139
[Whiston sect. 1] [sect. 556] 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.
[Whiston sect. 2] [sect. 559] 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.
[Whiston sect. 3] [sect. 562] 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, 140
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.
[Whiston sect. 4] [sect. 566] 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, 141
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.
[Whiston sect. 5] [sect. 569] 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 142
elders.
[Whiston sect. 6] [sect. 572] 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.
[Whiston sect. 7] [sect. 577] 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.
[Whiston sect. 8] [sect. 583] 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; 143
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.
Ch. 21