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 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 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 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 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.
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 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.
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 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, 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 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.
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; 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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.
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 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, 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 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 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
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 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 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 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 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."
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 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 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 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 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 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.
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 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. 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 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 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 9.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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 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 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.
