DE BELLO JUDAICO
LIBER QUARTUS |
THE JEWISH WAR
BOOK FOUR |
Palæstina
with locations mentioned by Josephus
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| Book 4 |
| From the Siege of Gamala to the Coming of Titus to Besiege Jerusalem |
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| ⇑ § I |
| Gamalæ urbis obsidio et excidium. | The siege and taking of Gamala. |
| 1 |
— Caput D-1 —
Obsidio Gamalensium. |
| Quicunque autem Galilæorum, Jotapatis excisis, Romanis defecerant, hi se ad eos postquam Taricheatæ superati sunt, applicabant, omniaque Romani castella et civitates ceperant, præter Gischalam, et qui montem Itaburium occuparant. Cum his autem rebellarat Gamala civitas, contra Taricheas posita supra lacum, quæ ad fines pertinebat Agrippæ, itemque Sogane et Seleucia. Et hæ quidem Gaulanitidis regionis erant ambæ, Sogane superioris partis, cui nomen est Gaulana, et inferioris Gamala, Seleucia vero ad lacum Semechonitem, triginta latum, et LX• stadiis longum, paludesque suas ad Daphnen usque tendentem. Quæ regio, quum alias sit deliciosa, præcipue tamen fontes habet, qui minorem (quem sic appellant) Jordanem alentes sub aureo Jovis templo in Majorem deducunt. Soganen quidem ac Seleuciam colentes, in principio defectionis Agrippa sibi fœdere sociaverat, Gamala vero ei non cedebat, freta locorum difficultate amplius quam Jotapata. |
Following the fall of Jotapata, whoever of the Galileans had stayed in rebellion against the Romans surrendered after Tarichea was defeated, and the Romans took over all the fortresses and towns except Gischala and the garrison of Mount Tabor. The city of Gamala had rebelled along with them, a place located opposite Tarichea and overlooking the lake. This town was in Agrippa’s territory, as were Sogane and Seleucia. Gamala and Sogane both belonged to Gaulanitis, Sogane being of the upper part, called Gaulana, and Gamala of the lower. Seleucia belonged to Lake Semechonitis, which is three and a half miles wide and seven long, with its marshes stretching as far as Daphne, which is a pleasant spot in general, but especially with its springs that feed what is called the Little Jordan under the golden temple of Jupiter and send it pouring into the Grand Jordan. At the beginning of the revolt Agrippa had allied the citizens of Sogane and Seleucia to himself with a treaty, but Gamala would not submit to him, relying on the difficulty of its terrain even more than Jotapata had done. |
| Jugum namque asperum, ex alto monte deductum, mediam cervicem erigit ; et ubi supereminet, in longitudinem tenditur, tantum contra declive, quantum a tergo, ut cameli similitudinem præferat ; unde nomen etiam duxit, nisi quod expressam vocabuli significationem indigenæ servare non possunt. Et a fronte quidem ac lateribus in valles invias scinditur. Pars vero qua de monte pendet, paululum difficultatem refugit. Verum et hanc partem, per obliquum excisa fossa, indigenæ inviam fecerunt. Domus autem crebræ per prona erant ædificatæ, nimioque præcipitio casuræ — similis civitas intra se decurrebat, in Meridiem vergens. Australis vero collis immensa editus altitudine, usum arcis sine muro civitati præbebat, rupesque superior ad profundam pertinens vallem. Fons autem intra muros erat, in quem oppidum desinebat. |
A rugged ridgeline descending from a high summit raises its neck up midway along its length; and, from where it peaks, it extends lengthwise as far on the foreward slope as on the backside, so that it presents some resemblance to a camel; hence the name, although the natives cannot retain the exact pronunciation of the word. Both at the front end and on its sides it is cut off by impassable canyons. On the other hand, the part which comes off of the mountain eases up on the difficulty a bit; but here too, by digging a trench across it, the inhabitants made it inaccessible. The houses, built crowded on the steep slope, were also about to fall down the exceedingly precipitous slope — it was like a city falling down on itself, facing the south. Its southwestern peak, rising to an immense height, served the city as an unwalled citadel, and its high cliff stretched down into a deep canyon. There was, however, a spring inside the walls which was the town limit. |
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Gamala today
Looking toward the sea of Galilee
(Southeast is to the left) |
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| 2 |
| Quamvis autem natura inexpugnabilis esset civitas, tamen etiam Josephus, quum murorum eam ambitu cingeret, fossis et cuniculis reddidit firmiorem. Ejus autem habitatores, natura quidem loci confidentiores erant quam Jotapateni, sed multo pauciores, minusque pugnaces ; situsque freti difficultate, plures se hostibus putabant. Nam plena erat civitas multis in eam, quod esset tutissima, confugientibus. Unde ab Agrippa quoque præmissis ad obsidionem, per menses septem restitere. |
Regardless of how impregnable the city was by nature, Joseph had made it even stronger with trenches and tunnels and by enclosing it with a ring of walls. Given the nature of the position, its occupants were more confident than the Jotapatans had been, but they had far fewer fighting men and less fierce ones; and relying on the difficulty of their terrain, they imagined themselves to be more numerous than the enemy. For the city was full of those who had fled there because it was the safest place. For that reason, they also resisted the besiegers sent ahead by Agrippa for seven months. |
| 3 |
| Vespasianus autem, profectus ex Ammaunte, ubi pro Tiberiade posuerat castra (Ammaus autem, si quis nomen interpretetur, « Aquæ Calidæ » vocantur ; ibi enim ejusmodi fons est, sanandis corporum vitiis idoneus) Gamalam pervenit. Et totam quidem civitatem, ita ut diximus positam, custodia circumvallare nequibat. Qua vero fieri posset, excubias collocavit, montemque occupabat superiorem in quo milites, castris — ita ut assolet — muro circumdatis, opus aggerum postremo aggrediuntur. Et a parte quidem Orientis, summo supra civitatem loco turris erat ; ubi et Quintadecima Legio, necnon et Quinta contra mediam civitatem operabatur. Fossas autem Decima replevit et valles. Inter hæc Agrippam regem, quum accessisset ad muros eorumque defensoribus de traditione loqui temptaret, funditorum quidam ad dextrum cubitum lapide percutit. Et ille quidem propterea familiaribus suis circumsæptus est. Romanos autem ira simul ob regem suique metus ad obsidionem protinus incitavit, nullum Judæos crudelitatis modum in alienigenas atque hostes prætermissum ire credentes, qui circa gentilem suum et eorum quæ ipsis conducerent suasorem tam immanes fuissent. |
Vespasian set out from Ammathus (“Hotwaters”: for there is a spring there ideal for healing physical ailments), where he had set up camp outside of Tiberias, and marched to Gamala. He was unable to encircle the entire city, situated as mentioned, with a guard. But where it was possible he posted sentries, and he took over the higher mountain where his soldiers, having surrounded their camp with the usual wall, finally undertook the construction of a siege ramp. On the eastern side there was a tower at the highest spot overlooking the city; the Fifteenth Legion worked there, and the Fifth opposite the center of the town. The Tenth filled in the trenches and ravines. At this juncture King Agrippa approached the walls and was trying to discuss terms of surrender with their defenders when one of the slingers hit him on the right elbow with a stone. He was immediately surrounded by his own men, but the Romans were spurred to press the siege both by indignation on the king’s account and out of fear for themselves: for the were convinced that the Jews, who had been so savage toward one of their own countrymen who was advising them for their own benefit, would overlook no kind of barbarity in treating foreigners and enemies. |
| 4 |
| Aggeribus autem manus multitudine, operisque consuetudine cito perfectis, machinas applicabant. Chares autem et Josephus (namque ipsi erant oppidanorum potentissimi) armatos licet metu perculsos ordinavere ; et quanquam non diu obsidionem posse sustinere arbitrabantur, quibus aqua itemque alia usui necessaria non sufficerent, adhortati tamen eos ad mœnia produxerunt. Et paulisper quidem machinis advenientibus repugnarunt. Ballistis autem tormentisque perculsi, in oppidum recesserunt. Itaque Romani tribus ex locis aggressi, murum arietibus quatiunt ; et qua dejectus fuerat, infusi magno cum armorum strepitu ac tubarum sonitu, ipsi quoque insuper ululantes cum oppidanis confligebant. |
With the large number of hands and skilled work, the siege ramps were quickly finished and the engines brought up. Chares and Joseph, the most effective leaders in the town, deployed their armed, though fear-stricken, troops; and although they did not think they could withstand the siege very long, given that water and other necessities were insufficient, they cheered them on and led them out to the walls. For a short while they beat back the advancing machines, but after being driven back by ballistas and artillery, they withdrew into the town. With that the Romans, attacking from three points, shattered the wall with their rams; and where it had been breached, they poured in with a great din of weapons and blare of trumpets and, while on top of this shouting themselves, began fighting with the townsmen. |
| Illi autem ad primos aditus interim pertinaces, Romanis ne ultra progrederentur obstabant. Ceterum vi et multitudine superati, undique ad excelsa civitatis loca fugiunt. Deinde revertentes instantibus sibi hostibus incumbunt, illosque impingendo per declivia, locorum difficultate et angustia depressos interficiebant. Romani autem, quum neque a vertice imminentibus repugnare, neque in partem aliquam evadere possent, pronos eos urgentibus hostibus, in domos hostium plano contiguas refugiebant. Sed hæ repletæ labebantur, quod pondus sustinere non poterant, unaque dejecta multas inferiores, itemque illæ alias deturbabant. Ea res plurimos Romanorum morte consumpsit. |
The latter, meanwhile, standing firm against the first waves of attackers, prevented the Romans from advancing further. Eventually, overcome by force and numbers, they fled from everywhere to the upper parts of the town. Then, as the enemy pursued them, they swung around and counterattacked. Driving them down the slopes, they killed them as they became trapped by the impediments and narrowness of the place. Unable either to fight back against those attacking them from above or to escape someplace while the enemy was pressing down on them, the Romans fled onto the enemy rooftops that were even with the ground. But these, loaded down, collapsed, since they could not hold the weight; and as one fell, it knocked down many lower ones, and those yet others. The process resulted in the deaths of a great many Romans. |
| Incerti enim quid facerent, quamvis subsīdere tecta viderent, tamen eo convolabant. Atque ita multi quidem ruinis opprimebantur ; non pauci vero subterfugientes, parte corporis mulcabantur. Plurimi autem pulvere suffocati moriebantur. Sed ea Gamalenses pro se fieri existimabant, propriaque incommoda neglegentes magis instabant ; hostesque in sua tecta urgendo compellebant. Qui vero per angustos viarum clivos cecidissent, eos telis desuper missis interficiebant. Et ruinæ quidem lapidum copiam, ferrum vero eis mortui hostes dabant. Cæsorum enim gladios auferentes, his contra semineces utebantur. Multi, jam præcumbentibus tectis, semet inde projiciendo moriebantur, tergaque dantibus ne fuga quidem facilis erat. Viarum namque ignorantia, et caligine pulveris alius alium non agnoscentes pererrabant, et circa se sternebantur. |
Completely at a loss, even when they saw the roofs falling in, they jumped onto them. Many were buried under the debris; many, while trying to escape, were physically maimed, and a great many died suffocated by the dust. The men of Gamala, viewing this as happening for their benefit and indifferent to their own losses, pressed their attack, driving and pushing the enemy onto their own roofs as the Romans fell in the steep, narrow lanes, and killing them with a rain of weapons from above. The debris furnished them with any number of stones, and the dead enemy with weapons; wrenching the swords from the fallen, they used them to finish off those who were still only half-dead. Many Romans, as the houses were starting to fall, threw themselves off them to their deaths. Not even those who were fleeing found it easy to get away; for, unacquainted with the roads and choked by the dust, they wandered around not recognizing one another, and were felled amidst their own. |
| 5 |
| Sed illi quidem vix reperto exitu, ab oppido recesserunt. Vespasianus autem, qui laborantibus semper interfuit, sævissimo dolore perculsus, quum super militem ruere civitatem videret, propriæ tuitionis oblitus, clam paulatim superiore in oppido locum prehendit, ibique inter media pericula cum paucis omnino relinquitur. Nec enim aderat tunc ei filius Titus, ad Mutianum pridem in Syriam missus. Et dare quidem terga neque tutum neque honestum sibi putabat. Rerum autem, quas ab adolescentia gesserat, ac propriæ virtutis memoria quasi Deo repletus, corpora sociorum atque arma condensat, et cum his bellum una a vertice defluens sustinebat ; et neque virorum neque telorum multitudinem formidans manebat, donec ejus animi obstinationem hostes divinam esse reputantes, impetum remiserunt. |
After barely finding the exits, they finally got out of the town. But Vespasian, who was always alongside his struggling soldiers and deeply moved by the sight of the town falling in ruins about his army, had forgotten his own safety and had stealthily and gradually taken over a position in the upper city, and was left there with a few men in the utmost peril. Not even his son Titus was with him at this time, having just been sent to Mucianus in Syria. He regarded flight as both dangerous and disgraceful; so, keeping in mind his lifetime of action and his own prowess, as though inspired by God he drew together the bodies and weapons of his troops and with them held off the wave of attack pouring down from the heights ; and heedless of the swarms of men and missiles, he stood firm until the enemy, viewing his persistence as supernatural, slackened their attacks. |
| Illis autem jam infirmius oppugnantibus, ipse pedem referens, non prius terga ostendit quam extra muros egressus est. Plurimi quidem Romani milites in ea pugna ceciderunt, et inter eos Æbutius decadarchus, vir non eo tantum prœlio quo periit, sed ubique antea fortissimus comprobatus, quique plurimis malis Judæos affecisset. In ea pugna centurio quidam, nomine Gallus, cum decem militibus in quadam domo latuit. Ejus autem habitatoribus dum cenarent, quod in Romanos fuisset consilium populi sui inter se fabulantibus, hoc audito (nam et ipse Syrus erat et hi quos secum habebat) nocte illos aggreditur ; omnibusque mactatis, ad Romanos salvus cum militibus evadit. |
With the enemy attacking less fiercely, he himself retraced his steps, not turning his back to them until he had gotten outside the walls. A great many Romans fell in that battle, among them the decurion Æbutius, a man who not only in the action in which he fell but in all earlier battles had shown heroic courage and inflicted very heavy casualties on the Jews. Also in that battle, a centurion named Gallus hid in someone’s house with ten of his soldiers. While its inhabitants were eating dinner he listened as they discussed what the plans of their people were against the Romans (for both he and his men were Syrians), and attacked them in the night. After killing them all, he made it back safely to the Romans with his soldiers. |
| 6 |
| Vespasianus autem mærore exercitum adversis casibus videns, quodque nullam interim tantam experti fuerant cladem, hujusque rei magis eos pudere, quod solum ducem in periculis reliquissent, consolandos putabat, de se quidem nihil dicens, ne quem vel initio culpasse videretur, oportere autem inquiens quæ communia essent fortiter ferre, naturam belli cogitantes, quodque nusquam eveniat sine cruore victoria, iterumque habeat fortuna regressum ; multis tunc Judæorum milibus interfectis, exiguam pro his stĭpem se inimicæ pependisse fortunæ ; atque ut jactantium esse nimis secundis rebus insolescere, ita esse ignavorum in offensionibus trepidare. |
But Vespasian, viewing his army with sadness in its misfortunes — because they had meanwhile experienced no such disaster and, even more, were ashamed of having left their commander in the midst of danger —, undertook to console them. He said nothing about himself so that he would not seem to be blaming them at the outset, but said it was necessary to bear what was commonplace with courage, remembering the nature of war, that victory never happened without bloodshed, and that Fortune would come back again. After many thousands of Jews had been killed, a small fee had been paid to an inimical Fortune for them. And just as it was typical of boasters to become haughty due to good luck, so it was typical of cowards to become fearful in setbacks. |
| « Velox enim est », inquit, « in utrumque mutatio, et ille vir fortis habetur cujus sobrius erit animus in rebus quoque infeliciter gestis, ut idem scilicet maneat, rectis consiliis peccata corrigens. Quanquam ea, quæ nunc acciderunt, neque mollitia nostra, neque Judæorum virtus effecit. Nam et illis pugnæ melioris, et nobis deterioris, causa fuit difficultas locorum. Qua in re nimirum quis reprehenderit alacritatis vestræ temeritatem. Nam quum hostes in excelsiora loca refugissent, manus continere debuistis neque in summo vertice constituta sequi pericula sed, capta inferiori civitate, paulatim eos, qui refugerant, ad tutiorem vobis et stabilem pugnam revocare. |
“For change happens quickly on both sides, and the man who maintains a cool head even in reverses so that he remains the same, correcting his mistakes with the right strategies, is the one who is considered courageous. Moreover the things that have just happened were caused neither by our own weakness nor the valor of the Jews. For the cause of the battle going better for them and worse for us was the difficulty of the ground. Hence one might, of course, blame the rashness of your eagerness: for when the enemy fled to the higher ground, you ought to have held back and not gone after the dangers located at the top. Rather, having captured the lower town, you should have gradually enticed those who had fled to a battle on sure footing, one safer for you. |
| « Nunc autem, immoderata festinatione vincendi, quam id incaute fieret, non curastis. Inconsultus autem et furibundus impetus belli a Romanis alienus est, qui cuncta ordine peritiaque perficimus, Barbarisque conveniens, et quo Judæi maxime possĭdentur. Oportet igitur nos ad propriam virtutem recurrere atque indignæ offensioni irasci potius quam mærore. Optimum autem quisque de sua manu solacium quærat. Ita enim fiet, ut et amissos ulciscamur, et in eos e quibus perempti sunt, vindicemus. Ipse autem, ita ut nunc feci, experiar, æque ac vos, pugnando primus ad bella pergere, et novissimus inde discedere. » |
“Instead, in your unrestrained rush for victory, you did not think about how reckless it would be. But thoughtless and irrational attacks in war are foreign to us Romans, who accomplish everything through order and methodically; such things are typical of the barbarians, actions in whose grip the Jews above all are. So we have to return to our own strengths and be moved to anger by an unworthy defeat rather than by regret. Let everyone seek his best solace from his own right arm. In that way we will avenge our lost men and punish those by whom they were killed. I myself, as I have just done, will try, just as you, to advance, fighting, into battle first, and to be the last to leave it.” |
| 7 |
| Ille quidem his dictis recreavit exercitum. At Gamalenses, bene gesta re, paulisper animos erexere, quæ, nulla ratione, magna magnificeque provenerat. Mox autem, reputantes ablatam sibi esse fœderis spem, quodque minime possent effugere (jam enim victus eos defecerat) vehementer dolebant, animosque remiserant. Nec tamen quatenus valebant, salutem suam neglegebant, sed tam disturbatas partes muri qui erant fortissimi, quam integras ceteri, amplexi custodiebant ; Romanis autem construentibus aggeres, iterumque tentantibus irruptionem, multi ex civitate per valles devias qua nulli custodes erant et per cloacas diffugiebant ; eos qui metu ne caperentur ibi remanserant, inopia consumebat. Solis enim undique alimenta qui pugnare possent congerebantur. |
With this address, Vespasian revived his army. Meanwhile, for a while the people of Gamala had their spirits raised by the fortunate event which had unaccountably turned out great and magnificently; but soon, realizing that the hope of an accommodation had been lost, and that they could not escape (for their provisions had already given out), they became very depressed and lost heart. Still, to the extent that they could, they did not neglect their own protective measures: the strongest men took over and guarded the breached parts of the wall while the others did so for the intact parts. But as the Romans built the siege ramps higher and tried new assaults, many of them fled the city through uncharted ravines where there were no guards and through sewers. Those who remained out of fear of being captured starved to death from lack of provisions, since food from all quarters was taken for only those who could fight. |
| 8 |
| Sed illi quidem in hujusmodi calamitatibus perdurabant. | It was amidst such adversities that they continued to hold out. |
— Caput D-2 —
Itaburius mons occupatur a Placido. |
| Vespasianus autem, inter curas obsidionis, subsicivum opus aggreditur adversus eos qui montem Itaburium occupaverant, inter Campum Magnum et Scythopolim situm. Cujus altitudo quidem XXX• stadiis consurgens, Septentrionali tractu inaccessa est. In vertice autem, XX• stadiorum planities patet, tota muro circumdata. Hunc autem tantum ambitum quadraginta diebus ædificaverat Josephus, et alias ei materias, et aquas suggerentibus locis inferioribus. Solam enim incolæ pluvialem habebant. |
Despite this, Vespasian, while managing the siege, undertook a secondary operation against those who had taken over Mount Tabor, midway between the Great Plain and Scythopolis. This mountain rises to 20,000 feet {(Latin: 30 stades)}, inaccessible on the northern side; the top is a plateau three miles {(20 stades)} long with a wall all around. {(The mountain is actually 613m [2,011 ft] above sea level, and 460m [1,509 ft] above the valley; the plateau is about 1200m [~3900 ft or ¾ mile] x 400m [~1312 or ¼ mile].)} Josephus had built this huge rampart in forty days, obtaining his material and even his water supply from the lower elevations. (For the occupants had only rainwater.) |
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Mt. Tabor from the air
(Looking northeastward) |
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| Magna igitur in eo multitudine congregata, Vespasianus Placidum cum sescentis equitibus mittit. Huic autem subeundi quidem montis ratio nulla erat. Multos autem fœderis ac veniæ spe hortabatur ad pacem, et descendebant ad eum ipsi quoque insidias molientes. Nam et Placidus eo studio mitissime cum his loquebatur, ut eos in planitie caperet. Illique tanquam dictis obœdientes ad eum veniebant, ut incautum aggrederentur. Vicit tamen astutia Placidi. Cœpto enim a Judæis prœlio, assimulat fugam ; et postquam insequentes ad magnam partem campi pellexit, reflectit in eos equitum manus ; plurimisque in terga versis, aliquos interfecit. Semotam vero multitudinem ceteram ab ascensu prohibet. Itaque alii quidem, Itaburio relicto, in Hierosolymam refugiebant. Indigenæ autem, fide accepta, quod eis aqua defecerat, et se et montem Placido tradiderunt. |
On this plateau, vast numbers had gathered; so Vespasian dispatched Placidus with six hundred horsemen. There was, however, no way for him to climb the mountain. So he called on the majority to make peace, offering the hope of a treaty and pardon. They came down to him, contriving their own ambush to match his. Placidus, after all, had engaged in very accommodating conversations with them in order to capture them on the plain; they came down to him as though complying with his terms, so as to attack him unawares. However, it was Placidus’ cunning that won: for when the Jews began the fight, he pretended to flee; and after enticing his pursuers far onto the plain, he turned his horsemen about and routed most of the enemy, killing a number of them. He cut the remaining mass of them off from a reascent. Others, abandoning Tabor, fled to Jerusalem; the natives, their safety being guaranteed and their water having failed, handed themselves and the mountain over to Placidus. |
| 9 |
— Caput D-3 —
Excidium Gamalæ. |
| Apud Gamalam vero degentium audacissimi quisque, fuga dispersi, latebant ; imbelles autem fame corrumpebantur. At vero pugnantium manus obsidionem sustinebat, donec evenit secundo et vigesimo die mensis Octobris, ut tres ex Decimaquinta Legione milites circa matutinas vigilias editissimam præ ceteris turrim quæ in sua parte fuerat subirent, eamque occulte suffoderent, quum appositi ei custodes neque adeuntes eos (nox enim erat) nec postquam adiere, sensissent. Iidem autem milites, cavendo ne strepitus fieret, quinque saxis durissimis evolutis, resiliunt ; subitoque turris cum magno fragore decidit, unaque custodes præcipitantur. |
Of the residents at Gamala, all the bolder ones, scattering in flight, went into hiding, while the noncombatants died of starvation. The band of combatants sustained the siege until, on the twenty-second day of October {(actually, November 9)}, it came about that, in the pre-dawn watch, three soldiers of the Fifteenth Legion crept up to the highest of the towers in their sector and secretly undermined it. The sentries assigned to it failed to observe them (for it was night) either during or after their arrival. Making sure there was no noise, the same soldiers rolled away the five heaviest stones and jumped clear. The tower fell suddenly with a resounding crash, and the sentries with it. |
| At vero qui per alias custodias erant, perturbati fugiebant, multosque evadere ausos peremere Romani ; inter quos etiam Josephum, super dirutam muri partem quidam jaculo percussum interfecit. Intus autem in civitate degentibus, sono concussis, multus erat pavor atque discursus, tanquam omnes essent hostes ingressi. Tuncque Chares ægrotus et jacens defecit, quum timoris magnitudo morbum ejus plurimum juvisset ad mortem. Romani tamen, prioris cladis memores, usque ad vigesimam et tertiam diem supradicti mensis oppidum non sunt ingressi. |
Those at the other sentry-stations fled in terror; many made a bold effort to break through but were cut down by the Romans, among them Joseph, who was killed on the breach in the wall by someone with a javelin. Shaken by the crash, those residing in the city panicked and ran in all directions as if all of the enemy had already broken in. At that moment Chares, sick and in bed, expired, due to the fact that the intensity of fear had greatly helped his sickness make him die. The Romans, however, mindful of their earlier failure, did not invade the town until the twenty-third of the above-mentioned month. |
| 10 |
| Titus autem (jam enim aderat), indignatione vulneris quod Romanos se absente perculerat, ducentis equitibus præter pedites lectis, otiose in civitatem introivit. Eoque prætergresso, vigiles quidem ubi senserunt, ad arma cum clamore properabant. Cognito autem intus constituti ejus ingressu, alii raptis liberis, trahentes etiam conjuges, cum ululatu et exclamationibus in arcem refugiebant ; alii Tito occurrentes, sine intermissione trucidabantur ; qui vero prohibiti essent in arcem recurrere, nescii quid facerent, Romanorum præsidiis incidebant. |
Then Titus (who was now present), enraged at the blow which had struck the Romans during his absence, entered the city without a problem with two hundred cavalrymen in addition to elite infantry. After he had already gotten past them, the sentries discovered it and rushed yelling to their weapons. When the people inside became aware of his invasion, some, grabbing their children and dragging along their spouses, fled screaming and shouting to the citadel, while others attacked Titus and were instantly cut down. Those who were prevented from running to the citadel, at a loss for what to do, fell into the hands of the Roman camp guards. |
| Ubique autem infinitus erat morientium gemitus, perque prona loca effusus cruor totum oppidum diluebat. In eos autem qui arcem occupaverant, omnem Vespasianus induxit exercitum. Erat autem saxosus et accessu difficillimus vertex, in immensum editus, et undique circum rupium multitudine præceps ; unde Romanos ad se adeuntes partim telis, partim saxis devolutis arcebant Judæi, quum ipsos in excelso loco positos nullæ sagittæ contingerent. |
The unceasing groans of the dying were everywhere, and the blood pouring down the slopes inundated the whole city. Vespasian then concentrated his whole army on those who had taken over the citadel. But the peak was rocky and extremely difficult of access, immensely high and totally encircled with precipices of massed rocks. As a result, the Jews fended off the Romans coming at them partly by using weapons and partly by rolling rocks down on them, whereas arrows could not reach the Jews themselves in their high perch. |
| Verum ad eorum interitum divino munere quodam turbo exoritur, Romanorum quidem tela in eos ferens, ipsorum autem a Romanis repellens et obliqua traducens, ut neque in præruptis consistere propter violentiam flatus possent, quum nihil esset immobile, neque hostes ad se accedentes videre. Itaque supergressi Romani, eos circumveniunt, alios quidem repugnantes antecapiebant, alios manus dantes. In omnes autem vehementius sæviebant, illorum memoria quos in primo aggressu perdiderant. Multi autem undique circumclusi, desperatione salutis, filios et conjuges et semet ipsos in vallem præcipites dabant quæ sub arce in profundum patebat. |
But to their downfall, by some kind of supernatural intervention a storm arose, carrying the Roman shafts up to them but repelling their own and turning them aside, making it so that they could neither stand on the precipitous ledges on account of the force of the wind where nothing would stay stable, nor see the oncoming enemy. Thus the Romans came up and encircled them, penning in both some who were fighting back and others who were surrendering. Regardless, they raged furiously against them all, remembering those whom the Jews had killed in the first attack. Despairing of escape and hemmed in everywhere, many flung their wives, their children and even themselves headlong into the canyon which yawned far below beneath the citadel. |
| Evenit autem ut ipsorum in se, qui capti fuerant, immanitate lenior exsisteret iracundia Romanorum. Ab his enim quattuor milia perempta sunt ; qui vero se præcipitaverunt, quinque milia sunt reperti. Neque quisquam præter duas mulieres salvus evasit. Quæ sorores erant, Philippi filiæ ; qui Philippus Jachimo genitus erat, insigni viro, et qui sub Agrippa rege dux exercitus fuerat. Servatæ sunt autem, quod excidii tempore Romanorum impetum latuere. Nec enim vel infantibus pepercere, quorum multos singuli raptos ex arce projiciebant. Gamala quidem hoc modo excisa est, tertio et vigesimo die mensis Octobris, quæ vigesimo et primo die mensis Septembris cœperat rebellare. |
In fact, the fury of the Romans turned out to be less savage than that of the captured Jews against themselves. For 4,000 fell by Roman swords, but those who jumped to their deaths were found to be over 5,000. {(Modern estimates are that there were 3,000 - 4,000 inhabitants at the start of the revolt.)} There were no survivors except for two women, nieces of Philip, son of Jacimus, a man of note who had been the commander-in-chief of King Agrippa’s army. They survived because at the time of the destruction they hid from the attacking Romans, who did not even spare infants, of whom individual soldiers seized many and flung them from the citadel. It was in this way that Gamala was annihilated on the twenty-third of October, after having begun its rebellion on the twenty-first of September. |
|
| ⇑ § II |
Gischalorum deditio, quum Joannes
se fuga Hierosolyma recepisset. | The surrender of Gischala ; while John flies away from it to Jerusalem. |
| 1 |
— Caput D-4 —
Gischala a Tito capitur. |
| Jamque solum Gischala oppidulum Galilææ restabat indomitum ; cujus multitudo pacis studio tenebatur, quod erant plerique agricolæ, spemque suam semper in fructibus collocaverant. Non parvæ autem manus latrocinalis permixtione corrupti erant, quo morbo etiam nonnulli civium laborabant. Hos autem ad defectionem impellebat atque conflabat Leviæ cujusdam filius, nomine Joannes, homo veneficus et fallax, variusque moribus, et immoderata sperare promptus, miroque modo quæ sperasset efficiens, atque omnibus jam cognitus, quod affectandæ sibi potentiæ causa bellum amaret. Huic apud Gischala seditiosorum turba parebat, quorum causa populus, etiam legatos fortasse de traditione missurus, Romanorum tamen congressum in parte belli præstolabatur. |
Only Gischala, a little town in Galilee, was left unreduced. The inhabitants were interested in peace — for the most part they were farmers whose only concern lay in their harvests; but they had been corrupted by the infiltration of a large gang of brigands, and some of the townsmen were suffering from the disease. They were driven and incited to revolt by John, son of Levi, a confidence man and liar, of variable behavior, inclined toward intemperate expectations and accomplishing them in surprising ways. And it was known to everyone that he was fond of war for the sake of seizing power. The insurgent crowd in Gischala obeyed him, as a result of which the people, perhaps even about to send envoys to surrender, were now waiting to clash with the Romans in war mode. |
| At Vespasiauus contra hos quidem Titum cum equitibus mille, Decimam vero Legionem circa Scythopolim mittit ; cum reliquis autem duabus Cæsaream ipse regreditur, dandam his ex labore continuo requiem putans, ex civitatum copiis ; eorumque corpora, itemque animos ad futura certamina existimans esse refovendos. Nec enim exiguum sibi laborem superesse de Hierosolymis prævidebat, quæ et regalis esset Civitas, et cunctæ nationi præstaret. His autem qui ex bello fugissent in eam confluentibus, etiam naturalis munitio, itemque murorum ejus constructio, non minimam ei sollicitudinem comparabat, quum virorum spiritum et audaciam, et sine muris inexpugnabilem esse cogitaret ; ob eamque rem milites, velut athletas, ante certamina oportere curari. |
To crush this opposition, Vespasian dispatched Titus with 1,000 horse, sending the Tenth Legion to Scythopolis. He himself returned to Cæsarea with the other two, thinking to give them a rest with urban resources after their unintermittent struggles and in the belief that their bodies and spirits needed to be refreshed for the coming battles. For he foresaw that it was no small task that was left at Jerusalem, which was the royal City and the head of the entire race. Given that refugees from the war had been flowing into her, its natural fortification and the construction of its walls instilled in him more than a little worry when he considered the fact that the aggressiveness and audacity of its men were unconquerable even without walls. It was therefore necessary to train his soldiers like wrestlers before a contest. |
| 2 |
| Tito autem civitas Gischala (equitando enim ad eam accesserat) aggressione capi facilis videbatur. Sciens tamen quod, ea vi capta, passim a militibus populus absumeretur (namque satiatus erat ipse jam cædibus), miserans multitudinem etiam ipse sine ullo discrimine cum nocentibus intereuntem, pactione magis subigere civitatem volebat. Itaque plenis hominum muris, quorum plerique perditæ factionis erant, mirari se ait, quonam freti consilio, cunctis jam civitatibus captis, illi soli Romanorum arma operirentur, quum viderent multo quidem munitiora oppida uno impetu fuisse subversa, securos autem fortunis suis potiri qui Romanorum dextris credidissent ; quas quidem etiam nunc illis ait se porrigere, neque ob insolentiam suscensere, quia spei libertatis ignoscendum putaret — non tamen, etiamsi quis impossibilia velle perseveraret. Quod si dictis humanissimis non paruissent fidemque dextris non habuissent, experturos arma crudelia ; jam jamque cognituros esse, mœnia sua ludum fore machinis Romanorum, quibus fidentes, soli ex Galilæis sese ostentarent arrogantes esse captivos. |
Upon riding up to the town of Gischala, Titus saw that it would be easy to take by storm. Knowing, however, that with the capture of the city by force the population everywhere would be annihilated by the soldiers, whereas he himself was sick and tired of slaughter and had pity for a populace which would perish quite indiscriminately with the guilty, he preferred, rather, to take over the town by treaty. So, given that the walls were crowded with men who were mainly of the criminal gang, he said he wondered what idea they were relying on when, with all the other towns subjugated, they alone were still waiting for a Roman attack at the same time that they saw far stronger towns overthrown by a single assault, and while all those who had entrusted themselves to Roman power were enjoying their own property in safety. He said he was now offering them the same thing and would not take offense at their truculence because he thought he ought to forgive their hope of freedom — but not if someone continued to demand the impossible. So if they did not submit to his generous proposals and accept his sincere offers, they would experience the mercilessness of his weapons; they would immediately learn the fact that the Roman engines would make a game of their walls — and by depending on them they would show themselves to be the only Galilæans who were arrogant captives. |
| 3 |
| His dictis popularium quidem neminem non modo respondere, sed ne ad murum quidem licuit ascendere, quia totum latrones occupaverant ; et custodes erant portis appositi, ne quis vel ad fœdus prodiret, vel equitum quenquam in civitatem reciperet. Joannes autem accipere se condiciones ait, et aut persuasurum, aut necessitatem belli renītentibus adhibiturum. Illum tamen diem Judæorum Legi oportere concedi. Quoniam sicut arma movere, ita etiam de pace convenire nefas haberent. Nam et Romanos scire, quod ab omni cessaret opere dierum septem circuitio, quam si temerassent, non minus coactos quam qui cogerent piaculum commissuros, ipsumque Titum ; nullum enim illi ex mora esse dispendium formidandum ; quod unius noctis spatium præter fugæ consilium ceperit — præsertim quum id observare circumsedentem nemo prohibeat ? |
To these overtures none of the townspeople was allowed to make any reply nor even to mount the wall, because the brigands had completely taken it over; and guards had been posted at the gates to prevent anyone from going out to treaty negotiations or from allowing any of the cavalry into the city. But John replied that he would accept the conditions and either persuade or use the force of war on the resisters. Still, it was necessary to obey the Law of the Jews for that particular day. Because they considered it equally forbidden to take to arms and to negotiate for peace. For even the Romans knew that the seventh day of the week entailed withdrawal from all activity; if they broke that rule, those who were forced would be committing a sin no less than those who compelled them, and than Titus himself. He should fear no harm because of the delay; what stratagem could the period of a single night produce besides that of flight — especially when no one prevented him from surrounding the town and watching? |
| Sibi autem magnum esse lucrum, nulla in re despicere patrios mores, et illum decere, qui pacem non sperantibus indulget, legem quoque servare servatis. His Titum Joannes fallere conabatur, non tantum pro septimi diei religione, quantum pro sua salute sollicitus ; verebatur autem, ne statim capta civitate, solus destitueretur, qui totam in nocte ac fuga vitæ spem collocasset. Verum profecto Dei nutu, in excidium Hierosolymorum Joannem salvum esse cupientis, factum est, ut non solum indutiarum causationem Titus admitteret, verumetiam in superiori parte oppidi castra poneret, ad Cydœssam, qui mediterraneus est Tyriorum vicus validissimus, Galilæis semper exosus. Habebat enim habitantium multitudinem munitionemque firmam ut subsidia in dissensionibus cum hac natione. |
But it would be a great benefit to the Jews not to infringe their ancestral customs in any way. And it would also be becoming of Titus, who was showing forbearance toward those who were not expecting peace, to respect the Law of those thus spared. It was with such pleas that John, who was less anxious about observance of the seventh day than about his own safety, tried to fool Titus. He was afraid that, immediately after the capture of the city he, who was putting all hope of saving his life in darkness and flight, would be left alone in the lurch. But clearly it was by the will of God, who desired to preserve John to bring destruction on Jerusalem, that Titus not only accepted this pretext for the suspension of hostilities, but even pitched his camp on the upper side of the town, at Cydœssa. This is a strong inland village of the Tyrians, always hostile to the Galilæans. It had a large population and strong defenses as resources in its struggle against this nation. |
| 4 |
| Nocte autem Joannes, quum nullas Romanorum excubias circa oppidum videret, arrepta occasione, non solum his quos circa se habebat armatos, sed etiam senioribus plurimis cum familiis abductis, in Hierosolymam fugiebat. Sed usque ad vigesimum quidem stadium fieri posse videbatur, ut mulieres ac pueros, aliamque multitudinem secum duceret, homo quem captivitatis, itemque salutis metus urgeret. Ultra vero procedente eo, relinquebantur ; et oriebatur atrox remanentium fletus. Quanto enim quisque longius a suis aberat, tanto propiorem se hostibus esse credebat. |
In the night John, seeing no Roman sentries around the town, seized his chance and, taking with him not only his surrounding armed retinue but a large number of older men with their families, fled towards Jerusalem. Up until a bit over two miles it seemed possible for this man, driven by fear of capture and for his life, to drag along the women, children and the rest of the crowd; but as he pressed on further they were abandoned, and a terrible lament arose from those thus left behind. For the further each one was from his own kith and kin, the nearer he imagined himself to the enemy. |
| Jamque affore qui se caperent existimantes, necessario pavitabant ; et ad strepitum quem ipsorum cursus faciebat, assidue respectabant, velut instantibus quos fugissent ; multique simul ruebant, et circa viam plurimos certamen præcedentium conterebat. Miserabile autem feminarum et infantium erat exitium. Aut si quam jactarent vocem, nonnullæ viros aut propinquos, ut se operirentur, orabant. Sed Joannis exhortatio superabat, ut seipsos servarent inclamantis ; eoque confugerent, unde pro remanentibus etiam si raperentur, pœnas a Romanis peterent. Multitudo quidem eorum, qui fugerant, ut cuique virium fuit, cito dispersa est. |
Believing that their captors were already amidst them, they necessarily panicked and constantly looked back when the heard the footsteps of their companions, as if their pursuers were upon them. Many were rushing at the same time and along the way trampled a great many of those who were preceding them in the race. The destruction of the women and children was pitiable; or if they loudly yelled something, some pleaded for their husbands or male relatives to wait for them. But John’s exhortations, as he cried out that every man should save himself, won out; they should flee to the place from which, even if those left behind were captured, they would take vengeance on the Romans. Thus the mass of fugitives quickly lengthened out in accordance with each one’s stamina. |
| 5 |
| Luce vero facta Titus ad muros aderat, fœderis causa ; populus autem portis ei patefactis, cum conjugibus occurrentes, tanquam benemerito, et qui custodia civitatem liberasset, acclamabant ; simulque Joannis fugam significantes, ut et sibi parceret obsecrabant et eos qui ex novarum rerum cupidis reliqui superessent ulcisceretur. Ille autem, precibus populi postulatus, equitum partem, ut Joannem persequeretur, mittit. Sed eum quidem occupare nequivere, quod antequam venerant, in Hierosolymam sese receperat. Una vero fugientium prope ad duo milia perimunt ; mulieres ac pueros paulo minus quam tria milia circumactos reducunt. |
When dawn came, Titus was at the wall to conclude the treaty. The people, opening the gates to him and coming forward with their families, hailed him as a benefactor who had delivered the town from captivity. Simultaneously informing him of John’s flight, they besought him to spare them and punish the remaining rebels. Titus, though importuned by the prayers of the people, sent a detachment of horse to pursue John; but they were unable to overtake him because before they had come he had escaped into Jerusalem. Still, they did kill close to two thousand of those who had fled with him, and rounded up and brought back a little fewer than 3,000 women and children. |
| Titus autem indigne ferebat non statim a Joanne pœnas fraudis exactas ; irato vero animo satis esse, quod spe deciderat, ad solacium putans captivorum et qui trucidati fuerant multitudinem, in oppidum cum favore ingreditur ; jussisque militibus minimam muri partem jure possessionis abrumpere, minitando magis quam puniendo reprimebat perturbatæ civitatis auctores. Multos enim propter odia domestica vel proprias inimicitias, delatores innocentiæ fore credebat, si dignos pœna discerneret ; meliusque noxium relinquere metu suspensum quam immeritum quenquam cum eo perdere, existimabat ; |
Titus was vexed at his failure to inflict immediate punishment on John for his deception; but his infuriated state of mind resulting from the disappointment was appeased by considering as solace the large number of captives and of those who had been slaughtered. So he entered the town amid applause and, ordering his men to tear down a small section of the wall in token of capture, used threats rather than punishment to subdue the disruptors of the town’s peace. For he believed that many would turn informers of the innocent out of personal animosity and private enmity if he were to pick out those worthy of punishment; it was better to leave the guilty suspended in fear than to execute any guiltless person with them; |
| illum enim fortassis modestiorem futurum, vel metu supplicii, vel et quod erubesceret præteritorum criminum venia ; sine causa vero morientium pœnas nullo modo corrigi posse. Præsidiis tamen civitatem circumdedit quæ tam novarum rerum studiosos compescerent quam pro pace sentientes, quos ibi relicturus erat, majore fiducia firmarent. Galilæa quidem tota, postquam multo sudore Romanos exercuit, hoc modo subacta est. |
for the guilty man would perhaps become more civil either from fear of punishment or even because he was ashamed as a result of the pardon he had received for his past misdeeds; but for those put to death without cause there could be no redress. However, he surrounded the town with a garrison which would restrain the rebellious as well as give more confidence to the peaceable citizens he was about to leave behind there. Thus the whole of Galilee was subdued, after having cost the Romans a great deal of sweat. |
|
| ⇑ § III |
| De Joanne Gischaleno. Deque Zelotis et Anano pontifice : et quomodo inter se dissidebant. | Concerning John of Gischala. Concerning the Zealots and the High Priest Ananus ; As Also How the Jews Raise Seditions One against Another [in Jerusalem]. |
| 1 |
— Caput D-5 —
Hierosolymitani excidii initium. |
| Apud Hierosolymam vero, ad Joannis introitum, omnis populus erat effusus et circa singulos qui una confugerant, numerosa turba collecti, quas foris clades experti essent percontabantur. Illorum autem fervens quidem adhuc atque interruptus anhelitus necessitatem significabat. Verumtamen in malis quoque sibi arrogabant, non Romanorum vim fugisse dicentes, sed sponte venisse, ut cum his ex tutiori loco pugnarent. Inconsultorum enim atque inutilium esse hominum, incaute pro Gischalis et invalidis oppidulis periclitari, quum arma vigoremque oporteat pro metropoli suscipere atque servare ; significando tamen excidium Gischalorum — etiam quam dicebant honestam discessionem suam — ut multi fugam esse intelligerent prodiderunt. |
On John’s arrival there the whole population turned out and, with large crowds collecting around each of his companions in flight, they asked for news of the disasters happening outside. Their hot and gasping breath betrayed their desperate state, but they still blustered in their sorry plight, declaring that they had not fled from the Romans but had come of their own accord to fight with them on safer ground. It would have been an act of senseless and futile men to risk their lives rashly in a hopeless struggle for Gischala and other weak little towns, when they ought to save and use their arms and energy for the Cult Center. But by mentioning the fall of Gischala — what they even called their honorable withdrawal — they gave it away, so that many understood it to be a rout. |
| Auditis autem quæ captivi pertulere, non mediocris populum perturbatio tenuit, magnumque id esse argumentum proprii reputabant excidii. At Joannes eorum quidem quos fugientes reliquerat causa minus erubescebat, singulos autem circumiens spe ad bellum incitabat, infirmitatem Romanorum asserens, propriasque vires extollens, et imperitorum ea cavillatione inscitiam decipiens, quod etiamsi pennas sumerent, nunquam Hierosolymorum mœnia transgrederentur Romani qui pro Galiæorum vicis tanta mala pertulissent, atque in eorum muris machinas contrivissent. |
When, however, what the captives had suffered became known, utter dismay seized the people, who saw in it a powerful omen of their own doom. John himself, quite unconcerned for the fate of those he had left behind, went around using hope to whip them up for war, asserting that Roman power was feeble, exaggerating their own power, and deceiving them by ridiculing the ignorance of the inexperienced. He claimed that not even if the Romans grew wings could they ever get over the wall of Jerusalem, after having endured such problems with Galilæan villages and worn out their engines against their walls. |
| 2 |
| His ejus dictis magna quidem corrumpebatur juvenum manus. Prudentiorum autem atque seniorum nemo erat qui non, futura prospiciens, velut jam perditam Civitatem lugeret. Et populus quidem in ea confusione tunc erat. At vero per territorium manus agrestium, ante seditionem quæ Hierosolymis orta est, discordare jam cœperat. (Titus enim a Gischala Cæsaream, Vespasianus autem a Cæsarea Jamniam et Azotum profectus, utramque subegit ; impositisque illic præsidiis, revertebatur, maximam ducens eorum multitudinem qui se fœdere sociaverant.) |
With this sort of talk a large part of the youth was corrupted. But of the sensible, older men there was not one who, viewing the future, did not mourn for the City as if it had already perished. The citizenry, indeed, found itself in a state of confusion at that time. But throughout the countryside the bulk of the rural people had begun to feud even before strife arose in Jerusalem. (Titus meanwhile had left Gischala for Cæsarea, and Vespasian had marched from Cæsarea to Jamnia and Azotus, reducing both. After garrisoning them, he returned at the head of a mass of those who had pledged him their allegiance.) |
| Singulas autem civitates tumultus bellumque intestinum exagitabat : quantumque a Romanis respirassent, in semetipsos manus vertebant, quum inter amatores belli ac pacis cupidos esset sæva contentio ; dudumque discordium pertinacia primo inter domos accenderetur, deinde inter se amicissimi populi dissiderent ; et ad similia volentes quisque conveniens aperte jam coacta multitudine rebellaret. Itaque dissensiones quidem apud omnes erant, novitatis autem armorumque cupientes senibus ac sobriis juventute atque audacia præstabant. Primo autem indigenarum singuli prædari cœperunt ; deinde ex composito confertis cuneis per territorium latrocinabantur, ut quod ad crudelitatem atque injustitiam spectat, nihil a Romanis gentiles abessent ; atque ipsis qui vastabantur, illatum a Romanis excidium levius videretur. |
Turmoil and civil war were tearing up individual towns : and as soon as the Romans gave them a breathing space, they turned their hands against one another, so that between advocates of war and lovers of peace there was a savage quarrel. Originally, in the home, intransigent discord had been bursting into flame for some time; then groups extremly friendly to one another became antagonists and, coming together with like-minded types and merging into organized bodies, they started fighting. Discord reigned everywhere, the revolutionaries and belligerents with the boldness of youth overriding the old and sensible. At first, individual groups began plundering; then, organizing themselves into compact units, they extended their brigandage throughout the country, so that in lawless brutality they differed in no way from the Romans — indeed, to the victims it seemed the ruination inflicted by the Romans was easier to bear. |
| 3 |
| Civitatum vero custodes, partim quia defatigari pigeret, partim odio nationis, aut nulli aut minimo erant male affectis auxilio ; donec rapinarum satietate undique congregati collegiorum latrocinalium principes, atque in agmen conflati, Hierosolymis irrumpunt. Quæ Civitas a nullo regebatur, et more patrio gentiles omnes sine observatione recipiebant, tunc præcipue cunctis existimantibus universos qui superinfluerent adjumento ex benevolentia venire. Quæ quidem res, etiam sine dissensione, Civitatem postea pessundedit, eo quod iners et inutilis multitudo quæ pugnacibus sufficere possent alimenta consumpsit, hisque præter bellum etiam seditionem famemque comparavit. |
The garrisons of the towns, partly because it was a bother to go through the trouble, and partly out of hatred toward our people, were of no or minimal help to the victims. Until finally the leaders of the robber cartels, coming together from everywhere after being sated with rapine, and merging into an army, broke into Jerusalem. The City was governed by no one, and by age-old custom they admitted anyone of Jewish race without scrutiny, and especially at this juncture everyone thought that all those who were pouring in were coming out of kindness to help. It was this very thing that, quite apart from the faction-fighting, ultimately destroyed the City; for an idle and useless mob consumed supplies which could have been adequate for the fighting men and, in addition to war, afflicted them with sedition and starvation. |
| 4 |
| Aliique latrones ex agris eo transgressi, ac multo sævioribus quos intus invenere sociati, nullum atrox facinus intermittebant. Nec enim rapinis et exspoliationibus metiebantur audaciam, sed usque ad cædes ruebant, non clam neque per noctem aut quoslibet homines, verum luce palam nobilissimos quosque adoriendo. Nam primum Antipam, regii generis virum, et adeo potentissimum civium, ut etiam publicos thesauros fidei suæ permissos haberet, comprehensum custodiæ tradiderunt ; post hunc etiam Leviam quendam, insignem virum, et Sopham filium Raguëlis, regalis similiter utrumque familiæ, omnesque præterea qui præstare aliis videbantur. Gravis autem metus populum possidebat, et velut capta Civitate, salutem propriam quisque curabat. |
Other brigands from the countryside moved into the City and, joining forces with the far more ruthless ones they found inside, left no hideous crime uncommitted. They did not limit their insolence to pillage and plunder, but went as far as murder, not secretly or by night or against just anyone, but openly by day, attacking all the most eminent. First they seized and imprisoned Antipas, a member of the royal family and a citizen so very important that he held all the public funds committed to his trust. Next came a certain Levias, an eminent man, and Sophas, son of Raguel, both of royal blood — then beyond that all who were prominent. A deep fear seized the people and, as if the City had already been captured, everyone thought only of his own safety. |
| 5 |
| Illi autem clausorum vinculis non fuere contenti, neque tutum arbitrabantur ea potentia viros diutius custodire, nam et ipsos et domos eorum non paucis viris frequentari, ac per hoc ad ulciscendum esse idoneos, et præterea rebellaturum fortasse populum, iniquitate commotum. Decreto igitur eos occidi, mittunt quendam de suo numero Joannem ad cædes promptissimum qui lingua patria Dorcadis filius dicebatur ; eumque alii decem armati gladiis secuti ad carcerem, ibi quos repperissent interficiunt. Fingebant autem hujus immanissimi sceleris causam, cum Romanis eos de traditione Civitatis collocutos fuisse, communisque libertatis proditores interemisse dicebant, prorsus ut audacia sua tanquam servatores Civitatis, ac bene de ea meriti, gloriarentur. |
The terrorists were not satisfied with imprisoning their captives and considered it unsafe to keep men of such power incarcerated for long, as both those individuals themselves and their households were constantly visited by quite a few men who were, hence, also able to avenge them; and on top of that, the people, incensed by the injustice, might revolt. So they decided to murder the prisoners, sending in from among their number the one best suited for murder, a certain John, who was called in the vernacular “the son of Dorcas” {(“the son of Gazelle”)} He and ten others went into the prison sword in hand and slew those they found there. For this hideous crime they then invented the excuse that the slain had conferred with the Romans about surrendering Jerusalem, and said they had perished as traitors of the common freedom. In fact, they boasted of their temerity as if they were saviors of the City and had rendered great services to her. |
| 6 |
| Evenit autem populum quidem ad hoc humilitatis ac formidinis, illos vero insolentiæ progredi, ut in eorum esset arbitrio etiam pontificum designatio. Denique familiis abrogatis unde per successionem pontifices creabantur, incognitos atque ignobiles constituebant ut impiorum facinorum socios haberent. Nam qui supra meritum summos honores adepti erant, his obœdiebant necessario qui sibi eos præstiterant, quoniam et dignitate præditos variis machinis fictisque sermonibus committebant, opportunitatem sibi ex eorum qui se prohibere poterant contentione captantes donec, hominum persecutione satiati, in divinitatem contumelias transtulerunt, pedibusque pollutis in Sanctum Locum introire cœperunt. |
The result was that the people became so submissive and fearful, and the terrorists so insolent, that even the appointment of pontiffs lay in their power. Dispensing with the families from which pontiffs were successively appointed, they put in place unknown and lowborn people so they would have partners in their impious crimes; those who without deserving it attained the highest office necessarily obeyed those who had given it to them. Moreover, they set the authorities against one another with various tricks and invented tales, taking advantage of the bickerings of those who could have stopped them until, sated with their persecution of men, they shifted their insolence to God and entered the Sanctuary with their polluted feet. |
| 7 |
| Jam vero populo contra eos concitato (namque auctor erat Ananus, ævo maximus pontificum, itemque sapientissimus, et qui fortassis Civitatem conservasset, si insidiatorum manus potuisset effugere), illi Templum Dei adversus populi turbam, castellum ac profugium sibi fecere, quod pro domicilio habebant tyrannidis. Acerbis autem malis admiscebatur etiam cavillatio, quæ præ ceteris eorum factis erat dolori. Temptando enim quanto metu populus teneretur, suasque vires explorando, sorte pontifices creare conati sunt, quum his (ut diximus) ex familiis successio deberetur. Huic autem fraudi mos antiquus obtendebatur. Nam et olim sorte pontificatum deferri solitum fuisse dicebant. Re autem vera, legis erat abrogatio firmioris per eos qui ad potentiam designandorum magistratuum licentiam compararent. |
The populace was now enraged at them, urged on by the oldest of the pontiffs, Ananus, and also the wisest, who might have saved the City if he had been able to escape the hands of the plotters. These made the Temple of God their stronghold and refuge from popular upheavals, which they occupied as a headquarters of tyranny. Along with their bitter misdeeds they also combined ridicule, which was more hurtful than their other actions. For to see just how much fear the people were held by, and to try out their own power, they attempted to appoint pontiffs by lot, even though, as we have said, the succession was supposed to come from the families. Ancient custom was given as the pretext for this fraud; for they said that once upon a time the pontificate had been conferred by lot. In reality it was an abrogation of established law by those who were developing illegitimate means to power by appointing magistrates. |
| 8 |
| Itaque una sacratarum tribuum accita, quæ Eniachin appellatur, pontificem sortiebantur ; casuque sors exit homini, per quem maxime eorum iniquitas demonstrata est, Phani cuidam, filio Samuëlis, ex vico Aphthasi, non solum non ex pontificibus orto, sed aperte quid esset pontificatus, propter rusticitatem penitus nescienti. Denique invitum eum rure abstractum, ut in scæna fieri solet, aliena ornavere persona, indutumque sacra veste, quid facere deberet, subito instituebant ; ludumque et jocum esse tantum nefas arbitrabantur. Ceteri vero sacerdotes, procul spectantes ludibrio Legem haberi, lacrimas vix tenebant, honoresque sacrorum solvi graviter ingemebant. |
So summoning one of the sacerdotal clans, one called “Eniachin,” they drew lots for a pontiff. By chance the lot fell to a man through whom their evil was made most manifest, a certain Phanias {(= Pinehas)}, son of Samuel, of the village of Aphthas, a man not only not descended from pontiffs, but due to his rusticity manifestly completely ignorant of what the pontificate might be. Anyway, dragging him willy-nilly from the country, they placed him, as typically on a stage, in a role other than his own and, robing him in sacred vestments, instructed him on the spur of the moment what to do. They considered this grotesque sacrilege a game and a joke, but the other priests, from a distance watching the Law be held up to ridicule, were hardly able to hold back their tears and expressed deep grief over this dissolution of the sacred rites. |
| 9 |
| Populus autem hanc eorum audaciam non tulit, sed omnes quasi ad deponendam tyrannidem animos intenderant. Nam qui præstare ceteris videbantur, Gorion, Josephi filius, et Simeon Gamaliëlis, tam singulos circumeuntes quam simul universos in contionibus hortabantur, quo tandem aliquando libertatis corruptores ultum irent, Sanctumque Locum ab hominibus sceleratis purgare properarent. Pontifices etiam probatissimi, Gamala quidem, filius Jesu, Anani autem Ananus, populum frequenter in cœtibus exprobrando ejus segnitiem, contra Zelotas excitaverunt. Ita enim se ipsi vocabant, uti bonarum professionum æmuli, ac non qui pessimam facinorum immanitatem superassent. |
The people, however, could no longer take this arrogance of theirs: one and all now aimed at deposing what amounted to a tyranny. Those who seemed to be more eminent than others — Gorion, son of Joseph, and Simeon, son of Gamaliel — went around appealing to individuals as well as to the whole people to take vengeance against the destroyers of freedom, and to make haste to purge the Sanctuary of these defiled men. The most respected of the pontiffs, Gamaliel, son of Jesus, and Ananus, son of Ananus, held meetings at which they frequently reproached the people for their indifference and incited them against the Zealots; for it was “Zealots” that they called themselves, as if they were men zealous for good works, and not those who were uppermost in the worst of criminal enormities. |
| 10 |
| Itaque in contionem populo congregato, cunctisque indignantibus occupationes Sanctorum, itemque rapinas et cædes, nondum autem promptis ad ulciscendum propterea quod inexpugnabiles (id enim verum erat) Zelotæ putabantur, stans inter eos medius Ananus, et ad Legem crebro respectans, quum lacrimis opplesset oculos, « Equidem », inquit, « mori potius deberem quam Dei domicilium videre tantis refertum piaculis, atque inaccessa et Sancta Loca sceleratorum pedibus frequentari ; verum tamen sacerdotali veste amictus, et sanctissimum venerabilium nominum ferens, vivo atque animæ amore teneor nec pro senectute quidem mea mortem sustinens gloriosam. |
Thus, with the people gathered at a meeting and everyone enraged at the occupation of the Sanctuary as well as at the rapine and murders, but not yet ready to take vengeance because the Zealots were thought to be impregnable (which was true), Ananus stood up in their midst and, looking repeatedly back at the Law with his eyes full of tears, began thus: “I certainly ought rather to have died than see the house of God filled with such terrible sacrileges, and the unapproachable and Holy Places crowded with the feet of the reprobate! And yet I — clothed as I am with the priestly vestments and bearing the most sacred of venerable names — am alive, and am kept so by the love of life; I do not accept what would be a glorious death for my old age. |
| « Igitur solus ibo, et tanquam in solitudine animam meam solam dabo pro Deo. ¿ Nam quid opus est vivere in populo clades suas minime sentiente, et apud quos mala præsentia nemo prohibet ? Siquidem spoliati patimini ac verberati reticetis, et ne gemitu quidem aperto quisquam prosequitur interemptos. O acerbam dominationem! ¿ Quid de tyrannis querar ? ¿ Nunquid non a vobis vestra potentia nutriti sunt ? ¿ Nunquid non despectis qui primi erant, quum adhuc pauci essent, vos dum tacetis, plures eos fecistis ? ¿ Atque illis armatis quiescentes, in vosmetipsos arma vertistis ? ¿ Quum primos eorum conatus oportuisset infringi, quando cognatos conviciis appetebant ? |
“And so I’ll go alone and, as though in solitude, I’ll give my life alone for God. What is the use of living among people who absolutely fail to perceive their own calamities and among whom no one stops the evildoing? Especially when you allow yourselves to be plundered, and stay silent when beaten, and no one reacts to murders with even a groan. What bitter tyranny! But why complain about the tyrants? Were they not nourished by you with your power? Did you yourselves not, by disdaining the first ones, when they were still few, while you stood by silently, multiply their numbers? And, being apathetic while they were arming, did you not turn those arms against yourselves? At the same time that you ought to have halted their first attempts, when they were launching verbal assaults against your compatriots? |
| « Vos autem neglegendo, ad deprædationem noxios irritastis quia vastatarum ædium nulla ratio erat. Itaque jam domini ipsi rapiebantur, eisque, quum per mediam Civitatem traherentur, nemo erat auxilio. Illi autem a vobis proditos etiam vinculis affecere ; non dico quales et quantos, sed quod non accusatos, indemnatos, vinctos nemo adjuvit. Restabat eosdem videre trucidari. Hoc etiam vidimus, velut e grege brutorum animalium quum præcipua quæque duceretur hostia, ne vocem quidem quisquam emisit, nedum dexteram movit. ¿ Patiemini ergo, patiemini etiam Sancta conculcari videntes ? ¿ Quumque omnes audaciæ gradus nefariis hominibus subjeceritis, eorum præstantiam reveremini ? |
“But by being indifferent you encouraged these criminals to plunder because there was no accounting for the pillaged houses. So they seized their owners too, and when they were dragged through the middle of the City no one helped them. The criminals put them, betrayed by you, into chains — I will not say of what character or how many they were. Uncharged, uncondemned, they were imprisoned without a soul coming to their rescue. As a result we saw them slaughtered. We also saw how, as from a herd of dumb beasts where all the finest are led to a sacrifice, no one raised even a word, let alone moved his right arm! Will you tolerate it then, will you tolerate it, when you watch even your Sanctuary being trampled underfoot? And since all of you yourselves have laid the stepping stones of insolence beneath the feet of evil men, are you going to pay homage to their overlordship? |
| « Nunc enim profecto ad majora procederent, si quid majus quod everterent inveniretur. Tenetur quidem munitissimus Civitatis locus, Fanum appellatione, re arx quædam sive castellum. Tanta igitur contra vos tyrannide munita, et inimicis super verticem positis, ut videtis, ¿ quid cogitatis, aut quibus vestras sententias applicatis ? ¿ An Romanos expectatis, ut Sanctis vestris opitulentur ? Ita quidem se nostræ Civitatis habent res, eoque jam calamitatis ventum est, ut misereatur nostri etiam hostis. ¿ Non exsurgetis, o miseri, respectisque vulneribus vestris, quod etiam feras bestias facere videmus, non ultum ibitis in hos qui vos percussere ? ¿ Non suas quisque recordabitur clades et, ante oculos positis quæ pertulerit, ad ultionem animos acuet ? |
“Why, by now they would undoubtedly have proceded to even greater heights if they had found anything greater to overthrow! They have seized the strongest place in the City, called a Temple, but in fact a kind of citadel or fort; Now that the tyranny against you has been fortified and the enemy is positioned over your heads, what is going through your minds, or to whom are you addressing your thoughts? Are you waiting for the Romans to recover your Holy Places? The situation of our City has now gotten to the point of disaster where even the enemy pities us. Will you not rise up, you pitiable people, and, recognizing your wounds, as we see even the wild beasts do, wreak vengeance against those who are striking you? Why doesn’t everyone remember his own personal devastation, set before his eyes what he has suffered, and whet his appetite for vengeance? |
| « Periit apud vos (ni fallor) affectionum omnium carissima, et maxime naturalis, cupiditas libertatis. Servitutis autem ac dominorum amantes facti sumus, tanquam subjugari a majoribus didicerimus. Atque illi quidem multa et maxima bella, ut in libertate viverent, pertulerunt, ne aut Ægyptiorum aut Medorum potentiæ cederent, dummodo ne facerent quæ juberentur. ¿ Et quid opus est de majoribus loqui ? Hoc ipsum bellum quod cum Romanis nunc gerimus — verum commode an, contra, incommode non referam — palam, ¿ quid habet causæ, nisi libertatem ? ¿ Ergo qui dominis totius orbis servire non patimur, gentiles nostros ferimus tyrannos ? Quanquam externis obœdientes, ad fortunam semel id referunt cujus injuria victi sunt. At vero pessimis suorum cedere, ignavorum est, et cupientium serviendi. |
Unless I am mistaken, the dearest and greatest natural desire for freedom has died out among you. We have become lovers of slavery and of overlords, as though we learned subjugation from our ancestors. They, in contrast, endured many huge wars in order to live in freedom, so that they would not have to submit to the power of the Egyptians or the Medes, or have to do what they were ordered. But why talk about our forefathers? This very war which we are currently waging with the Romans — I will not talk about whether it is advantageous or, on the contrary, disadvantageous — openly, what is its object if not freedom? So we who will not suffer being slaves to the masters of the whole world, are we to put up with tyrants of our own race? Admittedly, those who are in submission to foreign powers can attribute it to fortune by whose injustice they were conquered, but to submit to criminals of one’s own nation is characteristic of degenerates and of people who want to be slaves. |
| « Ad hæc autem, quia Romanorum mentio facta est, non vos celabo, quid dum loquor intervenerit, mentemque retraxerit ; quod etiam si ab his capti fuerimus (absit autem hujus dicti periculum) nihil acerbius experiemur quam isti nos affecere. ¿ Quo pacto autem non lacrimis dignum sit, illorum quidem in Templo donaria cernere, gentilium vero spolia, qui nobilitatem hujus maximæ omnium Civitatis compilaverunt, eosque viros trucidatos videri, quibus etiam illi post victoriam obtemperassent ? |
“Having mentioned the Romans, I will make no secret of what occurred to me as I was speaking and turned my thoughts to that issue. Even if we were captured by them — heaven forbid such a disaster — we would not experience anything worse than what those people have subjected us to. How would it not be deserving of tears to see the donations of the Romans in the Temple, and then also the plunder of compatriots who have pillaged the nobles of this City, the greatest of all, and for those noblemen to be seen massacred whom even the Romans would have respected after their victory? |
| « ¿ Et Romanos quidem nunquam transgredi ausos esse limitem profanorum, aut sacratæ quicquam consuetudinis præterire, sanctorum autem ambitum, quamvis procul aspectum, perhorrescere, quosdam vero in his locis natos ac sub nostris moribus educatos, et qui Judæi vocentur, inter media Sancta deambulare, manibus adhuc suis gentili cæde calentibus ? ¿ Quis igitur externum bellum metuat, ex comparatione domestici ? Multo nobis æquior est hostis. Nam si proprie rebus sunt aptanda vocabula, fortasse reperietur legum quidem conservatores nobis fuisse Romanos, hostes vero intus haberi. Verum hos insidiatores libertatis exitio deberi, neque facinorum eorum dignum excogitari posse supplicium, certum est, idemque omnibus vobis, et ante orationem meam esse persuasum, atque ipsis vos rebus quas pertulistis, in eos esse commotos. |
“And to see the Romans never having overstepped the boundary of the profane or infringed on any sacred custom, but shuddering in awe upon seeing the precinct of the Sanctuary from however far away, while men born in this country, brought up in our customs and called Jews, stroll around the Inner Sanctuary, their own hands still steaming with the slaughter of their countrymen? So who would fear a foreign war in comparison with a civil one? The enemy is much more just to us. For, if we are to call things by their right names, we might well find that the Romans are the protectors of our Law, and its enemies are inside the City! Indeed, it is certain that these destroyers of freedom deserve death, but that no punishment could be devised worthy of their crimes, and that all of you were persuaded of this even before my speech, and were enraged against them because of the very things which you yourselves have suffered. |
| « Plerique autem fortasse multitudinem eorum, atque audaciam reformidant, et præterea quod in loco superiore consistunt. Sed hæc, ut vestra neglegentia conflata sunt, ita nunc magis proficient si morabimur. Nam et numerus illorum in dies singulos alitur, eo quod nequissimus quisque ad similes profugiat ; et audaciam plus accendit, quod nullum adhuc ejus impedimentum intervenit ; locoque superiore utentur, et quidem cum apparatu, si eis tempus demus. |
Possibly most of you are terrified by their numbers and their temerity, and also because they are on higher ground. But just as these things have come about through your negligence, they will now intensify all the more if we delay. For their numbers are growing by the day, since all the worst types are joining their likes; also, the fact that there is still no obstruction to block them fires their audacity all the more; and they will naturally make use of their commanding position, and with materiel as well, if we give them the time. |
| « Quod si adversus eos ire cœperimus, humiliores erunt, mihi credite, conscientia ; et celsioris loci beneficium reputatio scelerum perdet. Fortasse autem Dei pariter spreta majestas in ipsos tela retorserit, suisque missilibus consumentur impii. Videant nos tantummodo, et dejecti sunt — quanquam pulchrum est ut, etiam si quod periculum immineat, pro sacris januis moriamur ac, si non liberis et conjugibus, pro Deo tamen ejusque Sanctis animas profundamus. Præbebo autem manum atque sententiam ; et neque consilium vobis ullum deerit ad cautionem, neque me corpori meo parcere videbitis. » |
“But if we begin to go against them, believe me, they will be humbled by their own consciences, and the advantage of their higher position will be nullified by the recognition of their crimes. Perhaps the fact that they have spurned the majesty of God will turn their weapons back on them, and those ungodly men will be destroyed by their own missiles. Only let them see us and they are finished! And in any case it is glorious — even if there should be some threat of danger — to die before the sacred portals and to give our lives, if not for our children and wives, then for God and his Holy Places. I will offer you my hand and my counsel; and you will not lack any strategy for your safety, nor will you see me spare my own physical being.” |
| 11 |
| His Ananus contra Zelotas populum hortabatur, non quidem nesciens jam expugnari vix posse propter multitudinem ac juventutum animorumque pertinaciam, multoque magis propter conscientiam commissorum — nec enim concessum iri veniam his quæ perpetraverant sperabant ; verumtamen quidvis perpeti præstabilius existimabant, quam in tanta rerum perturbatione Rempublicam neglegere. Populus autem duci se clamabat in eos contra quos rogabatur, et ad subeunda pericula quisque promptus erat. |
With these words Anaus roused the people against the Zelots — not, indeed, being ignorant of the fact that now they could hardly be overcome on account of their numbers and the pertinacity of the youths and their spirit, but even much more because of the consciousness of their crimes, given that they would not expect that pardon would be granted for what they had perpetrated. Nevertheless his hearers thought it was preferable to endure anything rather than to leave the state in neglect amid such confusion. The people for their part clamored for him to lead them against the enemies he had denounced, every man being most anxious to be in the forefront of the fight. |
| 12 |
| Sed dum Ananus magis idoneos discerneret, atque ordinaret ad prœlium, Zelotæ cunctis conatibus ejus cognitis (certos enim qui omnia sibi nuntiarent habebant) in pontificem commoventur ; ac modo per cuneos, modo simul universi prosiliunt ; neque obvio cuiquam parcebatur. Cito autem et Ananus populum congregavit, multitudine quidem superiorem ; armis vero constipatis, non erant Zelotæ inferiores. Alacritas vero quod deerat in utrisque supplebat. Nam et cives armis iram conceperant fortiorem, et qui de Templo exierant, quavis multitudine majorem audaciam. |
But while Ananus was enlisting the more suitable men and organizing them for battle, the Zealots, learning of his operations (for they had certain men who reported everything to them), became infuriated at the pontiff and charged out, now in small formations and now all together, sparing no one they encountered. The citizens’ forces were quickly mustered by Ananus, superior in numbers; but the Zealots, bristling with arms, were not inferior. Enthusiasm, however, made up for deficiencies on both sides. Those from the City armed themselves with rage more powerful than weapons, those from the Temple with a daring greater than any numbers; |
| Quippe illi quidem habitare se in Civitate minime posse arbitrabantnr, nisi Zelotas eximerent ; hi vero nisi vicissent, nullum se non subituros esse supplicium. Manus autem conseruere, pro ducibus obœdientes motibus animorum. Et primo quidem in Civitate ac pro Templo eminus missis lapidibus semet invicem appetebant. Si vero aliqua pars terga vertisset, victores gladiis utebantur. Quumque plurimi sauciarentur, multæ cædes utrobique fiebant. Et populares quidem in domos referebantur a suis, Zelotarum autem quicunque vulneratus fuisset, in Templum ascendebat, sacram humum cruore perfundens, ut solo eorum sanguine violatam religionem recte quis dixerit. |
the former were convinced that it was impossible to stay in the City unless they got rid of the terrorists, the Zealots that unless they triumphed there would be no form of execution they would not undergo. So they joined battle, obeying their passions as their leaders. In the beginning, in the City and in front of the Temple they attacked one another at long range by throwing stones. If one side turned tail, the victors used their swords. At the same time that a great many were wounded, there were many deaths on both sides. The city dwellers were carried back into their houses by their relatives, while of the Zealots everyone who had been wounded went up into the Temple, covering the hallowed ground with his blood so that one could rightly say that its sanctity had been violated by their blood alone. |
| Semper quidem latrones excurrendo in congressionibus prævalebant. Irati vero populares, proficiente quotidie numero suo, quum desides increparent, quique a tergo sequebantur, non aperiendo fugientibus viam invitos eos repugnare compellerent, universos quidem suos in hostes convertunt. Illis autem, quia vim ferre non poterant, paulatim ad Templum recedentibus, irrumpit una cum sociis Ananus. Unde factum est, ut eos quod ambitu exteriori expulsi essent, metus invaderet ; ideoque in murum interiorem fuga recepti, mature januas occluderent. |
In these encounters the brigands with their sorties were always successful; but as the enraged citizens, daily growing in numbers, berated the less energetic, and as those who were in back, by not opening a path to those who were retreating, forced them against their will to fight again, they turned all of their forces against the enemy. The latter, unable to withstand this onslaught, slowly retired into the Temple, Ananus and his men charging in with them. As a result, panic seized those who had been forced out of the exterior court so that, retreating into the interior enclosure, they quickly locked the gates. |
| Verum Anano portis quidem sacris manus afferre non placebat, hostibus quoque desuper tela torquentibus, nefas esse existimanti, etiamsi vicisset, non lustratum prius populum introducere. Ex omni autem suorum multitudine sex fere armatorum milia sortitus, custodes eos in porticibus collocat. His autem qui succederent, in excubiis alios per ordinem ponit. Multi autem honestorum ab optimatibus ad id electi, mercede conductos pauperes vice sua præsidiis destinabant. |
Ananus was reluctant to attack the sacred gates while the enemy was also shooting down missiles from above, thinking it sacrilegious, even if he won, to bring in people not previously purified; so he chose by lot about 6,000 armed men of his whole crowd and stationed them as guards on the porticoes. He assigned others to succeed them in guard duty on rotation. But many members of the upper classes, chosen by their superiors for this, appointed poor men, hired for money, to their guard duties in their place. |
| 13 |
| Fit autem his omnibus exitii causa Joannes, quem ex Gischalis effugisse prædiximus ; is enim dolis plenus, et vehementem dominationis cupiditatem mente circumferens, jamdudum rebus communibus moliebatur insidians. Itaque tunc eadem quæ populus sentire se simulans, aderat Anano tam diebus cum proceribus capienti consilium quam noctibus peragranti custodias, omniaque secreta Zelotis renuntiabat ; nullumque populi consilium non prius quam caperetur, inimici sciebant, ejus indicio. Immoderatis vero et Ananum et populi principes placabat obsequiis ne in aliquam suspicionem veniret affectans. |
The cause of destruction for all these was John who, as related above, had fled from Gischala. Full of cunning, he bore around in his mind an intense lust for despotism, long active in conspiring against the state. So now, pretending to have the same attitude as the people, he accompanied Ananus whether the latter was engaged in planning with the leading men by day or visiting the guardposts by night, and reported all the secrets to the Zealots. There was no citizen issue that, through John’s betrayal, the enemy did not know about before it was was even decided. By showing extreme obsequiousness, he placated both Ananus and the leaders of the citizenry, striving so that he would not come under any suspicion. |
| Sed hæc ejus honorificentia in contrarium vertebatur. Erat enim ex adulationum varietate suspectior, eoque ipso quod etiam non accitus assiduus erat, arcanorum proditor habebatur. Etenim perspiciebat Ananus omnia sua consilia hostes intelligere. Et quæ Joannes faceret suspicionem proditionis habebant. Summovere autem illum non erat facile neque possibile, quod malitia prævaleret ; ac præter hoc multorum non ignobilium, qui summis rebus adhibebantur, patrocinio succinctus erat. |
But this veneration of his produced the opposite effect, for by the deviousness of his flattery he became more suspect; and by the very fact that he was present even when not invited, he was considered a betrayer of secrets. For Ananus saw clearly that their enemies knew all their intentions, and the things John was doing incurred the suspicion of betrayal. But to get rid of him was neither easy nor possible, because he was better at cunning; and besides that he had been undergirded by the protection of many nobles who were involved at the highest levels. |
| Visum est igitur ab eo sacramentum benevolentiæ causa peti ; nihilque dubitans, et fidem populo se servaturum juravit neque factum ejus inimicis ullum neque consilium proditurum, unaque deponendis rebellibus, et manu et voluntate operam collaturum. Itaque Ananus ejusque socii, quoniam jurato crediderunt, nulla jam suspicione suis eum consiliis adhibebant ; moxque ab iisdem concordiæ causa legatus intromittitur ad Zelotas. Curæ namque habebant, ne Fanum culpa sua pollueretur, neve quisquam in eo procumberet Judæorum. |
So it was resolved to make him take an oath to assure his good will. Unhesitatingly John swore to be faithful to the citizens, to betray neither any action or plan to their enemies and, in addition, to devote his efforts with hand and will to taking down the rebels. Thus Ananus and his associates, believing his oath, now involved him in their planning sessions without suspicion: he was soon sent as an intermediary to the Zealots for the sake of a truce, for they were anxious that the Temple not be desecrated through their own fault or that any Jew should fall in it. |
| 14 |
| Ille autem, quasi Zelotis ac non contra pro benevolentia juravisset, ingressus ad eos, medius constitit, et sæpe quidem se illorum causa in magno periculo fuisse dixit, ne quid secretorum ignorarent, quæ in eos Ananus cum sociis cogitasset. Nunc autem ingens cum ipsis omnibus subiturum esse discrimen, nisi divinum quoddam præsto fuerit auxilium. Nihil enim jam morari Ananum ; sed persuasisse quidem populo ad Vespasianum legatos mittere, ut ad capiendam Civitatem quamprimum venire properaret, indixisse autem lustrationem postero die, ut religione simulata intromissi vel etiam vi prœlio manus consererent. |
John, however, as if he had taken an oath for good will in favor of, and not against, the Zealots, went in to them and, standing in their midst, declared that he had often put himself in great danger for their sakes, so that they would not be unaware of the secrets which Ananus had been devising with his associates against them; but now he was exposed, with all of them, to the greatest danger, unless there were some kind of divine assistance. Ananus was not delaying any longer: he had persuaded the people to send ambassadors to Vespasian to hurry and come to take the City as soon as possible, and had announced a purification ceremony for the morrow so that men sent in under the pretense of religion or even by force of arms could attack them. |
| Se autem non videre, quam diu aut obsidionem sustinebunt, aut cum tanta manu acie congredientur. Ad hæc addebat quod ipse Dei providentia transactionis esset causa legatus. Hanc enim spem Ananum his proponere, quo nihil suspicantes eos subito aggrederetur. Itaque oportere, si quis habendam vitæ rationem duceret, aut obsidentibus supplicare, aut foris aliquod præsidium petere. |
He did not see how long they could sustain the siege or combat such vast numbers. He added that it was by the providence of God that he himself was the one commissioned to arrange the business; Ananus was offering this hope to them in order to attack them suddenly when they were off their guard. Thus it was necessary, if anyone held his life to be of any account, either to humbly beg the besiegers for mercy or obtain some help from outside. |
| Quos autem, si victi essent, veniæ spes foveret, immemores audaciæ suæ credere, simul ac factores pænituerit admissorum, in gratiam statim eos qui perpessi sunt redituros. Sed nocentium quidem sæpe invisam etiam pænitudinem fieri, læsis autem iram in licentia sæviorem ; imminere autem illis, ait, interfectorum amicos atque cognatos, totumque populum pro dissolutis legibus ac judiciis indignatione flagrantem ; ubi etiam si qua pars misericordiæ fuerit, majori jam irascentium turbæ cessuram. |
But those who, should they be defeated, were consoled by the hope of pardon while forgetting their own violent audacity, believed that, as soon as the doers regretted what they had perpetrated, the victims would immediately reconcile themselves to them. In actual fact, even wrongdoers’ regret is often detested, and the wrath of the wronged becomes all the more ruthless when they are in power. Lying in wait for the Zealots, he said, were the friends and relatives of the murdered, along with the whole people burning with rage over the suppression of laws and law courts. Even if some section felt pity for them, it would have to yield to the enraged majority. |
|
| ⇑ § IV |
Idumæi a Zelotis arcessiti statim
veniunt Hierosolyma, atque exclusi
pernoctant extra urbem. Ad quos
verba facit Jesus pontifex,
eique respondet Simon Idumæus. | The Idumeans Being Sent For by the Zealots, Came Immediately to Jerusalem ; And When They Were Excluded out of the City, They Lay All Night There. Jesus, One of the High Priests, Makes a Speech to Them ; and Simon the Idumean Makes a Reply to it. |
| 1 |
| Talia quidem variabat Joannes, terrorem incutiens multitudini ; externum vero auxilium aperte quidem indicare quod diceret non audebat ; Idumæos autem significabat. Utque principes Zelotarum privatim etiam commoveret, crudelitatis Ananum arguebat, ipsis eum maxime minitari confirmans. |
This was the narrative John artfully wove, striking terror into the crowd. However, he did not venture to specify explicitly the external assistance he was talking about, but he was hinting at the Idumæans. Also, to rouse the Zealot leaders privately, he accused Ananus of cruelty, assuring them that he was threatening them above all. |
— Caput D-6 —
Idumæorum adventus pro Hierosolymitanis et acta. |
| Erant autem Eleazarus, Simonis filius, qui etiam præter alios idoneus esse videbatur et recte consulere, et quæ consuluisset efficere, itemque Zacharias, filius Amphicali, uterque a sacerdotibus genus ducens. Hi præter communes etiam privatis interminationibus cognitis, quodque Anani factio potentiæ sibi comparandæ causa Romanos accerseret (nam et hoc Joannes affinxerat) diu quidem quid agerent dubitabant, angustiis temporis conclusi. |
The leaders were Eleazar, son of Simon, judged the most capable of devising suitable measures and carrying them out, and one Zachariah, son of Amphicalleus, both members of priestly families. These men, hearing of the personal threats besides the general ones, and that Ananus’ faction, to take over power for themselves, had called on the Romans (for John had invented this too), they hesitated for some time about what to do, given the constraints of time. |
| Populum enim haud multo post eos aggredi paratum esse cogitabant, externi vero subsidii facultatem insidiarum sibi celeritate præreptam ; priusque fore ut omnia paterentur quam auxiliarium quisquam ista cognosceret. Advocari tamen Idumæos placuit. Scriptaque breviter epistula quod circumvento populo Ananus vellet Romanis metropolim prodere, ipsi autem pro libertate dissidentes in Templo obsiderentur ; minimumque temporis salutem sibi promitteret, ac nisi mature subvenirent, ipsos quidem Anano atque inimicis, at vero Civitatem Romanis ilico subjugandam ; pleraque nuntiis ad rectores Idumæorum referenda mandant. |
For the citizens were prepared to attack them quite soon, and the chance of external help would be cut off by the speed of their surprise attacks; hence they would suffer all the consequences before any reinforcements knew about them. All the same they decided to call in the Idumæans, and wrote a brief letter saying that Ananus, deceiving the people, wanted to betray the Capital to the Romans, that they themselves had revolted in defense of their freedom and as a result were besieged in the Temple; that only a very short period could promise their survival, and that unless the Idumæans came to their aid quickly, they would shortly be delivered to Ananus and their enemies, and the City to the Romans. They also charged the messengers with telling the Idumæan chiefs many other things. |
| Ad hoc autem lecti sunt duo viri strenui et dicendi peritissimi, et ad persuadendum satis idonei, quodque his rebus esset utilius, pedum velocitate præstantes. Nam Idumæos confestim parituros certum erat, quod turbarum cupiens et incondita esset natio, semperque ad motus facilis atque suspensa, et rerum mutationibus læta, minimisque petentium blanditiis ad bella promptissima et velut ad festorum quandam sollemnitatem, sic ad prœlia properans. Celeritatem autem nuntii exigebant ; atque istis nihil deerat alacritatis (uterque autem Ananias vocabatur) jamque apud rectores aderant Idumæorum. |
To convey the message they chose two energetic men, articulate and quite convincing speakers and — what was still more useful in these circumstances —, exceptionally good runners. For it was certain the Idumæans would comply promptly, as they were a turbulent and undisciplined race, always easy to excite and on the verge of upheaval, with an appetite for revolution, ready at the least flattery from requesters to take up arms and dash into battle as if to a celebratory festivity. The messengers (both of whom were called Ananias) had to be fast — and they were in no way deficient in eagerness, so that they quickly reached the leaders of the Idumæans. |
| 2 |
| Illi autem simul epistula mandatisque attoniti, quasi furibundi circumcursare gentem, militiamque denuntiare cœperunt. Itaque mox et dicto citius multitudo convenerat, omnesque pro libertate metropoleos arma rapiebant. Congregati autem prope XXM• cum ducibus quattuor Hierosolymam veniunt — hoc est Joanne et Jacobo Sosæ filiis, et præterea Simone Cathlæ et Phinea Clusoth filiis. |
The rulers, amazed by the letter and the explanations of the bearers, raced around their nation like madmen and began proclaiming mobilization. Thus quickly and faster than it could be said, the multitude gathered, and they all seized arms to defend the freedom of the Capital. Forming an army of 20,000 strong, they marched to Jerusalem with four generals — John and James, the sons of Sosas, as well as Simon, son of Cathla, and Phineas, son of Clusoth. |
| 3 |
| Ananum autem profectio legatorum, itemque vigiles ejus latuit, sed non etiam Idumæorum adventus, hoc enim ante cognito, portas eis clausit, et muris custodes apposuit. Non tamen visum est bello cum his congredi, sed verbis eis ante persuadere concordiam. |
Though the departure of the messengers had eluded both Ananus and his sentries, not so the arrival of the Idumæans. Aware of it ahead of time, Ananus barred the gates against them and posted sentries on the walls. It did not seem a good idea to engage them in battle, but first to use words to win them over to concord. |
| Stans ergo in adversa turri Jesus, post Ananum ævo pontificum maximus, « Quum multæ », inquit, « et variæ turbæ tenuerint Civitatem, in nulla re sic miranda fortuna est, ut in eo quod pessimis etiam inopinata conspirant. Etenim perditissimis hominibus contra nos auxilio venistis, tanta cum alacritate, quanta nec in Barbaros advocante vos metropoli venire decuisset. Et si quidem viderem consensionem vestram similem esse horum hominum qui vos rogaverunt, non existimarem impetum carere ratione. |
So, taking his stand on the tower facing them, Jesus, the senior pontiff after Ananus, said: “While many different disorders have gripped this city, no trick of fortune has astonished me so much as the way in which such unexpected elements join in helping evil men. You, for instance, have come here to help these human dregs against us with more enthusiasm than would be appropriate even if the Capital had called on you to resist an attack by barbarians. If I could see your alliance being similar to that of the men who called on you, I would not believe that your aggression lacked reasonableness. |
| « Nihil enim æque ac morum cognatio concordiam firmat. Nunc vero illi quidem, si quis eorum singulos exploraverit, mille mortibus digni reperientur ; nam ludibria et purgamenta totius rusticæ plebis, luxu absumptis patrimoniis suis, postquam in vicis et civitatibus proximis audaciam exercuere, postremo in sacram Civitatem clam influxere ut latrones, solumque religiosum immanitate polluerunt scelerum, eosque videas sine metu inter Sancta ebrios, et aviditate ventris peremptorum spolia consumentes. |
“For nothing establishes concord as well as kinship in character. But actually, if one were to investigate them individually, they would be found worthy of a thousand deaths. The laughing-stock, the scum of the whole countryside peasantry, having squandered their own property in extravagance and perpetrated their insolence on the villages and towns around and, finally, having stealthily poured into the Holy City like burglars, they have desecrated the hallowed ground with the outrageousness of their crimes. You can see them recklessly getting drunk in the Sanctuary and using the spoils of their murdered victims to satisfy their greedy bellies. |
| « Vestra vero multitudo armatorumque talis ornatus est, qualem deceret esse, si publico vos consilio metropolis invitaret, in alienigenas laturos auxilia. ¿ Quid igitur hoc esse quis dixerit nisi fortunæ injuriam, quum pro nequissimis convenisse et integræ nationis vestræ arma videantur conspirare ? Jamdudum quidem reperire nequeo, quidnam fuerit quod vos tam cito commoverit. Nec enim sine magna causa fieri potuisset, ut arma pro latronibus adversus cognatum populum caperetis. |
“But your huge numbers and the splendid array of your armed forces are of the kind that would be becoming if the Capital, in public council, were summoning you to render aid against foreigners. What, therefore, could anybody call this but an injustice of fortune, when they are seen to assemble — and the military of your entire people is seen to conspire — on behalf of the most evil men? For some time I have been unable to figure out whatever made you move so suddenly. Without good cause it could not have happened that you would take up arms on behalf of criminals and against your kith and kin. |
| « ¿ Quid ? ¿ “Romanos” audistis et “proditionem” ? His enim quidam vestrum obstrepebant nunc, liberandæ metropoleos causa venisse dicentes. Unde mirati sumus præter alia, noxiorum tale commentum. Viros enim natura libertatis amatores, eoque cum externis hostibus pugnare paratissimos, aliter contra nos efferare non poterant, quam vastatæ libertatis proditione mentita. Sed enim vos considerare oportet, qui nos insimulaverint, fidemque in nos veritatis ex rebus communibus, non ex ficto sermone colligere. |
“What’s that? You heard ‘Romans’ and ‘betrayal’? That is what some of you were shouting just now, saying you had come to liberate the Capital — as a result of which we are more amazed at this kind of lie of those criminals than at their other ones. In no other way could they incite men who are born lovers of liberty, and for that reason are absolutely ready to fight a foreign foe, than with the fabrication of a betrayal of their devastated liberty. So you should think about who is accusing us, and gather your confidence in the truth about us from well-known facts, not from invented tales. |
| « ¿ Quid enim passi nunc demum nos dedimus Romanis, quum ab initio licuerit aut ab his non deficere, aut quia defecimus, cito redire in gratiam, priusquam circa nos omnia vastarentur ? Namque jam, ne volentibus quidem nobis, transactio facilis est, quum et superbos eos effecerit Galilæa sub jugum missa morteque graviorem afferat turpitudinem, appropinquantes placare. Equidem quod in me est, pacem morti antepono. Semel autem bello appetitus, postquam pugna commissa est, gloriosam mortem vita captivi existimo potiorem. ¿ Sed utrum nos, populi principes, ajunt clam misisse aliquem ad Romanos — an etiam totum populum, communi suffragio ? |
“What have we experienced that we have now at last given ourselves over to the Romans, when initially it would have been possible either not to defect from them or, having defected, quickly to return to their good graces, before everything around us was devastated? But now, not even if we wanted to would the achievement be easy, now that the subjugation of Galilee has made them arrogant, so that it would bring on a disgrace worse than death for us to approach them to appease them. For myself, I prefer peace to death; but once war has begun and battle joined, I consider a glorious death preferable to the life of a prisoner. Which do they say — that we, the citizens’ leaders, sent secretly to the Romans, or that the whole people did so with a public vote? |
| « Siquidem nobis dicant, ¿ quos amicos miserimus, qui servi fuerint proditionis ministri. ? ¿ Quum iret aliquis, deprehensus est, rediens captus est, litteras nacti sunt ? ¿ Quemadmodum autem tantam civium multitudinem lateremus, cum quibus omni hora versaremur ? ¿ Paucis autem, atque his inclusis qui de Templo ne in Civitatem quidem prodire possent, quo pacto sunt cognita, quæ occulte extra Civitatem fierent ? ¿ An vero nunc cognovere, quando ausorum pœnæ reddendæ sunt ? ¿ Donec autem sine metu fuere, neminem nostrum proditorem suspicabantur ? |
“If they attribute it to us, then which friends did we send, which slaves were the administrators of the betrayal? Was any one caught as he went or captured on the way back? Did they get any letters? How did we hide from this huge number of citizens with whom we are in contact all day long, and how, in contrast, did a handful of men, blockaded and unable even to leave the Temple for the City, come to know of secret goings-on outside of the City? Or did they find this out only now, when they must pay the penalty for their outrages? While as long as they had nothing to fear, they suspected none of us to be a traitor? |
| « Sin ad populum causam referunt, publicum habuit nempe concilium, nemo aberat contioni ; ideoque manifestior ad vos nuntius fama citius properasset. ¿ Quid autem ? Opus erat legatos mittere, quum certa nobis esset de transactione sententia. Et quis designatus sit dicant. Sed hæ quidem male periturorum, et instantes pœnas evitare cupientium, causationes sunt. Quin etiam, si Civitatem prodi in fatis esset, id quoque ipsos qui nos criminantur ausuros opinor ; quorum audaciæ unum malum videtur deesse : proditio. |
“If, on the other hand, they are directing their accusation at the people, undoubtedly a public meeting was held, with no one absent at the gathering. Thus plainer news of it would have sped to you faster than any rumor. And then? It would have been necessary to send ambassadors, once we had a decisive vote on the arrangement. Also, they should say who was elected. But these things are the pretexts of those about to die a miserable death and wanting to avoid the punishment overhanging them. Indeed, if the City had truly been destined to be betrayed, I think that those who are accusing us would themselves dare to effect that too, given that among their audacities a single evil seems to be lacking: treason. |
| « Vos autem oportet, quia semel cum armis adestis, primum (id quod est justissimum) juvare metropolim, et una nobiscum tyrannos eximere per quos judicia dissoluta sunt, qui, calcatis legibus, jura suis gladiis permisere ; denique nobiles viros non incusatos, ex medio raptos foro primum vinculis cruciarunt, deinde non voce neque prece eorum morati, neci tradiderunt. Licet autem vobis — non belli lege — ingressis horum videre argumentum quæ dixi : desolatas domos rapinis ; conjuges in veste lugubri ac familias peremptorum ; et per totam Civitatem ululatus et fletus. Nullus enim non persecutionem expertus est impiorum. |
“But once you are here in arms, your prime duty (and the most just one) is to defend the Capital and, together with us, annihilate the tyrants who have annulled our courts of justice and who, after trampling on our laws, have delivered justice to their swords. Finally, dragging eminent men, charged with no offense, from the middle of the marketplace, they have first tortured them with chains and then, without waiting for their explanations or prayers, murdered them. You are free to enter — though not by right of war — and see for yourselves the proofs of what I say: houses emptied through their pillage ; murdered men’s wives and families in black ; wailing and laments throughout the whole City. There is no one who hasn’t experienced the persecution of these godless men. |
| « Qui ad hoc insaniæ prorupere, ut latrocinalem audaciam non solum ex agris atque alienis civitatibus in hanc quæ et caput et facies gentis est, sed in Fanum etiam ex Civitate transferrent. Denique hoc sibi et ad excursus et ad perfugium elegerunt, isque fiscus illis est eorum quæ in nos comparantur ; et locus toti orbi terræ venerabilis, quique ab universis alienigenis, ab extremo limite mundi venientibus, honoratur, per hæc quæ apud nos nata sunt portenta conculcatur. |
“They have plunged into such a frenzy of madness that they have shifted their criminal insolence not only from the countryside and outlying towns to this, the head and image of our people, but even from the City to the Temple! This they have chosen as their sallying point and refuge; it is their treasury for what they are preparing against us; and the spot venerated by the whole world and honored by all foreigners from the ends of the earth is being trampled on by monstrosities bred in our midst. |
| « Exsultant autem, rebus desperatis, populos committi populis, et civitatibus civitates, gentesque in sua viscera dilectum habere, quum debueritis (ut dixi) quod factu esset optimum ac deceret, nobiscum nocentes eximere atque hanc ipsam fallaciam ultum ire, quod auxilio vos advocare ausi sunt quos metuere vindices debuissent. |
“But now in their despair they are rejoicing in setting district against district, town against town, and in having a conscript army of tribes fighting against their own vitals, whereas the right and proper course for you, as I said before, is to help us exterminate the criminals and to take vengeance against them for deceiving you by daring to call you in as allies when they ought to have feared you as avengers. |
| « Quod si ejusmodi hominum preces reverendas putatis, attamen licet vobis, armis depositis, cognatorum habitu introire Civitatem, medioque inter hostes atque auxiliares suscepto nomine, de nostris discordiis judicare ; quanquam reputate quid habebunt commodi, quum de manifestis ac tantis criminibus apud vos causam dicturi sunt, qui hominibus non accusatis, ne verbum quidem facere permisere. Ferant igitur hanc ex vestro adventu gratiam. |
“But if you believe the requests of such men should be respected, you may still, after laying down your arms, enter the City with the attitude of kinsmen and, assuming a role intermediate between enemies and allies, arbitrate our differences. Indeed, consider what advantage it will be to them if they are to speak their cause against flagrant and very serious accusations when they did not allow men who had not been charged to say even a word; so let them reap the benefit of your coming. |
| « Si vero neque nobiscum indignari neque judicare vultis, tertium restat, ut, relictis utrisque partibus, nec nostris cladibus insultetis, nec cum insidiatoribus metropoleos maneatis. Nam etsi maxime quenquam nostrum suspicamini Romanis collocutum, observare vobis itinera licet, tumque demum tueri metropolim, quum factum aliquid hujusmodi patuerit, quale delatum est, et in auctores ejus, si convicti fuerint, vindicare. Non enim vos præveniunt hostes, juxta Civitatem sedibus positis. Sin horum nihil vobis gratum aut mediocre videtur, ne portarum claustra miremini, quatenus arma portabitis. » |
“But if you wish neither to share our indignation nor to act as judges, there is a third course — to dissociate yourselves from both sides and neither to taunt us in our sufferings nor to stay on the side of the betrayers of the mother city. For even if you really suspect that some one of us has talked with the Romans, you can keep watch over the roads; and then, finally, you can guard the Capital if you discover some deed of this sort which has been alleged, and take vengeance against its perpetrators if they are convicted of it. For the enemy could not get around you with your encampment so near the City. If, however, none of these proposals seems to you acceptable or reasonable, don’t be surprised that the gates remain shut as long as you carry arms.” |
| 4 |
| Hæc quidem Jesus loquebatur ; Idumæorum autem multitudo nequaquam animum advertebat, ardens iracundia, quod non paratum habuisset introitum ; proque armis inter se duces indignabantur, captivitatem esse existimantes, si ea quibusdam jubentibus deposuissent. Unus autem ducum Simon, filius Cathlæ, vix placato suorum tumultu, stans in eo loco unde exaudiri a pontificibus posset, non jam mirari se ait, si libertatis propugnatores in Templo obsiderentur inclusi, quum illi cunctæ genti communem clauserint Civitatem, et Romanos quidem fortasse coronatis etiam portis recipere sint parati, Idumæos autem ex turribus alloquantur, captaque jubeant pro libertate arma projicere, cognatisque non credentes custodiam Civitatis, judices eos discordiarum fieri velint ; et alios accusando quod indemnatos cives occiderint, ipsi totam damnent ignominia nationem. |
Those were the words of Jesus. The mass of Idumæans, however, furious at not being allowed in immediately, paid absolutely no attention, while their leaders were enraged because of the weapons, considering it captivity if they were to lay them down at someone’s command. One of the leaders — Simon, son of Cathla —, barely calming a riot of his men, stood where he could be heard by the pontiffs and said that he was not surprised at the fact that, if the defenders of liberty were being besieged in the Temple, the priests had closed the City to the whole nation and were ready, perhaps with garlands on the gates, to let the Romans in while they talked to the Idumæans from the towers, ordering them to throw down the arms they had taken up on behalf of freedom and, while not entrusting the defense of the City to their kinsmen, wanted them to become the judges of discord; and while accusing others of killing citizens without trial, were condemning the whole nation to ignominy. |
| Denique urbem omnibus alienigenis religionis causa patentem, nunc domesticis præclusistis. Valde enim contra vos festinabamus, et ad gerendum cum gentilibus bellum, qui ob hoc adesse properavimus, ut vos servaremus liberos. Nempe taliter vos etiam hi quos obsidetis læsere, tamque verisimiles puto suspiciones in illos quoque colligitis. Deinde, qui Reipublicæ defensores sunt intus in custodia tenentes, genere conjunctissimis gentibus simul universis Civitatem præclusam tyrannidem perferre dicitis, quum tam contumeliosis nos jubeatis obtemperare præceptis ; nomenque potentiæ aliis, qui vos tyrannos patiuntur, annectitis. |
“This City, which has always been wide open to every foreigner for worship, you have now closed off to your own countrymen! Ah yes, we were really racing here against you and to wage war against our own people — we, who were only hastening to keep you free! Of course, those whom you are besieging have wronged you as you have us, and you are collecting, I suppose, similarly plausible suspicions against them! Next, while holding the defenders of the nation in custody inside, you say that the City, simultaneously closed to all of the peoples most closely related by blood, is suffering under tyranny, while you order us to obey your insulting commands; and you add the charge of despotism to others who are enduring you as despots! |
| ¿ Quis cavillationem vestri sermonis tulerit, quum rerum repugnantiam videat ? Etenim vobis etiam nunc Idumæos excludentibus Civitate (namque ipsi nos a patriis sacris arcetis), recte qui eos incusaverit qui custodiuntur in Templo quod, quum ausi essent plectere proditores quos « viros nobiles et innocentes » pro societate facinoris dictitatis, non a vobis inceperint, summaque proditionis membra præciderint. |
“Who could stomach absurdity of your language when he sees its contradiction by the facts? Indeed, with you even now shutting Idumæans out of the City (for you yourselves are shutting us out of our ancestral rites), a man might justifiably accuse those who are imprisoned in the Temple because, when they dared to punish the traitors whom you — because of your association with them in crime — call “eminent and innocent men,” they didn’t start with you and hack off the most important limbs of this treason. |
| Sed licet illi molliores quam res poscebat inventi sint, nos tamen domicilium Dei servabimus Idumæi, et pro communi patria propugnabimus ; tamque foris irruentes, quam intus insidiantes, hostes pariter ulciscemur. Hic autem manebimus pro muris armati, donec aut vos Romani respiciendo liberent, aut ipsi recuperata libertatis cura mutemini. |
“But if they were found to be more lenient than the situation required, we Idumæans will defend the House of God and fight for our common country; we will take vengeance both on those attacking from outside and on those working treacherously from within. Here we shall remain in arms before the walls until either the Romans, paying attention to you, liberate you, or you yourselves are converted by concern for recuperating our freedom.” |
| 5 |
— Caput D-7 —
De clade Judæorum ab Idumæis facta. |
| His dictis Idumæorum quidem multitudo clamore consensit ; Jesus autem tristis recessit, quum nec Idumæos quicquam sentire moderatum, et duplici bello oppugnari Civitatem videret. Quippe nec Idumæorum tumor et spiritus quiescebat, indigne ferentium contumeliam, quod essent Civitate prohibiti, et quod Zelotarum vires esse firmas crediderant, erubescentium, postquam nihil eos sibi auxiliari posse viderent, ut jam venisse pæniteret. |
The mass of the Idumæans welcomed these words with great applause; Jesus, on the other hand, left depressed, since he saw that the Idumæans would not agree to any rational proposals and that the City was attacked from two sides. But neither was the turmoil and mental uproar of the Idumæans soothed: they were enraged at the insult of being kept out of the City; they also felt humiliated because they had believed the Zealot forces were strong — so after they saw the latter could not help them at all, they regretted having come. |
| Pudor autem nulla re penitus gesta redeundi, pænitudinem superabat. Itaque ibidem prope murum temere tabernaculis positis, manendum esse statuere. Infinita vero hiems nocte illa venit, ventique violenti cum imbribus orti sunt, et crebra fulgura, horrendaque tonitrua, concussæque terræ vasti mugitus ; certumque erat apud omnes, hominum exitio mundi statum esse turbatum, neque parvum quid rerum hæc signa portendere. |
But the disgrace of going home with nothing whatever accomplished overcame their regrets, so they decided to stay, rashly setting up their tents next to the wall. During that night an enormous storm broke, violent winds and rain arose along with frequent lightning bolts and terrifying thunder, accompanied by stupendous bellowings of the stricken earth. It was clear to everyone that the state of the world was convulsed for the destruction of man, and that these omens did not portend anything small. |
| 6 |
| Una vero Idumæis et oppidanis erat opinio, illis quidem irasci Deum militiæ causa, existimantibus neque se posse evadere si adversus metropolim arma movissent, Anano autem ejusque sociis, etiam sine prœlio vicisse Deumque pro se bellum administrare credentibus. Sed profecto falsi erant interpretes futurorum, et quæ sui passuri essent, contra hostes fore divinabant. Verum Idumæi quidem catervatim densatis corporibus invicem sese fovebant, scutisque contextis protecti, capita minus pluvia lædebantur ; Zelotæ autem magis illorum quam suo periculo cruciabantur ; collectique deliberabant, si quam reperire subsidii machinam illis possent. |
The Idumæans and the people in the City were of one and the same opinion. The former felt that God was angry about the expedition and that they could not escape punishment for bearing arms against the Capital; Ananus and his friends believed that they had won without a battle and that God was managing the war for them. But they were indeed poor interpreters of the future and predicted that the things their own side was about to undergo would happen to their enemies. For the Idumæans, pressing close together in groups, kept each other warm and were protected by joining their shields, so their heads were less hurt by the rain; meanwhile the Zealots, much more worried about the danger to them than to themselves, met to find some stratagem to help them out. |
| Horum autem ardentioribus videbatur, vi armorum custodes invadere, atque in Civitatem impetu facto palam portas auxiliatoribus aperire. Nam et custodes ex improviso, et quod plures inermes ac belli expertes essent, facile turbatum iri, et multitudinem civium difficulter colligi posse, quoniam domi quisque propter hiemem contineretur. Quin etsi periculum aliquod intervenerit, quidvis subire satius quam neglegere tot copias sui causa turpiter perituras ; at qui prudentiores erant, vim adhiberi dissuadebant. Non enim sui tantum causa custodes ampliari, sed etiam Civitatis murum videbant propter Idumæos diligentius custodiri ; et ubique adesse Ananum, omnibusque horis invisere custodias existimabant. |
The more fiery of them favored attacking the guards by force of arms and, charging into the City, overtly opening the gates to their allies. The guards would be thrown into confusion by the surprise and also because most of them were unarmed and inexperienced in fighting, while the mass of the citizens could be mustered only with difficulty, since they were confined to their own houses by the storm. If this meant danger, anything was better than to allow so many troops to perish because of their negligence. The more sensible people, on the other hand, opposed the use of force. Their view was not only that the guards had more reinforcements just because of them, but that because of the Idumæans the City wall was being more carefully guarded. They also believed Ananus was everywhere, visiting the guards at all hours. |
| Sed hoc aliis noctibus ita habuerat. Illa vero, non sua desidia requieverat, sed ut et ipse et custodum manus fato duce interirent. Namque jam nocte provecta, et gliscente hieme, custodes in porticu dispositos opprimit somnus. At Zelotis consilium subit, ut serris Templo sacratis portarum vectes secarent. Affuit autem illis, ne exaudiretur crepitus, ventorum sonus, et crebra tonitrua. |
On other nights he had indeed done so, but on this night he had rested, not through his own slothfulness, but because Fate had ordained that both he and his guard troop should perish. For in the dead of night and with the storm reaching its peak, sleep overcame the guards stationed in the colonnade, and the Zealots hit on the idea of cutting the bars of the gates with the saws dedicated to the Temple. Assisting them were the sound of the winds and the frequent thunder, so that the noise was not heard. |
| 7 |
| Fanoque egressi, ad murum clanculo veniunt ; serratamque portam, quæ versus Idumæos erat, aperiunt. Illi autem primum Ananum conari aliquid suspicati, unusquisque dextram ad gladium, quasi repugnaturi applicant mature ; deinde his, qui ad se venerant agnitis, introibant. Qui quidem, si tunc manus vertere in Civitatem voluissent, nihil obstabat quominus totus populus interiret ; tanta ira ferebantur. Verum Zelotas primo eximere custodia festinabant ; illis quoque multum precantibus, qui eos receperant, ne despicerent malis obsessos, quorum gratia venerant, neque his acerbius periculum importarent ; captis enim custodibus, faciliorem illis in Civitatem impetum fore ; sed si semel eos concitassent, jam illos contineri non posse, quin si senserint congregentur, et per ascensus nitentibus se opponant. |
Leaving the Temple, they stealthily made for the wall; then, having sawed through the gate which faced the Idumæans, they opened it. The latter at first thought Ananus was trying something and everyone quickly grasped his sword as if to fight back; but after recognizing who had come to them, they entered. If they had then decided to turn against the City, nothing would have stood in the way of the entire populace perishing, such was their fury; but they rushed firstly to free the Zealots from their blockade, as the men who had admitted them were strongly imploring them not to forget that those on whose behalf they had come were besieged with peril, and so not to inflict a worse danger on them. For after they had captured the guards, the attack on the City would be easier for them; but if they once roused the citizens, they would not be able to overcome the guards, given that if the citizens became aware they would gather and block those struggling up the ascent. |
|
| ⇑ § V |
Idumæorum, in urbem dum sæviret
tempestas, ingressorum
et Zelotarum crudelitas. De morte
Anani et Jesu et Zacharias. Utque
Idumæi domum discesserunt. | The cruelty of the Idumeans when they were gotten into the Temple during the storm ; and of the Zealots. Concerning the slaughter of Ananus, and Jesus, and Zacharias ; and how the Idumeans retired home. |
| 1 |
| Idem igitur Idumæis visum est ; jamque in Templum per Civitatem subibant, quum suspensi Zelotæ adventum eorum præstolarentur. Denique his ingressis, etiam ipsi confidenter ex interiori Fano progressi sunt, mixtique Idumæis in custodes irruerunt. Cæsis autem nonnullis quos somnus oppresserat, omnis multitudo ad clamorem vigilantium suscitata est, raptisque armis ad repugnandum non sine stupore properabant. |
The Idumæans agreed with this and went up through the City to the Temple while the Zealots were in suspense awaiting their arrival. When they finally got inside, the Zealots themselves emerged full of confidence from the inner courts and, mingling with the Idumæans, attacked the guards, killing some of those whom sleep had overtaken. The whole force was awakened by the shouts of those who were awake and, grabbing their weapons, they rushed in shock to fight back. |
| Ac primum quidem Zelotas solos conari aliquid suspicantes, quasi eos superaturi numero confidebant ; ubi vero foris alios circunfundi viderent, Idumæos irrupisse sensere. Et major quidem pars eorum, armis pariter animisque depositis, in questibus erant. Pauci vero juvenum fortiter communiti, occurrendo Idumæis, aliquandiu segniorem multitudinem protegebant ; alii cladem Civitatis habitatoribus nuntiabant. |
Believing at first that only the Zealots were trying something, they were sure they would overcome them, so to speak, by weight of numbers; but when they saw others pouring in from outside, they realized the Idumæans had broken in. At this the majority of them, dropping both their arms and their courage, went into lamentation; but strongly shielding themselves, a few of the younger men for a while protected the slower multitude against the oncoming Idumæans. Others of the multitude alerted the people in the City to the disaster. |
| Illorum autem auxilio venire nullus audebat, cognito Idumæos irrupisse ; sed ipsi quoque irrita vociferantes, cum fletibus respondebant ; plurimusque mulierum ululatus suscitabatur, si quando custodum quisquam in periculum aliquod incidisset. Quin et Zelotæ Idumæorum clamorem geminabant, magisque horribiles tempestas faciebat omnium voces. Nemini autem Idumæi pepercere, quod natura crudelissimi ad cædes erant, et hieme graviter afficiebantur, proptereaque his qui se excluserant ut inimicis utebantur, tam supplicantibus quam repugnantibus infensi. |
But none of these dared to help them when they learnt that the Idumæans had broken in; they merely replied with futile shouts and groans, and a great deal of howling went up from the women if at the time any of the guards had fallen into danger. Moreover the Zealots duplicated the shouts of the Idumæans, and the tempest made the cries of everyone all the more terrifying. The Idumæans, being severely buffeted by the storm and by nature extremely barbarous and bloodthirsty, spared no one; they accordingly raged both against those begging for their lives and those who were fighting back, treating as enemies those who had kept them out. |
| Multos enim cognationem referentes, utque commune Fanum revererentur orantes, gladiis transfigebant. Nullus autem fugiendi locus, neque spes salutis erat. Compulsi autem circa se magis quam vi oppressi laniabantur, quum recedendi spatium non daretur, nec interfectores a cædibus temperarent. Incerti autem quid agerent, in Civitatem se præcipitabant, miseri (ut mihi videtur) eo quod fugiebant crudelius subeuntes exitium, donec Templum exterius sanguine redundavit. Octo autem milia et quingentos mortuos dies invenit. |
Many who reminded them of the ties of blood and begged them to respect their commonly shared Temple were run through with swords. There was no place to flee, no hope of safety. Surrounded and pressed in rather than overcome by force, they were cut to pieces, with no space of retreat left, and the killers did not stop their slaughtering. Uncertain as to what to do, they flung themselves head first down into the City; they were to be pitied, it seems to me, because they were undergoing a death more cruel than the one they were fleeing from. Meanwhile the outer Temple was awash in blood; the dawn found eight thousand and five hundred dead. |
| 2 |
| Nec tamen his Idumæorum ira satiata est, sed versis in Civitatem manibus, omnes domos diripiebant, quemque fortuito invenissent morti dabant. Et ceteræ quidem multitudinis cædem supervacuam esse ducebant, pontifices autem pervestigabant ; et in illos plerique ferebantur, statimque comprehensos obtruncabant. Stantesque super eorum cadavera, nunc Anano populi benevolentiam, nunc Jesu quæ de muro dixerat, exprobrabant. |
The furor of the Idumæans was not satisfied with this but, turning against the City, they plundered every house and killed anyone they met at random. They then considered killing the rest of the people a waste of time and started searching for the pontiffs. Most went after them and immediately caught and killed them. Standing on their corpses, the murderers denounced them — now Ananus for his kindness to the people, now Jesus for what he had said from the wall. |
| Ad hoc autem impietatis progressi sunt, ut etiam insepultos eos abjecerint, quum præsertim Judæis tanta sepulturæ cura sit, ut etiam judicio cruci suffixos, ad occasum solis deponant atque sepeliant. Et quidem non erraverim, si Anani mortem dixero excidii Civitatis fuisse principium, et ex illo die muros eversos, Remque Publicam Judæorum periisse, quo pontificem rectoremque salutis suæ jugulatum in media Civitate viderunt. Erat autem et alias vir laudabilis atque justissimus, et præter nobilitatis ac dignitatis et honoris, quo erat præditus, amplitudinem, infimis amabat æquari. |
Indeed, they went so far in their sacrilegiousness as to even throw the bodies out unburied, whereas the Jews more than any others have so much concern for burial that they even take down men legally crucified and bury them at sundown. I would not be wrong if I said that the death of Ananus was the beginning of the destruction of the City, and that the overthrow of the walls and the destruction of the Jewish state dated from the day when they saw the pontiff and guide of their own salvation slaughtered in the middle of the City. For he was a man praiseworthy in every way and entirely honest and, besides being highly distinguished by birth, position and reputation, he loved to treat even the humblest as equals. |
| Libertatis autem maxime fautor erat ; et is qui populi affectaret imperium. Commodis autem propriis communes semper utilitates anteponebat, super omnia paci studens. Sciebat enim Romanos non posse expugnari ac prospiciebat, si pacisci utiliter nequissent Judæi, omnino eos perituros. Ut autem breviter dicam, cum Anano vivo ad transactionem venissent. Mirus enim erat dicere, mirus populo persuadere, quæ vellet. Jam vero impedientes bellantesque subegerat. Plurimum autem moræ sub tali duce attulissent Romanis. |
He was a very strong champion of freedom and one who promoted the rule of the people. He always placed the public welfare ahead of his own interests, striving for peace above all; for he knew that Rome was invincible and foresaw that if the Jews could not suitably agree to a treaty, they would all perish utterly. In a word, with Ananus alive they would have come to an agreement, for he was extraordinary in speaking, extraordinary in persuading the people of what he wanted. He had already overcome both those who were thwarting him and the insurgents. With a leader of his kind they would have caused a great deal of delay to the Romans. |
| Huic junctus erat Jesus, illo quidem comparatione inferior, sed præstans ceteris ; ut putem Deum, qui tanquam violatam Civitatem perire flammis, purgarique Sancta vellet, consulto defensores eorum, et qui ea carissima ducerent, amputasse. Itaque paulo ante sacris indumentis amictos, et toto orbe celeberrimæ religionis auctores, quique undique in Civitatem commeantibus venerabiles habebantur, jacēre nudos prædam canibus ac feris videres. Quos quidem viros ipsam puto gemuisse virtutem, tantum licuisse vitiis flentem. |
His partner was Jesus, lesser in comparison with him, certainly, but above the rest; hence I think God, who wished this as it were violated City to perish by fire and the Sanctuary to be purged, deliberately hacked off their defenders and those who held them most dear. Thus you saw men who a little while before had been clad in the sacred vestments, and had been celebrants of the most renowned liturgy in the whole world, held in reverence by visitors to the City from everywhere, lying naked as prey for dogs and wild beasts. Virtue herself wept for these men, I believe, lamenting the fact that so much had been permitted to Vice. |
— Caput E-1 —
De altera strage, et reditu Idumæorum, Zelotarumque crudelitate. |
| Anano quidem et Jesu ejusmodi finis evenit. |
Yet such was the end of Ananus and Jesus. |
| 3 |
| Post illos vero tam Zelotæ quam Idumæi passim plebem, quasi nefandorum animalium gregem, irruendo mactabant. Et vulgus quidem in quolibet loco deprehensum necabatur ; correptos autem nobiles, et adolescentes, vinctos in carcerem concludebant, spe, nonnullos eorum sibi posse sociari, nece dilata. |
After them both the Zealots and the Idumæans, attacking everywhere, butchered the population like a herd of unclean animals. Ordinary people were killed in whatever spot they were caught; the nobles and the youths were arrested, fettered and locked up in prison and, in the hope that some of them would join the rebels, their execution was delayed. |
| Verum hæc nullum movebant, sed cuncti mortem præoptaverant, dummodo ne adversus patriam communem nequissime conspirarent ; sævissima tamen ante cædem verbera sustinebant, exulcerati plagis atque tormentis. Quumque jam corpus non sufficeret cruciatibus, tandem gladium merebantur. Quos autem die cepissent, eos in custodiam nocte ducebant ; extractosque inde, si quos mori contigisset abjiciebant, ut vinctis aliis locus esset. |
But these actions seduced no one; instead, they all chose death rather than conspire evilly against their common fatherland. Before their deaths they were subjected to terrible beatings, scourgings and tortures, and only when their bodies could endure no more torture were they finally allowed to die by the sword. The ones they had captured in the daytime they led by night into prison; after dragging out any who happened to die, they would throw them out so there would be room for others. |
| Tantus autem populum pavor occupaverat atque formido, ut ne flere quidem palam quisquam, sive sepelire proprium funus auderet, sed erant occultæ clausorum etiam lacrimæ, et ne quis inimicorum audiret, circunspectantes gemebant. Paria namque his, qui lugebantur, etiam qui luxissent ilico patiebantur. Exiguam vero nocte sublatam terram manibus corporibus injiciebant, et nonnunquam die, si quis fuisset audacior. Duodecim autem milia hoc modo nobilium periere. |
Terror and fear seized the people to such an extent that no one dared openly even to mourn or to bury the body of a relative; instead even the tears were hidden, those of people closeting themselves; and they looked around to make sure that no enemy heard them before uttering a groan; for on the spot the mourner would suffer the same thing as the mourned. Taking up a little dirt in their hands by night, they would throw it on the bodies — and sometimes by day, if a man was bolder. 12,000 of the nobles died in this way. |
| 4 |
| Illi autem jam cædes exosi, nullo pudore judicii vim et cognitionis cavillando imitabantur. Itaque quum illustrium quendam Zachariam Baruch filium interficere decrevissent, (irritabantur enim quod nequissimis inimicus nimis erat, et probis amicus, itemque locuples) neque solum fortunarum ejus direptionem sperarent, sed etiam remotum iri virum ad se dejiciendos potentem, septuaginta plebejorum honestissimos ex præcepto convocant, judicum specie potestate carentes, et apud eos Zachariam, quasi res proderet Romanis, accusant, quodque ad Vespasianum proditionis causa misisset. |
Disgusted now with butchery, the Zealots impudently aped the authority of courts, and of inquisition, with travesty. So after they had decided to kill one of the most distinguished citizens, Zachariah, son of Baruch (since they were annoyed because he was strong enemy of evil men and a friend of good ones, and on top of that was wealthy) they were looking forward not only to seizing his fortune but also to getting rid of a man capable of destroying them. They called together on a summons seventy very respectable men of the public under the appearance of judges but lacking authority. Before these men they then accused Zachariah on the allegation of betraying the state to the Romans, and that he had sent to Vespasian for the sake of that betrayal. |
| Sed neque argumentum, neque ulla probatio criminis erat. Ipsi autem misisse dixerunt, et hoc haberi pro fide veritatis volebant. Zacharias autem ubi nullam spem salutis sibi relictam esse vidit, per insidias non in judicium, sed in carcerem ductus, vitæ suæ desperationem libertate non privavit ; sed exorsus veri quidem similitudinem objectorum derisit, et illata sibi crimina breviter diluit ; in accusatores autem ratione conversa, omnes eorum iniquitates per ordinem prosecutus est, multaque de perturbatione rerum querebatur. Zelotæ vero obstrepentes, vix a gladiis temperabant, speciem cavillationemque judicii sui usque ad finem permanere cupientes, et præter hoc judices experiri, an periculoso tempore justitiæ memores forent. |
But there was no evidence or any proof of the charges; they themselves nonetheless said that he had done the sending, and wanted that to be considered as substantiation of the truth. Zachariah, seeing that had had no hope left of being saved and that he had been insidiously summoned not to a trial but into prison, did not allow his despair over his life to deprive him of his freedom — he stood up, derided the probability of the accusations, and in a few words dissolved the charges against him. Then, turning his methodical argumentation against his accusers, he attacked all their wrongs one after another and greatly deplored their upheaval of government. The Zealots howled with rage and could hardly keep their hands off their swords, wanting to continue this sham and travesty of their trial to its end and also to test the judges to see whether, at this dangerous time, they cared about justice. |
| Igitur omnes septuaginta pro eo sententiam ferunt, et pro eo mori quam sibi asscribi ejus interitum maluere. Illo vero absoluto Zelotarum clamor tollitur, et universi quidem judicibus irascebantur, qui simulationem datæ sibi potestatis non intellexerant. Duo vero ex audacissimis aggressi Zachariam, in medio Templo interficiunt ; et illudendo, « Habes », inquiunt, « et a nobis de absolutione sententiam certiorem » ; eumque statim in subjectam vallem de Templo projiciunt. Judices vero, contumeliæ causa versis gladiis ferientes, Templi ambitu pepulere. Cædi enim eorum pepercerant, ut disjecti per Civitatem, nuntii fierent apud omnes servitutis. |
But all of the seventy brought in a verdict exonerating him, preferring to die on his behalf rather than bear the responsibility for his death. Upon his acquittal the Zealots raised an outcry, and were all enraged with the judges for not realizing the fakery of the authority bestowed on them. Two of the most aggressive attacked Zachariah and murdered him in the middle of the Temple, and then jested over his dead body: “You have now gotten from us a more final verdict about your acquittal.” With that they threw him out of the Temple and into the valley beneath. Then they showed their contempt for the jurors by striking them with the backs of their swords and driving them from the precincts of the Temple. The only reason they kept from murdering them was so that, dispersed throughout the City, they would become messengers of slavery to everyone. |
| 5 |
| Idumæos autem jam venisse pænitebat, neque his gesta placebant. Quibus collectis, Zelotarum quidam secreto indicabat universa, et quæcunque hi qui eos advocaverant scelerate fecissent, omnia demonstrabat ; arma quidem cepisse eos, quasi Romanis a pontificibus metropolis proderetur, repperisse autem nullum proditionis indicium. Illos vero, qui tutari eam simularent, et belli facinora ausos et tyrannidis, ab initio quidem prohibendos fuisse. |
But the Idumæans now regretted having come and disliked what was happening. At a gathering of theirs one of the Zealots secretly revealed everything to them and detailed all the things that those who had called them in had committed sacrilegiously. The Idumæans had taken up arms on the ground that the pontiffs were betraying the Capital to the Romans, yet they had found no evidence of treason whatsoever. But her defenders, so-called, who had been aggressively committing crimes of war and tyranny should have been stopped at the outset; |
| Verum quia semel in societatem intestinæ cædis incĭdissent, finem delictis adhibendum, neque vires hominibus suggerendas morem Patrum destruentibus. Nam etsi portas graviter ferrent sibi atque in oppidum aditum esse præclusum, pœnas ab his, qui prohibuerant esse repetitas ; et Ananum quidem peremptum ; una vero nocte populum totum pæne consumptum. Quarum rerum multos quidem suorum pænitere sentirent ; eorum autem viderent, a quibus rogati essent, crudelitatem immensam, ne ipsos quidem per quos salvi erant erubescentium. |
but because they had once entered into an alliance for civil war, a limit ought to have been put to their misdeeds, and assistance should not have been given to men who were destroying their ancestral way of life. For if they were mad about the gates and that the gateway into the City had been closed, those who had done the blocking had been punished. Ananus had been slain; indeed, in a single night almost the entire populace had been wiped out. The Idumæans felt that even many of their own regretted these deeds, for they were witnessing bottomless savagery on the part of those by whom they had been called in and who were not even showing respect toward those who had saved them. |
| In oculis enim auxiliatorum pessima facinora committere, illorumque injurias Idumæis imputari, quatenus ea non prohibeant, neque ab his separentur. Debere igitur (quoniam de proditione, quæ dicta sunt, calumniam fuisse patuisset, nullusque Romanorum impetus timeretur, adversus Civitatem vero inexpugnabilis esset potentia corroborata) illos domum recedere ; malorumque societatem vitando cuncta diluere flagitia, quorum non sponte, sed decepti participes exstitissent. |
Before the very eyes of their allies the Zealots were perpetrating the vilest atrocities, and their excesses were being blamed on the Idumæans to the extent that they did not stop them or distance themselves from them. And so, since what had been said about the betrayal had been exposed as a lie and no Roman attack was feared, while an impregnable despotism had now been strengthened against the City, the Idumæans ought to return home and, by avoiding all connection with the criminals, to purge themselves of these crimes in which they had been not deliberate but deceived participants. |
|
| ⇑ § VI |
| Quomodo Zelotæ, ab Idumæis liberati, majorem stragem ediderunt in civitate. Utque Romanos, adversus Judæos ire desiderantes, in præsens cohibuit Vespanianus. | How the Zealots when they were freed from the Idumeans, slew a great many more of the citizens ; and how Vespasian dissuaded the Romans when they were very earnest to march against the Jews from proceeding in the war at that time. |
| 1 |
| Persuasum est Idumæis. Et primum eos qui erant in custodiis solvunt, prope ad duo milia popularium, statimque relicta Civitate ad Simonem veniunt, de quo paulo post commemorabimus ; deinde domum ex Hierosolymis abiere. Evenit autem eorum discessum utrisque pariter inopinatum videri. Nam et populus nescius pænitudinis, paululum fiducia recreatus est, veluti inimicis levatus ; et Zelotarum crevit insolentia, quasi non auxiliis caruissent, sed eis essent liberati, quorum pudore ac reverentia criminibus temperabant. |
The Idumæans were persuaded. The first thing they did was release those who were in prison — close to 2,000 —, and who immediately after release left the City and went to Simon, of whom we shall speak a little later; then, turning their backs on Jerusalem, the Idumæans left Jerusalem and went home. But it happened that their departure appeared unexpected to both sides: the citizens, unaware of their regret, recovered their confidence somewhat as if rid of an enemy; while the arrogance of the Zealots increased, not as if they were deprived of allies, but as if relieved of men who, with some sense of shame and respect, showed moderation amidst the crimes. |
| Denique nulla jam erat facinorum mora neque cunctatio ; sed festinatis quidem consiliis in rebus singulis utebantur ; quæ vero placuissent, ipsa cogitatione citius peragebant. Maxime autem in viros fortes atque insignes cædibus sæviebant ; quum invidia nobilitatem absumerent metu virtutum ; unamque cautionem putarent, nullum optimatum superesse. Itaque occisus est cum multis aliis Gorion, dignitate simul et genere præstans, et plus posse populum gaudens, plenusque spiritu, libertatis amator, ut nullus alius Judæorum, quem tamen libertas præter alias virtutes perdidit. |
From then on there was no delay or hesitation about their outrages: in every case they made fast decisions, and what they decided they executed faster than the thought itself. They raged murderously against the brave and nobly born above all, since due to their envy they annihilated the nobility, fearing their virtues: they felt that their only chance of safety was if none of the elites survived. Thus, along with many others, they murdered Gurion, a man renowned for his reputation and his ancestry, and interested in the people having a greater say in power, and filled with energy, a lover of freedom as none other of the Jews. It was, however, his free speech, on top of his other virtues, which destroyed him. |
| Sed ne Peraita quidem Niger eorum manus effugit, bellis cum Romanis gestis vir strenuus comprobatus ; qui etiam sæpe vociferans, et cicatrices ostendens, per mediam Civitatem trahebatur. Ductus vero extra portas, desperata jam salute, ne sepultura careret supplicabat. Illi autem prius interminati, quod humum ei quam desiderabat concessuri non essent, mox etiam mortem intulere. Qui tamen quum occideretur, Romanos eis ultores imprecatus est, famemque præter bellum ac pestilentiam, et ad hæc omnia ipsorum mutuas manus ; eaque universa confirmavit apud impios Deus et quid justissimum esset effecit : ut audaciam suam quam primum experirentur inter se dissidentes. |
Niger the Peræan did not escape their clutches either, a man of proven valor in the campaigns against the Romans; but even as he protested loudly and displayed his scars, he was dragged through the middle of the City. When pulled outside the gates he despaired of life and pleaded not to be denied a burial; but after first having forbidden that under threats, saying they would not allow him the spot of earth he desired, they then put him to death. But as he was being killed, Niger prayed for the Romans to be his avengers and that there be famine besides war and pestilence and, in addition to all of this, a death-grapple with one another. God confirmed all these things on the godless wretches and brought about what was most just: that in the discord among themselves they should very soon experience their own insolence. |
| Niger quidem occisus quem habebant, de oppressione sui, metu eos levavit. Pars autem plebis nulla erat, cui non ad interitum excogitabatur occasio. Namque alii, quod jamdudum aliis civibus restitissent, interficiebantur ; qui vero nihil offenderant pacis tempore, subitas causas excipiebant. Et qui omnino libere eos non adissent, pro contemptoribus ; qui vero obsequentes, pro insidiatoribus habebantur ; unaque maximorum criminum et mediocrium pœna, mors erat. Neque evasit quisquam, nisi aut ignobilitate aut fortuna perhumilis. |
The death of Niger relieved them of the fear they had of their own overthrow. But there was no section of the people for whose destruction they did not invent an excuse. For the ones were slain because they had long resisted other citizens; but those who had not offended them in peacetime were subjected to hastily contrived accusations: those who had not freely come to them at all were viewed as arrogant; those who were obsequious, as conspirators; there was a single punishment for the greatest and the mediocre crimes: death. No one escaped, except by insignificance through low birth or accident of fate. |
| 2 |
— Caput E-2 —
De intestina discordia Hierosolymorum. |
| Romani autem omnes ad Civitatem animos intendebant, hostium dissensionem lucrum sibi esse censentes ; et Vespasianum, penes quem summa rei potestas erat, incitabant, divinæ providentiæ dicentes auxilio in semet hostes esse conversos ; verumtamen velox esse momentum, et Judæos cito in concordiam redituros, aut intestinis malis defessos, aut redactos in pænitudinem. Ad quos Vespasianus ait : Plurimum eos quid fieri conveniat ignorare, tanquam in theatro cupientes quantum armis ac manibus possent ostentare potius cum periculo, quam secum quid esset utile reputare. |
On the other hand, all the Romans were focussing their minds on the City, viewing the enemy dissension as a boon for themselves; and, saying that through the aid of Divine Providence the enemy had turned against themselves, they urged Vespasian, the commander-in-chief, to act. After all, things were happening fast, and the Jews would quickly return to concord, either tired of their domestic woes or submitting to remorse. Vespasian replied to them that they really did not know what should be done; what they wanted was, as in a theater, being able to show as many arms and troops as possible, along with the danger in that, rather than to consider what was practical. |
| Nam si statim Civitatem aggrederentur, ipsos causam hostibus fore concordiæ, ac vires eorum etiam nunc vigentes in se provocaturos. Sin operirentur, paucioribus ac moderatioribus his usuros, domestica seditione consumptis. Deum namque melius quam ipsos disponere qui sine labore Judæos Romanis traderet, nulloque periculo exercitui victoriam condonaret. Proinde manibus propriis intereuntibus inimicis, maximoque malo, hoc est, seditione turbatis, debere se potius periculorum spectatores esse, quam cum hominibus mortem appetentibus atque intestina rabie insanientibus confligere. |
For if he did attack the City right now, they themselves would be the cause of the enemy’s unification, and would turn their forces, currently still powerful, against themselves; but if they waited, they would encounter fewer and more modest forces, drained by internal divisions. For God was arranging things better than they were, effortlessly handing the Jews over to the Romans, and was presenting the army with a danger-free victory. So while their enemies were slaughtering one another with their own hands, and under the worst evil — that is, torn apart by civil war —, they themselves ought to be spectators of the disasters rather than to engage in combat with men who were seeking death and going insane in a civil frenzy. |
| « Si quis autem putaverit victoriæ gloriam sine prœlio fieri viliorem, sciat », inquit, « armorum incerto exitu commodius esse commode perficere quod intendit. Neque enim manu præclaris esse minus laudabiles, quia paria gesserint moderatione atque prudentia. » Simul autem dum hostes imminuerentur, etiam milites ex laboribus assiduis recreatos valentiores ductum iri. Præterea non id esse tempus ut maturæ occupanda videatur victoriæ claritudo. |
“If anyone thinks,” he said, “that victory without a fight is a less valuable one, he should realize that it is more efficient to achieve one’s goal efficiently than through the uncertain results of battle. Nor, compared with those who distinguish themselves in action, are men less praiseworthy because they have accomplished the same things through self-control and intelligence.” Furthermore, while the enemy was growing weaker, his own troops, having recovered from their incessant toil, would be led out all the stronger. Besides, this was not the time when the glory of a quick victory would seem to be achievable. |
| Nec enim armis fabricandis, aut muris, vel auxiliis congregandis Judæos operam dare, atque ideo moras differentibus nocituras ; sed bello domestico ac dissensione tumidos, miserabiliora pati quotidie, quam ipsi eos captivos afficerent intromissi. Proinde sive quis securitatem consideret, sinendos esse qui semet absumerent, sive facti gloriam clariorem, nequaquam manus intestino morbo laborantibus afferendas : si quidem ratione recta diceretur, non ipsorum, sed discordiæ fuisse victoriam. |
Moreover, they were not busy making weapons, building walls or recruiting auxiliaries — hence a break would only hurt those who gave it to them — but, engrossed in civil war and dissension, the Jews were daily suffering worse things than if our troops went in and took them captive. So, whether you are concerned about safety, those who are destroying themselves should be left alone, or about enhanced honor for action, by no means should an attack be made on those suffering from domestic illness: for if things are to be described in the right way, the victory would not be ours, but that of civil discord. |
| 3 |
| Hæc Vespasianus ; eique dicenti rectores militum consentiebant ; moxque apparuit quam utile fuisset ejus consilium. Namque in dies singulos multi ad eum confluebant fugiendo Zelotas. Erat autem fuga difficilis, quod omnes exitus custodibus obsidebantur. Et si quis ibi qualibet ex causa deprehensus fuisset, velut ad Romanos ire cuperet, interficiebatur. Qui tamen eis dedisset pecuniam, salvus abibat ; et qui non dabat, solus proditor habebatur. Restabat igitur, pecuniosis fugam redimentibus, solos pauperes jugulari. |
Thus spoke Vespasian. The officers agreed with his arguments, and it soon became apparent just how right his advice was; for day after day many people streamed to him, fleeing the Zealots. Still, flight was difficult, as every exit was watched over by guards and anyone caught there for any reason, was killed on the assumption he wanted to go to the Romans. However, if he gave them money, he left in safety, while whoever did not pay up was held to be a traitor. So the result was that, with the moneyed people buying their escape, only the poor were slaughtered. |
| Mortui vero per omnes vias coacervabantur innumeri, multique etiam transfugere cupientium, rursus in Civitate perire præoptabant. Nam spe sepulturæ in patria mori tolerabilius videbatur. Illi autem ad hoc crudelitatis deviaverant, ut neque intus neque per itinera occisis humum concederent ; sed veluti cum patriis legibus etiam naturæ jura disturbare pepigissent, suaque in homines injustitia divinitatem quoque polluere, ita sub sole putrescere mortuos relinquebant. |
Innumerable dead bodies were piled up along all the main roads, and many of those wanting to flee chose rather to die in the City, for it seemed more tolerable to die in their fatherland with the hope of burial. But the Zealots went so far in their barbarity that they would allow interment to no one, whether killed in the City or on the roads. Rather, as if, with the laws of their nation, they had covenanted to destroy the laws of nature as well — and on top of their crimes against mankind to pollute the Deity too —, they left the dead to rot under the sun. |
| Sepelientibus autem suorum corpora, idem quod transfugis imminebat supplicium mortis ; statimque sepultura indigebat, qui hanc alteri præstitisset ; et ut breviter dicam, nulla tam bona, quam misericordia, perierat in illis cladibus mentis affectio ; hisque irritabantur noxii, quæ miseranda vidissent, a vivis in mortuos, a mortuis in vivos iracundiam transferentes. Modum autem excedente metu, superstitibus mortui adepti requiem beatiores videbantur ; et qui erant in custodiis comparatione sui cruciatus, insepultos quoque fortunatissimos demonstrabant. |
Those burying the bodies of their own relatives were threatened with the same penalty of death as the deserters, and a person who provided another with burial soon needed it himself. In short, no other good sentiment had died out so completely amid those horrors as pity; the things the thugs saw which should have roused their compassion only infuriated them, so that they shifted their rage from the living to the dead, and from the dead to the living. With their fear exceeding all bounds, to the survivors the dead seemed better off, and those who were in prison made it clear that, in comparison with their tortures, even the unburied were quite fortunate. |
| Omne quidem ab illis jus hominum calcabatur, ridebatur etiam divinitas, prophetarumque responsis tanquam vulgaribus fabulis illudebant. Quum vero multa contempsissent de virtute ac vitiis statuta majorum, etiam quæ de patria olim prædicta fuerant, vera esse exitu probavere. Vetus enim quidam sermo ferebatur, tunc demum Civitatem captum iri, Sancta quoque flammis exurenda esse lege belli, quum seditio fuisset exorta, Fanumque Dei propriæ manus ante violassent. Quibus Zelotæ, nihil de eorum fide dubitantes, ministros se præbuerunt. |
Their persecutors trampled on every ordinance of man, even scoffed at God, and ridiculed the oracles of the prophets as popular fables. But while they had scorned many rules of the elders on virtues and vices, they proved true the things that had once been foretold about the fatherland. For there was an ancient saying that the City would in the end be taken captive and by right of war the Sanctuary would also consumed by flames after a civil war had arisen and their own hands had first violated the Temple of God. The Zealots doubted nothing about the believability of these things; but they made themselves the means of their fulfillment. |
|
| ⇑ § VII |
Quomodo Joannes tyrannidem
affectavit, et quænam mala in
Masada patrarunt Zelotæ. Utque
Vespasianus Gadaram cepit,
quæque gessit Placidus. | How John tyrannized over the rest ; and what mischiefs the Zealots did at Masada. How also Vespasian took Gadara ; and what actions were performed by Placidus. |
| 1 |
— Caput E-3 —
De Gadarensium deditione et strage. |
| At Joannes, jamdudum tyrannidem affectans, parem cum similibus honorem habere dedecus existimabat, paulatimque sibi nequiores adjungens, ab eorum affectione separabatur. Semper autem aliorum decretis non obœdiendo suaque jubendo imperiosius, quod solus dominari cuperet non latebat, eique sociabantur nonnulli metu, alii gratia (mirus enim erat oratione atque fallacia persuadere quæ vellet), multi vero propterea quod sibi tutum esse ducebant, priorum delictorum causas uni potius ascribi quam omnibus. |
But John, long lusting for dictatorship, considered it beneath him to be on a par with his like and, gradually attracting the more depraved to himself, split off from the others. Constantly ignoring the others’ decrees and imperiously issuing his own orders, he did not hide the fact that he wanted to rule alone. Some joined him out of fear, others out of predilection (for he was amazing in persuading others through his oratory and fraud to do what he wanted), while many did so because they thought it would be safer for themselves to have the responsibility of their former crimes ascribed to one man rather than to everybody; |
| Ad hæc, quia manu strenuus erat, et bonus consilio, satellites non paucos habebat, etsi magna pars eum contrariæ factionis reliquerat. Apud quos etiam livor nonnihil valebat, grave putantes, ut paulo ante pari succumberent. Plus autem metus eos, ne sub unius potestate viverent, exagitabat. Nec enim facile sperabant eum, si semel obtinuisset, dejici posse ; occasionemque in se habiturum timebant, quod in principio restitissent. |
Moreover, because he was physically energetic and good at organizing, he had quite a few bodyguards, even though a large group of the opposing faction had left him. Jealously played some part among those of the latter who took serious umbrage at the fact that they were submitting to a man who shortly before had been their equal. But mainly they were driven away by the fear that they would be living under a monarchy, and they did not expect, once he had achieved it, that he could be easily deposed; they also feared that he would have, as a pretext to wield against them, the fact that they had opposed him in the beginning. |
| Proinde quisque bello potius quidvis pati decreverat, quam sponte serviens mancipii loco perire. Hinc igitur seditio dividitur, et Joannes in contraria dissentientibus parte regnabat. Sed inter ipsos quidem munita omnia erant custodibus ; nihilque aut parum agebatur, si quando armis prœlium lacessebant. |
After all, everyone had decided rather to suffer anything in war than voluntarily be a thrall and die as a slave. It was from this that the division arose, and John, on the side opposing the dissidents, operated as dictator. However, everything between them was defended by guards. And nothing or very little action took place even if challenges to armed battle were ever made. |
| In populum vero vel maxime contentionem susceperunt, et quis majorem prædam caperet, utrinque certabant. Quum tamen Civitas trium malorum ingentium tempestate laboraret — hoc est belli, dominationis, itemque seditionis —, eorum comparatione bellum popularibus mediocrius videbatur. Denique, relictis sedibus patriis, ad alienigenas profugiebant, et Romanorum beneficio salutem, quam inter suos desperaverant, assequebantur. |
But against the population they engaged in fierce rivalry, with both sides competing over who could capture the most loot. But since the City was suffering from the affliction of three enormous evils — war, despotism and insurrection —, by comparison war seemed a lesser one to the citizens. Finally, they left their ancestral homes and fled to foreigners and through the kindness of the Romans achieved the safety of which they had despaired among their own people. |
| 2 |
| Quartum vero præterea malum commotum est gentis exitio. Haud procul ab Hierosolymis castellum erat validissimum, reponendis opibus ad munimenta belli, tutandisque corporibus ab antiquis regibus ædificatum, quod Massada dicebatur ; id occupaverant qui vocantur sicarii, quod a rapinis amplioribus timore continebantur. Hi, quum Romanorum exercitum otiosum esse viderent, apud Hierosolymam vero Judæos dominatione atque discordia secessisse, majora facinora aggrediuntur. |
And now a fourth calamity erupted, to the doom of the people. Not far from Jerusalem was an extremely powerful fortress built by the kings of long ago for the safekeeping of their treasures in the hazards of war and their personal security; it was called Masada. The so-called Sicarii had seized it because fear kept them from pillaging further afield. But when they heard that the Roman army was making no move, while the Jews in Jerusalem had descended into dictatorship and discord, they launched out on more ambitious villainies. |
| Die festo Azymorum (qui apud Hebræos ad memoriam salutis, qua ex Ægyptiorum servitio liberati, in terram patriam devenerunt, sollemniter celebratur), nocte deceptis qui sibi erant oppositi, municipium quoddam Engaddi invasere, ubi pugna quidem Judæos ante præventos atque dispersos quam arma caperent sive concurrerent civitate pepulere. Eos vero, qui in fuga defecerunt, mulieres videlicet ac pueros, supra septingentos interfecerunt. |
On the Feast of Unleavened Bread (which is solemnly celebrated by Jews in memory of the deliverance by which they had been freed from slavery to the Egyptians and returned to their ancestral homeland), at night they eluded the sentries posted against them and attacked a certain municipality called Engedi where, overcoming and dispersing the Jews before they could grab their weapons or come together, they they drove them from the town; those who could not flee — women and children, that is, more than 700 in number — were butchered. |
| Ædibusque deinde compilatis, fructus quoque jam maturos depopulati in Massada portaverunt, et illi quidem omnes circum castellum vicos, totamque regionem populabantur, non parvo undique perditorum ad eos numero in dies singulos confluente ; simul autem concitati sunt etiam per singulos Judææ tractus in latrocinia, qui interim quiescebant. Ac veluti in corpore, si quando principale membrum tumor afficit, omnia pariter ægrotare necesse est, ita propter Civitatis tumultum atque discordiam, etiam qui foris erant nequissimi, prædarum invenere licentiam. |
After pillaging the houses, they also plundered the then ripe crops and took them to Masada. They proceeded to ravage all the villages around the fortress as well as the whole area,
while a considerable number of the depraved streamed to them daily; at the same time, other such men were roused to crime even throughout isolated parts of Judæa which had meanwhile been quiet. And as in the body if a swelling strikes the chief member, of necessity all the others likewise become sick, so, as a result of the upheaval and discord of the City, even the reprobates who were outside it found license to pillage. |
| Singuli vero, vicis propriis dilaceratis, deinde in solitudinem recedebant. Congregati autem et catervatim conjurantes, exercitu quidem pauciores, plures vero quam latrocinalis conspiratio, in templa et oppida ferebantur. Et sequebatur quidem, ut in bello fieri solet, ab his eos male affici quos petiissent. Verum præveniebatur ultio, quum mox latrones a præda refugerent ; nullaque pars erat Judææ, quæ non una cum Hierosolymis præcellentissima Civitate interiret. |
Moreover they all, after plundering their own villages, went off into the wilderness. Joining up and swearing mutual allegiance in companies, smaller than an army but bigger than a gang of bandits, they swooped down on synagogues and towns. The result was that those they attacked were as badly hurt by them as usually happens in wartime; but retaliation was prevented by the fact that the thugs would immediately flee from their prey. There was no part of Judæa which, along with the most distinguished City of Jerusalem, was not dying. |
| 3 |
| Hæc Vespasiano a transfugis indicabantur. Nam licet omnes exitus a seditiosis custodirentur, et quum quis ad eos accessisset interficeretur, tamen erant qui ad Romanos clam profugerent, ducemque Romanorum et opem ferre Civitati, et reservati populi reliquias hortarentur. Multos enim quod bene Romanis vellent, periisse, multos adhuc in periculo dicebant esse superstites. |
All this was reported to Vespasian by deserters; for though all the exits were guarded by the insurgents and anyone approaching them was killed, there were still those who were secretly fleeing to the Romans and urging their commander to help the City and the remnants of its remaining population. They said that many who favored the Romans had perished, and many survivors were still in danger. |
| Ille autem jam tum miserans eorum calamitates, propius ad eos velut Hierosolymam obsessurus accedit, re autem vera, ut Civitatem obsidione liberaret ; spe autem ante reliqua subigendi, nullumque impedimentum extrinsecus obsidioni relinquendi. Quum igitur venisset in Gadora, transamnanæ regionis metropolim validissimam, mensis Martii quarta die civitatem ingreditur. Jam enim optimates, ignorantibus seditiosis, legatos ad eum de traditione miserant, tam pacis desiderio quam suis patrimoniis metuentes. |
Vespasian, already taking pity on their plights, advanced closer to them as if about to besiege Jerusalem, but really to free the City from the siege, and with the intention of subjecting the others and leaving no impediment external to the siege. So after coming to Gadora, the strongly fortified capital of the region across the river, he entered that city on the fourth of March. For, unbeknownst to the insurgents, the authorities had sent a deputation to him with an offer of surrender, as much out of a desire for peace as out of fear for their property. |
| Multi enim apud Gadora locupletes habitabant, quorum legationem inimici nesciebant nisi quod Vespasiano appropinquante id cognoverunt. Et civitatem quidem se retinere posse desperabant, quod et intestinis inimicis numero inferiores erant, neque procul abesse videbant a civitate Romanos. Si vero fugere decrevissent, sine sanguine id facere, nullaque a noxiis pœna repetita, non honestum sibi putabant. Itaque Dolesum comprehensum (namque is non dignitate solum ac nobilitate civitatis princeps habebatur, sed etiam legationis auctor erat) interficiunt ; nimiaque iracundia mortuo verberato, extra Civitatem dilapsi sunt. |
For Gadora was the home of many rich people, of whose deputation the enemy knew nothing until they learned of it through the approach of Vespasian. They despaired of holding the town themselves, since they were numerically inferior to their enemies within and the Romans could be seen not far away from the city. But they regarded it as humiliating to flee without spilling blood and inflicting punishment on those responsible. So they seized Dolesus (since he was not only considered the leader of the city in dignity and birth, but was the initiator of the deputation), and killed him. Also, in their excessive rage, they mutilated his dead body before slipping out of the town. |
| Jam vero propius accedente Romano exercitu, Gadorensium populus Vespasiano cum acclamationibus in civitatem recepto, fidei dextras ab eo accepit, equitumque et peditum præsidia contra fugitivorum excursus. Muros enim priusquam id Romani peterent, ipsi destruxerant ; ut eo sibi fides esset, quod pacem diligerent, si bellum gerere ne volentes quidem posse viderentur. |
As the Roman army now drew near, the Gadorene citizenry welcomed Vespasian into the city with acclamations and received from him assurances of alliance, plus a garrison of cavalry and infantry against attacks by the renegades. They had pulled down their walls before the Romans asked for it as proof that they wanted peace, so that they would be understood to be unable to wage war even if they wanted to. |
| 4 |
| Vespasianus autem misso Placido cum D• equitibus ac tribus milibus peditum adversus eos qui ex Gadoris fugerant, ipse cum ceteris militum copiis Cæsaream regreditur. At fugitivi, postquam equites repente a tergo insequentes videre, priusquam in manus venirent, in vicum quendam cui nomen est Bethenabro se recepere. Ubi reperta non paucorum juvenum multitudine, hisque partim volentibus, partim vi armatis, temere contra Placidum ejusque milites prosiliunt. |
After sending Placidus with 500 horse and 3,000 foot in pursuit of those who had fled from Gadora, Vespasianus himself returned to Cæsarea with the rest of the forces. When the fugitives suddenly caught sight of the pursuing horsemen, they retreated into a village named Bethennabris before contact was made. Finding there a large number of young men and arming them partly with their consent, partly by force, they rashly charged out against Placidus and his soldiers. |
| Illi autem primo quidem impetu paululum recesserunt, ea simul arte, ut eos a muro longius provocarent ; deinde loco opportuno circumdatos, telis agentes eminus sauciabant. Itaque fugientes quidem ab equitibus præveniebantur Judæi ; qui vero manus conseruissent, a peditibus trucidabantur, nihil plus audaciæ demonstrantes. Condensos enim aggrediendo Romanos, armis non secus ac muro sæptos, ipsi quidem telis aditum non inveniebant, neque sufficiebant aciem rumpere ; illorum autem transfigebantur telis, et immanissimis feris similes ruebant ultro in ferrum, et sternebantur, alii gladiis ora percussi, alii ab equitibus dissipati. |
At the first onset his men retreated a little, so as simultaneously to draw them farther away from the walls with this stratagem; finally, surrounding them at the right point, they began wounding them using missles at long range. The fleeing Jews were thus cut off by the cavalry; those who had engaged in hand-to-hand combat were cut to pieces by the infantry while proving nothing more than their audacity. For as they attacked the massed Romans, shielded by their arms as by a wall, they could find no opening for their missiles to enter and were too weak to break the enemy line, while they themselves were pierced through by projectiles and like raging wild beasts rushed headon into the Roman weapons and were slaughtered, some struck in the face by swords, others scattered by the cavalry. |
| 5 |
| Quoniam cura erat Placido, cursum eorum a vico intercludere, assidueque prætercurrens ea parte, cedentesque reflectens, una etiam libratis sagittarum ictibus utebatur, hisque proximos interficiebat. Metu vero longe fugientes avertebat, donec elapsi qui fortiores erant ad murum effugere. Ejus autem custodes quid agerent nesciebant. Nec enim excludi Gadorenses suorum causa patiebantur ; et si eos recepissent, una cum his se perituros videbant, quod etiam contigit. Illis enim compulsis ad murum, pæne his Romanorum equites irrupere. |
Placidus was determined to block their dashes for the village, so he kept his cavalry moving past them on that side, and then wheeled around and instantly discharged a well-aimed volley, killing those who were near and scaring away the rest, till the bravest of them forced their way through and sought the protection of the walls. The sentries found themselves in a quandary: they could not bear to shut out the men from Gadora and with them their own friends; and if they let them in they would perish with them. This was exactly what happened; for when the Jews forced their way inside the ramparts, the Roman cavalry almost managed to burst in with them, |
| Portis autem ante præclusis, admoto milite Placidus ad vesperam usque acerrime oppugnato muro pariter ac vico potitus est ; ibique tunc vulgus quidem iners occidebatur, fortiores vero fugam petebant. Domus vero a militibus diripiebantur, et vicus igni traditus est. Qui vero inde evaserant, tam secum illam regionem ad fugam incitarunt ; et extollendo proprias calamitates in majus, totumque Romanorum exercitum adventare dicendo, metu omnes undique commoverunt. Plurimo autem numero aucti, in Hierichunta secesserunt. Hæc enim etiam tunc eorum spem salutis fovebat, quod esset valida et populosa. |
and though the gates were shut in the nick of time, Placidus launched an attack and, after battling fiercely till evening, captured the wall and the entire village. The non-combatants were exterminated, the able-bodied fled, the houses were ransacked by the soldiery, and the village set on fire. Those who escaped raised all the countryfolk, and by exaggerating their own calamities and saying that the entire Roman army was coming against them, drove them all out on every side in terror, and with the whole mass fled towards Jericho; this was the only city left strong enough, at least in the size of its population, to nourish hope of survival. |
| Placidus vero equitibus rebusque prospere gestis fretus eos insequebatur ; et usque ad Jordanem quidem semper quos occupabat, morti dabat. Omnem vero ad flumen coactam multitudinem, fluminis impetu prohibitam, quod auctum imbribus vadum transire non poterant, aperto prœlio aggreditur. Itaque necessitas eos ad pugnam compulit, quod fugæ locum non haberent ; prætentique ad ripæ longitudinem, tela equitum et incursus excipiebant, a quibus multi perculsi, in fluvium ceciderunt. Nam qui manibus eorum cæsi sunt, tredecim milia fuerunt. Alii, quum vim sustinere non possent, in Jordanem sponte desilierunt. Erat autem numerus infinitus. Et præterea capta sunt circiter duo milia virorum ac ducenti, cum præda maxima ovium et asinorum, itemque camelorum et boum. |
Placidus, relying on his cavalry and encouraged by his earlier successes, pursued them to the Jordan, killing all he could catch; and when he had penned the whole mass on the bank of the river, where they were stopped by the current, which was swollen by rain and unfordable, he deployed his forces opposite them. Necessity compelled them to fight, having no way of escape; so they extended their line along the bank as far as they could and faced the missiles and the charges of the horsemen, who wounded many of them and threw them into the swirling waters below. Those who perished by Roman hands numbered 15,000; those who were forced to leap into the Jordan of their own accord could not be counted at all. some 2,200 were taken prisoner, and there was a rich haul of asses, sheep, camels and oxen. |
| 6 |
| Judæis quidem hoc vulnus inflictum quamvis par superioribus, majus tamen seipso visum est ; non solum quod eam totam regionem qua fugerant, cæde repleverant, sed etiam quod refertus mortuis Jordanis pervius non erat, et Asphaltites quoque lacus repletus erat cadaveribus, quæ per multa flumina devoluta sunt. Placidus autem secunda fortuna usus, in vicos proximos et municipia contendit, captisque Abila, et Juliade, et Besemoth, omnibusque ad lacum Asphaltitem usque, idoneos ex transfugis ubique collocat. Deinde milite scaphis imposito, eos qui in lacum refugerant subegit. Et trans fluvium quidem tota regio Romanis cessit, et ubique omnia usque ad Machærunta devicta sunt. |
The Jews had never suffered a heavier blow than this, and it seemed even heavier than it was; for not only was the whole path of their flight one long trail of slaughter and the Jordan rendered impassable by dead bodies, but the Dead Sea too was filled with corpses which the river carried down into it by the thousand. Pladidus, seizing his advantage, launched attacks against the little townsand villages around about, captured Abila, Julias, Besimoth and all the rest as far as the Dead Sea, and drafted into each the most suitable of the deserters. Then, putting the soldiers on board ship, he rounded up those who had sought safety on the lake. Thus all Peræa submitted or was crushed as far as Machærus. |
|
| ⇑ § VIII |
Quomodo Vespasianus, quum fama
accepisset motus cieri in Gallia,
ad conficiendum bellum Judaïcum
properavit. Descriptio Hierichuntis
et Magni Campi, insuper et
de lacu Asphaltitide. | How Vespasian, upon Hearing of Some Commotions in Gaul, Made Haste to Finish the Jewish War. A Description of Jericho, and of the Great Plain ; with an Account Besides of the Lake Asphaltitis. |
| 1 |
— Caput E-4 —
De captis oppidis quibusdam, descriptioque civitatis Hierichuntinæ |
| DUM hæc autem aguntur, motus circa Galliam nuntiatur, et quod Vindex una cum optimatibus indigenarum a Nerone defecisset : de quibus alibi diligentius scriptum est. Vespasianum vero ad impetum belli quæ nuntiata sunt incitarunt, jam tunc futura bella civilia totiusque imperii pericula prospicientem, quum si partes Orientis ante pacasset, minus Italiæ metuendum existimaret. Obstante autem hieme, per subactos interim vicos atque oppida præsidia collocabat : et decuriones civitatibus apponens, multa etiam eorum quæ vastata fuerant instaurabat. Prius tamen comitatus militum copiis quas Cæsaream adduxerat, in Antipatridem venit, ibique per biduum civitate composita, tertia die vastando, inflammando, omnemque subvertendo circum Thamnam toparchiam, in Lyddam et Jamniam procedebat. |
AT this time news was received of the rising in Gaul, and how Vindex and the native chiefs had revolted from Nero, as described in detail by other writers. Vespasian’s reaction was to step up his campaign; he already foresaw the coming civil wars and the danger to the whole Empire, and felt that if he quickly pacified the eastern areas he would lighten the anxiety of Italy. While therefore the winter lasted he secured the conquered towns and villages with garrisons, posting centurions in the towns and decurions in the villages, and rebuilt many that had been destroyed. In the early days of spring he set out from Caesarea with most of his army and marched to Antipatris. There he stayed two days to settle the affairs of the town, and the next day marched on, destroying and burning all the villages around. After reducing the toparchy of Thamna and the neighboring districts he went on to Lydda and Jamnia. |
| Et cum sese utraque tradidisset, constitutis illic habitatoribus idoneis in Ammaunta pervenit : occupatoque ad metropolim earum aditu castra muro circundat. Quintaque in his relicta Legione cum cætera manu in Bethlepton toparchiam proficiscitur : eaque et vicina regione itemque circum Idumæam igne consumptis ; castella quidem locis opportunis munivit. Captis autem duobus vicis in media Idumæa positis, hoc est Begabri et Caphartophan, plusquam decem milia hominum peremit : prope autem ad mille cepit. Exactaque inde cætera multitudine, non parvam militum suorum partem ibi constituit, qui omnia montana loca incursando vastabant. Ipse autem cum reliquo exercitu in Jamniam rediit : unde per Samaritidem ac per Neapolim, quæ dicebatur ab indigenis Mabortha, secundo Junii mensis die in Coream descendit, ibique positis castris, postridie in Hierichunta pervenit : in qua unus ei rectorum Trajanus, quem e locis trans Jordanem ducebat, militem jungit, cunctis illic devictis. |
As these two were subdued already, he settled there a sufficient number of those who had submitted, and advanced to Emmaus. After seizing the approaches to the capital of this area he fortified a camp, and leaving the Fifth Legion there marched with the rest of his forces to the toparchy of Bethleptepha. He ravaged with fire this and the neighbouring district together with the outlying regions of Idumaea, building guardposts in strategic positions. Then he captured two villages in the very middle of Idumæa, Betaris and Caphartoba, killed over 10,000 inhabitants, took over 1,000 prisoners, expelled the rest of the population, and placed there a large part of his own forces. These overran and laid waste all the hill country. Then at the head of his remaining forces he returned to Emmaus, and from there went through Samaritis, past Neapolis, known locally as Mabortha, and down to Coreæ, encamping there on the seconnd of June. The next day he arrived at Jericho, where Trajan, one of his generals, joined him with the force from Peræa, the whole area beyond Jordan being subdued already. |
| 2 |
| Sed ex Hierichunte quidem multitudo ante Romanorum adventum in adversam Hierosolymis montanam regionem diffugerat : non pauci autem qui remansere perimuntur. Desolatam vero offenderat civitatem, cui in planitie sitæ nudus mons ac sterilis imminet, idemque longissimus. A Septentrionali enim regione usque ad Scythopolitanos agros, a meridiana vero usque ad terram Sodomiticam et Asphaltitis lacus terminos extenditur. Totus autem asper est, et quod nihil gignat, non habitatur. |
The bulk of the population, without waiting for their arrival, had fled from Jericho to the hill country opposite Jerusalem, but a large section which had stayed behind was put to death. The Romans found the city deserted. Jericho is situated in a plain above which rises a bare, treeless mountain range of very great length, stretching northwards to the Scythopolis district, and southwards to the region of Sodom and the far end of the Dead Sea. This ridge is uneven all the way along and uninhabited because of its infertility. |
| Huic objacet citra Jordanem mons alius, incipiens a Juliade ac Septentrionali regione, prolixius autem in meridiem usque ad Bacra, quæ Petram disterminat, Arabiæ civitatem. In hoc est etiam Ferreus mons appellatus, ad Moabitidem usque longus. Inter duos autem montes regio quæ Magnus campus vocatur, a Gennabara vico ad lacum Asphaltidem usque patens, habet ducentorum et triginta stadiorum longitudinem, latitudinem vero centum et viginti, mediusque ab Jordane dividitur. Sunt autem illic duo lacus, Asphaltites et Tiberiensis natura contrarii. Namque alter salsus ac sterilis est, Tiberiensis vulgo dulcis et fecundus. Æstatisque tempore illa planities ardore solis incenditur, et vitioso opprimitur aëris tractu ; omnibus circum aridis præter Jordanem. Unde evenit, ut palmæ quæ in ripis sunt, magis floreant, et fertiliores sint : minus autem quæ longe remotæ sunt. |
Beyond Jordan rises a parallel range beginning at Julias in the north and running southwards to Bacra, which borders on Petra in Arabia. In this range is the so-called Iron Mountain jutting out into Moab. The country between the two ranges is called the Great Plain, stretching from the village of Ginabrin to the Dead Sea, and measuring a hundred and forty miles by fourteen. It is bisected by the Jordan and has two lakes in it, the Dead Sea and Lake Tiberias, opposite in character: the former is salt and sterile, the latter sweet and prolific. In summer time the plain is burnt up and the absolute drought makes the air unwholesome; for it is entirely waterless except for the Jordan, this being the reason why the palm-groves on the river-banks are more flourishing and bear heavier crops than those at a distance. |
| 3 |
| Ad ipsam vero Hiericho largissimus fons est, rigandisque arvis uberrimus, juxta veterem scaturiens civitatem : quam Jesus Nave filius, Hebræorum ductor, primam in Chananæorum terra bello possiderat. Hunc fontem aliquando ferunt non solum terræ atque lignorum fructus, sed etiam feminarum partum obtundere solitum, cunctaque pariter morbo ac peste corrumpere. Postea vero mansuevisse, contraque saluberrimum ac feracissimum esse factum ab Helisæo propheta, qui Heliæ notus fuerat atque successerat. Receptus enim hospitio ab Hierichuntinis habitatoribus, quod humaniores eos expertus erat, ipsos et omnem illam regionem perpetua gratia remuneratus est : |
However, near Jericho there is an abundant spring, admirably suited for irrigation. It gushes out near the old city, the first in the land of Canaan to be stormed by the Hebrew commander Joshua the son of Nawe. This spring, it is said, at first not only blighted fruit-crops but produced miscarriages in women, in fact proved unwholesome and destructive of everything, but was sweetened and changed into a most wholesome and life-giving stream by the prophet Elisha, friend and successor of Elijah. When he had been made welcome by the people of Jericho and most hospitably entertained by them, he repaid them and their country with an undying favor. |
| progressusque ad fontem, lagœnam fictilem salis plenam in profluentem aquam misit. Juxta deinde ad cælum dexteram tendens, fontique immergens blanda libamina ipsum quidem precabatur ut fluenta leniret, ac dulciores aquarum venas aperiret, Deum vero ut fecundioribus auris flumina temperaret orabat : tamque ubertatem fructuum quam successionem prolis daret indigenis, nec eos genitrix filiorum aqua deficeret, quoad justi manerent. Ad has preces ex disciplina manibus quoque multa operatus, fontem immutavit, et qui antes causa erat his orbitatis ac famis, idem victus ac fecunditatis auctor est effectus. Denique rigationis ejus tanta potentia est, ut si attigerit modo terram, sapidior sit aquis diu perseverantibus. |
He went out to the spring and threw into the running water an earthenware jar full of salt, then raised his godly right hand towards heaven and poured atoning libations on the ground, beseeching earth to purify the water and open sweeter veins, and heaven to blend the waters with more life-giving airs and to give the people round about fruits in plenty and children to succeed them, not letting them ever lack procreative water to give these birth, so long as they remained righteous. With these prayers, accompanied by many ritual acts based on deep study, he transformed the spring, so that the water that had hitherto brought childlessness and famine upon them, from then on furnished them with children and all good things. Indeed, for irrigation it is so effective that if it merely comes in contact with the land, it is more beneficial in taste than waters that remain there for a long time. |
| Unde eo quæ largius abutuntur, exiguum emolumentum habent ; quæ vero parcius, plurimum. Amplius tamen quam ceteri fontes spatium rigat, et septuaginta quidem stadiis longam, viginti autem latam planitiem permeat. Optimos autem in ea paradisos ac densissimos educat, palmarumque irriguarum genera, tam sapore quam nominibus varia : quarum pinguissimæ calcibus pressæ, plurimum mellis emittunt, non multum alio melle deterius : quanquam et mellis altrix est illa regio, et opobalsami ferax, qui omnium carissimus est fructus ibi nascentium. Itemque cyprum et myrobalanum gignit : ut qui divinum esse illum tractum dixerit, non erraverit, ubi et larga et optima generantur quæ sunt carissima. Sed nec in aliis ei fructibus aliqua facile toto orbe regio certaverit : adeo multiplicatum quod satum est reddit. |
So while the other streams, even if freely used, do little good, this tiny stream does a great deal. In fact it waters more land than all the rest, covering a plain eight and a half miles by two and a half, and satisfying the needs of very numerous and very lovely parks. Of the palms which it waters there are many varieties differing in taste and name: the richer ones when trodden underfoot actually yield a large quantity of ‘honey’, nearly as good as the real thing. Bees too abound in the district, which also produces balsam, the most valuable local crop, the cypress and the ben-nut; so that it would be no exaggeration to call the place divine — a place where the rarest and loveliest things are found in such abundance. For as regards its other crops, it would be hard to find another region in the wide world to compare with it, so large is the yield from the seed sown. |
| Cujus rei causa mihi videtur esse aquarum vis læta, et aëris calor : quum hic provocet quæ nata fuerint atque diffundit : liquor autem firmis singula radicibus stringat, viresque suggerat æstivo tempore : quo sic perusta est illa regio, ut nihil facile procedat ac pullulet. Aqua tamen, si ante solis ortum hauriatur, auræ spiritu refrigescit, naturamque contrariam aëri sumit. Hieme vero contepescit, eaque mersis mitissima efficitur. Tanta est autem cæli temperies, ut quo tempore in alia Judææ regione ningit, lino illic tantum indigenæ vestiantur. Distat autem ab Hierosolymis CL• stadiis, et ab Jordane stadiis LX•, totumque habet ab Hierosolymis spatium desertum atque saxosum : ad Jordanem vero et lacum Asphaltiten, licet humilius, æque tamen incultum ac sterile. Sed de Hiericho, quam sit fortunatissima, satis dictum est. |
This is due, I think, to the warmth of the air and the fertilizing power of the water; the warmth draws out the growing plants and makes them spread, the moisture encourages root-growth in them all and supplies strength for the summer, when the district is so burnt up that no one goes out if he can help it. If the water is drawn before sunrise and then exposed to the air, it becomes extremely cold and quite unlike the atmosphere round it; on the other hand, in winter it warms up and bathers find it most comfortable. The climate too is so mild that the inhabitants dress in linen when the rest of Judaea is under snow. Jericho is eighteen miles {(Latin: 150 stades)} from Jerusalem and seven {(60 stades)} from the Jordan. The country between the two cities is a rocky desert; between Jericho and the Jordan and Dead Sea it is more low-lying, but just as barren a desert. But of Jericho and its great natural advantages enough has been said. |
| 4 |
— Caput E-5 —
Lacus Asphaltites. |
| Commemoratione autem dignum puto, Asphaltitis quoque naturam exponere lacus. Is enim salsus quidem ac sterilis est : nimia vero levitate, etiam quæ gravissima aunt, in eum jacta fluitant. Demergi autem quis in profundum nec de industria facile potest. Denique Vespasianus, qui ejus visendi causa illuc venerat, jussit quosdam natandi inscios, vinctis post terga manibus, in altum projici : et evenit omnibus, tanquam vi spiritus sursum repulsos desuper fluitare. Ad hæc mirabilis est coloris mutatio, quæ ter in singulos dies superficiem vertit, et solis radiis variata resplendet. Multis autem locis vomit nigras bituminis glæbas, quæ super undam et habitu et magnitudine tauris sine capitibus assimiles natant. |
But we must also describe the characteristics of the Dead Sea. This, as I said, is bitter and sterile, but brings even the heaviest things thrown into it to the surface because of their relative lightness; in fact it is not easy to go down into the depths even by deliberate effort. Thus when Vespasian came for the sake of viewing it, he ordered some non-swimmers to be thrown into deep water with their hands tied behind them, and it happened that they all floated as if blown upwards by a strong wind. In addition to this the changing color is remarkable: thrice daily it alters its appearance and reflects the sun’s rays with varying tints. Moreover in many places it throws up black lumps of asphalt, which float atop the water and resemble headless bulls in shape and size. |
| Ad eas autem, quum lacus exercitores accesserint, nacti quod aggestum est, ad naves trahunt : et quia lentum est, repletas eas abrumpere nequeunt : sed quasi religata scapha, pendet a cumulo, donec menstruo mulieris atque urina solvatur. Est autem utile non modo ad compagines navium, sed ad corporum etiam curationem multis remediis admiscetur. Longitudo lacus est quingentorum et octoginta stadiorum, qui ad Zoara usque Arabiae tenditur. Latitudo autem centum quinquaginta stadiis patet. Huic Sodomitica terra vicina est : olim quidem tam fructibus quam divitiis civitatum fortunata, nunc autem omnis exusta, ut quæ habitatorum impietate fulminibus conflagrasse memoratur. Denique adhuc in ea divini reliquias ignis, et oppidorum quinque videre licet imagines, et renascentes in fructibus cineres : qui colore quidem sunt edulibus similes, carpentium vero manibus in fumum dissolvuntur et cinerem. Terræ quidem Sodomiticæ fabula ejusmodi fidem habet ex facie. |
The lakeside workers row to the spot, seize the lumps one by one and haul them into their boats. When these are full it is not easy to get the asphalt away, as the boat sticks to the glutinous mass until they loosen it with a woman’s menstruous blood and urine, the only things to which it yields. It is useful not only for caulking ships but also for curing bodily sickness: it is included in many medical prescriptions. The length of this lake is sixty-seven miles {(Latin: 580 stades)}, measured from Zoar in Arabia, the width seventeen {(150 stades)}. Next to it lies the land of Sodom, once rich in crops and in the wealth of its cities, but now dust and ashes. They say that, owing to the impiety of its inhabitants, it was burnt up by lightning; indeed, there are still marks of the fire from heaven and the outlines of five cities to be seen, and ashes still form part of the growing fruits, which have all the appearance of eatable fruit, but when plucked with the hand dissolve into smoke and ashes. To this extent the stories about the land of Sodom are confirmed by the evidence of our eyes. |
|
| ⇑ § IX |
| Vespasianus, Gadaris excisis, Hierosolyma obsĭdēre parat ; quum autem nuntium accepisset de morte Neronis, consilium mutat. Deque Simone Geraseno. | That Vespasian, After He Had Taken Gadara, Made Preparation for the Siege of Jerusalem ; But That, Upon His Hearing of the Death of Nero, He Changed His Intentions. As Also Concerning Simon of Geras. |
| 1 |
— Caput E-6 —
Gerasæ devastatio simul de Neronis morte, Galbæ et Othonis |
| AT Vespasianus, Hierosolymorum habitatores concludi undique cupiens, apud Hiericho et Adidam castellis erectis, utrobique auxiliarium pariter ac Romanorum præsidia collocat. Mittit autem Gerasam Lucium Annium, equitatus ei parte multisque peditibus attributis. Qui primo aggressu civitate capta, mille juvenum, qui ne fugerent præventi erant, interficit : familias captivas ducit, bona militibus prædari permittit. Incensis deinde domibus, proximos petiit. Erat autem fuga potentium et interitus infirmorum ; quodque occupatum fuisset, flammis dabatur ; omnibusque tam montanis locis quam tota planitie bello oppressis, apud Hierosolymam degentes exeundi copiam non habebant, quum transfugere quidem cupientes a Zelotis asservarentur, eos vero, qui etiam tunc a Romanis dissidebant, undique civitate vallata cohiberet exercitus. |
In order to make the encirclement of Jerusalem complete, Vespasian constructed camps in Jericho and Adida, garrisoning each with a mixed force of Romans and allies. He also sent Lucius Annius to Gerasa, giving him a squadron of cavalry and an ample number of infantry. Annius took the town by assault, put to death 1,000 of the younger men – all who had failed to escape, enslaved the women and children, and allowed the soldiers to plunder everything of value, finally setting fire to the houses before he marched against the surrounding villages. The strong fled, the weak perished, and all that was left went up in flames. Now that the war had engulfed the whole region of mountain and plain, it was impossible to leave Jerusalem: those who wanted to desert were watched by the Zealots, and those who did not yet favor the Romans were shut in by the army which surrounded the City on every side. |
| 2 |
| Vespasiano autem Cæsaream reverso, et cum omnibus copiis in ipsam Hierosolymam proficisci paranti, nuntiatur Nero peremptus, quum per annos tredecim et octo dies imperasset. |
Vespasian had returned to Caesarea, and was getting ready to march his entire force against Jerusalem itself when he received the news that Nero had met a violent end after reigning thirteen years and eight days. |
| De quo referre — quemadmodum dehonestarit imperium, nequissimis hominibus Nymphidio, et Tigillino, et indignissimis libertorum permissa republica ; quodque horum captus insidiis, ab omnibus suis senatoribus destitutus, cum quattuor libertis fidelibus in suburbanum fugerit, ibique semet occiderit, et quod multo post tempore, qui eum deposuerant, pœnas dederint ; bellumque per Galliam quo pacto desierit ; et quod Galba, creatus Imperator, Romam redierit ab Hispania ; et quemadmodum, incusatus a militibus, tanquam humilioris esset animi, in medio foro necatus sit, et Otho declaratus sit Imperator, militesque suos contra Vitellii duxerit exercitum ; necnon et Vitellii turbas, et circum capitolium pugnam ; et quemadmodum Antonius Primus et Mutianus Vitellium interfecerint, et Germanorum agmina bellumque civile sedaverint — hæc omnia recusavi narrare, confidens quod a multis Græcorum itemque Romanorum ea cuncta copiose perscripta sunt. Ordinis autem rerum continuandi gratia, ac ne intercisa pendeat historia, summatim singula designavi. |
I might relate how Nero abused his position by entrusting the management of affairs to those utter scoundrels, Nymphidius and Tigellinus, two worthless freedmen; how when they plotted against him, he was deserted by all his senators, ran away with four faithful freedmen to the suburbs, and there killed himself; and how after a long while those who had brought him down paid the penalty. I might give an account of the war in Gaul and how it ended, how Galba, crowned Emperor, returned to Rome from Spain, and how — as allegedly of ignoble character — he was accused by the soldiers, assassinated in the middle of the Roman Forum; and how Otho was declared Emperor and led his soldiers against Vitellius’s army, as well as the uprisings under Vitellius and the fighting around the Capitol, and the way in which Antonius Primus and Mucianus destroyed Vitellius and the German Legions and so brought the civil war to an end. Still, I must excuse myself from describing all these events, because they have been written about by many Greek and Roman writers. But for the sake of the continuity and coherence of events, and so that the narrative is not suspended chopped up, I have summarized the various incidents. |
| Igitur Vespasianus primo quidem in Hierosolymam expeditionem differebat, expectans quonam vergeret imperium post Neronem. Deinde ubi Galbam imperare cognovit, nihil conari decreverat, priusquam ille quoque ad se de bello aliquid perscriberet. Mittit autem ad eum Titum filium suum et salutatum simul, et ut de Judæis mandata acciperet. Ob easdem causas et rex Agrippa navigavit ad Galbam. Sed dum Achajam, quod hiems erat, longis navibus prætervehuntur, interfici Galbam contigit, septem mensibus post et totidem diebus. |
Vespasian’s immediate response was to put off his expedition against Jerusalem, waiting to see where imperial authority would go after Nero. Then, when he heard that Galba was on the throne, he refrained from all military activity pending the receipt of a new directive, but sent his son Titus to pay homage and seek the Emperor’s instructions for settling the Jewish problem. With the same object Agrippa embarked for Rome along with Titus. But while they were sailing along the Greek coast in warships because it was winter, Galba was assassinated, after a reign of seven months and as many days. |
| Deinde Otho suscepit imperium, ac tres menses rempublicam gubernavit. Agrippa vero nihil mutatione deterritus, Romam pergere statuit. Titus vero divino quodam impulsu, ex Achaja ad Syriam navigat, et mature inde Cæsaream venit ad patrem. Suspensi autem de omnibus quasi nutante Romano Imperio, Judæorum militiam neglegebant. Patriæ quoque metuentes, aggredi alienigenas importunum arbitrabantur. |
Imperial power was then assumed by Otho, and he ruled the state for three months. Agrippa, completely undeterred by the change, decided to complete his journey; Titus by a divine impulse sailed back from Greece to Syria and proceeded with all speed to Cæsarea to rejoin his father. In their suspense — for the Roman Empire was in a state of unsteadiness — they held up operations against the Jews. Also fearing for their fatherland, they thought it would be inopportune to attack a foreign nation. |
| 3 |
— Caput E-7 —
De Simone Geraseno novæ conspirationis principe. |
| Interea tamen bellum aliud in Hierosolyma excitatur. Erat Simon Gioræ filius, patria Gerasenus, ætate juvenis, sed callididate posterior Joanne, a quo jam pridem civitas possidebatur, viribus autem corporis audaciaque præstantior. Ob quam ex Acrabatena quoque toparchia, cujus rector erat, pulsus ab Anano pontifice, ad latrones pervenerat qui Massadam occuparant. Is autem primo quidem ita suspectus erat, ut eum ad inferius castellum cum mulieribus, quas secum adduxerat, transire permitterent, ipsi excelsius incolentes, rursus autem propter necessitudinem morum, fidelis esse videbatur. Nam et ductor erat prædatum exeuntibus, et cum ipsis territorium Massadæ populabatur. Nec tamen eos ad majora exhortando metuebat. Dominandi enim cupidus magnorumque appetens, quia mortem Anani comperit, in montana loca discessit, ac voce præconum servis libertate promissa, itemque liberis præmio, cunctos qui ubique fuerunt nequissimos congregavit. |
Meanwhile another war was whipped up in Jerusalem. There was a son of Giora, one Simon, by birth of Gerasa, a young man who, while less crafty than John who had long since been master of the City, was nonetheless superior in physique and daring — the quality which had caused Ananus the pontiff to turn him out of his toparchy of Acrabata, so that he went over to the bandits who had seized Masada. At first they eyed him warily, and only allowed him to cross into the lower part of the fortress with the women he had brought with him, occupying the upper part themselves. Later, because of his kindred character, he seemed to them trustworthy, for he was a leader to those going out to raid, and with them he plundered the land around Masada. Nonetheless, he was also not afraid of exhorting them to more daring exploits. But, lusting after power and greater things, because he had learned of the death of Ananus, he withdrew to the hill country. There he proclaimed liberty for slaves and rewards for the free, so collecting all the scum from everywhere. |
| 4 |
| Jamque validis conflatis copiis, montanos vicos diripiebat. Semper autem accedentibus pluribus sociis, audebat etiam in humiliora loca descendere, et civitatibus quoque jam terribilis erat : multosque potentium vis ejus et prospere gesta sollicitabant ; nec jam servorum tantum sive latronum exercitus erat, sed multorum etiam popularium, tanquam regi parebat obsequium. Excursus autem agebatur in Acrabatenam toparchiam, et in majorem usque Idumæam. Vicum enim cui nomen est Nain, muro amplexus, ad tuitionem sui pro castello habebat. In valle autem quæ appellatur Pharan, multas quidem dilatavit speluncas : multas vero paratas invenit, atque his conditorum prædæ receptaculis utebatur. Quin et direptos illic fructus reponebat, multæque catervæ deversabantur : neque dubitabatur, quod in Hierosolymam copiis et apparatu præluderet. |
As soon as his force was strong enough he overran the villages in the hill country, until the constant flow of recruits encouraged him to descend to lower levels. Soon he was an object of dread to the towns, and many men of influence were led astray by his strength and continual success, so that his army no longer consisted only of slaves and bandits, but included many respectable citizens who obeyed him like a king. He next overran the toparchy of Acrabata and the whole area as far as Great Idumaea: near a village called Nain he had built a wall which he used to secure himself from attack; and in the valley of Pharan he found a number of convenient caves and enlarged many others, using them all to safeguard his treasure and to house the loot. There too he stored the corn he had seized and many of his gangs lodged there. It was obvious that he was training his army in readiness to attack Jerusalem. |
| 5 |
| Unde insidias veriti Zelotæ, ac prævenire eum qui contra se cresceret cupientes, plerique cum armis egrediuntur. His autem Simon occurrit, commissoque prœlio multos occidit, et reliquos compellit in oppidum. Nondum autem viribus fretus, ab obsidione deterretur. Prius autem Idumæam subjugare conatus est. Itaque cum XX• milibus armatorum ad fines ejus properabat. Idumæorum autem principes mature ex agris vigintiquinque fere milibus pugnacium civium congregatis — pluribus autem qui sua servarent domi relictis, propter sicariorum qui Massadæ versabantur incursus — Simonem in finibus præstolabantur. Ubi conflictu habito, ac per totum diem tracto prœlio, neque victor, neque victus abscessit. Et ipse quidem in Nain vicum, Idumæi vero domum regressi sunt. Non multo autem post, Simon cum majoribus coplis eorum fines petebat : castrisque in quodam vico cui nomen est Thecue positis, ad custodes Herodii, quod non longe aberat, de sociis suis Eleazarum misit, ut castellum traderent persuasurum : quern quidem sine mora suscepere custodes, causæ nescii cur venisset. Mox autem de traditione prolocutum, strictis gladiis persequebantur : donec fugæ locum non reperiens, de muro in subjectam vallem se projecit. Et ille quidem hoc modo statim moritur. Idumæis autem vires Simonis formidantibus, placuit, priusquam bello congrederentur, explorare hostium copias. |
Alarmed at his designs and determined to nip the growing threat in the bud, the Zealots marched out in force under arms. Simon met them and gave battle, inflicting heavy casualties and driving the survivors into the City. He was not yet so sure of himself as to assault the walls: he embarked first on the conquest of Idumaea, setting out for the frontier at the head of 20,000 well–armed men. The Idumaean leaders promptly collected the best fighting–men in the country, about 25,000 of them, and leaving all the rest to guard their homes against raids by the Sicarii from Masada, awaited Simon at the frontier. Battle was joined and raged all day long, ending without victory to either side. Simon returned to Nain and the Idumaeans dispersed to their homes. Not long after Simon with a larger force again invaded their territory, and encamped near a village called Tekoa. From there he sent Eleazar, one of his staff, to the garrison of Herodium near by to induce them to surrender the fort. Eleazar was readily admitted by the guards, who did not realize what he had come for; but when he mentioned surrender, they drew their swords and chased him until, unable to fly any further, he flung himself from the wall into the ravine below and was instantly killed. But the Idumaeans were now thoroughly alarmed by Simon’s strength, and decided not to give battle till they had reconnoitred the enemy forces. |
| 6 |
| Ad hoc autem se ministrum obtulit parato animo Jacobus, unus e rectoribus, cogitans proditionem. Denique profectus ab Oluro (in hoc enim vico tunc Idumæorum collectus erat exercitus) ad Simonem venit : primumque se patriam suam traditurum esse paciscitur, accepta fide quod semper ei carissimus foret. Mox etiam de tota Idumæa operam pollicetur. Ob quas res humanissime apud Simonem cenatus, amplissimisque promissis animatus, ubi ad suos rediit, primo Simonis exercitum multiplici numero mentiebatur esse majorem. Deinde rectoribus etiam paulatimque multitudine universa perterritis, ut Simonem reciperent, suadebat, eique sine pugna rerum omnium permitterent principatum. Simul autem hoc agens, et Simonem ipsum per nuntios evocabat, disjecturum se pollicitus Idumæos, quod et præstitit. Nam quum jam appropinquaret exercitus, equum primus inscendit, et cum sociis corruptionis effugit. Pavor autem occupat universam multitudinem, ac priusquam ad manus venirent, domum quisque suam soluti ordine recesserunt. |
For this duty Jacob, one of their officers, eagerly offered his services with the intention of turning traitor. Setting out from Olurus, the village where the Idumaean army was concentrated at the time, he went to Simon and first of all made a pact with him to surrender his own fatherland, receiving the promise that he would always be the one most favored by him. He then promised his efforts in taking all of Idumæa. For this he was lavishly entertained by Simon and, buoyed up with dazzling promises, returned to his own lines. He first lied that Simon’s army was many times larger; then, after having terrified the officers, and gradually the whole army, he urged them to receive Simon and hand over all authority to him without a struggle. While doing this, he simultaneously sent messengers to summon Simon himself, promising to disperse the Idumæans, as indeed he did. As the army drew near he was the first to leap on to his horse and flee with his companions in crime. Panic seized the whole defending force, and before battle could be joined they left their posts and, breaking ranks, every man fled to his own home. |
| 7 |
| Simon vero præter opinionem sine sanguine Idumæam introivit : primumque aggressus ex improviso Chebron municipium capit, in quo maxima præda potitus est, multosque fructus diripuit. Chebron autem indigenæ ferunt non ejus terræ modo civitatibus, verumetiam Ægypti Memphi antiquiorem. Denique duo milia et trecenti ejus connumerantur anni. Hoc autem narrant Abraham quoque parenti Judæorum fuisse domicilium, posteaquam Mesopotamiæ sedes reliquit, ejusque posteros hinc ad Ægyptum esse profectos : quorum etiam nunc monumenta exstant in eadem civitate, peroptimo marmore liberaliter fabricata. Cernitur autem sexto ab oppido stadio arbor maxima terebinthus : eamque memorant ab initio mundi creati nunc usque durare. |
Having in this unexpected way swept into Idumaea without bloodshed, Simon by a surprise attack captured the little town of Hebron, where he a got possession of vast quantity of booty and seized ample corn supplies. According to the inhabitants, Hebron is more ancient than any town in the country — older even than Memphis in Egypt; its age is reckoned as 2300 years. They affirm that it was the home of Abraham, the ancestor of the Jews, after his migration from Mesopotamia, and that his descendants went down into Egypt from there. Their tombs are pointed out to this day in the same town, of the finest marble and beautifully fashioned. Three quarters of a mile {(Latin: 6 stades)} from the town can be seen an immense terebinth; they claim it has lasted from the creation of the world until now. |
| Hinc totam Simon pervasit Idumaeam, non modo vicos ejus et civitates depopulando, sed excidendo etiam territoria. Nam præter armatos XL• eum milia sequebantur, ut his ne victui quidem necessaria satis essent. Ad has autem necessitates accedebat ejus crudelitas et insuper iracundia, quo magis vastari contigit Idumæam. Et quemadmodum post locustas silva cerni solet frondibus spoliata, sic etiam qua Simonis transisset exercitus, a tergo solitudinem relinquebat : et alia quidem comburendo, alia diruendo, et quicquid in civitate vel in agris natum esset conterendo calcibus, aut depascendo delebant : perque terram cultam iter agendo, faciebant eam sterili duriorem, prorsus ut ne signum quidem vastatis relinqueretur, quod aliquando fuissent. |
From there he advanced through the whole country, not only sacking villages and towns, but ravaging the countryside: in addition to the heavy infantry he had 40,000 men with him, so that he could not supply his immense host even with the necessities of life. Added to his needs were his brutal nature and vindictiveness, through which it happened that Idumæa was all the more devastated. Just as in the wake of locusts we may see a whole forest stripped bare, so where Simon’s army had passed, it left a desert in its rear. Some places they set on fire, others they demolished; everything that grew anywhere in the country they destroyed, either trampling it down or devouring it; and by marching through cultivated land, they made it harder than sterile soil. Indeed, there was left not even a sign of the devastated elements of having ever existed. |
| 8 |
| Hæc omnia rursus Zelotas incitaverunt : et aperto quidem bello confligere pertimuere, insidiis vero per itinera collocatis, uxorem Simonis rapiunt, eorumque præterea quos habebat in obsequio plurimos. Deinde tanquam Simonem ipsum cepissent, in civitatem exsultantes redeunt. Continuo namque sperabant, armis eum depositis, pro uxore sibi supplicaturum. Illum autem non misericordia, sed ira conjugis raptæ pervaserat. Quumque ad muros Hierosolymorum venisset, ut fera saucia quæ percussores prendere nequisset, ita in quos reperisset, effundebat insaniam. |
All this roused the Zealots to fresh activity. They dared not face Simon in the open, but they laid ambushes in the passes and captured his wife and many of her servants. Then, as delighted as if they had taken Simon himself prisoner, they went back to the City in the belief that he would at once lay down his arms and plead for the return of his wife. Her capture, however, moved him not to pity but to fury; he came up to the walls of Jerusalem, and like a wounded animal that cannot catch the hunter, he vented his rage upon everyone he met. |
| Denique olerum sarmentorumque causa progressos e porta, imberbes pariter ac seniores correptos verberabat ad necem : ut animi indignatione id solum abesse videretur, quod non etiam vesceretur corporibus mortuorum. Multos autem abscissis manibus dimittebat in civitatem, una perterrefaciens inimicos, et populum revocare cupiens a nocentibus. Hisque mandabat ut dicerent, jurare Simonem per Deum qui cuncta regeret, quod nisi cito sibi redderent conjugem suam, muro perrupto omnibus qui in civitate essent similiter uteretur, neque cuiquam ætati parceret, aut ab innocentibus discerneret noxios, donec his ejus mandatis, non modo populus, sed etiam Zelotæ metu perculsi, remisissent ei mulierem. Atque ita delinitus, paulisper ab assidua cæde requievit. |
All who went outside the gates to gather herbs or firewood, whether young boys or old people, he seized and beat to death, to the point that, in his boundless indignation, he seemed to refrain only from also eating their dead bodies. Many he sent back after cutting off their hands, both terrifying his opponents and seeking to stir the people to revolt against those responsible. They were ordered to say that Simon swore by all-ruling God that if they did not instantly give him back his wife, he would break down their wall and inflict the same punishment on every person in the City, without sparing any age or discriminating between the innocent and the guilty. These threats terrified not only the citizens but the Zealots too, and they sent his wife back to him. Pacified for the time being he took a brief respite from continual bloodshed. |
| 9 |
— Caput E-8 —
De Galba, Othone, Vitellio et Vespasiano. |
| Non solum autem per Judæam erat seditio bellumque civile, verumetiam per Italiam. In medio namque Romanorum foro Galba perempto, creatus Otho Imperator cum Vitellio imperium affectante pugnabat : quem Germanicæ tunc legiones elegerant. Habito autem apud Bedriacum Galliæ Cisalpinæ prœlio cum Valente et Cæcina, Vitellii ducibus, primo die Otho superavit, altero Vitelliani : multisque trucidatis, et adversæ partis audita victoria, Otho apud Brixellum semet occidit, postquam biduum tresque menses imperium tenuit. |
It was not only in Judaea that sedition and civil war were rife, but in Italy too. Galba had been assassinated in the middle of the Roman Forum; Otho, elected Emperor, was at war with Vitellius, whom the legions in Germany had chosen. At Bedriacum in Cisalpine Gaul battle was joined with Valens and Cæcina, Vitellius’ generals. On the first day Otho won, on the second the Vitellians. After much slaughter, hearing of the victory of the opposing side, Otho committed suicide at Brixellum, after holding power for three months and two days. |
| Accesserunt autem Vitellii ducibus Othonis milites, et ipse jam Vitellius Romam cum exercitu veniebat : dum interea Vespasianus, quinto die Junii mensis Cæsarea profectus, eas quas nondum subegerat Judææ partes petivit : et in montana regione, quo primum ascendit, toparchias duas Gophniticam et Acrabatenam subegit : deinde post has Bethel et Ephrem municipia : ibique præsidiis collocatis, usque Hierosolymam equitabat. Multos vero tunc deprehensos necabat, multosque capiebat. Ducum autem unus Cerealis cum equitum parte ac peditum, Superiorem quæ dicitur vastabat Idumæam, et Caphetram quidem castellum ex itinere captum incendit, alterum vero quod Capharin dicitur, admoto milite oppugnabat, muro satis valido cinctum. |
His troops went over to Vitellius’ generals, and Vitellius himself marched into Rome with his army. Meanwhile Vespasian left Caesarea, and on the 5th of June launched a campaign against those parts of Judaea that had not yet submitted. Climbing into the hill country he occupied two toparchies, those of Gophna and Acrabata, and then two small towns, Bethel and Ephraim. After garrisoning these he rode as far as Jerusalem, killing many of those he caught and taking many prisoners. Cerealis, one of his officers, took a small body of horse and foot and ravaged what is called Upper Idumæa, taking the village of Caphethra on the way and setting it on fire. With his soldiers he attacked another one called Caphar[ab]in, surrounded by a very strong wall. |
| Diutius autem ibi se moraturum speranti, oppidani subito portas aperuere, et supplices ei se tradidere. Quibus subjugatis, Cerealis in Chebron alteram civitatem antiquissimam tendit, sitam (ut dixi) in montanis locis, haud procul ab Hierosolymis. Vi autem irrumpens in eam, reliquam multitudinem, quam ibi offendit, cum puberibus interemit : oppidum vero ipsum exurit. Omnibusque jam captis, præter castella Herodium et Massadam et Machærunta, quæ a latronibus tenebantur, sola jam Hierosolyma Romanis ante oculos erat, quæ expugnanda restabat. |
He was expecting to stay there for a long time, when without warning the inhabitants opened the gates, and suppliantly surrendered to him. After accepting their surrender Cerealis made for Hebron, another, very ancient, city — situated, as we have seen, in the hill country not far from Jerusalem. Forcing an entry, he slaughtered the remaining population that he found there, together with its children, and burnt the city itself to the ground. Every place had now been reduced but the forts of Herodium, Masada, and Machaerus, which were in the hands of the bandits: the only remaining target of the Romans was now Jerusalem itself. |
| 10 |
— Caput E-9 —
De Simonis gestis contra Zelotas. |
| Simon autem, ubi uxorem suam a Zelotis recepit, ad reliquias Idumææ tendit persequendas : et undique circumacta natione, Hierosolymam compulit plerosque fugere, quum ipse quoque ad eam sequeretur. Deinde muro ejus obsesso, si quem operariorum ex agris adeuntem multitudinem cepisset, interficiebat. Eratque populo foris Simon Romanis terribilior : intus Zelotæ utrisque sæviores : quos etiam Galilæi novis inventis et audacia factionum corrumpebant. |
When Simon had got back his wife from the Zealots, he returned to what remained of Idumæa and, harrying the nation from every direction, forced the majority to flee to Jerusalem. He followed them to the City himself. Encircling its wall, he killed any group of working men he caught going out into the country. The people found Simon outside more terrifying than the Romans, and the Zealots inside more savage than either: of these, the Galilaean contingent was pre-eminent in the originality and audacity of their crimes. |
| Nam et Joannem ad potentiam ipsi provexerant : et Joannes eis pro potentia quam sibi comparaverat, vicem referens, omnia quæ desiderarent, ut facerent permittebat. Insatiabilis autem rapinarum cupiditas, domorumque locupletum perscrutatio. Cædes autem virorum et feminarum injuriæ pro ludo habebantur, prædamque cum sanguine devorantes sine aliquo metu, post satietatem muliebri libidine calescebant : comptique crines, ac feminarum veste induti, lotique unguentis, et ut forma placeret, oculos illiti, non solum ornatum, sed impudentiam quoque mulierum imitabantur : et obscenitate nimia nefarios coitus exigentes, ut in lupanari versabantur, civitatemque totam impuris facinoribus profanabant. |
It was they who had put power in the hands of John, and he, requiting them for the power which he had gained, allowed them to do anything they wanted. Their passion for looting was insatiable: they ransacked rich men’s houses, murdered men and violated women for sport, and fearlessly swallowed their spoils washed down with blood: after becoming satiated, they became feverish with feminine wantonness, adorning their hair and putting on women’s clothes, steeping themselves in scent and painting under their eyes to make themselves attractive. They copied not merely the dress but also the shamelessness of women, and in their extreme obscenity engaged in abominable sex acts, going around as in a brothel and polluting the whole City with impure practices. |
| Effeminantes autem vultum, dextras ad cædem promptas habebant : delicatoque incessu enervati, subita incursione bellatores fiebant : et de paludamentis versicoloribus eductis gladiis, casu obvios transverberabant. Eos autem qui Joannem fugissent, excipiebat sævior in cædibus Simon : quique intestinum evasisset tyrannum, ab eo qui prope erat occidebatur. Omnis autem fugæ via transire cupientibus ad Romanos, abscissa erat. |
Yet though they had the faces of women, they had right hands ready to murder; weak in their effeminate gait, with a sudden rush they became fighting-men and, drawing their swords from under their multicolored cloaks, ran every passer-by through. Those who ran away from John had a more murderous reception from Simon, and anyone who eluded the tyrant within the walls was killed by the other one nearby. Thus for those who wished to desert to the Romans, every way of escape was cut off. |
| 11 |
| Inter Joannis autem copias quantum erat Idumæorum dissidebant : separatique ab aliis, adversum tyrannum tam livore potentiæ quam crudelitatis ejus odio armantur. Deinde pugna congressi, multos Zelotarum perimunt, ceterosque in aulam regiam compellunt, quam Grapte ædificaverat. Hæc autem fuerat cognata Izatæ regis Adiabenorum. Una vero irrupere Idumæi, atque inde Zelotis in fanum pulsis, Joannis pecunias prædabantur. In aula enim supradicta et ipse degebat, et tyrannidis spolia deposuerat. |
But John’s forces were in a mutinous state, and the entire Idumaean contingent detached itself and took up arms against the tyrant from jealousy of his power as well as hatred of his brutality. They joined battle and wiped out many of the Zealots, chasing the rest into the royal palace built by Grapte. (She had been a kinswoman of Izates, king of the Adiabenes.) The Idumæans poured in with them, then, driving them from there into the Temple, set about looting John’s money: it was in this palace that he himself was living and had stored the spoils of his tyranny. |
| Inter hæc autem Zelotarum qui per civitatem dispersi erant, ad illos qui in templum fugerant aggregati sunt : eosque Joannes adversus populum et Idumæos educere cogitabat. Istis autem non tam impetus eorum metuendus erat, quum pugna plus possent, quam confidentia, ne de templo nocte subreperent, seque pariter occiderent, atque oppidum concremarent. Itaque collecti cum pontificibus deliberabant, quonam pacto impetum præcaverent. Sed profecto Deus sententias eorum in deterius vertit, et interitu acerbius excogitabant salutis remedium. Nam ut Joannem dejicerent, Simonem recipere statuerunt, et cum precibus alterum sibi tyrannum imponere. |
Meanwhile the mass of Zealots scattered all over the City joined forces with the fugitives in the Temple, and John got ready to lead them down against the citizens and the Idumæans. The latter, being better fighters, feared their onset less than their recklessness: in the night they might sneak out of the Temple, and both murder their opponents and burn the City to the ground. So they held a joint meeting with the chief priests to discuss a way of guarding against their onslaught. But God, indeed, turned their thoughts to the worst, and they devised a remedy for their safety worse than death: for in order to overthrow John they voted to admit Simon and, with supplications, to impose a second tyrant on themselves. |
| Itaque decreto obtemperatur, missoque Matthia pontifice, rogant Simonem, ut ad se introiret, quem sæpe timuerant. Cum his autem precatores erant, etiam qui Zelotas Hierosolymis fugerant, domus quisque suæ desiderio et fortunarum. Ille autem nimis superbe se dominum fore pollicitus, veluti civitatem liberaturus ingreditur, quum salutis eum latorem ac defensorem sui populi clamor designaret. Ubi vero cum suis copiis introiit, mox de propria potentia deliberabat : nec minus eos a quibus rogatus erat, quam eos contra quos fuerat advocatus, inimicos putabat. |
The resolution was carried out, and they sent the pontiff, Matthias, to implore Simon to enter – the man they had often feared! With them also were the suppliants — all of them out of the desire for their homes and property — who had also fled from the Zealots in Jerusalem. He with great haughtiness promised to be their master, and entered with the air of one who intended to liberate the City, while the acclamation of the citizens saluted him as their deliverer and defender. But when he and his forces had entered, he was soon concentrating on his own power: he regarded those by whom he had been invited as no less enemies than those against whom he had been called. |
| 12 |
| Joannes autem cum multitudine Zelotarum templo exire prohibitus, amissis etiam, quæ in civitate habebat (nam statim res eorum Simon cum sociis diripuerat) salutem jam desperabat. Templum tamen, adjuvante populo, Simon aggreditur. Illi autem in porticibus, perque propugnacula stantes impetum propulsabant : multique ex Simonis parte oppetebant, multi saucii referebantur, quoniam Zelotæ ad dexteram superiores erant, eoque ictus impenetrabiles habebant. |
But John with his mass of Zealots, unable to leave the Temple, and having also lost what they had in the City (since Simon with his men had immediately plundered their possessions), was despairing of safety. Aided by the citizens Simon began an assault on the Temple; but the enemy, standing on the colonnades and battlements, beat off their attacks. Many of Simon’s men were killed and many were carried away wounded; for toward the right the Zealots were higher and there had missile-proof positions. |
| Et quamvis loco plus possent, turres tamen quattuor maximas fabricaverant, ut ex alto videlicet missilia torquerent, unam ad Orientalem angulum, ad Septentrionalem alteram, super xystum tertiam, in angulo alio contra civitatem inferiorem. Quarta vero turns supra verticem Pastophoriorum condita erat : ubi moris est unum de sacerdotibus astantem post Meridiem, quod septimus quisque dies inciperet, tuba significare : rursusque vesperi, quod desineret, nunc ferias populo, nunc ut opus faciat, denunciantem. Per turres autem disposuerunt ballistas saxorumque tormenta, et sagittarios, et fundarum scientes. Itaque tunc Simon pigrius ad impetus movebatur, quum suorum plerique mollescerent : amplioribus tamen copiis fretus, propius accedebat. Machinarum enim missilia delata longius, multos pugnantium perimebant. |
Having already the advantage of position, they further constructed four immense towers so they could hurl their missiles from high up — one at the east corner, one at the north one, the third above the portico on another corner opposite the Lower City, while the fourth was set up over the top of the priests’ chambers, where it was the custom for one of the priests to stand in the afternoon to announce to the people by trumpet that the seventh day was beginning, and again on the evening that it ended, now that it should begin a holy day, now that it should start work. On these towers they mounted ballistas and stone-launchers along with archers and slingers. And thus Simon moved to the attack more slowly, since most of his men were becoming dispirited; all the same, he continued to advance nearer, having the advantage in numbers, though the artillery missiles, reaching farther, were killing many of his fighters. |
|
| ⇑ § X |
Quomodo milites in Judæa et
Ægypto Vespasianum declarant
imperatorem : utque Josephum
vinculis liberat Vespasianus. | How the Soldiers, Both in Judea and Egypt, Proclaimed Vespasian Emperor; and How Vespasian Released Josephus from His Bonds. |
| 1 |
— Caput E-10 —
De Vespasiano in Imperatorem electo. |
| PER idem tempus Romanos quoque sæviora mala circumveniunt, aderat enim ex Germania Vitellius cum exercitu, aliam præterea ingentem multitudinem secum trahens. Et quum eum destinata militi spatia non caperent, totam urbem pro castris habebat, omnemque domum replevit armatis. Illi autem, conspectis Romanorum divitiis oculis insuetis, et auri argentique stupore perfusi, vix cupidinem continebant, adeo ut in rapinas se converterent, et eos qui obstare conarentur occiderent. Et in Italia quidem ita res erant. |
At the same time, terrible evils also beset the Romans. For Vitellius had arrived from Germany with his army, dragging along besides a vast mob with him; and as the spaces assigned to the soldiers could not contain the army, he used the whole City as a camp and filled every house with armed men. These, however, were unused to the sight of Roman wealth and, overwhelmed with amazement at the silver and gold, could hardly contain their greed, to the point that they turned to plunder and murdered those who tried to stand in their way. And such was the state of affairs in Italy. |
| 2 |
| Vespasianus autem, postquam Hierosolymis proxima depopulatus, Cæsaream revertebatur, audiit Romanorum tumultus, et Vitellium principem. Hoc autem, licet ipse imperium pati, sicut bene imperare nosset, ad indignationem perductus est : dominumque dedignatur eum, qui veluti desertum invasisset imperium. Dolore autem saucius cruciatum ferre non poterat, neque aliis vacare bellis, quum patria vastaretur. Verumtamen quantum ira impellebatur ad ulciscendum, tantum longinquitatis cogitatio reprimebat : multa enim fortunam posse nova facere, priusquam ad Italiam, præsertim hiemis tempore, ipse transiret ; plusque jam crescentem iracundiam cohibebat. |
Vespasian, after having crushed laid waste the neighborhood near Jerusalem, in returning to Caesarea heard of the upheavals of the Romans and about Vitellius as emperor. Granted, he himself knew how to take commands as well as to command well, but this roused him to indignation; he disdained as lord a man who had invaded the Empire as though it were abandoned; and hurting with pain, he could not take the agony, nor have the leisure for other wars when his fatherland was being devastated. But while anger was driving him to take revenge, the thought of such a distance restrained him; for fortune could perpetrate many novel things before he himself could cross over to Italy, especially in the winter season, and this curbed his now steadily increasing anger. |
| 3 |
| Rectores autem cum militibus convenientes, aperte jam de mutatione tractabant : et cum indignatione vociferantes, incusabant Romæ constitutos milites, et in deliciis agentes, qui ne famam quidem belli sustineant, quibus libuerit decernere principatum, et spe quæstus imperatores creare. Se autem laboribus tot exactis sub galeis senescentes, aliis condonare potestatem, quum apud se digniorem habeant imperio. |
But his officers and men in informal groups were already talking openly of change; and, expressing it with rage, they accused the soldiers stationed in Rome and living in luxury, who could not endure even the very word ‘war’, to whom it was allowed to decide the emperorship and create emperors for the sake of material gain. They themselves, who had grown old under their helmets enduring so many hardships, were conferring that power on others, when they had among themselves a man more worthy of command. |
| Cui si hanc amiserint, quam justiorem, vel quando referrent erga se benevolentiæ gratiam ? Tanto autem Vespasianum quam Vitellium justius esse principem fieri, quanto illis, qui eum declarassent ipsi præstarent. Non enim se minora pertulisse bella, quam qui ex Germania venissent : neque illis, qui tyrannum inde deducerent, in armis deteriores esse. |
If they lost this chance for him, what more just thanks would they give for his benevolence to them, or when? Vespasian would as much more justly become emperor than Vitellius as they themselves were better than those who had crowned him. For they had not endured wars any lesser than those who had come from Germany, nor were they inferior in arms to those who were bringing that tyrant in! |
| Nullum autem in creando Vespasiano fore certamen. Non enim senatum populumve Romanum, Vitellii libidines pro Vespasiani pudicitia perpessuros : nec pro bono Imperatore crudelissimum tyrannum, aut filium pro patre optaturos principem. Maximum enim pacis tutamen esse, veram in Imperatore præstantiam. Ergo sive peritiæ senectutis debeatur imperium, habere se Vespasianum, sive adulescentiæ viribus, Titum. Ex amborum enim ætate quod sit commodum decerpturos. |
But there would be no struggle in crowning Vespasian — neither Senate nor people would put up with Vitellius’s lusts in preference to Vespasian’s virtue, or turn down a kindly leader in favor of a cruel tyrant, or choose a mere son as their chief rather than a father; for the best guarantee of peace is true excellence in an Emperor. If then rulership is owed to the wisdom of age, they had Vespasian; if to the strength of youth, Titus: they would select the advantages of both ages. |
| Non solum autem se ministraturos declarati imperii vires, qui tres legiones, regumque habeant auxilia : sed etiam totum Orientem partemque Europæ extra Vitellii timorem constitutam : atque insuper qui essent in Italia propugnatores Vespasiani, fratrem atque alium filium : quorum alteri multos dignitate præditos juvenes sociatum iri sperabant, alteri vero etiam urbis esset commissa præfectura : quæ pars ad imperii principia non parum valeret. Postremo si ipsi cessarent, senatum fortasse declaraturum eum principem, quem conservatores milites dehonestarent. |
Not only would the forces of the chosen command be made available by them, who had three legions and auxiliaries of the kings, but also the whole of the East and the part of Europe situated outside the fear of Vitellius; and on top of that there were those who were defenders of Vespasian in Italy, a brother and another son. They were confident that many youths of quality would join the one of them; while the superintendence of the City was also entrusted to the other, a role which was not of little importance for the leadership of the government. In short, if they themselves did nothing, the Senate might perhaps appoint as Emperor the very man whom the soldiers, the preservers of the Empire, would disgrace. |
| 4 |
| Hæc primo per cuneos milites loquebantur. Deinde se adhortari invicem : Vespasianum Imperatorem appellant, eumque ut in periculo constitutum imperium conservaret, orabunt. Illi autem olim quidem rerum omnium cura fuit, nequaquam vero imperare volebat, dignum quidem se factis existimans, privatæ autem vitæ securitatem, clarioris fortunæ periculis anteponens. Recusanti autem rectores magis instabant : et circumfusi milites cum gladiis mortem ei minitabantur, nisi vivere vellet, ut dignus esset. Diu tamen reluctatus, quod renuebat imperium, postremo quum his, qui se designaverant, minime dissuadere posset, accepit. |
The soldiers at first talked this way in groups. Then they mutually encouraged one another: they declared Vespasian Emperor and called on him to save the endangered Empire. He indeed had long been concerned about the general weal, but by no means wanted to be emperor himself; for though aware that he was worthy because of his deeds, he preferred the safety of private life to the dangers of exalted position. But when he turned down their invitation, the officers were all the more insistent, and the rank and file surrounded him sword in hand, and threatened to kill him if he refused the life that was his due. After for a long time answering back that he was turning down the office, in the end, since he could not dissuade those who had designated him, he accepted their nomination. |
| 5 |
— Caput E-11 —
Ægyptii descriptio et Phari. |
| Muciano autem ceterisque rectoribus, qui eum ad imperium invitaverant, et exercitu alio vociferante, ut se in hostes omnes duceret, prius res Alexandrinas procurandas putavit : sciens Agyptum plurimam esse partem imperii, propter frumentariam functionem : eaque si potitus esset, vi quoque, si perstaret, Vitellium dejiciendum sperabat. Nec enim perpessurum esse populum fame oppressum. Simul etiam duas legiones, quæ apud Alexandriam degerent, sibi cupiebat adjungere. Cogitabat etiam propuguaculo sibi fore illam regionem, adversus incerta fortunæ. |
While Mucianus and the other officers were now pressing him to assume the sovereignty, and the lower ranks were loudly demanding him to lead them against all enemies, his chief concern was to take over Alexandria, knowing that Egypt was the most important part of the Empire because of its supplying of grain, and if he could get control of that, he was confident that, if things dragged on, Vitellius would also be ejected by force. For the people would not tolerate being oppressed by famine. At the same time he wished to add the two legions at Alexandria. He also planned to make the country his shield against the incalculable tricks of fortune. |
| Nam et terra difficilis accessu, marique impetuosa est : et ab Occidente quidem aridam Libyam habet objectam, a meridie vero limitem, qui Syenem ab Æthiopia dirimit, navibusque invias Nili fluminis cataractas, itemque ob Oriente mare rubrum, ad Copton civitatem usque diffusum. Septentrionale vero munimentum habet terram usque ad Syriam, et quod dicitur Ægyptium pelagus, totum portubus carens. |
For Egypt is difficult to enter by land, and its sea is violent: on the west it has arid Libya as a barrier; on the south, the border which separates Syene from Ethiopia, and the unnavigable cataracts of the Nile; and likewise on the east, the Red Sea, which extends as far as city of Coptus. Its northern bulwarks are the land extending up to Syria and what is called the Egyptian Sea, completely harborless. |
| Hoc quidem modo Ægyptus ex omni parte tuta est. Inter Pelusium vero et Syenem, per duo milia stadiorum porrigitur. Ex Plinthine autem ad Pelusium, navigatio est stadiorum trium milium et sescentorum. Nilus autem, ad Elephantinem oppidum usque, navibus ascenditur. Namque ulterius progredi, ut supra diximus, cataractæ non sinunt. |
In this way Egypt is safe on every side. Its length from Pelusium to Syene is about two hundred and thirty miles {(Latin: 2,000 stades; actually ~650 miles)} ; the distance by sea from Plinthine to Pelusium is a little over four hundred {(3,600 stades)}. The Nile can be navigated as far as the city of Elephantine, beyond which further progress is barred by the cataracts mentioned above. |
| Portus autem Alexandrinus etiam in pace navibus aditu difficilis est. Nam et ostium perangustum habet, saxisque latentibus a directo cursu deflectitur : et læva quidem pars manu factis brachiis cingitur : a dextera vero Pharus objecta insula turrim maximam sustinet, ad CCC• usque stadia navigantibus igne lucentem, ut quam longissime difficultatem applicandarum navium præcaveant. |
It is difficult even in peacetime for ships to approach the harbor of Alexandria; for it has a very narrow entrance and deviates from a straight course, due to submerged rocks. The left side is bordered by artificial moles; on the right the island of Pharos lies off shore, which is the base for a huge lighthouse whose fires are visible to sailors thirty-five miles {(Latin: 300 stades)} out, so that they may avoid, as far off as possible, danger to approaching ships. |
| Circum hanc autem insulam opere instructo ingentes muri sunt : quibus afflictum pelagus, et adversis objicibus fractum, asperiorem facit meatum, eoque periculosum per angustiam aditum. Intus tamen portus ipse tutissimus est, et XXX• stadiis magnus. In quem tam quæ desunt illi terræ ad beatitudinem devehuntur, quam quæ superant ex domesticis et indigenis, in totum orbem divisa exportantur. |
The island is surrounded by immense, artificially constructed defenses; the sea, smashing against them and breaking on the barriers opposite, makes the channel rough and ingress through the narrow entrance treacherous. Inside, however, the harbor is perfectly safe, and is three and a half miles {(Latin: 30 stades; actually about half this length)} long. To this port is brought everything the country lacks for the good life; in return, what is surplus of its domestic and native products is exported to every part of the world. |
| 6 |
| Itaque non sine ratione, Vespasianus Alexandrinarum rerum erat cupidus, ad totius imperii firmamentum. Proinde statim ad Tiberium Alexandrum litteras dedit, qui Ægyptum et Alexandriam regebat, indicans militum alacritatem, quodque ipse (quod necesse fuit) suscepto munere principatus, operam atque adjumentum ejus assumeret. Alexander autem, simul ut Vespasiani legit epistolam, prompto animo, et legiones ejus sacramento rogavit et populum : utrique autem libentissime paruere, virtutem viri ex proxima administratione scientes. |
Thus, not without reason, Vespasian was anxious to gain control of Alexandria and thereby the base of the whole Empire. He wrote at once to the governor of Egypt and Alexandria, Tiberius Alexander, informing him of the army’s enthusiasm and that, having himself taken up (being constrained to do so) the role of Emperor, he would accept his help and co-operation. As soon as he read the letter, Alexander enthusiastically called on soldiers and civilians alike to swear allegiance to Vespasian; both were delighted to obey, knowing the competence of the man from his generalship near by. |
| Et ille quidem permissa sibi potestate, omnia quæ imperii usus exigeret, adventui quoque principis necessaria jam parabat. |
Thus empowered, the former now got everything that was needed for the exercise of power and necessary for the arrival of the Emperor ready. |
— Caput E-12 —
Vespasianus Josephum captivitate liberat. |
| Opinione vero citius declaratum in Oriente Vespasianum Imperatorem, ubique fama nuntiavit. Et universæ quidem civitates festos dies habebant, nuntiique lætitiam pro eo simul et sacrificia celebrabant. Legiones vero apud Mœsiam Pannoniamque degentes, quæ propter Vitellii audaciam paulo ante fuerant concitatæ, jusjurandum Vespasiano majore gaudio præbuerunt. Vespasianus autem Cæsaream reversus, item Berytum venerat, ubi multæ quidem e Syria, multæque ab allis provinciis legationes aderant obviam, coronas ei et gratulatoria decreta a singulis civitatibus offerentes. Affuit autem rector etiam provinciæ Mucianus, populorum alacritatem, jurataque per ipsum principem sacramenta renuntians. |
And faster than expected, the news spread everywhere that Vespasian had been declared Emperor in the east, and every city had holidays and celebrated the happy news and offered sacrifices on his behalf. The legions stationed in Mœsia and Pannonia, who shortly before had been in an uproar at Vitellius’s audacity, were even happier to swear allegiance to Vespasian. But having returned to Cæsarea, Vespasian likewise went to Beirut where many delegations from Syria and many from other provinces were in attendance, offering him crowns and congratulatory decrees from individual cities. Mucianus, governor of the province, was also present, bringing news of the people’s enthusiasm and the swearing of allegiance to the Emperor himself. |
| 7 |
| Ubique autem Vespasiani votis obsecundante fortuna, rebusque ad eum plurima ex parte inclinatis, cogitare cœpit, quod non sine Dei providentia sumpsisset imperium : sed justa quædam fati ratio ad ejus potestatem circumduxisset rerum omnium principatum. |
Now as everywhere things were going well for Vespasian and for the most part leaning in his direction, he felt that he had not assumed rule without the providence of God, but that some just design of fate had led the governance of the world into his power. |
| Recordatus autem signa, et alia (multa enim sibi contigerant imperium præmonstrantia) et Josephi dicta, quibus eum Nerone vivo ausus fuerat appellare imperatorem, admirabatur virum quem adhuc habebat in vinculis : advocatoque Muciano cum amicis et rectoribus aliis, primum quam strenuus fuisset Josephus, quantumque Jotapatenis expugnandis propter eum laborasset exponit. Deinde vaticinationes ejus, quas ipse quidem timoris causa suspicaretur esse figmenta, tempus autem divinas fuisse, et rerum exitus probavisset. |
So remembering the signs and other things — for many things had happened to him predicting his emperorship — and the words of Joseph with which, while Nero was still alive, the latter had dared to call him Emperor, he was astonished at the man whom he still had the man in fetters; so, calling for Mucianus and his other officers and friends, he first expounded on how energetic Josephus had been and how hard, because of him, he had struggled in conquering Jotapata, and then his predictions which he himself had suspected of being fictions springing from fear, but which time and the course of events had proved to be divine. |
| Tumque inhonestum esse ait, ut qui sibi augurasset imperium, vocisque Dei minister ac nuntius exstitisset, adhuc captivi loco haberetur, fortunamque sustineret adversam, vocatumque ad se Josephum solvi jubet. Hoc autem facto, alii quidem rectores ex ea gratia quam alienigenæ retulisset, præclara etiam de se speranda esse arbitrabantur. Titus vero, qui cum patre aderat, « Justum est, » inquit, « pater, una cum ferro etiam probro Josephum solvi. Erit enim, tanquam nec initio vinctus sit, si non dissolverimus, sed inciderimus catenas. » Namque id agi solet in his qui non recte fuerint vincti. Eadem Vespasiano placebant. Et quidam interveniens securi catenas abrupit. Josephus quidem pro his, quæ prædixerat, præmio famæ donatus, et de futuris jam dignus cui credendum esset habebatur. |
Then he said that it was shameful that he who had predicted the emperorship for him and proved to be the agent and messenger of God should still be held as a captive and endure a miserable fate. Then summoning Josephus he ordered him to be set free. After that act, the other officers, from that favor which he had bestowed on a foreigner, believed that wonderful things could be expected for themselves; but Titus, who was present with his father, exclaimed: “Father, it is only right that Josephus’s disgrace should be removed as well as his fetters. It will be equivalent to a free pardon if instead of unfastening his chains we cut them through.” For that is the usual procedure in the case of men unjustly fettered. Vespasian agreed, and a man came forward and severed the chain with one blow of an axe. Josephus was thus endowed with the reward of fame for what he had prophesied, and was now held to be believable regarding future events. |
|
| ⇑ § XI |
Quod, Vitellio victo et interempto,
Vespasianus Romam contendit,
et filius ejus Titus
reversus est Hierosolyma. | That upon the Conquest and Slaughter of Vitellius, Vespasian Hastened His Journey to Rome ; But Titus His Son Returned to Jerusalem. |
| 1 |
— Caput E-13 —
De Vitellii morte et moribus. |
| VESPASIANUS autem responso legationibus reddito, justeque pro meritis administrationibus ordinatis, Antiochiam venit. Et quonam primum tenderet cogitans, Alexandrino itinere præstabilius esse duxit, quæ Rome agerentur curare. Alexandriam enim stabilem esse, Romanas autem res a Vitellio perturbari. Mittit igitur in Italiam Mucianum cum multis equitum peditumque copiis. Qui tamen propter hiemis asperitatem veritus navigare, per Cappadocas et Phrygas ducit exercitum. |
Vespasian, after replying to the delegations and making appointments justly according to the respective merits of management, went to Antioch. There he considered what course to take, and decided that taking care of what was going on in Rome was far more important than a journey to Alexandria. So he sent Mucianus to Italy with a large body of horse and foot. The latter, afraid to sail because of the fierceness of winter, led his army overland through Cappadocia and Phrygia. |
| 2 |
| Inter hæc autem Antonius Primus, adducta Legione Tertia ex his, quæ apud Mœsiam morabantur (illam enim regebat provinciam) bellum gerere cum Vitellio properabat. Vitellius autem cum magna manu Cæcinam obviam ei mittit. Is autem Roma profectus, quamprimum circa Cremonam Galliæ Antonium consequitur, quæ confinis Italiæ civitas est, ibique conspecta hostium ordinatione ac multitudine, prœlio quidem congredi non audebat. Discessum autem periculosum reputans, de proditione deliberabat. |
Meanwhile Antonius Primus, leading the Third Legion {(actually the Seventh)} from among those stationed in Mœsia (for he governed that province) was rapidly advancing to do battle with Vitellius. Vitellius sent Cæcina with a large force to oppose him. Setting out from Rome, as soon as possible he met Antonius near Cremona in Gaul, a town just over the Italian frontier. And seeing there the discipline and size of the enemy force he did not dare to join battle; but believing that retreat was dangerous, he decided on betrayal. |
| Convocatis autem centurionibus et tribunis sibi subditis, ut transirent ad Antonium suadebat, Vitellii quidem rebus detrahens, Vespasiani autem vires extollens : et alterum nomen imperii tantum, alterum virtutem habere commemorans : ipsis quoque melius esse, si id sponte faciant, quod necesse est : quumque se multitudine superatum iri sciant, voluntate periculum prævenire. Nam Vespasianum quidem idoneum esse etiam sine ipsis ad reliqua vindicanda, Vitellium vero ne cum ipsis quidem præsentia posse servare. |
Assembling the centurions and tribunes under his command, he urged them to go over to Antonius, minimizing the resources of Vitellius and magnifying the strength of Vespasian, saying that the one had the name of emperorship only, the other the power; it would be better for them to do of their own accord what was inevitable. Since they knew they would be overwhelmed by numbers, they should head off the danger voluntarily. Vespasian was certainly quite capable, even without them, of winning the remainder; but Vitellius, even with them, could not hold his current position. |
| 3 |
| Multa locutus in hunc modum, quod voluit persuasit, et cum milite transfugit ad Antonium. Eadem vero nocte milites pænitudo simul ac metus ejus, si vicisset, a quo missi fuerant, occupavit, eductisque gladiis, Cæcinam obtruncare voluerunt. Fecissentque nisi his advoluti tribuni supplicassent. Quamobrem cæde quidem se abstinuerunt, vinctum autem quasi proditorem Vitellio transmittendum habebant. His auditis Primus Antonius continuo suos movet, eosque cum armis in defectores ducit. |
Speaking at length in this way, he persuaded them to do what he wanted and crossed over the Antonius with his soldiers. But that very night both regret and fear of him by whom they had been sent, should he win, overcame them; and drawing their swords they sought to kill Cæcina. And they would have done so if the tribunes had not fallen on their knees before them and begged them not to. Although they refrained from killing him, they held him bound as traitor with the intention of sending him to Vitellius. Informed of this, Primus immediately mobilized his men and led them fully armed against the mutineers. |
| Illi autem instructi ad prœlium, paulisper quidem restiterunt, mox autem loco pulsi, Cremonam fugerunt. Primus autem comitatus equitibus cursus eorum prævertit : et ante civitatem circumclusam pleramque multitudinem peremit. Aggressus autem reliquos, oppidum militibus prædari permisit. In quo multi quidem hospites mercatores, multi vero indigenæ periere, totusque Vitellii exercitus, virorum XXX• milia et ducenti. Quin et Antonius eorum quos de Mœsia adduxerat quattuor milia et quingentos amittit. Solutum autem vinculis Cæcinam, rerum gestarum nuntium ad Vespasianum mittit. Qui ad eum intromissus et collaudatus est, et proditoris dedecus insperatis protexit honoribus. |
These formed a line and resisted for a while, but soon, driven from their positions, they fled to Cremona. But Primus, accompanied by his cavalry, cut off their path and, encircling them in front of the city, massacred the bulk of them. Attacking the rest, he gave his troops permission to loot the town. Amidst this, many foreign merchants and many of the inhabitants lost their lives, as well as Vitellius’ entire army of 30,200 men. By comparison, Antonius lost 4,500 of those whom he had led in from Mœsia. Antonius set Cæcina free of his bonds and sent him as a messenger of the events to Vespasian. He was received into the latter’s presence and praised, and covered his traitor’s disgrace with unexpected honors. |
| 4 |
| Romæ autem, Sabinus, ubi Antonium appropinquare cognovit, fiducia recreatus est, collectisque vigilum cohortibus, nocte occupat Capitolium. Luce vero facta, multi nobilium sociati sunt ei, et Domitianus, fratris filius, pars ingens obtinendæ victoriæ. Sed Vitellius de Primo quidem minime curabat. His autem iratus, qui cum Sabino defecerant, et nobilium sanguinem pro ingenita crudelitate sitiens, immittit Capitolio quam secum adduxerat militum manum. |
At Rome, Sabinus, when he learned that Antonius was approaching, regained his courage and, gathering the cohorts of the night watch, seized the Capitol in the night. At daybreak he was joined by many of the nobles, including Domitian, his brother’s son, a major part of the victory to be obtained. Vitellius cared little about Primus, but was furious with those who had defected with Sabinus and, thirsting for noble blood due to his congenital cruelty, he sent the band of soldiers he had brought with him against the Capitol. |
| Ubi multa ab his itemque ab illis, qui templum tenebant pugnantibus, audacter admissa sunt ; postremo autem Germani, quod multitudine superabant, collem obtinuerunt. Et Domitianus quidem cum multis Romanorum viris insignibus, divina quadam ratione salvus evasit : reliqua vero multitudo tota laniatur. Et Sabinus quidem ad Vitellium ductus occiditur ; milites autem, direptis donariis, templum incendunt. |
Many bold deeds were performed both by these fighters as well as by those who held the temple, but finally the Germans, because they were superior in numbers, captured the hill. Domitian and many leading Roman citizens escaped safely in a virtually supernatural way, but the rest of the garrison was cut to pieces. For his part, Sabinus was brought before Vitellius and put to death, while the soldiers plundered the votive treasures and set the temple on fire. |
| Tumque postero die cum exercitu venit Antonius, eumque Vitellii milites excipiunt : et trifario commisso intra urbem prœlio, omnes interiere. Procedit autem ebrius de palatio Vitellius, et ut assolet in extremis longiore luxu prodigæ mensæ refertus. Tractus autem per populum, varioque contumeliarum genere dehonestatus, in media urbe jugulatur, octo menses ac dies quinque potitus imperio : quem si vivere diutius contigisset, ut opinor, ejus luxuriæ minime sufficere potuisset imperium. Aliorum vero mortuorum supra L• milia numerata sunt. Hæc quidem gesta sunt die tertio mensis Octobris. |
The next day Antonius then arrived with his army and the soldiers of Vitellius met him; joining battle in three areas of the City, they perished to a man. Out of the palace came Vitellius, drunk, and as usual at the end glutted with the long luxury of a lavish meal. Dragged through the crowd, debased with various types of insults, his throat was cut in the middle of the city, after a reign of eight months and five days; if he had happened to live longer I am of the opinion that the Empire could not have satisfied his wantonness. Other casualties totalled over 50,000 dead. All this took place on the third of October {(actually, A.D. 69 December 20)}. |
| Postero autem die Mucianus cum exercitu Romam ingreditur, et Antonii militibus a cæde repressis (adhuc enim hospitia perscrutando, et Vitellii milites, et ex populo plurimos qui cum illo senserant, occidebant, examinationis diligentiam iracundia prævenientes) Domitianum productum populo rectorem insinuat, usque ad patris adventum. Populus autem jam timore liberatus imperatorem prædicat Vespasianum : simulque et illum confirmatum, et Vitellium esse dejectum festa lætitia celebrabat. |
The next day Mucianus entered with his army and stopped further slaughter by Antonius’ men (for while they were still searching the billets, killing Vitellius’s soldiers and a great many of the people who sympathized with him, their rage overpowered their diligence in investigation). He then brought Domitian forward and recommended him to the citizenry as head of state until his father should arrive. The people, free at last from fear, acclaimed Vespasian as Emperor, and with festive joy simultaneously celebrated his confirmation and the overthrow of Vitellius. |
| 5 |
— Caput E-14 —
Titus mittitur contra Judæos a patre. |
| Quum autem Vespasianus Alexandriam venisset, gesta ei Roma nuntiata sunt, et legati ei ex toto orbe congratulantes affuerunt : quumque maxima post Romam civitas esset, angustior multitudini videbatur. Firmato autem jam totius orbis Imperio, rebusque populi Romani præter spem conservatis, Vespasianus in Judææ reliquias intendit animum. Et ipse quidem, exacta hieme, Romam proficisci parabat, resque apud Alexandriam mature componere proponebat. Filium vero Titum cum selectis copiis ad excidendam Hierosolymam mittit. Qui terreno itinere Nicopolim usque progressus, ab Alexandria civitate XX• stadiorum intervallo distantem, inde militem longis navibus imponit : Niloque flumine post Mendesium tractum, Thmuin usque vehitur. Hinc autem egressus in terram, apud Tanin civitatem devertit. Unde secunda ei mansio fuit civitas Heraclea, et Pelusium tertia. Hic autem milite per biduum recreato ; tertio die Pelusii fines transiit : unamque mansionem profectus per solitudines, ad Casii Jovis templum castra posuit. Posteroque die apud Ostracinen, quæ mansio aquæ inops est, ob quam causam advecticia utuntur indigenæ. Hinc apud Rhinocoruram requiescit : et inde progressus in quartam mansionem, Raphiam venit, quæ prima occurrit Syriæ civitas. Gaza vero quintæ mansionis castra suscepit : et postea in Ascalonem, atque hinc Jamniam, deinde Joppen, et ex Joppe Cæsaream pervenit, decreto apud se, alias militum copias congregare. |
After arriving at Alexandria Vespasian received the good news from Rome, and envoys from all over the world were present to congratulate him, so that the City — bigger than any but Rome — seemed too small for the swollen population. Now that the whole Empire was secure and the supremacy of Rome so surprisingly re-established, Vespasian turned his attention to the final stages of the Judæan campaign. He himself was preparing, however, to embark for Rome in person as soon as winter ended, and was putting all his energy into getting things straight in Alexandria; but he sent Titus with the pick of his army to destroy Jerusalem. Titus marched overland to Nicopolis two and a half miles from Alexandria. There he put his army on board naval vessels and sailed up the Nile past the district of Mendes all the way to the city of Thmuis. Disembarking there he marched to the city of Tanis, where he camped. His second stopping-place was Heracleopolis, his third Pelusium. Here he rested his army for two days, and the next morning crossed the Pelusian borders, and after marching across the desert pitched camp by the temple of Casian Zeus, going on the next day to Ostrakine. At this stopping-place there was no water — the inhabitants have to fetch it from elsewhere. After this he rested at Rhinocorura, marching on from there to Raphia, his fourth stopping-place, a town on the Palestinian frontier. His fifth camp he pitched at Gaza, and then he went on to Ascalon, Jamnia, and Joppa, and from Joppa arrived at Cæsarea, where he had decided to assemble his other units. |
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