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[Whiston sect. 1] [sect. 527] ACCORDINGLY Simon would not suffer Matthias, by whose means he got
possession of the city, to go off without torment. This Matthias was the
son of Boethus, and was one of the high priests, one that had been very
faithful to the people, and in great esteem with them; he, when the multitude
were distressed by the zealots, among whom John was numbered, persuaded
the people to admit this Simon to come in to assist them, while he had
made no terms with him, nor expected any thing that was evil from him.
But when Simon was come in, and had gotten the city under his power, he
esteemed him that had advised them to admit him as his enemy equally with
the rest, as looking upon that advice as a piece of his simplicity only;
so he had him then brought before him, and condemned to die for being on
the side of the Romans, without giving him leave to make his defense. He
condemned also his three sons to die with him; for as to the fourth, he
prevented him by running away to Titus before. And when he begged for this,
that he might be slain before his sons, and that as a favor, on account
that he had procured the gates of the city to be opened to him, he gave
order that he should be slain the last of them all; so he was not slain
till he had seen his sons slain before his eyes, and that by being produced
over against the Romans; for such a charge had Simon given to Artanus,
the son of Bamadus, who was the most barbarous of all his guards. He also
jested upon him, and told him that he might now see whether those to whom
he intended to go over would send him any succors or not; but still he
forbade their dead bodies should be buried. After the slaughter of these,
a certain priest, Ananias, the son of Masambalus, a person of eminency,
as also Aristens, the scribe of the sanhedrim, and born at Emmaus, and
with them fifteen men of figure among the people, were slain. They also
kept Josephus's father in prison, and made public proclamation, that no
citizen whosoever should either speak to him himself, or go into his company
among others, for fear he should betray them. They also slew such as joined
in lamenting these men, without any further examination.
[Whiston sect. 2] [sect. 534] Now when Judas, the son of Judas, who was one of Simon's under officers,
and a person intrusted by him to keep one of the towers, saw this procedure
of Simon, he called together ten of those under him, that were most faithful
to him, (perhaps this was done partly out of pity to those that had so
barbarously been put to death, but principally in order to provide for
his own safety,) and spoke thus to them: "How long shall we bear these
miseries? or what hopes have we of deliverance by thus continuing faithful
to such wicked wretches? Is not the famine already come against us? Are
not the Romans in a manner gotten within the city? Is not Simon become
unfaithful to his benefactors? and is there not reason to fear he will
very soon bring us to the like punishment, while the security the Romans
offer us is sure? Come on, let us surrender up this wall, and save ourselves
and the city. Nor will Simon be very much hurt, if, now he despairs of
deliverance, he be brought to justice a little sooner than he thinks on."
Now these ten were prevailed upon by those arguments; so he sent the rest
of those that were under him, some one way, and some another, that no discovery
might be made of what they had resolved upon. Accordingly, he called to
the Romans from the tower about the third hour; but they, some of them
out of pride, despised what he said, and others of them did not believe
him to be in earnest, though the greatest number delayed the matter, as
believing they should get possession of the city in a little time, without
any hazard. But when Titus was just coming thither with his armed men,
Simon was acquainted with the matter before he came, and presently took
the tower into his own custody, before it was surrendered, and seized upon
these men, and put them to death in the sight of the Romans themselves;
and when he had mangled their dead bodies, he threw them down before the
wall of the city.
[Whiston sect. 3] [sect. 541] In the mean time, Josephus, as he was going round the city, had his
head wounded by a stone that was thrown at him; upon which he fell down
as giddy. Upon which fall of his the Jews made a sally, and he had been
hurried away into the city, if Caesar had not sent men to protect him immediately;
and as these men were fighting, Josephus was taken up, though he heard
little of what was done. So the seditious supposed they had now slain that
man whom they were the most desirous of killing, and made thereupon a great
noise, in way of rejoicing. This accident was told in the city, and the
multitude that remained became very disconsolate at the news, as being
persuaded that he was really dead, on whose account alone they could venture
to desert to the Romans. But when Josephus's mother heard in prison that
her son was dead, she said to those that watched about her, That she had
always been of opinion, since the siege of Jotapata, [that he would be
slain,] and she should never enjoy him alive any more. She also made great
lamentation privately to the maid-servants that were about her, and said,
That this was all the advantage she had of bringing so extraordinary a
person as this son into the world; that she should not be able even to
bury that son of hers, by whom she expected to have been buried herself.
However, this false report did not put his mother to pain, nor afford merriment
to the robbers, long; for Josephus soon recovered of his wound, and came
out, and cried out aloud, That it would not be long ere they should be
punished for this wound they had given him. He also made a fresh exhortation
to the people to come out upon the security that would be given them. This
sight of Josephus encouraged the people greatly, and brought a great consternation
upon the seditious.
[Whiston sect. 4] [sect. 548] Hereupon some of the deserters, having no other way, leaped down
from the wall immediately, while others of them went out of the city with
stones, as if they would fight them; but thereupon they fled away to the
Romans. But here a worse fate accompanied these than what they had found
within the city; and they met with a quicker despatch from the too great
abundance they had among the Romans, than they could have done from the
famine among the Jews; for when they came first to the Romans, they were
puffed up by the famine, and swelled like men in a dropsy; after which
they all on the sudden overfilled those bodies that were before empty,
and so burst asunder, excepting such only as were skillful enough to restrain
their appetites, and by degrees took in their food into bodies unaccustomed
thereto. Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved;
for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was
caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrements of the Jews' bellies;
for the deserters used to swallow such pieces of gold, as we told you before,
when they came out, and for these did the seditious search them all; for
there was a great quantity of gold in the city, insomuch that as much was
now sold [in the Roman camp] for twelve Attic [drams], as was sold before
for twenty-five. But when this contrivance was discovered in one instance,
the fame of it filled their several camps, that the deserters came to them
full of gold. So the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up
those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor does it
seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than
this, since in one night's time about two thousand of these deserters were
thus dissected.
[Whiston sect. 5] [sect. 553] When Titus came to the knowledge of this wicked practice, he had
like to have surrounded those that had been guilty of it with his horse,
and have shot them dead; and he had done it, had not their number been
so very great, and those that were liable to this punishment would have
been manifold more than those whom they had slain. However, he called together
the commanders of the auxiliary troops he had with him, as well as the
commanders of the Roman legions, (for some of his own soldiers had been
also guilty herein, as he had been informed,) and had great indignation
against both sorts of them, and said to them, "What! have any of my
own soldiers done such things as this out of the uncertain hope of gain,
without regarding their own weapons, which are made of silver and gold?
Moreover, do the Arabians and Syrians now first of all begin to govern
themselves as they please, and to indulge their appetites in a foreign
war, and then, out of their barbarity in murdering men, and out of their
hatred to the Jews, get it ascribed to the Romans?" for this infamous
practice was said to be spread among some of his own soldiers also. Titus
then threatened that he would put such men to death, if any of them were
discovered to be so insolent as to do so again; moreover, he gave it in
charge to the legions, that they should make a search after such as were
suspected, and should bring them to him. But it appeared that the love
of money was too hard for all their dread of punishment, and a vehement
desire of gain is natural to men, and no passion is so venturesome as covetousness;
otherwise such passions have certain bounds, and are subordinate to fear.
But in reality it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every
course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction. This,
therefore, which was forbidden by Caesar under such a threatening, was
ventured upon privately against the deserters, and these barbarians would
go out still, and meet those that ran away before any saw them, and looking
about them to see that no Roman spied them, they dissected them, and pulled
this polluted money out of their bowels; which money was still found in
a few of them, while yet a great many were destroyed by the bare hope there
was of thus getting by them, which miserable treatment made many that were
deserting to return back again into the city.
[Whiston sect. 6] [sect. 562] But as for John, when he could no longer plunder the people, he betook
himself to sacrilege, and melted down many of the sacred utensils, which
had been given to the temple; as also many of those vessels which were
necessary for such as ministered about holy things, the caldrons, the dishes,
and the tables; nay, he did not abstain from those pouring vessels that
were sent them by Augustus and his wife; for the Roman emperors did ever
both honor and adorn this temple; whereas this man, who was a Jew, seized
upon what were the donations of foreigners, and said to those that were
with him, that it was proper for them to use Divine things, while they
were fighting for the Divinity, without fear, and that such whose warfare
is for the temple should live of the temple; on which account he emptied
the vessels of that sacred wine and oil, which the priests kept to be poured
on the burnt-offerings, and which lay in the inner court of the temple,
and distributed it among the multitude, who, in their anointing themselves
and drinking, used [each of them] above an hin of them. And here I cannot
but speak my mind, and what the concern I am under dictates to me, and
it is this: I suppose, that had the Romans made any longer delay in coming
against these villains, that the city would either have been swallowed
up by the ground opening upon them, or been overflowed by water, or else
been destroyed by such thunder as the country of Sodom 237
perished by, for it had brought forth a generation of men much more atheistical
than were those that suffered such punishments; for by their madness it
was that all the people came to be destroyed.
[Whiston sect. 7] [sect. 567] And, indeed, why do I relate these particular calamities? while Manneus,
the son of Lazarus, came running to Titus at this very time, and told him
that there had been carried out through that one gate, which was intrusted
to his care, no fewer than a hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred
and eighty dead bodies, in the interval between the fourteenth day of the
month Xanthieus, [Nisan,] when the Romans pitched their camp by the city,
and the first day of the month Panemus [Tamuz]. This was itself a prodigious
multitude; and though this man was not himself set as a governor at that
gate, yet was he appointed to pay the public stipend for carrying these
bodies out, and so was obliged of necessity to number them, while the rest
were buried by their relations; though all their burial was but this, to
bring them away, and cast them out of the city. After this man there ran
away to Titus many of the eminent citizens, and told him the entire number
of the poor that were dead, and that no fewer than six hundred thousand
were thrown out at the gates, though still the number of the rest could
not be discovered; and they told him further, that when they were no longer
able to carry out the dead bodies of the poor, they laid their corpses
on heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein; as also that a
medimnus of wheat was sold for a talent; and that when, a while afterward,
it was not possible to gather herbs, by reason the city was all walled
about, some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search
the common sewers and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung which
they got there; and what they of old could not endure so much as to see
they now used for food. When the Romans barely heard all this, they commiserated
their case; while the seditious, who saw it also, did not repent, but suffered
the same distress to come upon themselves; for they were blinded by that
fate which was already coming upon the city, and upon themselves also.
Book 6 Book VI
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Ch. 1