9) that had been demolished by the
Jews, in order to gratify one Demetrius, who was of Gadara, and was one of his own freed-men. He also
made other cities free from their dominion, that lay in the midst of the country, such, I mean, as they had
not demolished before that time; Hippos, and Scythopolis, as also Pella, and Samaria, and Marissa; and
besides these Ashdod, and Jamnia, and Arethusa; and in like manner dealt he with the maritime cities,
Gaza, and Joppa, and Dora, and that which was anciently called Strato's Tower, but was afterward rebuilt
with the most magnificent edifices, and had its name changed to Cesarea, by king Herod. All which he
restored to their own citizens, and put them under the province of Syria; which province, together with
Judea, and the countries as far as Egypt and Euphrates, he committed to Scaurus as their governor, and
gave him two legions to support him; while he made all the haste he could himself to go through Cilicia,
in his way to Rome, having Aristobulus and his children along with him as his captives. They were two
daughters and two sons; the one of which sons, Alexander, ran away as he was going; but the younger,
Antigonus, with his sisters, were carried to Rome.

CHAPTER 8.
ALEXANDER, THE SON OF ARISTOBULUS, WHO RAN AWAY FROM POMPEY, MAKES
AN EXPEDITION AGAINST HYRCANUS; BUT BEING OVERCOME BY GABINIUS HE
DELIVERS UP THE FORTRESSES TO HIM. AFTER THIS ARISTOBULUS ESCAPES FROM
ROME AND GATHERS AN ARMY TOGETHER; BUT BEING BEATEN BY THE ROMANS,
HE IS BROUGHT BACK TO ROME; WITH OTHER THINGS RELATING TO GABINIUS,
CRASSUS AND CASSIUS.

1. IN the mean time, Scaurus made an expedition into Arabia, but was stopped by the difficulty of the
places about Petra. However, he laid waste the country about Pella, though even there he was under great
hardship; for his army was afflicted with famine. In order to supply which want, Hyrcanus afforded him
some assistance, and sent him provisions by the means of Antipater; whom also Scaurus sent to Aretas, as
one well acquainted with him, to induce him to pay him money to buy his peace. The king of Arabia
complied with the proposal, and gave him three hundred talents; upon which Scaurus drew his army out
of Arabia (10)

2. But as for Alexander, that son of Aristobulus who ran away from Pompey, in some time he got a
considerable band of men together, and lay heavy upon Hyrcanus, and overran Judea, and was likely to
overturn him quickly; and indeed he had come to Jerusalem, and had ventured to rebuild its wall that was
thrown down by Pompey, had not Gabinius, who was sent as successor to Scaurus into Syria, showed his
bravery, as in many other points, so in making an expedition against Alexander; who, as he was afraid
that he would attack him, so he got together a large army, composed of ten thousand armed footmen, and
fifteen hundred horsemen. He also built walls about proper places; Alexandrium, and Hyrcanium, and
Machorus, that lay upon the mountains of Arabia.

3. However, Gabinius sent before him Marcus Antonius, and followed himself with his whole army; but
for the select body of soldiers that were about Antipater, and another body of Jews under the command of
Malichus and Pitholaus, these joined themselves to those captains that were about Marcus Antonius, and
met Alexander; to which body came Oabinius with his main army soon afterward; and as Alexander was
not able to sustain the charge of the enemies' forces, now they were joined, he retired. But when he was

20
come near to Jerusalem, he was forced to fight, and lost six thousand men in the battle; three thousand of
which fell down dead, and three thousand were taken alive; so he fled with the remainder to Alexandrium.

4. Now when Gabinius was come to Alexandrium, because he found a great many there en-camped, he
tried, by promising them pardon for their former offenses, to induce them to come over to him before it
came to a fight; but when they would hearken to no terms of accommodation, he slew a great number of
them, and shut up a great number of them in the citadel. Now Marcus Antonius, their leader, signalized
himself in this battle, who, as he always showed great courage, so did he never show it so much as now;
but Gabinius, leaving forces to take the citadel, went away himself, and settled the cities that had not been
demolished, and rebuilt those that had been destroyed. Accordingly, upon his injunctions, the following
cities were restored: Scythopolis, and Samaria, and Anthedon, and Apollonia, and Jamnia, and Raphia,
and Mariassa, and Adoreus, and Gamala, and Ashdod, and many others; while a great number of men
readily ran to each of them, and became their inhabitants.

5. When Gabinius had taken care of these cities, he returned to Alexandrium, and pressed on the siege. So
when Alexander despaired of ever obtaining the government, he sent ambassadors to him, and prayed him
to forgive what he had offended him in, and gave up to him the remaining fortresses, Hyrcanium and
Macherus, as he put Alexandrium into his hands afterwards; all which Gabinius demolished, at the
persuasion of Alexander's mother, that they might not be receptacles of men in a second war. She was
now there in order to mollify Gabinius, out of her concern for her relations that were captives at Rome,
which were her husband and her other children. After this Gabinius brought Hyrcanus to Jerusalem, and
committed the care of the temple to him; but ordained the other political government to be by an
aristocracy. He also parted the whole nation into five conventions, assigning one portion to Jerusalem,
another to Gadara, that another should belong to Amathus, a fourth to Jericho, and to the fifth division
was allotted Sepphoris, a city of Galilee. So the people were glad to be thus freed from monarchical
government, and were governed for the future by all aristocracy.

6. Yet did Aristobulus afford another foundation for new disturbances. He fled away from Rome, and got
together again many of the Jews that were desirous of a change, such as had borne an affection to him of
old; and when he had taken Alexandrium in the first place, he attempted to build a wall about it; but as
soon as Gabinius had sent an army against him under Siscuria, and Antonius, and Servilius, he was aware
of it, and retreated to Macherus. And as for the unprofitable multitude, he dismissed them, and only
marched on with those that were armed, being to the number of eight thousand, among whom was
Pitholaus, who had been the lieutenant at Jerusalem, but deserted to Aristobulus with a thousand of his
men; so the Romans followed him, and when it came to a battle, Aristobulus's party for a long time fought
courageously; but at length they were overborne by the Romans, and of them five thousand fell down
dead, and about two thousand fled to a certain little hill, but the thousand that remained with Aristobulus
brake through the Roman army, and marched together to Macherus; and when the king had lodged the
first night upon its ruins, he was in hopes of raising another army, if the war would but cease a while;
accordingly, he fortified that strong hold, though it was done after a poor manner. But the Romans falling
upon him, he resisted, even beyond his abilities, for two days, and then was taken, and brought a prisoner
to Gabinius, with Antigonus his son, who had fled away together with him from Rome; and from
Gabinius he was carried to Rome again. Wherefore the senate put him under confinement, but returned his
children back to Judea, because Gabinius informed them by letters that he had promised Aristobulus's
mother to do so, for her delivering the fortresses up to him.

7. But now as Gabinius was marching to the war against the Parthians, he was hindered by Ptolemy,
whom, upon his return from Euphrates, he brought back into Egypt, making use of Hyrcanus and

21
Antipater to provide every thing that was necessary for this expedition; for Antipater furnished him with
money, and weapons, and corn, and auxiliaries; he also prevailed with the Jews that were there, and
guarded the avenues at Pelusium, to let them pass. But now, upon Gabinius's absence, the other part of
Syria was in motion, and Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, brought the Jews to revolt again.
Accordingly, he got together a very great army, and set about killing all the Romans that were in the
country; hereupon Gabinius was afraid, (for he was come back already out of Egypt, and obliged to come
back quickly by these tumults,) and sent Antipater, who prevailed with some of the revolters to be quiet.
However, thirty thousand still continued with Alexander, who was himself eager to fight also;
accordingly, Gabinius went out to fight, when the Jews met him; and as the battle was fought near Mount
Tabor, ten thousand of them were slain, and the rest of the multitude dispersed themselves, and fled away.
So Gabinius came to Jerusalem, and settled the government as Antipater would have it; thence he
marched, and fought and beat the Nabateans: as for Mithridates and Orsanes, who fled out of Parthin, he
sent them away privately, but gave it out among the soldiers that they had run away.

8. In the mean time, Crassus came as successor to Gabinius in Syria. He took away all the rest of the gold
belonging to the temple of Jerusalem, in order to furnish himself for his expedition against the Parthians.
He also took away the two thousand talents which Pompey had not touched; but when he had passed over
Euphrates, he perished himself, and his army with him; concerning which affairs this is not a proper time
to speak [more largely].

9. But now Cassius, after Crassus, put a stop to the Parthians, who were marching in order to enter Syria.
Cassius had fled into that province, and when he had taken possession of the same, he made a hasty march
into Judea; and, upon his taking Taricheae, he carried thirty thousand Jews into slavery. He also slew
Pitholaus, who had supported the seditious followers of Aristobulus; and it was Antipater who advised
him so to do. Now this Antipater married a wife of an eminent family among the Arabisus, whose name
was Cypros, and had four sons born to him by her, Phasaelus and Herod, who was afterwards king, and,
besides these, Joseph and Pheroras; and he had a daughter whose name was Salome. Now as he made
himself friends among the men of power every where, by the kind offices he did them, and the hospitable
manner that he treated them; so did he contract the greatest friendship with the king of Arabia, by
marrying his relation; insomuch that when he made war with Aristobulus, he sent and intrusted his
children with him. So when Cassius had forced Alexander to come to terms and to be quiet, he returned to
Euphrates, in order to prevent the Parthians from repassing it; concerning which matter we shall speak
elsewhere. (11)

CHAPTER 9.
ARISTOBULUS IS TAKEN OFF BY POMPEY'S FRIENDS, AS IS HIS SON ALEXANDER BY
SCIPIO. ANTIPATER CULTIVATES A FRIENDSHIP WITH CAESAR, AFTER POMPEY'S
DEATH; HE ALSO PERFORMS GREAT ACTIONS IN THAT WAR, WHEREIN HE ASSISTED
MITHRIDATES.

1. NOW, upon the flight of Pompey and of the senate beyond the Ionian Sea, Caesar got Rome and the
empire under his power, and released Aristobulus from his bonds. He also committed two legions to him,
and sent him in haste into Syria, as hoping that by his means he should easily conquer that country, and
the parts adjoining to Judea. But envy prevented any effect of Aristobulus's alacrity, and the hopes of
Caesar; for he was taken off by poison given him by those of Pompey's party; and, for a long while, he
had not so much as a burial vouchsafed him in his own country; but his dead body lay [above ground],
preserved in honey, until it was sent to the Jews by Antony, in order to be buried in the royal sepulchers.

22
2. His son Alexander also was beheaded by Sci-pio at Antioch, and that by the command of Pompey, and
upon an accusation laid against him before his tribunal, for the mischiefs he had done to the Romans. But
Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, who was then ruler of Chalcis, under Libanus, took his brethren to him by
sending his son Philippio for them to Ascalon, who took Antigonus, as well as his sisters, away from
Aristobulus's wife, and brought them to his father; and falling in love with the younger daughter, he
married her, and was afterwards slain by his father on her account; for Ptolemy himself, after he had slain
his son, married her, whose name was Alexandra; on the account of which marriage he took the greater
care of her brother and sister.

3. Now, after Pompey was dead, Antipater changed sides, and cultivated a friendship with Caesar. And
since Mithridates of Pergamus, with the forces he led against Egypt, was excluded from the avenues about
Pelusium, and was forced to stay at Asealon, he persuaded the Arabians, among whom he had lived, to
assist him, and came himself to him, at the head of three thousand armed men. He also encouraged the
men of power in Syria to come to his assistance, as also of the inhabitants of Libanus, Ptolemy, and
Jamblicus, and another Ptolemy; by which means the cities of that country came readily into this war;
insomuch that Mithridates ventured now, in dependence upon the additional strength that he had gotten by
Antipater, to march forward to Pelusium; and when they refused him a passage through it, he besieged the
city; in the attack of which place Antipater principally signalized himself, for he brought down that part of
the wall which was over against him, and leaped first of all into the city, with the men that were about
him.

4. Thus was Pelusium taken. But still, as they were marching on, those Egyptian Jews that inhabited the
country called the country of Onias stopped them. Then did Antipater not only persuade them not to stop
them, but to afford provisions for their army; on which account even the people about Memphis would
not fight against them, but of their own accord joined Mithridates. Whereupon he went round about Delta,
and fought the rest of the Egyptians at a place called the Jews' Camp; nay, when he was in danger in the
battle with all his right wing, Antipater wheeled about, and came along the bank of the river to him; for he
had beaten those that opposed him as he led the left wing. After which success he fell upon those that
pursued Mithridates, and slew a great many of them, and pursued the remainder so far that he took their
camp, while he lost no more than fourscore of his own men; as Mithridates lost, during the pursuit that
was made after him, about eight hundred. He was also himself saved unexpectedly, and became an
unreproachable witness to Caesar of the great actions of Antipater.

5. Whereupon Caesar encouraged Antipater to undertake other hazardous enterprises for him, and that by
giving him great commendations and hopes of reward. In all which enterprises he readily exposed himself
to many dangers, and became a most courageous warrior; and had many wounds almost all over his body,
as demonstrations of his valor. And when Caesar had settled the affairs of Egypt, and was returning into
Syria again, he gave him the privilege of a Roman citizen, and freedom from taxes, and rendered him an
object of admiration by the honors and marks of friendship he bestowed upon him. On this account it was
that he also confirmed Hyrcanus in the high priesthood.

CHAPTER 10.
CAESAR MAKES ANTIPATER PROCURATOR OF JUDEA; AS DOES ANTIPATER APPOINT
PHASAELUS TO BE GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM, AND HEROD GOVERNOR OF
GALILEE; WHO, IN SOME TIME, WAS CALLED TO ANSWER FOR HIMSELF [BEFORE
THE SANHEDRIM], WHERE HE IS ACQUITTED. SEXTUS CAESAR IS TREACHEROUSLY
KILLED BY BASSUS AND IS SUCCEEDED BY MARCUS.

23
1. ABOUT this time it was that Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, came to Caesar, and became, in a
surprising manner, the occasion of Antipater's further advancement; for whereas he ought to have
lamented that his father appeared to have been poisoned on account of his quarrels with Pompey, and to
have complained of Scipio's barbarity towards his brother, and not to mix any invidious passion when he
was suing for mercy; besides those things, he came before Caesar, and accused Hyrcanus and Antipater,
how they had driven him and his brethren entirely out of their native country, and had acted in a great
many instances unjustly and extravagantly with relation to their nation; and that as to the assistance they
had sent him into Egypt, it was not done out of good-will to him, but out of the fear they were in from
former quarrels, and in order to gain pardon for their friendship to [his enemy] Pompey.

2. Hereupon Antipater threw away his garments, and showed the multitude of the wounds he had, and
said, that as to his good-will to Caesar, he had no occasion to say a word, because his body cried aloud,
though he said nothing himself; that he wondered at Antigonus's boldness, while he was himself no other
than the son of an enemy to the Romans, and of a fugitive, and had it by inheritance from his father to be
fond of innovations and seditions, that he should undertake to accuse other men before the Roman
governor, and endeavor to gain some advantages to himself, when he ought to be contented that he was
suffered to live; for that the reason of his desire of governing public affairs was not so much because he
was in want of it, but because, if he could once obtain the same, he might stir up a sedition among the
Jews, and use what he should gain from the Romans to the disservice of those that gave it him.

3. When Caesar heard this, he declared Hyrcanus to be the most worthy of the high priesthood, and gave
leave to Antipater to choose what authority he pleased; but he left the determination of such dignity to
him that bestowed the dignity upon him; so he was constituted procurator of all Judea, and obtained leave,
moreover, to rebuild (12) those walls of his country that had been thrown down. These honorary grants
Caesar sent orders to have engraved in the Capitol, that they might stand there as indications of his own
justice, and of the virtue of Antipater.

4. But as soon as Antipater had conducted Caesar out of Syria he returned to Judea, and the first thing he
did was to rebuild that wall of his own country [Jerusalem] which Pompey had overthrown, and then to go
over the country, and to quiet the tumults that were therein; where he partly threatened, and partly
advised, every one, and told them that in case they would submit to Hyrcanus, they would live happily
and peaceably, and enjoy what they possessed, and that with universal peace and quietness; but that in
case they hearkened to such as had some frigid hopes by raising new troubles to get themselves some
gain, they should then find him to be their lord instead of their procurator; and find Hyrcanus to be a
tyrant instead of a king; and both the Romans and Caesar to be their enemies, instead of rulers; for that
they would not suffer him to be removed from the government, whom they had made their governor. And,
at the same time that he said this, he settled the affairs of the country by himself, because he saw that
Hyrcanus was inactive, and not fit to manage the affairs of the kingdom. So he constituted his eldest son,
Phasaelus, governor of Jerusalem, and of the parts about it; he also sent his next son, Herod, who was
very young, (13) with equal authority into Galilee.

5. Now Herod was an active man, and soon found proper materials for his active spirit to work upon. As
therefore he found that Hezekias, the head of the robbers, ran over the neighboring parts of Syria with a
great band of men, he caught him and slew him, and many more of the robbers with him; which exploit
was chiefly grateful to the Syrians, insomuch that hymns were sung in Herod's commendation, both in the
villages and in the cities, as having procured their quietness, and having preserved what they possessed to
them; on which occasion he became acquainted with Sextus Caesar, a kinsman of the great Caesar, and
president of Syria. A just emulation of his glorious actions excited Phasaelus also to imitate him.

24
Accordingly, he procured the good-will of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by his own management of the
city affairs, and did not abuse his power in any disagreeable manner; whence it came to pass that the
nation paid Antipater the respects that were due only to a king, and the honors they all yielded him were
equal to the honors due to an absolute lord; yet did he not abate any part of that good-will or fidelity
which he owed to Hyrcanus.

6. However, he found it impossible to escape envy in such his prosperity; for the glory of these young
men affected even Hyrcanus himself already privately, though he said nothing of it to any body; but what
he principally was grieved at was the great actions of Herod, and that so many messengers came one
before another, and informed him of the great reputation he got in all his undertakings. There were also
many people in the royal palace itself who inflamed his envy at him; those, I mean, who were obstructed
in their designs by the prudence either of the young men, or of Antipater. These men said, that by
committing the public affairs to the management of Antipater and of his sons, he sat down with nothing
but the bare name of a king, without any of its authority; and they asked him how long he would so far
mistake himself, as to breed up kings against his own interest; for that they did not now conceal their
government of affairs any longer, but were plainly lords of the nation, and had thrust him out of his
authority; that this was the case when Herod slew so many men without his giving him any command to
do it, either by word of mouth, or by his letter, and this in contradiction to the law of the Jews; who
therefore, in case he be not a king, but a private man, still ought to come to his trial, and answer it to him,
and to the laws of his country, which do not permit any one to be killed till he hath been condemned in
judgment.

7. Now Hyrcanus was, by degrees, inflamed with these discourses, and at length could bear no longer, but
he summoned Herod to take his trial. Accordingly, by his father's advice, and as soon as the affairs of
Galilee would give him leave, he came up to [Jerusalem], when he had first placed garrisons in Galilee;
however, he came with a sufficient body of soldiers, so many indeed that he might not appear to have
with him an army able to overthrow Hyrcanus's government, nor yet so few as to expose him to the insults
of those that envied him. However, Sextus Caesar was in fear for the young man, lest he should be taken
by his enemies, and brought to punishment; so he sent some to denounce expressly to Hyrcanus that he
should acquit Herod of the capital charge against him; who acquitted him accordingly, as being otherwise
inclined also so to do, for he loved Herod.

8. But Herod, supposing that he had escaped punishment without the consent of the king, retired to
Sextus, to Damascus, and got every thing ready, in order not to obey him if he should summon him again;
whereupon those that were evil-disposed irritated Hyrcanus, and told him that Herod was gone away in
anger, and was prepared to make war upon him; and as the king believed what they said, he knew not
what to do, since he saw his antagonist was stronger than he was himself. And now, since Herod was
made general of Coelesyria and Samaria by Sextus Caesar, he was formidable, not only from the good-
will which the nation bore him, but by the power he himself had; insomuch that Hyrcanus fell into the
utmost degree of terror, and expected he would presently march against him with his army.

9. Nor was he mistaken in the conjecture he made; for Herod got his army together, out of the anger he
bare him for his threatening him with the accusation in a public court, and led it to Jerusalem, in order to
throw Hyrcanus down from his kingdom; and this he had soon done, unless his father and brother had
gone out together and broken the force of his fury, and this by exhorting him to carry his revenge no
further than to threatening and affrighting, but to spare the king, under whom he had been advanced to
such a degree of power; and that he ought not to be so much provoked at his being tried, as to forget to be
thankful that he was acquitted; nor so long to think upon what was of a melancholy nature, as to be

25
ungrateful for his deliverance; and if we ought to reckon that God is the arbitrator of success in war, an
unjust cause is of more disadvantage than an army can be of advantage; and that therefore he ought not to
be entirely confident of success in a case where he is to fight against his king, his supporter, and one that
had often been his benefactor, and that had never been severe to him, any otherwise than as he had
hearkened to evil counselors, and this no further than by bringing a shadow of injustice upon him. So
Herod was prevailed upon by these arguments, and supposed that what he had already done was sufficient
for his future hopes, and that he had enough shown his power to the nation.

10. In the mean time, there was a disturbance among the Romans about Apamia, and a civil war
occasioned by the treacherous slaughter of Sextus Caesar, by Cecilius Bassus, which he perpetrated out of
his good-will to Pompey; he also took the authority over his forces; but as the rest of Caesar's
commanders attacked Bassus with their whole army, in order to punish him for the murder of Caesar,
Antipater also sent them assistance by his sons, both on account of him that was murdered, and on
account of that Caesar who was still alive, both of which were their friends; and as this war grew to be of
a considerable length, Marcus came out of Italy as successor to Sextus.

CHAPTER 11.
HEROD IS MADE PROCURATOR OF ALL SYRIA; MALICHUS IS AFRAID OF HIM, AND
TAKES ANTIPATER OFF BY POISON; WHEREUPON THE TRIBUNES OF THE SOLDIERS
ARE PREVAILED WITH TO KILL HIM.

1. THERE, was at this time a mighty war raised among the Romans upon the sudden and treacherous
slaughter of Caesar by Cassius and Brutus, after he had held the government for three years and seven
months. (14) Upon this murder there were very great agitations, and the great men were mightily at
difference one with another, and every one betook himself to that party where they had the greatest hopes
of their own, of advancing themselves. Accordingly, Cassius came into Syria, in order to receive the
forces that were at Apamia, where he procured a reconciliation between Bassus and Marcus, and the
legions which were at difference with him; so he raised the siege of Apamia, and took upon him the
command of the army, and went about exacting tribute of the cities, and demanding their money to such a
degree as they were not able to bear.

2. So he gave command that the Jews should bring in seven hundred talents; whereupon Antipater, out of
his dread of Cassius's threats, parted the raising of this sum among his sons, and among others of his
acquaintance, and to be done immediately; and among them he required one Malichus, who was at enmity
with him, to do his part also, which necessity forced him to do. Now Herod, in the first place, mitigated
the passion of Cassius, by bringing his share out of Galilee, which was a hundred talents, on which
account he was in the highest favor with him; and when he reproached the rest for being tardy, he was
angry at the cities themselves; so he made slaves of Gophna and Emmaus, and two others of less note;
nay, he proceeded as if he would kill Malichus, because he had not made greater haste in exacting his
tribute; but Antipater prevented the ruin of this man, and of the other cities, and got into Cassius's favor
by bringing in a hundred talents immediately. (15)

3. However, when Cassius was gone Malichus forgot the kindness that Antipater had done him, and laid
frequent plots against him that had saved him, as making haste to get him out of the way, who was an
obstacle to his wicked practices; but Antipater was so much afraid of the power and cunning of the man,
that he went beyond Jordan, in order to get an army to guard himself against his treacherous designs; but
when Malichus was caught in his plot, he put upon Antipater's sons by his impudence, for he thoroughly

26
deluded Phasaelus, who was the guardian of Jerusalem, and Herod who was intrusted with the weapons of
war, and this by a great many excuses and oaths, and persuaded them to procure his reconciliation to his
father. Thus was he preserved again by Antipater, who dissuaded Marcus, the then president of Syria,
from his resolution of killing Malichus, on account of his attempts for innovation.

4. Upon the war between Cassius and Brutus on one side, against the younger Caesar [Augustus] and
Antony on the other, Cassius and Marcus got together an army out of Syria; and because Herod was likely
to have a great share in providing necessaries, they then made him procurator of all Syria, and gave him
an army of foot and horse. Cassius premised him also, that after the war was over, he would make him
king of Judea. But it so happened that the power and hopes of his son became the cause of his perdition;
for as Malichus was afraid of this, he corrupted one of the king's cup-bearers with money to give a
poisoned potion to Antipater; so he became a sacrifice to Malichus's wickedness, and died at a feast. He
was a man in other respects active in the management of affairs, and one that recovered the government to
Hyrcanus, and preserved it in his hands.

5. However, Malichus, when lie was suspected ef poisoning Antipater, and when the multitude was angry
with him for it, denied it, and made the people believe he was not guilty. He also prepared to make a
greater figure, and raised soldiers; for he did not suppose that Herod would be quiet, who indeed came
upon him with an army presently, in order to revenge his father's death; but, upon hearing the advice of
his brother Phasaelus, not to punish him in an open manner, lest the multitude should fall into a sedition,
he admitted of Malichus's apology, and professed that he cleared him of that suspicion; he also made a
pompous funeral for his father.

6. So Herod went to Samaria, which was then in a tumult, and settled the city in peace; after which at the
[Pentecost] festival, he returned to Jerusalem, having his armed men with him: hereupon Hyrcanus, at the
request of Malichus, who feared his reproach, forbade them to introduce foreigners to mix themselves
with the people of the country while they were purifying themselves; but Herod despised the pretense, and
him that gave that command, and came in by night. Upon which Malithus came to him, and bewailed
Antipater; Herod also made him believe [he admitted of his lamentations as real], although he had much
ado to restrain his passion at him; however, he did himself bewail the murder of his father in his letters to
Cassius, who, on other accounts, also hated Malichus. Cassius sent him word back that he should avenge
his father's death upon him, and privately gave order to the tribunes that were under him, that they should
assist Herod in a righteous action he was about.

7. And because, upon the taking of Laodicea by Cassius, the men of power were gotten together from all
quarters, with presents and crowns in their hands, Herod allotted this time for the punishment of
Malichus. When Malichus suspected that, and was at Tyre, he resolved to withdraw his son privately from
among the Tyrians, who was a hostage there, while he got ready to fly away into Judea; the despair he
was in of escaping excited him to think of greater things; for he hoped that he should raise the nation to a
revolt from the Romans, while Cassius was busy about the war against Antony, and that he should easily
depose Hyrcanus, and get the crown for himself.

8. But fate laughed at the hopes he had; for Herod foresaw what he was so zealous about, and invited both
Hyrcanus and him to supper; but calling one of the principal servants that stood by him to him, he sent
him out, as though it were to get things ready for supper, but in reality to give notice beforehand about the
plot that was laid against him; accordingly they called to mind what orders Cassius had given them, and
went out of the city with their swords in their hands upon the sea-shore, where they encompassed
Malichus round about, and killed him with many wounds. Upon which Hyrcanus was immediately

27
aftrighted, till he swooned away and fell down at the surprise he was in; and it was with difficulty that he
was recovered, when he asked who it was that had killed Malichus. And when one of the tribunes replied
that it was done by the command of Cassius," Then," said he, "Cassius hath saved both me and my
country, by cutting off one that was laying plots against them both." Whether he spake according to his
own sentiments, or whether his fear was such that he was obliged to commend the action by saying so, is
uncertain; however, by this method Herod inflicted punishment upon Malichus.

CHAPTER 12.
PHASAELUS IS TOO HARD FOR FELIX; HEROD ALSO OVERCOMES ANTIGONUS IN
RATTLE; AND THE JEWS ACCUSE BOTH HEROD AND PHASAELUS BUT ANTONIUS
ACQUITS THEM, AND MAKES THEM TETRARCHS.

1. WHEN Cassius was gone out of Syria, another sedition arose at Jerusalem, wherein Felix assaulted
Phasaelus with an army, that he might revenge the death of Malichus upon Herod, by falling upon his
brother. Now Herod happened then to be with Fabius, the governor of Damascus, and as he was going to
his brother's assistance, he was detained by sickness; in the mean time, Phasaelus was by himself too hard
for Felix, and reproached Hyrcanus on account of his ingratitude, both for what assistance he had afforded
Maliehus, and for overlooking Malichus's brother, when he possessed himself of the fortresses; for he had
gotten a great many of them already, and among them the strongest of them all, Masada.

2. However, nothing could be sufficient for him against the force of Herod, who, as soon as he was
recovered, took the other fortresses again, and drove him out of Masada in the posture of a supplicant; he
also drove away Marion, the tyrant of the Tyrians, out of Galilee, when he had already possessed himself
of three fortified places; but as to those Tyrians whom he had caught, he preserved them all alive; nay,
some of them he gave presents to, and so sent them away, and thereby procured good-will to himself from
the city, and hatred to the tyrant. Marion had indeed obtained that tyrannical power of Cassius, who set
tyrants over all Syria (16) and out of hatred to Herod it was that he assisted Antigonus, the son of
Aristobulus, and principally on Fabius's account, whom Antigonus had made his assistant by money, and
had him accordingly on his side when he made his descent; but it was Ptolemy, the kinsman of Antigonus,
that supplied all that he wanted.

3. When Herod had fought against these in the avenues of Judea, he was conqueror in the battle, and
drove away Antigonus, and returned to Jerusalem, beloved by every body for the glorious action he had
done; for those who did not before favor him did join themselves to him now, because of his marriage
into the family of Hyrcanus; for as he had formerly married a wife out of his own country of no ignoble
blood, who was called Doris, of whom he begat Antipater; so did he now marry Mariamne, the daughter
of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, and the granddaughter of Hyrcanus, and was become thereby a
relation of the king.

4. But when Caesar and Antony had slain Cassius near Philippi, and Caesar was gone to Italy, and Antony
to Asia, amongst the rest of the cities which sent ambassadors to Antony unto Bithynia, the great men of
the Jews came also, and accused Phasaelus and Herod, that they kept the government by force, and that
Hyrcanus had no more than an honorable name. Herod appeared ready to answer this accusation; and
having made Antony his friend by the large sums of money which he gave him, he brought him to such a
temper as not to hear the others speak against him; and thus did they part at this time.

28
5. However, after this, there came a hundred of the principal men among the Jews to Daphne by Antioch
to Antony, who was already in love with Cleopatra to the degree of slavery; these Jews put those men that
were the most potent, both in dignity and eloquence, foremost, and accused the brethren. (17) But Messala
opposed them, and defended the brethren, and that while Hyrcanus stood by him, on account of his
relation to them. When Antony had heard both sides, he asked Hyrcanus which party was the fittest to
govern, who replied that Herod and his party were the fittest. Antony was glad of that answer, for he had
been formerly treated in an hospitable and obliging manner by his father Antipater, when he marched into
Judea with Gabinius; so he constituted the brethren tetrarchs, and committed to them the government of
Judea.

6. But when the ambassadors had indignation at this procedure, Antony took fifteen of them, and put them
into custody, whom he was also going to kill presently, and the rest he drove away with disgrace; on
which occasion a still greater tumult arose at Jerusalem; so they sent again a thousand ambassadors to
Tyre, where Antony now abode, as he was marching to Jerusalem; upon these men who made a clamor he
sent out the governor of Tyre, and ordered him to punish all that he could catch of them, and to settle
those in the administration whom he had made tetrarchs.

7. But before this Herod, and Hyrcanus went out upon the sea-shore, and earnestly desired of these
ambassadors that they would neither bring ruin upon themselves, nor war upon their native country, by
their rash contentions; and when they grew still more outrageous, Antony sent out armed men, and slew a
great many, and wounded more of them; of whom those that were slain were buried by Hyrcanus, as were
the wounded put under the care of physicians by him; yet would not those that had escaped be quiet still,
but put the affairs of the city into such disorder, and so provoked Antony, that he slew those whom he had
in bonds also.

CHAPTER 13.
THE PARTHIANS BRING ANTIGONUS BACK INTO JUDEA, AND CAST HYRCANUS AND
PHASAELUS INTO PRISON. THE FLIGHT OF HEROD, AND THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM
AND WHAT HYRCANUS AND PHASAELUS SUFFERED.

1. Now two years afterward, when Barzapharnes, a governor among the Parthians, and Paeorus, the king's
son, had possessed themselves of Syria, and when Lysanias had already succeeded upon the death of his
father Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, in the government [of Chalcis], he prevailed with the governor, by a
promise of a thousand talents, and five hundred women, to bring back Antigonus to his kingdom, and to
turn Hyrcanus out of it. Pacorus was by these means induced so to do, and marched along the sea-coast,
while he ordered Barzapharnes to fall upon the Jews as he went along the Mediterranean part of the
country; but of the maritime people, the Tyrians would not receive Pacorus, although those of Ptolemais
and Sidon had received him; so he committed a troop of his horse to a certain cup-bearer belonging to the
royal family, of his own name [Pacorus], and gave him orders to march into Judea, in order to learn the
state of affairs among their enemies, and to help Antigonus when he should want his assistance.

2. Now as these men were ravaging Carmel, many of the Jews ran together to Antigonus, and showed
themselves ready to make an incursion into the country; so he sent them before into that place called
Drymus, [the woodland (18) ] to seize upon the place; whereupon a battle was fought between them, and
they drove the enemy away, and pursued them, and ran after them as far as Jerusalem, and as their
numbers increased, they proceeded as far as the king's palace; but as Hyrcanus and Phasaelus received
them with a strong body of men, there happened a battle in the market-place, in which Herod's party beat

29
the enemy, and shut them up in the temple, and set sixty men in the houses adjoining as a guard to them.
But the people that were tumultuous against the brethren came in, and burnt those men; while Herod, in
his rage for killing them, attacked and slew many of the people, till one party made incursions on the
other by turns, day by day, in the way of ambushes, and slaughters were made continually among them.

3. Now when that festival which we call Pentecost was at hand, all the places about the temple, and the
whole city, was full of a multitude of people that were come out of the country, and which were the
greatest part of them armed also, at which time Phasaelus guarded the wall, and Herod, with a few,
guarded the royal palace; and when he made an assault upon his enemies, as they were out of their ranks,
on the north quarter of the city, he slew a very great number of them, and put them all to flight; and some
of them he shut up within the city, and others within the outward rampart. In the mean time, Antigonus
desired that Pacorus might be admitted to be a reconciler between them; and Phasaelus was prevailed
upon to admit the Parthian into the city with five hundred horse, and to treat him in an hospitable manner,
who pretended that he came to quell the tumult, but in reality he came to assist Antigonus; however, he
laid a plot for Phasaelus, and persuaded him to go as an ambassador to Barzapharnes, in order to put an
end to the war, although Herod was very earnest with him to the contrary, and exhorted him to kill the
plotter, but not expose himself to the snares he had laid for him, because the barbarians are naturally
perfidious. However, Pacorus went out and took Hyrcanus with him, that he might be the less suspected;
he also (19) left some of the horsemen, called the Freemen, with Herod, and conducted Phasaelus with the
rest.

4. But now, when they were come to Galilee, they found that the people of that country had revolted, and
were in arms, who came very cunningly to their leader, and besought him to conceal his treacherous
intentions by an obliging behavior to them; accordingly, he at first made them presents; and afterward, as
they went away, laid ambushes for them; and when they were come to one of the maritime cities called
Ecdippon, they perceived that a plot was laid for them; for they were there informed of the promise of a
thousand talents, and how Antigonus had devoted the greatest number of the women that were there with
them, among the five hundred, to the Parthians; they also perceived that an ambush was always laid for
them by the barbarians in the night time; they had also been seized on before this, unless they had waited
for the seizure of Herod first at Jerusalem, because if he were once informed of this treachery of theirs, he
would take care of himself; nor was this a mere report, but they saw the guards already not far off them.

5. Nor would Phasaelus think of forsaking Hyrcanus and flying away, although Ophellius earnestly
persuaded him to it; for this man had learned the whole scheme of the plot from Saramalla, the richest of
all the Syrians. But Phasaelus went up to the Parfilian governor, and reproached him to his face for laying
this treacherous plot against them, and chiefly because he had done it for money; and he promised him
that he would give him more money for their preservation, than Antigonus had promised to give for the
kingdom. But the sly Parthian endeavored to remove all this suspicion by apologies and by oaths, and
then went [to the other] Pacorus; immediately after which those Parthians who were left, and had it in
charge, seized upon Phasaelus and Hyrcanus, who could do no more than curse their perfidiousness and
their perjury.

6. In the mean time, the cup-bearer was sent [back], and laid a plot how to seize upon Herod, by deluding
him, and getting him out of the city, as he was commanded to do. But Herod suspected the barbarians
from the beginning; and having then received intelligence that a messenger, who was to bring him the
letters that informed him of the treachery intended, had fallen among the enemy, he would not go out of
the city; though Pacorus said very positively that he ought to go out, and meet the messengers that
brought the letters, for that the enemy had not taken them, and that the contents of them were not accounts

30
of any plots upon them, but of what Phasaelus had done; yet had he heard from others that his brother was
seized; and Alexandra (20) the shrewdest woman in the world, Hyrcanus's daughter, begged of him that
he would not go out, nor trust himself to those barbarians, who now were come to make an attempt upon
him openly.

7. Now as Pacorus and his friends were considering how they might bring their plot to bear privately,
because it was not possible to circumvent a man of so great prudence by openly attacking him, Herod
prevented them, and went off with the persons that were the most nearly related to him by night, and this
without their enemies being apprized of it. But as soon as the Parthians perceived it, they pursued after
them; and as he gave orders for his mother, and sister, and the young woman who was betrothed to him,
with her mother, and his youngest brother, to make the best of their way, he himself, with his servants,
took all the care they could to keep off the barbarians; and when at every assault he had slain a great many
of them, he came to the strong hold of Masada.

8. Nay, he found by experience that the Jews fell more heavily upon him than did the Parthians, and
created him troubles perpetually, and this ever since he was gotten sixty furlongs from the city; these
sometimes brought it to a sort of a regular battle. Now in the place where Herod beat them, and killed a
great number of them, there he afterward built a citadel, in memory of the great actions he did there, and
adorned it with the most costly palaces, and erected very strong fortifications, and called it, from his own
name, Herodium. Now as they were in their flight, many joined themselves to him every day; and at a
place called Thressa of Idumea his brother Joseph met him, and advised him to ease himself of a great
number of his followers, because Masada would not contain so great a multitude, which were above nine
thousand. Herod complied with this advice, and sent away the most cumbersome part of his retinue, that
they might go into Idumea, and gave them provisions for their journey; but he got safe to the fortress with
his nearest relations, and retained with him only the stoutest of his followers; and there it was that he left
eight hundred of his men as a guard for the women, and provisions sufficient for a siege; but he made
haste himself to Petra of Arabia.

9. As for the Parthians in Jerusalem, they betook themselves to plundering, and fell upon the houses of
those that were fled, and upon the king's palace, and spared nothing but Hyrcanus's money, which was not
above three hundred talents. They lighted on other men's money also, but not so much as they hoped for;
for Herod having a long while had a suspicion of the perfidiousness of the barbarians, had taken care to
have what was most splendid among his treasures conveyed into Idumea, as every one belonging to him
had in like manner done also. But the Parthians proceeded to that degree of injustice, as to fill all the
country with war without denouncing it, and to demolish the city Marissa, and not only to set up
Antigonus for king, but to deliver Phasaelus and Hyrcanus bound into his. hands, in order to their being
tormented by him. Antigonus himself also bit off Hyrcanus's ears with his own teeth, as he fell down upon
his knees to him, that so he might never be able upon any mutation of affairs to take the high priesthood
again, for the high priests that officiated were to be complete, and without blemish.

10. However, he failed in his purpose of abusing Phasaelus, by reason of his courage; for though he
neither had the command of his sword nor of his hands, he prevented all abuses by dashing his head
against a stone; so he demonstrated himself to be Herod's own brother, and Hyrcanus a most degenerate
relation, and died with great bravery, and made the end of his life agreeable to the actions of it. There is
also another report about his end, viz. that he recovered of that stroke, and that a surgeon, who was sent
by Antigonus to heal him, filled the wound with poisonous ingredients, and so killed him; whichsoever of
these deaths he came to, the beginning of it was glorious. It is also reported that before he expired he was

31
informed by a certain poor woman how Herod had escaped out of their hands, and that he said thereupon,
"I now die with comfort, since I leave behind me one alive that will avenge me of mine enemies."

11. This was the death of Phasaelus; but the Parthians, although they had failed of the women they chiefly
desired, yet did they put the government of Jerusalem into the hands of Antigonus, and took away
Hyrcanus, and bound him, and carried him to Parthia.

CHAPTER 14.
WHEN HEROD IS REJECTED IN ARABIA, HE MAKES HASTE TO ROME WHERE
ANTONY AND CAESAR JOIN THEIR INTEREST TO MAKE HIM KING .

1. NOW Herod did the more zealously pursue his journey into Arabia, as making haste to get money of
the king, while his brother was yet alive; by which money alone it was that he hoped to prevail upon the
covetous temper of the barbarians to spare Phasaelus; for he reasoned thus with himself,: - that if the
Arabian king was too forgetful of his father's friendship with him, and was too covetous to make him a
free gift, he would however borrow of him as much as might redeem his brother, and put into his hands,
as a pledge, the son of him that was to be redeemed. Accordingly he led his brother's son along with him,
who was of the age of seven years. Now he was ready to give three hundred talents for his brother, and
intended to desire the intercession of the Tyrians, to get them accepted; however, fate had been too quick
for his diligence; and since Phasaelus was dead, Herod's brotherly love was now in vain. Moreover, he
was not able to find any lasting friendship among the Arabians; for their king, Malichus, sent to him
immediately, and commanded him to return back out of his country, and used the name of the Parthians as
a pretense for so doing, as though these had denounced to him by their ambassadors to cast Herod out of
Arabia; while in reality they had a mind to keep back what they owed to Antipater, and not be obliged to
make requitals to his sons for the free gifts the father had made them. He also took the impudent advice of
those who, equally with himself, were willing to deprive Herod of what Antipater had deposited among
them; and these men were the most potent of all whom he had in his kingdom.

2. So when Herod had found that the Arabians were his enemies, and this for those very reasons whence
he hoped they would have been the most friendly, and had given them such an answer as his passion
suggested, he returned back, and went for Egypt. Now he lodged the first evening at one of the temples of
that country, in order to meet with those whom he left behind; but on the next day word was brought him,
as he was going to Rhinocurura, that his brother was dead, and how he came by his death; and when he
had lamented him as much as his present circumstances could bear, he soon laid aside such cares, and
proceeded on his journey. But now, after some time, the king of Arabia repented of what he had done, and
sent presently away messengers to call him back: Herod had prevented them, and was come to Pelusium,
where he could not obtain a passage from those that lay with the fleet, so he besought their captains to let
him go by them; accordingly, out of the reverence they bore to the fame and dignity of the man, they
conducted him to Alexandria; and when he came into the city, he was received by Cleopatra with great
splendor, who hoped he might be persuaded to be commander of her forces in the expedition she was now
about; but he rejected the queen's solicitations, and being neither aftrighted at the height of that storm
which. then happened, nor at the tumults that were now in Italy, he sailed for Rome.

3. But as he was in peril about Pamphylia, and obliged to cast out the greatest part of the ship's lading, he
with difficulty got safe to Rhodes, a place which had been grievously harassed in the war with Cassius.
He was there received by his friends, Ptolemy and Sappinius; and although he was then in want of money,
he fitted up a three-decked ship of very great magnitude, wherein he and his friends sailed to Brundusium,

32
(21) and went thence to Rome with all speed; where he first of all went to Antony, on account of the
friendship his father had with him, and laid before him the calamities of himself and his family; and that
he had left his nearest relations besieged in a fortress, and had sailed to him through a storm, to make
supplication to him for assistance.

4. Hereupon Antony was moved to compassion at the change that had been made in Herod's affairs, and
this both upon his calling to mind how hospitably he had been treated by Antipater, but more especially
on account of Herod's own virtue; so he then resolved to get him made king of the Jews, whom he had
himself formerly made tetrarch. The contest also that he had with Antigonus was another inducement, and
that of no less weight than the great regard he had for Herod; for he looked upon Antigonus as a seditious
person, and an enemy of the Romans; and as for Caesar, Herod found him better prepared than Antony, as
remembering very fresh the wars he had gone through together with his father, the hospitable treatment he
had met with from him, and the entire good-will he had showed to him; besides the activity which he saw
in Herod himself. So he called the senate together, wherein Messalas, and after him Atratinus, produced
Herod before them, and gave a full account of the merits of his father, and his own good-will to the
Romans. At the same time they demonstrated that Antigonus was their enemy, not only because he soon
quarreled with them, but because he now overlooked the Romans, and took the government by the means
of the Parthians. These reasons greatly moved the senate; at which juncture Antony came in, and told
them that it was for their advantage in the Parthian war that Herod should be king; so they all gave their
votes for it. And when the senate was separated, Antony and Caesar went out, with Herod between them;
while the consul and the rest of the magistrates went before them, in order to offer sacrifices, and to lay
the decree in the Capitol. Antony also made a feast for Herod on the first day of his reign.

CHAPTER 15.
ANTIGONUS BESIEGES THOSE THAT WERE IN MASADA, WHOM HEROD FREES FROM
CONFINEMENT WHEN HE CAME BACK FROM ROME, AND PRESENTLY MARCHES TO
JERUSALEM WHERE HE FINDS SILO CORRUPTED BY BRIBES.

1. NOW during this time Antigonus besieged those that were in Masada, who had all other necessaries in
sufficient quantity, but were in want of water; on which account Joseph, Herod's brother, was disposed to
run away to the Arabians, with two hundred of his own friends, because he had heard that Malichus
repented of his offenses with regard to Herod; and he had been so quick as to have been gone out of the
fortress already, unless, on that very night when he was going away, there had fallen a great deal of rain,
insomuch that his reservoirs were full of water, and so he was under no necessity of running away. After
which, therefore, they made an irruption upon Antigonus's party, and slew a great many of them, some in
open battles, and some in private ambush; nor had they always success in their attempts, for sometimes
they were beaten, and ran away.

2. In the mean time Ventidius, the Roman general, was sent out of Syria, to restrain the incursions of the
Parthians; and after he had done that, he came into Judea, in pretense indeed to assist Joseph and his party,
but in reality to get money of Antigonus;, and when he had pitched his camp very near to Jerusalem, as
soon as he had got money enough, he went away with the greatest part of his forces; yet still did he leave
Silo with some part of them, lest if he had taken them all away, his taking of bribes might have been too
openly discovered. Now Antigonus hoped that the Parthians would come again to his assistance, and
therefore cultivated a good understanding with Silo in the mean time, lest any interruption should be
given to his hopes.

33
3. Now by this time Herod had sailed out of Italy, and was come to Ptolemais; and as soon as he had
gotten together no small army of foreigners, and of his own countrymen, he marched through Galilee
against Antigonus, wherein he was assisted by Ventidius and Silo, both whom Dellius, (22) a person sent
by Antony, persuaded to bring Herod [into his kingdom]. Now Ventidius was at this time among the
cities, and composing the disturbances which had happened by means of the Parthians, as was Silo in
Judea corrupted by the bribes that Antigonus had given him; yet was not Herod himself destitute of
power, but the number of his forces increased every day as he went along, and all Galilee, with few
exceptions, joined themselves to him. So he proposed to himself to set about his most necessary
enterprise, and that was Masada, in order to deliver his relations from the siege they endured. But still
Joppa stood in his way, and hindered his going thither; for it was necessary to take that city first, which
was in the enemies' hands, that when he should go to Jerusalem, no fortress might be left in the enemies'
power behind him. Silo also willingly joined him, as having now a plausible occasion of drawing off his
forces [from Jerusalem]; and when the Jews pursued him, and pressed upon him, [in his retreat,] Herod
made all excursion upon them with a small body of his men, and soon put them to flight, and saved Silo
when he was in distress.

4. After this Herod took Joppa, and then made haste to Masada to free his relations. Now, as he was
marching, many came in to him, induced by their friendship to his father, some by the reputation he had
already gained himself, and some in order to repay the benefits they had received from them both; but still
what engaged the greatest number on his side, was the hopes from him when he should be established in
his kingdom; so that he had gotten together already an army hard to be conquered. But Antigonus laid an
ambush for him as he marched out, in which he did little or no harm to his enemies. However, he easily
recovered his relations again that were in Masada, as well as the fortress Ressa, and then marched to
Jerusalem, where the soldiers that were with Silo joined themselves to his own, as did many out of the
city, from a dread of his power.

5. Now when he had pitched his camp on the west side of the city, the guards that were there shot their
arrows and threw their darts at them, while others ran out in companies, and attacked those in the
forefront; but Herod commanded proclamation to be made at the wall, that he was come for the good of
the people and the preservation of the city, without any design to be revenged on his open enemies, but to
grant oblivion to them, though they had been the most obstinate against him. Now the soldiers that were
for Antigonus made a contrary clamor, and did neither permit any body to hear that proclamation, nor to
change their party; so Antigonus gave order to his forces to beat the enemy from the walls; accordingly,
they soon threw their darts at them from the towers, and put them to flight.

6. And here it was that Silo discovered he had taken bribes; for he set many of the soldiers to clamor
about their want of necessaries, and to require their pay, in order to buy themselves food, and to demand
that he would lead them into places convenient for their winter quarters; because all the parts about the
city were laid waste by the means of Antigonus's army, which had taken all things away. By this he
moved the army, and attempted to get them off the siege; but Herod went to the captains that were under
Silo, and to a great many of the soldiers, and begged of them not to leave him, who was sent thither by
Caesar, and Antony, and the senate; for that he would take care to have their wants supplied that very day.
After the making of which entreaty, he went hastily into the country, and brought thither so great an
abundance of necessaries, that he cut off all Silo's pretenses; and in order to provide that for the following
days they should not want supplies, he sent to the people that were about Samaria (which city had joined
itself to him) to bring corn, and wine, and oil, and cattle to Jericho. When Antigonus heard of this, be sent
some of his party with orders to hinder, and lay ambushes for these collectors of corn. This command was
obeyed, and a great multitude of armed men were gathered together about Jericho, and lay upon the
mountains, to watch those that brought the provisions. Yet was Herod not idle, but took with him ten
34
cohorts, five of them were Romans, and five were Jewish cohorts, together with some mercenary troops
intermixed among them, and besides those a few horsemen, and came to Jericho; and when he came, he
found the city deserted, but that there were five hundred men, with their wives and children, who had
taken possession of the tops of the mountains; these he took, and dismissed them, while the Romans fell
upon the rest of the city, and plundered it, having found the houses full of all sorts of good things. So the
king left a garrison at Jericho, and came back, and sent the Roman army into those cities which were
come over to him, to take their winter quarters there, viz. into Judea, [or Idumea,] and Galilee, and
Samaria. Antigonus also by bribes obtained of Silo to let a part of his army be received at Lydda, as a
compliment to Antonius.

CHAPTER 16.
HEROD TAKES SEPPHORIS AND SUBDUES THE ROBBERS THAT WERE IN THE CAVES ;
HE AFTER THAT AVENGES HIMSELF UPON MACHERAS, AS UPON AN ENEMY OF HIS
AND GOES TO ANTONY AS HE WAS BESIEGING SAMOSATA.

1. SO the Romans lived in plenty of all things, and rested from war. However, Herod did not lie at rest,
but seized upon Idumea, and kept it, with two thousand footmen, and four hundred horsemen; and this he
did by sending his brother Joseph thither, that no innovation might be made by Antigonus. He also
removed his mother, and all his relations, who had been in Masada, to Samaria; and when he had settled
them securely, he marched to take the remaining parts of Galilee, and to drive away the garrisons placed
there by Antigonus.

2. But when Herod had reached Sepphoris, (23) in a very great snow, he took the city without any
difficulty; the guards that should have kept it flying away before it was assaulted; where he gave an
opportunity to his followers that had been in distress to refresh themselves, there being in that city a great
abundance of necessaries. After which he hasted away to the robbers that were in the caves, who overran
a great part of the country, and did as great mischief to its inhabitants as a war itself could have done.
Accordingly, he sent beforehand three cohorts of footmen, and one troop of horsemen, to the village
Arbela, and came himself forty days afterwards (24) with the rest of his forces Yet were not the enemy
aftrighted at his assault but met him in arms; for their skill was that of warriors, but their boldness was the
boldness of robbers: when therefore it came to a pitched battle, they put to flight Herod's left wing with
their right one; but Herod, wheeling about on the sudden from his own right wing, came to their
assistance, and both made his own left wing return back from its flight, and fell upon the pursuers, and
cooled their courage, till they could not bear the attempts that were made directly upon them, and so
turned back and ran away.

3. But Herod followed them, and slew them as he followed them, and destroyed a great part of them, till
those that remained were scattered beyond the river [Jordan;] and Galilee was freed from the terrors they
had been under, excepting from those that remained, and lay concealed in caves, which required longer
time ere they could be conquered. In order to which Herod, in the first place, distributed the fruits of their
former labors to the soldiers, and gave every one of them a hundred and fifty drachmae of silver, and a
great deal more to their commanders, and sent them into their winter quarters. He also sent to his youngest
brother Pheroas, to take care of a good market for them, where they might buy themselves provisions, and
to build a wall about Alexandrium; who took care of both those injunctions accordingly.

4. In the mean time Antony abode at Athens, while Ventidius called for Silo and Herod to come to the
war against the Parthians, but ordered them first to settle the affairs of Judea; so Herod willingly

35
dismissed Silo to go to Ventidius, but he made an expedition himself against those that lay in the caves.
Now these caves were in the precipices of craggy mountains, and could not be come at from any side,
since they had only some winding pathways, very narrow, by which they got up to them; but the rock that
lay on their front had beneath it valleys of a vast depth, and of an almost perpendicular declivity;
insomuch that the king was doubtful for a long time what to do, by reason of a kind of impossibility there
was of attacking the place. Yet did he at length make use of a contrivance that was subject to the utmost
hazard; for he let down the most hardy of his men in chests, and set them at the mouths of the dens. Now
these men slew the robbers and their families, and when they made resistance, they sent in fire upon them
[and burnt them]; and as Herod was desirous of saving some of them, he had proclamation made, that they
should come and deliver themselves up to him; but not one of them came willingly to him; and of those
that were compelled to come, many preferred death to captivity. And here a certain old man, the father of
seven children, whose children, together with their mother, desired him to give them leave to go out, upon
the assurance and right hand that was offered them, slew them after the following manner: He ordered
every one of them to go out, while he stood himself at the cave's mouth, and slew that son of his
perpetually who went out. Herod was near enough to see this sight, and his bowels of compassion were
moved at it, and he stretched out his right hand to the old man, and besought him to spare his children; yet
did not he relent at all upon what he said, but over and above reproached Herod on the lowness of his
descent, and slew his wife as well as his children; and when he had thrown their dead bodies down the
precipice, he at last threw himself down after them.

5. By this means Herod subdued these caves, and the robbers that were in them. He then left there a part
of his army, as many as he thought sufficient to prevent any sedition, and made Ptolemy their general, and
returned to Samaria; he led also with him three thousand armed footmen, and six hundred horsemen,
against Antigonus. Now here those that used to raise tumults in Galilee, having liberty so to do upon his
departure, fell unexpectedly upon Ptolemy, the general of his forces, and slew him; they also laid the
country waste, and then retired to the bogs, and to places not easily to be found. But when Herod was
informed of this insurrection, he came to the assistance of the country immediately, and destroyed a great
number of the seditions, and raised the sieges of all those fortresses they had besieged; he also exacted the
tribute of a hundred talents of his enemies, as a penalty for the mutations they had made in the country.

6. By this time (the Parthians being already driven out of the country, and Pacorus slain) Ventidius, by
Antony's command, sent a thousand horsemen, and two legions, as auxiliaries to Herod, against
Antigonus. Now Antigonus besought Macheras, who was their general, by letter, to come to his
assistance, and made a great many mournful complaints about Herod's violence, and about the injuries he
did to the kingdom; and promised to give him money for such his assistance; but he complied not with his
invitation to betray his trust, for he did not contemn him that sent him, especially while Herod gave him
more money [than the other offered]. So he pretended friendship to Antigonus, but came as a spy to
discover his affairs; although he did not herein comply with Herod, who dissuaded him from so doing.
But Antigonus perceived what his intentions were beforehand, and excluded him out of the city, and
defended himself against him as against an enemy, from the walls; till Macheras was ashamed of what he
had done, and retired to Emmaus to Herod; and as he was in a rage at his disappointment, he slew all the
Jews whom he met with, without sparing those that were for Herod, but using them all as if they were for
Antigonus.

7. Hereupon Herod was very angry at him, and was going to fight against Macheras as his enemy; but he
restrained his indignation, and marched to Antony to accuse Macheras of maladministration. But
Macheras was made sensible of his offenses, and followed after the king immediately, and earnestly
begged and obtained that he would be reconciled to him. However, Herod did not desist from his
resolution of going to Antony; but when he heard that he was besieging Samosata (25) with a great army,
36
which is a strong city near to Euphrates, he made the greater haste; as observing that this was a proper
opportunity for showing at once his courage, and for doing what would greatly oblige Antony. Indeed,
when he came, he soon made an end of that siege, and slew a great number of the barbarians, and took
from them a large prey; insomuch that Antony, who admired his courage formerly, did now admire it still
more. Accordingly, he heaped many more honors upon him, and gave him more assured hopes that he
should gain his kingdom; and now king Antiochus was forced to deliver up Samosata.

CHAPTER 17.
THE DEATH OF JOSEPH [HEROD'S BROTHER] WHICH HAD BEEN SIGNIFIED TO
HEROD IN DREAMS. HOW HEROD WAS PRESERVED TWICE AFTER A WONDERFUL
MANNER. HE CUTS OFF THE HEAD OF PAPPUS, WHO WAS THE MURDERER OF HIS
BROTHER AND SENDS THAT HEAD TO [HIS OTHER BROTHER] PHERORAS, AND IN NO
LONG TIME HE BESIEGES JERUSALEM AND MARRIES MARIAMNE.

1. IN the mean time, Herod's affairs in Judea were in an ill state. He had left his brother Joseph with full
power, but had charged him to make no attempts against Antigonus till his return; for that Macheras
would not be such an assistant as he could depend on, as it appeared by what he had done already; but as
soon as Joseph heard that his brother was at a very great distance, he neglected the charge he had
received, and marched towards Jericho with five cohorts, which Macheras sent with him. This movement
was intended for seizing on the corn, as it was now in the midst of summer; but when his enemies
attacked him in the mountains, and in places which were difficult to pass, he was both killed himself, as
he was very bravely fighting in the battle, and the entire Roman cohorts were destroyed; for these cohorts
were new-raised men, gathered out of Syria, and here was no mixture of those called veteran soldiers
among them, who might have supported those that were unskillful in war.

2. This victory was not sufficient for Antigonus; but he proceeded to that degree of rage, as to treat the
dead body of Joseph barbarously; for when he had got possession of the bodies of those that were slain,
he cut off his head, although his brother Pheroras would have given fifty talents as a price of redemption
for it. And now the affairs of Galilee were put in such disorder after this victory of Antigonus's, that those
of Antigonus's party brought the principal men that were on Herod's side to the lake, and there drowned
them. There was a great change made also in Idumea, where Macheras was building a wall about one of
the fortresses, which was called Gittha. But Herod had not yet been informed of these things; for after the
taking of Samosata, and when Antony had set Sosius over the affairs of Syria, and had given him orders
to assist Herod against Antigonus, he departed into Egypt; but Sosius sent two legions before him into
Judea to assist Herod, and followed himself soon after with the rest of his army.

3. Now when Herod was at Daphne, by Antioch, he had some dreams which clearly foreboded his
brother's death; and as he leaped out of his bed in a disturbed manner, there came messengers that
acquainted him with that calamity. So when he had lamented this misfortune for a while, he put off the
main part of his mourning, and made haste to march against his enemies; and when he had performed a
march that was above his strength, and was gone as far as Libanus, he got him eight hundred men of those
that lived near to that mountain as his assistants, and joined with them one Roman legion, with which,
before it was day, he made an irruption into Galilee, and met his enemies, and drove them back to the
place which they had left. He also made an immediate and continual attack upon the fortress. Yet was he
forced by a most terrible storm to pitch his camp in the neighboring villages before he could take it. But
when, after a few days' time, the second legion, that came from Antony, joined themselves to him, the
enemy were aftrighted at his power, and left their fortifications ill the night time.

37
4. After this he marched through Jericho, as making what haste he could to be avenged on his brother's
murderers; where happened to him a providential sign, out of which, when he had unexpectedly escaped,
he had the reputation of being very dear to God; for that evening there feasted with him many of the
principal men; and after that feast was over, and all the guests were gone out, the house fell down
immediately. And as he judged this to be a common signal of what dangers he should undergo, and how
he should escape them in the war that he was going about, he, in the morning, set forward with his army,
when about six thousand of his enemies came running down from the mountains, and began to fight with
those in his forefront; yet durst they not be so very bold as to engage the Romans hand to hand, but threw
stones and darts at them at a distance; by which means they wounded a considerable number; in which
action Herod's own side was wounded with a dart.

5. Now as Antigonus had a mind to appear to exceed Herod, not only in the courage, but in the number of
his men, he sent Pappus, one of his companions, with an army against Samaria, whose fortune it was to
oppose Macheras; but Herod overran the enemy's country, and demolished five little cities, and destroyed
two thousand men that were in them, and burned their houses, and then returned to his camp; but his
head-quarters were at the village called Cana.

6. Now a great multitude of Jews resorted to him every day, both out of Jericho and the other parts of the
country. Some were moved so to do out of their hatred to Antigonus, and some out of regard to the
glorious actions Herod had done; but others were led on by an unreasonable desire of change; so he fell
upon them immediately. As for Pappus and his party, they were not terrified either at their number or at
their zeal, but marched out with great alacrity to fight them; and it came to a close fight. Now other parts
of their army made resistance for a while; but Herod, running the utmost hazard, out of the rage he was in
at the murder of his brother, that he might be avenged on those that had been the authors of it, soon beat
those that opposed him; and after he had beaten them, he always turned his force against those that stood
to it still, and pursued them all; so that a great slaughter was made, while some were forced back into that
village whence they came out; he also pressed hard upon the hindermost, and slew a vast number of them;
he also fell into the village with the enemy, where every house was filled with armed men, and the upper
rooms were crowded above with soldiers for their defense; and when he had beaten those that were on the
outside, he pulled the houses to pieces, and plucked out those that were within; upon many he had the
roofs shaken down, whereby they perished by heaps; and as for those that fled out of the ruins, the
soldiers received them with their swords in their hands; and the multitude of those slain and lying on
heaps was so great, that the conquerors could not pass along the roads. Now the enemy could not bear this
blow, so that when the multitude of them which was gathered together saw that those in the village were
slain, they dispersed themselves, and fled away; upon the confidence of which victory, Herod had
marched immediately to Jerusalem, unless he tad been hindered by the depth of winter's [coming on].
This was the impediment that lay in the way of this his entire glorious progress, and was what hindered
Antigonus from being now conquered, who was already disposed to forsake the city.

7. Now when at the evening Herod had already dismissed his friends to refresh themselves after their
fatigue, and when he was gone himself, while he was still hot in his armor, like a common soldier, to
bathe himself, and had but one servant that attended him, and before he was gotten into the bath, one of
the enemies met him in the face with a sword in his hand, and then a second, and then a third, and after
that more of them; these were men who had run away out of the battle into the bath in their armor, and
they had lain there for some time in, great terror, and in privacy; and when they saw the king, they
trembled for fear, and ran by him in a flight, although he was naked, and endeavored to get off into the
public road. Now there was by chance nobody else at hand that might seize upon these men; and for
Herod, he was contented to have come to no harm himself, so that they all got away in safety.

38
8. But on the next day Herod had Pappus's head cut off, who was the general for Antigonus, and was slain
in the battle, and sent it to his brother Pheroras, by way of punishment for their slain brother; for he was
the man that slew Joseph. Now as winter was going off, Herod marched to Jerusalem, and brought his
army to the wall of it; this was the third year since he had been made king at Rome; so he pitched his
camp before the temple, for on that side it might be besieged, and there it was that Pompey took the city.
So he parted the work among the army, and demolished the suburbs, end raised three banks, and gave
orders to have towers built upon those banks, and left the most laborious of his acquaintance at the works.
But he went himself to Samaria, to take the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, to wife, who
had been betrothed to him before, as we have already said; and thus he accomplished this by the by,
during the siege of the city, for he had his enemies in great contempt already.

9. When he had thus married Mariamne, he came back to Jerusalem with a greater army. Sosius also
joined him with a large army, both of horsemen and footmen, which he sent before him through the
midland parts, while he marched himself along Phoenicia; and when the whole army was gotten together,
which were eleven regiments of footmen, and six thousand horsemen, besides the Syrian auxiliaries,
which were no small part of the army, they pitched their camp near to the north wall. Herod's dependence
was upon the decree of the senate, by which he was made king; and Sosius relied upon Antony, who sent
the army that was under him to Herod's assistance.

CHAPTER 18.
HOW HEROD AND SOSIUS TOOK JERUSALEM BY FORCE; AND WHAT DEATH
ANTIGONUS CAME TO. ALSO CONCERNING CLEOPATRA'S AVARICIOUS TEMPER.

1. NOW the multitude of the Jews that were in the city were divided into several factions; for the people
that crowded about the temple, being the weaker part of them, gave it out that, as the times were, he was
the happiest and most religious man who should die first. But as to the more bold and hardy men, they got
together in bodies, and fell a robbing others after various manners, and these particularly plundered the
places that were about the city, and this because there was no food left either for the horses or the men;
yet some of the warlike men, who were used to fight regularly, were appointed to defend the city during
the siege, and these drove those that raised the banks away from the wall; and these were always
inventing some engine or another to be a hinderance to the engines of the enemy; nor had they so much
success any way as in the mines under ground.

2. Now as for the robberies which were committed, the king contrived that ambushes should be so laid,
that they might restrain their excursions; and as for the want of provisions, he provided that they should
be brought to them from great distances. He was also too hard for the Jews, by the Romans' skill in the art
of war; although they were bold to the utmost degree, now they durst not come to a plain battle with the
Romans, which was certain death; but through their mines under ground they would appear in the midst
of them on the sudden, and before they could batter down one wall, they built them another in its stead;
and to sum up all at once, they did not show any want either of painstaking or of contrivances, as having
resolved to hold out to the very last. Indeed, though they had so great an army lying round about them,
they bore a siege of five months, till some of Herod's chosen men ventured to get upon the wall, and fell
into the city, as did Sosius's centurions after them; and now they first of all seized upon what was about
the temple; and upon the pouring in of the army, there was slaughter of vast multitudes every where, by
reason of the rage the Romans were in at the length of this siege, and by reason that the Jews who were
about Herod earnestly endeavored that none of their adversaries might remain; so they were cut to pieces
by great multitudes, as they were crowded together in narrow streets, and in houses, or were running away

39
to the temple; nor was there any mercy showed either to infants, or to the aged, or to the weaker sex;
insomuch that although the king sent about and desired them to spare the people, nobody could be
persuaded to withhold their right hand from slaughter, but they slew people of all ages, like madmen.
Then it was that Antigonus, without any regard to his former or to his present fortune, came down from
the citadel, and fell at Sosius's feet, who without pitying him at all, upon the change of his condition,
laughed at him beyond measure, and called him Antigona. (26) Yet did he not treat him like a woman, or
let him go free, but put him into bonds, and kept him in custody.

3. But Herod's concern at present, now he had gotten his enemies under his power, was to restrain the zeal
of his foreign auxiliaries; for the multitude of the strange people were very eager to see the temple, and
what was sacred in the holy house itself; but the king endeavored to restrain them, partly by his
exhortations, partly by his threatenings, nay, partly by force, as thinking the victory worse than a defeat to
him, if any thing that ought not to be seen were seen by them. He also forbade, at the same time, the
spoiling of the city, asking Sosius in the most earnest manner, whether the Romans, by thus emptying the
city of money and men, had a mind to leave him king of a desert, - and told him that he judged the
dominion of the habitable earth too small a compensation for the slaughter of so many citizens. And when
Sosius said that it was but just to allow the soldiers this plunder as a reward for what they suffered during
the siege, Herod made answer, that he would give every one of the soldiers a reward out of his own
money. So he purchased the deliverance of his country, and performed his promises to them, and made
presents after a magnificent manner to each soldier, and proportionably to their commanders, and with a
most royal bounty to Sosius himself, whereby nobody went away but in a wealthy condition. Hereupon
Sosius dedicated a crown of gold to God, and then went away from Jerusalem, leading Antigonus away in
bonds to Antony; then did the axe bring him to his end, (27) who still had a fond desire of life, and some
frigid hopes of it to the last, but by his cowardly behavior well deserved to die by it.

4. Hereupon king Herod distinguished the multitude that was in the city; and for those that were of his
side, he made them still more his friends by the honors he conferred on them; but for those of Antigonus's
party, he slew them; and as his money ran low, he turned all the ornaments he had into money, and sent it
to Antony, and to those about him. Yet could he not hereby purchase an exemption from all sufferings;
for Antony was now bewitched by his love to Cleopatra, and was entirely conquered by her charms. Now
Cleopatra had put to death all her kindred, till no one near her in blood remained alive, and after that she
fell a slaying those no way related to her. So she calumniated the principal men among the Syrians to
Antony, and persuaded him to have them slain, that so she might easily gain to be mistress of what they
had; nay, she extended her avaricious humor to the Jews and Arabians, and secretly labored to have Herod
and Malichus, the kings of both those nations, slain by his order.

5. Now is to these her injunctions to Antony, he complied in part; for though he esteemed it too
abominable a thing to kill such good and great kings, yet was he thereby alienated from the friendship he
had for them. He also took away a great deal of their country; nay, even the plantation of palm trees at
Jericho, where also grows the balsam tree, and bestowed them upon her; as also all the cities on this side
the river Eleutherus, Tyre and Sidon (28) excepted. And when she was become mistress of these, and had
conducted Antony in his expedition against the Parthians as far as Euphrates, she came by Apamia and
Damascus into Judea and there did Herod pacify her indignation at him by large presents. He also hired of
her those places that had been torn away from his kingdom, at the yearly rent of two hundred talents. He
conducted her also as far as Pelusium, and paid her all the respects possible. Now it was not long after this
that Antony was come back from Parthia, and led with him Artabazes, Tigranes's son, captive, as a
present for Cleopatra; for this Parthian was presently given her, with his money, and all the prey that was
taken with him.

40
 CHAPTER 19.
HOW ANTONY AT THE PERSUASION OF CLEOPATRA SENT HEROD TO FIGHT
AGAINST THE ARABIANS; AND NOW AFTER SEVERAL BATTLES, HE AT LENGTH GOT
THE VICTORY. AS ALSO CONCERNING A GREAT EARTHQUAKE.

1. NOW when the war about Actium was begun, Herod prepared to come to the assistance of Antony, as
being already freed from his troubles in Judea, and having gained Hyrcania, which was a place that was
held by Antigonus's sister. However, he was cunningly hindered from partaking of the hazards that
Antony went through by Cleopatra; for since, as we have already noted, she had laid a plot against the
kings [of Judea and Arabia], she prevailed with Antony to commit the war against the Arabians to Herod;
that so, if he got the better, she might become mistress of Arabia, or, if he were worsted, of Judea; and
that she might destroy one of those kings by the other.

2. However, this contrivance tended to the advantage of Herod; for at the very first he took hostages from
the enemy, and got together a great body of horse, and ordered them to march against them about
Diespous; and he conquered that army, although it fought resolutely against him. After which defeat, the
Arabians were in great motion, and assembled themselves together at Kanatha, a city of Celesyria, in vast
multitudes, and waited for the Jews. And when Herod was come thither, he tried to manage this war with
particular prudence, and gave orders that they should build a wall about their camp; yet did not the
multitude comply with those orders, but were so emboldened by their foregoing victory, that they
presently attacked the Arabians, and beat them at the first onset, and then pursued them; yet were there
snares laid for Herod in that pursuit; while Athenio, who was one of Cleopatra's generals, and always an
antagonist to Herod, sent out of Kanatha the men of that country against him; for, upon this fresh onset,
the Arabians took courage, and returned back, and both joined their numerous forces about stony places,
that were hard to be gone over, and there put Herod's men to the rout, and made a great slaughter of them;
but those that escaped out of the battle fled to Ormiza, where the Arabians surrounded their camp, and
took it, with all the men in it.

3. In a little time after this calamity, Herod came to bring them succors; but he came too late. Now the
occasion of that blow was this, that the officers would not obey orders; for had not the fight begun so
suddenly, Athenio had not found a proper season for the snares he laid for Herod: however, he was even
with the Arabians afterward, and overran their country, and did them more harm than their single victory
could compensate. But as he was avenging himself on his enemies, there fell upon him another
providential calamity; for in the seventh (29) year of his reign, when the war about Actium was at the
height, at the beginning of the spring, the earth was shaken, and destroyed an immense number of cattle,
with thirty thousand men; but the army received no harm, because it lay in the open air. In the mean time,
the fame of this earthquake elevated the Arabians to greater courage, and this by augmenting it to a
fabulous height, as is constantly the case in melancholy accidents, and pretending that all Judea was
overthrown. Upon this supposal, therefore, that they should easily get a land that was destitute of
inhabitants into their power, they first sacrificed those ambassadors who were come to them from the
Jews, and then marched into Judea immediately. Now the Jewish nation were affrighted at this invasion,
and quite dispirited at the greatness of their calamities one after another; whom yet Herod got together,
and endeavored to encourage to defend themselves by the following speech which he made to them:

4. "The present dread you are under seems to me to have seized upon you very unreasonably. It is true,
you might justly be dismayed at that providential chastisement which hath befallen you; but to suffer
yourselves to be equally terrified at the invasion of men is unmanly. As for myself, I am so far from being

41
aftrighted at our enemies after this earthquake, that I imagine that God hath thereby laid a bait for the
Arabians, that we may be avenged on them; for their present invasion proceeds more from our accidental
misfortunes, than that they have any great dependence on their weapons, or their own fitness for action.
Now that hope which depends not on men's own power, but on others' ill success, is a very ticklish thing;
for there is no certainty among men, either in their bad or good fortunes; but we may easily observe that
fortune is mutable, and goes from one side to another; and this you may readily learn from examples
among yourselves; for when you were once victors in the former fight, your enemies overcame you at
last; and very likely it will now happen so, that these who think themselves sure of beating you will
themselves be beaten. For when men are very confident, they are not upon their guard, while fear teaches
men to act with caution; insomuch that I venture to prove from your very timorousness that you ought to
take courage; for when you were more bold than you ought to have been, and than I would have had you,
and marched on, Athenio's treachery took place; but your present slowness and seeming dejection of mind
is to me a pledge and assurance of victory. And indeed it is proper beforehand to be thus provident; but
when we come to action, we ought to erect our minds, and to make our enemies, be they ever so wicked,
believe that neither any human, no, nor any providential misfortune, can ever depress the courage of Jews
while they are alive; nor will any of them ever overlook an Arabian, or suffer such a one to become lord
of his good things, whom he has in a manner taken captive, and that many times also. And do not you
disturb yourselves at the quaking of inanimate creatures, nor do you imagine that this earthquake is a sign
of another calamity; for such affections of the elements are according to the course of nature, nor does it
import any thing further to men, than what mischief it does immediately of itself. Perhaps there may come
some short sign beforehand in the case of pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes; but these calamities
themselves have their force limited by themselves [without foreboding any other calamity]. And indeed
what greater mischief can the war, though it should be a violent one, do to us than the earthquake hath
done? Nay, there is a signal of our enemies' destruction visible, and that a very great one also; and this is
not a natural one, nor derived from the hand of foreigners neither, but it is this, that they have barbarously
murdered our ambassadors, contrary to the common law of mankind; and they have destroyed so many, as
if they esteemed them sacrifices for God, in relation to this war. But they will not avoid his great eye, nor
his invincible right hand; and we shall be revenged of them presently, in case we still retain any of the
courage of our forefathers, and rise up boldly to punish these covenant-breakers. Let every one therefore
go on and fight, not so much for his wife or his children, or for the danger his country is in, as for these
ambassadors of ours; those dead ambassadors will conduct this war of ours better than we ourselves who
are alive. And if you will be ruled by me, I will myself go before you into danger; for you know this well
enough, that your courage is irresistible, unless you hurt yourselves by acting rashly. (30)

5. When Herod had encouraged them by this speech, and he saw with what alacrity they went, he offered
sacrifice to God; and after that sacrifice, he passed over the river Jordan with his army, and pitched his
camp about Philadelphia, near the enemy, and about a fortification that lay between them. He then shot at
them at a distance, and was desirous to come to an engagement presently; for some of them had been sent
beforehand to seize upon that fortification: but the king sent some who immediately beat them out of the
fortification, while he himself went in the forefront of the army, which he put in battle-array every day,
and invited the Arabians to fight. But as none of them came out of their camp, for they were in a terrible
fright, and their general, Elthemus, was not able to say a word for fear, - so Herod came upon them, and
pulled their fortification to pieces, by which means they were compelled to come out to fight, which they
did in disorder, and so that the horsemen and foot-men were mixed together. They were indeed superior to
the Jews in number, but inferior in their alacrity, although they were obliged to expose themselves to
danger by their very despair of victory.

6. Now while they made opposition, they had not a great number slain; but as soon as they turned their
backs, a great many were trodden to pieces by the Jews, and a great many by themselves, and so perished,
42
till five thousand were fallen down dead in their flight, while the rest of the multitude prevented their
immediate death, by crowding into the fortification. Herod encompassed these around, and besieged them;
and while they were ready to be taken by their enemies in arms, they had another additional distress upon
them, which was thirst and want of water; for the king was above hearkening to their ambassadors; and
when they offered five hundred talents, as the price of their redemption, he pressed still harder upon them.
And as they were burnt up by their thirst, they came out and voluntarily delivered themselves up by
multitudes to the Jews, till in five days' time four thousand of them were put into bonds; and on the sixth
day the multitude that were left despaired of saving themselves, and came out to fight: with these Herod
fought, and slew again about seven thousand, insomuch that he punished Arabia so severely, and so far
extinguished the spirits of the men, that he was chosen by the nation for their ruler.

CHAPTER 20.
HEROD IS CONFIRMED IN HIS KINGDOM BY CAESAR, AND CULTIVATES A
FRIENDSHIP WITH THE EMPEROR BY MAGNIFICENT PRESENTS; WHILE CAESAR
RETURNS HIS KINDNESS BY BESTOWING ON HIM THAT PART OF HIS KINGDOM
WHICH HAD BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM IT BY CLEOPATRA WITH THE ADDITION OF
ZENODORUSS COUNTRY ALSO.

1. BUT now Herod was under immediate concern about a most important affair, on account of his
friendship with Antony, who was already overcome at Actium by Caesar; yet he was more afraid than
hurt; for Caesar did not think he had quite undone Antony, while Herod continued his assistance to him.
However, the king resolved to expose himself to dangers: accordingly he sailed to Rhodes, where Caesar
then abode, and came to him without his diadem, and in the habit and appearance of a private person, but
in his behavior as a king. So he concealed nothing of the truth, but spike thus before his face: "O Caesar,
as I was made king of the Jews by Antony, so do I profess that I have used my royal authority in the best
manner, and entirely for his advantage; nor will I conceal this further, that thou hadst certainly found me
in arms, and an inseparable companion of his, had not the Arabians hindered me. However, I sent him as
many auxiliaries as I was able, and many ten thousand [cori] of corn. Nay, indeed, I did not desert my
benefactor after the bow that was given him at Actium; but I gave him the best advice I was able, when I
was no longer able to assist him in the war; and I told him that there was but one way of recovering his
affairs, and that was to kill Cleopatra; and I promised him that, if she were once dead, I would afford him
money and walls for his security, with an army and myself to assist him in his war against thee: but his
affections for Cleopatra stopped his ears, as did God himself also who hath bestowed the government on
thee. I own myself also to be overcome together with him; and with his last fortune I have laid aside my
diadem, and am come hither to thee, having my hopes of safety in thy virtue; and I desire that thou wilt
first consider how faithful a friend, and not whose friend, I have been."

2. Caesar replied to him thus: "Nay, thou shalt not only be in safety, but thou shalt be a king; and that
more firmly than thou wast before; for thou art worthy to reign over a great many subjects, by reason of
the fastness of thy friendship; and do thou endeavor to be equally constant in thy friendship to me, upon
my good success, which is what I depend upon from the generosity of thy disposition. However, Antony
hath done well in preferring Cleopatra to thee; for by this means we have gained thee by her madness, and
thus thou hast begun to be my friend before I began to be thine; on which account Quintus Didius hath
written to me that thou sentest him assistance against the gladiators. I do therefore assure thee that I will
confirm the kingdom to thee by decree: I shall also endeavor to do thee some further kindness hereafter,
that thou mayst find no loss in the want of Antony."

43
3. When Caesar had spoken such obliging things to the king, and had put the diadem again about his head,
he proclaimed what he had bestowed on him by a decree, in which he enlarged in the commendation of
the man after a magnificent manner. Whereupon Herod obliged him to be kind to him by the presents he
gave him, and he desired him to forgive Alexander, one of Antony's friends, who was become a
supplicant to him. But Caesar's anger against him prevailed, and he complained of the many and very
great offenses the man whom he petitioned for had been guilty of; and by that means he rejected his
petition. After this Caesar went for Egypt through Syria, when Herod received him with royal and rich
entertainments; and then did he first of all ride along with Caesar, as he was reviewing his army about
Ptolemais, and feasted him with all his friends, and then distributed among the rest of the army what was
necessary to feast them withal. He also made a plentiful provision of water for them, when they were to
march as far as Pelusium, through a dry country, which he did also in like manner at their return thence;
nor were there any necessaries wanting to that army. It was therefore the opinion, both of Caesar and of
his soldiers, that Herod's kingdom was too small for those generous presents he made them; for which
reason, when Caesar was come into Egypt, and Cleopatra and Antony were dead, he did not only bestow
other marks of honor upon him, but made an addition to his kingdom, by giving him not only the country
which had been taken from him by Cleopatra, but besides that, Gadara, and Hippos, and Samaria; and
moreover, of the maritime cities, Gaza (31) and Anthedon, and Joppa, and Strato's Tower. He also made
him a present of four hundred Galls [Galatians] as a guard for his body, which they had been to Cleopatra
before. Nor did any thing so strongly induce Caesar to make these presents as the generosity of him that
received them.

4. Moreover, after the first games at Actium, he added to his kingdom both the region called Trachonitis,
and what lay in its neighborhood, Batanea, and the country of Auranitis; and that on the following
occasion: Zenodorus, who had hired the house of Lysanias, had all along sent robbers out of Trachonitis
among the Damascenes; who thereupon had recourse to Varro, the president of Syria, and desired of him
that he would represent the calamity they were in to Caesar. When Caesar was acquainted with it, he sent
back orders that this nest of robbers should be destroyed. Varro therefore made an expedition against
them, and cleared the land of those men, and took it away from Zenodorus. Caesar did also afterward
bestow it on Herod, that it might not again become a receptacle for those robbers that had come against
Damascus. He also made him a procurator of all Syria, and this on the tenth year afterward, when he came
again into that province; and this was so established, that the other procurators could not do any thing in
the administration without his advice: but when Zenodorus was dead, Caesar bestowed on him all that
land which lay between Trachonitis and Galilee. Yet, what was still of more consequence to Herod, he
was beloved by Caesar next after Agrippa, and by Agrippa next after Caesar; whence he arrived at a very
great degree of felicity. Yet did the greatness of his soul exceed it, and the main part of his magnanimity
was extended to the promotion of piety.

CHAPTER 21.
OF THE [TEMPLE AND] CITIES THAT WERE BUILT BY HEROD AND ERECTED FROM
THE VERY FOUNDATIONS; AS ALSO OF THOSE OTHER EDIFICES THAT WERE
ERECTED BY HIM; AND WHAT MAGNIFICENCE HE SHOWED TO FOREIGNERS; AND
HOW FORTUNE WAS IN ALL THINGS FAVORABLE TO HIM.

1. ACCORDINGLY, in the fifteenth year of his reign, Herod rebuilt the temple, and encompassed a piece
of land about it with a wall, which land was twice as large as that before enclosed. The expenses he laid
out upon it were vastly large also, and the riches about it were unspeakable. A sign of which you have in
the great cloisters that were erected about the temple, and the citadel which was on its north side. The

44
cloisters he built from the foundation, but the citadel (32) he repaired at a vast expense; nor was it other
than a royal palace, which he called Antonia, in honor of Antony. He also built himself a palace in the
Upper city, containing two very large and most beautiful apartments; to which the holy house itself could
not be compared [in largeness]. The one apartment he named Caesareum, and the other Agrippium, from
his [two great] friends.

2. Yet did he not preserve their memory by particular buildings only, with their names given them, but his
generosity went as far as entire cities; for when he had built a most beautiful wall round a country in
Samaria, twenty furlongs long, and had brought six thousand inhabitants into it, and had allotted to it a
most fruitful piece of land, and in the midst of this city, thus built, had erected a very large temple to
Caesar, and had laid round about it a portion of sacred land of three furlongs and a half, he called the city
Sebaste, from Sebastus, or Augustus, and settled the affairs of the city after a most regular manner.

3. And when Caesar had further bestowed upon him another additional country, he built there also a
temple of white marble, hard by the fountains of Jordan: the place is called Panium, where is a top of a
mountain that is raised to an immense height, and at its side, beneath, or at its bottom, a dark cave opens
itself; within which there is a horrible precipice, that descends abruptly to a vast depth; it contains a
mighty quantity of water, which is immovable; and when any body lets down any thing to measure the
depth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord is sufficient to reach it. Now the fountains of
Jordan rise at the roots of this cavity outwardly; and, as some think, this is the utmost origin of Jordan: but
we shall speak of that matter more accurately in our following history.

4. But the king erected other places at Jericho also, between the citadel Cypros and the former palace,
such as were better and more useful than the former for travelers, and named them from the same friends
of his. To say all at once, there was not any place of his kingdom fit for the purpose that was permitted to
be without somewhat that was for Caesar's honor; and when he had filled his own country with temples,
he poured out the like plentiful marks of his esteem into his province, and built many cities which he
called Cesareas.

5. And when he observed that there was a city by the sea-side that was much decayed, (its name was
Strato's Tower,) but that the place, by the happiness of its situation, was capable of great improvements
from his liberality, he rebuilt it all with white stone, and adorned it with several most splendid palaces,
wherein he especially demonstrated his magnanimity; for the case was this, that all the sea-shore between
Dora and Joppa, in the middle, between which this city is situated, had no good haven, insomuch that
every one that sailed from Phoenicia for Egypt was obliged to lie in the stormy sea, by reason of the south
winds that threatened them; which wind, if it blew but a little fresh, such vast waves are raised, and dash
upon the rocks, that upon their retreat the sea is in a great ferment for a long way. But the king, by the
expenses he was at, and the liberal disposal of them, overcame nature, and built a haven larger than was
the Pyrecum (33) [at Athens]; and in the inner retirements of the water he built other deep stations [for the
ships also].

6. Now although the place where he built was greatly opposite to his purposes, yet did he so fully struggle
with that difficulty, that the firmness of his building could not easily be conquered by the sea; and the
beauty and ornament of the works were such, as though he had not had any difficulty in the operation; for
when he had measured out as large a space as we have before mentioned, he let down stones into twenty
fathom water, the greatest part of which were fifty feet in length, and nine in depth, and ten in breadth,
and some still larger. But when the haven was filled up to that depth, he enlarged that wall which was thus
already extant above the sea, till it was two hundred feet wide; one hundred of which had buildings before

45
it, in order to break the force of the waves, whence it was called Procumatia, or the first breaker of the
waves; but the rest of the space was under a stone wall that ran round it. On this wall were very large
towers, the principal and most beautiful of which was called Drusium, from Drusus, who was son-in-law
to Caesar.

7. There were also a great number of arches, where the mariners dwelt; and all the places before them
round about was a large valley, or walk, for a quay [or landing-place] to those that came on shore; but the
entrance was on the north, because the north wind was there the most gentle of all the winds. At the
mouth of the haven were on each side three great Colossi, supported by pillars, where those Colossi that
are on your left hand as you sail into the port are supported by a solid tower; but those on the right hand
are supported by two upright stones joined together, which stones were larger than that tower which was
on the other side of the entrance. Now there were continual edifices joined to the haven, which were also
themselves of white stone; and to this haven did the narrow streets of the city lead, and were built at equal
distances one from another. And over against the mouth of the haven, upon an elevation, there was a
temple for Caesar, which was excellent both in beauty and largeness; and therein was a Colossus of
Caesar, not less than that of Jupiter Olympius, which it was made to resemble. The other Colossus of
Rome was equal to that of Juno at Argos. So he dedicated the city to the province, and the haven to the
sailors there; but the honor of the building he ascribed to Caesar, (34) and named it Cesarea accordingly.

8. He also built the other edifices, the amphitheater, and theater, and market-place, in a manner agreeable
to that denomination; and appointed games every fifth year, and called them, in like manner, Caesar's
Games; and he first himself proposed the largest prizes upon the hundred ninety-second olympiad; in
which not only the victors themselves, but those that came next to them, and even those that came in the
third place, were partakers of his royal bounty. He also rebuilt Anthedon, a city that lay on the coast, and
had been demolished in the wars, and named it Agrippeum. Moreover, he had so very great a kindness for
his friend Agrippa, that he had his name engraved upon that gate which he had himself erected in the
temple.

9. Herod was also a lover of his father, if any other person ever was so; for he made a monument for his
father, even that city which he built in the finest plain that was in his kingdom, and which had rivers and
trees in abundance, and named it Antipatris. He also built a wall about a citadel that lay above Jericho,
and was a very strong and very fine building, and dedicated it to his mother, and called it Cypros.
Moreover, he dedicated a tower that was at Jerusalem, and called it by the name of his brother Phasaelus,
whose structure, largeness, and magnificence we shall describe hereafter. He also built another city in the
valley that leads northward from Jericho, and named it Phasaelis.

10. And as he transmitted to eternity his family and friends, so did he not neglect a memorial for himself,
but built a fortress upon a mountain towards Arabia, and named it from himself, Herodium (35) and he
called that hill that was of the shape of a woman's breast, and was sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem,
by the same name. He also bestowed much curious art upon it, with great ambition, and built round
towers all about the top of it, and filled up the remaining space with the most costly palaces round about,
insomuch that not only the sight of the inner apartments was splendid, but great wealth was laid out on the
outward walls, and partitions, and roofs also. Besides this, he brought a mighty quantity of water from a
great distance, and at vast charges, and raised an ascent to it of two hundred steps of the whitest marble,
for the hill was itself moderately high, and entirely factitious. He also built other palaces about the roots
of the hill, sufficient to receive the furniture that was put into them, with his friends also, insomuch that,
on account of its containing all necessaries, the fortress might seem to be a city, but, by the bounds it had,
a palace only.

46
11. And when he had built so much, he showed the greatness of his soul to no small number of foreign
cities. He built palaces for exercise at Tripoli, and Damascus, and Ptolemais; he built a wall about Byblus,
as also large rooms, and cloisters, and temples, and market-places at Berytus and Tyre, with theatres at
Sidon and Damascus. He also built aqueducts for those Laodiceans who lived by the sea-side; and for
those of Ascalon he built baths and costly fountains, as also cloisters round a court, that were admirable
both for their workmanship and largeness. Moreover, he dedicated groves and meadows to some people;
nay, not a few cities there were who had lands of his donation, as if they were parts of his own kingdom.
He also bestowed annual revenues, and those for ever also, on the settlements for exercises, and appointed
for them, as well as for the people of Cos, that such rewards should never be wanting. He also gave corn
to all such as wanted it, and conferred upon Rhodes large sums of money for building ships; and this he
did in many places, and frequently also. And when Apollo's temple had been burnt down, he rebuilt it at
his own charges, after a better manner than it was before. What need I speak of the presents he made to
the Lycians and Samnians? or of his great liberality through all Ionia? and that according to every body's
wants of them. And are not the Athenians, and Lacedemonians, and Nicopolitans, and that Pergamus
which is in Mysia, full of donations that Herod presented them withal? And as for that large open place
belonging to Antioch in Syria, did not he pave it with polished marble, though it were twenty furlongs
long? and this when it was shunned by all men before, because it was full of dirt and filthiness, when he
besides adorned the same place with a cloister of the same length.

12. It is true, a man may say, these were favors peculiar to those particular places on which he bestowed
his benefits; but then what favors he bestowed on the Eleans was a donation not only in common to all
Greece, but to all the habitable earth, as far as the glory of the Olympic games reached. For when he
perceived that they were come to nothing, for want of money, and that the only remains of ancient Greece
were in a manner gone, he not only became one of the combatants in that return of the fifth-year games,
which in his sailing to Rome he happened to be present at, but he settled upon them revenues of money
for perpetuity, insomuch that his memorial as a combatant there can never fail. It would be an infinite task
if I should go over his payments of people's debts, or tributes, for them, as he eased the people of
Phasaelis, of Batanea, and of the small cities about Cilicia, of those annual pensions they before paid.
However, the fear he was in much disturbed the greatness of his soul, lest he should be exposed to envy,
or seem to hunt after greater filings than he ought, while he bestowed more liberal gifts upon these cities
than did their owners themselves.

13. Now Herod had a body suited to his soul, and was ever a most excellent hunter, where he generally
had good success, by the means of his great skill in riding horses; for in one day he caught forty wild
beasts: (36) that country breeds also bears, and the greatest part of it is replenished with stags and wild
asses. He was also such a warrior as could not be withstood: many men, therefore, there are who have
stood amazed at his readiness in his exercises, when they saw him throw the javelin directly forward, and
shoot the arrow upon the mark. And then, besides these performances of his depending on his own
strength of mind and body, fortune was also very favorable to him; for he seldom failed of success in his
wars; and when he failed, he was not himself the occasion of such failings, but he either vas betrayed by
some, or the rashness of his own soldiers procured his defeat.

CHAPTER 22.
THE MURDER OF ARISTOBULUS AND HYRCANUS, THE HIGH PRIESTS, AS ALSO OF
MARIAMNE THE QUEEN.

47
1. HOWEVER, fortune was avenged on Herod in his external great successes, by raising him up
domestical troubles; and he began to have wild disorders in his family, on account of his wife, of whom
he was so very fond. For when he came to the government, he sent away her whom he had before married
when he was a private person, and who was born at Jerusalem, whose name was Doris, and married
Mariamne, the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus; on whose account disturbances arose in his
family, and that in part very soon, but chiefly after his return from Rome. For, first of all, he expelled
Antipater the son of Doris, for the sake of his sons by Mariamne, out of the city, and permitted him to
come thither at no other times than at the festivals. After this he slew his wife's grandfather, Hyrcanus,
when he was returned out of Parthin to him, under this pretense, that he suspected him of plotting against
him. Now this Hyrcanus had been carried captive to Barzapharnes, when he overran Syria; but those of
his own country beyond Euphrates were desirous he would stay with them, and this out of the
commiseration they had for his condition; and had he complied with their desires, when they exhorted
him not to go over the river to lierod, he had not perished: but the marriage of his granddaughter [to
Herod] was his temptation; for as he relied upon him, and was over-fond of his own country, he came
back to it. Herod's provocation was this, - not that Hyrcanus made any attempt to gain the kingdom, but
that it was fitter for him to be their king than for Herod.

2. Now of the five children which Herod had by Mariamne, two of them were daughters, and three were
sons; and the youngest of these sons was educated at Rome, and there died; but the two eldest he treated
as those of royal blood, on account of the nobility of their mother, and because they were not born till he
was king. But then what was stronger than all this was the love that he bare to Mariamne, and which
inflamed him every day to a great degree, and so far conspired with the other motives, that he felt no other
troubles, on account of her he loved so entirely. But Mariamne's hatred to him was not inferior to his love
to her. She had indeed but too just a cause of indignation from what he had done, while her boldness
proceeded from his affection to her; so she openly reproached him with what he had done to her
grandfather Hyrcanus, and to her brother Aristobulus; for he had not spared this Aristobulus, though he
were but a child; for when he had given him the high priesthood at the age of seventeen, he slew him
quickly after he had conferred that dignity upon him; but when Aristobulus had put on the holy vestments,
and had approached to the altar at a festival, the multitude, in great crowds, fell into tears; whereupon the
child was sent by night to Jericho, and was there dipped by the Galls, at Herod's command, in a pool till
he was drowned.

3. For these reasons Mariamne reproached Herod, and his sister and mother, after a most contumelious
manner, while he was dumb on account of his affection for her; yet had the women great indignation at
her, and raised a calumny against her, that she was false to his bed; which thing they thought most likely
to move Herod to anger. They also contrived to have many other circumstances believed, in order to make
the thing more credible, and accused her of having sent her picture into Egypt to Antony, and that her lust
was so extravagant, as to have thus showed herself, though she was absent, to a man that ran mad after
women, and to a man that had it in his power to use violence to her. This charge fell like a thunderbolt
upon Herod, and put him into disorder; and that especially, because his love to her occasioned him to be
jealous, and because he considered with himself that Cleopatra was a shrewd woman, and that on her
account Lysanias the king was taken off, as well as Malichus the Arabian; for his fear did not only extend
to the dissolving of his marriage, but to the danger of his life.

4. When therefore he was about to take a journey abroad, he committed his wife to Joseph, his sister
Salome's husband, as to one who would be faithful to him, and bare him good-will on account of their
kindred; he also gave him a secret injunction, that if Antony slew him, he should slay her. But Joseph,
without any ill design, and only in order to demonstrate the king's love to his wife, how he could not bear
to think of being separated from her, even by death itself, discovered this grand secret to her; upon which,
48
when Herod was come back, and as they talked together, and he confirmed his love to her by many oaths,
and assured her that he had never such an affection for any other woman as he had for her, - " Yes," says
she, "thou didst, to be sure, demonstrate thy love to me by the injunctions thou gavest Joseph, when thou
commandedst him to kill me." (37)

5. When he heard that this grand secret was discovered, he was like a distracted man, and said that Joseph
would never have disclosed that injunction of his, unless he had debauched her. His passion also made
him stark mad, and leaping out of his bed, he ran about the palace after a wild manner; at which time his
sister Salome took the opportunity also to blast her reputation, and confirmed his suspicion about Joseph;
whereupon, out of his ungovernable jealousy and rage, he commanded both of them to be slain
immediately; but as soon as ever his passion was over, he repented of what he had done, and as soon as
his anger was worn off, his affections were kindled again. And indeed the flame of his desires for her was
so ardent, that he could not think she was dead, but would appear, under his disorders, to speak to her as if
she were still alive, till he were better instructed by time, when his grief and trouble, now she was dead,
appeared as great as his affection had been for her while she was living.

CHAPTER 23.
CALUMNIES AGAINST THE SONS OF MARIAMNE. ANTIPATERIS PREFERRED BEFORE
THEM. THEY ARE ACCUSED BEFORE CAESAR, AND HEROD IS RECONCILED TO
THEM.

1. NOW Mariamne's sons were heirs to that hatred which had been borne their mother; and when they
considered the greatness of Herod's crime towards her, they were suspicious of him as of an enemy of
theirs; and this first while they were educated at Rome, but still more when they were returned to Judea.
This temper of theirs increased upon them as they grew up to be men; and when they were Come to an
age fit for marriage, the one of them married their aunt Salome's daughter, which Salome had been the
accuser of their mother; the other married the daughter of Archclaus, king of Cappadocia. And now they
used boldness in speaking, as well as bore hatred in their minds. Now those that calumniated them took a
handle from such their boldness, and certain of them spake now more plainly to the king that there were
treacherous designs laid against him by both his sons; and he that was son-in-law to Archelaus, relying
upon his father-in-law, was preparing to fly away, in order to accuse Herod before Caesar; and when
Herod's head had been long enough filled with these calumnies, he brought Antipater, whom he had by
Doris, into favor again, as a defense to him against his other sons, and began all the ways he possibly
could to prefer him before them.

2. But these sons were not able to bear this change in their affairs; but when they saw him that was born
of a mother of no family, the nobility of their birth made them unable to contain their indignation; but
whensoever they were uneasy, they showed the anger they had at it. And as these sons did day after day
improve in that their anger, Antipater already exercised all his own abilities, which were very great, in
flattering his father, and in contriving many sorts of calumnies against his brethren, while he told some
stories of them himself, and put it upon other proper persons to raise other stories against them, till at
length he entirely cut his brethren off from all hopes of succeeding to the kingdom; for he was already
publicly put into his father's will as his successor. Accordingly, he was sent with royal ornaments, and
other marks of royalty, to Caesar, excepting the diadem. He was also able in time to introduce his mother
again into Mariamne's bed. The two sorts of weapons he made use of against his brethren were flattery
and calumny, whereby he brought matters privately to such a pass, that the king had thoughts of putting
his sons to death.

49
3. So the father drew Alexander as far as Rome, and. charged him with an attempt of poisoning him
before Caesar. Alexander could hardly speak for lamentation; but having a judge that was more skillful
than Antipater, and more wise than Herod, he modestly avoided laying any imputation upon his father,
but with great strength of reason confuted the calumnies laid against him; and when he had demonstrated
the innocency of his brother, who was in the like danger with himself, he at last bewailed the craftiness of
Antipater, and the disgrace they were under. He was enabled also to justify himself, not only by a clear
conscience, which he carried within him, but by his eloquence; for he was a shrewd man in making
speeches. And upon his saying at last, that if his father objected this crime to them, it was in his power to
put them to death, he made all the audience weep; and he brought Caesar to that pass, as to reject the
accusations, and to reconcile their father to them immediately. But the conditions of this reconciliation
were these, that they should in all things be obedient to their father, and that he should have power to
leave the kingdom to which of them he pleased.

4. After this the king came back from Rome, and seemed to have forgiven his sons upon these
accusations; but still so that he was not without his suspicions of them. They were followed by Antipater,
who was the fountain-head of those accusations; yet did not he openly discover his hatred to them, as
revering him that had reconciled them. But as Herod sailed by Cilicia, he touched at Eleusa, (38) where
Archclaus treated them in the most obliging manner, and gave him thanks for the deliverance of his son-
in-law, and was much pleased at their reconciliation; and this the more, because he had formerly written
to his friends at Rome that they should be assisting to Alexander at his trial. So he conducted Herod as far
as Zephyrium, and made him presents to the value of thirty talents.

5. Now when Herod was come to Jerusalem, he gathered the people together, and presented to them his
three sons, and gave them an apologetic account of his absence, and thanked God greatly, and thanked
Caesar greatly also, for settling his house when it was under disturbances, and had procured concord
among his sons, which was of greater consequence than the kingdom itself, -" and which I will render still
more firm; for Caesar hath put into my power to dispose of the government, and to appoint my successor.
Accordingly, in way of requital for his kindness, and in order to provide for mine own advantage, I do
declare that these three sons of mine shall be kings. And, in the first place, I pray for the approbation of
God to what I am about; and, in the next place, I desire your approbation also. The age of one of them,
and the nobility of the other two, shall procure them the succession. Nay, indeed, my kingdom is so large
that it may be sufficient for more kings. Now do you keep those in their places whom Caesar hath joined,
and their father hath appointed; and do not you pay undue or unequal respects to them, but to every one
according to the prerogative of their births; for he that pays such respects unduly, will thereby not make
him that is honored beyond what his age requires so joyful, as he will make him that is dishonored
sorrowful. As for the kindred and friends that are to converse with them, I will appoint them to each of
them, and will so constitute them, that they may be securities for their concord; as well knowing that the
ill tempers of those with whom they converse will produce quarrels and contentions among them; but that
if these with whom they converse be of good tempers, they will preserve their natural affections for one
another. But still I desire that not these only, but all the captains of my army, have for the present their
hopes placed on me alone; for I do not give away my kingdom to these my sons, but give them royal
honors only; whereby it will come to pass that they will enjoy the sweet parts of government as rulers
themselves, but that the burden of administration will rest upon myself whether I will or not. And let
every one consider what age I am of, how I have conducted my life, and what piety I have exercised; for
my age is not so great that men may soon expect the end of my life; nor have I indulged such a luxurious
way of living as cuts men off when they are young; and we have been so religious towards God, that we
[have reason to hope we] may arrive at a very great age. But for such as cultivate a friendship with my
sons, so as to aim at my destruction, they shall be punished by me on their account. I am not one who
envy my own children, and therefore forbid men to pay them great respect; but I know that such
50
[extravagant] respects are the way to make them insolent. And if every one that comes near them does but
revolve this in his mind, that if he prove a good man, he shall receive a reward from me, but that if he
prove seditious, his ill-intended complaisance shall get him nothing from him to whom it is shown, I
suppose they will all be of my side, that is, of my sons' side; for it will be for their advantage that I reign,
and that I be at concord with them. But do you, O my good children, reflect upon the holiness of nature
itself, by whose means natural affection is preserved, even among wild beasts; in the next place, reflect
upon Caesar, who hath made this reconciliation among us; and in the third place, reflect upon me, who
entreat you to do what I have power to command you, - continue brethren. I give you royal garments, and
royal honors; and I pray to God to preserve what I have determined, in case you be at concord one with
another." When the king had thus spoken, and had saluted every one of his sons after an obliging manner,
he dismissed the multitude; some of which gave their assent to what he had said, and wished it might take
effect accordingly; but for those who wished for a change of affairs, they pretended they did not so much
as hear what he said.

CHAPTER 24.
THE MALICE OF ANTIPATER AND DORIS. ALEXANDER IS VERY UNEASY ON
GLAPHYRAS ACCOUNT. HEROD PARDONS PHERORAS, WHOM HE SUSPECTED, AND
SALOME WHOM HE KNEW TO MAKE MISCHIEF AMONG THEM. HEROD'S EUNUCHS
ARE TORTURED AND ALEXANDER IS BOUND.

1. BUT now the quarrel that was between them still accompanied these brethren when they parted, and
the suspicions they had one of the other grew worse. Alexander and Aristobulus were much grieved that
the privilege of the first-born was confirmed to Antipater; as was Antipater very angry at his brethren that
they were to succeed him. But then this last being of a disposition that was mutable and politic, he knew
how to hold his tongue, and used a great deal of cunning, and thereby concealed the hatred he bore to
them; while the former, depending on the nobility of their births, had every thing upon their tongues
which was in their minds. Many also there were who provoked them further, and many of their [seeming]
friends insinuated themselves into their acquaintance, to spy out what they did. Now every thing that was
said by Alexander was presently brought to Antipater, and from Antipater it was brought to Herod with
additions. Nor could the young man say any thing in the simplicity of his heart, without giving offense,
but what he said was still turned to calumny against him. And if he had been at any time a little free in his
conversation, great imputations were forged from the smallest occasions. Antipater also was perpetually
setting some to provoke him to speak, that the lies he raised of him might seem to have some foundation
of truth; and if, among the many stories that were given out, but one of them could be proved true, that
was supposed to imply the rest to be true also. And as to Antipater's friends, they were all either naturally
so cautious in speaking, or had been so far bribed to conceal their thoughts, that nothing of these grand
secrets got abroad by their means. Nor should one be mistaken if he called the life of Antipater a mystery
of wickedness; for he either corrupted Alexander's acquaintance with money, or got into their favor by
flatteries; by which two means he gained all his designs, and brought them to betray their master, and to
steal away, and reveal what he either did or said. Thus did he act a part very cunningly in all points, and
wrought himself a passage by his calumnies with the greatest shrewdness; while he put on a face as if he
were a kind brother to Alexander and Aristobulus, but suborned other men to inform of what they did to
Herod. And when any thing was told against Alexander, he would come in, and pretend [to be of his side],
and would begin to contradict what was said; but would afterward contrive matters so privately, that the
king should have an indignation at him. His general aim was this, - to lay a plot, and to make it believed
that Alexander lay in wait to kill his father; for nothing afforded so great a confirmation to these
calumnies as did Antipater's apologies for him.

51
2. By these methods Herod was inflamed, and as much as his natural affection to the young men did every
day diminish, so much did it increase towards Antipater. The courtiers also inclined to the same conduct,
some of their own accord, and others by the king's injunction, as particularly did Ptolemy, the king's
dearest friend, as also the king's brethren, and all his children; for Antipater was all in all; and what was
the bitterest part of all to Alexander, Antipater's mother was also all in all; she was one that gave counsel
against them, and was more harsh than a step-mother, and one that hated the queen's sons more than is
usual to hate sons-in-law. All men did therefore already pay their respects to Antipater, in hopes of
advantage; and it was the king's command which alienated every body [from the brethren], he having
given this charge to his most intimate friends, that they should not come near, nor pay any regard, to
Alexander, or to his friends. Herod was also become terrible, not only to his domestics about the court,
but to his friends abroad; for Caesar had given such a privilege to no other king as he had given to him,
which was this, - that he might fetch back any one that fled from him, even out of a city that was not
under his own jurisdiction. Now the young men were not acquainted with the calumnies raised against
them; for which reason they could not guard themselves against them, but fell under them; for their father
did not make any public complaints against either of them; though in a little time they perceived how
things were by his coldness to them, and by the great uneasiness he showed upon any thing that troubled
him. Antipater had also made their uncle Pheroras to be their enemy, as well as their aunt Salome, while
he was always talking with her, as with a wife, and irritating her against them. Moreover, Alexander's
wife, Glaphyra, augmented this hatred against them, by deriving her nobility and genealogy [from great
persons], and pretending that she was a lady superior to all others in that kingdom, as being derived by her
father's side from Temenus, and by her mother's side from Darius, the son of Hystaspes. She also
frequently reproached Herod's sister and wives with the ignobility of their descent; and that they were
every one chosen by him for their beauty, but not for their family. Now those wives of his were not a few;
it being of old permitted to the Jews to marry many wives, (39) and this king delighting in many; all
which hated Alexander, on account of Glaphyra's boasting and reproaches.

3. Nay, Aristobulus had raised a quarrel between himself and Salome, who was his mother-in-law, besides
the anger he had conceived at Glaphyra's reproaches; for he perpetually upbraided his wife with the
meanness of her family, and complained, that as he had married a woman of a low family, so had his
brother Alexander married one of royal blood. At this Salome's daughter wept, and told it her with this
addition, that Alexander threatened the mothers of his other brethren, that when he should come to the
crown, he would make them weave with their maidens, and would make those brothers of his country
schoolmasters; and brake this jest upon them, that they had been very carefully instructed, to fit them for
such an employment. Hereupon Salome could not contain her anger, but told all to Herod; nor could her
testimony be suspected, since it was against her own son-in-law There was also another calumny that ran
abroad and inflamed the king's mind; for he heard that these sons of his were perpetually speaking of their
mother, and, among their lamentations for her, did not abstain from cursing him; and that when he made
presents of any of Mariamne's garments to his later wives, these threatened that in a little time, instead of
royal garments, they would clothe theft in no better than hair-cloth.

4. Now upon these accounts, though Herod was somewhat afraid of the young men's high spirit, yet did he
not despair of reducing them to a better mind; but before he went to Rome, whither he was now going by
sea, he called them to him, and partly threatened them a little, as a king; but for the main, he admonished
them as a father, and exhorted them to love their brethren, and told them that he would pardon their
former offenses, if they would amend for the time to come. But they refuted the calumnies that had been
raised of them, and said they were false, and alleged that their actions were sufficient for their vindication;
and said withal, that he himself ought to shut his ears against such tales, and not be too easy in believing
them, for that there would never be wanting those that would tell lies to their disadvantage, as long as any
would give ear to them.
52
5. When they had thus soon pacified him, as being their father, they got clear of the present fear they were
in. Yet did they see occasion for sorrow in some time afterward; for they knew that Salome, as well as
their uncle Pheroras, were their enemies; who were both of them heavy and severe persons, and especially
Pheroras, who was a partner with Herod in all the affairs of the kingdom, excepting his diadem. He had
also a hundred talents of his own revenue, and enjoyed the advantage of all the land beyond Jordan, which
he had received as a gift from his brother, who had asked of Caesar to make him a tetrarch, as he was
made accordingly. Herod had also given him a wife out of the royal family, who was no other than his
own wife's sister, and after her death had solemnly espoused to him his own eldest daughter, with a dowry
of three hundred talents; but Pheroras refused to consummate this royal marriage, out of his affection to a
maidservant of his. Upon which account Herod was very angry, and gave that daughter in marriage to a
brother's son of his, [Joseph,] who was slain afterward by the Parthians; but in some time he laid aside his
anger against Pheroras, and pardoned him, as one not able to overcome his foolish passion for the maid-
servant.

6. Nay, Pheroras had been accused long before, while the queen [Mariamne] was alive, as if he were in a
plot to poison Herod; and there came then so great a number of informers, that Herod himself, though he
was an exceeding lover of his brethren, was brought to believe what was said, and to be afraid of it also.
And when he had brought many of those that were under suspicion to the torture, he came at last to
Pheroras's own friends; none of which did openly confess the crime, but they owned that he had made
preparation to take her whom he loved, and run away to the Parthians. Costobarus also, the husband of
Salome, to whom the king had given her in marriage, after her former husband had been put to death for
adultery, was instrumental in bringing about this contrivance and flight of his. Nor did Salome escape all
calumny upon herself; for her brother Pheroras accused her that she had made an agreement to marry
Silleus, the procurator of Obodas, king of Arabia, who was at bitter enmity with Herod; but when she was
convicted of this, and of all that Pheroras had accused her of, she obtained her pardon. The king also
pardoned Pheroras himself the crimes he had been accused of.

7. But the storm of the whole family was removed to Alexander, and all of it rested upon his head. There
were three eunuchs who were in the highest esteem with the king, as was plain by the offices they were in
about him; for one of them was appointed to be his butler, another of them got his supper ready for him,
and the third put him into bed, and lay down by him. Now Alexander had prevailed with these men, by
large gifts, to let him use them after an obscene manner; which, when it was told to the king, they were
tortured, and found guilty, and presently confessed the criminal conversation he had with them. They also
discovered the promises by which they were induced so to do, and how they were deluded by Alexander,
who had told them that they ought not to fix their hopes upon Herod, an old man, and one so shameless as
to color his hair, unless they thought that would make him young again; but that they ought to fix their
attention to him who was to be his successor in the kingdom, whether he would or not; and who in no
long time would avenge himself on his enemies, and make his friends happy and blessed, and themselves
in the first place; that the men of power did already pay respects to Alexander privately, and that the
captains of the soldiery, and the officers, did secretly come to him.

8. These confessions did so terrify Herod, that he durst not immediately publish them; but he sent spies
abroad privately, by night and by day, who should make a close inquiry after all that was done and said;
and when any were but suspected [of treason], he put them to death, insomuch that the palace was full of
horribly unjust proceedings; for every body forged calumnies, as they were themselves in a state of
enmity or hatred against others; and many there were who abused the king's bloody passion to the
disadvantage of those with whom they had quarrels, and lies were easily believed, and punishments were
inflicted sooner than the calumnies were forged. He who had just then been accusing another was accused
himself, and was led away to execution together with him whom he had convicted; for the danger the king
53
was in of his life made examinations be very short. He also proceeded to such a degree of bitterness, that
he could not look on any of those that were not accused with a pleasant countenance, but was in the most
barbarous disposition towards his own friends. Accordingly, he forbade a great many of them to come to
court, and to those whom he had not power to punish actually he spake harshly. But for Antipater, he
insulted Alexander, now he was under his misfortunes, and got a stout company of his kindred together,
and raised all sorts of calumny against him; and for the king, he was brought to such a degree of terror by
those prodigious slanders and contrivances, that he fancied he saw Alexander coming to him with a drawn
sword in his hand. So he caused him to be seized upon immediately, and bound, and fell to examining his
friends by torture, many of whom died [under the torture], but would discover nothing, nor say any thing
against their consciences; but some of them, being forced to speak falsely by the pains they endured, said
that Alexander, and his brother Aristobulus, plotted against him, and waited for an opportunity to kill him
as he was hunting, and then fly away to Rome. These accusations though they were of an incredible
nature, and only framed upon the great distress they were in, were readily believed by the king, who
thought it some comfort to him, after he had bound his son, that it might appear he had not done it
unjustly.

CHAPTER 25.
ARCHELAUS PROCURES A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN ALEXANDER PHERORAS,
AND HEROD.

1. NOW as to Alexander, since he perceived it impossible to persuade his father [that he was innocent], he
resolved to meet his calamities, how severe soever they were; so he composed four books against his
enemies, and confessed that he had been in a plot; but declared withal that the greatest part [of the
courtiers] were in a plot with him, and chiefly Pheroras and Salome; nay, that Salome once came and
forced him to lie with her in the night time, whether he would or no. These books were put into Herod's
hands, and made a great clamor against the men in power. And now it was that Archelaus came hastily
into Judea, as being affrighted for his son-in-law and his daughter; and he came as a proper assistant, and
in a very prudent manner, and by a stratagem he obliged the king not to execute what he had threatened;
for when he was come to him, he cried out, "Where in the world is this wretched son-in-law of mine?
Where shall I see the head of him which contrived to murder his father, which I will tear to pieces with
my own hands? I will do the same also to my daughter, who hath such a fine husband; for although she be
not a partner in the plot, yet, by being the wife of such a creature, she is polluted. And I cannot but admire
at thy patience, against whom this plot is laid, if Alexander be still alive; for as I came with what haste I
could from Cappadocia, I expected to find him put to death for his crimes long ago; but still, in order to
make an examination with thee about my daughter, whom, out of regard to thee and by dignity, I had
espoused to him in marriage; but now we must take counsel about them both; and if thy paternal affection
be so great, that thou canst not punish thy son, who hath plotted against thee, let us change our right
hands, and let us succeed one to the other in expressing our rage upon this occasion."

2. When he had made this pompous declaration, he got Herod to remit of his anger, though he were in
disorder, who thereupon gave him the books which Alexander had composed to be read by him; and as he
came to every head, he considered of it, together with Herod. So Archclaus took hence the occasion for
that stratagem which he made use of, and by degrees he laid the blame on those men whose names were
in these books, and especially upon Pheroras; and when he saw that the king believed him [to he in
earnest], he said, "We must consider whether the young man be not himself plotted against by such a
number of wicked wretches, and not thou plotted against by the young man; for I cannot see any occasion
for his falling into so horrid a crime, since he enjoys the advantages of royalty already, and has the

54
expectation of being one of thy successors; I mean this, unless there were some persons that persuade him
to it, and such persons as make an ill use of the facility they know there is to persuade young men; for by
such persons, not only young men are sometimes imposed upon, but old men also, and by them
sometimes are the most illustrious families and kingdoms overturned."

3. Herod assented to what he had said, and, by degrees, abated of his anger against Alexander, but was
more angry at Pheroras; for the principal subject of the four books was Pheroras; who perceiving that the
king's inclinations changed on a sudden, and that Archelaus's friendship could do every thing with him,
and that he had no honorable method of preserving himself, he procured his safety by his impudence. So
he left Alexander, and had recourse to Archelaus, who told him that he did not see how he could get him
excused, now he was directly caught in so many crimes, whereby it was evidently demonstrated that he
had plotted against the king, and had been the cause of those misfortunes which the young man was now
under, unless he would moreover leave off his cunning knavery, and his denials of what he was charged
withal, and confess the charge, and implore pardon of his brother, who still had a kindness for him; but
that if he would do so, he would afford him all the assistance he was able.

4. With this advice Pheroras complied, and putting himself into such a habit as might most move
compassion, he came with black cloth upon his body, and tears in his eyes, and threw himself down at
Herod's feet, and begged his pardon for what he had done, and confessed that he had acted very wickedly,
and was guilty of every thing that he had been accused of, and lamented that disorder of his mind, and
distraction which his love to a woman, he said, had brought him to. So when Archelaus had brought
Pheroras to accuse and bear witness against himself, he then made an excuse for him, and mitigated
Herod's anger towards him, and this by using certain domestical examples; for that when he had suffered
much greater mischiefs from a brother of his own, he prefered the obligations of nature before the passion
of revenge; because it is in kingdoms as it is in gross bodies, where some member or other is ever swelled
by the body's weight, in which case it is not proper to cut off such member, but to heal it by a gentle
method of cure.

5. Upon Arehelaus's saying this, and much more to the same purpose, Herod's displeasure against
Pheroras was mollified; yet did he persevere in his own indignation against Alexander, and said he would
have his daughter divorced, and taken away from him, and this till he had brought Herod to that pass, that,
contrary to his former behavior to him, he petitioned Archelaus for the young man, and that he would let
his daughter continue espoused to him: but Archelaus made him strongly believe that he would permit her
to be married to any one else, but not to Alexander, because he looked upon it as a very valuable
advantage, that the relation they had contracted by that affinity, and the privileges that went along with it,
might be preserved. And when the king said that his son would take it for a great favor to him, if he would
not dissolve that marriage, especially since they had already children between the young man and her, and
since that wife of his was so well beloved by him, and that as while she remains his wife she would be a
great preservative to him, and keep him from offending, as he had formerly done; so if she should be once
torn away from him, she would be the cause of his falling into despair, because such young men's
attempts are best mollified when they are diverted from them by settling their affections at home. So
Arehelaus complied with what Herod desired, but not without difficulty, and was both himself reconciled
to the young man, and reconciled his father to him also. However, he said he must, by all means, be sent
to Rome to discourse with Caesar, because he had already written a full account to him of this whole
matter.

6. Thus a period was put to Archelaus's stratagem, whereby he delivered his son-in-law out of the dangers
he was in; but when these reconciliations were over, they spent their time in feastings and agreeable

55
entertainments. And when Archelaus was going away, Herod made him a present of seventy talents, with
a golden throne set with precious stones, and some eunuchs, and a concubine who was called Pannychis.
He also paid due honors to every one of his friends according to their dignity. In like manner did all the
king's kindred, by his command, make glorious presents to Archelaus; and so he was conducted on his
way by Herod and his nobility as far as Antioch.

CHAPTER 26.
HOW EURYCLES (40) CALUMNIATED THE SONS OF MARIAMNE; AND HOW EUARATUS
OF COSTS APOLOGY FOR THEM HAD NO EFFECT.

1. NOW a little afterward there came into Judea a man that was much superior to Arehelaus's stratagems,
who did not only overturn that reconciliation that had been so wisely made with Alexander, but proved
the occasion of his ruin. He was a Lacedemonian, and his name was Eurycles. He was so corrupt a man,
that out of the desire of getting money, he chose to live under a king, for Greece could not suffice his
luxury. He presented Herod with splendid gifts, as a bait which he laid in order to compass his ends, and
quickly received them back again manifold; yet did he esteem bare gifts as nothing, unless he imbrued the
kingdom in blood by his purchases. Accordingly, he imposed upon the king by flattering him, and by
talking subtlely to him, as also by the lying encomiums which he made upon him; for as he soon
perceived Herod's blind side, so he said and did every thing that might please him, and thereby became
one of his most intimate friends; for both the king and all that were about him had a great regard for this
Spartan, on account of his country. (41)

2. Now as soon as this fellow perceived the rotten parts of the family, and what quarrels the brothers had
one with another, and in what disposition the father was towards each of them, he chose to take his
lodging at the first in the house of Antipater, but deluded Alexander with a pretense of friendship to him,
and falsely claimed to be an old acquaintance of Archelaus; for which reason he was presently admitted
into Alexander's familiarity as a faithful friend. He also soon recommended himself to his brother
Aristobulus. And when he had thus made trial of these several persons, he imposed upon one of them by
one method, and upon another by another. But he was principally hired by Antipater, and so betrayed
Alexander, and this by reproaching Antipater, because, while he was the eldest son he overlooked the
intrigues of those who stood in the way of his expectations; and by reproaching Alexander, because he
who was born of a queen, and was married to a king's daughter, permitted one that was born of a mean
woman to lay claim to the succession, and this when he had Archelaus to support him in the most
complete manner. Nor was his advice thought to be other than faithful by the young man, because of his
pretended friendship with Archelaus; on which account it was that Alexander lamented to him Antipater's
behavior with regard to himself, and this without concealing any thing from him; and how it was no
wonder if Herod, after he had killed their mother, should deprive them of her kingdom. Upon this
Eurycles pretended to commiserate his condition, and to grieve with him. He also, by a bait that he laid
for him, procured Aristobulus to say the same things. Thus did he inveigle both the brothers to make
complaints of their father, and then went to Antipater, and carried these grand secrets to him. He also
added a fiction of his own, as if his brothers had laid a plot against him, and were almost ready to come
upon him with their drawn swords. For this intelligence he received a great sum of money, and on that
account he commended Antipater before his father, and at length undertook the work of bringing
Alexander and Aristobulus to their graves, and accused them before their father. So he came to Herod,
and told him that he would save his life, as a requital for the favors he had received from him, and would
preserve his light [of life] by way of retribution for his kind entertainment; for that a sword had been long
whetted, and Alexander's right hand had been long stretched out against him; but that he had laid

56
impediments in his way, prevented his speed, and that by pretending to assist him in his design: how
Alexander said that Herod was not contented to reign in a kingdom that belonged to others, and to make
dilapidations in their mother's government after he had killed her; but besides all this, that he introduced a
spurious successor, and proposed to give the kingdom of their ancestors to that pestilent fellow Antipater:
- that he would now appease the ghosts of Hyrcanus and Mariamne, by taking vengeance on him; for that
it was not fit for him to take the succession to the government from such a father without bloodshed: that
many things happen every day to provoke him so to do, insomuch that he can say nothing at all, but it
affords occasion for calumny against him; for that if any mention be made of nobility of birth, even in
other cases, he is abused unjustly, while his father would say that nobody, to be sure, is of noble birth but
Alexander, and that his father was inglorious for want of such nobility. If they be at any time hunting, and
he says nothing, he gives offense; and if he commends any body, they take it in way of jest. That they
always find their father unmercifully severe, and have no natural affection for any of them but for
Antipater; on which accounts, if this plot does not take, he is very willing to die; but that in case he kill
his father, he hath sufficient opportunities for saving himself. In the first place, he hath Archelaus his
father-in-law to whom he can easily fly; and in the next place, he hath Caesar, who had never known
Herod's character to this day; for that he shall not appear then before him with that dread he used to do
when his father was there to terrify him; and that he will not then produce the accusations that concerned
himself alone, but would, in the first place, openly insist on the calamities of their nation, and how they
are taxed to death, and in what ways of luxury and wicked practices that wealth is spent which was gotten
by bloodshed; what sort of persons they are that get our riches, and to whom those cities belong upon
whom he bestows his favors; that he would have inquiry made what became of his grandfather
[Hyrcanus], and his mother [Mariamne], and would openly proclaim the gross wickedness that was in the
kingdom; on which accounts he should not be deemed a parricide.

3. When Eurycles had made this portentous speech, he greatly commended Antipater, as the only child
that had an affection for his father, and on that account was an impediment to the other's plot against him.
Hereupon the king, who had hardly repressed his anger upon the former accusations, was exasperated to
an incurable degree. At which time Antipater took another occasion to send in other persons to his father
to accuse his brethren, and to tell him that they had privately discoursed with Jucundus and Tyrannus,
who had once been masters of the horse to the king, but for some offenses had been put out of that
honorable employment. Herod was in a very great rage at these informations, and presently ordered those
men to be tortured; yet did not they confess any thing of what the king had been informed; but a certain
letter was produced, as written by Alexander to the governor of a castle, to desire him to receive him and
Aristobulus into the castle when he had killed his father, and to give them weapons, and what other
assistance he could, upon that occasion. Alexander said that this letter was a forgery of Diophantus. This
Diophantus was the king's secretary, a bold man, and cunning in counterfeiting any one's hand; and after
he had counterfeited a great number, he was at last put to death for it. Herod did also order the governor
of the castle to be tortured, but got nothing out of him of what the accusations suggested.

4. However, although Herod found the proofs too weak, he gave order to have his sons kept in custody;
for till now they had been at liberty. He also called that pest of his family, and forger of all this vile
accusation, Eurycles, his savior and benefactor, and gave him a reward of fifty talents. Upon which he
prevented any accurate accounts that could come of what he had done, by going immediately into
Cappadocia, and there he got money of Archelaus, having the impudence to pretend that he had
reconciled Herod to Alexander. He thence passed over into Greece, and used what he had thus wickedly
gotten to the like wicked purposes. Accordingly, he was twice accused before Caesar, that he had filled
Achaia with sedition, and had plundered its cities; and so he was sent into banishment. And thus was he
punished for what wicked actions he had been guilty of about Aristobulus and Alexander.

57
5. But it will now be worth while to put Euaratus of Cos in opposition to this Spartan; for as he was one of
Alexander's most intimate friends, and came to him in his travels at the same time that Eurycles came; so
the king put the question to him, whether those things of which Alexander was accused were true? He
assured him upon oath that he had never heard any such things from the young men; yet did this
testimony avail nothing for the clearing those miserable creatures; for Herod was only disposed and most
ready to hearken to what made against them, and every one was most agreeable to him that would believe
they were guilty, and showed their indignation at them.

CHAPTER 27.
HEROD BY CAESARS DIRECTION ACCUSES HIS SONS AT EURYTUS. THEY ARE NOT
PRODUCED BEFORE THE COURTS BUT YET ARE CONDEMNED; AND IN A LITTLE
TIME THEY ARE SENT TO SEBASTE, AND STRANGLED THERE.

1. MOREOVER, Salome exasperated Herod's cruelty against his sons; for Aristobulus was desirous to
bring her, who was his mother-in-law and his aunt, into the like dangers with themselves; so he sent to her
to take care of her own safety, and told her that the king was preparing to put her to death, on account of
the accusation that was laid against her, as if when she formerly endeavored to marry herself to Sylleus
the Arabian, she had discovered the king's grand secrets to him, who was the king's enemy; and this it was
that came as the last storm, and entirely sunk the young men when they were in great danger before. For
Salome came running to the king, and informed him of what admonition had been given her; whereupon
he could bear no longer, but commanded both the young men to be bound, and kept the one asunder from
the other. He also sent Volumnius, the general of his army, to Caesar immediately, as also his friend
Olympus with him, who carried the informations in writing along with them. Now as soon as they had
sailed to Rome, and delivered the king's letters to Caesar, Caesar was mightily troubled at the case of the
young men; yet did not he think he ought to take the power from the father of condemning his sons; so he
wrote back to him, and appointed him to have the power over his sons; but said withal, that he would do
well to make an examination into this matter of the plot against him in a public court, and to take for his
assessors his own kindred, and the governors of the province. And if those sons be found guilty, to put
them to death; but if they appear to have thought of no more than flying away from him, that he should
moderate their punishment.

2. With these directions Herod complied, and came to Berytus, where Caesar had ordered the court to be
assembled, and got the judicature together. The presidents sat first, as Caesar's letters had appointed, who
were Saturninus and Pedanius, and their lieutenants that were with them, with whom was the procurator
Volumnius also; next to them sat the king's kinsmen and friends, with Salome also, and Pheroras; after
whom sat the principal men of all Syria, excepting Archelaus; for Herod had a suspicion of him, because
he was Alexander's father-in-law. Yet did not he produce his sons in open court; and this was done very
cunningly, for he knew well enough that had they but appeared only, they would certainly have been
pitied; and if withal they had been suffered to speak, Alexander would easily have answered what they
were accused of; but they were in custody at Platane, a village of the Sidontans.

3. So the king got up, and inveighed against his sons, as if they were present; and as for that part of the
accusation that they had plotted against him, he urged it but faintly, because he was destitute of proofs;
but he insisted before the assessors on the reproaches, and jests, and injurious carriage, and ten thousand
the like offenses against him, which were heavier than death itself; and when nobody contradicted him, he
moved them to pity his case, as though he had been condemned himself, now he had gained a bitter
victory against his sons. So he asked every one's sentence, which sentence was first of all given by

58
Saturninus, and was this: That he condemned the young men, but not to death; for that it was not fit for
him, who had three sons of his own now present, to give his vote for the destruction of the sons of
another. The two lieutenants also gave the like vote; some others there were also who followed their
example; but Volumnius began to vote on the more melancholy side, and all those that came after him
condemned the young men to die, some out of flattery, and some out of hatred to Herod; but none out of
indignation at their crimes. And now all Syria and Judea was in great expectation, and waited for the last
act of this tragedy; yet did nobody, suppose that Herod would be so barbarous as to murder his children:
however, he carried them away to Tyre, and thence sailed to Cesarea, and deliberated with himself what
sort of death the young men should suffer.

4. Now there was a certain old soldier of the king's, whose name was Tero, who had a son that was very
familiar with and a friend to Alexander, and who himself particularly loved the young men. This soldier
was in a manner distracted, out of the excess of the indignation he had at what was doing; and at first he
cried out aloud, as he went about, that justice was trampled under foot; that truth was perished, and nature
confounded; and that the life of man was full of iniquity, and every thing else that passion could suggest
to a man who spared not his own life; and at last he ventured to go to the king, and said, "Truly I think
thou art a most miserable man, when thou hearkenest to most wicked wretches, against those that ought to
be dearest to thee; since thou hast frequently resolved that Pheroras and Salome should be put to death,
and yet believest them against thy sons; while these, by cutting off the succession of thine own sons, leave
all wholly to Antipater, and thereby choose to have thee such a king as may be thoroughly in their own
power. However, consider whether this death of Antipater's brethren will not make him hated by the
soldiers; for there is nobody but commiserates the young men; and of the captains, a great many show
their indignation at it openly." Upon his saying this, he named those that had such indignation; but the
king ordered those men, with Tero himself and his son, to be seized upon immediately.

5. At which time there was a certain barber, whose name was Trypho. This man leaped out from among
the people in a kind of madness, and accused himself, and said, "This Tero endeavored to persuade me
also to cut thy throat with my razor, when I trimmed thee, and promised that Alexander should give me
large presents for so doing." When Herod heard this, he examined Tero, with his son and the barber, by
the torture; but as the others denied the accusation, and he said nothing further, Herod gave order that
Tero should be racked more severely; but his son, out of pity to his father, promised to discover the whole
to the king, if he would grant [that his father should be no longer tortured]. When he had agreed to this, he
said that his father, at the persuasion of Alexander, had an intention to kill him. Now some said this was
forged, in order to free his father from his torments; and some said it was true.

6. And now Herod accused the captains and Tero in an assembly of the people, and brought the people
together in a body against them; and accordingly there were they put to death, together with [Trypho] the
barber; they were killed by the pieces of wood and the stones that were thrown at them. He also sent his
sons to Sebaste, a city not far from Cesarea, and ordered them to be there strangled; and as what he had
ordered was executed immediately, so he commanded that their dead bodies should be brought to the
fortress Alexandrium, to be buried with Alexander, their grandfather by the mother's side. And this was
the end of Alexander and Aristobulus.

CHAPTER 28.
HOW ANTIPATER IS HATED OF ALL MEN; AND HOW THE KING ESPOUSES THE SONS
OF THOSE THAT HAD BEEN SLAIN TO HIS KINDRED;BUT THAT ANTIPATER MADE
HIM CHANGE THEM FOR OTHER WOMEN. OF HEROD'S MARRIAGES, AND CHILDREN.

59
1. BUT an intolerable hatred fell upon Antipater from the nation, though he had now an indisputable title
to the succession, because they all knew that he was the person who contrived all the calumnies against
his brethren. However, he began to be in a terrible fear, as he saw the posterity of those that had been slain
growing up; for Alexander had two sons by Glaphyra, Tigranes and Alexander; and Aristobulus had
Herod, and Agrippa, and Aristobulus, his sons, with Herodias and Mariamne, his daughters, and all by
Bernice, Salome's daughter. As for Glaphyra, Herod, as soon as he had killed Alexander, sent her back,
together with her portion, to Cappadocia. He married Bernice, Aristobulus's daughter, to Antipater's uncle
by his mother, and it was Antipater who, in order to reconcile her to him, when she had been at variance
with him, contrived this match; he also got into Pheroras's favor, and into the favor of Caesar's friends, by
presents, and other ways of obsequiousness, and sent no small sums of money to Rome; Saturninus also,
and his friends in Syria, were all well replenished with the presents he made them; yet the more he gave,
the more he was hated, as not making these presents out of generosity, but spending his money out of
fear. Accordingly, it so fell out that the receivers bore him no more good-will than before, but that those
to whom he gave nothing were his more bitter enemies. However, he bestowed his money every day more
and more profusely, on observing that, contrary to his expectations, the king was taking care about the
orphans, and discovering at the same time his repentance for killing their fathers, by his commiseration of
those that sprang from them.

2. Accordingly, Herod got together his kindred and friends, and set before them the children, and, with his
eyes full of tears, said thus to them: "It was an unlucky fate that took away from me these children's
fathers, which children are recommended to me by that natural commiseration which their orphan
condition requires; however, I will endeavor, though I have been a most unfortunate father, to appear a
better grandfather, and to leave these children such curators after myself as are dearest to me. I therefore
betroth thy daughter, Pheroras, to the elder of these brethren, the children of Alexander, that thou mayst
be obliged to take care of them. I also betroth to thy son, Antipater, the daughter of Aristobulus; be thou
therefore a father to that orphan; and my son Herod [Philip] shall have her sister, whose grandfather, by
the mother's side, was high priest. And let every one that loves me be of my sentiments in these
dispositions, which none that hath an affection for me will abrogate. And I pray God that he will join
these children together in marriage, to the advantage of my kingdom, and of my posterity; and may he
look down with eyes more serene upon them than he looked upon their fathers."

3. While he spake these words he wept, and joined the children's fight hands together; after which he
embraced them every one after an affectionate manner, and dismissed the assembly. Upon this, Antipater
was in great disorder immediately, and lamented publicly at what was done; for he supposed that this
dignity which was conferred on these orphans was for his own destruction, even in his father's lifetime,
and that he should run another risk of losing the government, if Alexander's sons should have both
Archelaus [a king], and Pheroras a tetrarch, to support them. He also considered how he was himself
hated by the nation, and how they pitied these orphans; how great affection the Jews bare to those
brethren of his when they were alive, and how gladly they remembered them now they had perished by
his means. So he resolved by all the ways possible to get these espousals dissolved.

4. Now he was afraid of going subtlely about this matter with his father, who was hard to be pleased, and
was presently moved upon the least suspicion: so he ventured to go to him directly, and to beg of him
before his face not to deprive him of that dignity which he had been pleased to bestow upon him; and that
he might not have the bare name of a king, while the power was in other persons; for that he should never
be able to keep the government, if Alexander's son was to have both his grandfather Archelaus and
Pheroras for his curators; and he besought him earnestly, since there were so many of the royal family
alive, that he would change those [intended] marriages. Now the king had nine wives, (42) and children
by seven of them; Antipater was himself born of Doris, and Herod Philip of Mariamne, the high priest's
60
daughter; Antipas also and Archelaus were by Malthace, the Samaritan, as was his daughter Olympias,
which his brother Joseph's (43) son had married. By Cleopatra of Jerusalem he had Herod and Philip; and
by Pallas, Phasaelus; he had also two daughters, Roxana and Salome, the one by Phedra, and the other by
Elpis; he had also two wives that had no children, the one his first cousin, and the other his niece; and
besides these he had two daughters, the sisters of Alexander and Aristobulus, by Mariamne. Since,
therefore, the royal family was so numerous, Antipater prayed him to change these intended marriages.

5. When the king perceived what disposition he was in towards these orphans, he was angry at it, and a
suspicion came into his mind as to those sons whom he had put to death, whether that had not been
brought about by the false tales of Antipater; so that at that time he made Antipater a long and a peevish
answer, and bid him begone. Yet was he afterwards prevailed upon cunningly by his flatteries, and
changed the marriages; he married Aristobulus's daughter to him, and his son to Pheroras's daughter.

6. Now one may learn, in this instance, how very much this flattering Antipater could do, - even what
Salome in the like circumstances could not do; for when she, who was his sister, and who, by the means
of Julia, Caesar's wife, earnestly desired leave to be married to Sylleus the Arabian, Herod swore he
would esteem her his bitter enemy, unless she would leave off that project: he also caused her, against her
own consent, to be married to Alexas, a friend of his, and that one of her daughters should be married to
Alexas's son, and the other to Antipater's uncle by the mother's side. And for the daughters the king had
by Mariamne, the one was married to Antipater, his sister's son, and the other to his brother's son,
Phasaelus.

CHAPTER 29.
ANTIPATER BECOMES INTOLERABLE. HE IS SENT TO ROME, AND CARRIES HEROD'S
TESTAMENT WITH HIM; PHERORAS LEAVES HIS BROTHER, THAT HE MAY KEEP HIS
WIFE. HE DIES AT HOME.

1. NOW when Antipater had cut off the hopes of the orphans, and had contracted such affinities as would
be most for his own advantage, he proceeded briskly, as having a certain expectation of the kingdom; and
as he had now assurance added to his wickedness, he became intolerable; for not being able to avoid the
hatred of all people, he built his security upon the terror he struck into them. Pheroras also assisted him in
his designs, looking upon him as already fixed in the kingdom. There was also a company of women in
the court, which excited new disturbances; for Pheroras's wife, together with her mother and sister, as also
Antipater's mother, grew very impudent in the palace. She also was so insolent as to affront the king's two
daughters, (44) on which account the king hated her to a great degree; yet although these women were
hated by him, they domineered over others: there was only Salome who opposed their good agreement,
and informed the king of their meetings, as not being for the advantage of his affairs. And when those
women knew what calumnies she had raised against them, and how much Herod was displeased, they left
off their public meetings, and friendly entertainments of one another; nay, on the contrary, they pretended
to quarrel one with another when the king was within hearing. The like dissimulation did Antipater make
use of; and when matters were public, he opposed Pheroras; but still they had private cabals and merry
meetings in the night time; nor did the observation of others do any more than confirm their mutual
agreement. However, Salome knew every thing they did, and told every thing to Herod.

2. But he was inflamed with anger at them, and chiefly at Pheroras's wife; for Salome had principally
accused her. So he got an assembly of his friends and kindred together, and there accused this woman of
many things, and particularly of the affronts she had offered his daughters; and that she had supplied the

61
Pharisees with money, by way of rewards for what they had done against him, and had procured his
brother to become his enemy, by giving him love potions. At length he turned his speech to Pheroras, and
told him that he would give him his choice of these two things: Whether he would keep in with his
brother, or with his wife? And when Pheroras said that he would die rather than forsake his wife? Herod,
not knowing what to do further in that matter, turned his speech to Antipater, and charged him to have no
intercourse either with Pheroras's wife, or with Pheroras himself, or with any one belonging to her. Now
though Antipater did not transgress that his injunction publicly, yet did he in secret come to their night
meetings; and because he was afraid that Salome observed what he did, he procured, by the means of his
Italian friends, that he might go and live at Rome; for when they wrote that it was proper for Antipater to
be sent to Caesar for some time, Herod made no delay, but sent him, and that with a splendid attendance,
and a great deal of money, and gave him his testament to carry with him, - wherein Antipater had the
kingdom bequeathed to him, and wherein Herod was named for Antipater's successor; that Herod, I mean,
who was the son of Mariarmne, the high priest's daughter.

3. Sylleus also, the Arabian, sailed to Rome, without any regard to Caesar's injunctions, and this in order
to oppose Antipater with all his might, as to that law-suit which Nicolaus had with him before. This
Sylleus had also a great contest with Aretas his own king; for he had slain many others of Aretas's friends,
and particularly Sohemus, the most potent man in the city Petra. Moreover, he had prevailed with
Phabatus, who was Herod's steward, by giving him a great sum of money, to assist him against Herod; but
when Herod gave him more, he induced him to leave Syllcus, and by this means he demanded of him all
that Caesar had required of him to pay. But when Sylleus paid nothing of what he was to pay, and did also
accuse Phabatus to Caesar, and said that he was not a steward for Caesar's advantage, but for Herod's,
Phabatus was angry at him on that account, but was still in very great esteem with Herod, and discovered
Sylleus's grand secrets, and told the king that Sylleus had corrupted Corinthus, one of the guards of his
body, by bribing him, and of whom he must therefore have a care. Accordingly, the king complied; for
this Corinthus, though he was brought up in Herod's kingdom, yet was he by birth an Arabian; so the king
ordered him to be taken up immediately, and not only him, but two other Arabians, who were caught with
him; the one of them was Sylleus's friend, the other the head of a tribe. These last, being put to the torture,
confessed that they had prevailed with Corinthus, for a large sum of money, to kill Herod; and when they
had been further examined before Saturninus, the president of Syria, they were sent to Rome.

4. However, Herod did not leave off importuning Pheroras, but proceeded to force him to put away his
wife; (45) yet could he not devise any way by which he could bring the woman herself to punishment,
although he had many causes of hatred to her; till at length he was in such great uneasiness at her, that he
cast both her and his brother out of his kingdom. Pheroras took this injury very patiently, and went away
into his own tetrarchy, [Perea beyond Jordan,] and sware that there should be but one end put to his flight,
and that should be Herod's death; and that he would never return while he was alive. Nor indeed would he
return when his brother was sick, although he earnestly sent for him to come to him, because he had a
mind to leave some injunctions with him before he died; but Herod unexpectedly recovered. A little
afterward Pheroras himself fell sick, when Herod showed great moderation; for he came to him, and pitied
his case, and took care of him; but his affection for him did him no good, for Pheroras died a little
afterward. Now though Herod had so great an affection for him to the last day of his life, yet was a report
spread abroad that he had killed him by poison. However, he took care to have his dead body carried to
Jerusalem, and appointed a very great mourning to the whole nation for him, and bestowed a most
pompous funeral upon him. And this was the end that one of Alexander's and Aristobulus's murderers
came to.

CHAPTER 30.
62
WHEN HEROD MADE INQUIRY ABOUT PHERORAS'S DEATH A DISCOVERY WAS MADE
THAT ANTIPATER HAD PREPARED A POISONOUS DRAUGHT FOR HIM. HEROD CASTS
DORIS AND HER ACCOMPLICES, AS ALSO MARIAMNE, OUT OF THE PALACE AND
BLOTS HER SON HEROD OUT OF HIS TESTAMENT.

1. BUT now the punishment was transferred unto the original author, Antipater, and took its rise from the
death of Pheroras; for certain of his freed-men came with a sad countenance to the king, and told him that
his brother had been destroyed by poison, and that his wife had brought him somewhat that was prepared
after an unusual manner, and that, upon his eating it, he presently fell into his distemper; that Antipater's
mother and sister, two days before, brought a woman out of Arabia that was skillful in mixing such drugs,
that she might prepare a love potion for Pheroras; and that instead of a love potion, she had given him
deadly poison; and that this was done by the management of Sylleus, who was acquainted with that
woman.

2. The king was deeply affected with so many suspicions, and had the maid-servants and some of the free
women also tortured; one of which cried out in her agonies, "May that God that governs the earth and the
heaven punish this author of all these our miseries, Antipater's mother!" The king took a handle from this
confession, and proceeded to inquire further into the truth of the matter. So this woman discovered the
friendship of Antipater's mother to Pheroras, and Antipater's women, as also their secret meetings, and
that Pheroras and Antipater had drunk with them for a whole night together as they returned from the
king, and would not suffer any body, either man-servant or maidservant, to be there; while one of the free
women discovered the matter.

3. Upon this Herod tortured the maid-servants every on by themselves separately, who all unanimously
agreed in the foregoing discoveries, and that accordingly by agreement they went away, Antipater to
Rome, and Pheroras to Perea; for that they oftentimes talked to one another thus: That after Herod had
slain Alexander and Aristobulus, he would fall upon them, and upon their wives, because, after he
Mariamne and her children he would spare nobody; and that for this reason it was best to get as far off the
wild beast as they were able: - and that Antipater oftentimes lamented his own case before his mother, and
said to her, that he had already gray hairs upon his head, and that his father grew younger again every day,
and that perhaps death would overtake him before he should begin to be a king in earnest; and that in case
Herod should die, which yet nobody knew when it would be, the enjoyment of the succession could
certainly be but for a little time; for that these heads of Hydra, the sons of Alexander and Aristobulus,
were growing up: that he was deprived by his father of the hopes of being succeeded by his children, for
that his successor after his death was not to be any one of his own sons, but Herod the son of Mariamne:
that in this point Herod was plainly distracted, to think that his testament should therein take place; for he
would take care that not one of his posterity should remain, because he was of all fathers the greatest hater
of his children. Yet does he hate his brother still worse; whence it was that he a while ago gave himself a
hundred talents, that he should not have any intercourse with Pheroras. And when Pheroras said, Wherein
have we done him any harm? Antipater replied, "I wish he would but deprive us of all we have, and leave
us naked and alive only; but it is indeed impossible to escape this wild beast, who is thus given to murder,
who will not permit us to love any person openly, although we be together privately; yet may we be so
openly too, if we have but the courage and the hands of men."

4. These things were said by the women upon the torture; as also that Pheroras resolved to fly with them
to Perea. Now Herod gave credit to all they said, on account of the affair of the hundred talents; for he had
no discourse with any body about them, but only with Antipater. So he vented his anger first of all against
Antipater's mother, and took away from her all the ornaments which he had given her, which cost a great

63
many talents, and cast her out of the palace a second time. He also took care of Pheroras's women after
their tortures, as being now reconciled to them; but he was in great consternation himself, and inflamed
upon every suspicion, and had many innocent persons led to the torture, out of his fear lest he should
leave any guilty person untortured.

5. And now it was that he betook himself to examine Antipater of Samaria, who was the steward of [his
son] Antipater; and upon torturing him, he learned that Antipater had sent for a potion of deadly poison
for him out of Egypt, by Antiphilus, a companion of his; that Theudio, the uncle of Antipater, had it from
him, and delivered it to Pheroras; for that Antipater had charged him to take his father off while he was at
Rome, and so free him from the suspicion of doing it himself: that Pheroras also committed this potion to
his wife. Then did the king send for her, and bid her bring to him what she had received immediately. So
she came out of her house as if she would bring it with her, but threw herself down from the top of the
house, in order to prevent any examination and torture from the king. However, it came to pass, as it
seems by the providence of God, when he intended to bring Antipater to punishment, that she fell not
upon her head, but upon other parts of her body, and escaped. The king, when she was brought to him,
took care of her, (for she was at first quite senseless upon her fall,) and asked her why she had thrown
herself down; and gave her his oath, that if she would speak the real truth, he would excuse her from
punishment; but that if she concealed any thing, he would have her body torn to pieces by torments, and
leave no part. of it to be buried.

6. Upon this the woman paused a little, and then said, "Why do I spare to speak of these grand secrets,
now Pheroras is dead? that would only tend to save Antipater, who is all our destruction. Hear then, O
king, and be thou, and God himself, who cannot be deceived, witnesses to the truth of what I am going to
say. When thou didst sit weeping by Pheroras as he was dying, then it was that he called me to him, and
said, My dear wife, I have been greatly mistaken as to the disposition of my brother towards me, and have
hated him that is so affectionate to me, and have contrived to kill him who is in such disorder for me
before I am dead. As for myself, I receive the recompence of my impiety; but do thou bring what poison
was left with us by Antipater, and which thou keepest in order to destroy him, and consume it
immediately in the fire in my sight, that I may not be liable to the avenger in the invisible world." This I
brought as he bid me, and emptied the greatest part of it into the fire, but reserved a little of it for my own
use against uncertain futurity, and out of my fear of thee."

7. When she had said this, she brought the box, which had a small quantity of this potion in it: but the
king let her alone, and transferred the tortures to Antiphilus's mother and brother; who both confessed that
Antiphilus brought the box out of Egypt, and that they had received the potion from a brother of his, who
was a physician at Alexandria. Then did the ghosts of Alexander and Aristobulus go round all the palace,
and became the inquisitors and discoverers of what could not otherwise have been found out and brought
such as were the freest from suspicion to be examined; whereby it was discovered that Mariamne, the
high priest's daughter, was conscious of this plot; and her very brothers, when they were tortured, declared
it so to be. Whereupon the king avenged this insolent attempt of the mother upon her son, and blotted
Herod, whom he had by her, out of his treament, who had been before named therein as successor to
Antipater.

CHAPTER 31.
ANTIPATER IS CONVICTED BY BATHYLLUS ; BUT HE STILL RETURNS FROM ROME
WITHOUT KNOWING IT. HEROD BRINGS HIM TO HIS TRIAL.

64
1. AFTER these things were over, Bathyllus came under examination, in order to convict Antipater, who
proved the concluding attestation to Antipater's designs; for indeed he was no other than his freed-man.
This man came, and brought another deadly potion, the poison of asps, and the juices of other serpents,
that if the first potion did not do the business, Pheroras and his wife might be armed with this also to
destroy the king. He brought also an addition to Antipater's insolent attempt against his father, which was
the letters which he wrote against his brethren, Archelaus and Philip, which were the king's sons, and
educated at Rome, being yet youths, but of generous dispositions. Antipater set himself to get rid of these
as soon as he could, that they might not be prejudicial to his hopes; and to that end he forged letters
against them in the name of his friends at Rome. Some of these he corrupted by bribes to write how they
grossly reproached their father, and did openly bewail Alexander and Aristobulus, and were uneasy at
their being recalled; for their father had already sent for them, which was the very thing that troubled
Antipater.

2. Nay, indeed, while Antipater was in Judea, and before he was upon his journey to Rome, he gave
money to have the like letters against them sent from Rome, and then came to his father, who as yet had
no suspicion of him, and apologized for his brethren, and alleged on their behalf that some of the things
contained in those letters were false, and others of them were only youthful errors. Yet at the same time
that he expended a great deal of his money, by making presents to such as wrote against his brethren, did
he aim to bring his accounts into confusion, by buying costly garments, and carpets of various
contextures, with silver and gold cups, and a great many more curious things, that so, among the view
great expenses laid out upon such furniture, he might conceal the money he had used in hiring men [to
write the letters]; for he brought in an account of his expenses, amounting to two hundred talents, his
main pretense for which was file law-suit he had been in with Sylleus. So while all his rogueries, even
those of a lesser sort also, were covered by his greater villainy, while all the examinations by torture
proclaimed his attempt to murder his father, and the letters proclaimed his second attempt to murder his
brethren; yet did no one of those that came to Rome inform him of his misfortunes in Judea, although
seven months had intervened between his conviction and his return, so great was the hatred which they all
bore to him. And perhaps they were the ghosts of those brethren of his that had been murdered that
stopped the mouths of those that intended to have told him. He then wrote from Rome, and informed his
[friends] that he would soon come to them, and how he was dismissed with honor by Caesar.

3. Now the king, being desirous to get this plotter against him into his hands, and being also afraid lest he
should some way come to the knowledge how his affairs stood, and be upon his guard, he dissembled his
anger in his epistle to him, as in other points he wrote kindly to him, and desired him to make haste,
because if he came quickly, he would then lay aside the complaints he had against his mother; for
Antipater was not ignorant that his mother had been expelled out of the palace. However, he had before
received a letter, which contained an account of the death of Pheroras, at Tarentum, (46) and made great
lamentations at it; for which some commended him, as being for his own uncle; though probably this
confusion arose on account of his having thereby failed in his plot [on his father's life]; and his tears were
more for the loss of him that was to have been subservient therein, than for [an uncle] Pheroras: moreover,
a sort of fear came upon him as to his designs, lest the poison should have been discovered. However,
when he was in Cilicia, he received the forementioned epistle from his father, and made great haste
accordingly. But when he had sailed to Celenderis, a suspicion came into his mind relating to his mother's
misfortunes; as if his soul foreboded some mischief to itself. Those therefore of his friends which were
the most considerate advised him not rashly to go to his father, till he had learned what were the occasions
why his mother had been ejected, because they were afraid that he might be involved in the calumnies that
had been cast upon his mother: but those that were less considerate, and had more regard to their own
desires of seeing their native country, than to Antipater's safety, persuaded him to make haste home, and
not, by delaying his journey, afford his father ground for an ill suspicion, and give a handle to those that
65
raised stories against him; for that in case any thing had been moved to his disadvantage, it was owing to
his absence, which durst not have been done had he been present. And they said it was absurd to deprive
himself of certain happiness, for the sake of an uncertain suspicion, and not rather to return to his father,
and take the royal authority upon him, which was in a state of fluctuation on his account only. Antipater
complied with this last advice, for Providence hurried him on [to his destruction]. So he passed over the
sea, and landed at Sebastus, the haven of Cesarea.

4. And here he found a perfect and unexpected solitude, while ever body avoided him, and nobody durst
come at him; for he was equally hated by all men; and now that hatred had liberty to show itself, and the
dread men were in at the king's anger made men keep from him; for the whole city [of Jerusalem] was
filled with the rumors about Antipater, and Antipater himself was the only person who was ignorant of
them; for as no man was dismissed more magnificently when he began his voyage to Rome so was no
man now received back with greater ignominy. And indeed he began already to suspect what misfortunes
there were in Herod's family; yet did he cunningly conceal his suspicion; and while he was inwardly ready
to die for fear, he put on a forced boldness of countenance. Nor could he now fly any whither, nor had he
any way of emerging out of the difficulties which encompassed him; nor indeed had he even there any
certain intelligence of the affairs of the royal family, by reason of the threats the king had given out: yet
had he some small hopes of better tidings; for perhaps nothing had been discovered; or if any discovery
had been made, perhaps he should be able to clear himself by impudence and artful tricks, which were the
only things he relied upon for his deliverance.

5. And with these hopes did he screen himself, till he came to the palace, without any friends with him;
for these were affronted, and shut out at the first gate. Now Varus, the president of Syria, happened to be
in the palace [at this juncture]; so Antipater went in to his father, and, putting on a bold face, he came near
to salute him. But Herod Stretched out his hands, and turned his head away from him, and cried out,
"Even this is an indication of a parricide, to be desirous to get me into his arms, when he is under such
heinous accusations. God confound thee, thou vile wretch; do not thou touch me, till thou hast cleared
thyself of these crimes that are charged upon thee. I appoint thee a court where thou art to be judged, and
this Varus, who is very seasonably here, to be thy judge; and get thou thy defense ready against
tomorrow, for I give thee so much time to prepare suitable excuses for thyself." And as Antipater was so
confounded, that he was able to make no answer to this charge, he went away; but his mother and wife
came to him, and told him of all the evidence they had gotten against him. Hereupon he recollected
himself, and considered what defense he should make against the accusations.

CHAPTER 32.
ANTIPATER IS ACCUSED BEFORE VARUS, AND IS CONVICTED OF LAYING A PLOT
[AGAINST HIS FATHER] BY THE STRONGEST EVIDENCE. HEROD PUTS OFF HIS
PUNISHMENT TILL HE SHOULD BE RECOVERED, AND IN THE MEAN TIME ALTERS
HIS TESTAMENT.

1. NOW the day following the king assembled a court of his kinsmen and friends, and called in
Antipater's friends also. Herod himself, with Varus, were the presidents; and Herod called for all the
witnesses, and ordered them to be brought in; among whom some of the domestic servants of Antipater's
mother were brought in also, who had but a little while before been caught, as they were carrying the
following letter from her to her son: "Since all those things have been already discovered to thy father, do
not thou come to him, unless thou canst procure some assistance from Caesar." When this and the other
witnesses were introduced, Antipater came in, and falling on his face before his father's feet, he said,

66
"Father, I beseech thee, do not condemn me beforehand, but let thy ears be unbiassed, and attend to my
defense; for if thou wilt give me leave, I will demonstrate that I am innocent."

2. Hereupon Herod cried out to him to hold his peace, and spake thus to Varus: "I cannot but think that
thou, Varus, and every other upright judge, will determine that Antipater is a vile wretch. I am also afraid
that thou wilt abhor my ill fortune, and judge me also myself worthy of all sorts of calamity for begetting
such children; while yet I ought rather to be pitied, who have been so affectionate a father to such
wretched sons; for when I had settled the kingdom on my former sons, even when they were young, and
when, besides the charges of their education at Rome, I had made them the friends of Caesar, and made
them envied by other kings, I found them plotting against me. These have been put to death, and that, in
great measure, for the sake of Antipater; for as he was then young, and appointed to be my successor, I
took care chiefly to secure him from danger: but this profligate wild beast, when he had been over and
above satiated with that patience which I showed him, he made use of that abundance I had given him
against myself; for I seemed to him to live too long, and he was very uneasy at the old age I was arrived
at; nor could he stay any longer, but would be a king by parricide. And justly I am served by him for
bringing him back out of the country to court, when he was of no esteem before, and for thrusting out
those sons of mine that were born of the queen, and for making him a successor to my dominions. I
confess to thee, O Varus, the great folly I was guilty for I provoked those sons of mine to act against me,
and cut off their just expectations for the sake of Antipater; and indeed what kindness did I do them; that
could equal what I have done to Antipater? to I have, in a manner, yielded up my royal while I am alive,
and whom I have openly named for the successor to my dominions in my testament, and given him a
yearly revenue of his own of fifty talents, and supplied him with money to an extravagant degree out of
my own revenue; and' when he was about to sail to Rome, I gave him three talents, and recommended
him, and him alone of all my children, to Caesar, as his father's deliverer. Now what crimes were those
other sons of mine guilty of like these of Antipater? and what evidence was there brought against them so
strong as there is to demonstrate this son to have plotted against me? Yet does this parricide presume to
speak for himself, and hopes to obscure the truth by his cunning tricks. Thou, O Varus, must guard thyself
against him; for I know the wild beast, and I foresee how plausibly he will talk, and his counterfeit
lamentation. This was he who exhorted me to have a care of Alexander when he was alive, and not to
intrust my body with all men! This was he who came to my very bed, and looked about lest any one
should lay snares for me! This was he who took care of my sleep, and secured me from fear of danger,
who comforted me under the trouble I was in upon the slaughter of my sons, and looked to see what
affection my surviving brethren bore me! This was my protector, and the guardian of my body! And when
I call to mind, O Varus, his craftiness upon every occasion, and his art of dissembling, I can hardly
believe that I am still alive, and I wonder how I have escaped such a deep plotter of mischief. However,
since some fate or other makes my house desolate, and perpetually raises up those that are dearest to me
against me, I will, with tears, lament my hard fortune, and privately groan under my lonesome condition;
yet am I resolved that no one who thirsts after my blood shall escape punishment, although the evidence
should extend itself to all my sons."

3. Upon Herod's saying this, he was interrupted by the confusion he was in; but ordered Nicolaus, one of
his friends, to produce the evidence against Antipater. But in the mean time Antipater lifted up his head,
(for he lay on the ground before his father's feet,) and cried out aloud, "Thou, O father, hast made my
apology for me; for how can I be a parricide, whom thou thyself confessest to have always had for thy
guardian? Thou callest my filial affection prodigious lies and hypocrisy! how then could it be that I, who
was so subtle in other matters, should here be so mad as not to understand that it was not easy that he who
committed so horrid a crime should be concealed from men, but impossible that he should be concealed
from the Judge of heaven, who sees all things, and is present every where? or did not I know what end my
brethren came to, on whom God inflicted so great a punishment for their evil designs against thee? And
67
indeed what was there that could possibly provoke me against thee? Could the hope of being king do it? I
was a king already. Could I suspect hatred from thee? No. Was not I beloved by thee? And what other
fear could I have? Nay, by preserving thee safe, I was a terror to others. Did I want money? No; for who
was able to expend so much as myself? Indeed, father, had I been the most execrable of all mankind, and
had I had the soul of the most cruel wild beast, must I not have been overcome with the benefits thou
hadst bestowed upon me? whom, as thou thyself sayest, thou broughtest [into the palace]; whom thou
didst prefer before so many of thy sons; whom thou madest a king in thine own lifetime, and, by the vast
magnitude of the other advantages thou bestowedst on me, thou madest me an object of envy. O miserable
man! that thou shouldst undergo this bitter absence, and thereby afford a great opportunity for envy to
arise against thee, and a long space for such as were laying designs against thee! Yet was I absent, father,
on thy affairs, that Sylleus might not treat thee with contempt in thine old age. Rome is a witness to my
filial affection, and so is Caesar, the ruler of the habitable earth, who oftentimes called me Philopater. (47)
Take here the letters he hath sent thee, they are more to be believed than the calumnies raised here; these
letters are my only apology; these I use as the demonstration of that natural affection I have to thee.
Remember that it was against my own choice that I sailed [to Rome], as knowing the latent hatred that
was in the kingdom against me. It was thou, O father, however unwillingly, who hast been my ruin, by
forcing me to allow time for calumnies against me, and envy at me. However, I am come hither, and am
ready to hear the evidence there is against me. If I be a parricide, I have passed by land and by sea,
without suffering any misfortune on either of them: but this method of trial is no advantage to me; for it
seems, O father, that I am already condemned, both before God and before thee; and as I am already
condemned, I beg that thou wilt not believe the others that have been tortured, but let fire be brought to
torment me; let the racks march through my bowels; have no regard to any lamentations that this polluted
body can make; for if I be a parricide, I ought not to die without torture." Thus did Antipater cry out with
lamentation and weeping, and moved all the rest, and Varus in particular, to commiserate his case. Herod
was the only person whose passion was too strong to permit him to weep, as knowing that the testimonies
against him were true.

4. And now it was that, at the king's command, Nicolaus, when he had premised a great deal about the
craftiness of Antipater, and had prevented the effects of their commiseration to him, afterwards brought in
a bitter and large accusation against him, ascribing all the wickedness that had been in the kingdom to
him, and especially the murder of his brethren; and demonstrated that they had perished by the calumnies
he had raised against them. He also said that he had laid designs against them that were still alive, as if
they were laying plots for the succession; and (said he) how can it be supposed that he who prepared
poison for his father should abstain from mischief as to his brethren? He then proceeded to convict him of
the attempt to poison Herod, and gave an account in order of the several discoveries that had been made;
and had great indignation as to the affair of Pheroras, because Antipater had been for making him murder
his brother, and had corrupted those that were dearest to the king, and filled the whole palace with
wickedness; and when he had insisted on many other accusations, and the proofs for them, he left off.

5. Then Varus bid Antipater make his defense; but he lay along in silence, and said no more but this, "God
is my witness that I am entirely innocent." So Varus asked for the potion, and gave it to be drunk by a
condemned malefactor, who was then in prison, who died upon the spot. So Varus, when he had had a
very private discourse with Herod, and had written an account of this assembly to Caesar, went away,
after a day's stay. The king also bound Antipater, and sent away to inform Caesar of his misfortunes.

6. Now after this it was discovered that Antipater had laid a plot against Salome also; for one of
Antiphilus's domestic servants came, and brought letters from Rome, from a maid-servant of Julia,
[Caesar's wife,] whose name was Acme. By her a message was sent to the king, that she had found a letter
written by Salome, among Julia's papers, and had sent it to him privately, out of her good-will to him.
68
This letter of Salome contained the most bitter reproaches of the king, and the highest accusations against
him. Antipater had forged this letter, and had corrupted Acme, and persuaded her to send it to Herod. This
was proved by her letter to Antipater, for thus did this woman write to him: "As thou desirest, I have
written a letter to thy father, and have sent that letter, and am persuaded that the king will not spare his
sister when he reads it. Thou wilt do well to remember what thou hast promised when all is
accomplished."

7. When this epistle was discovered, and what the epistle forged against Salome contained, a suspicion
came into the king's mind, that perhaps the letters against Alexander were also forged: he was moreover
greatly disturbed, and in a passion, because he had almost slain his sister on Antipater's account. He did
no longer delay therefore to bring him to punishment for all his crimes; yet when he was eagerly pursuing
Antipater, he was restrained by a severe distemper he fell into. However, he sent all account to Caesar
about Acme, and the contrivances against Salome; he sent also for his testament, and altered it, and
therein made Antipas king, as taking no care of Archclaus and Philip, because Antipater had blasted their
reputations with him; but he bequeathed to Caesar, besides other presents that he gave him, a thousand
talents; as also to his wife, and children, and friends, and freed-men about five hundred: he also
bequeathed to all others a great quantity of land, and of money, and showed his respects to Salome his
sister, by giving her most splendid gifts. And this was what was contained in his testament, as it was now
altered.

CHAPTER 33.
THE GOLDEN EAGLE IS CUT TO PIECES. HEROD'S BARBARITY WHEN HE WAS READY
TO DIE. HE ATTEMPTS TO KILL HIMSELF. HE COMMANDS ANTIPATER TO BE SLAIN.
HE SURVIVES HIM FIVE DAYS AND THEN DIES.

1. NOW Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and this because these his disorders fell
upon him in his old age, and when he was in a melancholy condition; for he was already seventy years of
age, and had been brought by the calamities that happened to him about his children, whereby he had no
pleasure in life, even when he was in health; the grief also that Antipater was still alive aggravated his
disease, whom he resolved to put to death now not at random, but as soon as he should be well again, and
resolved to have him slain [in a public manner].

2. There also now happened to him, among his other calamities, a certain popular sedition. There were
two men of learning in the city [Jerusalem,] who were thought the most skillful in the laws of their
country, and were on that account had in very great esteem all over the nation; they were, the one Judas,
the son of Sepphoris, and the other Mattbias, the son of Margalus. There was a great concourse of the
young men to these men when they expounded the laws, and there got together every day a kind of an
army of such as were growing up to be men. Now when these men were informed that the king was
wearing away with melancholy, and with a distemper, they dropped words to their acquaintance, how it
was now a very proper time to defend the cause of God, and to pull down what had been erected contrary
to the laws of their country; for it was unlawful there should be any such thing in the temple as images, or
faces, or the like representation of any animal whatsoever. Now the king had put up a golden eagle over
the great gate of the temple, which these learned men exhorted them to cut down; and told them, that if
there should any danger arise, it was a glorious thing to die for the laws of their country; because that the
soul was immortal, and that an eternal enjoyment of happiness did await such as died on that account;
while the mean-spirited, and those that were not wise enough to show a right love of their souls, preferred
a death by a disease, before that which is the result of a virtuous behavior.

69
3. At the same time that these men made this speech to their disciples, a rumor was spread abroad that the
king was dying, which made the young men set about the work with greater boldness; they therefore let
themselves down from the top of the temple with thick cords, and this at midday, and while a great
number of people were in the temple, and cut down that golden eagle with axes. This was presently told to
the king's captain of the temple, who came running with a great body of soldiers, and caught about forty
of the young men, and brought them to the king. And when he asked them, first of all, whether they had
been so hardy as to cut down the golden eagle, they confessed they had done so; and when he asked them
by whose command they had done it, they replied, at the command of the law of their country; and when
he further asked them how they could be so joyful when they were to be put to death, they replied,
because they should enjoy greater happiness after they were dead. (48)

4. At this the king was in such an extravagant passion, that he overcame his disease [for the time,] and
went out, and spake to the people; wherein he made a terrible accusation against those men, as being
guilty of sacrilege, and as making greater attempts under pretense of their law, and he thought they
deserved to be punished as impious persons. Whereupon the people were afraid lest a great number
should be found guilty and desired that when he had first punished those that put them upon this work,
and then those that were caught in it, he would leave off his anger as to the rest. With this the king
complied, though not without difficulty, and ordered those that had let themselves down, together with
their Rabbins, to be burnt alive, but delivered the rest that were caught to the proper officers, to be put to
death by them.

5. After this, the distemper seized upon his whole body, and greatly disordered all its parts with various
symptoms; for there was a gentle fever upon him, and an intolerable itching over all the surface of his
body, and continual pains in his colon, and dropsical turnouts about his feet, and an inflammation of the
abdomen, and a putrefaction of his privy member, that produced worms. Besides which he had a difficulty
of breathing upon him, and could not breathe but when he sat upright, and had a convulsion of all his
members, insomuch that the diviners said those diseases were a punishment upon him for what he had
done to the Rabbins. Yet did he struggle with his numerous disorders, and still had a desire to live, and
hoped for recovery, and considered of several methods of cure. Accordingly, he went over Jordan, and
made use of those hot baths at Callirrhoe, which ran into the lake Asphaltitis, but are themselves sweet
enough to be drunk. And here the physicians thought proper to bathe his whole body in warm oil, by
letting it down into a large vessel full of oil; whereupon his eyes failed him, and he came and went as if he
was dying; and as a tumult was then made by his servants, at their voice he revived again. Yet did he after
this despair of recovery, and gave orders that each soldier should have fifty drachmae a-piece, and that his
commanders and friends should have great sums of money given them.

6. He then returned back and came to Jericho, in such a melancholy state of body as almost threatened
him with present death, when he proceeded to attempt a horrid wickedness; for he got together the most
illustrious men of the whole Jewish nation, out of every village, into a place called the Hippodrome, and
there shut them in. He then called for his sister Salome, and her husband Alexas, and made this speech to
them: "I know well enough that the Jews will keep a festival upon my death however, it is in my power to
be mourned for on other accounts, and to have a splendid funeral, if you will but be subservient to my
commands. Do you but take care to send soldiers to encompass these men that are now in custody, and
slay them immediately upon my death, and then all Judea, and every family of them, will weep at it,
whether they will or no."

7. These were the commands he gave them; when there came letters from his ambassadors at Rome,
whereby information was given that Acme was put to death at Caesar's command, and that Antipater was

70
condemned to die; however, they wrote withal, that if Herod had a mind rather to banish him, Caesar
permitted him so to do. So he for a little while revived, and had a desire to live; but presently after he was
overborne by his pains, and was disordered by want of food, and by a convulsive cough, and endeavored
to prevent a natural, death; so he took an apple, and asked for a knife for he used to pare apples and eat
them; he then looked round about to see that there was nobody to hinder him, and lift up his right hand as
if he would stab himself; but Achiabus, his first cousin, came running to him, and held his hand, and
hindered him from so doing; on which occasion a very great lamentation was made in the palace, as if the
king were expiring. As soon as ever Antipater heard that, he took courage, and with joy in his looks,
besought his keepers, for a sum of money, to loose him and let him go; but the principal keeper of the
prison did not only obstruct him in that his intention, but ran and told the king what his design was;
hereupon the king cried out louder than his distemper would well bear, and immediately sent some of his
guards and slew Antipater; he also gave order to have him buried at Hyrcanium, and altered his testament
again, and therein made Archclaus, his eldest son, and the brother of Antipas, his successor, and made
Antipas tetrarch.

8. So Herod, having survived the slaughter of his son five days, died, having reigned thirty-four years
since he had caused Antigonus to be slain, and obtained his kingdom; but thirty-seven years since he had
been made king by the Romans. Now as for his fortune, it was prosperous in all other respects, if ever any
other man could be so, since, from a private man, he obtained the kingdom, and kept it so long, and left it
to his own sons; but still in his domestic affairs he was a most unfortunate man. Now, before the soldiers
knew of his death, Salome and her husband came out and dismissed those that were in bonds, whom the
king had commanded to be slain, and told them that he had altered his mind, and would have every one of
them sent to their own homes. When these men were gone, Salome, told the soldiers [the king was dead],
and got them and the rest of the multitude together to an assembly, in the amphitheater at Jericho, where
Ptolemy, who was intrusted by the king with his signet ring, came before them, and spake of the
happiness the king had attained, and comforted the multitude, and read the epistle which had been left for
the soldiers, wherein he earnestly exhorted them to bear good-will to his successor; and after he had read
the epistle, he opened and read his testament, wherein Philip was to inherit Trachonitis, and the
neighboring countries, and Antipas was to be tetrarch, as we said before, and Archelaus was made king.
He had also been commanded to carry Herod's ring to Caesar, and the settlements he had made, sealed up,
because Caesar was to be lord of all the settlements he had made, and was to confirm his testament; and
he ordered that the dispositions he had made were to be kept as they were in his former testament.

9. So there was an acclamation made to Archelaus, to congratulate him upon his advancement; and the
soldiers, with the multitude, went round about in troops, and promised him their good-will, and besides,
prayed God to bless his government. After this, they betook themselves to prepare for the king's funeral;
and Archelaus omitted nothing of magnificence therein, but brought out all the royal ornaments to
augment the pomp of the deceased. There was a bier all of gold, embroidered with precious stones, and a
purple bed of various contexture, with the dead body upon it, covered with purple; and a diadem was put
upon his head, and a crown of gold above it, and a secptre in his right hand; and near to the bier were
Herod's sons, and a multitude of his kindred; next to which came his guards, and the regiment of
Thracians, the Germans. also and Gauls, all accounted as if they were going to war; but the rest of the
army went foremost, armed, and following their captains and officers in a regular manner; after whom
five hundred of his domestic servants and freed-men followed, with sweet spices in their hands: and the
body was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, where he had given order to be buried. And this
shall suffice for the conclusion of the life of Herod.

ENDNOTE

71
(1) I see little difference in the several accounts in Josephus about the Egyptian temple Onion, of which
large complaints are made by his commentators. Onias, it seems, hoped to have :made it very like that at
Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions; and so he appears to have really done, as far as he was able and
thought proper. Of this temple, see Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 3. sect. 1--3, and Of the War, B. VII. ch. 10. sect. 8.

(2) Why this John, the son of Simon, the high priest and governor of the Jews, was called Hyrcanus,
Josephus no where informs us; nor is he called other than John at the end of the First Book of the
Maccabees. However, Sixtus Seuensis, when he gives us an epitome of the Greek version of the book here
abridged by Josephus, or of the Chronicles of this John Hyrcanus, then extant, assures us that he was
called Hyrcanus from his conquest of one of that name. See Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 207. But of this
younger Antiochus, see Dean Aldrich's note here.

(3) Josephus here calls this Antiochus the last of the Seleucidae, although there remained still a shadow of
another king of that family, Antiochus Asiaticus, or Commagenus, who reigned, or rather lay hid, till
Pompey quite turned him out, as Dean Aldrich here notes from Appian and Justin.

(4) Matthew 16:19; 18:18. Here we have the oldest and most authentic Jewish exposition of binding and
loosing, for punishing or absolving men, not for declaring actions lawful or unlawful, as some more
modern Jews and Christians vainly pretend.

(5) Strabo, B. XVI. p. 740, relates, that this Selene Cleopatra was besieged by Tigranes, not in Ptolemais,
as here, but after she had left Syria, in Seleucia, a citadel in Mesopotamia; and adds, that when he had
kept her a while in prison, he put her to death. Dean Aldrich supposes here that Strabo contradicts
Josephus, which does not appear to me; for although Josephus says both here and in the Antiquities, B.
XIII. ch. 16. sect. 4, that Tigranes besieged her now in Ptolemais, and that he took the city, as the
Antiquities inform us, yet does he no where intimate that he now took the queen herself; so that both the
narrations of Strabo and Josephus may still be true notwithstanding.

(6) That this Antipater, the father of Herod the Great was an Idumean, as Josephus affirms here, see the
note on Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 15. sect. 2. It is somewhat probable, as Hapercamp supposes, and partly
Spanheim also, that the Latin is here the truest; that Pompey did him Hyrcanus, as he would have done the
others from Aristobulus, sect. 6, although his remarkable abstinence from the 2000 talents that were in the
Jewish temple, when he took it a little afterward, ch. 7. sect. 6, and Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 4, will to
Greek all which agree he did not take them.

(7) Of the famous palm trees and balsam about Jericho and Engaddl, see the notes in Havercamp's edition,
both here and B. II. ch. 9. sect. 1. They are somewhat too long to be transcribed in this place.

(8) Thus says Tacitus: Cn. Pompelna first of all subdued the Jews, and went into their temple, by right of
conquest, Hist. B. V. ch. 9. Nor did he touch any of its riches, as has been observed on the parallel place
of the Antiquities, B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 4, out of Cicero himself.

(9) The coin of this Gadara, still extant, with its date from this era, is a certain evidence of this its
rebuilding by Pompey, as Spanheim here assures us.

(10) Take the like attestation to the truth of this submission of Aretas, king of Arabia, to Scaurus the
Roman general, in the words of Dean Aldrich. "Hence (says he) is derived that old and famous Denarius
belonging to the Emillian family [represented in Havercamp's edition], wherein Aretas appears in a

72
posture of supplication, and taking hold of a camel's bridle with his left hand, and with his right hand
presenting a branch of the frankincense tree, with this inscription, M. SCAURUS EX S.C.; and beneath,
REX ARETAS."

(11) This citation is now wanting.

(12) What is here noted by Hudson and Spanheim, that this grant of leave to rebuild the walls of the cities
of Judea was made by Julius Caesar, not as here to Antipater, but to Hyrcanas, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect.
5, has hardly an appearance of a contradiction; Antipater being now perhaps considered only as
Hyrcanus's deputy and minister; although he afterwards made a cipher of Hyrcanus, and, under great
decency of behavior to him, took the real authority to himself.

(13) Or twenty-five years of age. See note on Antiq. B. I. ch. 12. sect. 3; and on B. XIV. ch. 9. sect. 2; and
Of the War, B. II. ch. 11. sect. 6; and Polyb. B. XVII. p. 725. Many writers of the Roman history give an
account of this murder of Sextus Caesar, and of the war of Apamia upon that occasion. They are cited in
Dean Aldrich's note.

(14) In the Antiquities, B. XIV. ch. 11. sect. 1, the duration of the reign of Julius Caesar is three years six
months; but here three years seven months, beginning nightly, says Dean Aldrich, from his second
dictatorship. It is probable the real duration might be three years and between six and seven months.

(15) It appears evidently by Josephus's accounts, both here and in his Antiquities, B. XIV. ch. 11. sect. 2,
that this Cassius, one of Caesar's murderers, was a bitter oppressor, and exactor of tribute in Judea. These
seven hundred talents amount to about three hundred thousand pounds sterling, and are about half the
yearly revenues of king Herod afterwards. See the note on Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 11. sect. 4. It also appears
that Galilee then paid no more than one hundred talents, or the seventh part of the entire sum to be levied
in all the country.

(16) Here we see that Cassius set tyrants over all Syria; so that his assisting to destroy Caesar does not
seem to have proceeded from his true zeal for public liberty, but from a desire to be a tyrant himself.

(17) Phasaelus and Herod.

(18) This large and noted wood, or woodland, belonging to Carmel, called apago by the Septuagint, is
mentioned in the Old Testament, 2 Kings 19:23; Isaiah 37:24, and by I Strabo, B. XVI. p. 758, as both
Aldrich and Spanheim here remark very pertinently.

(19) These accounts, both here and Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect. 5, that the Parthians fought chiefly on
horseback, and that only some few of their soldiers were free-men, perfectly agree with Trogus Pompeius,
in Justin, B. XLI. 2, 3, as Dean Aldrich well observes on this place.

(20) Mariamac here, in the copies.

(21) This Brentesium or Brundusium has coin still preserved, on which is written, as Spanheim informs
us.

(22) This Dellius is famous, or rather infamous, in the history of Mark Antony, as Spanheim and Aldrich
here note, from the coins, from Plutarch and Dio.

73
(23) This Sepphoris, the metropolis of Galilee, so often mentioned by Josephus, has coins still remaining,
as Spanheim here informs us.

(24) This way of speaking, "after forty days," is interpreted by Josephus himself, "on the fortieth day,"
Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 15. sect. 4. In like manner, when Josephus says, ch. 33. sect. 8, that Herod lived "after"
he had ordered Antipater to be slain "five days;" this is by himself interpreted, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 8. sect.
1, that he died "on the fifth day afterward." So also what is in this book, ch. 13. sect. 1, "after two years,"
is, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect. 3, "on the second year." And Dean Aldrich here notes that this way of
speaking is familiar to Josephus.

(25) This Samosata, the metropolis of Commagena, is well known from its coins, as Spanheim here
assures us. Dean Aldrich also confirms what Josephus here notes, that Herod was a great means of taking
the city by Antony, and that from Plutarch and Dio.

(26) That is, a woman, not, a man.

(27) This death of Antigonus is confirmed by Plutarch and. Straho; the latter of whom is cited for it by
Josephus himself, Antiq. B. XV. ch. 1. sect. 2, as Dean Aldrich here observes.

(28) This ancient liberty of Tyre and Sidon under the Romans, taken notice of by Josephus, both here and
Antiq. B. XV. ch. 4. sect. 1, is confirmed by the testimony of Sirabe, B. XVI. p. 757, as Dean Aldrich
remarks; although, as he justly adds, this liberty lasted but a little while longer, when Augtus took it away
from them.

(29) This seventh year of the reign of Herod [from the conquest or death of Antigonus], with the great
earthquake in the beginning of the same spring, which are here fully implied to be not much before the
fight at Actium, between Octavius and Antony, and which is known from the Roman historians to have
been in the beginning of September, in the thirty-first year before the Christian era, determines the
chronology of Josephus as to the reign of Herod, viz. that he began in the year 37, beyond rational
contradiction. Nor is it quite unworthy of our notice, that this seventh year of the reign of Herod, or the
thirty-first before the Christian era, contained the latter part of a Sabbatic year, on which Sabbatic year,
therefore, it is plain this great earthquake happened in Judea.

(30) This speech of Herod is set down twice by Josephus, here and Antiq. B. XV. ch. 5. sect. 3, to the
very same purpose, but by no means in the same words; whence it appears that the sense was Herod's, but
the composition Josephus's.

(31) Since Josephus, both here and in his Antiq. B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 3, reckons Gaza, which had been a
free city, among the cities given Herod by Augustus, and yet implies that Herod had made Costobarus a
governor of it before, Antiq. B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 9, Hardain has some pretense for saying that Josephus
here contradicted himself. But perhaps Herod thought he had sufficient authority to put a governor into
Gaza, after he was made tetrarch or king, in times of war, before the city was entirely delivered into his
hands by Augustus.

(32) This fort was first built, as it is supposed, by John Hyrcanus; see Prid. at the year 107; and called
"Baris," the Tower or Citadel. It was afterwards rebuilt, with great improvements, by Herod, under the
government of Antonius, and was named from him "the Tower of Antoni;" and about the time when
Herod rebuilt the temple, he seems to have put his last hand to it. See Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 5. sect. 4; Of

74
the War, B. I. ch. 3. sect. 3; ch. 5. sect. 4. It lay on the northwest side of the temple, and was a quarter as
large.

(33) That Josephus speaks truth, when he assures us that the haven of this Cesarea was made by Herod
not less, nay rather larger, than that famous haven at Athens, called the Pyrecum, will appear, says Dean
Aldrich, to him who compares the descriptions of that at Athens in Thucydides and Pausanias, with this of
Cesarea in Josephus here, and in the Antiq. B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 6, and B. XVII. ch. 9. sect. 1.

(34) These buildings of cities by the name of Caesar, and institution of solemn games in honor of
Augustus Caesar, as here, and in the Antiquities, related of Herod by Josephus, the Roman historians
attest to, as things then frequent in the provinces of that empire, as Dean Aldrich observes on this chapter.

(35) There were two cities, or citadels, called Herodium, in Judea, and both mentioned by Josephus, not
only here, but Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect. 9; B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 6; Of the War, B. I. ch. 13. sect. 8; B. III.
ch. 3. sect. 5. One of them was two hundred, and the other sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem. One of
them is mentioned by Pliny, Hist. Nat. B. V. ch. 14., as Dean Aldrich observes here.

(36) Here seems to be a small defect in the copies, which describe the wild beasts which were hunted in a
certain country by Herod, without naming any such country at all.

(37) Here is either a defect or a great mistake in Josephus's present copies or memory; for Mariamne did
not now reproach Herod with this his first injunction to Joseph to kill her, if he himself were slain by
Antony, but that he had given the like command a second time to Soemus also, when he was afraid of
being slain by Augustus. Antiq. B. XV. ch. 3. sect. 5, etc.

(38) That this island Eleusa, afterward called Sebaste, near Cilicia, had in it the royal palace of this
Archclaus, king of Cappadocia, Strabo testifies, B. XV. p. 671. Stephanus of Byzantiam also calls it "an
island of Cilicia, which is now Sebaste;" both whose testimonies are pertinently cited here by Dr. Hudson.
See the same history, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 10. sect. 7.

(39) That it was an immemorial custom among the Jews, and their forefathers, the patriarchs, to have
sometimes more wives or wives and concubines, than one at the same the and that this polygamy was not
directly forbidden in the law of Moses is evident; but that polygamy was ever properly and distinctly
permitted in that law of Moses, in the places here cited by Dean Aldrich, Deuteronomy 17:16, 17, or
21:15, or indeed any where else, does not appear to me. And what our Savior says about the common
Jewish divorces, which may lay much greater claim to such a permission than polygamy, seems to me
true in this case also; that Moses, "for the hardness of their hearts," suffered them to have several wives at
the same time, but that "from the beginning it was not so," Matthew 19:8; Mark 10:5.

(40) This vile fellow, Eurycles the Lacedemonian, seems to have been the same who is mentioned by
Plutarch, as (twenty-live years before) a companion to Mark Antony, and as living with Herod; whence he
might easily insinuate himself into the acquaintance of Herod's sons, Antipater and Alexander, as Usher,
Hudson, and Spanheim justly suppose. The reason why his being a Spartan rendered him acceptable to the
Jews as we here see he was, is visible from the public records of the Jews and Spartans, owning those
Spartans to be of kin to the Jews, and derived from their common ancestor Abraham, the first patriarch of
the Jewish nation, Antiq. B. XII. ch. 4. sect. 10; B. XIII. ch. 5. sect. 8; and 1 Macc. 12:7.

(41) See the preceding note.

75
(42) Dean Aldrich takes notice here, that these nine wives of Herod were alive at the same time; and that
if the celebrated Mariamne, who was now dead, be reckoned, those wives were in all ten. Yet it is
remarkable that he had no more than fifteen children by them all.

(43) To prevent confusion, it may not be amiss, with Dean Aldrich, to distinguish between four Josephs in
the history of Herod. 1. Joseph, Herod's uncle, and the [second] husband of his sister Salome, slain by
Herod, on account of Mariamne. 2. Joseph, Herod's quaestor, or treasurer, slain on the same account. 3.
Joseph, Herod's brother, slain in battle against Antigonus. 4. Joseph, Herod's nephew, the husband of
Olympias, mentioned in this place.

(44) These daughters of Herod, whom Pheroras's wife affronted, were Salome and Roxana, two virgins,
who were born to him of his two wives, Elpide and Phedra. See Herod's genealogy, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 1.
sect. 3.

(45) This strange obstinacy of Pheroras in retaining his wife, who was one of a low family, and refusing
to marry one nearly related to Herod, though he so earnestly desired it, as also that wife's admission to the
counsels of the other great court ladies, together with Herod’s own importunity as to Pheroras's divorce
and other marriage, all so remarkable here, or in the Antiquities XVII. ch. 2. sect. 4; and ch. 3. be well
accounted for, but on the supposal that Pheroras believed, and Herod suspected, that the Pharisees'
prediction, as if the crown of Judea should be translated from Herod to Pheroras's posterity and that most
probably to Pheroras's posterity by this his wife, also would prove true. See Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 2. sect. 4;
and ch. 3. sect. 1.

(46) This Tarentum has coins still extant, as Reland informs us here in his note.

(47) A lover of his father.

(48) Since in these two sections we have an evident account of the Jewish opinions in the days of
Josephus, about a future happy state, and the resurrection of the dead, as in the New Testament, John
11:24, I shall here refer to the other places in Josephus, before he became a catholic Christian, which
concern the same matters. Of the War, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 10, 11; B. III. ch. 8. sect. 4; B. VII. ch. 6. sect. 7;
Contr. Apion, B. II. sect. 30; where we may observe, that none of these passages are in his Books of
Antiquities, written peculiarly for the use of the Gentiles, to whom he thought it not proper to insist on
topics so much out of their way as these were. Nor is this observation to be omitted here, especially on
account of the sensible difference we have now before us in Josephus's reason of the used by the Rabbins
to persuade their scholars to hazard their lives for the vindication of God's law against images, by Moses,
as well as of the answers those scholars made to Herod, when they were caught, and ready to die for the
same; I mean as compared with the parallel arguments and answers represented in the Antiquities, B.
XVII. ch. 6. sect, 2, 3. A like difference between Jewish and Gentile notions the reader will find in my
notes on Antiquities, B. III. ch. 7. sect. 7; B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 1. See the like also in the case of the three
Jewish sects in the Antiquities, B. XIII. ch. 5. sect. 9, and ch. 10. sect. 4, 5; B. XVIII. ch. 1. sect. 5; and
compared with this in his Wars of the Jews, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 2-14. Nor does St. Paul himself reason to
Gentiles at Athens, Acts 17:16-34, as he does to Jews in his Epistles.

76
 Book II
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF SIXTY-NINE YEARS.

FROM THE DEATH OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS SENT TO SUBDUE THE JEWS BY
NERO.

CHAPTER 1.
ARCHELAUS MAKES A FUNERAL FEAST FOR THE PEOPLE, ON THE ACCOUNT OF
HEROD. AFTER WHICH A GREAT TUMULT IS RAISED BY THE MULTITUDE AND HE
SENDS THE SOLDIERS OUT UPON THEM, WHO DESTROY ABOUT THREE THOUSAND
OF THEM.

1. NOW the necessity which Archelaus was under of taking a journey to Rome was the occasion of new
disturbances; for when he had mourned for his father seven days, (1) and had given a very expensive
funeral feast to the multitude, (which custom is the occasion of poverty to many of the Jews, because they
are forced to feast the multitude; for if any one omits it, he is not esteemed a holy person,) he put on a
white garment, and went up to the temple, where the people accosted him with various acclamations. He
also spake kindly to the multitude from an elevated seat and a throne of gold, and returned them thanks
for the zeal they had shown about his father's funeral, and the submission they had made to him, as if he
were already settled in the kingdom; but he told them withal, that he would not at present take upon him
either the authority of a king, or the names thereto belonging, until Caesar, who is made lord of this whole
affair by the testament, confirm the succession; for that when the soldiers would have set the diadem on
his head at Jericho, he would not accept of it; but that he would make abundant requitals, not to the
soldiers only, but to the people, for their alacrity and good-will to him, when the superior lords [the
Romans] should have given him a complete title to the kingdom; for that it should be his study to appear
in all things better than his father.

2. Upon this the multitude were pleased, and presently made a trial of what he intended, by asking great
things of him; for some made a clamor that he would ease them in their taxes; others, that he would take
off the duties upon commodities; and some, that he would loose those that were in prison; in all which
cases he answered readily to their satisfaction, in order to get the good-will of the multitude; after which
he offered [the proper] sacrifices, and feasted with his friends. And here it was that a great many of those
that desired innovations came in crowds towards the evening, and began then to mourn on their own
account, when the public mourning for the king was over. These lamented those that were put to death by
Herod, because they had cut down the golden eagle that had been over the gate of the temple. Nor was
this mourning of a private nature, but the lamentations were very great, the mourning solemn, and the
weeping such as was loudly heard all over the city, as being for those men who had perished for the laws
of their country, and for the temple. They cried out that a punishment ought to be inflicted for these men
upon those that were honored by Herod; and that, in the first place, the man whom he had made high
priest should be deprived; and that it was fit to choose a person of greater piety and purity than he was.

3. At these clamors Archelaus was provoked, but restrained himself from taking vengeance on the
authors, on account of the haste he was in of going to Rome, as fearing lest, upon his making war on the
multitude, such an action might detain him at home. Accordingly, he made trial to quiet the innovators by
persuasion, rather than by force, and sent his general in a private way to them, and by him exhorted them

77
to be quiet. But the seditious threw stones at him, and drove him away, as he came into the temple, and
before he could say any thing to them. The like treatment they showed to others, who came to them after
him, many of which were sent by Archelaus, in order to reduce them to sobriety, and these answered still
on all occasions after a passionate manner; and it openly appeared that they would not be quiet, if their
numbers were but considerable. And indeed, at the feast of unleavened bread, which was now at hand,
and is by the Jews called the Passover, and used to he celebrated with a great number of sacrifices, an
innumerable multitude of the people came out of the country to worship; some of these stood in the
temple bewailing the Rabbins [that had been put to death], and procured their sustenance by begging, in
order to support their sedition. At this Archclaus was aftrighted, and privately sent a tribune, with his
cohort of soldiers, upon them, before the disease should spread over the whole multitude, and gave orders
that they should constrain those that began the tumult, by force, to be quiet. At these the whole multitude
were irritated, and threw stones at many of the soldiers, and killed them; but the tribune fled away
wounded, and had much ado to escape so. After which they betook themselves to their sacrifices, as if
they had done no mischief; nor did it appear to Archelaus that the multitude could be restrained without
bloodshed; so he sent his whole army upon them, the footmen in great multitudes, by the way of the city,
and the horsemen by the way of the plain, who, falling upon them on the sudden, as they were offering
their sacrifices, destroyed about three thousand of them; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed upon
the adjoining mountains: these were followed by Archelaus's heralds, who commanded every one to retire
to their own homes, whither they all went, and left the festival.

CHAPTER 2.
ARCHELAUS GOES TO ROME WITH A GREAT NUMBER OF HIS KINDRED. HE IS THERE
ACCUSED BEFORE CAESAR BY ANTIPATER; BUT IS SUPERIOR TO HIS ACCUSERS IN
JUDGMENT BY THE MEANS OF THAT DEFENSE WHICH NICOLAUS MADE FOR HIM.

1. ARCHELAUS went down now to the sea-side, with his mother and his friends, Poplas, and Ptolemy,
and Nicolaus, and left behind him Philip, to be his steward in the palace, and to take care of his domestic
affairs. Salome went also along with him with her sons, as did also the king's brethren and sons-in-law.
These, in appearance, went to give him all the assistance they were able, in order to secure his succession,
but in reality to accuse him for his breach of the laws by what he had done at the temple.

2. But as they were come to Cesarea, Sabinus, the procurator of Syria, met them; he was going up to
Judea, to secure Herod's effects; but Varus, [president of Syria,] who was come thither, restrained him
from going any farther. This Varus Archelaus had sent for, by the earnest entreaty of Ptolemy. At this
time, indeed, Sabinus, to gratify Varus, neither went to the citadels, nor did he shut up the treasuries
where his father's money was laid up, but promised that he would lie still, until Caesar should have taken
cognizance of the affair. So he abode at Cesarea; but as soon as those that were his hinderance were gone,
when Varus was gone to Antioch, and Archclaus was sailed to Rome, he immediately went on to
Jerusalem, and seized upon the palace. And when he had called for the governors of the citadels, and the
stewards [of the king's private affairs], he tried to sift out the accounts of the money, and to take
possession of the citadels. But the governors of those citadels were not unmindful of the commands laid
upon them by Archelaus, and continued to guard them, and said the custody of them rather belonged to
Caesar than to Archelaus.

3. In the mean time, Antipas went also to Rome, to strive for the kingdom, and to insist that the former
testament, wherein he was named to be king, was valid before the latter testament. Salome had also
promised to assist him, as had many of Archelaus's kindred, who sailed along with Archelaus himself

78
also. He also carried along with him his mother, and Ptolemy, the brother of Nicolaus, who seemed one of
great weight, on account of the great trust Herod put in him, he having been one of his most honored
friends. However, Antipas depended chiefly upon Ireneus, the orator; upon whose authority he had
rejected such as advised him to yield to Archelaus, because he was his elder brother, and because the
second testament gave the kingdom to him. The inclinations also of all Archelaus's kindred, who hated
him, were removed to Antipas, when they came to Rome; although in the first place every one rather
desired to live under their own laws [without a king], and to be under a Roman governor; but if they
should fail in that point, these desired that Antipas might be their king.

4. Sabinus did also afford these his assistance to the same purpose by letters he sent, wherein he accused
Archelaus before Caesar, and highly commended Antipas. Salome also, and those with her, put the crimes
which they accused Archelaus of in order, and put them into Caesar's hands; and after they had done that,
Archelaus wrote down the reasons of his claim, and, by Ptolemy, sent in his father's ring, and his father's
accounts. And when Caesar had maturely weighed by himself what both had to allege for themselves, as
also had considered of the great burden of the kingdom, and largeness of the revenues, and withal the
number of the children Herod had left behind him, and had moreover read the letters he had received from
Varus and Sabinus on this occasion, he assembled the principal persons among the Romans together, (in
which assembly Caius, the son of Agrippa, and his daughter Julias, but by himself adopted for his own
son, sat in the first seat,) and gave the pleaders leave to speak.

5. Then stood up Salome's son, Antipater, (who of all Archelaus's antagonists was the shrewdest pleader,)
and accused him in the following speech: That Archelaus did in words contend for the kingdom, but that
in deeds he had long exercised royal authority, and so did but insult Caesar in desiring to be now heard on
that account, since he had not staid for his determination about the succession, and since he had suborned
certain persons, after Herod's death, to move for putting the diadem upon his head; since he had set
himself down in the throne, and given answers as a king, and altered the disposition of the army, and
granted to some higher dignities; that he had also complied in all things with the people in the requests
they had made to him as to their king, and had also dismissed those that had been put into bonds by his
father for most important reasons. Now, after all this, he desires the shadow of that royal authority, whose
substance he had already seized to himself, and so hath made Caesar lord, not of things, but of words. He
also reproached him further, that his mourning for his father was only pretended, while he put on a sad
countenance in the day time, but drank to great excess in the night; from which behavior, he said, the late
disturbance among the multitude came, while they had an indignation thereat. And indeed the purport of
his whole discourse was to aggravate Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude about the temple,
which multitude came to the festival, but were barbarously slain in the midst of their own sacrifices; and
he said there was such a vast number of dead bodies heaped together in the temple, as even a foreign war,
that should come upon them [suddenly], before it was denounced, could not have heaped together. And he
added, that it was the foresight his father had of that his barbarity which made him never give him any
hopes of the kingdom, but when his mind was more infirm than his body, and he was not able to reason
soundly, and did not well know what was the character of that son, whom in his second testament he
made his successor; and this was done by him at a time when he had no complaints to make of him whom
he had named before, when he was sound in body, and when his mind was free from all passion. That,
however, if any one should suppose Herod's judgment, when he was sick, was superior to that at another
time, yet had Archelaus forfeited his kingdom by his own behavior, and those his actions, which were
contrary to the law, and to its disadvantage. Or what sort of a king will this man be, when he hath
obtained the government from Caesar, who hath slain so many before he hath obtained it!

6. When Antipater had spoken largely to this purpose, and had produced a great number of Archelaus's
kindred as witnesses, to prove every part of the accusation, he ended his discourse. Then stood up
79
Nicolaus to plead for Archelaus. He alleged that the slaughter in the temple could not be avoided; that
those that were slain were become enemies not to Archelaus's kingdom, only, but to Caesar, who was to
determine about him. He also demonstrated that Archelaus's accusers had advised him to perpetrate other
things of which he might have been accused. But he insisted that the latter testament should, for this
reason, above all others, be esteemed valid, because Herod had therein appointed Caesar to be the person
who should confirm the succession; for he who showed such prudence as to recede from his own power,
and yield it up to the lord of the world, cannot be supposed mistaken in his judgment about him that was
to be his heir; and he that so well knew whom to choose for arbitrator of the succession could not be
unacquainted with him whom he chose for his successor.

7. When Nicolaus had gone through all he had to say, Archelaus came, and fell down before Caesar's
knees, without any noise; - upon which he raised him up, after a very obliging manner, and declared that
truly he was worthy to succeed his father. However, he still made no firm determination in his case; but
when he had dismissed those assessors that had been with him that day, he deliberated by himself about
the allegations which he had heard, whether it were fit to constitute any of those named in the testaments
for Herod's successor, or whether the government should be parted among all his posterity, and this
because of the number of those that seemed to stand in need of support therefrom.

CHAPTER 3.
THE JEWS FIGHT A GREAT BATTLE WITH SABINUS'S SOLDIERS, AND A GREAT
DESTRUCTION IS MADE AT JERUSALEM.

1. NOW before Caesar had determined any thing about these affairs, Malthace, Arehelaus's mother, fell
sick and died. Letters also were brought out of Syria from Varus, about a revolt of the Jews. This was
foreseen by Varus, who accordingly, after Archelaus was sailed, went up to Jerusalem to restrain the
promoters of the sedition, since it was manifest that the nation would not he at rest; so he left one of those
legions which he brought with him out of Syria in the city, and went himself to Antioch. But Sabinus
came, after he was gone, and gave them an occasion of making innovations; for he compelled the keepers
of the citadels to deliver them up to him, and made a bitter search after the king's money, as depending
not only on the soldiers which were left by Varus, but on the multitude of his own servants, all which he
armed and used as the instruments of his covetousness. Now when that feast, which was observed after
seven weeks, and which the Jews called Pentecost, (i. e. the 50th day,) was at hand, its name being taken
from the number of the days [after the passover], the people got together, but not on account of the
accustomed Divine worship, but of the indignation they had ['at the present state of affairs']. Wherefore an
immense multitude ran together, out of Galilee, and Idumea, and Jericho, and Perea, that was beyond
Jordan; but the people that naturally belonged to Judea itself were above the rest, both in number, and in
the alacrity of the men. So they distributed themselves into three parts, and pitched their camps in three
places; one at the north side of the temple, another at the south side, by the Hippodrome, and the third part
were at the palace on the west. So they lay round about the Romans on every side, and besieged them.

2. Now Sabinus was aftrighted, both at their multitude, and at their courage, and sent messengers to Varus
continually, and besought him to come to his succor quickly; for that if he delayed, his legion would be
cut to pieces. As for Sabinus himself, he got up to the highest tower of the fortress, which was called
Phasaelus; it is of the same name with Herod's brother, who was destroyed by the Parthians; and then he
made signs to the soldiers of that legion to attack the enemy; for his astonishment was so great, that he
durst not go down to his own men. Hereupon the soldiers were prevailed upon, and leaped out into the
temple, and fought a terrible battle with the Jews; in which, while there were none over their heads to

80
distress them, they were too hard for them, by their skill, and the others' want of skill, in war; but when
once many of the Jews had gotten up to the top of the cloisters, and threw their darts downwards, upon the
heads of the Romans, there were a great many of them destroyed. Nor was it easy to avenge themselves
upon those that threw their weapons from on high, nor was it more easy for them to sustain those who
came to fight them hand to hand.

3. Since therefore the Romans were sorely afflicted by both these circumstances, they set fire to the
cloisters, which were works to be admired, both on account of their magnitude and costliness. Whereupon
those that were above them were presently encompassed with the flame, and many of them perished
therein; as many of them also were destroyed by the enemy, who came suddenly upon them; some of
them also threw themselves down from the walls backward, and some there were who, from the desperate
condition they were in, prevented the fire, by killing themselves with their own swords; but so many of
them as crept out from the walls, and came upon the Romans, were easily mastere by them, by reason of
the astonishment they were under; until at last some of the Jews being destroyed, and others dispersed by
the terror they were in, the soldiers fell upon the treasure of God, which w now deserted, and plundered
about four hundred talents, Of which sum Sabinus got together all that was not carried away by the
soldiers.

4. However, this destruction of the works [about the temple], and of the men, occasioned a much greater
number, and those of a more warlike sort, to get together, to oppose the Romans. These encompassed the
palace round, and threatened to deploy all that were in it, unless they went their ways quickly; for they
promised that Sabinus should come to no harm, if he would go out with his legion. There were also a
great many of the king's party who deserted the Romans, and assisted the Jews; yet did the most warlike
body of them all, who were three thousand of the men of Sebaste, go over to the Romans. Rufus also, and
Gratus, their captains, did the same, (Gratus having the foot of the king's party under him, and Rufus the
horse,) each of whom, even without the forces under them, were of great weight, on account of their
strength and wisdom, which turn the scales in war. Now the Jews in the siege, and tried to break down
walls of the fortress, and cried out to Sabinus and his party, that they should go their ways, and not prove
a hinderance to them, now they hoped, after a long time, to recover that ancient liberty which their
forefathers had enjoyed. Sabinus indeed was well contented to get out of the danger he was in, but he
distrusted the assurances the Jews gave him, and suspected such gentle treatment was but a bait laid as a
snare for them: this consideration, together with the hopes he had of succor from Varus, made him bear
the siege still longer.

CHAPTER 4.
HEROD'S VETERAN SOLDIERS BECOME TUMULTUOUS. THE ROBBERIES OF JUDAS.
SIMON AND ATHRONOEUS TAKE THE NAME OF KING UPON THEM.

1. AT this time there were great disturbances in the country, and that in many places; and the opportunity
that now offered itself induced a great many to set up for kings. And indeed in Idumea two thousand of
Herod's veteran soldiers got together, and armed and fought against those of the king's party; against
whom Achiabus, the king's first cousin, fought, and that out of some of the places that were the most
strongly fortified; but so as to avoid a direct conflict with them in the plains. In Sepphoris also, a city of
Galilee, there was one Judas (the son of that arch-robber Hezekias, who formerly overran the country, and
had been subdued by king Herod); this man got no small multitude together, and brake open the place
where the royal armor was laid up, and armed those about him, and attacked those that were so earnest to
gain the dominion.

81
2. In Perea also, Simon, one of the servants to the king, relying upon the handsome appearance and
tallness of his body, put a diadem upon his own head also; he also went about with a company of robbers
that he had gotten together, and burnt down the royal palace that was at Jericho, and many other costly
edifices besides, and procured himself very easily spoils by rapine, as snatching them out of the fire. And
he had soon burnt down all the fine edifices, if Gratus, the captain of the foot of the king's party, had not
taken the Trachonite archers, and the most warlike of Sebaste, and met the man. His footmen were slain in
the battle in abundance; Gratus also cut to pieces Simon himself, as he was flying along a strait valley,
when he gave him an oblique stroke upon his neck, as he ran away, and brake it. The royal palaces that
were near Jordan at Betharamptha were also burnt down by some other of the seditious that came out of
Perea.

3. At this time it was that a certain shepherd ventured to set himself up for a king; he was called
Athrongeus. It was his strength of body that made him expect such a dignity, as well as his soul, which
despised death; and besides these qualifications, he had four brethren like himself. He put a troop of
armed men under each of these his brethren, and made use of them as his generals and commanders, when
he made his incursions, while he did himself act like a king, and meddled only with the more important
affairs; and at this time he put a diadem about his head, and continued after that to overrun the country for
no little time with his brethren, and became their leader in killing both the Romans and those of the king's
party; nor did any Jew escape him, if any gain could accrue to him thereby. He once ventured to
encompass a whole troop of Romans at Emmaus, who were carrying corn and weapons to their legion; his
men therefore shot their arrows and darts, and thereby slew their centurion Arius, and forty of the stoutest
of his men, while the rest of them, who were in danger of the same fate, upon the coming of Gratus, with
those of Sebaste, to their assistance, escaped. And when these men had thus served both their own
countrymen and foreigners, and that through this whole war, three of them were, after some time,
subdued; the eldest by Archelaus, the two next by falling into the hands of Gratus and Ptolemeus; but the
fourth delivered himself up to Archelaus, upon his giving him his right hand for his security. However,
this their end was not till afterward, while at present they filled all Judea with a piratic war.

CHAPTER 5.
VARUS COMPOSES THE TUMULTS IN JUDEA AND CRUCIFIES ABOUT TWO THOUSAND
OF THE SEDITIOUS.

1. UPON Varus's reception of the letters that were written by Sabinus and the captains, he could not avoid
being afraid for the whole legion [he had left there]. So he made haste to their relief, and took with him
the other two legions, with the four troops of horsemen to them belonging, and marched to Ptolenlais;
having given orders for the auxiliaries that were sent by the kings and governors of cities to meet him
there. Moreover, he received from the people of Berytus, as he passed through their city, fifteen hundred
armed men. Now as soon as the other body of auxiliaries were come to Ptolemais, as well as Aretas the
Arabian, (who, out of the hatred he bore to Herod, brought a great army of horse and foot,) Varus sent a
part of his army presently to Galilee, which lay near to Ptolemais, and Caius, one of his friends, for their
captain. This Caius put those that met him to flight, and took the city Sepphoris, and burnt it, and made
slaves of its inhabitants; but as for Varus himself, he marched to Samaria with his whole army, where he
did not meddle with the city itself, because he found that it had made no commotion during these troubles,
but pitched his camp about a certain village which was called Aras. It belonged to Ptolemy, and on that
account was plundered by the Arabians, who were very angry even at Herod's friends also. He thence
marched on to the village Sampho, another fortified place, which they plundered, as they had done the
other. As they carried off all the money they lighted upon belonging to the public revenues, all was now

82
full of fire and blood-shed, and nothing could resist the plunders of the Arabians. Emnaus was also burnt,
upon the flight of its inhabitants, and this at the command of Varus, out of his rage at the slaughter of
those that were about Arias.

2. Thence he marched on to Jerusalem, and as soon as he was but seen by the Jews, he made their camps
disperse themselves; they also went away, and fled up and down the country. But the citizens received
him, and cleared themselves of having any hand in this revolt, and said that they had raised no
commotions, but had only been forced to admit the multitude, because of the festival, and that they were
rather besieged together with the Romans, than assisted those that had revolted. There had before this met
him Joseph, the first cousin of Archelaus, and Gratus, together with Rufus, who led those of Sebaste, as
well as the king's army: there also met him those of the Roman legion, armed after their accustomed
manner; for as to Sabinus, he durst not come into Varus's sight, but was gone out of the city before this, to
the sea-side. But Varus sent a part of his army into the country, against those that had been the authors of
this commotion, and as they caught great numbers of them, those that appeared to have been the least
concerned in these tumults he put into custody, but such as were the most guilty he crucified; these were
in number about two thousand.

3. He was also informed that there continued in Idumea ten thousand men still in arms; but when he found
that the Arabians did not act like auxiliaries, but managed the war according to their own passions, and
did mischief to the country otherwise than he intended, and this out of their hatred to Herod, he sent them
away, but made haste, with his own legions, to march against those that had revolted; but these, by the
advice of Achiabus, delivered themselves up to him before it came to a battle. Then did Varus forgive the
multitude their offenses, but sent their captains to Caesar to be examined by him. Now Caesar forgave the
rest, but gave orders that certain of the king's relations (for some of those that were among them were
Herod's kinsmen) should be put to death, because they had engaged in a war against a king of their own
family. When therefore Varus had settled matters at Jerusalem after this manner, and had left the former
legion there as a garrison, he returned to Antioch.

CHAPTER 6.
THE JEWS GREATLY COMPLAIN OF ARCHELAUS AND DESIRE THAT THEY MAY BE
MADE SUBJECT TO ROMAN GOVERNORS. BUT WHEN CAESAR HAD HEARD WHAT
THEY HAD TO SAY, HE DISTRIBUTED HEROD'S DOMINIONS AMONG HIS SONS
ACCORDING TO HIS OWN PLEASURE.

1. BUT now came another accusation from the Jews against Archelaus at Rome, which he was to answer
to. It was made by those ambassadors who, before the revolt, had come, by Varus's permission, to plead
for the liberty of their country; those that came were fifty in number, but there were more than eight
thousand of the Jews at Rome who supported them. And when Caesar had assembled a council of the
principal Romans in Apollo's (2) temple, that was in the palace, (this was what he had himself built and
adorned, at a vast expense,) the multitude of the Jews stood with the ambassadors, and on the other side
stood Archelaus, with his friends; but as for the kindred of Archelaus, they stood on neither side; for to
stand on Archelaus's side, their hatred to him, and envy at him, would not give them leave, while yet they
were afraid to be seen by Caesar with his accusers. Besides these, there were present Archelaus's brother
Philip, being sent thither beforehand, out of kindness by Varus, for two reasons: the one was this, that he
might be assisting to Archelaus; and the other was this, that in case Caesar should make a distribution of
what Herod possessed among his posterity, he might obtain some share of it.

83
2. And now, upon the permission that was given the accusers to speak, they, in the first place, went over
Herod's breaches of their law, and said that be was not a king, but the most barbarous of all tyrants, and
that they had found him to be such by the sufferings they underwent from him; that when a very great
number had been slain by him, those that were left had endured such miseries, that they called those that
were dead happy men; that he had not only tortured the bodies of his subjects, but entire cities, and had
done much harm to the cities of his own country, while he adorned those that belonged to foreigners; and
he shed the blood of Jews, in order to do kindnesses to those people that were out of their bounds; that he
had filled the nation full of poverty, and of the greatest iniquity, instead of that happiness and those laws
which they had anciently enjoyed; that, in short, the Jews had borne more calamities from Herod, in a few
years, than had their forefathers during all that interval of time that had passed since they had come out of
Babylon, and returned home, in the reign of Xerxes (3) that, however, the nation was come to so low a
condition, by being inured to hardships, that they submitted to his successor of their own accord, though
he brought them into bitter slavery; that accordingly they readily called Archelaus, though he was the son
of so great a tyrant, king, after the decease of his father, and joined with him in mourning for the death of
Herod, and in wishing him good success in that his succession; while yet this Archelaus, lest he should be
in danger of not being thought the genuine son of Herod, began his reign with the murder of three
thousand citizens; as if he had a mind to offer so many bloody sacrifices to God for his government, and
to fill the temple with the like number of dead bodies at that festival: that, however, those that were left
after so many miseries, had just reason to consider now at last the calamities they had undergone, and to
oppose themselves, like soldiers in war, to receive those stripes upon their faces [but not upon their backs,
as hitherto]. Whereupon they prayed that the Romans would have compassion upon the [poor] remains of
Judea, and not expose what was left of them to such as barbarously tore them to pieces, and that they
would join their country to Syria, and administer the government by their own commanders, whereby it
would [soon] be demonstrated that those who are now under the calumny of seditious persons, and lovers
of war, know how to bear governors that are set over them, if they be but tolerable ones. So the Jews
concluded their accusation with this request. Then rose up Nicolaus, and confuted the accusations which
were brought against the kings, and himself accused the Jewish nation, as hard to be ruled, and as
naturally disobedient to kings. He also reproached all those kinsmen of Archelaus who had left him, and
were gone over to his accusers.

3. So Caesar, after he had heard both sides, dissolved the assembly for that time; but a few days afterward,
he gave the one half of Herod's kingdom to Archelaus, by the name of Ethnarch, and promised to make
him king also afterward, if he rendered himself worthy of that dignity. But as to the other half, he divided
it into two tetrarchies, and gave them to two other sons of Herod, the one of them to Philip, and the other
to that Antipas who contested the kingdom with Archelaus. Under this last was Perea and Galilee, with a
revenue of two hundred talents; but Batanea, and Trachonitis, and Auranitis, and certain parts of Zeno's
house about Jamnia, with a revenue of a hundred talents, were made subject to Philip; while Idumea, and
all Judea, and Samaria were parts of the ethnarchy of Archelaus, although Samaria was eased of one
quarter of its taxes, out of regard to their not having revolted with the rest of the nation. He also made
subject to him the following cities, viz. Strato's Tower, and Sebaste, and Joppa, and Jerusalem; but as to
the Grecian cities, Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, he cut them off from the kingdom, and added them to
Syria. Now the revenue of the country that was given to Archelaus was four hundred talents. Salome also,
besides what the king had left her in his testaments, was now made mistress of Jamnia, and Ashdod, and
Phasaelis. Caesar did moreover bestow upon her the royal palace of Ascalon; by all which she got
together a revenue of sixty talents; but he put her house under the ethnarchy of Archelaus. And for the rest
of Herod's offspring, they received what was bequeathed to them in his testaments; but, besides that,
Caesar granted to Herod's two virgin daughters five hundred thousand [drachmae] of silver, and gave
them in marriage to the sons of Pheroras: but after this family distribution, he gave between them what

84
had been bequeathed to him by Herod, which was a thousand talents, reserving to himself only some
inconsiderable presents, in honor of the deceased.

CHAPTER 7.
THE HISTORY OF THE SPURIOUS ALEXANDER. ARCHELAUS IS BANISHED AND
GLAPHYRA DIES, AFTER WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN TO BOTH OF THEM HAD BEEN
SHOWED THEM IN DREAMS.

1. In the meantime, there was a man, who was by birth a Jew, but brought up at Sidon with one of the
Roman freed-men, who falsely pretended, on account of the resemblance of their countenances, that he
was that Alexander who was slain by Herod. This man came to Rome, in hopes of not being detected. He
had one who was his assistant, of his own nation, and who knew all the affairs of the kingdom, and
instructed him to say how those that were sent to kill him and Aristobulus had pity upon them, and stole
them away, by putting bodies that were like theirs in their places. This man deceived the Jews that were at
Crete, and got a great deal of money of them for traveling in splendor; and thence sailed to Melos, where
he was thought so certainly genuine, that he got a great deal more money, and prevailed with those that
had treated him to sail along with him to Rome. So he landed at Dicearchia, [Puteoli,] and got very large
presents from the Jews who dwelt there, and was conducted by his father's friends as if he were a king;
nay, the resemblance in his countenance procured him so much credit, that those who had seen Alexander,
and had known him very well, would take their oaths that he was the very same person. Accordingly, the
whole body of the Jews that were at Rome ran out in crowds to see him, and an innumerable multitude
there was which stood in the narrow places through which he was carried; for those of Melos were so far
distracted, that they carried him in a sedan, and maintained a royal attendance for him at their own proper
charges.

2. But Caesar, who knew perfectly well the lineaments of Alexander's face, because he had been accused
by Herod before him, discerned the fallacy in his countenance, even before he saw the man. However, he
suffered the agreeable fame that went of him to have some weight with him, and sent Celadus, one who
well knew Alexander, and ordered him to bring the young man to him. But when Caesar saw him, he
immediately discerned a difference in his countenance; and when he had discovered that his whole body
was of a more robust texture, and like that of a slave, he understood the whole was a contrivance. But the
impudence of what he said greatly provoked him to be angry at him; for when he was asked about
Aristobulus, he said that he was also preserved alive, and was left on purpose in Cyprus, for fear of
treachery, because it would be harder for plotters to get them both into their power while they were
separate. Then did Caesar take him by himself privately, and said to him, "I will give thee thy life, if thou
wilt discover who it was that persuaded thee to forge such stories." So he said that he would discover him,
and followed Caesar, and pointed to that Jew who abused the resemblance of his face to get money; for
that he had received more presents in every city than ever Alexander did when he was alive. Caesar
laughed at the contrivance, and put this spurious Alexander among his rowers, on account of the strength
of his body, but ordered him that persuaded him to be put to death. But for the people of Melos, they had
been sufficiently punished for their folly, by the expenses they had been at on his account.

3. And now Archelaus took possession of his ethnarchy, and used not the Jews only, but the Samaritans
also, barbarously; and this out of his resentment of their old quarrels with him. Whereupon they both of
them sent ambassadors against him to Caesar; and in the ninth year of his government he was banished to
Vienna, a city of Gaul, and his effects were put into Caesar's treasury. But the report goes, that before he
was sent for by Caesar, he seemed to see nine ears of corn, full and large, but devoured by oxen. When,

85
therefore, he had sent for the diviners, and some of the Chaldeans, and inquired of them what they thought
it portended; and when one of them had one interpretation, and another had another, Simon, one of the
sect of Essens, said that he thought the ears of corn denoted years, and the oxen denoted a mutation of
things, because by their ploughing they made an alteration of the country. That therefore he should reign
as many years as there were ears of corn; and after he had passed through various alterations of fortune,
should die. Now five days after Archelaus had heard this interpretation he was called to his trial.

4. I cannot also but think it worthy to be recorded what dream Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, king
of Cappadocia, had, who had at first been wife to Alexander, who was the brother of Archelaus,
concerning whom we have been discoursing. This Alexander was the son of Herod the king, by whom he
was put to death, as we have already related. This Glaphyra was married, after his death, to Juba, king of
Libya; and, after his death, was returned home, and lived a widow with her father. Then it was that
Archelaus, the ethnarch, saw her, and fell so deeply in love with her, that he divorced Mariamne, who was
then his wife, ,and married her. When, therefore, she was come into Judea, and had been there for a little
while, she thought she saw Alexander stand by her, and that he said to her; "Thy marriage with the king of
Libya might have been sufficient for thee; but thou wast not contented with him, but art returned again to
my family, to a third husband; and him, thou impudent woman, hast thou chosen for thine husband, who
is my brother. However, I shall not overlook the injury thou hast offered me; I shall [soon] have thee
again, whether thou wilt or no." Now Glaphyra hardly survived the narration of this dream of hers two
days.

CHAPTER 8.
ARCHELAUS'S ETHNARCHY IS REDUCED INTO A [ROMAN] PROVINCE. THE SEDITION
OF JUDAS OF GALILEE. THE THREE SECTS.

1. AND now Archelaus's part of Judea was reduced into a province, and Coponius, one of the equestrian
order among the Romans, was sent as a procurator, having the power of [life and] death put into his hands
by Caesar. Under his administration it was that a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, prevailed with
his countrymen to revolt, and said they were cowards if they would endure to pay a tax to the Romans and
would after God submit to mortal men as their lords. This man was a teacher of a peculiar sect of his own,
and was not at all like the rest of those their leaders.

2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the
Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are
called Essens. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the
other sects have. These Essens reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over
our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children, while they are
pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own
manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby
continued; but they guard against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them
preserve their fidelity to one man.

3. These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration. Nor is there
any one to be found among them who hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who
come to them must let what they have be common to the whole order, - insomuch that among them all
there is no appearance of poverty, or excess of riches, but every one's possessions are intermingled with
every other's possessions; and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the brethren. They think

86
that oil is a defilement; and if any one of them be anointed without his own approbation, it is wiped off
his body; for they think to be sweaty is a good thing, as they do also to be clothed in white garments.
They also have stewards appointed to take care of their common affairs, who every one of them have no
separate business for any, but what is for the uses of them all.

4. They have no one certain city, but many of them dwell in every city; and if any of their sect come from
other places, what they have lies open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go in to such as they
never knew before, as if they had been ever so long acquainted with them. For which reason they carry
nothing at all with them when they travel into remote parts, though still they take their weapons with
them, for fear of thieves. Accordingly, there is, in every city where they live, one appointed particularly to
take care of strangers, and to provide garments and other necessaries for them. But the habit and
management of their bodies is such as children use who are in fear of their masters. Nor do they allow of
the change of or of shoes till be first torn to pieces, or worn out by time. Nor do they either buy or sell any
thing to one another; but every one of them gives what he hath to him that wanteth it, and receives from
him again in lieu of it what may be convenient for himself; and although there be no requital made, they
are fully allowed to take what they want of whomsoever they please.

5. And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary; for before sun-rising they speak not a word
about profane matters, but put up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers, as if
they made a supplication for its rising. After this every one of them are sent away by their curators, to
exercise some of those arts wherein they are skilled, in which they labor with great diligence till the fifth
hour. After which they assemble themselves together again into one place; and when they have clothed
themselves in white veils, they then bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification is over,
they every one meet together in an apartment of their own, into which it is not permitted to any of another
sect to enter; while they go, after a pure manner, into the dining-room, as into a certain holy temple, and
quietly set themselves down; upon which the baker lays them loaves in order; the cook also brings a
single plate of one sort of food, and sets it before every one of them; but a priest says grace before meat;
and it is unlawful for any one to taste of the food before grace be said. The same priest, when he hath
dined, says grace again after meat; and when they begin, and when they end, they praise God, as he that
bestows their food upon them; after which they lay aside their [white] garments, and betake themselves to
their labors again till the evening; then they return home to supper, after the same manner; and if there be
any strangers there, they sit down with them. Nor is there ever any clamor or disturbance to pollute their
house, but they give every one leave to speak in their turn; which silence thus kept in their house appears
to foreigners like some tremendous mystery; the cause of which is that perpetual sobriety they exercise,
and the same settled measure of meat and drink that is allotted them, and that such as is abundantly
sufficient for them.

6. And truly, as for other things, they do nothing but according to the injunctions of their curators; only
these two things are done among them at everyone's own free-will, which are to assist those that want it,
and to show mercy; for they are permitted of their own accord to afford succor to such as deserve it, when
they stand in need of it, and to bestow food on those that are in distress; but they cannot give any thing to
their kindred without the curators. They dispense their anger after a just manner, and restrain their
passion. They are eminent for fidelity, and are the ministers of peace; whatsoever they say also is firmer
than an oath; but swearing is avoided by them, and they esteem it worse than perjury (4) for they say that
he who cannot be believed without [swearing by] God is already condemned. They also take great pains
in studying the writings of the ancients, and choose out of them what is most for the advantage of their
soul and body; and they inquire after such roots and medicinal stones as may cure their distempers.

87
7. But now if any one hath a mind to come over to their sect, he is not immediately admitted, but he is
prescribed the same method of living which they use for a year, while he continues excluded'; and they
give him also a small hatchet, and the fore-mentioned girdle, and the white garment. And when he hath
given evidence, during that time, that he can observe their continence, he approaches nearer to their way
of living, and is made a partaker of the waters of purification; yet is he not even now admitted to live with
them; for after this demonstration of his fortitude, his temper is tried two more years; and if he appear to
be worthy, they then admit him into their society. And before he is allowed to touch their common food,
he is obliged to take tremendous oaths, that, in the first place, he will exercise piety towards God, and
then that he will observe justice towards men, and that he will do no harm to any one, either of his own
accord, or by the command of others; that he will always hate the wicked, and be assistant to the
righteous; that he will ever show fidelity to all men, and especially to those in authority, because no one
obtains the government without God's assistance; and that if he be in authority, he will at no time
whatever abuse his authority, nor endeavor to outshine his subjects either in his garments, or any other
finery; that he will be perpetually a lover of truth, and propose to himself to reprove those that tell lies;
that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from unlawful gains; and that he will neither
conceal any thing from those of his own sect, nor discover any of their doctrines to others, no, not though
anyone should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life. Moreover, he swears to communicate their
doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them himself; that he will abstain from robbery, and
will equally preserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels (5) [or messengers].
These are the oaths by which they secure their proselytes to themselves.

8. But for those that are caught in any heinous sins, they cast them out of their society; and he who is thus
separated from them does often die after a miserable manner; for as he is bound by the oath he hath taken,
and by the customs he hath been engaged in, he is not at liberty to partake of that food that he meets with
elsewhere, but is forced to eat grass, and to famish his body with hunger, till he perish; for which reason
they receive many of them again when they are at their last gasp, out of compassion to them, as thinking
the miseries they have endured till they came to the very brink of death to be a sufficient punishment for
the sins they had been guilty of.

9. But in the judgments they exercise they are most accurate and just, nor do they pass sentence by the
votes of a court that is fewer than a hundred. And as to what is once determined by that number, it is
unalterable. What they most of all honor, after God himself, is the name of their legislator [Moses], whom
if any one blaspheme he is punished capitally. They also think it a good thing to obey their elders, and the
major part. Accordingly, if ten of them be sitting together, no one of them will speak while the other nine
are against it. They also avoid spitting in the midst of them, or on the right side. Moreover, they are
stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on the seventh day; for they not only get
their food ready the day before, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they will not
remove any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool thereon. Nay, on other days they dig a small pit, a foot
deep, with a paddle (which kind of hatchet is given them when they are first admitted among them); and
covering themselves round with their garment, that they may not affront the Divine rays of light, they ease
themselves into that pit, after which they put the earth that was dug out again into the pit; and even this
they do only in the more lonely places, which they choose out for this purpose; and although this
easement of the body be natural, yet it is a rule with them to wash themselves after it, as if it were a
defilement to them.

10. Now after the time of their preparatory trial is over, they are parted into four classes; and so far are the
juniors inferior to the seniors, that if the seniors should be touched by the juniors, they must wash
themselves, as if they had intermixed themselves with the company of a foreigner. They are long-lived
also, insomuch that many of them live above a hundred years, by means of the simplicity of their diet;
88
nay, as I think, by means of the regular course of life they observe also. They contemn the miseries of life,
and are above pain, by the generosity of their mind. And as for death, if it will be for their glory, they
esteem it better than living always; and indeed our war with the Romans gave abundant evidence what
great souls they had in their trials, wherein, although they were tortured and distorted, burnt and torn to
pieces, and went through all kinds of instruments of torment, that they might be forced either to
blaspheme their legislator, or to eat what was forbidden them, yet could they not be made to do either of
them, no, nor once to flatter their tormentors, or to shed a tear; but they smiled in their very pains, and
laughed those to scorn who inflicted the torments upon them, and resigned up their souls with great
alacrity, as expecting to receive them again.

11. For their doctrine is this: That bodies are corruptible, and that the matter they are made of is not
permanent; but that the souls are immortal, and continue for ever; and that they come out of the most
subtile air, and are united to their bodies as to prisons, into which they are drawn by a certain natural
enticement; but that when they are set free from the bonds of the flesh, they then, as released from a long
bondage, rejoice and mount upward. And this is like the opinions of the Greeks, that good souls have their
habitations beyond the ocean, in a region that is neither oppressed with storms of rain or snow, or with
intense heat, but that this place is such as is refreshed by the gentle breathing of a west wind, that is
perpetually blowing from the ocean; while they allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous den, full of
never-ceasing punishments. And indeed the Greeks seem to me to have followed the same notion, when
they allot the islands of the blessed to their brave men, whom they call heroes and demi-gods; and to the
souls of the wicked, the region of the ungodly, in Hades, where their fables relate that certain persons,
such as Sisyphus, and Tantalus, and Ixion, and Tityus, are punished; which is built on this first
supposition, that souls are immortal; and thence are those exhortations to virtue and dehortations from
wickedness collected; whereby good men are bettered in the conduct of their life by the hope they have of
reward after their death; and whereby the vehement inclinations of bad men to vice are restrained, by the
fear and expectation they are in, that although they should lie concealed in this life, they should suffer
immortal punishment after their death. These are the Divine doctrines of the Essens (6) about the soul,
which lay an unavoidable bait for such as have once had a taste of their philosophy.

12. There are also those among them who undertake to foretell things to come, (7) by reading the holy
books, and using several sorts of purifications, and being perpetually conversant in the discourses of the
prophets; and it is but seldom that they miss in their predictions.

13. Moreover, there is another order of Essens, (8) who agree with the rest as to their way of living, and
customs, and laws, but differ from them in the point of marriage, as thinking that by not marrying they cut
off the principal part of human life, which is the prospect of succession; nay, rather, that if all men should
be of the same opinion, the whole race of mankind would fail. However, they try their spouses for three
years; and if they find that they have their natural purgations thrice, as trials that they are likely to be
fruitful, they then actually marry them. But they do not use to accompany with their wives when they are
with child, as a demonstration that they do not many out of regard to pleasure, but for the sake of
posterity. Now the women go into the baths with some of their garments on, as the men do with somewhat
girded about them. And these are the customs of this order of Essens.

14. But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most
skillful in the exact explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe all to fate [or
providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the
power of men, although fate does co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but
that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies, - but that the souls of bad men are subject

89
to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate
entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that
to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to
every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the
soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and
are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards
another is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as
barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects
among the Jews.

CHAPTER 9.
THE DEATH OF SALOME. THE CITIES WHICH HEROD AND PHILIP BUILT. PILATE
OCCASIONS DISTURBANCES. TIBERIUS PUTS AGRIPPA INTO BONDS BUT CAIUS FREES
HIM FROM THEM, AND MAKES HIM KING. HEROD ANTIPAS IS BANISHED.

1. AND now as the ethnarchy of Archelaus was fallen into a Roman province, the other sons of Herod,
Philip, and that Herod who was called Antipas, each of them took upon them the administration of their
own tetrarchies; for when Salome died, she bequeathed to Julia, the wife of Augustus, both her toparchy,
and Jamriga, as also her plantation of palm trees that were in Phasaelis. But when the Roman empire was
translated to Tiberius, the son of Julia, upon the death of Augustus, who had reigned fifty-seven years, six
months, and two days, both Herod and Philip continued in their tetrarchies; and the latter of them built the
city Cesarea, at the fountains of Jordan, and in the region of Paneas; as also the city Julias, in the lower
Gaulonitis. Herod also built the city Tiberius in Galilee, and in Perea [beyond Jordan] another that was
also called Julias.

2. Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night those images of Caesar
that are called ensigns into Jerusalem. This excited a very among great tumult among the Jews when it
was day; for those that were near them were astonished at the sight of them, as indications that their laws
were trodden under foot; for those laws do not permit any sort of image to be brought into the city. Nay,
besides the indignation which the citizens had themselves at this procedure, a vast number of people came
running out of the country. These came zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and besought him to carry those
ensigns out of Jerusalem, and to preserve them their ancient laws inviolable; but upon Pilate's denial of
their request, they fell (9) down prostrate upon the ground, and continued immovable in that posture for
five days and as many nights.

3. On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribunal, in the open market-place, and called to him the multitude,
as desirous to give them an answer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers, that they should all by
agreement at once encompass the Jews with their weapons; so the band of soldiers stood round about the
Jews in three ranks. The Jews were under the utmost consternation at that unexpected sight. Pilate also
said to them that they should be cut in pieces, unless they would admit of Caesar's images, and gave
intimation to the soldiers to draw their naked swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal, fell
down in vast numbers together, and exposed their necks bare, and cried out that they were sooner ready to
be slain, than that their law should be transgressed. Hereupon Pilate was greatly surprised at their
prodigious superstition, and gave order that the ensigns should be presently carried out of Jerusalem.

4. After this he raised another disturbance, by expending that sacred treasure which is called Corban (10)
upon aqueducts, whereby he brought water from the distance of four hundred furlongs. At this the

90
multitude had indignation; and when Pilate was come to Jerusalem, they came about his tribunal, and
made a clamor at it. Now when he was apprized aforehand of this disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers
in their armor with the multitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under the habits of private men,
and not indeed to use their swords, but with their staves to beat those that made the clamor. He then gave
the signal from his tribunal [to do as he had bidden them]. Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many
of them perished by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to death by
themselves; by which means the multitude was astonished at the calamity of those that were slain, and
held their peace.

5. In the mean time Agrippa, the son of that Aristobulus who had been slain by his father Herod, came to
Tiberius, to accuse Herod the tetrarch; who not admitting of his accusation, he staid at Rome, and
cultivated a friendship with others of the men of note, but principally with Caius the son of Germanicus,
who was then but a private person. Now this Agrippa, at a certain time, feasted Caius; and as he was very
complaisant to him on several other accounts, he at length stretched out his hands, and openly wished that
Tiberius might die, and that he might quickly see him emperor of the world. This was told to Tiberius by
one of Agrippa's domestics, who thereupon was very angry, and ordered Agrippa to be bound, and had
him very ill-treated in the prison for six months, until Tiberius died, after he had reigned twenty-two
years, six months, and three days.

6. But when Caius was made Caesar, he released Agrippa from his bonds, and made him king of Philip's
tetrarchy, who was now dead; but when Agrippa had arrived at that degree of dignity, he inflamed the
ambitious desires of Herod the tetrarch, who was chiefly induced to hope for the royal authority by his
wife Herodias, who reproached him for his sloth, and told him that it was only because he would not sail
to Caesar that he was destitute of that great dignity; for since Caesar had made Agrippa a king, from a
private person, much mole would he advance him from a tetrarch to that dignity. These arguments
prevailed with Herod, so that he came to Caius, by whom he was punished for his ambition, by being
banished into Spain; for Agrippa followed him, in order to accuse him; to whom also Caius gave his
tetrarchy, by way of addition. So Herod died in Spain, whither his wife had followed him.

CHAPTER 10.
CAIUS COMMANDS THAT HIS STATUE SHOULD BE SET UP IN THE TEMPLE ITSELF;
AND WHAT PETRONIUS DID THEREUPON.

1. NOW Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to be a god,
and to desire to be so called also, and to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also
extended his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem, to
place his statues in the temple, (11) and commanded him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them,
he should slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest of the nation into captivity: but God concerned
himself with these his commands. However, Petronius marched out of Antioch into Judea, with three
legions, and many Syrian auxiliaries. Now as to the Jews, some of them could not believe the stories that
spake of a war; but those that did believe them were in the utmost distress how to defend themselves, and
the terror diffused itself presently through them all; for the army was already come to Ptolemais.

2. This Ptolemais is a maritime city of Galilee, built in the great plain. It is encompassed with mountains:
that on the east side, sixty furlongs off, belongs to Galilee; but that on the south belongs to Carmel, which
is distant from it a hundred and twenty furlongs; and that on the north is the highest of them all, and is
called by the people of the country, The Ladder of the Tyrians, which is at the distance of a hundred

91
furlongs. The very small river Belus (12) runs by it, at the distance of two furlongs; near which there is
Menmon's monument, (13) and hath near it a place no larger than a hundred cubits, which deserves
admiration; for the place is round and hollow, and affords such sand as glass is made of; which place,
when it hath been emptied by the many ships there loaded, it is filled again by the winds, which bring into
it, as it were on purpose, that sand which lay remote, and was no more than bare common sand, while this
mine presently turns it into glassy sand. And what is to me still more wonderful, that glassy sand which is
superfluous, and is once removed out of the place, becomes bare common sand again. And this is the
nature of the place we are speaking of.

3. But now the Jews got together in great numbers with their wives and children into that plain that was
by Ptolemais, and made supplication to Petronius, first for their laws, and, in the next place, for
themselves. So he was prevailed upon by the multitude of the supplicants, and by their supplications, and
left his army and the statues at Ptolemais, and then went forward into Galilee, and called together the
multitude and all the men of note to Tiberias, and showed them the power of the Romans, and the
threatenings of Caesar; and, besides this, proved that their petition was unreasonable, because while all
the nations in subjection to them had placed the images of Caesar in their several cities, among the rest of
their gods, for them alone to oppose it, was almost like the behavior of revolters, and was injurious to
Caesar.

4. And when they insisted on their law, and the custom of their country, and how it was not only not
permitted them to make either an image of God, or indeed of a man, and to put it in any despicable part of
their country, much less in the temple itself, Petronius replied, "And am not I also," said he, "bound to
keep the law of my own lord? For if I transgress it, and spare you, it is but just that I perish; while he that
sent me, and not I, will commence a war against you; for I am under command as well as you." Hereupon
the whole multitude cried out that they were ready to suffer for their law. Petronius then quieted them, and
said to them, "Will you then make war against Caesar?" The Jews said, "We offer sacrifices twice every
day for Caesar, and for the Roman people;" but that if he would place the images among them, he must
first sacrifice the whole Jewish nation; and that they were ready to expose themselves, together with their
children and wives, to be slain. At this Petronius was astonished, and pitied them, on account of the
inexpressible sense of religion the men were under, and that courage of theirs which made them ready to
die for it; so they were dismissed without success.

5. But on the following days he got together the men of power privately, and the multitude publicly, and
sometimes he used persuasions to them, and sometimes he gave them his advice; but he chiefly made use
of threatenings to them, and insisted upon the power of the Romans, and the anger of Caius; and besides,
upon the necessity he was himself under [to do as he was enjoined]. But as they could be no way
prevailed upon, and he saw that the country was in danger of lying without tillage; (for it was about seed
time that the multitude continued for fifty days together idle;) so he at last got them together, and told
them that it was best for him to run some hazard himself; "for either, by the Divine assistance, I shall
prevail with Caesar, and shall myself escape the danger as well as you, which will he matter of joy to us
both; or, in case Caesar continue in his rage, I will be ready to expose my own life for such a great
number as you are." Whereupon he dismissed the multitude, who prayed greatly for his prosperity; and he
took the army out of Ptolemais, and returned to Antioch; from whence he presently sent an epistle to
Caesar, and informed him of the irruption he had made into Judea, and of the supplications of the nation;
and that unless he had a mind to lose both the country and the men in it, he must permit them to keep their
law, and must countermand his former injunction. Caius answered that epistle in a violent-way, and
threatened to have Petronius put to death for his being so tardy in the execution of what he had
commanded. But it happened that those who brought Caius's epistle were tossed by a storm, and were
detained on the sea for three months, while others that brought the news of Caius's death had a good
92
voyage. Accordingly, Petronins received the epistle concerning Caius seven and twenty days before he
received that which was against himself.

CHAPTER 11.
CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT OF CLAUDIUS, AND THE REIGN OF AGRIPPA.
CONCERNING THE DEATHS OF AGRIPPA AND OF HEROD AND WHAT CHILDREN
THEY BOTH LEFT BEHIND THEM.

1. NOW when Caius had reigned three year's and eight months, and had been slain by treachery, Claudius
was hurried away by the armies that were at Rome to take the government upon him; but the senate, upon
the reference of the consuls, Sentis Saturninns, and Pomponins Secundus, gave orders to the three
regiments of soldiers that staid with them to keep the city quiet, and went up into the capitol in great
numbers, and resolved to oppose Claudius by force, on account of the barbarous treatment they had met
with from Caius; and they determined either to settle the nation under an aristocracy, as they had of old
been governed, or at least to choose by vote such a one for emperor as might be worthy of it.

2. Now it happened that at this time Agrippa sojourned at Rome, and that both the senate called him to
consult with them, and at the same time Claudius sent for him out of the camp, that he might be
serviceable to him, as he should have occasion for his service. So he, perceiving that Claudius was in
effect made Caesar already, went to him, who sent him as an ambassador to the senate, to let them know
what his intentions were: that, in the first place, it was without his seeking that he was hurried away by
the soldiers; moreover, that he thought it was not just to desert those soldiers in such their zeal for him,
and that if he should do so, his own fortune would be in uncertainty; for that it was a dangerous case to
have been once called to the empire. He added further, that he would administer the government as a good
prince, and not like a tyrant; for that he would be satisfied with the honor of being called emperor, but
would, in every one of his actions, permit them all to give him their advice; for that although he had not
been by nature for moderation, yet would the death of Caius afford him a sufficient demonstration how
soberly he ought to act in that station.

3. This message was delivered by Agrippa; to which the senate replied, that since they had an army, and
the wisest counsels on their side, they would not endure a voluntary slavery. And when Claudius heard
what answer the senate had made, he sent Agrippa to them again, with the following message: That he
could not bear the thoughts of betraying them that had given their oaths to be true to him; and that he saw
he must fight, though unwillingly, against such as he had no mind to fight; that, however, [if it must come
to that,] it was proper to choose a place without the city for the war, because it was not agreeable to piety
to pollute the temples of their own city with the blood of their own countrymen, and this only on occasion
of their imprudent conduct. And when Agrippa had heard this message, he delivered it to the senators.

4. In the mean time, one of the soldiers belonging to the senate drew his sword, and cried out, "O my
fellow soldiers, what is the meaning of this choice of ours, to kill our brethren, and to use violence to our
kindred that are with Claudius? while we may have him for our emperor whom no one can blame, and
who hath so many just reasons [to lay claim to the government]; and this with regard to those against
whom we are going to fight." When he had said this, he marched through the whole senate, and carried all
the soldiers along with him. Upon which all the patricians were immediately in a great fright at their being
thus deserted. But still, because there appeared no other way whither they could turn themselves for
deliverance, they made haste the same way with the soldiers, and went to Claudius. But those that had the
greatest luck in flattering the good fortune of Claudius betimes met them before the walls with their naked

93
swords, and there was reason to fear that those that came first might have been in danger, before Claudius
could know what violence the soldiers were going to offer them, had not Agrippa ran before, and told him
what a dangerous thing they were going about, and that unless he restrained the violence of these men,
who were in a fit of madness against the patricians, he would lose those on whose account it was most
desirable to rule, and would be emperor over a desert.

5. When Claudius heard this, he restrained the violence of the soldiery, and received the senate into the
camp, and treated them after an obliging manner, and went out with them presently to offer their thank-
offerings to God, which were proper upon, his first coming to the empire. Moreover, he bestowed on
Agrippa his whole paternal kingdom immediately, and added to it, besides those countries that had been
given by Augustus to Herod, Trachonitis and Auranitis, and still besides these, that kingdom which was
called the kingdom of Lysanius. This gift he declared to the people by a decree, but ordered the
magistrates to have the donation engraved on tables of brass, and to be set up in the capitol. He bestowed
on his brother Herod, who was also his son-in-law, by marrying [his daughter] Bernice, the kingdom of
Chalcis.

6. So now riches flowed in to Agrippa by his enjoyment of so large a dominion; nor did he abuse the
money he had on small matters, but he began to encompass Jerusalem with such a wall, which, had it
been brought to perfection, had made it impracticable for the Romans to take it by siege; but his death,
which happened at Cesarea, before he had raised the walls to their due height, prevented him. He had then
reigned three years, as he had governed his tetrarchies three other years. He left behind him three
daughters, born to him by Cypros, Bernice, Mariamne, and Drusilla, and a son born of the same mother,
whose name was Agrippa: he was left a very young child, so that Claudius made the country a Roman
province, and sent Cuspius Fadus to be its procurator, and after him Tiberius Alexander, who, making no
alterations of the ancient laws, kept the nation in tranquillity. Now after this, Herod the king of Chalcis
died, and left behind him two sons, born to him of his brother's daughter Bernice; their names were Bernie
Janus and Hyrcanus. [He also left behind him] Aristobulus, whom he had by his former wife Mariamne.
There was besides another brother of his that died a private person, his name was also Aristobulus, who
left behind him a daughter, whose name was Jotape: and these, as I have formerly said, were the children
of Aristobulus the son of Herod, which Aristobulus and Alexander were born to Herod by Mariamne, and
were slain by him. But as for Alexander's posterity, they reigned in Armenia.

CHAPTER 12.
MANY TUMULTS UNDER CUMANUS, WHICH WERE COMPOSED BY QUADRATUS.
FELIX IS PROCURATOR OF JUDEA. AGRIPPA IS ADVANCED FROM CHALCIS TO A
GREATER KINGDOM.

1 NOW after the death of Herod, king of Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa, the son of Agrippa, over his
uncle's kingdom, while Cumanus took upon him the office of procurator of the rest, which was a Roman
province, and therein he succeeded Alexander; under which Cureanus began the troubles, and the Jews'
ruin came on; for when the multitude were come together to Jerusalem, to the feast of unleavened bread,
and a Roman cohort stood over the cloisters of the temple, (for they always were armed, and kept guard at
the festivals, to prevent any innovation which the multitude thus gathered together might make,) one of
the soldiers pulled back his garment, and cowering down after an indecent manner, turned his breech to
the Jews, and spake such words as you might expect upon such a posture. At this the whole multitude had
indignation, and made a clamor to Cumanus, that he would punish the soldier; while the rasher part of the
youth, and such as were naturally the most tumultuous, fell to fighting, and caught up stones, and threw

94
them at the soldiers. Upon which Cumanus was afraid lest all the people should make an assault upon
him, and sent to call for more armed men, who, when they came in great numbers into the cloisters, the
Jews were in a very great consternation; and being beaten out of the temple, they ran into the city; and the
violence with which they crowded to get out was so great, that they trod upon each other, and squeezed
one another, till ten thousand of them were killed, insomuch that this feast became the cause of mourning
to the whole nation, and every family lamented their own relations.

2. Now there followed after this another calamity, which arose from a tumult made by robbers; for at the
public road at Beth-boron, one Stephen, a servant of Caesar, carried some furniture, which the robbers fell
upon and seized. Upon this Cureanus sent men to go round about to the neighboring villages, and to bring
their inhabitants to him bound, as laying it to their charge that they had not pursued after the thieves, and
caught them. Now here it was that a certain soldier, finding the sacred book of the law, tore it to pieces,
and threw it into the fire. (14) Hereupon the Jews were in great disorder, as if their whole country were in
a flame, and assembled themselves so many of them by their zeal for their religion, as by an engine, and
ran together with united clamor to Cesarea, to Cumanus, and made supplication to him that he would not
overlook this man, who had offered such an affront to God, and to his law; but punish him for what he
had done. Accordingly, he, perceiving that the multitude would not be quiet unless they had a comfortable
answer from him, gave order that the soldier should be brought, and drawn through those that required to
have him punished, to execution, which being done, the Jews went their ways.

3. After this there happened a fight between the Galileans and the Samaritans; it happened at a village
called Geman, which is situate in the great plain of Samaria; where, as a great number of Jews were going
up to Jerusalem to the feast [of tabernacles,] a certain Galilean was slain; and besides, a vast number of
people ran together out of Galilee, in order to fight with the Samaritans. But the principal men among
them came to Cumanus, and besought him that, before the evil became incurable, he would come into
Galilee, and bring the authors of this murder to punishment; for that there was no other way to make the
multitude separate without coming to blows. However, Cumanus postponed their supplications to the
other affairs he was then about, and sent the petitioners away without success.

4. But when the affair of this murder came to be told at Jerusalem, it put the multitude into disorder, and
they left the feast; and without any generals to conduct them, they marched with great violence to
Samaria; nor would they be ruled by any of the magistrates that were set over them, but they were
managed by one Eleazar, the son of Dineus, and by Alexander, in these their thievish and seditious
attempts. These men fell upon those that were ill the neighborhood of the Acrabatene toparchy, and slew
them, without sparing any age, and set the villages on fire.

5. But Cumanus took one troop of horsemen, called the troop of Sebaste, out of Cesarea, and came to the
assistance of those that were spoiled; he also seized upon a great number of those that followed Eleazar,
and slew more of them. And as for the rest of the multitude of those that went so zealously to fight with
the Samaritans, the rulers of Jerusalem ran out clothed with sackcloth, and having ashes on their head, and
begged of them to go their ways, lest by their attempt to revenge themselves upon the Samaritans they
should provoke the Romans to come against Jerusalem; to have compassion upon their country and
temple, their children and their wives, and not bring the utmost dangers of destruction upon them, in order
to avenge themselves upon one Galilean only. The Jews complied with these persuasions of theirs, and
dispersed themselves; but still there were a great number who betook themselves to robbing, in hopes of
impunity; and rapines and insurrections of the bolder sort happened over the whole country. And the men
of power among the Samaritans came to Tyre, to Ummidius Quadratus, (15) the president of Syria, and
desired that they that had laid waste the country might be punished: the great men also of the Jews, and

95
Jonathan the son of Ananus the high priest, came thither, and said that the Samaritans were the beginners
of the disturbance, on account of that murder they had committed; and that Cumanus had given occasion
to what had happened, by his unwillingness to punish the original authors of that murder.

6. But Quadratus put both parties off for that time, and told them, that when he should come to those
places, he would make a diligent inquiry after every circumstance. After which he went to Cesarea, and
crucified all those whom Cumanus had taken alive; and when from thence he was come to the city Lydda,
he heard the affair of the Samaritans, and sent for eighteen of the Jews, whom he had learned to have been
concerned in that fight, and beheaded them; but he sent two others of those that were of the greatest power
among them, and both Jonathan and Ananias, the high priests, as also Artanus the son of this Ananias, and
certain others that were eminent among the Jews, to Caesar; as he did in like manner by the most
illustrious of the Samaritans. He also ordered that Cureanus [the procurator] and Celer the tribune should
sail to Rome, in order to give an account of what had been done to Caesar. When he had finished these
matters, he went up from Lydda to Jerusalem, and finding the multitude celebrating their feast of
unleavened bread without any tumult, he returned to Antioch.

7. Now when Caesar at Rome had heard what Cumanus and the Samaritans had to say, (where it was done
in the hearing of Agrippa, who zealously espoused the cause of the Jews, as in like manner many of the
great men stood by Cumanus,) he condemned the Samaritans, and commanded that three of the most
powerful men among them should be put to death; he banished Cumanus, and sent Color bound to
Jerusalem, to be delivered over to the Jews to be tormented; that he should be drawn round the city, and
then beheaded.

8. After this Caesar sent Felix, (16) the brother of Pallas, to be procurator of Galilee, and Samaria, and
Perea, and removed Agrippa from Chalcis unto a greater kingdom; for he gave him the tetrarchy which
had belonged to Philip, which contained Batanae, Trachonitis, and Gaulonitis: he added to it the kingdom
of Lysanias, and that province [Abilene] which Varus had governed. But Claudius himself, when he had
administered the government thirteen years, eight months, and twenty days, died, and left Nero to be his
successor in the empire, whom he had adopted by his Wife Agrippina's delusions, in order to be his
successor, although he had a son of his own, whose name was Britannicus, by Messalina his former wife,
and a daughter whose name was Octavia, whom he had married to Nero; he had also another daughter by
Petina, whose name was Antonia.

CHAPTER 13.
NERO ADDS FOUR CITIES TO AGRIPPAS KINGDOM; BUT THE OTHER PARTS OF
JUDEA WERE UNDER FELIX. THE DISTURBANCES WHICH WERE RAISED BY THE
SICARII THE MAGICIANS AND AN EGYPTIAN FALSE PROPHET. THE JEWS AND
SYRIANS HAVE A CONTEST AT CESAREA.

1. NOW as to the many things in which Nero acted like a madman, out of the extravagant degree of the
felicity and riches which he enjoyed, and by that means used his good fortune to the injury of others; and
after what manner he slew his brother, and wife, and mother, from whom his barbarity spread itself to
others that were most nearly related to him; and how, at last, he was so distracted that he became an actor
in the scenes, and upon the theater, - I omit to say any more about them, because there are writers enough
upon those subjects every where; but I shall turn myself to those actions of his time in which the Jews
were concerned.

96
2. Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom of the Lesser Armenia upon Aristobulus, Herod's son, (17) and
he added to Agrippa's kingdom four cities, with the toparchies to them belonging; I mean Abila, and that
Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea also, and Tiberias of Galilee; but over the rest of Judea he made Felix
procurator. This Felix took Eleazar the arch-robber, and many that were with him, alive, when they had
ravaged the country for twenty years together, and sent them to Rome; but as to the number of the robbers
whom he caused to be crucified, and of those who were caught among them, and whom he brought to
punishment, they were a multitude not to be enumerated.

3. When the country was purged of these, there sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which
were called Sicarii, who slew men in the day time, and in the midst of the city; this they did chiefly at the
festivals, when they mingled themselves among the multitude, and concealed daggers under their
garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies; and when any fell down dead, the
murderers became a part of those that had indignation against them; by which means they appeared
persons of such reputation, that they could by no means be discovered. The first man who was slain by
them was Jonathan the high priest, after whose death many were slain every day, while the fear men were
in of being so served was more afflicting than the calamity itself; and while every body expected death
every hour, as men do in war, so men were obliged to look before them, and to take notice of their
enemies at a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust them any longer;
but, in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain. Such was the celerity of
the plotters against them, and so cunning was their contrivance.

4. There was also another body of wicked men gotten together, not so impure in their actions, but more
wicked in their intentions, which laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these murderers.
These were such men as deceived and deluded the people under pretense of Divine inspiration, but were
for procuring innovations and changes of the government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act
like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there show them
the signals of liberty. But Felix thought this procedure was to be the beginning of a revolt; so he sent
some horsemen and footmen both armed, who destroyed a great number of them.

5. But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a
cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him;
these he led round about from the wilderness to the mount which was called the Mount of Olives, and was
ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman
garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of those guards of his that
were to break into the city with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman
soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that when it came to a battle,
the Egyptian ran away, with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either
destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed every one to their own homes, and
there concealed themselves.

6. Now when these were quieted, it happened, as it does in a diseased body, that another part was subject
to an inflammation; for a company of deceivers and robbers got together, and persuaded the Jews to
revolt, and exhorted them to assert their liberty, inflicting death on those that continued in obedience to
the Roman government, and saying, that such as willingly chose slavery ought to be forced from such
their desired inclinations; for they parted themselves into different bodies, and lay in wait up and down
the country, and plundered the houses of the great men, and slew the men themselves, and set the villages
on fire; and this till all Judea was filled with the effects of their madness. And thus the flame was every
day more and more blown up, till it came to a direct war.

97
7. There was also another disturbance at Cesarea, - those Jews who were mixed with the Syrians that lived
there rising a tumult against them. The Jews pretended that the city was theirs, and said that he who built
it was a Jew, meaning king Herod. The Syrians confessed also that its builder was a Jew; but they still
said, however, that the city was a Grecian city; for that he who set up statues and temples in it could not
design it for Jews. On which account both parties had a contest with one another; and this contest
increased so much, that it came at last to arms, and the bolder sort of them marched out to fight; for the
elders of the Jews were not able to put a stop to their own people that were disposed to be tumultuous, and
the Greeks thought it a shame for them to be overcome by the Jews. Now these Jews exceeded the others
in riches and strength of body; but the Grecian part had the advantage of assistance from the soldiery; for
the greatest part of the Roman garrison was raised out of Syria; and being thus related to the Syrian part,
they were ready to assist it. However, the governors of the city were concerned to keep all quiet, and
whenever they caught those that were most for fighting on either side, they punished them with stripes
and bands. Yet did not the sufferings of those that were caught affright the remainder, or make them
desist; but they were still more and more exasperated, and deeper engaged in the sedition. And as Felix
came once into the market-place, and commanded the Jews, when they had beaten the Syrians, to go their
ways, and threatened them if they would not, and they would not obey him, he sent his soldiers out upon
them, and slew a great many of them, upon which it fell out that what they had was plundered. And as the
sedition still continued, he chose out the most eminent men on both sides as ambassadors to Nero, to
argue about their several privileges.

CHAPTER 14.
FESTUS SUCCEEDS FELIX WHO IS SUCCEEDED BY ALBINUS AS HE IS BY FLORUS;
WHO BY THE BARBARITY OF HIS GOVERNMENT FORCES THE JEWS INTO THE WAR.

1. NOW it was that Festus succeeded Felix as procurator, and made it his business to correct those that
made disturbances in the country. So he caught the greatest part of the robbers, and destroyed a great
many of them. But then Albinus, who succeeded Festus, did not execute his office as the other had done;
nor was there any sort of wickedness that could be named but he had a hand in it. Accordingly, he did not
only, in his political capacity, steal and plunder every one's substance, nor did he only burden the whole
nation with taxes, but he permitted the relations of such as were in prison for robbery, and had been laid
there, either by the senate of every city, or by the former procurators, to redeem them for money; and no
body remained in the prisons as a malefactor but he who gave him nothing. At this time it was that the
enterprises of the seditious at Jerusalem were very formidable; the principal men among them purchasing
leave of Albinus to go on with their seditious practices; while that part of the people who delighted in
disturbances joined themselves to such as had fellowship with Albinus; and every one of these wicked
wretches were encompassed with his own band of robbers, while he himself, like an arch-robber, or a
tyrant, made a figure among his company, and abused his authority over those about him, in order to
plunder those that lived quietly. The effect of which was this, that those who lost their goods were forced
to hold their peace, when they had reason to show great indignation at what they had suffered; but those
who had escaped were forced to flatter him that deserved to be punished, out of the fear they were in of
suffering equally with the others. Upon the Whole, nobody durst speak their minds, but tyranny was
generally tolerated; and at this time were those seeds sown which brought the city to destruction.

2. And although such was the character of Albinus, yet did Gessius Florus (18) who succeeded him,
demonstrate him to have been a most excellent person, upon the comparison; for the former did the
greatest part of his rogueries in private, and with a sort of dissimulation; but Gessius did his unjust actions
to the harm of the nation after a pompons manner; and as though he had been sent as an executioner to

98
punish condemned malefactors, he omitted no sort of rapine, or of vexation; where the case was really
pitiable, he was most barbarous, and in things of the greatest turpitude he was most impudent. Nor could
any one outdo him in disguising the truth; nor could any one contrive more subtle ways of deceit than he
did. He indeed thought it but a petty offense to get money out of single persons; so he spoiled whole
cities, and ruined entire bodies of men at once, and did almost publicly proclaim it all the country over,
that they had liberty given them to turn robbers, upon this condition, that he might go shares with them in
the spoils they got. Accordingly, this his greediness of gain was the occasion that entire toparchies were
brought to desolation, and a great many of the people left their own country, and fled into foreign
provinces.

3. And truly, while Cestius Gallus was president of the province of Syria, nobody durst do so much as
send an embassage to him against Florus; but when he was come to Jerusalem, upon the approach of the
feast of unleavened bread, the people came about him not fewer in number than three millions (19) these
besought him to commiserate the calamities of their nation, and cried out upon Florus as the bane of their
country. But as he was present, and stood by Cestius, he laughed at their words. However, Cestius, when
he had quieted the multitude, and had assured them that he would take care that Florus should hereafter
treat them in a more gentle manner, returned to Antioch. Florus also conducted him as far as Cesarea, and
deluded him, though he had at that very time the purpose of showing his anger at the nation, and
procuring a war upon them, by which means alone it was that he supposed he might conceal his
enormities; for he expected that if the peace continued, he should have the Jews for his accusers before
Caesar; but that if he could procure them to make a revolt, he should divert their laying lesser crimes to
his charge, by a misery that was so much greater; he therefore did every day augment their calamities, in
order to induce them to a rebellion.

4. Now at this time it happened that the Grecians at Cesarea had been too hard for the Jews, and had
obtained of Nero the government of the city, and had brought the judicial determination: at the same time
began the war, in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, and the seventeenth of the reign of Agrippa, in the
month of Artemisins [Jyar.] Now the occasion of this war was by no means proportionable to those heavy
calamities which it brought upon us. For the Jews that dwelt at Cesarea had a synagogue near the place,
whose owner was a certain Cesarean Greek: the Jews had endeavored frequently to have purchased the
possession of the place, and had offered many times its value for its price; but as the owner overlooked
their offers, so did he raise other buildings upon the place, in way of affront to them, and made working-
shops of them, and left them but a narrow passage, and such as was very troublesome for them to go
along to their synagogue. Whereupon the warmer part of the Jewish youth went hastily to the workmen,
and forbade them to build there; but as Florus would not permit them to use force, the great men of the
Jews, with John the publican, being in the utmost distress what to do, persuaded Florus, with the offer of
eight talents, to hinder the work. He then, being intent upon nothing but getting money, promised he
would do for them all they desired of him, and then went away from Cesarea to Sebaste, and left the
sedition to take its full course, as if he had sold a license to the Jews to fight it out.

5. Now on the next day, which was the seventh day of the week, when the Jews were crowding apace to
their synagogue, a certain man of Cesarea, of a seditious temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it with the
bottom upward, at the entrance of that synagogue, and sacrificed birds. This thing provoked the Jews to an
incurable degree, because their laws were affronted, and the place was polluted. Whereupon the sober and
moderate part of the Jews thought it proper to have recourse to their governors again, while the seditious
part, and such as were in the fervor of their youth, were vehemently inflamed to fight. The seditions also
among the Gentiles of Cesarea stood ready for the same purpose; for they had, by agreement, sent the man
to sacrifice beforehand [as ready to support him;] so that it soon came to blows. Hereupon Jucundus, the
master of the horse, who was ordered to prevent the fight, came thither, and took away the earthen vessel,
99
and endeavored to put a stop to the sedition; but when (20) he was overcome by the violence of the people
of Cesarea, the Jews caught up their books of the law, and retired to Narbata, which was a place to them
belonging, distant from Cesarea sixty furlongs. But John, and twelve of the principal men with him, went
to Florus, to Sebaste, and made a lamentable complaint of their case, and besought him to help them; and
with all possible decency, put him in mind of the eight talents they had given him; but he had the men
seized upon, and put in prison, and accused them for carrying the books of the law out of Cesarea.

6. Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem, although they took this matter very ill, yet did they restrain
their passion; but Florus acted herein as if he had been hired, and blew up the war into a flame, and sent
some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure, and pretended that Caesar wanted them. At this
the people were in confusion immediately, and ran together to the temple, with prodigious clamors, and
called upon Caesar by name, and besought him to free them from the tyranny of Florus. Some also of the
seditious cried out upon Florus, and cast the greatest reproaches upon him, and carried a basket about, and
begged some spills of money for him, as for one that was destitute of possessions, and in a miserable
condition. Yet was not he made ashamed hereby of his love of money, but was more enraged, and
provoked to get still more; and instead of coming to Cesarea, as he ought to have done, and quenching the
flame of war, which was beginning thence, and so taking away the occasion of any disturbances, on which
account it was that he had received a reward [of eight talents], he marched hastily with an army of
horsemen and footmen against Jerusalem, that he might gain his will by the arms of the Romans, and
might, by his terror, and by his threatenings, bring the city into subjection.

7. But the people were desirous of making Florus ashamed of his attempt, and met his soldiers with
acclamations, and put themselves in order to receive him very submissively. But he sent Capito, a
centurion, beforehand, with fifty soldiers, to bid them go back, and not now make a show of receiving
him in an obliging manner, whom they had so foully reproached before; and said that it was incumbent on
them, in case they had generous souls, and were free speakers, to jest upon him to his face, and appear to
be lovers of liberty, not only in words, but with their weapons also. With this message was the multitude
amazed; and upon the coming of Capito's horsemen into the midst of them, they were dispersed before
they could salute Florus, or manifest their submissive behavior to him. Accordingly, they retired to their
own houses, and spent that night in fear and confusion of face.

8. Now at this time Florus took up his quarters at the palace; and on the next day he had his tribunal set
before it, and sat upon it, when the high priests, and the men of power, and those of the greatest eminence
in the city, came all before that tribunal; upon which Florus commanded them to deliver up to him those
that had reproached him, and told them that they should themselves partake of the vengeance to them
belonging, if they did not produce the criminals; but these demonstrated that the people were peaceably
disposed, and they begged forgiveness for those that had spoken amiss; for that it was no wonder at all
that in so great a multitude there should be some more daring than they ought to be, and, by reason of
their younger age, foolish also; and that it was impossible to distinguish those that offended from the rest,
while every one was sorry for what he had done, and denied it out of fear of what would follow: that he
ought, however, to provide for the peace of the nation, and to take such counsels as might preserve the
city for the Romans, and rather for the sake of a great number of innocent people to forgive a few that
were guilty, than for the sake of a few of the wicked to put so large and good a body of men into disorder.

9. Florus was more provoked at this, and called out aloud to the soldiers to plunder that which was called
the Upper Market-place, and to slay such as they met with. So the soldiers, taking this exhortation of their
commander in a sense agreeable to their desire of gain, did not only plunder the place they were sent to,
but forcing themselves into every house, they slew its inhabitants; so the citizens fled along the narrow

100
lanes, and the soldiers slew those that they caught, and no method of plunder was omitted; they also
caught many of the quiet people, and brought them before Florus, whom he first chastised with stripes,
and then crucified. Accordingly, the whole number of those that were destroyed that day, with their wives
and children, (for they did not spare even the infants themselves,) was about three thousand and six
hundred. And what made this calamity the heavier was this new method of Roman barbarity; for Florus
ventured then to do what no one had done before, that is, to have men of the equestrian order whipped
(21) and nailed to the cross before his tribunal; who, although they were by birth Jews, yet were they of
Roman dignity notwithstanding.

CHAPTER 15.
CONCERNING BERNICE'S PETITION TO FLORUS, TO SPARE THE JEWS, BUT IN VAIN;
AS ALSO HOW, AFTER THE SEDITIOUS FLAME WAS QUENCHED, IT WAS KINDLED
AGAIN BY FLORUS.

1. ABOUT this very time king Agrippa was going to Alexandria, to congratulate Alexander upon his
having obtained the government of Egypt from Nero; but as his sister Bernice was come to Jerusalem, and
saw the wicked practices of the soldiers, she was sorely affected at it, and frequently sent the masters of
her horse and her guards to Florus, and begged of him to leave off these slaughters; but he would not
comply with her request, nor have any regard either to the multitude of those already slain, or to the
nobility of her that interceded, but only to the advantage he should make by this plundering; nay, this
violence of the soldiers brake out to such a degree of madness, that it spent itself on the queen herself; for
they did not only torment and destroy those whom they had caught under her very eyes, but indeed had
killed herself also, unless she had prevented them by flying to the palace, and had staid there all night
with her guards, which she had about her for fear of an insult from the soldiers. Now she dwelt then at
Jerusalem, in order to perform a vow (22) which she had made to God; for it is usual with those that had
been either afflicted with a distemper, or with any other distresses, to make vows; and for thirty days
before they are to offer their sacrifices, to abstain from wine, and to shave the hair of their head. Which
things Bernice was now performing, and stood barefoot before Florus's tribunal, and besought him [to
spare the Jews]. Yet could she neither have any reverence paid to her, nor could she escape without some
danger of being slain herself.

2. This happened upon the sixteenth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar]. Now, on the next day, the
multitude, who were in a great agony, ran together to the Upper Market-place, and made the loudest
lamentations for those that had perished; and the greatest part of the cries were such as reflected on
Florus; at which the men of power were aftrighted, together with the high priests, and rent their garments,
and fell down before each of them, and besought them to leave off, and not to provoke Florus to some
incurable procedure, besides what they had already suffered. Accordingly, the multitude complied
immediately, out of reverence to those that had desired it of them, and out of the hope they had that Florus
would do them no more injuries.

3. So Florus was troubled that the disturbances were over, and endeavored to kindle that flame again, and
sent for the high priests, with the other eminent persons, and said the only demonstration that the people
would not make any other innovations should be this, that they must go out and meet the soldiers that
were ascending from Cesarea, whence two cohorts were coming; and while these men were exhorting the
multitude so to do, he sent beforehand, and gave directions to the centurions of the cohorts, that they
should give notice to those that were under them not to return the Jews' salutations; and that if they made
any reply to his disadvantage, they should make use of their weapons. Now the high priests assembled the

101
multitude in the temple, and desired them to go and meet the Romans, and to salute the cohorts very
civilly, before their miserable case should become incurable. Now the seditious part would not comply
with these persuasions; but the consideration of those that had been destroyed made them incline to those
that were the boldest for action.

4. At this time it was that every priest, and every servant of God, brought out the holy vessels, and the
ornamental garments wherein they used to minister in sacred things. The harpers also, and the singers of
hymns, came out with their instruments of music, and fell down before the multitude, and begged of them
that they would preserve those holy ornaments to them, and not provoke the Romans to carry off those
sacred treasures. You might also see then the high priests themselves, with dust sprinkled in great plenty
upon their heads, with bosoms deprived of any covering but what was rent; these besought every one of
the eminent men by name, and the multitude in common, that they would not for a small offense betray
their country to those that were desirous to have it laid waste; saying, "What benefit will it bring to the
soldiers to have a salutation from the Jews? or what amendment of your affairs will it bring you, if you do
not now go out to meet them? and that if they saluted them civilly, all handle would be cut off from
Florus to begin a war; that they should thereby gain their country, and freedom from all further sufferings;
and that, besides, it would be a sign of great want of command of themselves, if they should yield to a few
seditious persons, while it was fitter for them who were so great a people to force the others to act
soberly."

5. By these persuasions, which they used to the multitude and to the seditious, they restrained some by
threatenings, and others by the reverence that was paid them. After this they led them out, and they met
the soldiers quietly, and after a composed manner, and when they were come up with them, they saluted
them; but when they made no answer, the seditious exclaimed against Florus, which was the signal given
for falling upon them. The soldiers therefore encompassed them presently, and struck them with their
clubs; and as they fled away, the horsemen trampled them down, so that a great many fell down dead by
the strokes of the Romans, and more by their own violence in crushing one another. Now there was a
terrible crowding about the gates, and while every body was making haste to get before another, the flight
of them all was retarded, and a terrible destruction there was among those that fell down, for they were
suffocated, an broken to pieces by the multitude of those that were uppermost; nor could any of them be
distinguished by his relations in order to the care of his funeral; the soldiers also who beat them, fell upon
those whom they overtook, without showing them any mercy, and thrust the multitude through the place
called Bezetha, (23) as they forced their way, in order to get in and seize upon the temple, and the tower
Antonia. Florus also being desirous to get those places into his possession, brought such as were with him
out of the king's palace, and would have compelled them to get as far as the citadel [Antonia;] but his
attempt failed, for the people immediately turned back upon him, and stopped the violence of his attempt;
and as they stood upon the tops of their houses, they threw their darts at the Romans, who, as they were
sorely galled thereby, because those weapons came from above, and they were not able to make a passage
through the multitude, which stopped up the narrow passages, they retired to the camp which was at the
palace.

6. But for the seditious, they were afraid lest Florus should come again, and get possession of the temple,
through Antonia; so they got immediately upon those cloisters of the temple that joined to Antonia, and
cut them down. This cooled the avarice of Florus; for whereas he was eager to obtain the treasures of God
[in the temple], and on that account was desirous of getting into Antonia, as soon as the cloisters were
broken down, he left off his attempt; he then sent for the high priests and the sanhedrim, and told them
that he was indeed himself going out of the city, but that he would leave them as large a garrison as they
should desire. Hereupon they promised that they would make no innovations, in case he would leave them
one band; but not that which had fought with the Jews, because the multitude bore ill-will against that
102
band on account of what they had suffered from it; so he changed the band as they desired, and, with the
rest of his forces, returned to Cesarea.

CHAPTER 16.
CESTIUS SENDS NEOPOLITANUS THE TRIBUNE TO SEE IN WHAT CONDITION THE
AFFAIRS OF THE JEWS WERE. AGRIPPA MAKES A SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE OF THE
JEWS THAT HE MAY DIVERT THEM FROM THEIR INTENTIONS OF MAKING WAR
WITH THE ROMANS.

1. HOWEVER, Florus contrived another way to oblige the Jews to begin the war, and sent to Cestius, and
accused the Jews falsely of revolting [from the Roman government], and imputed the beginning of the
former fight to them, and pretended they had been the authors of that disturbance, wherein they were only
the sufferers. Yet were not the governors of Jerusalem silent upon this occasion, but did themselves write
to Cestius, as did Bernice also, about the illegal practices of which Florus had been guilty against the city;
who, upon reading both accounts, consulted with his captains [what he should do]. Now some of them
thought it best for Cestius to go up with his army, either to punish the revolt, if it was real, or to settle the
Roman affairs on a surer foundation, if the Jews continued quiet under them; but he thought it best
himself to send one of his intimate friends beforehand, to see the state of affairs, and to give him a faithful
account of the intentions of the Jews. Accordingly, he sent one of his tribunes, whose name was
Neopolitanus, who met with king Agrippa as he was returning from Alexandria, at Jamnia, and told him
who it was that sent him, and on what errands he was sent.

2. And here it was that the high priests, and men of power among the Jews, as well as the sanhedrim,
came to congratulate the king [upon his safe return]; and after they had paid him their respects, they
lamented their own calamities, and related to him what barbarous treatment they had met with from
Florus. At which barbarity Agrippa had great indignation, but transferred, after a subtle manner, his anger
towards those Jews whom he really pitied, that he might beat down their high thoughts of themselves, and
would have them believe that they had not been so unjustly treated, in order to dissuade them from
avenging themselves. So these great men, as of better understanding than the rest, and desirous of peace,
because of the possessions they had, understood that this rebuke which the king gave them was intended
for their good; but as to the people, they came sixty furlongs out of Jerusalem, and congratulated both
Agrippa and Neopolitanus; but the wives of those that had been slain came running first of all and
lamenting. The people also, when they heard their mourning, fell into lamentations also, and besought
Agrippa to assist them: they also cried out to Neopolitanus, and complained of the many miseries they
had endured under Florus; and they showed them, when they were come into the city, how the market-
place was made desolate, and the houses plundered. They then persuaded Neopolitanus, by the means of
Agrippa, that he would walk round the city, with one only servant, as far as Siloam, that he might inform
himself that the Jews submitted to all the rest of the Romans, and were only displeased at Florus, by
reason of his exceeding barbarity to them. So he walked round, and had sufficient experience of the good
temper the people were in, and then went up to the temple, where he called the multitude together, and
highly commended them for their fidelity to the Romans, and earnestly exhorted them to keep the peace;
and having performed such parts of Divine worship at the temple as he was allowed to do, he returned to
Cestius.

3. But as for the multitude of the Jews, they addressed themselves to the king, and to the high priests, and
desired they might have leave to send ambassadors to Nero against Florus, and not by their silence afford
a suspicion that they had been the occasions of such great slaughters as had been made, and were disposed

103
to revolt, alleging that they should seem to have been the first beginners of the war, if they did not prevent
the report by showing who it was that began it; and it appeared openly that they would not be quiet, if any
body should hinder them from sending such an embassage. But Agrippa, although he thought it too
dangerous a thing for them to appoint men to go as the accusers of Florus, yet did he not think it fit for
him to overlook them, as they were in a disposition for war. He therefore called the multitude together
into a large gallery, and placed his sister Bernice in the house of the Asamoneans, that she might be seen
by them, (which house was over the gallery, at the passage to the upper city, where the bridge joined the
temple to the gallery,) and spake to them as follows:

4.(24) " Had I perceived that you were all zealously disposed to go to war with the Romans, and that the
purer and more sincere part of the people did not propose to live in peace, I had not come out to you, nor
been so bold as to give you counsel; for all discourses that tend to persuade men to do what they ought to
do are superfluous, when the hearers are agreed to do the contrary. But because some are earnest to go to
war because they are young, and without experience of the miseries it brings, and because some are for it
out of an unreasonable expectation of regaining their liberty, and because others hope to get by it, and are
therefore earnestly bent upon it, that in the confusion of your affairs they may gain what belongs to those
that are too weak to resist them, I have thought proper to get you all together, and to say to you what I
think to be for your advantage; that so the former may grow wiser, and change their minds, and that the
best men may come to no harm by the ill conduct of some others. And let not any one be tumultuous
against me, in case what they hear me say do not please them; for as to those that admit of no cure, but are
resolved upon a revolt, it will still be in their power to retain the same sentiments after my exhortation is
over; but still my discourse will fall to the ground, even with a relation to those that have a mind to hear
me, unless you will all keep silence. I am well aware that many make a tragical exclamation concerning
the injuries that have been offered you by your procurators, and concerning the glorious advantages of
liberty; but before I begin the inquiry, who you are that must go to war, and who they are against whom
you must fight, I shall first separate those pretenses that are by some connected together; for if you aim at
avenging yourselves on those that have done you injury, why do you pretend this to be a war for
recovering your liberty? but if you think all servitude intolerable, to what purpose serve your complaint
against your particular governors? for if they treated you with moderation, it would still be equally an
unworthy thing to be in servitude. Consider now the several cases that may be supposed, how little
occasion there is for your going to war. Your first occasion is the accusations you have to make against
your procurators; now here you ought to be submissive to those in authority, and not give them any
provocation; but when you reproach men greatly for small offenses, you excite those whom you reproach
to be your adversaries; for this will only make them leave off hurting you privately, and with some degree
of modesty, and to lay what you have waste openly. Now nothing so much damps the force of strokes as
bearing them with patience; and the quietness of those who are injured diverts the injurious persons from
afflicting. But let us take it for granted that the Roman ministers are injurious to you, and are incurably
severe; yet are they not all the Romans who thus injure you; nor hath Caesar, against whom you are going
to make war, injured you: it is not by their command that any wicked governor is sent to you; for they
who are in the west cannot see those that are in the east; nor indeed is it easy for them there even to hear
what is done in these parts. Now it is absurd to make war with a great many for the sake of one, to do so
with such mighty people for a small cause; and this when these people are not able to know of what you
complain: nay, such crimes as we complain of may soon be corrected, for the same procurator will not
continue for ever; and probable it is that the successors will come with more moderate inclinations. But as
for war, if it be once begun, it is not easily laid down again, nor borne without calamities coming
therewith. However, as to the desire of recovering your liberty, it is unseasonable to indulge it so late;
whereas you ought to have labored earnestly in old time that you might never have lost it; for the first
experience of slavery was hard to be endured, and the struggle that you might never have been subject to
it would have been just; but that slave who hath been once brought into subjection, and then runs away, is
104
rather a refractory slave than a lover of liberty; for it was then the proper time for doing all that was
possible, that you might never have admitted the Romans [into your city], when Pompey came first into
the country. But so it was, that our ancestors and their kings, who were in much better circumstances than
we are, both as to money, and strong bodies, and [valiant] souls, did not bear the onset of a small body of
the Roman army. And yet you, who have now accustomed yourselves to obedience from one generation
to another, and who are so much inferior to those who first submitted, in your circumstances will venture
to oppose the entire empire of the Romans. While those Athenians, who, in order to preserve the liberty of
Greece, did once set fire to their own city; who pursued Xerxes, that proud prince, when he sailed upon
the land, and walked upon the sea, and could not be contained by the seas, but conducted such an army as
was too broad for Europe; and made him run away like a fugitive in a single ship, and brake so great a
part of Asia at the Lesser Salamis; are yet at this time servants to the Romans; and those injunctions
which are sent from Italy become laws to the principal governing city of Greece. Those Lacedemonians
also who got the great victories at Thermopylae. and Platea, and had Agesilaus [for their king], and
searched every corner of Asia, are contented to admit the same lords. Those Macedonians also, who still
fancy what great men their Philip and Alexander were, and see that the latter had promised them the
empire over the world, these bear so great a change, and pay their obedience to those whom fortune hath
advanced in their stead. Moreover, ten thousand ether nations there are who had greater reason than we to
claim their entire liberty, and yet do submit. You are the only people who think it a disgrace to be servants
to those to whom all the world hath submitted. What sort of an army do you rely on? What are the arms
you depend on? Where is your fleet, that may seize upon the Roman seas? and where are those treasures
which may be sufficient for your undertakings? Do you suppose, I pray you, that you are to make war
with the Egyptians, and with the Arabians? Will you not carefully reflect upon the Roman empire? Will
you not estimate your own weakness? Hath not your army been often beaten even by your neighboring
nations, while the power of the Romans is invincible in all parts of the habitable earth? nay, rather they
seek for somewhat still beyond that; for all Euphrates is not a sufficient boundary for them on the east
side, nor the Danube on the north; and for their southern limit, Libya hath been searched over by them, as
far as countries uninhabited, as is Cadiz their limit on the west; nay, indeed, they have sought for another
habitable earth beyond the ocean, and have carried their arms as far as such British islands as were never
known before. What therefore do you pretend to? Are you richer than the Gauls, stronger than the
Germans, wiser than the Greeks, more numerous than all men upon the habitable earth? What confidence
is it that elevates you to oppose the Romans? Perhaps it will be said, It is hard to endure slavery. Yes; but
how much harder is this to the Greeks, who were esteemed the noblest of all people under the sun! These,
though they inhabit in a large country, are in subjection to six bundles of Roman rods. It is the same case
with the Macedonians, who have juster reason to claim their liberty than you have. What is the case of
five hundred cities of Asia? Do they not submit to a single governor, and to the consular bundle of rods?
What need I speak of the Henlochi, and Colchi and the nation of Tauri, those that inhabit the Bosphorus,
and the nations about Pontus, and Meotis, who formerly knew not so much as a lord of their own, but arc
now subject to three thousand armed men, and where forty long ships keep the sea in peace, which before
was not navigable, and very tempestuous? How strong a plea may Bithynia, and Cappadocia, and the
people of Pamphylia, the Lycians, and Cilicians, put in for liberty! But they are made tributary without an
army. What are the circumstances of the Thracians, whose country extends in breadth five days' journey,
and in length seven, and is of a much more harsh constitution, and much more defensible, than yours, and
by the rigor of its cold sufficient to keep off armies from attacking them? do not they submit to two
thousand men of the Roman garrisons? Are not the Illyrlans, who inhabit the country adjoining, as far as
Dalmatia and the Danube, governed by barely two legions? by which also they put a stop to the incursions
of the Daeians. And for the Dalmatians, who have made such frequent insurrections in order to regain
their liberty, and who could never before be so thoroughly subdued, but that they always gathered their
forces together again, revolted, yet are they now very quiet under one Roman legion. Moreover, if eat
advantages might provoke any people to revolt, the Gauls might do it best of all, as being so thoroughly
105
walled round by nature; on the east side by the Alps, on the north by the river Rhine, on the south by the
Pyrenean mountains, and on the west by the ocean. Now although these Gauls have such obstacles before
them to prevent any attack upon them, and have no fewer than three hundred and five nations among
them, nay have, as one may say, the fountains of domestic happiness within themselves, and send out
plentiful streams of happiness over almost the whole world, these bear to be tributary to the Romans, and
derive their prosperous condition from them; and they undergo this, not because they are of effeminate
minds, or because they are of an ignoble stock, as having borne a war of eighty years in order to preserve
their liberty; but by reason of the great regard they have to the power of the Romans, and their good
fortune, which is of greater efficacy than their arms. These Gauls, therefore, are kept in servitude by
twelve hundred soldiers, which are hardly so many as are their cities; nor hath the gold dug out of the
mines of Spain been sufficient for the support of a war to preserve their liberty, nor could their vast
distance from the Romans by land and by sea do it; nor could the martial tribes of the Lusitanians and
Spaniards escape; no more could the ocean, with its tide, which yet was terrible to the ancient inhabitants.
Nay, the Romans have extended their arms beyond the pillars of Hercules, and have walked among the
clouds, upon the Pyrenean mountains, and have subdued these nations. And one legion is a sufficient
guard for these people, although they were so hard to be conquered, and at a distance so remote from
Rome. Who is there among you that hath not heard of the great number of the Germans? You have, to be
sure, yourselves seen them to be strong and tall, and that frequently, since the Romans have them among
their captives every where; yet these Germans, who dwell in an immense country, who have minds greater
than their bodies, and a soul that despises death, and who are in rage more fierce than wild beasts, have
the Rhine for the boundary of their enterprises, and are tamed by eight Roman legions. Such of them as
were taken captive became their servants; and the rest of the entire nation were obliged to save themselves
by flight. Do you also, who depend on the walls of Jerusalem, consider what a wall the Britons had; for
the Romans sailed away to them, an subdued them while they were encompassed by the ocean, and
inhabited an island that is not less than the [continent of this] habitable earth; and four legions are a
sufficient guard to so large all island And why should I speak much more about this matter, while the
Parthians, that most warlike body of men, and lords of so many nations, and encompassed with such
mighty forces, send hostages to the Romans? whereby you may see, if you please, even in Italy, the
noblest nation of the East, under the notion of peace, submitting to serve them. Now when almost all
people under the sun submit to the Roman arms, will you be the only people that make war against them?
and this without regarding the fate of the Carthaginians, who, in the midst of their brags of the great
Hannibal, and the nobility of their Phoenician original, fell by the hand of Scipio. Nor indeed have the
Cyrenians, derived from the Lacedemonians, nor the Marmaridite, a nation extended as far as the regions
uninhabitable for want of water, nor have the Syrtes, a place terrible to such as barely hear it described,
the Nasamons and Moors, and the immense multitude of the Numidians, been able to put a stop to the
Roman valor. And as for the third part of the habitable earth, [Akica,] whose nations are so many that it is
not easy to number them, and which is bounded by the Atlantic Sea and the pillars of Hercules, and feeds
an innumerable multitude of Ethiopians, as far as the Red Sea, these have the Romans subdued entirely.
And besides the annual fruits of the earth, which maintain the multitude of the Romans for eight months
in the year, this, over and above, pays all sorts of tribute, and affords revenues suitable to the necessities
of the government. Nor do they, like you, esteem such injunctions a disgrace to them, although they have
but one Roman legion that abides among them. And indeed what occasion is there for showing you the
power of the Romans over remote countries, when it is so easy to learn it from Egypt, in your
neighborhood? This country is extended as far as the Ethiopians, and Arabia the Happy, and borders upon
India; it hath seven millions five hundred thousand men, besides the inhabitants of Alexandria, as may be
learned from the revenue of the poll tax; yet it is not ashamed to submit to the Roman government,
although it hath Alexandria as a grand temptation to a revolt, by reason it is so full of people and of
riches, and is besides exceeding large, its length being thirty furlongs, and its breadth no less than ten; and
it pays more tribute to the Romans in one month than you do in a year; nay, besides what it pays in
106
money, it sends corn to Rome that supports it for four months [in the year]: it is also walled round on all
sides, either by almost impassable deserts, or seas that have no havens, or by rivers, or by lakes; yet have
none of these things been found too strong for the Roman good fortune; however, two legions that lie in
that city are a bridle both for the remoter parts of Egypt, and for the parts inhabited by the more noble
Macedonians. Where then are those people whom you are to have for your auxiliaries? Must they come
from the parts of the world that are uninhabited? for all that are in the habitable earth are [under the]
Romans. Unless any of you extend his hopes as far as beyond the Euphrates, and suppose that those of
your own nation that dwell in Adiabene will come to your assistance; but certainly these will not
embarrass themselves with an unjustifiable war, nor, if they should follow such ill advice, will the
Parthians permit them so to do; for it is their concern to maintain the truce that is between them and the
Romans, and they will be supposed to break the covenants between them, if any under their government
march against the Romans. What remains, therefore, is this, that you have recourse to Divine assistance;
but this is already on the side of the Romans; for it is impossible that so vast an empire should be settled
without God's providence. Reflect upon it, how impossible it is for your zealous observations of your
religious customs to be here preserved, which are hard to be observed even when you fight with those
whom you are able to conquer; and how can you then most of all hope for God's assistance, when, by
being forced to transgress his law, you will make him turn his face from you? and if you do observe the
custom of the sabbath days, and will not be revealed on to do any thing thereon, you will easily be taken,
as were your forefathers by Pompey, who was the busiest in his siege on those days on which the
besieged rested. But if in time of war you transgress the law of your country, I cannot tell on whose
account you will afterward go to war; for your concern is but one, that you do nothing against any of your
forefathers; and how will you call upon God to assist you, when you are voluntarily transgressing against
his religion? Now all men that go to war do it either as depending on Divine or on human assistance; but
since your going to war will cut off both those assistances, those that are for going to war choose evident
destruction. What hinders you from slaying your children and wives with your own hands, and burning
this most excellent native city of yours? for by this mad prank you will, however, escape the reproach of
being beaten. But it were best, O my friends, it were best, while the vessel is still in the haven, to foresee
the impending storm, and not to set sail out of the port into the middle of the hurricanes; for we justly pity
those who fall into great misfortunes without fore-seeing them; but for him who rushes into manifest ruin,
he gains reproaches [instead of commiseration]. But certainly no one can imagine that you can enter into a
war as by agreement, or that when the Romans have got you under their power, they will use you with
moderation, or will not rather, for an example to other nations, burn your holy city, and utterly destroy
your whole nation; for those of you who shall survive the war will not be able to find a place whither to
flee, since all men have the Romans for their lords already, or are afraid they shall have hereafter. Nay,
indeed, the danger concerns not those Jews that dwell here only, but those of them which dwell in other
cities also; for there is no people upon the habitable earth which have not some portion of you among
them, whom your enemies will slay, in case you go to war, and on that account also; and so every city
which hath Jews in it will be filled with slaughter for the sake of a few men, and they who slay them will
be pardoned; but if that slaughter be not made by them, consider how wicked a thing it is to take arms
against those that are so kind to you. Have pity, therefore, if not on your children and wives, yet upon this
your metropolis, and its sacred walls; spare the temple, and preserve the holy house, with its holy
furniture, for yourselves; for if the Romans get you under their power, they will no longer abstain from
them, when their former abstinence shall have been so ungratefully requited. I call to witness your
sanctuary, and the holy angels of God, and this country common to us all, that I have not kept back any
thing that is for your preservation; and if you will follow that advice which you ought to do, you will have
that peace which will be common to you and to me; but if you indulge four passions, you will run those
hazards which I shall be free from."

107
5. When Agrippa had spoken thus, both he and his sister wept, and by their tears repressed a great deal of
the violence of the people; but still they cried out, that they would not fight against the Romans, but
against Florus, on account of what they had suffered by his means. To which Agrippa replied, that what
they had already done was like such as make war against the Romans; "for you have not paid the tribute
which is due to Caesar (25) and you have cut off the cloisters [of the temple] from joining to the tower
Antonia. You will therefore prevent any occasion of revolt if you will but join these together again, and if
you will but pay your tribute; for the citadel does not now belong to Florus, nor are you to pay the tribute
money to Florus."

CHAPTER 17.
HOW THE WAR OF THE JEWS WITH THE ROMANS BEGAN, AND CONCERNING
MANAHEM.

1. THIS advice the people hearkened to, and went up into the temple with the king and Bernice, and
began to rebuild the cloisters; the rulers also and senators divided themselves into the villages, and
collected the tributes, and soon got together forty talents, which was the sum that was deficient. And thus
did Agrippa then put a stop to that war which was threatened. Moreover, he attempted to persuade the
multitude to obey Florus, until Caesar should send one to succeed him; but they were hereby more
provoked, and cast reproaches upon the king, and got him excluded out of the city; nay, some of the
seditious had the impudence to throw stones at him. So when the king saw that the violence of those that
were for innovations was not to be restrained, and being very angry at the contumelies he had received, he
sent their rulers, together with their men of power, to Florus, to Cesarea, that he might appoint whom he
thought fit to collect the tribute in the country, while he retired into his own kingdom.

2. And at this time it was that some of those that principally excited the people to go to war made an
assault upon a certain fortress called Masada. They took it by treachery, and slew the Romans that were
there, and put others of their own party to keep it. At the same time Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high
priest, a very bold youth, who was at that time governor of the temple, persuaded those that officiated in
the Divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner. And this was the true beginning of our
war with the Romans; for they rejected the sacrifice of Caesar on this account; and when many of the high
priests and principal men besought them not to omit the sacrifice, which it was customary for them to
offer for their princes, they would not be prevailed upon. These relied much upon their multitude, for the
most flourishing part of the innovators assisted them; but they had the chief regard to Eleazar, the
governor of the temple.

3. Hereupon the men of power got together, and conferred with the high priests, as did also the principal
of the Pharisees; and thinking all was at stake, and that their calamities were becoming incurable, took
counsel what was to be done. Accordingly, they determined to try what they could do with the seditious
by words, and assembled the people before the brazen gate, which was that gate of the inner temple [court
of the priests] which looked toward the sun-rising. And, in the first place, they showed the great
indignation they had at this attempt for a revolt, and for their bringing so great a war upon their country;
after which they confuted their pretense as unjustifiable, and told them that their forefathers had adorned
their temple in great part with donations bestowed on them by foreigners, and had always received what
had been presented to them from foreign nations; and that they had been so far from rejecting any person's
sacrifice (which would be the highest instance of impiety,) that they had themselves placed those donation
about the temple which were still visible, and had remained there so long a time; that they did now irritate
the Romans to take arms against them, and invited them to make war upon them, and brought up novel

108
rules of a strange Divine worship, and determined to run the hazard of having their city condemned for
impiety, while they would not allow any foreigner, but Jews only, either to sacrifice or to worship therein.
And if such a law should be introduced in the case of a single private person only, he would have
indignation at it, as an instance of inhumanity determined against him; while they have no regard to the
Romans or to Caesar, and forbid even their oblations to be received also; that however they cannot but
fear, lest, by thus rejecting their sacrifices, they shall not be allowed to offer their own; and that this city
will lose its principality, unless they grow wiser quickly, and restore the sacrifices as formerly, and indeed
amend the injury [they have offered foreigners] before the report of it comes to the ears of those that have
been injured.

4. And as they said these things, they produced those priests that were skillful in the customs of their
country, who made the report that all their forefathers had received the sacrifices from foreign nations.
But still not one of the innovators would hearken to what was said; nay, those that ministered about the
temple would not attend their Divine service, but were preparing matters for beginning the war. So the
men of power perceiving that the sedition was too hard for them to subdue, and that the danger which
would arise from the Romans would come upon them first of all, endeavored to save themselves, and sent
ambassadors, some to Florus, the chief of which was Simon the son of Ananias; and others to Agrippa,
among whom the most eminent were Saul, and Antipas, and Costobarus, who were of the king's kindred;
and they desired of them both that they would come with an army to the city, and cut off the seditious
before it should be too hard to be subdued. Now this terrible message was good news to Florus; and
because his design was to have a war kindled, he gave the ambassadors no answer at all. But Agrippa was
equally solicitous for those that were revolting, and for those against whom the war was to be made, and
was desirous to preserve the Jews for the Romans, and the temple and metropolis for the Jews; he was
also sensible that it was not for his own advantage that the disturbances should proceed; so he sent three
thousand horsemen to the assistance of the people out of Auranitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis, and
these under Darius, the master of his horse, and Philip the son of Jacimus, the general of his army.

5. Upon this the men of power, with the high priests, as also all the part of the multitude that were
desirous of peace, took courage, and seized upon the upper city [Mount Sion;] for the seditious part had
the lower city and the temple in their power; so they made use of stones and slings perpetually against one
another, and threw darts continually on both sides; and sometimes it happened that they made incursions
by troops, and fought it out hand to hand, while the seditious were superior in boldness, but the king's
soldiers in skill. These last strove chiefly to gain the temple, and to drive those out of it who profaned it;
as did the seditious, with Eleazar, besides what they had already, labor to gain the upper city. Thus were
there perpetual slaughters on both sides for seven days' time; but neither side would yield up the parts
they had seized on.

6. Now the next day was the festival of Xylophory; upon which the custom was for every one to bring
wood for the altar (that there might never be a want of fuel for that fire which was unquenchable and
always burning). Upon that day they excluded the opposite party from the observation of this part of
religion. And when they had joined to themselves many of the Sicarii, who crowded in among the weaker
people, (that was the name for such robbers as had under their bosoms swords called Sicae,) they grew
bolder, and carried their undertaking further; insomuch that the king's soldiers were overpowered by their
multitude and boldness; and so they gave way, and were driven out of the upper city by force. The others
then set fire to the house of Ananias the high priest, and to the palaces of Agrippa and Bernice; after
which they carried the fire to the place where the archives were reposited, and made haste to burn the
contracts belonging to their creditors, and thereby to dissolve their obligations for paying their debts; and
this was done in order to gain the multitude of those who had been debtors, and that they might persuade
the poorer sort to join in their insurrection with safety against the more wealthy; so the keepers of the
109
records fled away, and the rest set fire to them. And when they had thus burnt down the nerves of the city,
they fell upon their enemies; at which time some of the men of power, and of the high priests, went into
the vaults under ground, and concealed themselves, while others fled with the king's soldiers to the upper
palace, and shut the gates immediately; among whom were Ananias the high priest, and the ambassadors
that had been sent to Agrippa. And now the seditious were contented with the victory they had gotten, and
the buildings they had burnt down, and proceeded no further.

7. But on the next day, which was the fifteenth of the month Lous, [Ab,] they made an assault upon
Antonia, and besieged the garrison which was in it two days, and then took the garrison, and slew them,
and set the citadel on fire; after which they marched to the palace, whither the king's soldiers were fled,
and parted themselves into four bodies, and made an attack upon the walls. As for those that were within
it, no one had the courage to sally out, because those that assaulted them were so numerous; but they
distributed themselves into the breast-works and turrets, and shot at the besiegers, whereby many of the
robbers fell under the walls; nor did they cease to fight one with another either by night or by day, while
the seditious supposed that those within would grow weary for want of food, and those without supposed
the others would do the like by the tediousness of the siege.

8. In the mean time, one Manahem, the son of Judas, that was called the Galilean, (who was a very
cunning sophister, and had formerly reproached the Jews under Cyrenius, that after God they were subject
to the Romans,) took some of the men of note with him, and retired to Masada, where he broke open king
Herod's armory, and gave arms not only to his own people, but to other robbers also. These he made use
of for a guard, and returned in the state of a king to Jerusalem; he became the leader of the sedition, and
gave orders for continuing the siege; but they wanted proper instruments, and it was not practicable to
undermine the wall, because the darts came down upon them from above. But still they dug a mine from a
great distance under one of the towers, and made it totter; and having done that, they set on fire what was
combustible, and left it; and when the foundations were burnt below, the tower fell down suddenly. Yet
did they then meet with another wall that had been built within, for the besieged were sensible beforehand
of what they were doing, and probably the tower shook as it was undermining; so they provided
themselves of another fortification; which when the besiegers unexpectedly saw, while they thought they
had already gained the place, they were under some consternation. However, those that were within sent
to Manahem, and to the other leaders of the sedition, and desired they might go out upon a capitulation:
this was granted to the king's soldiers and their own countrymen only, who went out accordingly; but the
Romans that were left alone were greatly dejected, for they were not able to force their way through such
a multitude; and to desire them to give them their right hand for their security, they thought it would be a
reproach to them; and besides, if they should give it them, they durst not depend upon it; so they deserted
their camp, as easily taken, and ran away to the royal towers, - that called Hippicus, that called Phasaelus,
and that called Mariamne. But Manahem and his party fell upon the place whence the soldiers were fled,
and slew as many of them as they could catch, before they got up to the towers, and plundered what they
left behind them, and set fire to their camp. This was executed on the sixth day of the month Gorpieus
[Elul].

9. But on the next day the high priest was caught where he had concealed himself in an aqueduct; he was
slain, together with Hezekiah his brother, by the robbers: hereupon the seditious besieged the towers, and
kept them guarded, lest any one of the soldiers should escape. Now the overthrow of the places of
strength, and the death of the high priest Ananias, so puffed up Manahem, that he became barbarously
cruel; and as he thought he had no antagonist to dispute the management of affairs with him, he was no
better than an insupportable tyrant; but Eleazar and his party, when words had passed between them, how
it was not proper when they revolted from the Romans, out of the desire of liberty, to betray that liberty to
any of their own people, and to bear a lord, who, though he should be guilty of no violence, was yet
110
meaner than themselves; as also, that in case they were obliged to set some one over their public affairs, it
was fitter they should give that privilege to any one rather than to him; they made an assault upon him in
the temple; for he went up thither to worship in a pompous manner, and adorned with royal garments, and
had his followers with him in their armor. But Eleazar and his party fell violently upon him, as did also
the rest of the people; and taking up stones to attack him withal, they threw them at the sophister, and
thought, that if he were once ruined, the entire sedition would fall to the ground. Now Manahem and his
party made resistance for a while; but when they perceived that the whole multitude were falling upon
them, they fled which way every one was able; those that were caught were slain, and those that hid
themselves were searched for. A few there were of them who privately escaped to Masada, among whom
was Eleazar, the son of Jairus, who was of kin to Manahem, and acted the part of a tyrant at Masada
afterward. As for Manahem himself, he ran away to the place called Ophla, and there lay skulking in
private; but they took him alive, and drew him out before them all; they then tortured him with many sorts
of torments, and after all slew him, as they did by those that were captains under him also, and
particularly by the principal instrument of his tyranny, whose name was Apsalom.

10. And, as I said, so far truly the people assisted them, while they hoped this might afford some
amendment to the seditious practices; but the others were not in haste to put an end to the war, but hoped
to prosecute it with less danger, now they had slain Manahem. It is true, that when the people earnestly
desired that they would leave off besieging the soldiers, they were the more earnest in pressing it forward,
and this till Metilius, who was the Roman general, sent to Eleazar, and desired that they would. give them
security to spare their lives only; but agreed to deliver up their arms, and what else they had with them.
The others readily complied with their petition, sent to them Gorion, the son of Nicodemus, and Ananias,
the son of Sadduk, and Judas, the son of Jonathan, that they might give them the security Of their right
hands, and of their oaths; after which Metilius brought down his soldiers; which soldiers, while they were
in arms, were not meddled with by any of the seditious, nor was there any appearance of treachery; but as
soon as, according to the articles of capitulation, they had all laid down their shields and their swords, and
were under no further suspicion of any harm, but were going away, Eleazar's men attacked them after a
violent manner, and encompassed them round, and slew them, while they neither defended themselves,
nor entreated for mercy, but only cried out upon the breach of their articles of capitulation and their oaths.
And thus were all these men barbarously murdered, excepting Metilius; for when he entreated for mercy,
and promised that he would turn Jew, and be circumcised, they saved him alive, but none else. This loss
to the Romans was but light, there being no more than a few slain out of an immense army; but still it
appeared to be a prelude to the Jews' own destruction, while men made public lamentation when they saw
that such occasions were afforded for a war as were incurable; that the city was all over polluted with
such abominations, from which it was but reasonable to expect some vengeance, even though they should
escape revenge from the Romans; so that the city was filled with sadness, and every one of the moderate
men in it were under great disturbance, as likely themselves to undergo punishment for the wickedness of
the seditious; for indeed it so happened that this murder was perpetrated on the sabbath day, on which day
the Jews have a respite from their works on account of Divine worship.

CHAPTER 18.
THE CALAMITIES AND SLAUGHTERS THAT CAME UPON THE JEWS.

1. NOW the people of Cesarea had slain the Jews that were among them on the very same day and hour
[when the soldiers were slain], which one would think must have come to pass by the direction of
Providence; insomuch that in one hour's time above twenty thousand Jews were killed, and all Cesarea
was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants; for Florus caught such as ran away, and sent them in bonds to the

111
galleys. Upon which stroke that the Jews received at Cesarea, the whole nation was greatly enraged; so
they divided themselves into several parties, and laid waste the villages of the Syrians, and their
neighboring cities, Philadelphia, and Sebonitis, and Gerasa, and Pella, and Scythopolis, and after them
Gadara, and Hippos; and falling upon Gaulonitis, some cities they destroyed there, and some they set on
fire, and then went to Kedasa, belonging to the Tyrians, and to Ptolemais, and to Gaba, and to Cesarea;
nor was either Sebaste [Samaria] or Askelon able to oppose the violence with which they were attacked;
and when they had burnt these to the ground; they entirely demolished Anthedon and Gaza; many also of
the villages that were about every one of those cities were plundered, and an immense slaughter was made
of the men who were caught in them.

2. However, the Syrians were even with the Jews in the multitude of the men whom they slew; for they
killed those whom they caught in their cities, and that not only out of the hatred they bare them, as
formerly, but to prevent the danger under which they were from them; so that the disorders in all Syria
were terrible, and every city was divided into two armies, encamped one against another, and the
preservation of the one party was in the destruction of the other; so the day time was spent in shedding of
blood, and the night in fear, which was of the two the more terrible; for when the Syrians thought they
had ruined the Jews, they had the Judaizers in suspicion also; and as each side did not care to slay those
whom they only suspected on the other, so did they greatly fear them when they were mingled with the
other, as if they were certainly foreigners. Moreover, greediness of gain was a provocation to kill the
opposite party, even to such as had of old appeared very mild and gentle towards them; for they without
fear plundered the effects of the slain, and carried off the spoils of those whom they slew to their own
houses, as if they had been gained in a set battle; and he was esteemed a man of honor who got the
greatest share, as having prevailed over the greatest number of his enemies. It was then common to see
cities filled with dead bodies, still lying unburied, and those of old men, mixed with infants, all dead, and
scattered about together; women also lay amongst them, without any covering for their nakedness: you
might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities, while the dread of still more barbarous
practices which were threatened was every where greater than what had been already perpetrated.

3. And thus far the conflict had been between Jews and foreigners; but when they made excursions to
Scythopolis, they found Jew that acted as enemies; for as they stood in battle-array with those of
Scythopolis, and preferred their own safety before their relation to us, they fought against their own
countrymen; nay, their alacrity was so very great, that those of Scythopolis suspected them. These were
afraid, therefore, lest they should make an assault upon the city in the night time, and, to their great
misfortune, should thereby make an apology for themselves to their own people for their revolt from
them. So they commanded them, that in case they would confirm their agreement and demonstrate their
fidelity to them, who were of a different nation, they should go out of the city, with their families to a
neighboring grove; and when they had done as they were commanded, without suspecting any thing, the
people of Scythopolis lay still for the interval of two days, to tempt them to be secure; but on the third
night they watched their opportunity, and cut all their throats, some as they lay unguarded, and some as
they lay asleep. The number that was slain was above thirteen thousand, and then they plundered them of
all that they had.

4. It will deserve our relation what befell Simon; he was the son of one Saul, a man of reputation among
the Jews. This man was distinguished from the rest by the strength of his body, and the boldness of his
conduct, although he abused them both to the mischieving of his countrymen; for he came every day and
slew a great many of the Jews of Scythopolis, and he frequently put them to flight, and became himself
alone the cause of his army's conquering. But a just punishment overtook him for the murders he had
committed upon those of the same nation with him; for when the people of Scythopolis threw their darts
at them in the grove, he drew his sword, but did not attack any of the enemy; for he saw that he could do
112
nothing against such a multitude; but he cried out after a very moving manner, and said, "O you people of
Scythopolis, I deservedly suffer for what I have done with relation to you, when I gave you such security
of my fidelity to you, by slaying so many of those that were related to me. Wherefore we very justly
experience the perfidiousness of foreigners, while we acted after a most wicked manner against our own
nation. I will therefore die, polluted wretch as I am, by nine own hands; for it is not fit I should die by the
hand of our enemies; and let the same action be to me both a punishment for my great crimes, and a
testimony of my courage to my commendation, that so no one of our enemies may have it to brag of, that
he it was that slew me, and no one may insult upon me as I fall." Now when he had said this, he looked
round about him upon his family with eyes of commiseration and of rage (that family consisted of a wife
and children, and his aged parents); so, in the first place, he caught his father by his grey hairs, and ran his
sword through him, and after him he did the same to his mother, who willingly received it; and after them
he did the like to his wife and children, every one almost offering themselves to his sword, as desirous to
prevent being slain by their enemies; so when he had gone over all his family, he stood upon their bodies
to be seen by all, and stretching out his right hand, that his action might be observed by all, he sheathed
his entire sword into his own bowels. This young man was to be pitied, on account of the strength of his
body and the courage of his soul; but since he had assured foreigners of his fidelity [against his own
countrymen], he suffered deservedly.

5. Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the other cities rose up against the Jews that were among them;
those of Askelon slew two thousand five hundred, and those of Ptolemais two thousand, and put not a few
into bonds; those of Tyre also put a great number to death, but kept a greater number in prison; moreover,
those of Hippos, and those of Gadara, did the like while they put to death the boldest of the Jews, but kept
those of whom they were afraid in custody; as did the rest of the cities of Syria, according as they every
one either hated them or were afraid of them; only the Antiochtans the Sidontans, and Apamians spared
those that dwelt with them, and would not endure either to kill any of the Jews, or to put them in bonds.
And perhaps they spared them, because their own number was so great that they despised their attempts.
But I think the greatest part of this favor was owing to their commiseration of those whom they saw to
make no innovations. As for the Gerasans, they did no harm to those that abode with them; and for those
who had a mind to go away, they conducted them as far as their borders reached.

6. There was also a plot laid against the Jews in Agrippa's kingdom; for he was himself gone to Cestius
Gallus, to Antioch, but had left one of his companions, whose name was Noarus, to take care of the public
affairs; which Noarus was of kin to king Sohemus. (26) Now there came certain men seventy in number,
out of Batanea, who were the most considerable for their families and prudence of the rest of the people;
these desired to have an army put into their hands, that if any tumult should happen, they might have
about them a guard sufficient to restrain such as might rise up against them. This Noarus sent out some of
the king's armed men by night, and slew all those [seventy] men; which bold action he ventured upon
without the consent of Agrippa, and was such a lover of money, that he chose to be so wicked to his own
countrymen, though he brought ruin on the kingdom thereby; and thus cruelly did he treat that nation, and
this contrary to the laws also, until Agrippa was informed of it, who did not indeed dare to put him to
death, out of regard to Sohemus; but still he put an end to his procuratorship immediately. But as to the
seditious, they took the citadel which was called Cypros, and was above Jericho, and cut the throats of the
garrison, and utterly demolished the fortifications. This was about the same time that the multitude of the
Jews that were at Machorus persuaded the Romans who were in garrison to leave the place, and deliver it
up to them. These Romans being in great fear, lest the place should be taken by force, made an agreement
with them to depart upon certain conditions; and when they had obtained the security they desired, they
delivered up the citadel, into which the people of Macherus put a garrison for their own security, and held
it in their own power.

113
7. But for Alexandria, the sedition of the people of the place against the Jews was perpetual, and this from
that very time when Alexander [the Great], upon finding the readiness of the Jews in assisting him against
the Egyptians, and as a reward for such their assistance, gave them equal privileges in this city with the
Grecians themselves; which honorary reward Continued among them under his successors, who also set
apart for them a particular place, that they might live without being polluted [by the Gentiles], and were
thereby not so much intermixed with foreigners as before; they also gave them this further privilege, that
they should be called Macedonians. Nay, when the Romans got possession of Egypt, neither the first
Caesar, nor any one that came after him, thought of diminishing the honors which Alexander had
bestowed on the Jews. But still conflicts perpetually arose with the Grecians; and although the governors
did every day punish many of them, yet did the sedition grow worse; but at this time especially, when
there were tumults in other places also, the disorders among them were put into a greater flame; for when
the Alexandrians had once a public assembly, to deliberate about an embassage they were sending to
Nero, a great number of Jews came flocking to the theater; but when their adversaries saw them, they
immediately cried out, and called them their enemies, and said they came as spies upon them; upon which
they rushed out, and laid violent hands upon them; and as for the rest, they were slain as they ran away;
but there were three men whom they caught, and hauled them along, in order to have them burnt alive; but
all the Jews came in a body to defend them, who at first threw stones at the Grecians, but after that they
took lamps, and rushed with violence into the theater, and threatened that they would burn the people to a
man; and this they had soon done, unless Tiberius Alexander, the governor of the city, had restrained their
passions. However, this man did not begin to teach them wisdom by arms, but sent among them privately
some of the principal men, and thereby entreated them to be quiet, and not provoke the Roman army
against them; but the seditious made a jest of the entreaties of Tiberius, and reproached him for so doing.

8. Now when he perceived that those who were for innovations would not be pacified till some great
calamity should overtake them, he sent out upon them those two Roman legions that were in the city, and
together with them five thousand other soldiers, who, by chance, were come together out of Libya, to the
ruin of the Jews. They were also permitted not only to kill them, but to plunder them of what they had,
and to set fire to their houses. These soldiers rushed violently into that part of the city that was called
Delta, where the Jewish people lived together, and did as they were bidden, though not without bloodshed
on their own side also; for the Jews got together, and set those that were the best armed among them in
the forefront, and made a resistance for a great while; but when once they gave back, they were destroyed
unmercifully; and this their destruction was complete, some being caught in the open field, and others
forced into their houses, which houses were first plundered of what was in them, and then set on fire by
the Romans; wherein no mercy was shown to the infants, and no regard had to the aged; but they went on
in the slaughter of persons of every age, till all the place was overflowed with blood, and fifty thousand of
them lay dead upon heaps; nor had the remainder been preserved, had they not be-taken themselves to
supplication. So Alexander commiserated their condition, and gave orders to the Romans to retire;
accordingly, these being accustomed to obey orders, left off killing at the first intimation; but the populace
of Alexandria bare so very great hatred to the Jews, that it was difficult to recall them, and it was a hard
thing to make them leave their dead bodies.

9. And this was the miserable calamity which at this time befell the Jews at Alexandria. Hereupon Cestius
thought fit no longer to lie still, while the Jews were everywhere up in arms; so he took out of Antioch the
twelfth legion entire, and out of each of the rest he selected two thousand, with six cohorts of footmen,
and four troops of horsemen, besides those auxiliaries which were sent by the kings; of which Antiochus
sent two thousand horsemen, and three thousand footmen, with as many archers; and Agrippa sent the
same number of footmen, and one thousand horsemen; Sohemus also followed with four thousand, a third
part whereof were horsemen, but most part were archers, and thus did he march to Ptolemais. There were
also great numbers of auxiliaries gathered together from the [free] cities, who indeed had not the same
114
skill in martial affairs, but made up in their alacrity and in their hatred to the Jews what they wanted in
skill. There came also along with Cestius Agrippa himself, both as a guide in his march over the country,
and a director what was fit to be done; so Cestius took part of his forces, and marched hastily to Zabulon,
a strong city of Galilee, which was called the City of Men, and divides the country of Ptolemais from our
nation; this he found deserted by its men, the multitude having fled to the mountains, but full of all sorts
of good things; those he gave leave to the soldiers to plunder, and set fire to the city, although it was of
admirable beauty, and had its houses built like those in Tyre, and Sidon, and Berytus. After this he
overran all the country, and seized upon whatsoever came in his way, and set fire to the villages that were
round about them, and then returned to Ptolemais. But when the Syrians, and especially those of Berytus,
were busy in plundering, the Jews pulled up their courage again, for they knew that Cestius was retired,
and fell upon those that were left behind unexpectedly, and destroyed about two thousand of them. (27)

10. And now Cestius himself marched from Ptolemais, and came to Cesarea; but he sent part of his army
before him to Joppa, and gave order, that if they could take that city [by surprise] they should keep it; but
that in case the citizens should perceive they were coming to attack them, that they then should stay for
him, and for the rest of the army. So some of them made a brisk march by the sea-side, and some by land,
and so coming upon them on both sides, they took the city with ease; and as the inhabitants had made no
provision beforehand for a flight, nor had gotten any thing ready for fighting, the soldiers fell upon them,
and slew them all, with their families, and then plundered and burnt the city. The number of the slain was
eight thousand four hundred. In like manner, Cestius sent also a considerable body of horsemen to the
toparchy of Narbatene, that adjoined to Cesarea, who destroyed the country, and slew a great multitude of
its people; they also plundered what they had, and burnt their villages.

11. But Cestius sent Gallus, the commander of the twelfth legion, into Galilee, and delivered to him as
many of his forces as he supposed sufficient to subdue that nation. He was received by the strongest city
of Galilee, which was Sepphoris, with acclamations of joy; which wise conduct of that city occasioned the
rest of the cities to be in quiet; while the seditious part and the robbers ran away to that mountain which
lies in the very middle of Galilee, and is situated over against Sepphoris; it is called Asamon. So Gallus
brought his forces against them; but while those men were in the superior parts above the Romans, they
easily threw their darts upon the Romans, as they made their approaches, and slew about two hundred of
them. But when the Romans had gone round the mountains, and were gotten into the parts above their
enemies, the others were soon beaten; nor could they who had only light armor on sustain the force of
them that fought them armed all over; nor when they were beaten could they escape the enemies'
horsemen; insomuch that only some few concealed themselves in certain places hard to be come at,
among the mountains, while the rest, above two thousand in number, were slain.

CHAPTER 19.
WHAT CESTIUS DID AGAINST THE JEWS; AND HOW, UPON HIS BESIEGING
JERUSALEM, HE RETREATED FROM THE CITY WITHOUT ANY JUST OCCASION IN
THE WORLD. AS ALSO WHAT SEVERE CALAMITIES HE UNDER WENT FROM THE
JEWS IN HIS RETREAT.

1. AND now Gallus, seeing nothing more that looked towards an innovation in Galilee, returned with his
army to Cesarea: but Cestius removed with his whole army, and marched to Antipatris; and when he was
informed that there was a great body of Jewish forces gotten together in a certain tower called Aphek, he
sent a party before to fight them; but this party dispersed the Jews by affrighting them before it came to a
battle: so they came, and finding their camp deserted, they burnt it, as well as the villages that lay about it.

115
But when Cestius had marched from Antipatris to Lydda, he found the city empty of its men, for the
whole multitude (28) were gone up to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles; yet did he destroy fifty of
those that showed themselves, and burnt the city, and so marched forwards; and ascending by Betboron,
he pitched his camp at a certain place called Gabao, fifty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.

2. But as for the Jews, when they saw the war approaching to their metropolis, they left the feast, and
betook themselves to their arms; and taking courage greatly from their multitude, went in a sudden and
disorderly manner to the fight, with a great noise, and without any consideration had of the rest of the
seventh day, although the Sabbath (29) was the day to which they had the greatest regard; but that rage
which made them forget the religious observation [of the sabbath] made them too hard for their enemies
in the fight: with such violence therefore did they fall upon the Romans, as to break into their ranks, and
to march through the midst of them, making a great slaughter as they went, insomuch that unless the
horsemen, and such part of the footmen as were not yet tired in the action, had wheeled round, and
succored that part of the army which was not yet broken, Cestius, with his whole army, had been in
danger: however, five hundred and fifteen of the Romans were slain, of which number four hundred were
footmen, and the rest horsemen, while the Jews lost only twenty-two, of whom the most valiant were the
kinsmen of Monobazus, king of Adiabene, and their names were Monobazus and Kenedeus; and next to
them were Niger of Perea, and Silas of Babylon, who had deserted from king Agrippa to the Jews; for he
had formerly served in his army. When the front of the Jewish army had been cut off, the Jews retired into
the city; but still Simon, the son of Giora, fell upon the backs of the Romans, as they were ascending up
Bethoron, and put the hindmost of the army into disorder, and carried off many of the beasts that carded
the weapons of war, and led Shem into the city. But as Cestius tarried there three days, the Jews seized
upon the elevated parts of the city, and set watches at the entrances into the city, and appeared openly
resolved not to rest when once the Romans should begin to march.

3. And now when Agrippa observed that even the affairs of the Romans were likely to be in danger, while
such an immense multitude of their enemies had seized upon the mountains round about, he determined to
try what the Jews would agree to by words, as thinking that he should either persuade them all to desist
from fighting, or, however, that he should cause the sober part of them to separate themselves from the
opposite party. So he sent Borceus and Phebus, the persons of his party that were the best known to them,
and promised them that Cestius should give them his right hand, to secure them of the Romans' entire
forgiveness of what they had done amiss, if they would throw away their arms, and come over to them;
but the seditious, fearing lest the whole multitude, in hopes of security to themselves, should go over to
Agrippa, resolved immediately to fall upon and kill the ambassadors; accordingly they slew Phebus
before he said a word, but Borceus was only wounded, and so prevented his fate by flying away. And
when the people were very angry at this, they had the seditious beaten with stones and clubs, and drove
them before them into the city.

4. But now Cestius, observing that the disturbances that were begun among the Jews afforded him a
proper opportunity to attack them, took his whole army along with him, and put the Jews to flight, and
pursued them to Jerusalem. He then pitched his camp upon the elevation called Scopus, [or watch-tower,]
which was distant seven furlongs from the city; yet did not he assault them in three days' time, out of
expectation that those within might perhaps yield a little; and in the mean time he sent out a great many of
his soldiers into neighboring villages, to seize upon their corn. And on the fourth day, which was the
thirtieth of the month Hyperbereteus, [Tisri,] when he had put his army in array, he brought it into the
city. Now for the people, they were kept under by the seditious; but the seditious themselves were greatly
affrighted at the good order of the Romans, and retired from the suburbs, and retreated into the inner part
of the city, and into the temple. But when Cestius was come into the city, he set the part called Bezetha,
which is called Cenopolis, [or the new city,] on fire; as he did also to the timber market; after which he
116
came into the upper city, and pitched his camp over against the royal palace; and had he but at this very
time attempted to get within the walls by force, he had won the city presently, and the war had been put
an end to at once; but Tyrannius Priseus, the muster-master of the army, and a great number of the
officers of the horse, had been corrupted by Florus, and diverted him from that his attempt; and that was
the occasion that this war lasted so very long, and thereby the Jews were involved in such incurable
calamities.

5. In the mean time, many of the principal men of the city were persuaded by Ananus, the son of
Jonathan, and invited Cestius into the city, and were about to open the gates for him; but he overlooked
this offer, partly out of his anger at the Jews, and partly because he did not thoroughly believe they were
in earnest; whence it was that he delayed the matter so long, that the seditious perceived the treachery, and
threw Ananus and those of his party down from the wall, and, pelting them with stones, drove them into
their houses; but they stood themselves at proper distances in the towers, and threw their darts at those
that were getting over the wall. Thus did the Romans make their attack against the wall for five days, but
to no purpose. But on the next day Cestius took a great many of his choicest men, and with them the
archers, and attempted to break into the temple at the northern quarter of it; but the Jews beat them off
from the cloisters, and repulsed them several times when they were gotten near to the wall, till at length
the multitude of the darts cut them off, and made them retire; but the first rank of the Romans rested their
shields upon the wall, and so did those that were behind them, and the like did those that were still more
backward, and guarded themselves with what they call Testudo, [the back of] a tortoise, upon which the
darts that were thrown fell, and slided off without doing them any harm; so the soldiers undermined the
wall, without being themselves hurt, and got all things ready for setting fire to the gate of the temple.

6. And now it was that a horrible fear seized upon the seditious, insomuch that many of them ran out of
the city, as though it were to be taken immediately; but the people upon this took courage, and where the
wicked part of the city gave ground, thither did they come, in order to set open the gates, and to admit
Cestius (30) as their benefactor, who, had he but continued the siege a little longer, had certainly taken the
city; but it was, I suppose, owing to the aversion God had already at the city and the sanctuary, that he
was hindered from putting an end to the war that very day.

7. It then happened that Cestius was not conscious either how the besieged despaired of success, nor how
courageous the people were for him; and so he recalled his soldiers from the place, and by despairing of
any expectation of taking it, without having received any disgrace, he retired from the city, without any
reason in the world. But when the robbers perceived this unexpected retreat of his, they resumed their
courage, and ran after the hinder parts of his army, and destroyed a considerable number of both their
horsemen and footmen; and now Cestius lay all night at the camp which was at Scopus; and as he went
off farther next day, he thereby invited the enemy to follow him, who still fell upon the hindmost, and
destroyed them; they also fell upon the flank on each side of the army, and threw darts upon them
obliquely, nor durst those that were hindmost turn back upon those who wounded them behind, as
imagining that the multitude of those that pursued them was immense; nor did they venture to drive away
those that pressed upon them on each side, because they were heavy with their arms, and were afraid of
breaking their ranks to pieces, and because they saw the Jews were light, and ready for making incursions
upon them. And this was the reason why the Romans suffered greatly, without being able to revenge
themselves upon their enemies; so they were galled all the way, and their ranks were put into disorder,
and those that were thus put out of their ranks were slain; among whom were Priscus, the commander of
the sixth legion, and Longinus, the tribune, and Emilius Secundus, the commander of a troop of
horsemen. So it was not without difficulty that they got to Gabao, their former camp, and that not without
the loss of a great part of their baggage. There it was that Cestius staid two days, and was in great distress
to know what he should do in these circumstances; but when on the third day he saw a still much greater
117
number of enemies, and all the parts round about him full of Jews, he understood that his delay was to his
own detriment, and that if he staid any longer there, he should have still more enemies upon him.

8. That therefore he might fly the faster, he gave orders to cast away what might hinder his army's march;
so they killed the mules and other creatures, excepting those that carried their darts and machines, which
they retained for their own use, and this principally because they were afraid lest the Jews should seize
upon them. He then made his army march on as far as Bethoron. Now the Jews did not so much press
upon them when they were in large open places; but when they were penned up in their descent through
narrow passages, then did some of them get before, and hindered them from getting out of them; and
others of them thrust the hinder-most down into the lower places; and the whole multitude extended
themselves over against the neck of the passage, and covered the Roman army with their darts. In which
circumstances, as the footmen knew not how to defend themselves, so the danger pressed the horsemen
still more, for they were so pelted, that they could not march along the road in their ranks, and the ascents
were so high, that the cavalry were not able to march against the enemy; the precipices also and valleys
into which they frequently fell, and tumbled down, were such on each side of them, that there was neither
place for their flight, nor any contrivance could be thought of for their defense; till the distress they were
at last in was so great, that they betook themselves to lamentations, and to such mournful cries as men use
in the utmost despair: the joyful acclamations of the Jews also, as they encouraged one another, echoed
the sounds back again, these last composing a noise of those that at once rejoiced and were in a rage.
Indeed, things were come to such a pass, that the Jews had almost taken Cestius's entire army prisoners,
had not the night come on, when the Romans fled to Bethoron, and the Jews seized upon all the places
round about them, and watched for their coming out [in the morning].

9. And then it was that Cestius, despairing of obtaining room for a public march, contrived how he might
best run away; and when he had selected four hundred of the most courageous of his soldiers, he placed
them at the strongest of their fortifications, and gave order, that when they went up to the morning guard,
they should erect their ensigns, that the Jews might be made to believe that the entire army was there still,
while he himself took the rest of his forces with him, and marched, without any noise, thirty furlongs. But
when the Jews perceived, in the morning, that the camp was empty, they ran upon those four hundred who
had deluded them, and immediately threw their darts at them, and slew them; and then pursued after
Cestius. But he had already made use of a great part of the night in his flight, and still marched quicker
when it was day; insomuch that the soldiers, through the astonishment and fear they were in, left behind
them their engines for sieges, and for throwing of stones, and a great part of the instruments of war. So the
Jews went on pursuing the Romans as far as Antipatris; after which, seeing they could not overtake them,
they came back, and took the engines, and spoiled the dead bodies, and gathered the prey together which
the Romans had left behind them, and came back running and singing to their metropolis; while they had
themselves lost a few only, but had slain of the Romans five thousand and three hundred footmen, and
three hundred and eighty horsemen. This defeat happened on the eighth day of the month Dius,
[Marchesvan,] in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero.

CHAPTER 20.
CESTIUS SENDS AMBASSADORS TO NERO. THE PEOPLE OF DAMASCUS SLAY THOSE
JEWS THAT LIVED WITH THEM. THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM AFTER THEY HAD
[LEFT OFF] PURSUING CESTIUS, RETURN TO THE CITY AND GET THINGS READY FOR
ITS DEFENSE AND MAKE A GREAT MANY GENERALS FOR, THEIR ARMIES AND
PARTICULARLY JOSEPHUS THE WRITER OF THESE BOOKS. SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS
ADMINISTRATION.

118
1. AFTER this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the
city, as from a ship when it was going to sink; Costobarus, therefore, and Saul, who were brethren,
together with Philip, the son of Jacimus, who was the commander of king Agrippa's forces, ran away from
the city, and went to Cestius. But then how Antipas, who had been besieged with them in the king's
palace, but would not fly away with them, was afterward slain by the seditious, we shall relate hereafter.
However, Cestius sent Saul and his friends, at their own desire, to Achaia, to Nero, to inform him of the
great distress they were in, and to lay the blame of their kindling the war upon Florus, as hoping to
alleviate his own danger, by provoking his indignation against Florus.

2. In the mean time, the people of Damascus, when they were informed of the destruction of the Romans,
set about the slaughter of those Jews that were among them; and as they had them already cooped up
together in the place of public exercises, which they had done out of the suspicion they had of them, they
thought they should meet with no difficulty in the attempt; yet did they distrust their own wives, which
were almost all of them addicted to the Jewish religion; on which account it was that their greatest
concern was, how they might conceal these things from them; so they came upon the Jews, and cut their
throats, as being in a narrow place, in number ten thousand, and all of them unarmed, and this in one
hour's time, without any body to disturb them.

3. But as to those who had pursued after Cestius, when they were returned back to Jerusalem, they
overbore some of those that favored the Romans by violence, and some them persuaded [by en-treaties] to
join with them, and got together in great numbers in the temple, and appointed a great many generals for
the war. Joseph also, the son of Gorion, (31) and Ananus the high priest, were chosen as governors of all
affairs within the city, and with a particular charge to repair the walls of the city; for they did not ordain
Eleazar the son of Simon to that office, although he had gotten into his possession the prey they had taken
from the Romans, and the money they had taken from Cestius, together with a great part of the public
treasures, because they saw he was of a tyrannical temper, and that his followers were, in their behavior,
like guards about him. However, the want they were in of Eleazar's money, and the subtle tricks used by
him, brought all so about, that the people were circumvented, and submitted themselves to his authority in
all public affairs.

4. They also chose other generals for Idumea; Jesus, the son of Sapphias, one of the high priests; and
Eleazar, the son of Ananias, the high priest; they also enjoined Niger, the then governor of Idumea, (32)
who was of a family that belonged to Perea, beyond Jordan, and was thence called the Peraite, that he
should be obedient to those fore-named commanders. Nor did they neglect the care of other parts of the
country; but Joseph the son of Simon was sent as general to Jericho, as was Manasseh to Perea, and John,
the Esscue, to the toparchy of Thamna; Lydda was also added to his portion, and Joppa, and Emmaus. But
John, the son of Matthias, was made governor of the toparchies of Gophnitica and Acrabattene; as was
Josephus, the son of Matthias, of both the Galilees. Gamala also, which was the strongest city in those
parts, was put under his command.

5. So every one of the other commanders administered the affairs of his portion with that alacrity and
prudence they were masters of; but as to Josephus, when he came into Galilee, his first care was to gain
the good-will of the people of that country, as sensible that he should thereby have in general good
success, although he should fail in other points. And being conscious to himself that if he communicated
part of his power to the great men, he should make them his fast friends; and that he should gain the same
favor from the multitude, if he executed his commands by persons of their own country, and with whom
they were well acquainted; he chose out seventy of the most prudent men, and those elders in age, and
appointed them to be rulers of all Galilee, as he chose seven judges in every city to hear the lesser

119
quarrels; for as to the greater causes, and those wherein life and death were concerned, he enjoined they
should be brought to him and the seventy (33) elders.

6. Josephus also, when he had settled these rules for determining causes by the law, with regard to the
people's dealings one with another, betook himself to make provisions for their safety against external
violence; and as he knew the Romans would fall upon Galilee, he built walls in proper places about
Jotapata, and Bersabee, and Selamis; and besides these, about Caphareccho, and Japha, and Sigo, and
what they call Mount Tabor, and Tarichee, and Tiberias. Moreover, he built walls about the caves near the
lake of Gennesar, which places lay in the Lower Galilee; the same he did to the places of Upper Galilee,
as well as to the rock called the Rock of the Achabari, and to Seph, and Jamnith, and Meroth; and in
Gaulonitis he fortified Seleucia, and Sogane, and Gamala; but as to those of Sepphoris, they were the only
people to whom he gave leave to build their own walls, and this because he perceived they were rich and
wealthy, and ready to go to war, without standing in need of any injunctions for that purpose. The case
was the same with Gischala, which had a wall built about it by John the son of Levi himself, but with the
consent of Josephus; but for the building of the rest of the fortresses, he labored together with all the other
builders, and was present to give all the necessary orders for that purpose. He also got together an army
out of Galilee, of more than a hundred thousand young men, all of which he armed with the old weapons
which he had collected together and prepared for them.

7. And when he had considered that the Roman power became invincible, chiefly by their readiness in
obeying orders, and the constant exercise of their arms, he despaired of teaching these his men the use of
their arms, which was to be obtained by experience; but observing that their readiness in obeying orders
was owing to the multitude of their officers, he made his partitions in his army more after the Roman
manner, and appointed a great many subalterns. He also distributed the soldiers into various classes,
whom he put under captains of tens, and captains of hundreds, and then under captains of thousands; and
besides these, he had commanders of larger bodies of men. He also taught them to give the signals one to
another, and to call and recall the soldiers by the trumpets, how to expand the wings of an army, and make
them wheel about; and when one wing hath had success, to turn again and assist those that were hard set,
and to join in the defense of what had most suffered. He also continually instructed them ill what
concerned the courage of the soul, and the hardiness of the body; and, above all, he exercised them for
war, by declaring to them distinctly the good order of the Romans, and that they were to fight with men
who, both by the strength of their bodies and courage of their souls, had conquered in a manner the whole
habitable earth. He told them that he should make trial of the good order they would observe in war, even
before it came to any battle, in case they would abstain from the crimes they used to indulge themselves
in, such as theft, and robbery, and rapine, and from defrauding their own countrymen, and never to esteem
the harm done to those that were so near of kin to them to be any advantage to themselves; for that wars
are then managed the best when the warriors preserve a good conscience; but that such as are ill men in
private life will not only have those for enemies which attack them, but God himself also for their
antagonist.

8. And thus did he continue to admonish them. Now he chose for the war such an army as was sufficient,
i.e. sixty thousand footmen, and two hundred and fifty horsemen; (34) and besides these, on which he put
the greatest trust, there were about four thousand five hundred mercenaries; he had also six hundred men
as guards of his body. Now the cities easily maintained the rest of his army, excepting the mercenaries,
for every one of the cities enumerated above sent out half their men to the army, and retained the other
half at home, in order to get provisions for them; insomuch that the one part went to the war, and the other
part to their work, and so those that sent out their corn were paid for it by those that were in arms, by that
security which they enjoyed from them.

120
 CHAPTER 21.
CONCERNING JOHN OF GICHALA. JOSEPHUS USES STRATAGEMS AGAINST THE
PLOTS JOHN LAID AGAINST HIM AND RECOVERS CERTAIN CITIES WHICH HAD
REVOLTED FROM HIM.

1. NOW as Josephus was thus engaged in the administration of the affairs of Galilee, there arose a
treacherous person, a man of Gischala, the son of Levi, "whose name was John. His character was that of
a very cunning and very knavish person, beyond the ordinary rate of the other men of eminence there, and
for wicked practices he had not his fellow any where. Poor he was at first, and for a long time his wants
were a hinderance to him in his wicked designs. He was a ready liar, and yet very sharp in gaining credit
to his fictions: he thought it a point of virtue to delude people, and would delude even such as were the
dearest to him. He was a hypocritical pretender to humanity, but where he had hopes of gain, he spared
not the shedding of blood: his desires were ever carried to great things, and he encouraged his hopes from
those mean wicked tricks which he was the author of. He had a peculiar knack at thieving; but in some
time he got certain companions in his impudent practices; at first they were but few, but as he proceeded
on in his evil course, they became still more and more numerous. He took care that none of his partners
should be easily caught in their rogueries, but chose such out of the rest as had the strongest constitutions
of body, and the greatest courage of soul, together with great skill in martial affairs; as he got together a
band of four hundred men, who came principally out of the country of Tyre, and were vagabonds that had
run away from its villages; and by the means of these he laid waste all Galilee, and irritated a considerable
number, who were in great expectation of a war then suddenly to arise among them.

2. However, John's want of money had hitherto restrained him in his ambition after command, and in his
attempts to advance himself. But when he saw that Josephus was highly pleased with the activity of his
temper, he persuaded him, in the first place, to intrust him with the repairing of the walls of his native
city, [Gischala,] in which work he got a great deal of money from the rich citizens. He after that contrived
a very shrewd trick, and pretending that the Jews who dwelt in Syria were obliged to make use of oil that
was made by others than those of their own nation, he desired leave of Josephus to send oil to their
borders; so he bought four amphorae with such Tyrian money as was of the value of four Attic drachmae,
and sold every half-amphora at the same price. And as Galilee was very fruitful in oil, and was peculiarly
so at that time, by sending away great quantities, and having the sole privilege so to do, he gathered an
immense sum of money together, which money he immediately used to the disadvantage of him who gave
him that privilege; and, as he supposed, that if he could once overthrow Josephus, he should himself
obtain the government of Galilee; so he gave orders to the robbers that were under his command to be
more zealous in their thievish expeditions, that by the rise of many that desired innovations in the country,
he might either catch their general in his snares, as he came to the country's assistance, and then kill him;
or if he should overlook the robbers, he might accuse him for his negligence to the people of the country.
He also spread abroad a report far and near that Josephus was delivering up the administration of affairs to
the Romans; and many such plots did he lay, in order to ruin him.

3. Now at the same time that certain young men of the village Dabaritta, who kept guard in the Great
Plain laid snares for Ptolemy, who was Agrippa's and Bernice's steward, and took from him all that he had
with him; among which things there were a great many costly garments, and no small number of silver
cups, and six hundred pieces of gold; yet were they not able to conceal what they had stolen, but brought
it all to Josephus, to Tarichee. Hereupon he blamed them for the violence they had offered to the king and
queen, and deposited what they brought to him with Eneas, the most potent man of Taricheae, with an
intention of sending the things back to the owners at a proper time; which act of Josephus brought him

121
into the greatest danger; for those that had stolen the things had an indignation at him, both because they
gained no share of it for themselves, and because they perceived beforehand what was Josephus's
intention, and that he would freely deliver up what had cost them so much pains to the king and queen.
These ran away by night to their several villages, and declared to all men that Josephus was going to
betray them: they also raised great disorders in all the neighboring cities, insomuch that in the morning a
hundred thousand armed men came running together; which multitude was crowded together in the
hippodrome at Taricheae, and made a very peevish clamor against him; while some cried out, that they
should depose the traitor; and others, that they should burn him. Now John irritated a great many, as did
also one Jesus, the son of Sapphias, who was then governor of Tiberias. Then it was that Josephus's
friends, and the guards of his body, were so affrighted at this violent assault of the multitude, that they all
fled away but four; and as he was asleep, they awaked him, as the people were going to set fire to the
house. And although those four that remained with him persuaded him to run away, he was neither
surprised at his being himself deserted, nor at the great multitude that came against him, but leaped out to
them with his clothes rent, and ashes sprinkled on his head, with his hands behind him, and his sword
hanging at his neck. At this sight his friends, especially those of Tarichae, commiserated his condition;
but those that came out of the country, and those in their neighborhood, to whom his government seemed
burdensome, reproached him, and bid him produce the money which belonged to them all immediately,
and to confess the agreement he had made to betray them; for they imagined, from the habit in which he
appeared, that he would deny nothing of what they suspected concerning him, and that it was in order to
obtain pardon that he had put himself entirely into so pitiable a posture. But this humble appearance was
only designed as preparatory to a stratagem of his, who thereby contrived to set those that were so angry
at him at variance one with another about the things they were angry at. However, he promised he would
confess all: hereupon he was permitted to speak, when he said," I did neither intend to send this money
back to Agrippa, nor to gain it myself; for I did never esteem one that was your enemy to be my friend,
nor did I look upon what would tend to your disadvantage to be my advantage. But, O you people of
Tariehete, I saw that your city stood in more need than others of fortifications for your security, and that it
wanted money in order for the building it a wall. I was also afraid lest the people of Tiberias and other
cities should lay a plot to seize upon these spoils, and therefore it was that I intended to retain this money
privately, that I might encompass you with a wall. But if this does not please you, I will produce what was
brought me, and leave it to you to plunder it; but if I have conducted myself so well as to please you, you
may if you please punish your benefactor."

4. Hereupon the people of Taricheae loudly commended him; but those of Tiberias, with the rest of the
company, gave him hard names, and threatened what they would do to him; so both sides left off
quarrelling with Josephus, and fell on quarrelling with one another. So he grew bold upon the dependence
he had on his friends, which were the people of Taricheae, and about forty thousand in number, and spake
more freely to the whole multitude, and reproached them greatly for their rashness; and told them, that
with this money he would build walls about Taricheae, and would put the other cities in a state of security
also; for that they should not want money, if they would but agree for whose benefit it was to be procured,
and would not suffer themselves to be irritated against him who procured it for them.

5. Hereupon the rest of the multitude that had been deluded retired; but yet so that they went away angry,
and two thousand of them made an assault upon him in their armor; and as he was already gone to his
own house, they stood without and threatened him. On which occasion Josephus again used a second
stratagem to escape them; for he got upon the top of his house, and with his right hand desired them to be
silent, and said to them, "I cannot tell what you would have, nor can hear what you say, for the confused
noise you make;" but he said that he would comply with all their demands, in case they would but send
some of their number in to him that might talk with him about it. And when the principal of them, with
their leaders, heard this, they came into the house. He then drew them to the most retired part of the
122
house, and shut the door of that hall where he put them, and then had them whipped till every one of their
inward parts appeared naked. In the mean time the multitude stood round the house, and supposed that he
had a long discourse with those that were gone in about what they claimed of him. He had then the doors
set open immediately, and sent the men out all bloody, which so terribly aftrighted those that had before
threatened him, that they threw away their arms and ran away.

6. But as for John, his envy grew greater [upon this escape of Josephus], and he framed a new plot against
him; he pretended to be sick, and by a letter desired that Josephus would give him leave to use the hot
baths that were at Tiberias, for the recovery of his health. Hereupon Josephus, who hitherto suspected
nothing of John's plots against him, wrote to the governors of the city, that they would provide a lodging
and necessaries for John; which favors, when he had made use of, in two days' time he did what he came
about; some he corrupted with delusive frauds, and others with money, and so persuaded them to revolt
from Josephus. This Silas, who was appointed guardian of the city by Josephus, wrote to him
immediately, and informed him of the plot against him; which epistle when Josephus had received, he
marched with great diligence all night, and came early in the morning to Tiberias; at which time the rest
of the multitude met him. But John, who suspected that his coming was not for his advantage, sent
however one of his friends, and pretended that he was sick, and that being confined to his bed, he could
not come to pay him his respects. But as soon as Josephus had got the people of Tiberias together in the
stadium, and tried to discourse with them about the letters that he had received, John privately sent some
armed men, and gave them orders to slay him. But when the people saw that the armed men were about to
draw their swords, they cried out; at which cry Josephus turned himself about, and when he saw that the
swords were just at his throat, he marched away in great haste to the sea-shore, and left off that speech
which he was going to make to the people, upon an elevation of six cubits high. He then seized on a ship
which lay in the haven, and leaped into it, with two of his guards, and fled away into the midst of the lake.

7. But now the soldiers he had with him took up their arms immediately, and marched against the plotters;
but Josephus was afraid lest a civil war should be raised by the envy of a few men, and bring the city to
ruin; so he sent some of his party to tell them, that they should do no more than provide for their own
safety; that they should not kill any body, nor accuse any for the occasion they had afforded [of disorder].
Accordingly, these men obeyed his orders, and were quiet; but the people of the neighboring country,
when they were informed of this plot, and of the plotter, they got together in great multitudes to oppose
John. But he prevented their attempt, and fled away to Gischala, his native city, while the Galileans came
running out of their several cities to Josephus; and as they were now become many ten thousands of
armed men, they cried out, that they were come against John the common plotter against their interest,
and would at the same time burn him, and that city which had received him. Hereupon Josephus told them
that he took their good-will to him kindly, but still he restrained their fury, and intended to subdue his
enemies by prudent conduct, rather than by slaying them; so he excepted those of every city which had
joined in this revolt with John, by name, who had readily been shown him by these that came from every
city, and caused public proclamation to be made, that he would seize upon the effects of those that did not
forsake John within five days' time, and would burn both their houses and their families with fire.
Whereupon three thousand of John's party left him immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their
arms down at his feet. John then betook himself, together with his two thousand Syrian runagates, from
open attempts, to more secret ways of treachery. Accordingly, he privately sent messengers to Jerusalem,
to accuse Josephus, as having to great power, and to let them know that he would soon come as a tyrant to
their metropolis, unless they prevented him. This accusation the people were aware of beforehand, but had
no regard to it. However, some of the grandees, out of envy, and some of the rulers also, sent money to
John privately, that he might be able to get together mercenary soldiers, in order to fight Josephus; they
also made a decree of themselves, and this for recalling him from his government, yet did they not think
that decree sufficient; so they sent withal two thousand five hundred armed men, and four persons of the
123
highest rank amongst them; Joazar the son of Nomicus, and Ananias the son of Sadduk, as also Simon
and Judas the sons of Jonathan, all very able men in speaking, that these persons might withdraw the
good-will of the people from Josephus. These had it in charge, that if he would voluntarily come away,
they should permit him to [come and] give an account of his conduct; but if he obstinately insisted upon
continuing in his government, they should treat him as an enemy. Now Josephus's friends had sent him
word that an army was coming against him, but they gave him no notice beforehand what the reason of
their coming was, that being only known among some secret councils of his enemies; and by this means it
was that four cities revolted from him immediately, Sepphoris, and Gamala, and Gischala, and Tiberias.
Yet did he recover these cities without war; and when he had routed those four commanders by
stratagems, and had taken the most potent of their warriors, he sent them to Jerusalem; and the people [of
Galilee] had great indignation at them, and were in a zealous disposition to slay, not only these forces, but
those that sent them also, had not these forces prevented it by running away.

8. Now John was detained afterward within the walls of Gischala, by the fear he was in of Josephus; but
within a few days Tiberias revolted again, the people within it inviting king Agrippa [to return to the
exercise of his authority there]. And when he did not come at the time appointed, and when a few Roman
horsemen appeared that day, they expelled Josephus out of the city. Now this revolt of theirs was
presently known at Taricheae; and as Josephus had sent out all the soldiers that were with him to gather
corn, he knew not how either to march out alone against the revolters, or to stay where he was, because he
was afraid the king's soldiers might prevent him if he tarried, and might get into the city; for he did not
intend to do any thing on the next day, because it was the sabbath day, and would hinder his proceeding.
So he contrived to circumvent the revolters by a stratagem; and in the first place he ordered the gates of
Taricheae to be shut, that nobody might go out and inform [those of Tiberias], for whom it was intended,
what stratagem he was about; he then got together all the ships that were upon the lake, which were found
to be two hundred and thirty, and in each of them he put no more than four mariners. So he sailed to
Tiberias with haste, and kept at such a distance from the city, that it was not easy for the people to see the
vessels, and ordered that the empty vessels should float up and down there, while himself, who had but
seven of his guards with him, and those unarmed also, went so near as to be seen; but when his
adversaries, who were still reproaching him, saw him from the walls, they were so astonished that they
supposed all the ships were full of armed men, and threw down their arms, and by signals of intercession
they besought him to spare the city.

9. Upon this Josephus threatened them terribly, and reproached them, that when they were the first that
took up arms against the Romans, they should spend their force beforehand in civil dissensions, and do
what their enemies desired above all things; and that besides they should endeavor so hastily to seize upon
him, who took care of their safety, and had not been ashamed to shut the gates of their city against him
that built their walls; that, however, he would admit of any intercessors from them that might make some
excuse for them, and with whom he would make such agreements as might be for the city's security.
Hereupon ten of the most potent men of Tiberias came down to him presently; and when he had taken
them into one of his vessels, he ordered them to be carried a great way off from the city. He then
commanded that fifty others of their senate, such as were men of the greatest eminence, should come to
him, that they also might give him some security on their behalf. After which, under one new pretense or
another, he called forth others, one after another, to make the leagues between them. He then gave order
to the masters of those vessels which he had thus filled to sail away immediately for Taricheae, and to
confine those men in the prison there; till at length he took all their senate, consisting of six hundred
persons, and about two thousand of the populace, and carried them away to Taricheae. (35)

10. And when the rest of the people cried out, that it was one Clitus that was the chief author of this
revolt, they desired him to spend his anger upon him [only]; but Josephus, whose intention it was to slay
124
nobody, commanded one Levius, belonging to his guards, to go out of the vessel, in order to cut off both
Clitus's hands; yet was Levius afraid to go out by himself alone to such a large body of enemies, and
refused to go. Now Clitus saw that Josephus was in a great passion in the ship, and ready to leap out of it,
in order to execute the punishment himself; he begged therefore from the shore, that he would leave him
one of his hands; which Josephus agreed to, upon condition that he would himself cutoff the other hand;
accordingly he drew his sword, and with his right hand cut off his left, so great was the fear he was in of
Josephus himself. And thus he took the people of Tiberias prisoners, and recovered the city again with
empty ships and seven of his guard. Moreover, a few days afterward he retook Gischala, which had
revolted with the people of Sepphoris, and gave his soldiers leave to plunder it; yet did he get all the
plunder together, and restored it to the inhabitants; and the like he did to the inhabitants of Sepphoris and
Tiberias. For when he had subdued those cities, he had a mind, by letting them be plundered, to give them
some good instruction, while at the same time he regained their good-will by restoring them their money
again.

CHAPTER 22.
THE JEWS MAKE ALL READY FOR THE WAR; AND SIMON, THE SON OF GIORAS,
FALLS TO PLUNDERING.

1. AND thus were the disturbances of Galilee quieted, when, upon their ceasing to prosecute their civil
dissensions, they betook themselves to make preparations for the war with the Romans. Now in Jerusalem
the high priest Artanus, and do as many of the men of power as were not in the interest of the Romans,
both repaired the walls, and made a great many warlike instruments, insomuch that in all parts of the city
darts and all sorts of armor were upon the anvil. Although the multitude of the young men were engaged
in exercises, without any regularity, and all places were full of tumultuous doings; yet the moderate sort
were exceedingly sad; and a great many there were who, out of the prospect they had of the calamities
that were coming upon them, made great lamentations. There were also such omens observed as were
understood to be forerunners of evils by such as loved peace, but were by those that kindled the war
interpreted so as to suit their own inclinations; and the very state of the city, even before the Romans
came against it, was that of a place doomed to destruction. However, Ananus's concern was this, to lay
aside, for a while, the preparations for the war, and to persuade the seditious to consult their own interest,
and to restrain the madness of those that had the name of zealots; but their violence was too hard for him;
and what end he came to we shall relate hereafter.

2. But as for the Acrabbene toparchy, Simon, the son of Gioras, got a great number of those that were
fond of innovations together, and betook himself to ravage the country; nor did he only harass the rich
men's houses, but tormented their bodies, and appeared openly and beforehand to affect tyranny in his
government. And when an army was sent against him by Artanus, and the other rulers, he and his band
retired to the robbers that were at Masada, and staid there, and plundered the country of Idumea with
them, till both Ananus and his other adversaries were slain; and until the rulers of that country were so
afflicted with the multitude of those that were slain, and with the continual ravage of what they had, that
they raised an army, and put garrisons into the villages, to secure them from those insults. And in this
state were the affairs of Judea at that time.

ENDNOTE

(1) Hear Dean Aldrich's note on this place: "The law or Custom of the Jews (says he) requires seven days'
mourning for the dead, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 8. sect. 4; whence the author of the Book of Ecclesiasticus, ch.

125
22:12, assigns seven days as the proper time of mourning for the dead, and, ch. 38:17, enjoins men to
mourn for the dead, that they may not be evil spoken of; for, as Josephus says presently, if any one omits
this mourning [funeral feast], he is not esteemed a holy person. How it is certain that such a seven days'
mourning has been customary from times of the greatest antiquity, Genesis 1:10. Funeral feasts are also
mentioned as of considerable antiquity, Ezekiel 24:17; Jeremiah 16:7; Prey. 31:6; Deuteronomy 26:14;
Josephus, Of the War B. III. ch. 9. sect. 5.

(2) This holding a council in the temple of Apollo, in the emperor's palace at Rome, by Augustus, and
even the building of this temple magnificently by himself in that palace, are exactly agreeable to
Augustus, in his elder years, as Aldrich and from Suttonius and Propertius.

(3) Here we have a strong confirmation that it was Xerxes, and not Artaxerxes, under whom the main part
of the Jews returned out of the Babylonian captivity, i.e. in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The same
thing is in the Antiquities, B. XI. ch.6

(4) This practice of the Essens, in refusing to swear, and esteeming swearing in ordinary occasions worse
than perjury, is delivered here in general words, as are the parallel injunctions of our Savior, Matthew
6:34; 23:16; and of St. James, 5:12; but all admit of particular exceptions for solemn causes, and on great
and necessary occasions. Thus these very Essens, who here do so zealously avoid swearing, are related, in
the very next section, to admit none till they take tremendous oaths to perform their several duties to God,
and to their neighbor, without supposing they thereby break this rule, Not to swear at all. The case is the
same in Christianity, as we learn from the Apostolical Constitutions, which although they agree with
Christ and St. James, in forbidding to swear in general, ch. 5:12; 6:2, 3; yet do they explain it elsewhere,
by avoiding to swear falsely, and to swear often and in vain, ch. 2:36; and again, by "not swearing at all,"
but withal adding, that "if that cannot be avoided, to swear truly," ch. 7:3; which abundantly explain to us
the nature of the measures of this general injunction.

(5) This mention of the "names of angels," so particularly preserved by the Essens, (if it means more than
those "messengers" which were employed to bring, them the peculiar books of their Sect,) looks like a
prelude to that "worshipping of angels," blamed by St. Paul, as superstitious and unlawful, in some such
sort of people as these Essens were, Colossians 2:8; as is the prayer to or towards the sun for his rising
every morning, mentioned before, sect. 5, very like those not much later observances made mention of in
the preaching of Peter, Authent. Rec. Part II. p. 669, and regarding a kind of worship of angels, of the
month, and of the moon, and not celebrating the new moons, or other festivals, unless the moon appeared.
Which, indeed, seems to me the earliest mention of any regard to the phases in fixing the Jewish calendar,
of which the Talmud and later Rabbins talk so much, and upon so very little ancient foundation.

(6) Of these Jewish or Essene (and indeed Christian) doctrines concerning souls, both good and bad, in
Hades, see that excellent discourse, or homily, of our Josephus concerning Hades, at the end of the
volume.

(7) Dean Aldrich reckons up three examples of this gift of prophecy in several of these Essens out of
Josephus himself, viz. in the History of the War, B. I. ch. 3. sect. 5, Judas foretold the death of Antigonus
at Strato's Tower; B. II. ch. 7. sect. 3, Simon foretold that Archelaus should reign but nine or ten years;
and Antiq. B. XV. ch. 10. sect. 4, 5, Menuhem foretold that Herod should be king, and should reign
tyrannically, and that for more than twenty or even thirty years. All which came to pass accordingly.

126
(8) There is so much more here about the Essens than is cited from Josephus in Porphyry and Eusebius,
and yet so much less about the Pharisees and Sadducees, the two other Jewish sects, than would naturally
be expected in proportion to the Essens or third sect, nay, than seems to be referred to by himself
elsewhere, that one is tempted to suppose Josephus had at first written less of the one, and more of the
two others, than his present copies afford us; as also, that, by some unknown accident, our present copies
are here made up of the larger edition in the first case, and of the smaller in the second. See the note in
Havercamp's edition. However, what Josephus says in the name of the Pharisees, that only the souls of
good men go out of one body into another, although all souls be immortal, and still the souls of the bad
are liable to eternal punishment; as also what he says afterwards, Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 1. sect. 3, that the
soul's vigor is immortal, and that under the earth they receive rewards or punishments according as their
lives have been virtuous or vicious in the present world; that to the bad is allotted an eternal prison, but
that the good are permitted to live again in this world; are nearly agreeable to the doctrines of Christianity.
Only Josephus's rejection of the return of the wicked into other bodies, or into this world, which he grants
to the good, looks somewhat like a contradiction to St. Paul's account of the doctrine of the Jews, that they
"themselves allowed that there should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust," Acts
24:15. Yet because Josephus's account is that of the Pharisees, and St. Patti's that of the Jews in general,
and of himself the contradiction is not very certain.

(9) We have here, in that Greek MS. which was once Alexander Petavius's, but is now in the library at
Leyden, two most remarkable additions to the common copies, though declared worth little remark by the
editor; which, upon the mention of Tiberius's coming to the empire, inserts first the famous testimony of
Josephus concerning Jesus Christ, as it stands verbatim in the Antiquities, B. XVIII. ch. 3. sect. 3, with
some parts of that excellent discourse or homily of Josephus concerning Hades, annexed to the work. But
what is here principally to be noted is this, that in this homily, Josephus having just mentioned Christ, as
"God the Word, and the Judge of the world, appointed by the Father," etc., adds, that "he had himself
elsewhere spoken about him more nicely or particularly."

(10) This use of corban, or oblation, as here applied to the sacred money dedicated to God in the treasury
of the temple, illustrates our Savior's words, Mark 7:11, 12.

(11) Tacitus owns that Caius commanded the Jews to place his effigies in their temple, though he be
mistaken when he adds that the Jews thereupon took arms.

(12) This account of a place near the mouth of the river Belus in Phoenicia, whence came that sand out of
which the ancients made their glass, is a known thing in history, particularly in Tacitus and Strabo, and
more largely in Pliny.

(13) This Memnon had several monuments, and one of them appears, both by Strabo and Diodorus, to
have been in Syria, and not improbably in this very place.

(14) Reland notes here, that the Talmud in recounting ten sad accidents for which the Jews ought to rend
their garments, reckons this for one, "When they hear that the law of God is burnt."

(15) This Ummidius, or Numidius, or, as Tacitus calls him, Vinidius Quadratus, is mentioned in an
ancient inscription, still preserved, as Spanhelm here informs us, which calls him Urnmidius Quadratus.

(16) Take the character of this Felix (who is well known from the Acts of the Apostles, particularly from
his trembling when St. Paul discoursed of "righteousness, chastity, and judgment to come," Acts 24:5; and

127
no wonder, when we have elsewhere seen that he lived in adultery with Drusilla, another man's wife,
(Antiq. B. XX. ch. 7. sect. 1) in the words of Tacitus, produced here by Dean Aldrich: "Felix exercised,"
says Tacitas, "the authority of a king, with the disposition of a slave, and relying upon the great power of
his brother Pallas at court, thought he might safely be guilty of all kinds of wicked practices." Observe
also the time when he was made procurator, A.D. 52; that when St. Paul pleaded his cause before him,
A.D. 58, he might have been "many years a judge unto that nation," as St. Paul says he had then been,
Acts 24:10. But as to what Tacitus here says, that before the death of Cumanus, Felix was procurator over
Samaria only, does not well agree with St. Paul's words, who would hardly have called Samaria a Jewish
nation. In short, since what Tacitus here says is about countries very remote from Rome, where he lived;
since what he says of two Roman procurators, the one over Galilee, the other over Samaria at the same
time, is without example elsewhere; and since Josephus, who lived at that very time in Judea, appears to
have known nothing of this procuratorship of Felix, before the death of Cureanus; I much suspect the
story itself as nothing better than a mistake of Tacitus, especially when it seems not only omitted, but
contradicted by Josephus; as any one may find that compares their histories together. Possibly Felix might
have been a subordinate judge among the Jews some time before under Cureanus, but that he was in
earnest a procurator of Samaria before I do not believe. Bishop Pearson, as well as Bishop Lloyd, quote
this account, but with a doubtful clause: confides Tacito, "If we may believe Tacitus." Pears. Anhal.
Paulin. p. 8; Marshall's Tables, at A.D. 49.

(17) i.e. Herod king of Chalcis.

(18) Not long after this beginning of Florus, the wickedest of all the Roman procurators of Judea, and the
immediate occasion of the Jewish war, at the twelfth year of Nero, and the seventeenth of Agrippa, or
A.D. 66, the history in the twenty books of Josephus's Antiquities ends, although Josephus did not finish
these books till the thirteenth of Domitian, or A.D. 93, twenty-seven years afterward; as he did not finish
their Appendix, containing an account of his own life, till Agrippa was dead, which happened in the third
year of Trajan, or A. D. 100, as I have several times observed before.

(19) Here we may note, that three millions of the Jews were present at the passover, A.D. 65; which
confirms what Josephus elsewhere informs us of, that at a passover a little later they counted two hundred
and fifty-six thousand five hundred paschal lambs, which, at twelve to each lamb, which is no immoderate
calculation, come to three millions and seventy-eight thousand. See B. VI. ch. 9. sect. 3.

(20) Take here Dr. Hudson's very pertinent note. "By this action," says he, "the killing of a bird over an
earthen vessel, the Jews were exposed as a leprous people; for that was to be done by the law in the
cleansing of a leper, Leviticus 14. It is also known that the Gentiles reproached the Jews as subject to the
leprosy, and believed that they were driven out of Egypt on that account. This that eminent person Mr.
Reland suggested to me."

(21) Here we have examples of native Jews who were of the equestrian order among the Romans, and so
ought never to have been whipped or crucified, according to the Roman laws. See almost the like case in
St. Paul himself, Acts 22:25-29.

(22) This vow which Bernice (here and elsewhere called queen, not only as daughter and sister to two
kings, Agrippa the Great, and Agrippa junior, but the widow of Herod king of Chalcis) came now to
accomplish at Jerusalem was not that of a Nazarite, but such a one as religious Jews used to make, in
hopes of any deliverance from a disease, or other danger, as Josephus here intimates. However, these
thirty days' abode at Jerusalem, for fasting and preparation against the oblation of a proper sacrifice,

128
seems to be too long, unless it were wholly voluntary in this great lady. It is not required in the law of
Moses relating to Nazarites, Numbers 6., and is very different from St. Paul's time for such preparation,
which was but one day, Acts 21:26. So we want already the continuation of the Antiquities to afford us
light here, as they have hitherto done on so many occasions elsewhere. Perhaps in this age the traditions
of the Pharisees had obliged the Jews to this degree of rigor, not only as to these thirty days' preparation,
but as to the going barefoot all that time, which here Bernice submitted to also. For we know that as God's
and our Savior's yoke is usually easy, and his burden comparatively light, in such positive injunctions,
Matthew 11:30, so did the scribes and Pharisees sometimes "bind upon men heavy burdens, and grievous
to be borne," even when they themselves "would not touch them with one of their fingers," Matthew 23:4;
Luke 11:46. However, Noldius well observes, De Herod. No. 404, 414, that Juvenal, in his sixth satire,
alludes to this remarkable penance or submission of this Bernice to Jewish discipline, and jests upon her
for it; as do Tacitus, Dio, Suetonius, and Sextus Aurelius mention her as one well known at Rome.--Ibid.

(23) I take this Bezetha to be that small hill adjoining to the north side of the temple, whereon was the
hospital with five porticoes or cloisters, and beneath which was the sheep pool of Bethesda; into which an
angel or messenger, at a certain season, descended, and where he or they who were the "first put into the
pool" were cured, John 5:1 etc. This situation of Bezetha, in Josephus, on the north side of the temple, and
not far off the tower Antonia, exactly agrees to the place of the same pool at this day; only the remaining
cloisters are but three. See Maundrel, p. 106. The entire buildings seem to have been called the New City,
and this part, where was the hospital, peculiarly Bezetha or Bethesda. See ch. 19. sect. 4.

(24) In this speech of king Agrippa we have an authentic account of the extent and strength of the Roman
empire when the Jewish war began. And this speech with other circumstances in Josephus, demonstrate
how wise and how great a person Agrippa was, and why Josephus elsewhere calls him a most wonderful
or admirable man, Contr. Ap. I. 9. He is the same Agrippa who said to Paul," Almost thou persuadest me
to be a Christian," Acts 26;28; and of whom St. Paul said, "He was expert in all the customs and questions
of the Jews," yet. 3. See another intimation of the limits of the same Roman empire, Of the War, B. III.
ch. 5. sect. 7. But what seems to me very remarkable here is this, that when Josephus, in imitation of the
Greeks and Romans, for whose use he wrote his Antiquities, did himself frequently he into their they
appear, by the politeness of their composition, and their flights of oratory, to be not the real speeches of
the persons concerned, who usually were no orators, but of his own elegant composure, the speech before
us is of another nature, full of undeniable facts, and composed in a plain and unartful, but moving way; so
it appears to be king Agrippa's own speech, and to have been given Josephus by Agrippa himself, with
whom Josephus had the greatest friendship. Nor may we omit Agrippa's constant doctrine here, that this
vast Roman empire was raised and supported by Divine Providence, and that therefore it was in vain for
the Jews, or any others, to think of destroying it. Nor may we neglect to take notice of Agrippa's solemn
appeal to the angels here used; the like appeals to which we have in St. Paul, 1 Timothy 5:22, and by the
apostles in general, in the form of the ordination of bishops, Constitut. Apost. VIII. 4.

(25) Julius Caesar had decreed that the Jews of Jerusalem should pay an annual tribute to the Romans,
excepting the city Joppa, and for the sabbatical year; as Spanheim observes from the Antiq. B. XIV. ch.
10. sect. 6.

(26) Of this Sohemus we have mention made by Tacitus. We also learn from Dio that his father was king
of the Arabians of Iturea, [which Iturea is mentioned by St. Luke, ch. 3:1.] both whose testimonies are
quoted here by Dr. Hudson. See Noldius, No. 371.

129
(27) Spanheim notes on the place, that this later Antiochus, who was called Epiphaues, is mentioned by
Dio, LIX. p. 645, and that he is mentioned by Josephus elsewhere twice also, B.V. ch. 11. sect. 3; and
Antiq. B. XIX. ch. 8. sect. I.

(28) Here we have an eminent example of that Jewish language, which Dr. Wail truly observes, we
several times find used in the sacred writings; I mean, where the words "all" or" whole multitude,"etc. are
used for much the greatest part only; but not so as to include every person, without exception; for when
Josephus had said that "the whole multitude" [all the males] of Lydda were gone to the feast of
tabernacles, he immediately adds, that, however, no fewer than fifty of them appeared, and were slain by
the Romans. Other examples somewhat like this I have observed elsewhere in Josephus, but, as I think,
none so remarkable as this. See Wall's Critical Observations on the Old Testament, p. 49, 50.

(29) We have also, in this and the next section, two eminent facts to be observed, viz. the first example,
that I remember, in Josephus, of the onset of the Jews' enemies upon their country when their males were
gone up to Jerusalem to one of their three sacred festivals; which, during the theocracy, God had promised
to preserve them from, Exodus 34:24. The second fact is this, the breach of the sabbath by the seditions
Jews in an offensive fight, contrary to the universal doctrine and practice of their nation in these ages, and
even contrary to what they themselves afterward practiced in the rest of this war. See the note on Antiq.
B. XVI. ch. 2. sect. 4.

(30) There may another very important, and very providential, reason be here assigned for this strange and
foolish retreat of Cestius; which, if Josephus had been now a Christian, he might probably have taken
notice of also; and that is, the affording the Jewish Christians in the city an opportunity of calling to mind
the prediction and caution given them by Christ about thirty-three years and a half before, that "when they
should see the abomination of desolation" [the idolatrous Roman armies, with the images of their idols in
their ensigns, ready to lay Jerusalem desolate] "stand where it ought not;" or, "in the holy place;" or,
"when they should see Jerusalem any one instance of a more unpolitic, but more providential, compassed
with armies;" they should then "flee to the mound conduct than this retreat of Cestius visible during this
whole rains." By complying with which those Jewish Christians fled I siege of Jerusalem; which yet was
providentially such a "great to the mountains of Perea, and escaped this destruction. See tribulation, as
had not been from the beginning of the world to that time; no, Lit. Accompl. of Proph. p. 69, 70. Nor was
there, perhaps, nor ever should be."--Ibid. p. 70, 71.

(31) From this name of Joseph the son of Gorion, or Gorion the son of Joseph, as B. IV. ch. 3. sect. 9, one
of the governors of Jerusalem, who was slain at the beginning of the tumults by the zealots, B. IV. ch. 6.
sect. 1, the much later Jewish author of a history of that nation takes his title, and yet personates our true
Josephus, the son of Matthias; but the cheat is too gross to be put upon the learned world.

(32) We may observe here, that the Idumeans, as having been proselytes of justice since the days of John
Hyrcanus, during about one hundred and ninety-five years, were now esteemed as part of the Jewish
nation, and these provided of a Jewish commander accordingly. See the note upon Antiq. B. XIII.. ch. 9.
sect. 1.

(33) We see here, and in Josephus's account of his own life, sect. 14, how exactly he imitated his
legislator Moses, or perhaps only obeyed what he took to be his perpetual law, in appointing seven lesser
judges, for smaller causes, in particular cities, and perhaps for the first hearing of greater causes, with the
liberty of an appeal to seventy-one supreme judges, especially in those causes where life and death were
concerned; as Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 14; and of his Life, sect. 14. See also Of the War, B. IV. ch. 5.

130
sect. 4. Moreover, we find, sect. 7, that he imitated Moses, as well as the Romans, in the number and
distribution of the subaltern officers of his army, as Exodus 18:25; Deuteronomy 1:15; and in his charge
against the offenses common among soldiers, as Denteronomy 13:9; in all which he showed his great
wisdom and piety, and skillful conduct in martial affairs. Yet may we discern in his very high character of
Artanus the high priest, B. IV. ch. 5. sect. 2, who seems to have been the same who condemned St. James,
bishop of Jerusalem, to be stoned, under Albinus the procurator, that when he wrote these books of the
War, he was not so much as an Ebionite Christian; otherwise he would not have failed, according to his
usual custom, to have reckoned this his barbarous murder as a just punishment upon him for that his
cruelty to the chief, or rather only Christian bishop of the circumcision. Nor, had he been then a Christian,
could he immediately have spoken so movingly of the causes of the destruction of Jerusalem, without one
word of either the condemnation of James, or crucifixion of Christ, as he did when he was become a
Christian afterward.

(34) I should think that an army of sixty thousand footmen should require many more than two hundred
and fifty horsemen; and we find Josephus had more horsemen under his command than two hundred and
fifty in his future history. I suppose the number of the thousands is dropped in our present copies.

(35) I cannot but think this stratagem of Josephus, which is related both here and in his Life, sect. 32, 33,
to be one of the finest that ever was invented and executed by any warrior whatsoever.

131
 Book III
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE YEAR.

FROM VESPASIAN'S COMING TO SUBDUE THE JEWS TO THE TAKING OF GAMALA.

CHAPTER 1.
VESPASIAN IS SENT INTO SYRIA BY NERO IN ORDER TO MAKE WAR WITH THE JEWS.

1. WHEN Nero was informed of the Romans' ill success in Judea, a concealed consternation and terror, as
is usual in such cases, fell upon him; although he openly looked very big, and was very angry, and said
that what had happened was rather owing to the negligence of the commander, than to any valor of the
enemy: and as he thought it fit for him, who bare the burden of the whole empire, to despise such
misfortunes, he now pretended so to do, and to have a soul superior to all such sad accidents whatsoever.
Yet did the disturbance that was in his soul plainly appear by the solicitude he was in [how to recover his
affairs again].

2. And as he was deliberating to whom he should commit the care of the East, now it was in so great a
commotion, and who might be best able to punish the Jews for their rebellion, and might prevent the same
distemper from seizing upon the neighboring nations also, - he found no one but Vespasian equal to the
task, and able to undergo the great burden of so mighty a war, seeing he was growing an old man already
in the camp, and from his youth had been exercised in warlike exploits: he was also a man that had long
ago pacified the west, and made it subject to the Romans, when it had been put into disorder by the
Germans; he had also recovered to them Britain by his arms, which had been little known before (1)
whereby he procured to his father Claudius to have a triumph bestowed on him without any sweat or labor
of his own.

3. So Nero esteemed these circumstances as favorable omens, and saw that Vespasian's age gave him sure
experience, and great skill, and that he had his sons as hostages for his fidelity to himself, and that the
flourishing age they were in would make them fit instruments under their father's prudence. Perhaps also
there was some interposition of Providence, which was paving the way for Vespasian's being himself
emperor afterwards. Upon the whole, he sent this man to take upon him the command of the armies that
were in Syria; but this not without great encomiums and flattering compellations, such as necessity
required, and such as might mollify him into complaisance. So Vespasian sent his son Titus from Achaia,
where he had been with Nero, to Alexandria, to bring back with him from thence the fifth and. the tenth
legions, while he himself, when he had passed over the Hellespont, came by land into Syria, where he
gathered together the Roman forces, with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that
neighborhood.

CHAPTER 2.
A GREAT SLAUGHTER ABOUT ASCALON. VESPASIAN COMES TO PTOLEMAIS.

1. Now the Jews, after they had beaten Cestius, were so much elevated with their unexpected success, that
they could not govern their zeal, but, like people blown up into a flame by their good fortune, carried the

132
war to remoter places. Accordingly, they presently got together a great multitude of all their most hardy
soldiers, and marched away for Ascalon. This is an ancient city that is distant from Jerusalem five
hundred and twenty furlongs, and was always an enemy to the Jews; on which account they determined to
make their first effort against it, and to make their approaches to it as near as possible. This excursion was
led on by three men, who were the chief of them all, both for strength and sagacity; Niger, called the
Persite, Silas of Babylon, and besides them John the Essene. Now Ascalon was strongly walled about, but
had almost no assistance to be relied on [near them], for the garrison consisted of one cohort of footmen,
and one troop of horsemen, whose captain was Antonius.

2. These Jews, therefore, out of their anger, marched faster than ordinary, and, as if they had come but a
little way, approached very near the city, and were come even to it; but Antonius, who was not unapprized
of the attack they were going to make upon the city, drew out his horsemen beforehand, and being neither
daunted at the multitude, nor at the courage of the enemy, received their first attacks with great bravery;
and when they crowded to the very walls, he beat them off. Now the Jews were unskillful in war, but were
to fight with those who were skillful therein; they were footmen to fight with horsemen; they were in
disorder, to fight those that were united together; they were poorly armed, to fight those that were
completely so; they were to fight more by their rage than by sober counsel, and were exposed to soldiers
that were exactly obedient; and did every thing they were bidden upon the least intimation. So they were
easily beaten; for as soon as ever their first ranks were once in disorder, they were put to flight by the
enemy's cavalry, and those of them that came behind such as crowded to the wall fell upon their own
party's weapons, and became one another's enemies; and this so long till they were all forced to give way
to the attacks of the horsemen, and were dispersed all the plain over, which plain was wide, and all fit for
the horsemen; which circumstance was very commodious for the Romans, and occasioned the slaughter
of the greatest number of the Jews; for such as ran away, they could overrun them, and make them turn
back; and when they had brought them back after their flight, and driven them together, they ran them
through, and slew a vast number of them, insomuch that others encompassed others of them, and drove
them before them whithersoever they turned themselves, and slew them easily with their arrows; and the
great number there were of the Jews seemed a solitude to themselves, by reason of the distress they were
in, while the Romans had such good success with their small number, that they seemed to themselves to
be the greater multitude. And as the former strove zealously under their misfortunes, out of the shame of a
sudden flight, and hopes of the change in their success, so did the latter feel no weariness by reason of
their good fortune; insomuch that the fight lasted till the evening, till ten thousand men of the Jews' side
lay dead, with two of their generals, John and Silas, and the greater part of the remainder were wounded,
with Niger, their remaining general, who fled away together to a small city of Idumea, called Sallis. Some
few also of the Romans were wounded in this battle.

3. Yet were not the spirits of the Jews broken by so great a calamity, but the losses they had sustained
rather quickened their resolution for other attempts; for, overlooking the dead bodies which lay under
their feet, they were enticed by their former glorious actions to venture on a second destruction; so when
they had lain still so little a while that their wounds were not yet thoroughly cured, they got together all
their forces, and came with greater fury, and in much greater numbers, to Ascalon. But their former ill
fortune followed them, as the consequence of their unskilfulness, and other deficiencies in war; for
Antonius laid ambushes for them in the passages they were to go through, where they fell into snares
unexpectedly, and where they were encompassed about with horsemen, before they could form
themselves into a regular body for fighting, and were above eight thousand of them slain; so all the rest of
them ran away, and with them Niger, who still did a great many bold exploits in his flight. However, they
were driven along together by the enemy, who pressed hard upon them, into a certain strong tower
belonging to a village called Bezedeh However, Antonius and his party, that they might neither spend any
considerable time about this tower, which was hard to be taken, nor suffer their commander, and the most
133
courageous man of them all, to escape from them, they set the wall on fire; and as the tower was burning,
the Romans went away rejoicing, as taking it for granted that Niger was destroyed; but he leaped out of
the tower into a subterraneous cave, in the innermost part of it, and was preserved; and on the third day
afterward he spake out of the ground to those that with great lamentation were searching for him, in order
to give him a decent funeral; and when he was come out, he filled all the Jews with an unexpected joy, as
though he were preserved by God's providence to be their commander for the time to come.

4. And now Vespasian took along with him his army from Antioch, (which is the metropolis of Syria, and
without dispute deserves the place of the third city in the habitable earth that was under the Roman
empire, (2) both in magnitude, and other marks of prosperity,) where he found king Agrippa, with all his
forces, waiting for his coming, and marched to Ptolemais. At this city also the inhabitants of Sepphoris of
Galilee met him, who were for peace with the Romans. These citizens had beforehand taken care of their
own safety, and being sensible of the power of the Romans, they had been with Cestius Gallus before
Vespasian came, and had given their faith to him, and received the security of his right hand, and had
received a Roman garrison; and at this time withal they received Vespasian, the Roman general, very
kindly, and readily promised that they would assist him against their own countrymen. Now the general
delivered them, at their desire, as many horsemen and footmen as he thought sufficient to oppose the
incursions of the Jews, if they should come against them. And indeed the danger of losing Sepphoris
would be no small one, in this war that was now beginning, seeing it was the largest city of Galilee, and
built in a place by nature very strong, and might be a security of the whole nation's [fidelity to the
Romans].

CHAPTER 3.
A DESCRIPTION OP GALILEE, SAMARIA, AND JUDEA.

1. NOW Phoenicia and Syria encompass about the Galilees, which are two, and called the Upper Galilee
and the Lower. They are bounded toward the sun-setting, with the borders of the territory belonging to
Ptolemais, and by Carmel; which mountain had formerly belonged to the Galileans, but now belonged to
the Tyrians; to which mountain adjoins Gaba, which is called the City of Horsemen, because those
horsemen that were dismissed by Herod the king dwelt therein; they are bounded on the south with
Samaria and Scythopolis, as far as the river Jordan; on the east with Hippeae and Gadaris, and also with
Ganlonitis, and the borders of the kingdom of Agrippa; its northern parts are hounded by Tyre, and the
country of the Tyrians. As for that Galilee which is called the Lower, it, extends in length from Tiberias to
Zabulon, and of the maritime places Ptolemais is its neighbor; its breadth is from the village called
Xaloth, which lies in the great plain, as far as Bersabe, from which beginning also is taken the breadth of
the Upper Galilee, as far as the village Baca, which divides the land of the Tyrians from it; its length is
also from Meloth to Thella, a village near to Jordan.

2. These two Galilees, of so great largeness, and encompassed with so many nations of foreigners, have
been always able to make a strong resistance on all occasions of war; for the Galileans are inured to war
from their infancy, and have been always very numerous; nor hath the country been ever destitute of men
of courage, or wanted a numerous set of them; for their soil is universally rich and fruitful, and full of the
plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it invites the most slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by
its fruitfulness; accordingly, it is all cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it lies idle. Moreover, the
cities lie here very thick, and the very many villages there are here are every where so full of people, by
the richness of their soil, that the very least of them contain above fifteen thousand inhabitants.

134
3. In short, if any one will suppose that Galilee is inferior to Perea in magnitude, he will be obliged to
prefer it before it in its strength; for this is all capable of cultivation, and is every where fruitful; but for
Perea, which is indeed much larger in extent, the greater part of it is desert and rough, and much less
disposed for the production of the milder kinds of fruits; yet hath it a moist soil [in other parts], and
produces all kinds of fruits, and its plains are planted with trees of all sorts, while yet the olive tree, the
vine, and the palm tree are chiefly cultivated there. It is also sufficiently watered with torrents, which
issue out of the mountains, and with springs that never fail to run, even when the torrents fail them, as
they do in the dog-days. Now the length of Perea is from Macherus to Pella, and its breadth from
Philadelphia to Jordan; its northern parts are bounded by Pella, as we have already said, as well as its
Western with Jordan; the land of Moab is its southern border, and its eastern limits reach to Arabia, and
Silbonitis, and besides to Philadelphene and Gerasa.

4. Now as to the country of Samaria, it lies between Judea and Galilee; it begins at a village that is in the
great plain called Ginea, and ends at the Acrabbene toparchy, and is entirely of the same nature with
Judea; for both countries are made up of hills and valleys, and are moist enough for agriculture, and are
very fruitful. They have abundance of trees, and are full of autumnal fruit, both that which grows wild,
and that which is the effect of cultivation. They are not naturally watered by many rivers, but derive their
chief moisture from rain-water, of which they have no want; and for those rivers which they have, all their
waters are exceeding sweet: by reason also of the excellent grass they have, their cattle yield more milk
than do those in other places; and, what is the greatest sign of excellency and of abundance, they each of
them are very full of people.

5. In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies the village Anuath, which is also named Borceos. This is the
northern boundary of Judea. The southern parts of Judea, if they be measured lengthways, are bounded by
a Village adjoining to the confines of Arabia; the Jews that dwell there call it Jordan. However, its breadth
is extended from the river Jordan to Joppa. The city Jerusalem is situated in the very middle; on which
account some have, with sagacity enough, called that city the Navel of the country. Nor indeed is Judea
destitute of such delights as come from the sea, since its maritime places extend as far as Ptolemais: it was
parted into eleven portions, of which the royal city Jerusalem was the supreme, and presided over all the
neighboring country, as the head does over the body. As to the other cities that were inferior to it, they
presided over their several toparchies; Gophna was the second of those cities, and next to that Acrabatta,
after them Thamna, and Lydda, and Emmaus, and Pella, and Idumea, and Engaddi, and Herodium, and
Jericho; and after them came Jamnia and Joppa, as presiding over the neighboring people; and besides
these there was the region of Gamala, and Gaulonitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis, which are also parts
of the kingdom of Agrippa. This [last] country begins at Mount Libanus, and the fountains of Jordan, and
reaches breadthways to the lake of Tiberias; and in length is extended from a village called Arpha, as far
as Julias. Its inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians. And thus have I, with all possible brevity,
described the country of Judea, and those that lie round about it.

CHAPTER 4.
JOSEPHUS MAKES AN ATTEMPT UPON SEPPHORIS BUT IS REPELLED. TITUS COMES
WITH A GREAT ARMY TO PTOLEMAIS.

1. NOW the auxiliaries which were sent to assist the people of Sepphoris, being a thousand horsemen, and
six thousand footmen, under Placidus the tribune, pitched their camp in two bodies in the great plain. The
foot were put into the city to be a guard to it, but the horse lodged abroad in the camp. These last, by
marching continually one way or other, and overrunning the parts of the adjoining country, were very

135
troublesome to Josephus and his men; they also plundered all the places that were out of the city's liberty,
and intercepted such as durst go abroad. On this account it was that Josephus marched against the city, as
hoping to take what he had lately encompassed with so strong a wall, before they revolted from the rest of
the Galileans, that the Romans would have much ado to take it; by which means he proved too weak, and
failed of his hopes, both as to the forcing the place, and as to his prevailing with the people of Sepphoris
to deliver it up to him. By this means he provoked the Romans to treat the country according to the law of
war; nor did the Romans, out of the anger they bore at this attempt, leave off, either by night or by day,
burning the places in the plain, and stealing away the cattle that were in the country, and killing
whatsoever appeared capable of fighting perpetually, and leading the weaker people as slaves into
captivity; so that Galilee was all over filled with fire and blood; nor was it exempted from any kind of
misery or calamity, for the only refuge they had was this, that when they were pursued, they could retire
to the cities which had walls built them by Josephus.

2. But as to Titus, he sailed over from Achaia to Alexandria, and that sooner than the winter season did
usually permit; so he took with him those forces he was sent for, and marching with great expedition, he
came suddenly to Ptolemais, and there finding his father, together with the two legions, the fifth and the
tenth, which were the most eminent legions of all, he joined them to that fifteenth legion which was with
his father; eighteen cohorts followed these legions; there came also five cohorts from Cesarea, with one
troop of horsemen, and five other troops of horsemen from Syria. Now these ten cohorts had severally a
thousand footmen, but the other thirteen cohorts had no more than six hundred footmen apiece, with a
hundred and twenty horsemen. There were also a considerable number of auxiliaries got together, that
came from the kings Antiochus, and Agrippa, and Sohemus, each of them contributing one thousand
footmen that were archers, and a thousand horsemen. Malchus also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand
horsemen, besides five thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that the whole army,
including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well horsemen as footmen, when all were united together,
amounted to sixty thousand, besides the servants, who, as they followed in vast numbers, so because they
had been trained up in war with the rest, ought not to be distinguished from the fighting men; for as they
were in their masters' service in times of peace, so did they undergo the like dangers with them in times of
war, insomuch that they were inferior to none, either in skill or in strength, only they were subject to their
masters.

CHAPTER 5.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE ROMAN ARMIES AND ROMAN CAMPS AND OF OTHER
PARTICULARS FOR WHICH THE ROMANS ARE COMMENDED.

1. NOW here one cannot but admire at the precaution of the Romans, in providing themselves of such
household servants, as might not only serve at other times for the common offices of life, but might also
be of advantage to them in their wars. And, indeed, if any one does but attend to the other parts of their
military discipline, he will be forced to confess that their obtaining so large a dominion hath been the
acquisition of their valor, and not the bare gift of fortune; for they do not begin to use their weapons first
in time of war, nor do they then put their hands first into motion, while they avoided so to do in times of
peace; but, as if their weapons did always cling to them, they have never any truce from warlike exercises;
nor do they stay till times of war admonish them to use them; for their military exercises differ not at all
from the real use of their arms, but every soldier is every day exercised, and that with great diligence, as if
it were in time of war, which is the reason why they bear the fatigue of battles so easily; for neither can
any disorder remove them from their usual regularity, nor can fear affright them out of it, nor can labor
tire them; which firmness of conduct makes them always to overcome those that have not the same

136
firmness; nor would he be mistaken that should call those their exercises unbloody battles, and their
battles bloody exercises. Nor can their enemies easily surprise them with the suddenness of their
incursions; for as soon as they have marched into an enemy's land, they do not begin to fight till they have
walled their camp about; nor is the fence they raise rashly made, or uneven; nor do they all abide ill it, nor
do those that are in it take their places at random; but if it happens that the ground is uneven, it is first
leveled: their camp is also four-square by measure, and carpenters are ready, in great numbers, with their
tools, to erect their buildings for them. (3)

2. As for what is within the camp, it is set apart for tents, but the outward circumference hath the
resemblance to a wall, and is adorned with towers at equal distances, where between the towers stand the
engines for throwing arrows and darts, and for slinging stones, and where they lay all other engines that
can annoy the enemy, all ready for their several operations. They also erect four gates, one at every side of
the circumference, and those large enough for the entrance of the beasts, and wide enough for making
excursions, if occasion should require. They divide the camp within into streets, very conveniently, and
place the tents of the commanders in the middle; but in the very midst of all is the general's own tent, in
the nature of a temple, insomuch, that it appears to be a city built on the sudden, with its market-place,
and place for handicraft trades, and with seats for the officers superior and inferior, where, if any
differences arise, their causes are heard and determined. The camp, and all that is in it, is encompassed
with a wall round about, and that sooner than one would imagine, and this by the multitude and the skill
of the laborers; and, if occasion require, a trench is drawn round the whole, whose depth is four cubits,
and its breadth equal.

3. When they have thus secured themselves, they live together by companies, with quietness and decency,
as are all their other affairs managed with good order and security. Each company hath also their wood,
and their corn, and their water brought them, when they stand in need of them; for they neither sup nor
dine as they please themselves singly, but all together. Their times also for sleeping, and watching, and
rising are notified beforehand by the sound of trumpets, nor is any thing done without such a signal; and
in the morning the soldiery go every one to their centurions, and these centurions to their tribunes, to
salute them; with whom all the superior officers go to the general of the whole army, who then gives them
of course the watchword and other orders, to be by them cared to all that are under their command; which
is also observed when they go to fight, and thereby they turn themselves about on the sudden, when there
is occasion for making sallies, as they come back when they are recalled in crowds also.

4. Now when they are to go out of their camp, the trumpet gives a sound, at which time nobody lies still,
but at the first intimation they take down their tents, and all is made ready for their going out; then do the
trumpets sound again, to order them to get ready for the march; then do they lay their baggage suddenly
upon their mules, and other beasts of burden, and stand, as at the place of starting, ready to march; when
also they set fire to their camp, and this they do because it will be easy for them to erect another camp,
and that it may not ever be of use to their enemies. Then do the trumpets give a sound the third time, that
they are to go out, in order to excite those that on any account are a little tardy, that so no one may be out
of his rank when the army marches. Then does the crier stand at the general's right hand, and asks them
thrice, in their own tongue, whether they be now ready to go out to war or not? To which they reply as
often, with a loud and cheerful voice, saying, "We are ready." And this they do almost before the question
is asked them: they do this as filled with a kind of martial fury, and at the same time that they so cry out,
they lift up their right hands also.

5. When, after this, they are gone out of their camp, they all march without noise, and in a decent manner,
and every one keeps his own rank, as if they were going to war. The footmen are armed with breastplates

137
and head-pieces, and have swords on each side; but the sword which is upon their left side is much longer
than the other, for that on the right side is not longer than a span. Those foot-men also that are chosen out
from the rest to be about the general himself have a lance and a buckler, but the rest of the foot soldiers
have a spear and a long buckler, besides a saw and a basket, a pick-axe and an axe, a thong of leather and
a hook, with provisions for three days, so that a footman hath no great need of a mule to carry his
burdens. The horsemen have a long sword on their right sides, axed a long pole in their hand; a shield also
lies by them obliquely on one side of their horses, with three or more darts that are borne in their quiver,
having broad points, and not smaller than spears. They have also head-pieces and breastplates, in like
manner as have all the footmen. And for those that are chosen to be about the general, their armor no way
differs from that of the horsemen belonging to other troops; and he always leads the legions forth to
whom the lot assigns that employment.

6. This is the manner of the marching and resting of the Romans, as also these are the several sorts of
weapons they use. But when they are to fight, they leave nothing without forecast, nor to be done off-
hand, but counsel is ever first taken before any work is begun, and what hath been there resolved upon is
put in execution presently; for which reason they seldom commit any errors; and if they have been
mistaken at any time, they easily correct those mistakes. They also esteem any errors they commit upon
taking counsel beforehand to be better than such rash success as is owing to fortune only; because such a
fortuitous advantage tempts them to be inconsiderate, while consultation, though it may sometimes fail of
success, hath this good in it, that it makes men more careful hereafter; but for the advantages that arise
from chance, they are not owing to him that gains them; and as to what melancholy accidents happen
unexpectedly, there is this comfort in them, that they had however taken the best consultations they could
to prevent them.

7. Now they so manage their preparatory exercises of their weapons, that not the bodies of the soldiers
only, but their souls may also become stronger: they are moreover hardened for war by fear; for their laws
inflict capital punishments, not only for soldiers running away from the ranks, but for slothfulness and
inactivity, though it be but in a lesser degree; as are their generals more severe than their laws, for they
prevent any imputation of cruelty toward those under condemnation, by the great rewards they bestow on
the valiant soldiers; and the readiness of obeying their commanders is so great, that it is very ornamental
in peace; but when they come to a battle, the whole army is but one body, so well coupled together are
their ranks, so sudden are their turnings about, so sharp their hearing as to what orders are given them, so
quick their sight of the ensigns, and so nimble are their hands when they set to work; whereby it comes to
pass that what they do is done quickly, and what they suffer they bear with the greatest patience. Nor can
we find any examples where they have been conquered in battle, when they came to a close fight, either
by the multitude of the enemies, or by their stratagems, or by the difficulties in the places they were in;
no, nor by fortune neither, for their victories have been surer to them than fortune could have granted
them. In a case, therefore, where counsel still goes before action, and where, after taking the best advice,
that advice is followed by so active an army, what wonder is it that Euphrates on the east, the ocean on the
west, the most fertile regions of Libya on the south, and the Danube and the Rhine on the north, are the
limits of this empire? One might well say that the Roman possessions are not inferior to the Romans
themselves.

8. This account I have given the reader, not so much with the intention of commending the Romans, as of
comforting those that have been conquered by them, and for the deterring others from attempting
innovations under their government. This discourse of the Roman military conduct may also perhaps be
of use to such of the curious as are ignorant of it, and yet have a mind to know it. I return now from this
digression.

138
 CHAPTER 6.
PLACIDUS ATTEMPTS TO TAKE JOTAPATA AND IS BEATEN OFF. VESPASIAN
MARCHES INTO GALILEE.

1. AND now Vespasian, with his son Titus, had tarried some time at Ptolemais, and had put his army in
order. But when Placidus, who had overrun Galilee, and had besides slain a number of those whom he had
caught, (which were only the weaker part of the Galileans, and such as were of timorous souls,) saw that
the warriors ran always to those cities whose walls had been built by Josephus, he marched furiously
against Jotapata, which was of them all the strongest, as supposing he should easily take it by a sudden
surprise, and that he should thereby obtain great honor to himself among the commanders, and bring a
great advantage to them in their future campaign; because if this strongest place of them all were once
taken, the rest would be so aftrighted as to surrender themselves. But he was mightily mistaken in his
undertaking; for the men of Jotapata were apprized of his coming to attack them, and came out of the city,
and expected him there. So they fought the Romans briskly when they least expected it, being both many
in number, and prepared for fighting, and of great alacrity, as esteeming their country, their wives, and
their children to be in danger, and easily put the Romans to flight, and wounded many of them, and slew
seven of them; (4) because their retreat was not made in a disorderly manner, be-cause the strokes only
touched the surface of their bodies, which were covered with their armor in all parts, and because the Jews
did rather throw their weapons upon them from a great distance, than venture to come hand to hand with
them, and had only light armor on, while the others were completely armed. However, three men of the
Jews' side were slain, and a few wounded; so Placidus, finding himself unable to assault the city, ran
away.

2. But as Vespasian had a great mind to fall upon Galilee, he marched out of Ptolemais, having put his
army into that order wherein the Romans used to march. He ordered those auxiliaries which were lightly
armed, and the archers, to march first, that they might prevent any sudden insults from the enemy, and
might search out the woods that looked suspiciously, and were capable of ambuscades. Next to these
followed that part of the Romans which was completely armed, both footmen ,and horsemen. Next to
these followed ten out of every hundred, carrying along with them their arms, and what was necessary to
measure out a camp withal; and after them, such as were to make the road even and straight, and if it were
any where rough and hard to be passed over, to plane it, and to cut down the woods that hindered their
march, that the army might not be in distress, or tired with their march. Behind these he set such carriages
of the army as belonged both to himself and to the other commanders, with a considerable number of their
horsemen for their security. After these he marched himself, having with him a select body of footmen,
and horsemen, and pikemen. After these came the peculiar cavalry of his own legion, for there were a
hundred and twenty horsemen that peculiarly belonged to every legion. Next to these came the mules that
carried the engines for sieges, and the other warlike machines of that nature. After these came the
commanders of the cohorts and tribunes, having about them soldiers chosen out of the rest. Then came the
ensigns encompassing the eagle, which is at the head of every Roman legion, the king, and the strongest
of all birds, which seems to them a signal of dominion, and an omen that they shall conquer all against
whom they march; these sacred ensigns are followed by the trumpeters. Then came the main army in their
squadrons and battalions, with six men in depth, which were followed at last by a centurion, who,
according to custom, observed the rest. As for the servants of every legion, they all followed the footmen,
and led the baggage of the soldiers, which was borne by the mules and other beasts of burden. But behind
all the legions carne the whole multitude of the mercenaries; and those that brought up the rear came last
of all for the security of the whole army, being both footmen, and those in their armor also, with a great
number of horsemen.

139
3. And thus did Vespasian march with his army, and came to the bounds of Galileo, where he pitched his
camp and restrained his soldiers, who were eager for war; he also showed his army to the enemy, in order
to affright them, and to afford them a season for repentance, to see whether they would change their
minds before it came to a battle, and at the same time he got things ready for besieging their strong minds.
And indeed this sight of the general brought many to repent of their revolt, and put them all into a
consternation; for those that were in Josephus's camp, which was at the city called Garis, not far from
Sepphoris, when they heard that the war was come near them, and that the Romans would suddenly fight
them hand to hand, dispersed themselves and fled, not only before they came to a battle, but before the
enemy ever came in sight, while Josephus and a few others were left behind; and as he saw that he had not
an army sufficient to engage the enemy, that the spirits of the Jews were sunk, and that the greater part
would willingly come to terms, if they might be credited, he already despaired of the success of the whole
war, and determined to get as far as he possibly could out of danger; so he took those that staid along with
him, and fled to Tiberias.

CHAPTER 7.
VESPASIAN, WHEN HE HAD TAKEN THE CITY GADAEA MARCHES TO JOTAPATA.
AFTER A LONG SIEGE THE CITY IS BETRAYED BY A DESERTER, AND TAKEN BY
VESPASIAN.

1. SO Vespasian marched to the city Gadara, and took it upon the first onset, because he found it destitute
of any considerable number of men grown up and fit for war. He came then into it, and slew all the youth,
the Romans having no mercy on any age whatsoever; and this was done out of the hatred they bore the
nation, and because of the iniquity they had been guilty of in the affair of Cestius. He also set fire not only
to the city itself, but to all the villas and small cities that were round about it; some of them were quite
destitute of inhabitants, and out of some of them he carried the inhabitants as slaves into captivity.

2. As to Josephus, his retiring to that city which he chose as the most fit for his security, put it into great
fear; for the people of Tiberias did not imagine that he would have run away, unless he had entirely
despaired of the success of the war. And indeed, as to that point, they were not mistaken about his
opinion; for he saw whither the affairs of the Jews would tend at last, and was sensible that they had but
one way of escaping, and that was by repentance. However, although he expected that the Romans would
forgive him, yet did he chose to die many times over, rather than to betray his country, and to dishonor
that supreme command of the army which had been intrusted with him, or to live happily under those
against whom he was sent to fight. He determined, therefore, to give an exact account of affairs to the
principal men at Jerusalem by a letter, that he might not, by too much aggrandizing the power of the
enemy, make them too timorous; nor, by relating that their power beneath the truth, might encourage them
to stand out when they were perhaps disposed to repentance. He also sent them word, that if they thought
of coming to terms, they must suddenly write him an answer; or if they resolved upon war, they must send
him an army sufficient to fight the Romans. Accordingly, he wrote these things, and sent messengers
immediately to carry his letter to Jerusalem.

3. Now Vespasian was very desirous of demolishing Jotapata, for he had gotten intelligence that the
greatest part of the enemy had retired thither, and that it was, on other accounts, a place of great security
to them. Accordingly, he sent both foot-men and horsemen to level the road, which was mountainous and
rocky, not without difficulty to be traveled over by footmen, but absolutely impracticable for horsemen.
Now these workmen accomplished what they were about in four days' time, and opened a broad way for
the army. On the fifth day, which was the twenty-first of the month Artemisius, (Jyar,) Josephus

140
prevented him, and came from Tiberias, and went into Jotapata, and raised the drooping spirits of the
Jews. And a certain deserter told this good news to Vespasian, that Josephus had removed himself thither,
which made him make haste to the city, as supposing that with taking that he should take all Judea, in
case he could but withal get Josephus under his power. So he took this news to be of the vastest advantage
to him, and believed it to be brought about by the providence of God, that he who appeared to be the most
prudent man of all their enemies, had, of his own accord, shut himself up in a place of sure custody.
Accordingly, he sent Placidus with a thousand horsemen, and Ebutius a decurion, a person that was of
eminency both in council and in action, to encompass the city round, that Josephus might not escape away
privately.

4. Vespasian also, the very next day, took his whole army and followed them, and by marching till late in
the evening, arrived then at Jotapata; and bringing his army to the northern side of the city, he pitched his
camp on a certain small hill which was seven furlongs from the city, and still greatly endeavored to be
well seen by the enemy, to put them into a consternation; which was indeed so terrible to the Jews
immediately, that no one of them durst go out beyond the wall. Yet did the Romans put off the attack at
that time, because they had marched all the day, although they placed a double row of battalions round the
city, with a third row beyond them round the whole, which consisted of cavalry, in order to stop up every
way for an exit; which thing making the Jews despair of escaping, excited them to act more boldly; for
nothing makes men fight so desperately in war as necessity.

5. Now when the next day an assault was made by the Romans, the Jews at first staid out of the walls and
opposed them, and met them, as having formed themselves a camp before the city walls. But when
Vespasian had set against them the archers and slingers, and the whole multitude that could throw to a
great distance, he permitted them to go to work, while he himself, with the footmen, got upon an acclivity,
whence the city might easily be taken. Josephus was then in fear for the city, and leaped out, and all the
Jewish multitude with him; these fell together upon the Romans in great numbers, and drove them away
from the wall, and performed a great many glorious and bold actions. Yet did they suffer as much as they
made the enemy suffer; for as despair of deliverance encouraged the Jews, so did a sense of shame
equally encourage the Romans. These last had skill as well as strength; the other had only courage, which
armed them, and made them fight furiously. And when the fight had lasted all day, it was put an end to by
the coming on of the night. They had wounded a great many of the Romans, and killed of them thirteen
men; of the Jews' side seventeen were slain, and six hundred wounded.

6. On the next day the Jews made another attack upon the Romans, and went out of the walls and fought a
much more desperate battle with them titan before. For they were now become more courageous than
formerly, and that on account of the unexpected good opposition they had made the day before, as they
found the Romans also to fight more desperately; for a sense of shame inflamed these into a passion, as
esteeming their failure of a sudden victory to be a kind of defeat. Thus did the Romans try to make an
impression upon the Jews till the fifth day continually, while the people of Jotapata made sallies out, and
fought at the walls most desperately; nor were the Jews affrighted at the strength of the enemy, nor were
the Romans discouraged at the difficulties they met with in taking the city.

7. Now Jotapata is almost all of it built on a precipice, having on all the other sides of it every way valleys
immensely deep and steep, insomuch that those who would look down would have their sight fail them
before it reaches to the bottom. It is only to be come at on the north side, where the utmost part of the city
is built on the mountain, as it ends obliquely at a plain. This mountain Josephus had encompassed with a
wall when he fortified the city, that its top might not be capable of being seized upon by the enemies. The

141
city is covered all round with other mountains, and can no way be seen till a man comes just upon it. And
this was the strong situation of Jotapata.

8. Vespasian, therefore, in order to try how he might overcome the natural strength of the place, as well as
the bold defense of the Jews, made a resolution to prosecute the siege with vigor. To that end he called the
commanders that were under him to a council of war, and consulted with them which way the assault
might be managed to the best advantage. And when the resolution was there taken to raise a bank against
that part of the wall which was practicable, he sent his whole army abroad to get the materials together.
So when they had cut down all the trees on the mountains that adjoined to the city, and had gotten
together a vast heap of stones, besides the wood they had cut down, some of them brought hurdles, in
order to avoid the effects of the darts that were shot from above them. These hurdles they spread over
their banks, under cover whereof they formed their bank, and so were little or nothing hurt by the darts
that were thrown upon them from the wall, while others pulled the neighboring hillocks to pieces, and
perpetually brought earth to them; so that while they were busy three sorts of ways, nobody was idle.
However, the Jews cast great stones from the walls upon the hurdles which protected the men, with all
sorts of darts also; and the noise of what could not reach them was yet so terrible, that it was some
impediment to the workmen.

9. Vespasian then set the engines for throwing stones and darts round about the city. The number of the
engines was in all a hundred and sixty, and bid them fall to work, and dislodge those that were upon the
wall. At the same time such engines as were intended for that purpose threw at once lances upon them
with a great noise, and stones of the weight of a talent were thrown by the engines that were prepared for
that purpose, together with fire, and a vast multitude of arrows, which made the wall so dangerous, that
the Jews durst not only not come upon it, but durst not come to those parts within the walls which were
reached by the engines; for the multitude of the Arabian archers, as well also as all those that threw darts
and slung stones, fell to work at the same time with the engines. Yet did not the otters lie still, when they
could not throw at the Romans from a higher place; for they then made sallies out of the city, like private
robbers, by parties, and pulled away the hurdles that covered the workmen, and killed them when they
were thus naked; and when those workmen gave way, these cast away the earth that composed the bank,
and burnt the wooden parts of it, together with the hurdles, till at length Vespasian perceived that the
intervals there were between the works were of disadvantage to him; for those spaces of ground afforded
the Jews a place for assaulting the Romans. So he united the hurdles, and at the same time joined one part
of the army to the other, which prevented the private excursions of the Jews.

10. And when the bank was now raised, and brought nearer than ever to the battlements that belonged to
the walls, Josephus thought it would be entirely wrong in him if he could make no contrivances in
opposition to theirs, and that might be for the city's preservation; so he got together his workmen, and
ordered them to build the wall higher; and while they said that this was impossible to be done while so
many darts were thrown at them, he invented this sort of cover for them: He bid them fix piles, and
expand before them the raw hides of oxen newly killed, that these hides by yielding and hollowing
themselves when the stones were thrown at them might receive them, for that the other darts would slide
off them, and the fire that was thrown would be quenched by the moisture that was in them. And these he
set before the workmen, and under them these workmen went on with their works in safety, and raised the
wall higher, and that both by day and by night, fill it was twenty cubits high. He also built a good number
of towers upon the wall, and fitted it to strong battlements. This greatly discouraged the Romans, who in
their own opinions were already gotten within the walls, while they were now at once astonished at
Josephus's contrivance, and at the fortitude of the citizens that were in the city.

142
11. And now Vespasian was plainly irritated at the great subtlety of this stratagem, and at the boldness of
the citizens of Jotapata; for taking heart again upon the building of this wall, they made fresh sallies upon
the Romans, and had every day conflicts with them by parties, together with all such contrivances, as
robbers make use of, and with the plundering of all that came to hand, as also with the setting fire to all
the other works; and this till Vespasian made his army leave off fighting them, and resolved to lie round
the city, and to starve them into a surrender, as supposing that either they would be forced to petition him
for mercy by want of provisions, or if they should have the courage to hold out till the last, they should
perish by famine: and he concluded he should conquer them the more easily in fighting, if he gave them
an interval, and then fell upon them when they were weakened by famine; but still he gave orders that
they should guard against their coming out of the city.

12. Now the besieged had plenty of corn within the city, and indeed of all necessaries, but they wanted
water, because there was no fountain in the city, the people being there usually satisfied with rain water;
yet is it a rare thing in that country to have rain in summer, and at this season, during the siege, they were
in great distress for some contrivance to satisfy their thirst; and they were very sad at this time
particularly, as if they were already in want of water entirely, for Josephus seeing that the city abounded
with other necessaries, and that the men were of good courage, and being desirous to protract the siege to
the Romans longer than they expected, ordered their drink to be given them by measure; but this scanty
distribution of water by measure was deemed by them as a thing more hard upon them than the want of it;
and their not being able to drink as much as they would made them more desirous of drinking than they
otherwise had been; nay, they were as much disheartened hereby as if they were come to the last degree of
thirst. Nor were the Romans unacquainted with the state they were in, for when they stood over against
them, beyond the wall, they could see them running together, and taking their water by measure, which
made them throw their javelins thither the place being within their reach, and kill a great many of them.

13. Hereupon Vespasian hoped that their receptacles of water would in no long time be emptied, and that
they would be forced to deliver up the city to him; but Josephus being minded to break such his hope,
gave command that they should wet a great many of their clothes, and hang them out about the
battlements, till the entire wall was of a sudden all wet with the running down of the water. At this sight
the Romans were discouraged, and under consternation, when they saw them able to throw away in sport
so much water, when they supposed them not to have enough to drink themselves. This made the Roman
general despair of taking the city by their want of necessaries, and to betake himself again to arms, and to
try to force them to surrender, which was what the Jews greatly desired; for as they despaired of either
themselves or their city being able to escape, they preferred a death in battle before one by hunger and
thirst.

14. However, Josephus contrived another stratagem besides the foregoing, to get plenty of what they
wanted. There was a certain rough and uneven place that could hardly be ascended, and on that account
was not guarded by the soldiers; so Josephus sent out certain persons along the western parts of the valley,
and by them sent letters to whom he pleased of the Jews that were out of the city, and procured from them
what necessaries soever they wanted in the city in abundance; he enjoined them also to creep generally
along by the watch as they came into the city, and to cover their backs with such sheep-skins as had their
wool upon them, that if any one should spy them out in the night time, they might be believed to be dogs.
This was done till the watch perceived their contrivance, and encompassed that rough place about
themselves.

15. And now it was that Josephus perceived that the city could not hold out long, and that his own life
would be in doubt if he continued in it; so he consulted how he and the most potent men of the city might

143
fly out of it. When the multitude understood this, they came all round about him, and begged of him not to
overlook them while they entirely depended on him, and him alone; for that there was still hope of the
city's deliverance, if he would stay with them, because every body would undertake any pains with great
cheerfulness on his account, and in that case there would be some comfort for them also, though they
should be taken: that it became him neither to fly from his enemies, nor to desert his friends, nor to leap
out of that city, as out of a ship that was sinking in a storm, into which he came when it was quiet and in a
calm; for that by going away he would be the cause of drowning the city, because nobody would then
venture to oppose the enemy when he was once gone, upon whom they wholly confided.

16. Hereupon Josephus avoided letting them know that he was to go away to provide for his own safety,
but told them that he would go out of the city for their sakes; for that if he staid with them, he should be
able to do them little good while they were in a safe condition; and that if they were once taken, he should
only perish with them to no purpose; but that if he were once gotten free from this siege, he should be
able to bring them very great relief; for that he would then immediately get the Galileans together, out of
the country, in great multitudes, and draw the Romans off their city by another war. That he did not see
what advantge he could bring to them now, by staying among them, but only provoke the Romans to
besiege them more closely, as esteeming it a most valuable thing to take him; but that if they were once
informed that he was fled out of the city, they would greatly remit of their eagerness against it. Yet did not
this plea move the people, but inflamed them the more to hang about him. Accordingly, both the children
and the old men, and the women with their infants, came mourning to him, and fell down before him, and
all of them caught hold of his feet, and held him fast, and besought him, with great lamentations, that he
would take his share with them in their fortune; and I think they did this, not that they envied his
deliverance, but that they hoped for their own; for they could not think they should suffer any great
misfortune, provided Josephus would but stay with them.

17. Now Josephus thought, that if he resolved to stay, it would be ascribed to their entreaties; and if he
resolved to go away by force, he should be put into custody. His commiseration also of the people under
their lamentations had much broken that his eagerness to leave them; so he resolved to stay, and arming
himself with the common despair of the citizens, he said to them, "Now is the time to begin to fight in
earnest, when there is no hope of deliverance left. It is a brave thing to prefer glory before life, and to set
about some such noble undertaking as may be remembered by late posterity." Having said this, he fell to
work immediately, and made a sally, and dispersed the enemies' out-guards, and ran as far as the Roman
camp itself, and pulled the coverings of their tents to pieces, that were upon their banks, and set fire to
their works. And this was the manner in which he never left off fighting, neither the next day, nor the day
after it, but went on with it for a considerable number of both days and nights.

18. Upon this, Vespasian, when he saw the Romans distressed by these sallies, (though they were
ashamed to be made to run away by the Jews; and when at any time they made the Jews run away, their
heavy armor would not let them pursue them far; while the Jews, when they had performed any action,
and before they could be hurt themselves, still retired into the city,) ordered his armed men to avoid their
onset, and not fight it out with men under desperation, while nothing is more courageous than despair; but
that their violence would be quenched when they saw they failed of their purposes, as fire is quenched
when it wants fuel; and that it was proper for the Romans to gain their victories as cheap as they could,
since they are not forced to fight, but only to enlarge their own dominions. So he repelled the Jews in
great measure by the Arabian archers, and the Syrian slingers, and by those that threw stones at them, nor
was there any intermission of the great number of their offensive engines. Now the Jews suffered greatly
by these engines, without being able to escape from them; and when these engines threw their stones or
javelins a great way, and the Jews were within their reach, they pressed hard upon the Romans, and

144
fought desperately, without sparing either soul or body, one part succoring another by turns, when it was
tired down.

19. When, therefore, Vespasian looked upon himself as in a manner besieged by these sallies of the Jews,
and when his banks were now not far from the walls, he determined to make use of his battering ram. This
battering ram is a vast beam of wood like the mast of a ship, its forepart is armed with a thick piece of
iron at the head of it, which is so carved as to be like the head of a ram, whence its name is taken. This
ram is slung in the air by ropes passing over its middle, and is hung like the balance in a pair of scales
from another beam, and braced by strong beams that pass on both sides of it, in the nature of a cross.
When this ram is pulled backward by a great number of men with united force, and then thrust forward by
the same men, with a mighty noise, it batters the walls with that iron part which is prominent. Nor is there
any tower so strong, or walls so broad, that can resist any more than its first batteries, but all are forced to
yield to it at last. This was the experiment which the Roman general betook himself to, when he was
eagerly bent upon taking the city; but found lying in the field so long to be to his disadvantage, because
the Jews would never let him be quiet. So these Romans brought the several engines for galling an enemy
nearer to the walls, that they might reach such as were upon the wall, and endeavored to frustrate their
attempts; these threw stones and javelins at them; in the like manner did the archers and slingers come
both together closer to the wall. This brought matters to such a pass that none of the Jews durst mount the
walls, and then it was that the other Romans brought the battering ram that was cased with hurdles all
over, and in the tipper part was secured by skins that covered it, and this both for the security of
themselves and of the engine. Now, at the very first stroke of this engine, the wall was shaken, and a
terrible clamor was raised by the people within the city, as if they were already taken.

20. And now, when Josephus saw this ram still battering the same place, and that the wall would quickly
be thrown down by it, he resolved to elude for a while the force of the engine. With this design he gave
orders to fill sacks with chaff, and to hang them down before that place where they saw the ram always
battering, that the stroke might be turned aside, or that the place might feel less of the strokes by the
yielding nature of the chaff. This contrivance very much delayed the attempts of the Romans, because, let
them remove their engine to what part they pleased, those that were above it removed their sacks, and
placed them over against the strokes it made, insomuch that the wall was no way hurt, and this by
diversion of the strokes, till the Romans made an opposite contrivance of long poles, and by tying hooks
at their ends, cut off the sacks. Now when the battering ram thus recovered its force, and the wall having
been but newly built, was giving way, Josephus and those about him had afterward immediate recourse to
fire, to defend themselves withal; whereupon they took what materials soever they had that were but dry,
and made a sally three ways, and set fire to the machines, and the hurdles, and the banks of the Romans
themselves; nor did the Romans well know how to come to their assistance, being at once under a
consternation at the Jews' boldness, and being prevented by the flames from coming to their assistance;
for the materials being dry with the bitumen and pitch that were among them, as was brimstone also, the
fire caught hold of every thing immediately, and what cost the Romans a great deal of pains was in one
hour consumed.

21. And here a certain Jew appeared worthy of our relation and commendation; he was the son of Sameas,
and was called Eleazar, and was born at Saab, in Galilee. This man took up a stone of a vast bigness, and
threw it down from the wall upon the ram, and this with so great a force, that it broke off the head of the
engine. He also leaped down, and took up the head of the ram from the midst of them, and without any
concern carried it to the top of the wall, and this while he stood as a fit mark to he pelted by all his
enemies. Accordingly, he received the strokes upon his naked body, and was wounded with five darts; nor
did he mind any of them while he went up to the top of the wall, where he stood in the sight of them all,
as an instance of the greatest boldness; after which he drew himself on a heap with his wounds upon him,
145
and fell down together with the head of the ram. Next to him, two brothers showed their courage; their
names were Netir and Philip, both of them of the village Ruma, and both of them Galileans also; these
men leaped upon the soldiers of the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with such a noise and force as
to disorder their ranks, and to put to flight all upon whomsoever they made their assaults.

22. After these men's performances, Josephus, and the rest of the multitude with him, took a great deal of
fire, and burnt both the machines and their coverings, with the works belonging to the fifth and to the
tenth legion, which they put to flight; when others followed them immediately, and buried those
instruments and all their materials under ground. However, about the evening, the Romans erected the
battering ram again, against that part of the wall which had suffered before; where a certain Jew that
defended the city from the Romans hit Vespasian with a dart in his foot, and wounded him a little, the
distance being so great, that no mighty impression could be made by the dart thrown so far off. However,
this caused the greatest disorder among the Romans; for when those who stood near him saw his blood,
they were disturbed at it, and a report went abroad, through the whole army, that the general was
wounded, while the greatest part left the siege, and came running together with surprise and fear to the
general; and before them all came Titus, out of the concern he had for his father, insomuch that the
multitude were in great confusion, and this out of the regard they had for their general, and by reason of
the agony that the son was in. Yet did the father soon put an end to the son's fear, and to the disorder the
army was under, for being superior to his pains, and endeavoring soon to be seen by all that had been in a
fright about him, he excited them to fight the Jews more briskly; for now every body was willing to
expose himself to danger immediately, in order to avenge their general; and then they encouraged one
another with loud voices, and ran hastily to the walls.

23. But still Josephus and those with him, although they fell down dead one upon another by the darts and
stones which the engines threw upon them, yet did not they desert the wall, but fell upon those who
managed the ram, under the protection of the hurdles, with fire, and iron weapons, and stones; and these
could do little or nothing, but fell themselves perpetually, while they were seen by those whom they could
not see, for the light of their own flame shone about them, and made them a most visible mark to the
enemy, as they were in the day time, while the engines could not be seen at a great distance, and so what
was thrown at them was hard to be avoided; for the force with which these engines threw stones and darts
made them hurt several at a time, and the violent noise of the stones that were cast by the engines was so
great, that they carried away the pinnacles of the wall, and broke off the corners of the towers; for no body
of men could be so strong as not to be overthrown to the last rank by the largeness of the stones. And any
one may learn the force of the engines by what happened this very night; for as one of those that stood
round about Josephus was near the wall, his head was carried away by such a stone, and his skull was
flung as far as three furlongs. In the day time also, a woman with child had her belly so violently struck,
as she was just come out of her house, that the infant was carried to the distance of half a furlong, so great
was the force of that engine. The noise of the instruments themselves was very terrible, the sound of the
darts and stones that were thrown by them was so also; of the same sort was that noise the dead bodies
made, when they were dashed against the wall; and indeed dreadful was the clamor which these things
raised in the women within the city, which was echoed back at the same time by the cries of such as were
slain; while the whole space of ground whereon they fought ran with blood, and the wall might have been
ascended over by the bodies of the dead carcasses; the mountains also contributed to increase the noise by
their echoes; nor was there on that night any thing of terror wanting that could either affect the hearing or
the sight: yet did a great part of those that fought so hard for Jotapata fall manfully, as were a great part of
them wounded. However, the morning watch was come ere the wall yielded to the machines employed
against it, though it had been battered without intermission. However, those within covered their bodies
with their armor, and raised works over against that part which was thrown down, before those machines
were laid by which the Romans were to ascend into the city.
146
24. In the morning Vespasian got his army together, in order to take the city [by storm], after a little
recreation upon the hard pains they had been at the night before; and as he was desirous to draw off those
that opposed him from the places where the wall had been thrown down, he made the most courageous of
the horsemen get off their horses, and placed them in three ranks over against those ruins of the wall, but
covered with their armor on every side, and with poles in their hands, that so these might begin their
ascent as soon as the instruments for such ascent were laid; behind them he placed the flower of the
footmen; but for the rest of the horse, he ordered them to extend themselves over against the wall, upon
the whole hilly country, in order to prevent any from escaping out of the city when it should be taken; and
behind these he placed the archers round about, and commanded them to have their darts ready to shoot.
The same command he gave to the slingers, and to those that managed the engines, and bid them to take
up other ladders, and have them ready to lay upon those parts of the wall which were yet untouched, that
the besieged might be engaged in trying to hinder their ascent by them, and leave the guard of the parts
that were thrown down, while the rest of them should be overborne by the darts cast at them, and might
afford his men an entrance into the city.

25. But Josephus, understanding the meaning of Vespasian's contrivance, set the old men, together with
those that were tired out, at the sound parts of the wall, as expecting no harm from those quarters, but set
the strongest of his men at the place where the wall was broken down, and before them all six men by
themselves, among whom he took his share of the first and greatest danger. He also gave orders, that
when the legions made a shout, they should stop their ears, that they might not be affrighted at it, and that,
to avoid the multitude of the enemy's darts, they should bend down on their knees, and cover themselves
with their shields, and that they should retreat a little backward for a while, till the archers should have
emptied their quivers; but that When the Romans should lay their instruments for ascending the walls,
they should leap out on the sudden, and with their own instruments should meet the enemy, and that every
one should strive to do his best, in order not to defend his own city, as if it were possible to be preserved,
but in order to revenge it, when it was already destroyed; and that they should set before their eyes how
their old men were to be slain, and their children and wives were to be killed immediately by the enemy;
and that they would beforehand spend all their fury, on account of the calamities just coming upon them,
and pour it out on the actors.

26. And thus did Josephus dispose of both his bodies of men; but then for the useless part of the citizens,
the women and children, when they saw their city encompassed by a threefold army, (for none of the
usual guards that had been fighting before were removed,) when they also saw, not only the walls thrown
down, but their enemies with swords in their hands, as also the hilly country above them shining with
their weapons, d the darts in the hands of the Arabian archers, they made a final and lamentable outcry of
the destruction, as if the misery were not only threatened, but actually come upon them already. But
Josephus ordered the women to be shut up in their houses, lest they should render the warlike actions of
the men too effeminate, by making them commiserate their condition, and commanded them to hold their
peace, and threatened them if they did not, while he came himself before the breach, where his allotment
was; for all those who brought ladders to the other places, he took no notice of them, but earnestly waited
for the shower of arrows that was coming.

27. And now the trumpeters of the several Roman legions sounded together, and the army made a terrible
shout; and the darts, as by order, flew so last, that they intercepted the light. However, Josephus's men
remembered the charges he had given them, they stopped their ears at the sounds, and covered their
bodies against the darts; and as to the engines that were set ready to go to work, the Jews ran out upon
them, before those that should have used them were gotten upon them. And now, on the ascending of the
soldiers, there was a great conflict, and many actions of the hands and of the soul were exhibited; while
the Jews did earnestly endeavor, in the extreme danger they were in, not to show less courage than those
147
who, without being in danger, fought so stoutly against them; nor did they leave struggling with the
Romans till they either fell down dead themselves, or killed their antagonists. But the Jews grew weary
with defending themselves continually, and had not enough to come in their places, and succor them;
while, on the side of the Romans, fresh men still succeeded those that were tired; and still new men soon
got upon the machines for ascent, in the room of those that were thrust down; those encouraging one
another, and joining side to side with their shields, which were a protection to them, they became a body
of men not to be broken; and as this band thrust away the Jews, as though they were themselves but one
body, they began already to get upon the wall.

28. Then did Josephus take necessity for his counselor in this utmost distress, (which necessity is very
sagacious in invention when it is irritated by despair,) and gave orders to pour scalding oil upon those
whose shields protected them. Whereupon they soon got it ready, being many that brought it, and what
they brought being a great quantity also, and poured it on all sides upon the Romans, and threw down
upon them their vessels as they were still hissing from the heat of the fire: this so burnt the Romans, that it
dispersed that united band, who now tumbled clown from the wall with horrid pains, for the oil did easily
run down the whole body from head to foot, under their entire armor, and fed upon their flesh like flame
itself, its fat and unctuous nature rendering it soon heated and slowly cooled; and as the men were cooped
up in their head-pieces and breastplates, they could no way get free from this burning oil; they could only
leap and roll about in their pains, as they fell down from the bridges they had laid. And as they thus were
beaten back, and retired to their own party, who still pressed them forward, they were easily wounded by
those that were behind them.

29. However, in this ill success of the Romans, their courage did not fail them, nor did the Jews want
prudence to oppose them; for the Romans, although they saw their own men thrown down, and in a
miserable condition, yet were they vehemently bent against those that poured the oil upon them; while
every one reproached the man before him as a coward, and one that hindered him from exerting himself;
and while the Jews made use of another stratagem to prevent their ascent, and poured boiling fenugreek
upon the boards, in order to make them slip and fall down; by which means neither could those that were
coming up, nor those that were going down, stand on their feet; but some of them fell backward upon the
machines on which they ascended, and were trodden upon; many of them fell down upon the bank they
had raised, and when they were fallen upon it were slain by the Jews; for when the Romans could not
keep their feet, the Jews being freed from fighting hand to hand, had leisure to throw their darts at them.
So the general called off those soldiers in the evening that had suffered so sorely, of whom the number of
the slain was not a few, while that of the wounded was still greater; but of the people of Jotapata no more
than six men were killed, although more than three hundred were carried off wounded. This fight
happened on the twentieth day of the month Desius [Sivan].

30. Hereupon Vespasian comforted his army on occasion of what happened, and as he found them angry
indeed, but rather wanting somewhat to do than any further exhortations, he gave orders to raise the banks
still higher, and to erect three towers, each fifty feet high, and that they should cover them with plates of
iron on every side, that they might be both firm by their weight, and not easily liable to be set on fire.
These towers he set upon the banks, and placed upon them such as could shoot darts and arrows, with the
lighter engines for throwing stones and darts also; and besides these, he set upon them the stoutest men
among the slingers, who not being to be seen by reason of the height they stood upon, and the battlements
that protected them, might throw their weapons at those that were upon the wall, and were easily seen by
them. Hereupon the Jews, not being easily able to escape those darts that were thrown down upon their
heads, nor to avenge themselves on those whom they could not see, and perceiving that the height of the
towers was so great, that a dart which they threw with their hand could hardly reach it, and that the iron
plates about them made it very hard to come at them by fire, they ran away from the walls, and fled
148
hastily out of the city, and fell upon those that shot at them. And thus did the people of Jotapata resist the
Romans, while a great number of them were every day killed, without their being able to retort the evil
upon their enemies; nor could they keep them out of the city without danger to themselves.

31. About this time it was that Vespasian sent out Trajan against a city called Japha, that lay near to
Jotapata, and that desired innovations, and was puffed up with the unexpected length of the opposition of
Jotapata. This Trajan was the commander of the tenth legion, and to him Vespasian committed one
thousand horsemen, and two thousand footmen. When Trajan came to the city, he found it hard to be
taken, for besides the natural strength of its situation, it was also secured by a double wall; but when he
saw the people of this city coming out of it, and ready to fight him, he joined battle with them, and after a
short resistance which they made, he pursued after them; and as they fled to their first wall, the Romans
followed them so closely, that they fell in together with them: but when the Jews were endeavoring to get
again within their second wall, their fellow citizens shut them out, as being afraid that the Romans would
force themselves in with them. It was certainly God therefore who brought the Romans to punish the
Galileans, and did then expose the people of the city every one of them manifestly to be destroyed by their
bloody enemies; for they fell upon the gates in great crowds, and earnestly calling to those that kept them,
and that by their names also, yet had they their throats cut in the very midst of their supplications; for the
enemy shut the gates of the first wall, and their own citizens shut the gates of the second, so they were
enclosed between two walls, and were slain in great numbers together; many of them were run through by
swords of their own men, and many by their own swords, besides an immense number that were slain by
the Romans. Nor had they any courage to revenge themselves; for there was added to the consternation
they were in from the enemy, their being betrayed by their own friends, which quite broke their spirits;
and at last they died, cursing not the Romans, but their own citizens, till they were all destroyed, being in
number twelve thousand. So Trajan gathered that the city was empty of people that could fight, and
although there should a few of them be therein, he supposed that they would be too timorous to venture
upon any opposition; so he reserved the taking of the city to the general. Accordingly, he sent messengers
to Vespasian, and desired him to send his son Titus to finish the victory he had gained. Vespasian
hereupon imagining there might be some pains still necessary, sent his son with an army of five hundred
horsemen, and one thousand footmen. So he came quickly to the city, and put his army in order, and set
Trajan over the left wing, while he had the right himself, and led them to the siege: and when the soldiers
brought ladders to be laid against the wall on every side, the Galileans opposed them from above for a
while; but soon afterward they left the walls. Then did Titus's men leap into the city, and seized upon it
presently; but when those that were in it were gotten together, there was a fierce battle between them; for
the men of power fell upon the Romans in the narrow streets, and the women threw whatsoever came next
to hand at them, and sustained a fight with them for six hours' time; but when the fighting men were
spent, the rest of the multitude had their throats cut, partly in the open air, and partly in their own houses,
both young and old together. So there were no males now remaining, besides infants, which, with the
women, were carried as slaves into captivity; so that the number of the slain, both now in the city and at
the former fight, was fifteen thousand, and the captives were two thousand one hundred and thirty. This
calamity befell the Galileans on the twenty-fifth day of the month Desius [Sivan.]

32. Nor did the Samaritans escape their share of misfortunes at this time; for they assembled themselves
together upon file mountain called Gerizzim, which is with them a holy mountain, and there they
remained; which collection of theirs, as well as the courageous minds they showed, could not but threaten
somewhat of war; nor were they rendered wiser by the miseries that had come upon their neighboring
cities. They also, notwithstanding the great success the Romans had, marched on in an unreasonable
manner, depending on their own weakness, and were disposed for any tumult upon its first appearance.
Vespasian therefore thought it best to prevent their motions, and to cut off the foundation of their
attempts. For although all Samaria had ever garrisons settled among them, yet did the number of those
149
that were come to Mount Gerizzim, and their conspiracy together, give ground for fear what they would
be at; he therefore sent I thither Cerealis, the commander of the fifth legion, with six hundred horsemen,
and three thousand footmen, who did not think it safe to go up to the mountain, and give them battle,
because many of the enemy were on the higher part of the ground; so he encompassed all the lower part of
the mountain with his army, and watched them all that day. Now it happened that the Samaritans, who
were now destitute of water, were inflamed with a violent heat, (for it was summer time, and the
multitude had not provided themselves with necessaries,) insomuch that some of them died that very day
with heat, while others of them preferred slavery before such a death as that was, and fled to the Romans;
by whom Cerealis understood that those which still staid there were very much broken by their
misfortunes. So he went up to the mountain, and having placed his forces round about the enemy, he, in
the first place, exhorted them to take the security of his right hand, and come to terms with him, and
thereby save themselves; and assured them, that if they would lay down their arms, he would secure them
from any harm; but when he could not prevail with them, he fell upon them and slew them all, being in
number eleven thousand and six hundred. This was done on the twenty-seventh day of the month Desius
[Sivan]. And these were the calamities that befell the Samaritans at this time.

33. But as the people of Jotapata still held out manfully, and bore up tinder their miseries beyond all that
could be hoped for, on the forty-seventh day [of the siege] the banks cast up by the Romans were become
higher than the wall; on which day a certain deserter went to Vespasian, and told him how few were left
in the city, and how weak they were, and that they had been so worn out with perpetual watching, and as
perpetual fighting, that they could not now oppose any force that came against them, and that they might
he taken by stratagem, if any one would attack them; for that about the last watch of the night, when they
thought they might have some rest from the hardships they were under, and when a morning sleep used to
come upon them, as they were thoroughly weary, he said the watch used to fall asleep; accordingly his
advice was, that they should make their attack at that hour. But Vespasian had a suspicion about this
deserter, as knowing how faithful the Jews were to one another, and how much they despised any
punishments that could be inflicted on them; this last because one of the people of Jotapata had undergone
all sorts of torments, and though they made him pass through a fiery trial of his enemies in his
examination, yet would he inform them nothing of the affairs within the city, and as he was crucified,
smiled at them. However, the probability there was in the relation itself did partly confirm the truth of
what the deserter told them, and they thought he might probably speak truth. However, Vespasian thought
they should be no great sufferers if the report was a sham; so he commanded them to keep the man in
custody, and prepared the army for taking the city.

34. According to which resolution they marched without noise, at the hour that had been told them, to the
wall; and it was Titus himself that first got upon it, with one of his tribunes, Domitius Sabinus, and had a
few of the fifteenth legion along with him. So they cut the throats of the watch, and entered the city very
quietly. After these came Cerealis the tribune, and Placidus, and led on those that were tinder them. Now
when the citadel was taken, and the enemy were in the very midst of the city, and when it was already
day, yet was not the taking of the city known by those that held it; for a great many of them were fast
asleep, and a great mist, which then by chance fell upon the city, hindered those that got up from
distinctly seeing the case they were in, till the whole Roman army was gotten in, and they were raised up
only to find the miseries they were under; and as they were slaying, they perceived the city was taken.
And for the Romans, they so well remembered what they had suffered during the siege, that they spared
none, nor pitied any, but drove the people down the precipice from the citadel, and slew them as they
drove them down; at which time the difficulties of the place hindered those that were still able to fight
from defending themselves; for as they were distressed in the narrow streets, and could not keep their feet
sure along the precipice, they were overpowered with the crowd of those that came fighting them down
from the citadel. This provoked a great many, even of those chosen men that were about Josephus, to kill
150
themselves with their own hands; for when they saw that they could kill none of the Romans, they
resolved to prevent being killed by the Romans, and got together in great numbers in the utmost parts of
the city, and killed themselves.

35. However, such of the watch as at the first perceived they were taken, and ran away as fast as they
could, went up into one of the towers on the north side of the city, and for a while defended themselves
there; but as they were encompassed with a multitude of enemies, they tried to use their right hands when
it was too late, and at length they cheerfully offered their necks to be cut off by those that stood over
them. And the Romans might have boasted that the conclusion of that siege was without blood [on their
side] if there had not been a centurion, Antonius, who was slain at the taking of the city. His death was
occasioned by the following treachery; for there was one of those that were fled into the caverns, which
were a great number, who desired that this Antonius would reach him his right hand for his security, and
would assure him that he would preserve him, and give him his assistance in getting up out of the cavern;
accordingly, he incautiously reached him his right hand, when the other man prevented him, and stabbed
him under his loins with a spear, and killed him immediately.

36. And on this day it was that the Romans slew all the multitude that appeared openly; but on the
following days they searched the hiding-places, and fell upon those that were under ground, and in the
caverns, and went thus through every age, excepting the infants and the women, and of these there were
gathered together as captives twelve hundred; and as for those that were slain at the taking of the city, and
in the former fights, they were numbered to be forty thousand. So Vespasian gave order that the city
should be entirely demolished, and all the fortifications burnt down. And thus was Jotapata taken, in the
thirteenth year of the reign of Nero, on the first day of the month Panemus [Tamuz].

CHAPTER 8.
HOW JOSEPHUS WAS DISCOVERED BY A WOMAN, AND WAS WILLING TO DELIVER
HIMSELF UP TO THE ROMANS; AND WHAT DISCOURSE HE HAD WITH HIS OWN MEN,
WHEN THEY ENDEAVORED TO HINDER HIM; AND WHAT HE SAID TO VESPASIAN,
WHEN HE WAS BROUGHT TO HIM; AND AFTER WHAT MANNER VESPASIAN USED HIM
AFTERWARD.

1. AND now the Romans searched for Josephus, both out of the hatred they bore him, and because their
general was very desirous to have him taken; for he reckoned that if he were once taken, the greatest part
of the war would be over. They then searched among the dead, and looked into the most concealed
recesses of the city; but as the city was first taken, he was assisted by a certain supernatural providence;
for he withdrew himself from the enemy when he was in the midst of them, and leaped into a certain deep
pit, whereto there adjoined a large den at one side of it, which den could not be seen by those that were
above ground; and there he met with forty persons of eminency that had concealed themselves, and with
provisions enough to satisfy them for not a few days. So in the day time he hid himself from the enemy,
who had seized upon all places, and in the night time he got up out of the den and looked about for some
way of escaping, and took exact notice of the watch; but as all places were guarded every where on his
account, that there was no way of getting off unseen, he went down again into the den. Thus he concealed
himself two days; but on the third day, when they had taken a woman who had been with them, he was
discovered. Whereupon Vespasian sent immediately and zealously two tribunes, Paulinus and Gallicanus,
and ordered them to give Josephus their right hands as a security for his life, and to exhort him to come
up.

151
2. So they came and invited the man to come up, and gave him assurances that his life should be
preserved: but they did not prevail with him; for he gathered suspicions from the probability there was
that one who had done so many things against the Romans must suffer for it, though not from the mild
temper of those that invited him. However, he was afraid that he was invited to come up in order to be
punished, until Vespasian sent besides these a third tribune, Nicanor, to him; he was one that was well
known to Josephus, and had been his familiar acquaintance in old time. When he was come, he enlarged
upon the natural mildness of the Romans towards those they have once conquered; and told him that he
had behaved himself so valiantly, that the commanders rather admired than hated him; that the general
was very desirous to have him brought to him, not in order to punish him, for that he could do though he
should not come voluntarily, but that he was determined to preserve a man of his courage. He moreover
added this, that Vespasian, had he been resolved to impose upon him, would not have sent to him a friend
of his own, nor put the fairest color upon the vilest action, by pretending friendship and meaning
perfidiousness; nor would he have himself acquiesced, or come to him, had it been to deceive him.

3. Now as Josephus began to hesitate with himself about Nicanor's proposal, the soldiery were so angry,
that they ran hastily to set fire to the den; but the tribune would not permit them so to do, as being very
desirous to take the man alive. And now, as Nicanor lay hard at Josephus to comply, and he understood
how the multitude of the enemies threatened him, he called to mind the dreams which he had dreamed in
the night time, whereby God had signified to him beforehand both the future calamities of the Jews, and
the events that concerned the Roman emperors. Now Josephus was able to give shrewd conjectures about
the interpretation of such dreams as have been ambiguously delivered by God. Moreover, he was not
unacquainted with the prophecies contained in the sacred books, as being a priest himself, and of the
posterity of priests: and just then was he in an ecstasy; and setting before him the tremendous images of
the dreams he had lately had, he put up a secret prayer to God, and said, "Since it pleaseth thee, who hast
created the Jewish nation, to depress the same, and since all their good fortune is gone over to the
Romans, and since thou hast made choice of this soul of mine to foretell what is to come to pass hereafter,
I willingly give them my hands, and am content to live. And I protest openly that I do not go over to the
Romans as a deserter of the Jews, but as a minister from thee."

4. When he had said this, he complied with Nicanor's invitation. But when those Jews who had fled with
him understood that he yielded to those that invited him to come up, they came about him in a body, and
cried out, "Nay, indeed, now may the laws of our forefathers, which God ordained himself, well groan to
purpose; that God we mean who hath created the souls of the Jews of such a temper, that they despise
death. O Josephus! art thou still fond of life? and canst thou bear to see the light in a state of slavery?
How soon hast thou forgotten thyself! How many hast thou persuaded to lose their lives for liberty! Thou
hast therefore had a false reputation for manhood, and a like false reputation for wisdom, if thou canst
hope for preservation from those against whom thou hast fought so zealously, and art however willing to
be preserved by them, if they be in earnest. But although the good fortune of the Romans hath made thee
forget thyself, we ought to take care that the glory of our forefathers may not be tarnished. We will lend
thee our right hand and a sword; and if thou wilt die willingly, thou wilt die as general of the Jews; but if
unwillingly, thou wilt die as a traitor to them." As soon as they said this, they began to thrust their swords
at him, and threatened they would kill him, if he thought of yielding himself to the Romans.

5. Upon this Josephus was afraid of their attacking him, and yet thought he should be a betrayer of the
commands of God, if he died before they were delivered. So he began to talk like a philosopher to them in
the distress he was then in, when he said thus to them: "O my friends, why are we so earnest to kill
ourselves? and why do we set our soul and body, which are such dear companions, at such variance? Can
any one pretend that I am not the man I was formerly? Nay, the Romans are sensible how that matter
stands well enough. It is a brave thin to die in war; but so that it be according to the law of war, by the
152
hand of conquerors. If, therefore, I avoid death from the sword of the Romans, I am truly worthy to be
killed by my own sword, and my own hand; but if they admit of mercy, and would spare their enemy,
how much more ought we to have mercy upon ourselves, and to spare ourselves? For it is certainly a
foolish thing to do that to ourselves which we quarrel with them for doing to us. I confess freely that it is a
brave thing to die for liberty; but still so that it be in war, and done by those who take that liberty from us;
but in the present case our enemies do neither meet us in battle, nor do they kill us. Now he is equally a
coward who will not die when he is obliged to die, and he who will die when he is not obliged so to do.
What are we afraid of, when we will not go up to the Romans? Is it death? If so, what we are afraid of,
when we but suspect our enemies will inflict it on us, shall we inflict it on ourselves for certain? But it
may be said we must be slaves. And are we then in a clear state of liberty at present? It may also be said
that it is a manly act for one to kill himself. No, certainly, but a most unmanly one; as I should esteem that
pilot to be an arrant coward, who, out of fear of a storm, should sink his ship of his own accord. Now self-
murder is a crime most remote from the common nature of all animals, and an instance of impiety against
God our Creator; nor indeed is there any animal that dies by its own contrivance, or by its own means, for
the desire of life is a law engraven in them all; on which account we deem those that openly take it away
from us to be our enemies, and those that do it by treachery are punished for so doing. And do not you
think that God is very angry when a man does injury to what he hath bestowed on him? For from him it is
that we have received our being, and we ought to leave it to his disposal to take that being away from us.
The bodies of all men are indeed mortal, and are created out of corruptible matter; but the soul is ever
immortal, and is a portion of the divinity that inhabits our bodies. Besides, if any one destroys or abuses a
depositum he hath received from a mere man, he is esteemed a wicked and perfidious person; but then if
any one cast out of his body this Divine depositum, can we imagine that he who is thereby affronted does
not know of it? Moreover, our law justly ordains that slaves which run away from their master shall be
punished, though the masters they run away from may have been wicked masters to them. And shall we
endeavor to run away from God, who is the best of all masters, and not guilty of impeity? Do not you
know that those who depart out of this life according to the law of nature, and pay that debt which was
received from God, when he that lent it us is pleased to require it back again, enjoy eternal fame; that their
houses and their posterity are sure, that their souls are pure and obedient, and obtain a most holy place in
heaven, from whence, in the revolutions of ages, they are again sent into pure bodies; while the souls of
those whose hands have acted madly against themselves are received by the darkest place in Hades, and
while God, who is their Father, punishes those that offend against either of them in their posterity? for
which reason God hates such doings, and the crime is punished by our most wise legislator. Accordingly,
our laws determine that the bodies of such as kill themselves should be exposed till the sun be set, without
burial, although at the same time it be allowed by them to be lawful to bury our enemies [sooner]. The
laws of other nations also enjoin such men's hands to be cut off when they are dead, which had been made
use of in destroying themselves when alive, while they reckoned that as the body is alien from the soul, so
is the hand alien from the body. It is therefore, my friends, a right thing to reason justly, and not add to the
calamities which men bring upon us impiety towards our Creator. If we have a mind to preserve
ourselves, let us do it; for to be preserved by those our enemies, to whom we have given so many
demonstrations of our courage, is no way inglorious; but if we have a mind to die, it is good to die by the
hand of those that have conquered us. For nay part, I will not run over to our enemies' quarters, in order to
be a traitor to myself; for certainly I should then be much more foolish than those that deserted to the
enemy, since they did it in order to save themselves, and I should do it for destruction, for my own
destruction. However, I heartily wish the Romans may prove treacherous in this matter; for if, after their
offer of their right hand for security, I be slain by them, I shall die cheerfully, and carry away with me the
sense of their perfidiousness, as a consolation greater than victory itself."

6. Now these and many the like motives did Josephus use to these men to prevent their murdering
themselves; but desperation had shut their ears, as having long ago devoted themselves to die, and they
153
were irritated at Josephus. They then ran upon him with their swords in their hands, one from one quarter,
and another from another, and called him a coward, and everyone of them appeared openly as if he were
ready to smite him; but he calling to one of them by name, and looking like a general to another, and
taking a third by the hand, and making a fourth ashamed of himself, by praying him to forbear, and being
in this condition distracted with various passions, (as he well might in the great distress he was then in,)
he kept off every one of their swords from killing him, and was forced to do like such wild beasts as are
encompassed about on every side, who always turn themselves against those that last touched them. Nay,
some of their right hands were debilitated by the reverence they bare to their general in these his fatal
calamities, and their swords dropped out of their hands; and not a few of them there were, who, when they
aimed to smite him with their swords, they were not thoroughly either willing or able to do it.

7. However, in this extreme distress, he was not destitute of his usual sagacity; but trusting himself to the
providence of God, he put his life into hazard [in the manner following]: "And now," said he, "since it is
resolved among you that you will die, come on, let us commit our mutual deaths to determination by lot.
He whom the lot falls to first, let him be killed by him that hath the second lot, and thus fortune shall
make its progress through us all; nor shall any of us perish by his own right hand, for it would be unfair if,
when the rest are gone, somebody should repent and save himself." This proposal appeared to them to be
very just; and when he had prevailed with them to determine this matter by lots, he drew one of the lots
for himself also. He who had the first lot laid his neck bare to him that had the next, as supposing that the
general would die among them immediately; for they thought death, if Josephus might but die with them,
was sweeter than life; yet was he with another left to the last, whether we must say it happened so by
chance, or whether by the providence of God. And as he was very desirous neither to be condemned by
the lot, nor, if he had been left to the last, to imbrue his right hand in the blood of his countrymen, he
persuaded him to trust his fidelity to him, and to live as well as himself.

8. Thus Josephus escaped in the war with the Romans, and in this his own war with his friends, and was
led by Nicanor to Vespasian. But now all the Romans ran together to see him; and as the multitude
pressed one upon another about their general, there was a tumult of a various kind; while some rejoiced
that Josephus was taken, and some threatened him, and some crowded to see him very near; but those that
were more remote cried out to have this their enemy put to death, while those that were near called to
mind the actions he had done, and a deep concern appeared at the change of his fortune. Nor were there
any of the Roman commanders, how much soever they had been enraged at him before, but relented when
they came to the sight of him. Above all the rest, Titus's own valor, and Josephus's own patience under his
afflictions, made him pity him, as did also the commiseration of his age, when he recalled to mind that but
a little while ago he was fighting, but lay now in the hands of his enemies, which made him consider the
power of fortune, and how quick is the turn of affairs in war, and how no state of men is sure; for which
reason he then made a great many more to be of the same pitiful temper with himself, and induced them
to commiserate Josephus. He was also of great weight in persuading his father to preserve him. However,
Vespasian gave strict orders that he should be kept with great caution, as though he would in a very little
time send him to Nero.

9. When Josephus heard him give those orders, he said that he had somewhat in his mind that he would
willingly say to himself alone. When therefore they were all ordered to withdraw, excepting Titus and two
of their friends, he said, "Thou, O Vespasian, thinkest no more than that thou hast taken Josephus himself
captive; but I come to thee as a messenger of greater tidings; for had not I been sent by God to thee, I
knew what was the law of the Jews in this case? (5) and how it becomes generals to die. Dost thou send
me to Nero? For why? Are Nero's successors till they come to thee still alive? Thou, O Vespasian, art
Caesar and emperor, thou, and this thy son. Bind me now still faster, and keep me for thyself, for thou, O
Caesar, are not only lord over me, but over the land and the sea, and all mankind; and certainly I deserve
154
to be kept in closer custody than I now am in, in order to be punished, if I rashly affirm any thing of God."
When he had said this, Vespasian at present did not believe him, but supposed that Josephus said this as a
cunning trick, in order to his own preservation; but in a little time he was convinced, and believed what he
said to be true, God himself erecting his expectations, so as to think of obtaining the empire, and by other
signs fore-showing his advancement. He also found Josephus to have spoken truth on other occasions; for
one of those friends that were present at that secret conference said to Josephus, "I cannot but wonder how
thou couldst not foretell to the people of Jotapata that they should be taken, nor couldst foretell this
captivity which hath happened to thyself, unless what thou now sayest be a vain thing, in order to avoid
the rage that is risen against thyself." To which Josephus replied, "I did foretell to the people of Jotapata
that they would be taken on the forty-seventh day, and that I should be caught alive by the Romans." Now
when Vespasian had inquired of the captives privately about these predictions, he found them to be true,
and then he began to believe those that concerned himself. Yet did he not set Josephus at liberty from his
hands, but bestowed on him suits of clothes, and other precious gifts; he treated him also in a very
obliging manner, and continued so to do, Titus still joining his interest ill the honors that were done him.

CHAPTER 9.
HOW JOPPA WAS TAKEN, AND TIBERIAS DELIVERED UP.

1. NOW Vespasian returned to Ptolemais on the fourth day of the month Panemus, [Tamus] and from
thence he came to Cesarea, which lay by the sea-side. This was a very great city of Judea, and for the
greatest part inhabited by Greeks: the citizens here received both the Roman army and its general, with all
sorts of acclamations and rejoicings, and this partly out of the good-will they bore to the Romans, but
principally out of the hatred they bore to those that were conquered by them; on which account they came
clamoring against Josephus in crowds, and desired he might be put to death. But Vespasian passed over
this petition concerning him, as offered by the injudicious multitude, with a bare silence. Two of the
legions also he placed at Cesarea, that they might there take their winter-quarters, as perceiving the city
very fit for such a purpose; but he placed the tenth and the fifth at Scythopolis, that he might not distress
Cesarea with the entire army. This place was warm even in winter, as it was suffocating hot in the
summer time, by reason of its situation in a plain, and near to the sea [of Galilee].

2. In the mean time, there were gathered together as well such as had seditiously got out from among their
enemies, as those that had escaped out of the demolished cities, which were in all a great number, and
repaired Joppa, which had been left desolate by Cestius, that it might serve them for a place of refuge; and
because the adjoining region had been laid waste in the war, and was not capable of supporting them, they
determined to go off to sea. They also built themselves a great many piratical ships, and turned pirates
upon the seas near to Syria, and Phoenicia, and Egypt, and made those seas unnavigable to all men. Now
as soon as Vespasian knew of their conspiracy, he sent both footmen and horsemen to Joppa, which was
unguarded in the night time; however, those that were in it perceived that they should be attacked, and
were afraid of it; yet did they not endeavor to keep the Romans out, but fled to their ships, and lay at sea
all night, out of the reach of their darts.

3. Now Joppa is not naturally a haven, for it ends in a rough shore, where all the rest of it is straight, but
the two ends bend towards each other, where there are deep precipices, and great stones that jut out into
the sea, and where the chains wherewith Andromeda was bound have left their footsteps, which attest to
the antiquity of that fable. But the north wind opposes and beats upon the shore, and dashes mighty waves
against the rocks which receive them, and renders the haven more dangerous than the country they had
deserted. Now as those people of Joppa were floating about in this sea, in the morning there fell a violent

155
wind upon them; it is called by those that sail there "the black north wind," and there dashed their ships
one against another, and dashed some of them against the rocks, and carried many of them by force, while
they strove against the opposite waves, into the main sea; for the shore was so rocky, and had so many of
the enemy upon it, that they were afraid to come to land; nay, the waves rose so very high, that they
drowned them; nor was there any place whither they could fly, nor any way to save themselves; while
they were thrust out of the sea, by the violence of the wind, if they staid where they were, and out of the
city by the violence of the Romans. And much lamentation there was when the ships were dashed against
one another, and a terrible noise when they were broken to pieces; and some of the multitude that were in
them were covered with waves, and so perished, and a great many were embarrassed with shipwrecks.
But some of them thought that to die by their own swords was lighter than by the sea, and so they killed
themselves before they were drowned; although the greatest part of them were carried by the waves, and
dashed to pieces against the abrupt parts of the rocks, insomuch that the sea was bloody a long way, and
the maritime parts were full of dead bodies; for the Romans came upon those that were carried to the
shore, and destroyed them; and the number of the bodies that were thus thrown out of the sea was four
thousand and two hundred. The Romans also took the city without opposition, and utterly demolished it.

4. And thus was Joppa taken twice by the Romans in a little time; but Vespasian, in order to prevent these
pirates from coming thither any more, erected a camp there, where the citadel of Joppa had been, and left
a body of horse in it, with a few footmen, that these last might stay there and guard the camp, and the
horsemen might spoil the country that lay round it, and might destroy the neighboring villages and smaller
cities. So these troops overran the country, as they were ordered to do, and every day cut to pieces and
laid desolate the whole region.

5. But now, when the fate of Jotapata was related at Jerusalem, a great many at the first disbelieved it, on
account of the vastness of the calamity, and because they had no eye-witness to attest the truth of what
was related about it; for not one person was saved to be a messenger of that news, but a fame was spread
abroad at random that the city was taken, as such fame usually spreads bad news about. However, the
truth was known by degrees, from the places near Jotapata, and appeared to all to be too true. Yet were
there fictitious stories added to what was really done; for it was reported that Josephus was slain at the
taking of the city, which piece of news filled Jerusalem full of sorrow. In every house also, and among all
to whom any of the slain were allied, there was a lamentation for them; but the mourning for the
commander was a public one; and some mourned for those that had lived with them, others for their
kindred, others for their friends, and others for their brethren, but all mourned for Josephus; insomuch that
the lamentation did not cease in the city before the thirtieth day; and a great many hired mourners, (6)
with their pipes, who should begin the melancholy ditties for them.

6. But as the truth came out in time, it appeared how the affairs of Jotapata really stood; yet was it found
that the death of Josephus was a fiction; and when they understood that he was alive, and was among the
Romans, and that the commanders treated him at another rate than they treated captives, they were as
vehemently angry at him now as they had showed their good-will before, when he appeared to have been
dead. He was also abused by some as having been a coward, and by others as a deserter; and the city was
full of indignation at him, and of reproaches cast upon him; their rage was also aggravated by their
afflictions, and more inflamed by their ill success; and what usually becomes an occasion of caution to
wise men, I mean affliction, became a spur to them to venture on further calamities, and the end of one
misery became still the beginning of another; they therefore resolved to fall on the Romans the more
vehemently, as resolving to be revenged on him in revenging themselves on the Romans. And this was the
state of Jerusalem as to the troubles which now came upon it.

156
7. But Vespasian, in order to see the kingdom of Agrippa, while the king persuaded himself so to do,
(partly in order to his treating the general and his army in the best and most splendid manner his private
affairs would enable him to do, and partly that he might, by their means, correct such things as were amiss
in his government,) he removed from that Cesarea which was by the sea-side, and went to that which is
called Cesarea Philippi (7) and there he refreshed his army for twenty days, and was himself feasted by
king Agrippa, where he also returned public thanks to God for the good success he had had in his
undertakings. But as soon as he was informed that Tiberias was fond of innovations, and that Tarichere
had revolted, both which cities were parts of the kingdom of Agrippa, and was satisfied within himself
that the Jews were every where perverted [from their obedience to their governors], he thought it
seasonable to make an expedition against these cities, and that for the sake of Agrippa, and in order to
bring his cities to reason. So he sent away his son Titus to [the other] Cesarea, that he might bring the
army that lay there to Seythopous, which is the largest city of Decapolis, and in the neighborhood of
Tiberias, whither he came, and where he waited for his son. He then came with three legions, and pitched
his camp thirty furlongs off Tiberias, at a certain station easily seen by the innovators; it is named
Sennabris. He also sent Valerian, a decurion, with fifty horsemen, to speak peaceably to those that were in
the city, and to exhort them to give him assurances of their fidelity; for he had heard that the people were
desirous of peace, but were obliged by some of the seditious part to join with them, and so were forced to
fight for them. When Valerian had marched up to the place, and was near the wall, he alighted off his
horse, and made those that were with him to do the same, that they might not be thought to come to
skirmish with them; but before they could come to a discourse one with another, the most potent men
among the seditious made a sally upon them armed; their leader was one whose name was Jesus, the son
of Shaphat, the principal head of a band of robbers. Now Valerian, neither thinking it safe to fight
contrary to the commands of the general, though he were secure of a victory, and knowing that it was a
very hazardous undertaking for a few to fight with many, for those that were unprovided to fight those
that were ready, and being on other accounts surprised at this unexpected onset of the Jews, he ran away
on foot, as did five of the rest in like manner, and left their horses behind them; which horses Jesus led
away into the city, and rejoiced as if they had taken them in battle, and not by treachery.

8. Now the seniors of the people, and such as were of principal authority among them, fearing what would
be the issue of this matter, fled to the camp of the Romans; they then took their king along with them, and
fell down before Vespasian, to supplicate his favor, and besought him not to overlook them, nor to impute
the madness of a few to the whole city, to spare a people that have been ever civil and obliging to the
Romans; but to bring the authors of this revolt to due punishment, who had hitherto so watched them, that
though they were zealous to give them the security of their right hands of a long time, yet could they not
accomplish the same. With these supplications the general complied, although he were very angry at the
whole city about the carrying off his horses, and this because he saw that Agrippa was under a great
concern for them. So when Vespasian and Agrippa had accepted of their right hands by way of security,
Jesus and his party thought it not safe for them to continue at Tiberias, so they ran away to Tarichete. The
next day Vespasian sent Trajan before with some horsemen to the citadel, to make trial of the multitude,
whether they were all disposed for peace; and as soon as he knew that the people were of the same mind
with the petitioner, he took his army, and went to the city; upon which the citizens opened to him their
gates, and met him with acclamations of joy, and called him their savior and benefactor. But as the army
was a great while in getting in at the gates, they were so narrow, Vespasian commanded the south wall to
be broken down, and so made a broad passage for their entrance. However, he charged them to abstain
from rapine and injustice, in order to gratify the king; and on his account spared the rest of the wall, while
the king undertook for them that they should continue [faithful to the Romans] for the time to come. And
thus did he restore this city to a quiet state, after it had been grievously afflicted by the sedition.

157
 CHAPTER 10.
HOW TARICHEAE WAS TAKEN. A DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVER JORDAN, AND OF THE
COUNTRY OF GENNESARETH.

1. AND now Vespasian pitched his camp between this city and Taricheae, but fortified his camp more
strongly, as suspecting that he should be forced to stay there, and have a long war; for all the innovators
had gotten together at Taricheae, as relying upon the strength of the city, and on the lake that lay by it.
This lake is called by the people of the country the Lake of Gennesareth. The city itself is situated like
Tiberias, at the bottom of a mountain, and on those sides which are not washed by the sea, had been
strongly fortified by Josephus, though not so strongly as Tiberias; for the wall of Tiberias had been built
at the beginning of the Jews' revolt, when he had great plenty of money, and great power, but Tarichese
partook only the remains of that liberality, Yet had they a great number of ships gotten ready upon the
lake, that, in case they were beaten at land, they might retire to them; and they were so fitted up, that they
might undertake a Sea-fight also. But as the Romans were building a wall about their camp, Jesu and his
party were neither affrighted at their number, nor at the good order they were in, but made a sally upon
them; and at the very first onset the builders of the wall were dispersed; and these pulled what little they
had before built to pieces; but as soon as they saw the armed men getting together, and before they had
suffered any thing themselves, they retired to their own men. But then the Romans pursued them, and
drove them into their ships, where they launched out as far as might give them the opportunity of reaching
the Romans with what they threw at them, and then cast anchor, and brought their ships close, as in a line
of battle, and thence fought the enemy from the sea, who were themselves at land. But Vespasian hearing
that a great multitude of them were gotten together in the plain that was before the city, he thereupon sent
his son, with six hundred chosen horsemen, to disperse them.

2. But when Titus perceived that the enemy was very numerous, he sent to his father, and informed him
that he should want more forces. But as he saw a great many of the horsemen eager to fight, and that
before any succors could come to them, and that yet some of them were privately under a sort of
consternation at the multitude of the Jews, he stood in a place whence he might be heard, and said to
them, "My brave Romans! for it is right for me to put you in mind of what nation you are, in the
beginning of my speech, that so you may not be ignorant who you are, and who they are against whom we
are going to fight. For as to us, Romans, no part of the habitable earth hath been able to escape our hands
hitherto; but as for the Jews, that I may speak of them too, though they have been already beaten, yet do
they not give up the cause; and a sad thing it would be for us to grow wealthy under good success, when
they bear up under their misfortunes. As to the alacrity which you show publicly, I see it, and rejoice at it;
yet am I afraid lest the multitude of the enemy should bring a concealed fright upon some of you: let such
a one consider again, who we are that are to fight, and who those are against whom we are to fight. Now
these Jews, though they be very bold and great despisers of death, are but a disorderly body, and
unskillful in war, and may rather be called a rout than an army; while I need say nothing of our skill and
our good order; for this is the reason why we Romans alone are exercised for war in time of peace, that
we may not think of number for number when we come to fight with our enemies: for what advantage
should we reap by our continual sort of warfare, if we must still be equal in number to such as have not
been used to war. Consider further, that you are to have a conflict with men in effect unarmed, while you
are well armed; with footmen, while you are horsemen; with those that have no good general, while you
have one; and as these advantages make you in effect manifold more than you are, so do their
disadvantages mightily diminish their number. Now it is not the multitude of men, though they be
soldiers, that manages wars with success, but it is their bravery that does it, though they be but a few; for
a few are easily set in battle-array, and can easily assist one another, while over-numerous armies are

158
more hurt by themselves than by their enemies. It is boldness and rashness, the effects of madness, that
conduct the Jews. Those passions indeed make a great figure when they succeed, but are quite
extinguished upon the least ill success; but we are led on by courage, and obedience, and fortitude, which
shows itself indeed in our good fortune, but still does not for ever desert us in our ill fortune. Nay, indeed,
your fighting is to be on greater motives than those of the Jews; for although they run the hazard of war
for liberty, and for their country, yet what can be a greater motive to us than glory? and that. it may never
be said, that after we have got dominion of the habitable earth, the Jews are able to confront us. We must
also reflect upon this, that there is no fear of our suffering any incurable disaster in the present case; for
those that are ready to assist us are many, and at hand also; yet it is in our power to seize upon this victory
ourselves; and I think we ought to prevent the coming of those my father is sending to us for our
assistance, that our success may be peculiar to ourselves, and of greater reputation to us. And I cannot but
think this an opportunity wherein my father, and I, and you shall be all put to the trial, whether he be
worthy of his former glorious performances, whether I be his son in reality, and whether you be really my
soldiers; for it is usual for my father to conquer; and for myself, I should not bear the thoughts of
returning to him if I were once taken by the enemy. And how will you be able to avoid being ashamed, if
you do not show equal courage with your commander, when he goes before you into danger? For you
know very well that I shall go into the danger first, and make the first attack upon the enemy. Do not you
therefore desert me, but persuade yourselves that God will be assisting to my onset. Know this also before
we begin, that we shall now have better success than we should have, if we were to fight at a distance."

3. As Titus was saying this, an extraordinary fury fell upon the men; and as Trajan was already come
before the fight began, with four hundred horsemen, they were uneasy at it, because the reputation of the
victory would be diminished by being common to so many. Vespasian had also sent both Antonius and
Silo, with two thousand archers, and had given it them in charge to seize upon the mountain that was over
against the city, and repel those that were upon the wall; which archers did as they were commanded, and
prevented those that attempted to assist them that way; And now Titus made his own horse march first
against the enemy, as did the others with a great noise after him, and extended themselves upon the plain
as wide as the enemy which confronted them; by which means they appeared much more numerous than
they really were. Now the Jews, although they were surprised at their onset, and at their good order, made
resistance against their attacks for a little while; but when they were pricked with their long poles, and
overborne by the violent noise of the horsemen, they came to be trampled under their feet; many also of
them were slain on every side, which made them disperse themselves, and run to the city, as fast as every
one of them were able. So Titus pressed upon the hindmost, and slew them; and of the rest, some he fell
upon as they stood on heaps, and some he prevented, and met them in the mouth, and run them through;
many also he leaped upon as they fell one upon another, and trod them down, and cut off all the retreat
they had to the wall, and turned them back into the plain, till at last they forced a passage by their
multitude, and got away, and ran into the city.

4. But now there fell out a terrible sedition among them within the city; for the inhabitants themselves,
who had possessions there, and to whom the city belonged, were not disposed to fight from the very
beginning; and now the less so, because they had been beaten; but the foreigners, which were very
numerous, would force them to fight so much the more, insomuch that there was a clamor and a tumult
among them, as all mutually angry one at another. And when Titus heard this tumult, for he was not far
from the wall, he cried out," Fellow soldiers, now is the time; and why do we make any delay, when God
is giving up the Jews to us? Take the victory which is given you: do not you hear what a noise they make?
Those that have escaped our hands are ill an uproar against one another. We have the city if we make
haste; but besides haste, we must undergo some labor, and use some courage; for no great thing uses to be
accomplished without danger: accordingly, we must not only prevent their uniting again, which necessity

159
will soon compel them to do, but we must also prevent the coming of our own men to our assistance, that,
as few as we are, we may conquer so great a multitude, and may ourselves alone take the city:"

5. As soon as ever Titus had said this, he leaped upon his horse, and rode apace down to the lake; by
which lake he marched, and entered into the city the first of them all, as did the others soon after him.
Hereupon those that were upon the walls were seized with a terror at the boldness of the attempt, nor durst
any one venture to fight with him, or to hinder him; so they left guarding the city, and some of those that
were about Jesus fled over the country, while others of them ran down to the lake, and met the enemy in
the teeth, and some were slain as they were getting up into the ships, but others of them as they attempted
to overtake those that were already gone aboard. There was also a great slaughter made in the city, while
those foreigners that had not fled away already made opposition; but the natural inhabitants were killed
without fighting: for in hopes of Titus's giving them his right hand for their security, and out of a
consciousness that they had not given any consent to the war, they avoided fighting, till Titus had slain
the authors of this revolt, and then put a stop to any further slaughters, out of commiseration of these
inhabitants of the place. But for those that had fled to the lake, upon seeing the city taken, they sailed as
far as they possibly could from the enemy.

6. Hereupon Titus sent one of his horsemen to his father, and let him know the good news of what he had
done; at which, as was natural, he was very joyful, both on account of the courage and glorious actions of
his son; for he thought that now the greatest part of the war was over. He then came thither himself, and
set men to guard the city, and gave them command to take care that nobody got privately out of it, but to
kill such as attempted so to do. And on the next day he went down to the lake, and commanded that
vessels should be fitted up, in order to pursue those that had escaped in the ships. These vessels were
quickly gotten ready accordingly, because there was great plenty of materials, and a great number of
artificers also.

7. Now this lake of Gennesareth is so called from the country adjoining to it. Its breadth is forty furlongs,
and its length one hundred and forty; its waters are sweet, and very agreeable for drinking, for they are
finer than the thick waters of other fens; the lake is also pure, and on every side ends directly at the
shores, and at the sand; it is also of a temperate nature when you draw it up, and of a more gentle nature
than river or fountain water, and yet always cooler than one could expect in so diffuse a place as this is.
Now when this water is kept in the open air, it is as cold as that snow which the country people are
accustomed to make by night in summer. There are several kinds of fish in it, different both to the taste
and the sight from those elsewhere. It is divided into two parts by the river Jordan. Now Panium is
thought to be the fountain of Jordan, but in reality it is carried thither after an occult manner from the
place called Phiala: this place lies as you go up to Trachonitis, and is a hundred and twenty furlongs from
Cesarea, and is not far out of the road on the right hand; and indeed it hath its name of Phiala [vial or
bowl] very justly, from the roundness of its circumference, as being round like a wheel; its water
continues always up to its edges, without either sinking or running over. And as this origin of Jordan was
formerly not known, it was discovered so to be when Philip was tetrarch of Trachonitis; for he had chaff
thrown into Phiala, and it was found at Paninto, where the ancients thought the fountain-head of the river
was, whither it had been therefore carried [by the waters]. As for Panium itself, its natural beauty had
been improved by the royal liberality of Agrippa, and adorned at his expenses. Now Jordan's visible
stream arises from this cavern, and divides the marshes and fens of the lake Semechonitis; when it hath
run another hundred and twenty furlongs, it first passes by the city Julias, and then passes through the
middle of the lake Gennesareth; after which it runs a long way over a desert, and then makes its exit into
the lake Asphaltitis.

160
8. The country also that lies over against this lake hath the same name of Gennesareth; its nature is
wonderful as well as its beauty; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the
inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the temper of the air is so well mixed, that it
agrees very well with those several sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, flourish there
in vast plenty; there are palm trees also, which grow best in hot air; fig trees also and olives grow near
them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. One may call this place the ambition of nature,
where it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together; it is a happy
contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes
different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men's expectation, but preserves them a great while; it supplies
men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during ten months of the year (8) and the
rest of the fruits as they become ripe together through the whole year; for besides the good temperature of
the air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain. The people of the country call it Capharnaum. Some
have thought it to be a vein of the Nile, because it produces the Coracin fish as well as that lake does
which is near to Alexandria. The length of this country extends itself along the banks of this lake that
bears the same name for thirty furlongs, and is in breadth twenty, And this is the nature of that place.

9. But now, when the vessels were gotten ready, Vespasian put upon ship-board as many of his forces as
he thought sufficient to be too hard for those that were upon the lake, and set sail after them. Now these
which were driven into the lake could neither fly to the land, where all was in their enemies' hand, and in
war against them; nor could they fight upon the level by sea, for their ships were small and fitted only for
piracy; they were too weak to fight with Vespasian's vessels, and the mariners that were in them were so
few, that they were afraid to come near the Romans, who attacked them in great numbers. However, as
they sailed round about the vessels, and sometimes as they came near them, they threw stones at the
Romans when they were a good way off, or came closer and fought them; yet did they receive the greatest
harm themselves in both cases. As for the stones they threw at the Romans, they only made a sound one
after another, for they threw them against such as were in their armor, while the Roman darts could reach
the Jews themselves; and when they ventured to come near the Romans, they became sufferers themselves
before they could do any harm to the ether, and were drowned, they and their ships together. As for those
that endeavored to come to an actual fight, the Romans ran many of them through with their long poles.
Sometimes the Romans leaped into their ships, with swords in their hands, and slew them; but when some
of them met the vessels, the Romans caught them by the middle, and destroyed at once their ships and
themselves who were taken in them. And for such as were drowning in the sea, if they lifted their heads
up above the water, they were either killed by darts, or caught by the vessels; but if, in the desperate case
they were in, they attempted to swim to their enemies, the Romans cut off either their heads or their
hands; and indeed they were destroyed after various manners every where, till the rest being put to flight,
were forced to get upon the land, while the vessels encompassed them about [on the sea]: but as many of
these were repulsed when they were getting ashore, they were killed by the darts upon the lake; and the
Romans leaped out of their vessels, and destroyed a great many more upon the land: one might then see
the lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies, for not one of them escaped. And a terrible stink, and a very
sad sight there was on the following days over that country; for as for the shores, they were full of
shipwrecks, and of dead bodies all swelled; and as the dead bodies were inflamed by the sun, and
putrefied, they corrupted the air, insomuch that the misery was not only the object of commiseration to the
Jews, but to those that hated them, and had been the authors of that misery. This was the upshot of the
sea-fight. The number of the slain, including those that were killed in the city before, was six thousand
and five hundred.

10. After this fight was over, Vespasian sat upon his tribunal at Taricheae, in order to distinguish the
foreigners from the old inhabitants; for those foreigners appear to have begun the war. So he deliberated
with the other commanders, whether he ought to save those old inhabitants or not. And when those
161
commanders alleged that the dismission of them would be to his own disadvantage, because, when they
were once set at liberty, they would not be at rest, since they would be people destitute of proper
habitations, and would he able to compel such as they fled to fight against us, Vespasian acknowledged
that they did not deserve to be saved, and that if they had leave given them to fly away, they would make
use of it against those that gave them that leave. But still he considered with himself after what manner
they should be slain (9) for if he had them slain there, he suspected the people of the country would
thereby become his enemies; for that to be sure they would never bear it, that so many that had been
supplicants to him should be killed; and to offer violence to them, after he had given them assurances of
their lives, he could not himself bear to do it. However, his friends were too hard for him, and pretended
that nothing against Jews could be any impiety, and that he ought to prefer what was profitable before
what was fit to be done, where both could not be made consistent. So he gave them an ambiguous liberty
to do as they advised, and permitted the prisoners to go along no other road than that which led to Tiberias
only. So they readily believed what they desired to be true, and went along securely, with their effects, the
way which was allowed them, while the Romans seized upon all the road that led to Tiberias, that none of
them might go out of it, and shut them up in the city. Then came Vespasian, and ordered them all to stand
in the stadium, and commanded them to kill the old men, together with the others that were useless, which
were in number a thousand and two hundred. Out of the young men he chose six thousand of the
strongest, and sent them to Nero, to dig through the Isthmus, and sold the remainder for slaves, being
thirty thousand and four hundred, besides such as he made a present of to Agrippa; for as to those that
belonged to his kingdom, he gave him leave to do what he pleased with them; however, the king sold
these also for slaves; but for the rest of the multitude, who were Trachonites, and Gaulanites, and of
Hippos, and some of Gadara, the greatest part of them were seditious persons and fugitives, who were of
such shameful characters, that they preferred war before peace. These prisoners were taken on the eighth
day of the month Gorpiaeus [Elul].

ENDNOTE

(1) Take the confirmation of this in the words of Suetonius, here produced by Dr. Hudson: "In the reign of
Claudius," says he, "Vespasian, for the sake of Narcissus, was sent as a lieutenant of a legion into
Germany. Thence he removed into Britain " battles with the enemy." In Vesp. sect. 4. We may also here
note from Josephus, that Claudius the emperor, who triumphed for the conquest of Britain, was enabled so
to do by Vespasian's conduct and bravery, and that he is here styled "the father of Vespasian."

(2) Spanheim and Reland both agree, that the two cities here esteemed greater than Antioch, the
metropolis of Syria, were Rome and Alexandria; nor is there any occasion for doubt in so plain a case.

(3) This description of the exact symmetry and regularity of the Roman army, and of the Roman
encampments, with the sounding their trumpets, etc. and order of war, described in this and the next
chapter, is so very like to the symmetry and regularity of the people of Israel in the wilderness, (see
Description of the Temples, ch. 9.,) that one cannot well avoid the supposal, that the one was the ultimate
pattern of the other, and that the tactics of the ancients were taken from the rules given by God to Moses.
And it is thought by some skillful in these matters, that these accounts of Josephus, as to the Roman camp
and armor, and conduct in war, are preferable to those in the Roman authors themselves.

(4) I cannot but here observe an Eastern way of speaking, frequent among them, but not usual among us,
where the word "only" or "alone" is not set down, but perhaps some way supplied in the pronunciation.
Thus Josephus here says, that those of Jotapata slew seven of the Romans as they were marching off,
because the Romans' retreat was regular, their bodies were covered over with their armor, and the Jews

162
fought at some distance; his meaning is clear, that these were the reasons why they slew only, or no more
than seven. I have met with many the like examples in the Scriptures, in Josephus, etc.; but did not note
down the particular places. This observation ought to be borne in mind upon many occasions.

(5) I do not know where to find the law of Moses here mentioned by Josephus, and afterwards by Eleazar,
13. VII. ch. 8. sect. 7, and almost implied in B. I. ch. 13. sect. 10, by Josephus's commendation of
Phasaelus for doing so; I mean, whereby Jewish generals and people were obliged to kill themselves,
rather than go into slavery under heathens. I doubt this would have been no better than "self-murder;" and
I believe it was rather some vain doctrine, or interpretation, of the rigid Pharisees, or Essens, or
Herodiaus, than a just consequence from any law of God delivered by Moses.

(6) These public mourners, hired upon the supposed death of Josephus, and the real death of many more,
illustrate some passages in the Bible, which suppose the same custom, as Matthew 11:17, where the
reader may consult the notes of Grotius.

(7) Of this Cesarea Philippi (twice mentioned in our New Testament, Matthew 16:13; Mark 8;27) there
are coins still extant, Spanheim here informs us.

(8) It may be worth our while to observe here, that near this lake of Gennesareth grapes and figs hang on
the trees ten months of the year. We may observe also, that in Cyril of Jerusalem, Cateehes. 18. sect. 3,
which was delivered not long before Easter, there were no fresh leaves of fig trees, nor bunches of fresh
grapes in Judea; so that when St. Mark says, ch. 11. ver. 13, that our Savior, soon after the same time of
the year, came and "found leaves" on a fig tree near Jerusalem, but "no figs, because the time of" new
"figs" ripening "was not yet," he says very true; nor were they therefore other than old leaves which our
Savior saw, and old figs which he expected, and which even with us commonly hang on the trees all
winter long.

(9) This is the most cruel and barbarous action that Vespasian ever did in this whole war, as he did it with
great reluctance also. It was done both after public assurance given of sparing the prisoners' lives, and
when all knew and confessed that these prisoners were no way guilty of any sedition against the Romans.
Nor indeed did Titus now give his consent, so far as appears, nor ever act of himself so barbarously; nay,
soon after this, Titus grew quite weary of shedding blood, and of punishing the innocent with the guilty,
and gave the people of Gischala leave to keep the Jewish sabbath, B. IV. ch. 2. sect. 3, 5, in the midst of
their siege. Nor was Vespasian disposed to do what he did, till his officers persuaded him, and that from
two principal topics, viz. that nothing could be unjust that was done against Jews; and that when both
cannot be consistent, advantage must prevail over justice. Admirable court doctrines these!

163
 Book IV
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE YEAR.

FROM THE SIEGE OF GAMALA TO THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM.

CHAPTER 1.
THE SIEGE AND TAKING OF GAMALA.

1. NOW all those Galileans who, after the taking of Jotapata, had revolted from the Romans, did, upon the
conquest of Taricheae, deliver themselves up to them again. And the Romans received all the fortresses
and the cities, excepting Gischala and those that had seized upon Mount Tabor; Gamala also, which is a
city ever against Tarichem, but on the other side of the lake, conspired with them. This city lay Upon the
borders of Agrippa's kingdom, as also did Sogana and Scleucia. And these were both parts of Gaulanitis;
for Sogana was a part of that called the Upper Gaulanitis, as was Gamala of the Lower; while Selcucia
was situated at the lake Semechouitis, which lake is thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in length; its
marshes reach as far as the place Daphne, which in other respects is a delicious place, and hath such
fountains as supply water to what is called Little Jordan, under the temple of the golden calf, (1) where it
is sent into Great Jordan. Now Agrippa had united Sogana and Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the very
beginning of the revolt from the Romans; yet did not Gamala accede to them, but relied upon the
difficulty of the place, which was greater than that of Jotapata, for it was situated upon a rough ridge of a
high mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle: where it begins to ascend, it lengthens itself, and
declines as much downward before as behind, insomuch that it is like a camel in figure, from whence it is
so named, although the people of the country do not pronounce it accurately. Both on the side and the face
there are abrupt parts divided from the rest, and ending in vast deep valleys; yet are the parts behind,
where they are joined to the mountain, somewhat easier of ascent than the other; but then the people
belonging to the place have cut an oblique ditch there, and made that hard to be ascended also. On its
acclivity, which is straight, houses are built, and those very thick and close to one another. The city also
hangs so strangely, that it looks as if it would fall down upon itself, so sharp is it at the top. It is exposed
to the south, and its southern mount, which reaches to an immense height, was in the nature of a citadel to
the city; and above that was a precipice, not walled about, but extending itself to an immense depth. There
was also a spring of water within the wall, at the utmost limits of the city.

2. As this city was naturally hard to be taken, so had Josephus, by building a wall about it, made it still
stronger, as also by ditches and mines under ground. The people that were in it were made more bold by
the nature of the place than the people of Jotapata had been, but it had much fewer fighting men in it; and
they had such a confidence in the situation of the place, that they thought the enemy could not be too
many for them; for the city had been filled with those that had fled to it for safety, on account of its
strength; on which account they had been able to resist those whom Agrippa sent to besiege it for seven
months together.

3. But Vespasian removed from Emmaus, where he had last pitched his camp before the city Tiberias,
(now Emmaus, if it be interpreted, may be rendered "a warm bath," for therein is a spring of warm water,
useful for healing,) and came to Gamala; yet was its situation such that he was not able to encompass it all
round with soldiers to watch it; but where the places were practicable, he set men to watch it, and seized
upon the mountain which was over it. And as the legions, according to their usual custom, were fortifying

164
their camp upon that mountain, he began to cast up banks at the bottom, at the part towards the east,
where the highest tower of the whole city was, and where the fifteenth legion pitched their camp; while
the fifth legion did duty over against the midst of the city, and whilst the tenth legion filled up the ditches
and the valleys. Now at this time it was that as king Agrippa was come nigh the walls, and was
endeavoring to speak to those that were on the walls about a surrender, he was hit with a stone on his right
elbow by one of the slingers; he was then immediately surrounded with his own men. But the Romans
were excited to set about the siege, by their indignation on the king's account, and by their fear on their
own account, as concluding that those men would omit no kinds of barbarity against foreigners and
enemies, who where so enraged against one of their own nation, and one that advised them to nothing but
what was for their own advantage.

4. Now when the banks were finished, which was done on the sudden, both by the multitude of hands, and
by their being accustomed to such work, they brought the machines; but Chares and Joseph, who were the
most potent men in the city, set their armed men in order, though already in a fright, because they did not
suppose that the city could hold out long, since they had not a sufficient quantity either of water, or of
other necessaries. However, these their leaders encouraged them, and brought them out upon the wall, and
for a while indeed they drove away those that were bringing the machines; but when those machines
threw darts and stones at them, they retired into the city; then did the Romans bring battering rams to
three several places, and made the wall shake [and fall]. They then poured in over the parts of the wall
that were thrown down, with a mighty sound of trumpets and noise of armor, and with a shout of the
soldiers, and brake in by force upon those that were in the city; but these men fell upon the Romans for
some time, at their first entrance, and prevented their going any further, and with great courage beat them
back; and the Romans were so overpowered by the greater multitude of the people, who beat them on
every side, that they were obliged to run into the upper parts of the city. Whereupon the people turned
about, and fell upon their enemies, who had attacked them, and thrust them down to the lower parts, and
as they were distressed by the narrowness and difficulty of the place, slew them; and as these Romans
could neither beat those back that were above them, nor escape the force of their own men that were
forcing their way forward, they were compelled to fly into their enemies' houses, which were low; but
these houses being thus full, of soldiers, whose weight they could not bear, fell down suddenly; and when
one house fell, it shook down a great many of those that were under it, as did those do to such as were
under them. By this means a vast number of the Romans perished; for they were so terribly distressed,
that although they saw the houses subsiding, they were compelled to leap upon the tops of them; so that a
great many were ground to powder by these ruins, and a great many of those that got from under them lost
some of their limbs, but still a greater number were suffocated by the dust that arose from those ruins. The
people of Gamala supposed this to be an assistance afforded them by God, and without regarding what
damage they suffered themselves, they pressed forward, and thrust the enemy upon the tops of their
houses; and when they stumbled in the sharp and narrow streets, and were perpetually falling down, they
threw their stones or darts at them, and slew them. Now the very ruins afforded them stones enow; and for
iron weapons, the dead men of the enemies' side afforded them what they wanted; for drawing the swords
of those that were dead, they made use of them to despatch such as were only half dead; nay, there were a
great number who, upon their falling down from the tops of the houses, stabbed themselves, and died after
that manner; nor indeed was it easy for those that were beaten back to fly away; for they were so
unacquainted with the ways, and the dust was so thick, that they wandered about without knowing one
another, and fell down dead among the crowd.

5. Those therefore that were able to find the ways out of the city retired. But now Vespasian always staid
among those that were hard set; for he was deeply affected with seeing the ruins of the city falling upon
his army, and forgot to take care of his own preservation. He went up gradually towards the highest parts
of the city before he was aware, and was left in the midst of dangers, having only a very few with him; for
165
even his son Titus was not with him at that time, having been then sent into Syria to Mucianus. However,
he thought it not safe to fly, nor did he esteem it a fit thing for him to do; but calling to mind the actions
he had done from his youth, and recollecting his courage, as if he had been excited by a divine fury, he
covered himself and those that were with him with their shields, and formed a testudo over both their
bodies and their armor, and bore up against the enemy's attacks, who came running down from the top of
the city; and without showing any dread at the multitude of the men or of their darts, he endured all, until
the enemy took notice of that divine courage that was within him, and remitted of their attacks; and when
they pressed less zealously upon him, he retired, though without showing his back to them till he was
gotten out of the walls of the city. Now a great number of the Romans fell in this battle, among whom was
Ebutius, the decurion, a man who appeared not only in this engagement, wherein he fell, but every where,
and in former engagements, to be of the truest courage, and one that had done very great mischief to the
Jews. But there was a centurion whose name was Gallus, who, during this disorder, being encompassed
about, he and ten other soldiers privately crept into the house of a certain person, where he heard them
talking at supper, what the people intended to do against the Romans, or about themselves (for both the
man himself and those with him were Syrians). So he got up in the night time, and cut all their throats,
and escaped, together with his soldiers, to the Romans.

6. And now Vespasian comforted his army, which was much dejected by reflecting on their ill success,
and because they had never before fallen into such a calamity, and besides this, because they were greatly
ashamed that they had left their general alone in great dangers. As to what concerned himself, he avoided
to say any thing, that he might by no means seem to complain of it; but he said that "we ought to bear
manfully what usually falls out in war, and this, by considering what the nature of war is, and how it can
never be that we must conquer without bloodshed on our own side; for there stands about us that fortune
which is of its own nature mutable; that while they had killed so many ten thousands of the Jews, they had
now paid their small share of the reckoning to fate; and as it is the part of weak people to be too much
puffed up with good success, so is it the part of cowards to be too much aftrighted at that which is ill; for
the change from the one to the other is sudden on both sides; and he is the best warrior who is of a sober
mind under misfortunes, that he may continue in that temper, and cheerfully recover what had been lost
formerly; and as for what had now happened, it was neither owing to their own effeminacy, nor to the
valor of the Jews, but the difficulty of the place was the occasion of their advantage, and of our
disappointment. Upon reflecting on which matter one might blame your zeal as perfectly ungovernable;
for when the enemy had retired to their highest fastnesses, you ought to have restrained yourselves, and
not, by presenting yourselves at the top of the city, to be exposed to dangers; but upon your having
obtained the lower parts of the city, you ought to have provoked those that had retired thither to a safe and
settled battle; whereas, in rushing so hastily upon victory, you took no care of your safety. But this
incautiousness in war, and this madness of zeal, is not a Roman maxim. While we perform all that we
attempt by skill and good order, that procedure is the part of barbarians, and is what the Jews chiefly
support themselves by. We ought therefore to return to our own virtue, and to be rather angry than any
longer dejected at this unlucky misfortune, and let every one seek for his own consolation from his own
hand; for by this means he will avenge those that have been destroyed, and punish those that have killed
them. For myself, I will endeavor, as I have now done, to go first before you against your enemies in
every engagement, and to be the last that retires from it."

7. So Vespasian encouraged his army by this speech; but for the people of Gamala, it happened that they
took courage for a little while, upon such great and unaccountable success as they had had. But when they
considered with themselves that they had now no hopes of any terms of accommodation, and reflecting
upon it that they could not get away, and that their provisions began already to be short, they were
exceedingly cast down, and their courage failed them; yet did they not neglect what might be for their
preservation, so far as they were able, but the most courageous among them guarded those parts of the
166
wall that were beaten down, while the more infirm did the same to the rest of the wall that still remained
round the city. And as the Romans raised their banks, and attempted to get into the city a second time, a
great many of them fled out of the city through impracticable valleys, where no guards were placed, as
also through subterraneous caverns; while those that were afraid of being caught, and for that reason staid
in the city, perished for want of food; for what food they had was brought together from all quarters, and
reserved for the fighting men.

8. And these were the hard circumstances that the people of Gamala were in. But now Vespasian went
about other work by the by, during this siege, and that was to subdue those that had seized upon Mount
Tabor, a place that lies in the middle between the great plain and Scythopolis, whose top is elevated as
high as thirty furlongs (2) and is hardly to be ascended on its north side; its top is a plain of twenty-six
furlongs, and all encompassed with a wall. Now Josephus erected this so long a wall in forty days' time,
and furnished it with other materials, and with water from below, for the inhabitants only made use of rain
water. As therefore there was a great multitude of people gotten together upon this mountain, Vespasian
sent Placidus with six hundred horsemen thither. Now, as it was impossible for him to ascend the
mountain, he invited many of them to peace, by the offer of his right hand for their security, and of his
intercession for them. Accordingly they came down, but with a treacherous design, as well as he had the
like treacherous design upon them on the other side; for Placidus spoke mildly to them, as aiming to take
them, when he got them into the plain; they also came down, as complying with his proposals, but it was
in order to fall upon him when he was not aware of it: however, Placidus's stratagem was too hard for
theirs; for when the Jews began to fight, he pretended to run away, and when they were in pursuit of the
Romans, he enticed them a great way along the plain, and then made his horsemen turn back; whereupon
he beat them, and slew a great number of them, and cut off the retreat of the rest of the multitude, and
hindered their return. So they left Tabor, and fled to Jerusalem, while the people of the country came to
terms with him, for their water failed them, and so they delivered up the mountain and themselves to
Placidus.

9. But of the people of Gamala, those that were of the bolder sort fled away and hid themselves, while the
more infirm perished by famine; but the men of war sustained the siege till the two and twentieth day of
the month Hyperberetmus, [Tisri,] when three soldiers of the fifteenth legion, about the morning watch,
got under a high tower that was near them, and undermined it, without making any noise; nor when they
either came to it, which was in the night time, nor when they were under it, did those that guarded it
perceive them. These soldiers then upon their coming avoided making a noise, and when they had rolled
away five of its strongest stones, they went away hastily; whereupon the tower fell down on a sudden,
with a very great noise, and its guard fell headlong with it; so that those that kept guard at other places
were under such disturbance, that they ran away; the Romans also slew many of those that ventured to
oppose them, among whom was Joseph, who was slain by a dart, as he was running away over that part of
the wall that was broken down: but as those that were in the city were greatly aftrighted at the noise, they
ran hither and thither, and a great consternation fell upon them, as though all the enemy had fallen in at
once upon them. Then it was that Chares, who was ill, and under the physician's hands, gave up the ghost,
the fear he was in greatly contributing to make his distemper fatal to him. But the Romans so well
remembered their former ill success, that they did not enter the city till the three and twentieth day of the
forementioned month.

10. At which time Titus, who was now returned, out of the indignation he had at the destruction the
Romans had undergone while he was absent, took two hundred chosen horsemen and some footmen with
him, and entered without noise into the city. Now as the watch perceived that he was coming, they made a
noise, and betook themselves to their arms; and as that his entrance was presently known to those that
were in the city, some of them caught hold of their children and their wives, and drew them after them,
167
and fled away to the citadel, with lamentations and cries, while others of them went to meet Titus, and
were killed perpetually; but so many of them as were hindered from running up to the citadel, not
knowing what in the world to do, fell among the Roman guards, while the groans of those that were killed
were prodigiously great every where, and blood ran down over all the lower parts of the city, from the
upper. But then Vespasian himself came to his assistance against those that had fled to the citadel, and
brought his whole army with him; now this upper part of the city was every way rocky, and difficult of
ascent, and elevated to a vast altitude, and very full of people on all sides, and encompassed with
precipices, whereby the Jews cut off those that came up to them, and did much mischief to others by their
darts, and the large stones which they rolled down upon them, while they were themselves so high that the
enemy's darts could hardly reach them. However, there arose such a Divine storm against them as was
instrumental to their destruction; this carried the Roman darts upon them, and made those which they
threw return back, and drove them obliquely away from them; nor could the Jews indeed stand upon their
precipices, by reason of the violence of the wind, having nothing that was stable to stand upon, nor could
they see those that were ascending up to them; so the Romans got up and surrounded them, and some they
slew before they could defend themselves, and others as they were delivering up themselves; and the
remembrance of those that were slain at their former entrance into the city increased their rage against
them now; a great number also of those that were surrounded on every side, and despaired of escaping,
threw their children and their wives, and themselves also, down the precipices, into the valley beneath,
which, near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a vast depth; but so it happened, that the anger of the
Romans appeared not to be so extravagant as was the madness of those that were now taken, while the
Romans slew but four thousand, whereas the number of those that had thrown themselves down was
found to be five thousand: nor did any one escape except two women, who were the daughters of Philip,
and Philip himself was the son of a certain eminent man called Jacimus, who had been general of king
Agrippa's army; and these did therefore escape, because they lay concealed from the rage of the Romans
when the city was taken; for otherwise they spared not so much as the infants, of which many were flung
down by them from the citadel. And thus was Gamala taken on the three and twentieth day of the month
Hyperberetens, [Tisri,] whereas the city had first revolted on the four and twentieth day of the month
Gorpieus [Elul].

CHAPTER 2.
THE SURRENDER OF GISCHALA; WHILE JOHN FLIES AWAY FROM IT TO JERUSALEM.

1. NOW no place of Galilee remained to be taken but the small city of Gischala, whose multitude yet
were desirous of peace; for they were generally husbandmen, and always applied themselves to cultivate
the fruits of the earth. However, there were a great number that belonged to a band of robbers, that were
already corrupted, and had crept in among them, and some of the governing part of the citizens were sick
of the same distemper. It was John, the son of a certain man whose name was Levi, that drew them into
this rebellion, and encouraged them in it. He was a cunning knave, and of a temper that could put on
various shapes; very rash in expecting great things, and very sagacious in bringing about what he hoped
for. It was known to every body that he was fond of war, in order to thrust himself into authority; and the
seditious part of the people of Gischala were under his management, by whose means the populace, who
seemed ready to send ambassadors in order to a surrender, waited for the coming of the Romans in battle-
array. Vespasian sent against them Titus, with a thousand horsemen, but withdrew the tenth legion to
Scythopolis, while he returned to Cesarea with the two other legions, that he might allow them to refresh
themselves after their long and hard campaign, thinking withal that the plenty which was in those cities
would improve their bodies and their spirits, against the difficulties they were to go through afterwards;
for he saw there would be occasion for great pains about Jerusalem, which was not yet taken, because it

168
was the royal city, and the principal city of the whole nation, and because those that had run away from
the war in other places got all together thither. It was also naturally strong, and the walls that were built
round it made him not a little concerned about it. Moreover, he esteemed the men that were in it to be so
courageous and bold, that even without the consideration of the walls, it would be hard to subdue them;
for which reason he took care of and exercised his soldiers beforehand for the work, as they do wrestlers
before they begin their undertaking.

2. Now Titus, as he rode ut to Gischala, found it would be easy for him to take the city upon the first
onset; but knew withal, that if he took it by force, the multitude would be destroyed by the soldiers
without mercy. (Now he was already satiated with the shedding of blood, and pitied the major part, who
would then perish, without distinction, together with the guilty.) So he was rather desirous the city might
be surrendered up to him on terms. Accordingly, when he saw the wall full of those men that were of the
corrupted party, he said to them, - That he could not but wonder what it was they depended on, when they
alone staid to fight the Romans, after every other city was taken by them, especially when they have seen
cities much better fortified than theirs is overthrown by a single attack upon them; while as many as have
intrusted themselves to the security of the Romans' right hands, which he now offers to them, without
regarding their former insolence, do enjoy their own possessions in safety; for that while they had hopes
of recovering their liberty, they might be pardoned; but that their continuance still in their opposition,
when they saw that to be impossible, was inexcusable; for that if they will not comply with such humane
offers, and right hands for security, they should have experience of such a war as would spare nobody,
and should soon be made sensible that their wall would be but a trifle, when battered by the Roman
machines; in depending on which they demonstrate themselves to be the only Galileans that were no
better than arrogant slaves and captives.

3. Now none of the populace durst not only make a reply, but durst not so much as get upon the wall, for
it was all taken up by the robbers, who were also the guard at the gates, in order to prevent any of the rest
from going out, in order to propose terms of submission, and from receiving any of the horsemen into the
city. But John returned Titus this answer: That for himself he was content to hearken to his proposals, and
that he would either persuade or force those that refused them. Yet he said that Titus ought to have such
regard to the Jewish law, as to grant them leave to celebrate that day, which was the seventh day of the
week, on which it was unlawful not only to remove their arms, but even to treat of peace also; and that
even the Romans were not ignorant how the period of the seventh day was among them a cessation from
all labors; and that he who should compel them to transgress the law about that day would be equally
guilty with those that were compelled to transgress it: and that this delay could be of no disadvantage to
him; for why should any body think of doing any thing in the night, unless it was to fly away? which he
might prevent by placing his camp round about them; and that they should think it a great point gained, if
they might not be obliged to transgress the laws of their country; and that it would be a right thing for
him, who designed to grant them peace, without their expectation of such a favor, to preserve the laws of
those they saved inviolable. Thus did this man put a trick upon Titus, not so much out of regard to the
seventh day as to his own preservation, for he was afraid lest he should be quite deserted if the city should
be taken, and had his hopes of life in that night, and in his flight therein. Now this was the work of God,
who therefore preserved this John, that he might bring on the destruction of Jerusalem; as also it was his
work that Titus was prevailed with by this pretense for a delay, and that he pitched his camp further off
the city at Cydessa. This Cydessa was a strong Mediterranean village of the Tyrians, which always hated
and made war against the Jews; it had also a great number of inhabitants, and was well fortified, which
made it a proper place for such as were enemies to the Jewish nation.

4. Now, in the night time, when John saw that there was no Roman guard about the city, he seized the
opportunity directly, and, taking with him not only the armed men that where about him, but a
169
considerable number of those that had little to do, together with their families, he fled to Jerusalem. And
indeed, though the man was making haste to get away, and was tormented with fears of being a captive, or
of losing his life, yet did he prevail with himself to take out of the city along with him a multitude of
women and children, as far as twenty furlongs; but there he left them as he proceeded further on his
journey, where those that were left behind made sad lamentations; for the farther every one of them was
come from his own people, the nearer they thought themselves to be to their enemies. They also affrighted
themselves with this thought, that those who would carry them into captivity were just at hand, and still
turned themselves back at the mere noise they made themselves in this their hasty flight, as if those from
whom they fled were just upon them. Many also of them missed their ways, and the earnestness of such as
aimed to outgo the rest threw down many of them. And indeed there was a miserable destruction made of
the women and children; while some of them took courage to call their husbands and kinsmen back, and
to beseech them, with the bitterest lamentations, to stay for them; but John's exhortation, who cried out to
them to save themselves, and fly away, prevailed. He said also, that if the Romans should seize upon
those whom they left behind, they would be revenged on them for it. So this multitude that run thus away
was dispersed abroad, according as each of them was able to run, one faster or slower than another.

5. Now on the next day Titus came to the wall, to make the agreement; whereupon the people opened
their gates to him, and came out to him, with their children and wives, and made acclamations of joy to
him, as to one that had been their benefactor, and had delivered the city out of custody; they also informed
him of John's flight, and besought him to spare them, and to come in, and bring the rest of those that were
for innovations to punishment. But Titus, not so much regarding the supplications of the people, sent part
of his horsemen to pursue after John, but they could not overtake him, for he was gotten to Jerusalem
before; they also slew six thousand of the women and children who went out with him, but returned back,
and brought with them almost three thousand. However, Titus was greatly displeased that he had not been
able to bring this John, who had deluded him, to punishment; yet he had captives enough, as well as the
corrupted part of the city, to satisfy his anger, when it missed of John. So he entered the city in the midst
of acclamations of joy; and when he had given orders to the soldiers to pull down a small part of the wall,
as of a city taken in war, he repressed those that had disturbed the city rather by threatenings than by
executions; for he thought that many would accuse innocent persons, out of their own private animosities
and quarrels, if he should attempt to distinguish those that were worthy of punishment from the rest; and
that it was better to let a guilty person alone in his fears, that to destroy with him any one that did not
deserve it; for that probably such a one might be taught prudence, by the fear of the punishment he had
deserved, and have a shame upon him for his former offenses, when he had been forgiven; but that the
punishment of such as have been once put to death could never be retrieved. However, he placed a
garrison in the city for its security, by which means he should restrain those that were for innovations, and
should leave those that were peaceably disposed in greater security. And thus was all Galilee taken, but
this not till after it had cost the Romans much pains before it could be taken by them.

CHAPTER 3.
CONCERNING JOHN OF GISCHALA. CONCERNING THE ZEALOTS AND THE HIGH
PRIEST ANANUS; AS ALSO HOW THE JEWS RAISE SEDITIONS ONE AGAINST ANOTHER
[IN JERUSALEM].

1. NOW upon John's entry into Jerusalem, the whole body of the people were in an uproar, and ten
thousand of them crowded about every one of the fugitives that were come to them, and inquired of them
what miseries had happened abroad, when their breath was so short, and hot, and quick, that of itself it
declared the great distress they were in; yet did they talk big under their misfortunes, and pretended to say

170
that they had not fled away from the Romans, but came thither in order to fight them with less hazard; for
that it would be an unreasonable and a fruitless thing for them to expose themselves to desperate hazards
about Gischala, and such weak cities, whereas they ought to lay up their weapons and their zeal, and
reserve it for their metropolis. But when they related to them the taking of Gischala, and their decent
departure, as they pretended, from that place, many of the people understood it to be no better than a
flight; and especially when the people were told of those that were made captives, they were in great
confusion, and guessed those things to be plain indications that they should be taken also. But for John, he
was very little concerned for those whom he had left behind him, but went about among all the people,
and persuaded them to go to war, by the hopes he gave them. He affirmed that the affairs of the Romans
were in a weak condition, and extolled his own power. He also jested upon the ignorance of the unskillful,
as if those Romans, although they should take to themselves wings, could never fly over the wall of
Jerusalem, who found such great difficulties in taking the villages of Galilee, and had broken their engines
of war against their walls.