DE BELLO JUDAICO LIBER SEXTUS THE JEWISH WAR BOOK SIX Liber ⇚  I   ⇚  II  ⇚  III ⇚  IV  ⇚  V   ⇛  VII Capita — Chapters § 01 § 02 § 03 § 04 § 05 § 06 § 07 § 08 § 09 § 10 Book ⇚  I   ⇚  II  ⇚  III ⇚  IV  ⇚  V   ⇛  VII Palæstina with locations mentioned by Josephus Book 6 From the Great Extremity to which the Jews Were Reduced to the Taking of Jerusalem by Titus ⇑ § I Quod Judæorum calamitates magis ingravescebant :  utque in Antoniam impressionem faciunt Romani. That the Miseries Still Grew Worse ;  and How the Romans Made an Assault upon the Tower of Antonia. 1 — Caput G-1 — De suffossione murorum, succensione aggerum et Sabino oppugnante murum. CLADES quidem Hierosolymorum in pejus quotidie procedebant, quum et seditiosi magis accenderentur, adversis inclusi, postquam populum fames ipsosque jam possederat.  Quin et multitudo congestorum in civitate cadaverum et visu horrenda erat, odoremque pestiferam emittebat, quum excursus etiam pugnantium moraretur. Without question the disasters of the Jerusalemites grew worse by the day, since even the insurgents, hemmed in by the adverse conditions, were increasingly inflamed, after starvation had taken over the people and now themselves.  Furthermore, both the mass of piled-up bodies in the City was also horrible to look at and emitted a pestilential stench, while it hindered the sallies of the fighters Nam veluti per aciem ruerent, plurima cæde excitata, conculcare mortuos cogebantur :  et qui super eos pedem ponerent, neque miserabantur, neque horrebant :  nec saltem sibi augurio fore putabant contumeliam mortuorum.  Gentili autem cæde polluti, dexteras ad externum bellum præparabant, tanquam exprobrantes Deo (ut mihi videtur) supplicii sui tarditatem. For as though they were rushing through a battle line as great slaughter seethed about, they were forced to trample on the dead, and anyone who stepped on them neither pitied them nor was horrified;  they did not think their contempt for the dead might at least be an omen for themselves.  Polluted with the murder of their compatriots, they were readying their hands for a war against foreigners as though (as it seems to me) reproaching God for delaying their own capital punishment. Non enim spe victoriæ major pars eorum, sed desperatione salutis ferocius ferebatur.  Romani autem quamvis plurimum in aggreganda materia laborarent, tamen intra viginti et unum dies aggeres erexerunt, attonsis omnibus ad nonaginta usque stadia circa oppidum lucis.  Erat autem miserabilis terræ facies. For it was not by the hope of victory, but by despair of survival that the greater part of them were more fiercely motivated.  The Romans, on the other hand, although they had a great deal of trouble in gathering wood, nonetheless erected their bulwarks within twenty-one days, with all the forests around the town for ten miles {(ninety stades)} cut down.  The appearance of the landscape was indeed wretched. Nam quæ antea arboribus et paradisis ornata fuerat, ea tunc deserta præcisis undique arboribus cernebatur :  nec ullus qui pridem Judæam viderat alienigena et suburbana pulcherrima civitatis, quum ejus solitudinem tunc videret, continere lacrimas poterat, vel non gemere mutationem, quantum pristinis derogasset.  Omnia namque insignia pulchritudinis bellum deleverat :  nec si quis subito advenisset, qui locum prius scierat, eum cognosceret, sed præsens quæreret civitatem. For what formerly had been adorned with trees and parks was now seen to be deserted, with the trees cut down everywhere, and no foreigner who had once seen Judæa and the suburban areas of the City, after now seeing its desolation, could contain his tears or not heave a sigh over the change, how much it had declined from its former state.  For the war had wiped out all its extraordinary marks of beauty;  nor would anyone who had known the place formerly, if he suddenly arrived there, recognize it;  but, present on the spot, he would go searching for the City. 2 Romanis autem ac Judæis, finitum opus aggerum par faciebat timoris initium.  Namque hi, nisi eos quoque exurerent, captum iri civitatem putabant :  Romani autem, fortasse nec voluntatem sibi fore illis incensis alios parare. Now for the Romans as well as for the Jews, the completion of the work on the bulwarks in equal measure brought the start of their anxiety.  For the Jews believed that, if they could not burn those down too, the City would be taken;  on the other hand, the Romans thought that, with those burnt, they might perhaps not have the will to build others. Nam et materiæ defecerant :  et labori quidem corpora militum, crebris vero offensionibus animi cesserant.  Verum civitatis cladibus tristius Romani quam cives in ea degentes afficiebantur. Both because the wood was depleted, and the bodies of the soldiers had become debilitated for the labor, as also their spirits through the frequent attacks.  Indeed, the Romans were more sadly stricken by the disasters of the City than the citizens living in it. Ad mala enim quæ hinc accidebant, etiam pugnatoribus nihilo segnioribus utebantur, sed eorum spes frangebantur, quum aggeres insidiis, machinæ soliditate muri, manus vero conflictus audacia repugnantium superaretur :  et præcipue, quod cum seditione fameque ac bello totque malis præstantiores Judæorum animos invenirent, virorum quidem inexpugnabiles esse impetus arbitrabantur, invictam vero animorum magnitudinem quæ calamitatibus aleretur. In addition to the woes which were happening hence, the Jews availed themselves of fighters no less dispirited;  but the hopes of the Romans were broken, when their bulwarks were overcome by tricks, their artillery by the solidity of the wall, but also their hand-to-hand battles by the daring of the resisters;  and especially, because they found the Jews’ courage more heroic even with the insurgency and famine and war and so many evils, they thought that the attacks of the men were indeed undefeatable, that their psychological greatness, which was nourished by calamities, was unconquerable. Nam quis eos in rebus secundis sustineat, qui malis ad virtutem incitarentur ?  Illi quidem propterea cautius custodias præparabant. For who could stand up, under favorable circumstances, to those who were incited to valor by adversities?  For that reason, the Romans readied their guards with greater wariness. 3 Joannis autem factio apud Antoniam, simul et quæ futura timebantur, si disjiceretur murus, cavebat, et antequam arietes admoverentur operibus instabat :  nisi quia conatus eorum irritus fieret.  Aggressi enim cum facibus aggerem, spe decepti remeavere. On the other hand, at the Antonia, John’s faction was simultaneously also taking precautions against what future eventualities were feared if the wall were smashed, and attacked the works before the rams were brought up — except that their attempt turned out in vain.  For, having attacked the bulwark with torches, they turned back with their hopes crushed. Nam primum ne concordare quidem eorum videbatur consilium, paulatim et per intervalla, et cunctanter, non sine metu prosilientium, neque Judæorum more, ut breviter dicam.  Deerant enim quæ propria gentis essent, audacia, cursus, et omnium simul impetus :  et ut non sine offensione recederent. Because in the first place, their plan did not seem to be unified, running out gradually and in intervals and hesitatingly, not fearlessly — and not in the Jewish way, to put it briefly.  For the things characteristic of the people were lacking:  daring;  the dash;  and a simultaneous attack of everyone;  and that they might not withdraw without an encounter. Languidiores vero progressi quam solebant, etiam Romanos solito promptiores offendere :  qui corporibus quidem atque armis ita undique aggeres sæpsere, ut nusquam igni aditum relinquerent :  animum vero ita confirmaverunt, ne quis loco antequam occumberet moveretur. Rather, they went forth more leisurely than they normally did, to encounter Romans readier than usual, who surrounded their bulwarks on all sides with their bodies and weapons in such a way that nowhere did they leave access for a firebrand;  they were indeed so strengthened in resolve that no one would be moved from his station before he fell dead. Nam præter omnium rerum desperationem si etiam illud opus esset exustum, acerbissimus pudor milites occupaverat, si aut calliditati virtus cederet, aut arma temeritati, aut peritia multitudini, aut Judæis Romani.  Simul autem missilia pro illis faciebant in prosilientes delata :  et qui cecidisset, posteriores impediebat, ac periculum antecedentis molliores eos efficiebat. Because, besides the despair over everything if that work too were burnt down, extremely bitter shame would have come over the soldiers if their valor should yield to cunning, or weapons to rashness, or experience to numbers, or Romans to Jews.  At the same time, the Romans shot missiles for their men over at the oncoming Jews.  And if someone had fallen, he impeded the ones behind him, and the risk of the preceding one made them more yielding. Qui vero intra teli jactum venire properassent, alii disciplina hostium et densitate perterriti, alii confixi hastis retrocedebant :  et ad extremum alius alium timiditatis arguens, re infecta revertebantur.  Calendis autem Julii temptata fuerat expugnatio. Then, of those who rushed to get inside missile range, some, terrified by the discipline and compactness of the enemy, others, stabbed by spears, retreated;  and finally, with the one accusing the other of timidity, they returned with their mission unaccomplished.  The storming was attempted on the calends of July {(actually, A.D. 70 July 20)}. Judæis autem inde digressis, Romani machinas admovere, quamvis ab Antonia saxis atque igni ferroque peterentur, et quodcunque hostibus telum necessitas attulisset.  Nam licet multum mœnibus Judæi confiderent, machinasque contemnerent, tamen eas applicare prohibebant Romanos. With the Jews having left from there, the Romans moved up their machines, even though they were attacked from the Antonia with rocks and firebrands and metal projectiles, and whatever weapon necessity had provided to the foe.  For, granted that the Jews had a great deal of confidence in their walls and spurned the machines, they nevertheless prevented the Romans from bringing them up. Illi autem Judæis studium esse rati, ne murorum infirmitate Antonia læderetur, et fragilibus eam fundamentis suspicantes, contra certabant.  Nec tamen quod feriebatur, ictibus obœdiebat :  sed ipsi quidem crebris in se missilibus jactis, quum nullis periculis desuper venientibus lassarentur, arietum opus urgebant. The latter, however, thinking the desperation of the Jews to prevent the Antonia from being damaged as due to the weakness of its walls, and suspecting that it stood with fragile foundations, strove in the contrary direction.  But, despite being pounded, it did not give in to the blows.  But the Romans themselves, even with massed missiles thrown at them, while untiring under the dangers coming from above, pressed on with the work of the rams. Quum vero inferiores essent, ac lapidibus frangerentur, aliis scutis super corpora concameratis, fundamenta manibus, et vectibus suffodiebant.  Itaque saxis quattuor obstinato labore concussis, quietem utrisque nox attulit :  et in ea murus arietibus labefactatus, ex qua parte prioribus Joannes aggeribus insidiando murum suffoderat, subsidente cuniculo repente labitur. Yet while they were lower and being smashed with rocks, others, with shields as a roof over their bodies, were undermining the foundations with their hands and crowbars.  And thus, four boulders having been broken up through persistent labor, night brought rest to both sides.  And during it, the wall, tottering due to the rams, with the tunnel caving in at the spot where John had underdug the wall to attack the former bulwarks, suddenly collapsed. 4 Verum præter spem utrorumque animi affecti sunt.  Nam Judæi quidem quibus mærorem esse oportebat, quod ruina præter spem acciderat, et adversus eam præcauti non fuerant, tanquam maneret Antonia confidebant. As it turned out, the spirits of both were affected in unexpected ways.  For the Jews, who should have been dejected because the collapse had occurred unexpectedly and they had not guarded against it beforehand, were confident, as though the Antonia would remain. Romanorum autem inopinatam lætitiam ex celeri subversione natam, conspectus alius murus, quem intrinsecus Joannes ædificaverat, cito restinxit.  Verumtamen priore facilior oppugnatio videbatur. But seeing another wall which John had built inside quickly extinguished the unexpected joy produced by the sudden downfall.  Nevertheless, storming it seemed easier than the first. Tunc enim et ascensum per ruinas promptiorem, et Antonia esse infirmiorem murum qui recens erat, citoque destrui posse arbitrabantur.  Nemo tamen eum audebat ascendere :  quod ei qui primus id temptavisset, certissimum esset exitium. They believed that the climb would be speedier through the ruins and the wall which was new was weaker than the Antonia, and could be swiftly destroyed.  But still, no one dared to climb it, because for him who would have first tried it, death would be absolutely certain. 5 Titus vero spe atque oratione putans alacritatem pugnantium excitari, et adhortatione atque promissis sæpe quidem periculorum nasci oblivia, interdum autem mortem solere contemni, in unum congregatos fortissimos experiebatur dicens : But believing that the eagerness of fighting men was whipped up by hope and speeches, and forgetfulness of dangers was often raised by exhortations and promises — death moreover sometimes typically spurned —, gathering together the most valiant, Titus put them to the test, saying: « Commilitones, hortari quidem ad ea quæ periculum non afferunt, aperte et ipsis qui rogantur, et qui eos rogant, ignaviæ reprehensionem parit.  Exhortatione autem opus est in solis rebus ambiguis :  quippe illa per se quenque gerere dignum est. “Fellow soldiers!  Exhorting men to do things that do not entail danger, certainly, openly invites an accusation of cowardliness, both for those who are asked and for those who ask.  Exhortation is needed strictly in precarious circumstances;  indeed, it is proper for every man to deal with those other matters by himself. Itaque difficilem vobis in murum esse ascensum ipse profiteor :  quod autem vel maxime oporteat gloriæ cupidos pugnare cum difficillimis rebus, pulchrumque sit cum laude mori, nec erit infructuosum si qui primi fortiter fecerint, prosequar.  Primum quidem vos illud hortetur, quod nonnullos fortasse deterreat, Judæorum patiens animus, et in adversis rebus dura constantia. So I admit that the climb up the wall is difficult;  but I would go further:  that it is highly becoming for those desirous of glory to fight in the most difficult circumstances, and that it is a beautiful thing to die with praise, and will not be uncompensated if some are the first to do so valiantly.  Firstly, then, let what perhaps scares off some be an encouragement to you:  the longsuffering spirit of the Jews and their unbending steadfastness in adversities. Romanos enim eosque milites, quibus in pace bella discere, in bello autem vincere consuetum est, a Judæis manu vel animo superari turpissimum est :  idque in fine victoriæ, quum etiam Dei nitamur auxilio.  Namque offensiones nostræ, Judaicæ desperationes sunt.  Illorum autem clades favore Dei vestrisque virtutibus crescunt. But for the Romans and those soldiers who during peace are accustomed to learning war, but during war to conquer, it is utterly disgraceful to be overcome by the Jews in arm or spirit — and that on the edge of victory, when we are also striving with the help of God.  For the offense is ours, the despair being Jewish.  Moreover, with God’s backing of you, and your valor, their disasters grow. Etenim seditio, fames, obsidio, murorumque sine machinis casus, quid sit aliud quam in illos ira Dei, nostrumque adjumentum.  Igitur non solum deterioribus inferiores videri, sed etiam divinum præsidium prodere, vobis non convenit. For indeed, the insurgency, famine, the siege and the collapse of the walls without our machines — what else might it be than God’s anger against them and His help of us?  It is thus improper for you not only to seem inferior to those worse off, but to betray divine protection. Quo pacto autem non turpe videatur, Judæos quidem, quibus non magni pudoris est, vinci, qui servire didicerint, quo minus in posterum id patiantur, mortem contemnere :  atque in nos medios frequenter excurrere, non victoriæ spe, sed ostentationis gratia :  nos autem totius pæne terræ marisque victores, quibus etiam non vincere probro habetur, otiosos sedentes, ne semel quidem in hostes aliquid audaciter expertos, famem ac fortunam cum his armis operiri ? So in this way should it not seem something disgraceful for the Jews — for whom it is no great shame to be conquered —, who have learned to be slaves, to spurn death in order not to endure it in the future;  and for them frequently to make sallies into the midst of us, not out of hope of victory but for the sake of display;  while we, conquerors of almost the entire earth and sea — for whom even not to conquer is disgraceful —, sitting idle, having not even once audaciously attempted anything, wait out famine and fortune with these arms? Maxime quum parvo discrimine totum possitis efficere.  Denique in Antoniam si ascenderimus, habebimus civitatem.  Nam et si pugnandum sit adversum intus positos, quod non arbitror, attamen capiti ac respirationi hostium insedere, victoriam nobis plenissimam repromittit. Especially when you could finish the whole thing off with little danger.  Finally, if we surmount the Antonia, we will have the City.  For even if there is fighting against those stationed inside — which I do not expect —, nevertheless, sitting on the head and the breathing of the enemy promises us an utterly complete victory. Equidem prætermissa nunc eorum laude, qui in bello cecĭdēre, et immortalitate, qui Martio furore prostrati sunt, ex morbo pacis tempore mortem aliter sentientibus imprecor, quorum anima cum corpore sepultura damnatur. I myself — omitting for now the praise of those who have fallen in war, and the immortality of those who have been laid low in the furor of battle — invoke a curse of death from disease in time of peace on those who feel otherwise — those whose souls are condemned with their bodies in burial. Quis enim virorum fortium nescit, quod animas in acie ferro corporibus absolutas, purissimum elementum æther hospitio receptas inter sidera collocat, manesque se bonos ac propitios heroas, videndos offerunt posteris suis ? For who of brave men does not know that the purest element — the ether —, hospitably receiving souls separated from their bodies in battle by the sword, places them among the stars, and that their shades manifest themselves to their descendants to be seen as good and propitious heroes? Quas vero morbus corporis tabesque consumpserit, et si maxime probris ac piaculis purgatæ sint, subterraneæ tenebræ operiunt, altaque oblivio suscipit, corporis simul et vitæ ac memoriæ fine circumscriptas.  Quod si necessario mors homini decreta est, ad hoc autem omni morbo levius est ferri ministerium, cui non videatur ignavum negare usui, quod debito redditurus sit. But subterranean darkness covers those whom disease of the body and wasting away consumes, even if they may have been completely cleansed of vices and sins;  and deep oblivion overtakes them, terminating them through the end of their bodies along with that both of their lives and their memory.  Yet if death has been necessarily decreed for man, while added to this is the fact that the service of the sword is more endurable than any disease, to whom might it not seem weak-willed to deny to usefulness what one will be rendering to an obligation? Et hæc quidem velut servari nequeant, vel qui conati fuerint, prosecutus sum.  Est autem salutis spes in maximis quoque periculis qui virilem animum gerunt.  Primum enim, quod decidit, patet incessui :  deinde totum quod ædificatum est, facillime dissolvi potest. And indeed I have been talking about these things as though those who try them cannot be saved.  But for those who maintain a virile spirit there is a hope of surviving even in the greatest perils.  To begin with, what has fallen down lays things open for an attack;  next, everything that has been constructed can quite easily be demolished. Vosque plures hoc opus aggredientes, alias alii pro adhortatione fietis atque subsidio :  vestraque obstinatio brevi animos hostium franget :  ac fortasse nobis, si eam tantum cœperimus, incruenta res efficietur. With many of you undertaking this task, the ones will become as encouragement and supports to the others, and your persistence will in short order break the spirits of the enemy, and perhaps, if we just start it, a bloodless success will result for us. Etenim ascendentes quidem nos prohibere scilicet conabuntur.  Si vero clam vel etiam per vim aliquid egerimus semel, quamvis paucos non sustinebunt.  Me autem profecto pudeat, nisi qui primus hoc fecerit, invidendum remunerationibus fecero :  et qui vixerit quidem nunc æqualibus præsit :  beatissima vero præmia sequantur occisos. » Yes, they will indeed try to stave us off as we climb.  But if we have once stealthily or even by force achieved something, they will not hold out against however few we are.  Moreover, I would certainly be ashamed if with remunerations I did not indeed make enviable the man who first achieves this;  and he who survives will be promoted over those now his peers, while the most blessed awards will follow those killed.” 6 Talia dicente Tito, cetera quidem multitudo periculi magnitudinem timuit :  eorum vero unus, qui in cohortibus militarent, Sabinus nomine, genere Syrus, vir et manu simul et animo fortis apparuit :  licet si quis eum ante vidisset, quantum ex habitu corporis, ne specie quidem militem esse credidisset :  erat enim colore nigro, exilis habitudine :  sed anima quædam heroica in macro corpore, atque angustiore viribus suis habitabat. As Titus was saying these things, the rest of the multitude was in fear of the magnitude of the danger;  but one of those who was serving in the {(auxiliary)} cohorts, Sabinus by name, a man strong both of arm and spirit, appeared;  granted, if anyone had seen him before, as regards from his bodily stature, one would not have believed him to be a soldier even from his appearance, for he was black in color, slight of build;  but a heroic soul dwelt in his lean body and his limited strength. Quum primus itaque surrexisset, « Dedo me », inquit, « tibi alacri animo Cæsar, et ante omnes in murum ascendo :  atque opto quidem, ut vires ac voluntatem meam sequatur fortuna tua.  Quod si, cœpto, casus inviderit, scito me non præter spem, quod res aliter cesserit, sed quod sic decreverim, pro te moriturum. » When, thus, he as the first one arose, he said, “With an eager spirit I devote myself to you, Cæsar, and I, ahead of everyone else, am scaling that wall;  and I indeed wish that your fortune may attend my strength and determination.  But if, having undertaken it, events should begrudge me, know it was not that I was unexpecting that things should turn out otherwise, but because I have decided to die for you!” His dictis, et scutum læva capiti prætendens, strictoque dextera gladio, circa horam diei sextam murum petebat, sequebantur autem ex aliis, qui soli ejus virtutis æmuli esse cupiebant, undecim viri.  Multo autem omnes antecedebat divino quodam impetu excitatus, quum de muro custodes jaculis et sagittis undique infinitis appeterent, atque ingentia saxa devolverent, quæ nonnullos de undecim dejecerunt. Having said this, and holding up his shield before his head with his left hand and with his drawn sword in his right, about the sixth hour of the day he made for the wall while, of the others, eleven men who alone desired to be emulators of his valor followed him.  Animated by a divine frenzy, he preceded all of them by far, while from the wall the guards attacked them with innumerable javelins and arrows from all sides, and threw huge rocks down which toppled some of the eleven. Sabinus autem missilibus occurrens, licet obrueretur sagittis, non tamen ante impetum cohibuit, quam summa muri prehenderet, hostesque in fugam verteret.  Viribus enim ejus atque animi pertinacia territi, pluresque ascendisse rati, non steterunt.  Qua in re fortunam quis veluti virtutibus invideat, semperque præclaris facinoribus officiat, non incusaverit ? Sabinus, however, running opposite the projectiles, even though being swamped by arrows, nevertheless did not stop his attack before he had taken over the top of the wall and put the enemy to flight.  For, terrified by his strength and pertinacity of spirit, thinking more had climbed up, they did not stay there.  In such a case, who would not denounce fortune, as though it envied his valor and always impedes brilliant deeds? Siquidem hīc vir neque ab incepto erravit, et offensione lapidis cum maximo crepitu pronus decidit.  Unde factum est, ut Judæi reversi, ubi solum et jacentem videre, ex omni eum parte jaculis peterent. For if indeed here the man did not fail in his undertaking, he also, by stumbling over a rock, fell down flat with a large crash.  Hence it happened that the Jews, turning around when they saw him alone and lying down, attacked him from every side with javelins. Ille vero genibus nixus, et scuto protectus, primo quidem ulciscebatur hostes, multosque ad se appropinquantes sauciavit :  vulnerum autem multitudine remisit dexteram :  et ad extremum, priusquam redderet animam, sagittis est obrutus, vir dignus pro fortitudine qui meliori fortuna uteretur, pro mensura vero cœpti facinoris cecidit.  Ceteri autem tres pæne jam summa tenentes, obtriti lapidibus perierunt, et octo sauciati detracti, et in castra relati sunt.  Hæc quidem tertia die mensis Julii gesta sunt. However, supporting himself on his knees and protected by his shield, at first he avenged himself on the enemy and wounded many approaching him;  but as a result of a large number of wounds, he dropped his right hand and, in the end, before he gave up his ghost, he was buried with arrows:  a man who for his bravery was deserving of experiencing a better fortune fell in accordance with the greatness of the deed he had undertaken.  Moreover three others, then almost holding the top, died, smashed by rocks;  and eight wounded were retrieved and carried back into the camp.  These things happened on the third day of the month of July {(actually, A.D. 70 July 22)}. 7 — Caput G-2 — Romani Antoniam invadunt, et a Judæis repelluntur. Biduo autem post, viginti de numero excubantium per aggeres militum congregati, signiferum ordinis sui, et duos quosdam ex ala equitum, et tubicinem unum ad se vocant :  nonaque noctis hora per ruinas ad Antoniam otiose procedunt. Two days later, after twenty of the number of night watchguard soldiers had gathered together, they called up the standard-bearer of their unit and some two of the {(auxiliary)} cavalry squadron and one trumpter, and at the ninth hour of the night {(ca. 2:30 A.M.)} they advanced quietly through the ruins to the Antonia. Occisis autem primis custodibus somno oppressis, murum obtinent, ac bucina signum dari præcipiunt :  quo ceteri quidem vigiles subito exsuscitantur, et fugiunt priusquam multitudinem quæ murum ascenderat, cernerent.  Nam et timor illis, et tuba imaginem quandam, ut magnum hostium numerum ascendisse crederent, ostendit. Having killed the first guards who were overcome with sleep, they took over the wall and ordered the signal to be given with the trumpet, at which the other watchmen were suddenly awakened and fled before seeing the crowd which had scaled the wall.  For their panic and the trumpet presented them with an illusion so that they believed a large number of the enemy had climbed up. Cæsar autem signo audito, propere armat exercitum :  et cum ducibus primis lectorum caterva comitatus, ascendit.  Quum autem Judæi ad templum interius confugissent, ipsi quoque per cuniculum irruperunt, quem Joannes adversum Romanorum aggeres aperuerat.  Dispositique amborum agminum seditiosi, tam Joannis quam Simonis, arcebant eos summa vi atque alacritate repugnandi. On the other hand, Cæsar, hearing the signal, quickly mobilized the army and, accompanied by a squad of elites with their leading officers, climbed up.  Since the Jews, however, had fled to the inner Temple, the Romans themselves also broke in through the tunnel that John had opened against the bulwarks of the Romans.  With the insurgents of both battle groups — both of John as well as of Simon — separately deployed, with utmost force and energy of resistance they fought off the Romans. Siquidem excidii finem putabant, locum sanctum penetrasse Romanos, quod et his victoriæ principium fuit.  Ad ipsum autem adytum validissima pugna committitur, his quidem templum vi occupare certantibus, Judæis vero Antoniam versus eos repellentibus.  Et sagittæ quidem ac hastæ utrisque inutiles erant, strictis autem ensibus dimicabant. For indeed, they considered as the completion of the annihilation, the Romans having penetrated the Sanctuary — which for the Romans was the beginning of victory.  So an extremely violent battle was joined at the very entrance, with the Romans striving to take the Temple by force, the Jews, on the other hand, pushing them back toward the Antonia.  Moreover, arrows and spears were useless for both sides, so they fought with drawn swords. Neque conflictu discerni poterat, ex qua parte quisque pugnaret, permixtis viris et propter angustias permutatis, quum et vocis intellectum magnitudo confunderet, multaque mors esset utrinque, armaque simul et cadavera jacentium conculcata frangerent prœliantes. Nor, due to the mêlée, could it be determined on which side anyone was fighting, with the men intermixed and, due to the confines, switched around, since the intensity drowned out any understanding of voices;  and there was much death on both sides, and the fighters crushed both the weapons and the trampled bodies of the fallen. Semper autem si bellum fluctuans gravasset alteram partem, potiorum exhortatio et inferiorum conquestio nascebatur.  Neque aut fugæ, aut persecutioni locus erat :  sed propinquæ mutationes confligentium, et inclinationes permixte fiebant exercitus.  Qui vero inter primos stetissent, aut occidendi aut moriendi necessitatem habebant, quod refugere non dabatur.  Nam et posteriores utriusque partis, suos in frontem urgebant, nullumque inter dimicantes bello vacuum intervallum reliquerant. But always, if the fluctuating battle was weighing down one side, the exhortations of the stronger and the wailings of the lesser would arise.  But there was no room for flight or pursuit;  rather, there were reciprocal exchanges of those fighting, and the swings of army occurred intermixedly.  Indeed, those who stood among the foremost had the necessity of killing or dying, because no fleeing was possible.  For those in back of each side were pressing their men in front, and had left no space for combat between the fighters. Quum autem Judæorum animi Romanorum peritiam vincerent, jamque omnino tota acies pelleretur (a nona enim hora noctis ad septimam diei usque pugnabant), hi quidem simul omnes excidii periculum pro nutrimento virtutis habebant :  Romani vero exercitus parti (nondum enim ascenderant legiones, illisque spes pugnantium nitebatur) satis esse visum est in præsentia, Antoniam obtinere. But when the passion of the Jews overcame the experience of the Romans, and then absolutely the entire battle line was pushed back (for they had fought from the ninth hour of the night all the way to the seventh of the day), they simultaneously all considered the danger of annihilation as nourishment of their valor, while to a part of the Roman army (for the legions had not yet climbed up, and the hope of the fighters depended on them) holding the Antonia seemed to be enough for the present. 8 — Caput G-3 — De Juliano Romano milite insigni fortitudine. Julianus vero quidam, centurio ex Bithynia non ignobilis, quem in illo bello et armorum peritia et viribus corporis et animi spiritu omnium fortissimum ipse cognovi, ubi Romanos jam cedere et male repugnare conspexit (propter Titum autem apud Antoniam stabat) subito prosiliit, jamque Judæos vincentes solus ad interiorem usque templi angulum persecutus est. Then a certain Julian, a not ignoble centurion from Bithynia, whom in that war I myself knew to be the most valiant of all in skill of arms and strength of body and dynamism of soul, when he saw the Romans now giving way and resisting badly (as he was standing next to Titus at the Antonia), he suddenly jumped forth and then alone pursued the conquering Jews all the way to the interior corner of the Temple. Fugiebat autem universa multitudo, neque vim ejus neque audaciam hominis esse opinantes.  At ille per medios ruens, quos alios alio disjecerat, ipsos quos occupasset interficiebat :  eaque facie nihil Cæsari admirabilius, aut aliis horribilius visum est.  Verum et ipsum profecto fata persequebantur, quæ ab homine vitari non possunt. Thereupon the entire crowd fled, believing neither his power nor audacity to be that of a human being.  And he, rushing through their midst, dispersed some of them in different directions, killing those whom he had overtaken;  to Cæsar nothing seemed more amazing than that sight, to the others nothing more horrible.  But fate, which cannot be avoided by man, indeed pursued him too. Calceos namque habens, creberrimis atque acutis clavis, ut ceteri solent milites, fixos, dum strato saxeis crustis sŏlo curreret, labitur :  magnoque cum armorum sono dejectus, in tergum fugientes reduxit.  Et Romanorum quidem clamor ex Antonia sublatus est, saluti ejus metuentium :  Judæi vero multi simul gladiis et hastis undique feriebant. For having shoes fastened with numerous and sharp nails as other soldiers normally do, as he was running over ground paved with rock flagstones, he slipped and, falling down with the loud sound of his armor, he caused those fleeing to come back at him.  And a cry of the Romans fearing for his safety went up from the Antonia, while simultaneously the Jews struck him with swords and spears from every side. Ille autem, multam quidem ferri vim scuto excipiebat :  sæpe autem conatus erigere se, percutientium multitudine revolutus est, et jacens tamen gladio multos perculit.  Nec enim cito peremptus est, quando galea et thorace omnia membra neci opportuna sæptus erat, namque diu cervicem contraxerat, donec concisis aliis ejus membris remisit vires, quum ei nemo auderet succurrere. But he took a great deal of sword strikes on his shield;  often trying to get up, he was thrown back down by the mass of attackers and, nonetheless, while lying down ran many through with his sword.  Yet he was not killed quickly, since he had been protected on all members liable to death blows by his helmet and breastplate, for he had pulled in his neck for a long time until, with his other members cut up, he lost his strength when no one dared to run to his help. Nimius autem dolor Cæsarem tenuit, ubi tantæ fortitudinis virum in conspectu tantæ multitudinis vidit occidi :  et quod locus se quidem intercludebat auxilium ferre cupientem :  alios autem, ne possent, metus impediebat.  Julianus igitur diu cum morte luctatus, quum non paucos interfectorum suorum saucios reliquisset, ægre peremptus est :  magna sui gloria, non apud Romanos tantum et Cæsarem, verum apud hostes quoque relicta :  Judæi vero etiam mortui rapto corpore, Romanos in fugam versos, in Antoniam conclusere. Great sadness overcame Cæsar when he saw a man of such bravery killed within sight of such a multitude, and because the location indeed blocked him when he wanted to get help to him, while fear prevented others from being able to.  So Julian, having long struggled with death, when he had left not a few of his own killers wounded , was killed with difficulty, having left behind his own great glory, not just among Romans and Cæsar, but even among the enemy;  indeed, the Jews, having also seized the body of the dead man, shut up in the Antonia the Romans they put to flight. Fortiter autem in eo prœlio decertavere, Alexas quidem et Gephthæus, ex agmine Joannis, ex parte vero Simonis, Malachias, et Mertonis filius Judas, et Sosæ filius Jacobus, dux Idumæorum :  Zelotæ vero fratres duo filii Jairi Simon et Judas. But fighting bravely in that battle were Alexas and Gephthæus from John’s troops, and of Simon’s side, Malachias, and Judas son of Merton, and James, son of Sosas, leader of the Idumæans;  then the two Zealot brothers, Simon and Jude, sons of Jairus. ⇑ § II Quomodo Titus, quum Antoniam dirui jussisset, Josephum incitavit, ut Judæos iterum verbis hortaretur. How Titus Gave Orders to Demolish the Tower of Antonia and Then Persuaded Josephus to Exhort the Jews Again [to a Surrender]. 1 — Caput G-4 — Josephi oratio pro deditione Judæorum et profugium eorum. TITUS autem militibus suis imperat Antoniæ fundamenta diruere, facilemque ascensum cuncto exercitui præparare.  Ipse vero Josepho ad se vocato (namque audierat eo die qui erat mensis Julii septimus decimus, divinam observantiam, quæ entelechismos vocatur, virorum penuria defuisse, eaque re populum nimis dolere) iterum dici Joanni præcepit quæ ante mandaverat :  quod etiam si quis eum pugnandi sævus amor teneret, cum qua placeret ei multitudine, ad bellum progredi liceret. Titus now ordered his soldiers to demolish the foundations of the Antonia and to prepare an easy ramp for the entire army.  He himself, calling Josephus to himself (for he had heard that on that day, which was the seventeenth of July {(A.D. 70 Aug 5)}, a religious observance called “endelechismos” {(ἐνδελεχισμός, “continuousness, persistence, perpetuity,” i.e., “perpetual [= daily] sacrifice”)} had been omitted due to the lack of men, and due to that fact the populace was grieving greatly), he again ordered him to say to John what he had charged him with before:  that even if some ferocious urge to fight possessed him, with whatever multitude that pleased him he would be free to advance to combat. Dum modo non una secum et civitas interiret simul et templum :  sanctum tamen locum violare desineret, neve in Deum nefas admitteret.  Potestatem autem haberet si vellet, sacra intermissa celebrare per Judæos quos ipse delegisset. The City and the Temple should just not perish at the same time with him;  instead, let him cease violating the Holy Place and not commit crimes against God.  He might have the opportunity, if he wished, to celebrate the interrupted rites through whatever Jews he himself might choose. Itaque Josephus, ne soli Joanni hæc intimarentur, sed etiam pluribus, unde exaudiri posset constitit, et mandata Cæsaris Hebraico sermone disseruit.  Multum autem eos quo patriæ parcerent precabatur, ignemque depellerent jam templo contiguum, Deoque vota redderent consueta.  His dictis populus tristitia simul et silentio tenebatur.  Multis autem conviciis tyrannus Josepho cum exsecrationibus lacerato, postremo addidit, nunquam sibi excidium esse metuendum, quoniam Dei civitas esset. And so Josephus, so that these things might be made known not to John alone but to many, stood where he could be heard and explained Cæsar’s instructions in the Hebrew language.  Indeed, he pled earnestly with them to spare their fatherland and to stave off the fire now within reach of the Temple, and to render their customary prayers to God.  At these words the populace was struck simultaneously with sadness and silence.  But the tyrant, slandering Joseph with many insults along with curses, finally added that they would never have to fear destruction, because the City was God’s. Atque cum exclamatione, « Sane vero, » inquit Josephus, « eam puram Deo conservasti, inviolataque sancta mansere :  nec in eum cujus speras auxilium, quicquam impium deliquisti :  sed sollemnia sacra consequitur. At that Josephus, with a loud voice, said, “Oh, yes indeed, you have kept it pure, and the Sanctuary has remained inviolate, nor have you committed anything impious against Him Whose help you are hoping for;  moreover, the solemn rites continue. Et si quidem tibi quisquam quotidianum auferat cibum, impium eum hostem putabis :  Deum vero, quem perpetua religione privaveris, belli auxilio speras futurum ?  Et Romanis peccata imputas ?  Qui nostras leges etiam nunc tuentur :  et quæ ipse intercidisti sacra, Deo reddi compellunt.  Quis non inopinatæ mutationis causam gemat, ac defleat civitatem ? “And indeed, if someone took away your daily food from you, you would consider him a criminal enemy;  but you hope that God, Whom you have deprived of the Perpetual Sacrifices, will be your help in war?  And you impute the sins to the Romans?  They are now even preserving our laws, and the sacred rites that you yourself have cut off, they are forcing to be returned to God.  Who would not lament this cause of unexpected change, and weep for the City? Quum alieni quidem, hostesque impietatem tuam corrigant.  Tu vero Judæus et inter leges educatus, illis quoque in has sævior inveniaris.  Atqui Joannem etiam pænitere malorum, non est turpe in rebus extremis, bonumque tibi exemplum patriam servare cupienti propositum est, Jechonias rex Judæorum :  qui quondam Babyloniis bellum sibi inferentibus, sponte civitate priusquam caperetur excessit, et cum cognatione sua voluntariam captivitatem sustinuit, ne hæc sancta hostibus proderet, Deique domum videret exuri. “All, while foreigners and enemies are correcting your criminality.  But you, a Jew and reared in the Law, are found to be more barbarous toward it than they are.  But in extreme cases it is not disgraceful even for John to repent of his misdeeds, and a good example for someone who wishes to preserve the fatherland was presented to you — Joakim, king of the Jews, who once, when the Babylonians were waging war against him, of his own accord left the City before it was captured and with their own relatives underwent voluntary captivity lest these Holy Places be betrayed to the enemy and he should see the house of God burnt down. Ob hoc sacra Judæorum commemoratione laudatur :  eumque memoria transmissa per sæcula semper nova immortalem posteris tradidit.  Bonum o Joannes exemplar, et si periculum præsto sit :  ego autem veniam quoque tibi a Romanis spondeo — dum meminerīs, quod gentilis moneam, et Judæis ista promittam :  spectarique oporteat, quis sit auctor et unde consilium. “For this, he is praised in the sacred commemorations of the Jews;  and our memory, ever renewed through the centuries, hands him down undying to posterity.  A good example, John, even if danger is present;  but I myself promise forgiveness by the Romans even to you — given, you remember that it is as a compatriot that I am giving this warning, and promising these things to Jews, and that it should be considered who the counsellor is and whence comes the counsel. Absit enim unquam me ita captivum vivere, ut genus aut leges patrias obliviscar.  Rursum indignaris et clamas, mihique maledicis.  Etiam acerbiora mereor, qui hæc adversus fata suadeo, Deique sententia condemnatos servare contendo.  Quis ignorat scripta veterum prophetarum, et responsum impendens miserrimæ civitati ? “For let it never be that I should so live as a captive that I should forget my race or the Law of our fatherland.  Again you rage and shout and curse me.  I deserve even harsher things — I, who am importuning you in opposition to this fate, and who strive to preserve those condemned by the verdict of God.  Who does not know the writings of the ancient prophets and the {<oracular>} response impending over this wretched City? Jam tunc enim ejus excidium prædixere, quum quis homicidium gentile cœpisset.  Vestrorum autem cadaverum non civitas tantum, sed etiam templum omne repletum est.  Deus plane, Deus ipse cum Romanis ignem sibi lustrationis infert, totque scelerum plenam exurit civitatem. » “For they predicted its annihilation to be then when someone began the murdering of his fellow countrymen.  Not just the City, but even the whole Temple is filled with your corpses.  Clearly, with the Romans, God — God Himself ! — is bringing the fire of purification in to Himself, and burning down a City filled with so many crimes.” 2 Hæc Josepho cum fletu et lacrimis prosequente, vox ejus singultibus interrupta est.  Et Romani quidem miserati dolorem, admirati sunt.  Joannes autem ejusque socii magis contra Romanos irritabantur, illum quoque capere cupientes.  Nobilium tamen plurimos commovit ejus oratio. As Josephus followed these words with weeping and tears, his voice was broken off by sobs.  Even the Romans, pitying his sadness, were in admiration.  But John and his confederates were all the more aggravated at the Romans, desiring to capture him as well.  Nonetheless, his speech moved many of the upper class. Et nonnulli quidem seditiosorum custodias formidantes, locis suis manebant, jamdudum certi de suo pariter et civitatis exitio.  Fuerunt autem, qui capto discessionis tempore, ad Romanos confūgēre :  in quibus erant pontifices Josephus et Jesus. And fearing the guards, even some of the insurgents, long since convinced of the doom, equally, of themselves and the City, stayed in their places.  But there were those who, seizing the right time for escape, fled to the Romans, among whom were the pontiffs Joseph and Jesus. Filii vero pontificum, tres quidem Išmaëlis, cui apud Cyrenen fuerat caput abscisum, et Matthiæ quattuor :  alterius vero Matthiæ unus, qui post interitum patris aufugerat, quem Simon Gioræ cum tribus filiis, ut supra dictum est, interemit. There were, moreover, three sons of Išmaël, who had been beheaded in Cyrene, and four of Matthew;  but of the other Matthew, there was one who had fled after the death of his father whom Simon of Gioras had killed with three sons, as mentioned above. Multi autem nobiles cum pontificibus defecere :  eosque imperator quum per alia humane suscepit, tum sciens in alienigenis moribus illis versari molestum esse, in Gophnam dimisit, ut ibi manerent interim, multas etiam pollicitus possessiones cuique peracto bello se redditurum. Moreover many upper-class individuals defected with the pontiffs, and the field marshal not only received them humanely but, knowing it would be unpleasant for them to live amidst alien customs, sent them off to Gophna to stay there for the time being, even promising he would return many possessions to each one when the war was over. Illi quidem in destinatum municipium læti cum omni cautione discedunt.  His autem in civitate non visis, rumor seditiosis iterum diffamatus est, quod Romani transfugas occidissent, ut hoc metu videlicet a fuga reliquos deterrerent.  Et paulisper quidem hæc calliditas eorum, sicut antea, valuit, timor autem profugere cupientes inhibuit. With every safe conduct, they indeed left happily for the appointed colony.  But when they were not seen in the City, a rumor was again spread by the insurgents that the Romans had killed the deserters — clearly, so that through this fear they could frighten the rest.  And for a little while this trick of theirs, as before, worked;  as a result, fear kept those wanting to from fleeing. 3 Rursus autem postquam eos Titus revocatos a Gophna cum Josepho murum circumire, et populo conspici jussit, multi ad Romanos fugiebant.  In unum vero congregati, et ante Romanos stantes, cum lacrimis atque ululatu seditiosos rogabant, primo quidem ut in civitatem Romanos susciperent, patriamque servarent :  si hoc displiceret, saltem de fano exirent, templumque sibi liberarent.  Nec enim ausuros sine maxima necessitate Romanos ignem sanctis immittere. But after Titus, recalling the men from Gophna, ordered them to go around the walls with Joseph and be shown to the people, many fled to the Romans.  They gathered together in a group and, standing in front of the Romans, with tears and wailing they asked the insurgents, firstly, to accept the Romans into the City after all, and save the fatherland;  if this displeased them, at least to go out of the Sanctuary and free the Temple for themselves.  For the Romans would not set fire to the Sanctuary without extreme necessity. His illi magis adversabantur, multaque in transfugas vociferati convicia, supra sacras portas jacula et ballistas et saxorum disposuere tormenta, ut omne quidem circum fanum spatium multitudine mortuorum sepulchro, templum vero ipsum castello simile videretur. The insurgents opposed them all the more and, shouting many insults at the deserters, placed their javelin-shooters and ballistas and rock-throwers atop the sacred gates so that, with the mass of dead, the entire area around the Sanctuary seemed similar to a graveyard, and the Temple itself to a fortress. In loca vero sancta et inaccessa, cum armis adhuc et manibus gentili cæde calentibus insiliebant :  et ad hanc processere legis injuriam ut, quam Judæos indignationem oporteret exercere si hæc Romani admitterent, ea tunc in Judæos propria sacra temerantes, uterentur Romani milites.  Nemo sane fuit eorum qui non cum honore templum aspiceret, atque adoraret, latronesque optaret, antequam immedicabile malum contingeret, pænitere. They sprang into sacrosanct and forbidden precincts with weapons and hands still warm from the slaughter of their countrymen and proceeded to such a transgression of the Law, that the outrage the Jews ought to have displayed if the Romans had committed those things, the Romans then felt against the Jews defiling their own holy places.  Indeed, there was not one of the Romans who did not look on the Temple with reverence and address his prayers thither, and who did not wish that the brigands would repent before an irremediable disaster occurred. 4 Titus autem dolens vicem eorum, iterum Joannem ejusque socios increpabat, dicens :  « Nonne vos, o sceleratissimi, cancello sanctum locum protexistis ?  Nonne litteris Græcis ac nostris incisas tabulas constituistis, quibus ne sæpta cuiquam transgredi liceret, edicitur ? Moreover Titus, aggrieved over their plight, again reproached John and his confederates, saying, “Did not you yourselves, o worst of criminals, protect the Holy Place with a balustrade?  Did you not set up signs ingraved with Greek and our letters, by which it was proclaimed that it was not allowed for anyone to cross the barrier? Nonne eos qui transissent, quamvis Romanus quis esset, vobis necare permisimus ?  Quid igitur in eo etiam mortuos conculcastis, o nocentissimi ?  Aut cur templum et externi et gentilis sanguinis confusione polluistis ? Did we not allow you to kill those who crossed it, even though someone might be a Roman?  Why, then, are you even trampling the dead in it, o most pernicious ones?  Or why are you polluting the Temple with the shedding of both foreign and native blood? Testor ego patrios deos, et si quis unquam hunc locum ante aspexit (nunc enim neminem credo) itemque testor et exercitum meum et Judæos qui apud me sunt, et vosipsos, quod non ego vos violare hæc compellam :  quin et si locum acies vestra mutaverit, neque accedet ad sancta quispiam Romanorum, nec quicquam in eorum contumeliam faciet.  Servabo autem vobis etiam templum nolentibus. » I myself call to witness the gods of my fatherland, and any one that ever before looked over this place (for I believe none does now), and likewise call to witness both my army and the Jews who are with me, and you yourselves, that I myself am not forcing you to violate these places.  Indeed, if your battle forces should change their location, neither shall any of the Romans enter into the Holy Places, nor shall he commit anything as an affront to them.  Instead, I will preserve the Temple even against your will.” 5 — Caput G-5 — De iterata pugna exstructis aggeribus, et excursionibus Judæorum. Hæc Josepho internuntiante principis dicta, latrones ac tyranni existimantes non benevolentia, sed timiditate hos sermones fieri, in superbiam tollebantur.  Titus autem, qui neque seipsos miserari eos, neque templo parcere prospiciebat, rursus bellum gerere decrevit. With Josephus communicating the prince’s utterances, the brigands and their tyrant {(John)}, thinking the speech delivered not out of good will but out of fear, were inflated with arrogance.  In response, Titus, who saw that they neither pitied themselves nor spared the Temple, again decided to wage war. Sed universum quidem his militem, quod locus eum non caperet, inferre non poterat.  Tricenis autem de singulis centuriis viris fortissimis lectis, etiam chiliarchis singulis millenos attribuit :  hisque duce præposito Cereali, hora noctis nona jubet in custodias impetum fieri. But he could not bring in his entire army because the area would not contain it.  So, choosing thirty of the bravest men from each century, he assigned a thousand men to each tribune, and with Cerealis as the leader over them, he gave the order to attack the guards at the ninth hour of the night {(ca. 2:30 A.M.)}. Quum autem ipse quoque in armis esset, unaque descendere statuisset, amici eum propter periculi magnitudinem ducumque dicta continuerunt.  Plus enim operis eum in Antonia præsidentem militum certamini facturum esse dixerunt, quam si periculum subisset :  omnes enim fore sub oculis imperatoris optimos bellatores.  His dictis paruit. But when he himself too was in his armor and had decided to go down along with everyone, his friends restrained him because of the greatness of the danger and the statements of his officers.  They said that there was greater need for him to be presiding in the Antonia over the soldiers’ battle than if he submitted to danger, for under the eyes of the field marshal they would all be the best warriors.  He yielded to these arguments. Deinde ob hoc solum se manere locutus ad milites, ut de eorum virtute judicaret :  ne aut fortis quisquam indonatus abiret, aut contra impunitus ignavus lateret, sed omnium spectator ac testis fieret ipse, qui et ulciscendi et remunerandi esset dominus :  illos quidem ad aciem, horā qua supra memoratum est, dimisit.  Progressus autem ad speculum in Antonia, quid fieret, exspectabat. He finally said to his soldiers that he was staying behind only to judge their valor — lest any brave man go off unrewarded or in contrast, any cowardly man hide unpunished;  but he would be the viewer and witness of all, the one who would be the master of punishment and reward.  He accordingly dismissed them to the battle at the hour that was mentioned above.  Then proceeding to the watchtower in the Antonia, he awaited what was to happen. 6 Verum hi qui missi fuerant, non ita, ut sperabant, somno oppressos invenere custodes :  sed coortis cum clamore, confestim manus conseruere, excubitorum autem tumultu exciti ceteri catervatim excurrere.  Itaque primorum quidem impetum excipiebant Romani :  qui autem illos sequerentur, in agmen proprium incidebant, multisque suorum velut hostibus utebantur. But those who had been sent did not find the guards overcome with sleep as they were hoping, but rising up with shouts, they immediately joined battle;  others, awakened by the uproar of the night guards, ran out en masse.  And thus the Romans took on the attack of the first ones;  but those that followed them fell onto their own battle line and treated many of their own as the enemy. Vocis namque agnitionem confusus partium clamor, oculorum autem singulis nox ademerat :  quum præterea quosdam furor cæcos, alios iracundia, alios timor efficeret :  idcirco obvium quenque sine discretione feriebant.  Romanis quidem scutorum conjunctione sæptis, et per globos prosilientibus, ignoratio minus nocebat :  signi enim sui quisque meminerat. The confused clamor of the sides made impossible the recognition of voices;  the night, recognition by eyesight.  While in addition mad fury made some blind, rage others, fear others;  thus they struck everyone in their way without distinction.  Ignorance harmed the Romans less, being protected by the interlock of their shields and charging in groups, for each one remembered his password. Judæi vero disjecti, tam impetus quam recessus temere facientes, sæpe imaginem inter se hostium aliis alii demonstrabant :  quum revertentem suum quisque per tenebras, quasi Romanum aggredientem exciperet. But the Jews, dispersed, making both attacks and retreats blindly, often gave the impression of the enemy to one another, when someone would take on one of his own returning through the darkness as an attacking Roman. Denique plures a suis quam ab hostibus sauciati sunt, donec orto die, visu jam pugna discerneretur :  et in acie stantes ordine, sagittis atque telis uterentur :  neutri vero cedebant, neque labore fatigabantur. In the end, more were wounded by their own men than by the enemy until, with the coming of daylight, the battle was now distinguishable by sight.  And standing in battle line, they employed arrows and javelins.  But neither yielded or became tired from the effort. Sed Romani quidem et singillatim, et multi simul in conspectu imperatoris de virtute certabant :  illumque diem sibi quisque promotionis initium fore putabat, si fortiter dimicasset.  Judæis autem et proprium cujusque periculum, et quod templo metuerent, ministrabat audaciam :  quod tyrannus stans hos rogaret, alios verberaret, et ad pugnandum interminationibus incitaret. But the Romans, both individually and many together, competed for valor in the sight of the field marshal.  And each one thought that that day would be the beginning of his promotion, if he fought bravely.  But for the Jews it was each one’s own danger and the fact that they feared for the Temple, that gave them audacity;  and the fact that the tyrant, standing there, asked these and beat others and whipped them up to fight with his threats. Comminus autem plerunque pugnatum est, sed cito et brevi momento prœlia mutabantur.  Neutra enim pars prolixum fugæ spatium vel persecutionis habebat.  Pro suorum autem eventu ex Antonia tumultus erat, et confidere superantibus, et stare si fugerent, acclamantium :  eratque veluti quoddam belli theatrum. For the most part, the fighting was done hand-to-hand, and moreover the battles changed with quick and short movements.  For neither side had an extensive space for flight or pursuit.  From the Antonia there was an uproar for the success of their side — an uproar of men shouting to those winning to show their mettle, and to stand fast if they were fleeing.  And it was like a kind of theater of war. Nec enim vel Titum, vel alios, qui una erant, quicquam eorum quæ in pugna gerebantur latebat.  Postremo nona hora noctis cœpto prœlio, quinta diei dissoluti sunt, quum neutri eo loco unde pugnam iniere certa fuga cessissent, verum mediam in ancipiti prœlio victoriam reliquissent. For there was nothing of the things being waged in the fight that was hidden from Titus or the others who were together with him.  Finally, after the battle had started at the ninth hour {(ca. 2:30 P.M.)} of the night, they were separated at the fifth hour {(ca. 11:00 A.M.)} of the day, while neither had yielded in clear-cut flight from that spot where they began the fight, but had left a middling victory in an undecided battle. Romanorum quidem plurimi nobiliter decertarunt.  Judæorum vero partis quidem Simonis, Judas Mertonis filius, et Simon Josiæ :  Idumæique Jacobus, et Simon, hic Cathlæ filius, Jacobus autem, Sosæ :  de Joannis autem sociis Gephthæus et Alexas :  et de Zelotis, Simon filius Jairi. Certainly, of the Romans a great many fought valiantly.  While of the Jews, of Simon’s side, there were Judas son of Merton and Simon of Josias, and the Idumæans James and Simon, the latter the son of Cathla, but James of Sosas;  of John’s confederates, Gephthæus and Alexas;  and from the Zealots, Simon son of Jairus. 7 At Romanorum reliqua manus, die septimo subversis Antoniæ fundamentis, latam viam usque ad templum fecit.  Admotæque muro legiones, mox aggeres incohabant :  unum contra interioris templi angulum, qui ad Septentrionem Orientemque spectabat :  alterum contra exedram ad Aquilonis partem inter duas portas ædificatam :  aliorum duorum unum contra porticum Occidentalem templi exterioris, alterum contra Septentrionalem. Now the remaining troop of the Romans, having destroyed the foundations of the Antonia on the seventh day, constructed a broad path all the way to the Temple.  The legions, moved up to the wall, started on the bulwarks:  one against the corner of the inner Temple which faces the northwest;  another opposite the bay built on the northern side between the two gates;  of the other two, one was opposite the west colonnade of the outer Temple, the other opposite the northern one. Magno tamen opus cum labore ac miseriis proficiebat, quum materias a centesimo usque stadio deportarent.  Interdum autem insidiis lædebantur :  quum ipsi quidem vincendi facultate minime caverent, Judæis vero propter desperationem salutis audacioribus uterentur. Nonetheless, the work progressed with great effort and hardship, since they were transporting the wood from over eleven miles away {(Latin:  from as far as the hundredth stade)}.  Sometimes, indeed, they were harmed by tricks, since they themselves, with their ability of conquering, were not being cautious, while they were confronted by Jews bolder on account of their despair of salvation. Nonnulli enim equitum, quoties ad ligna sive fenum colligendum exissent, interea dum id facerent, equos suos frenis exutos pasci sinebant :  quos Judæi per cuneos erumpentes rapiebant. For some of the cavalrymen, whenever they went out to gather wood or hay, while doing that, let their horses graze free of their reins.  The Jews, bursting out in teams, would snatch them off. Itaque quum id crebro fieret, Cæsar existimans, quod erat verum, neglegentia suorum magis quam Judæorum virtute rapinas contingere, tristi animadversione ceteros ad equorum custodiam revocare statuit :  unoque milite qui equum perdiderat morte damnato, eo metu equos suos ceteris conservavit. So when this was happening frequently, Cæsar, believing — what was true — that the rustling was happening more due to the negligence of his own men than to the valor of the Jews, he decided to recall the rest through a sad punishment to the guarding of their horses;  and, condemning one soldier who had lost his horse to death, he preserved the horses of the others through that fear. Nunquam enim eos posthac in pascua dimittebant, sed tanquam natura his connexi ad necessitatem egrediebantur.  Illi quidem templum oppugnabant, aggeresque erigebant. For thereafter they never let them go out to pasture, but as though fused with them by nature, they went out for what was necessary.  The Romans, thus, went on besieging the Temple and building up their bulwarks. 8 Altera vero die post eorum ascensum, multi seditiosorum, quos rapinæ defecerant et fames urgebat, congregati, in præsidia Romanorum, quæ Elæon montem versus collocata erant, circa undecimam diei horam impetum faciunt.  Sperabant enim primo quidem inopinatos, deinde curandi corporis causa quiescentes, facile decipi posse. One day after their ascent {(i.e., of the legions up over the now demolished Antonia)}, many of the insurgents whom pillage had run out on and hunger was pressing, gathering together, about an hour before sunset {(Latin:  about the eleventh hour of the day)} made an attack on the Roman garrison which had been stationed on the Mount of Olives.  For they were hoping to be able easily to deceive the men who were, firstly, unexpecting, then resting to take care of their bodies. Verum cognito illorum conatu, Romani de propriis custodiis celeriter collecti obstabant eis, murum transcendere ac perrumpere violenter ambitum conatis.  Conflato autem vehementi prœlio, et alia multa ab utraque parte fortiter gesta sunt :  quum Romani præter fortitudinem etiam bellandi peritia, Judæi vero immoderato impetu et effrenatis animis uterentur. But discovering their attempt, the Romans, gathering together from their own sentinels, blocked them as they tried to cross and break through the periphery with violence.  A fierce battle was joined, and many other acts were performed with prowess by both sides, as the Romans, in addition to their bravery, also used their expertise in fighting, while the Jews employed an unrestrained onrush and unbridled passion. Dux autem his pudor erat, illis necessitas.  Nam et amittere Judæos, veluti laqueis irretitos, Romanis turpissimum videbatur :  et illi unam spem salutis, si murum vi perrumpere possent, habebant. The principle for the former was shame, for the latter, necessity.  For just to lose the Jews who were as though ensnared in a noose, seemed extremely disgraceful to the Romans;  and the others held that their one hope of salvation was if they could break through the wall with violence. Et quidam ex ala equitum, Pedanius nomine, Judæis in fugam versis, atque in vallem coactis, equo in adversum montem a latere incitato prætervectus, rapit unum ex hostibus fugam petentem, juvenem, et gravem corpore, et armis undique sæptum, talo comprehensum. And after the Jews had been turned back in flight and forced into the valley, a certain man, named Pedanius, of the cavalry wing, riding at high speed from the flank toward the opposite mountainside, snatched ahold of one of the enemy who was taking flight — grabbing him by the heel —, a young man both heavy in body and protected everywhere by armor. Tantum se inclinavit equo currente, tantamque dexteræ vim itemque ceteri corporis, et equestris peritiæ demonstravit.  Iste quidem tanquam munus aliquod rapuisset, captivum ferens, ad Cæsarem venit.  Titus autem vires ejus, qui ceperat, admiratus, et captivo, quia murum aggredi temptaverat, supplicio tradito, ipse templi oppugnationem curabat, utque aggeres mature fierent perurgebat. With his horse galloping, he bent down that far and showed that much strength of arm and likewise of the rest of his body, and that much equestrian skill.  Then, hauling his captive as if he had seized some gift, he went to Cæsar.  Titus himself, after having admired the strength of him who had done the capturing and handing the captive over to execution because he had attempted to attack the wall, concerned himself with the storming of the Temple and pressed forward with seeing that the bulwarks would get completed rapidly. 9 Inter quæ Judæi, adversis prœliis male tractati, tumescente paulatim bello et in templi serpente perniciem, sicut in putrefacto corpore assolet, membra peste occupata, prævenientes ne ulterius procederet, abscindebant.  Porticus enim parte, quæ ab Aquilone in Orientem pertinens Antoniæ jungebatur, incensa, deinde ad XX• fere cubitos abrupere, immisso sanctis incendio manibus suis. During all this, the Jews, badly mauled in unsuccessful battles, with the war gradually increasing and creeping toward the destruction of the Temple, as is common in a putrefying body, cut off the members overtaken by disease, preventing it from proceeding further.  For having set fire to the part of the colonnade that is connected to the Antonia from the north extending to the east, they next broke off up to about thirty feet {(twenty cubits)}, throwing firebrands into the holy places with their own hands. Biduo autem post, prædicti mensis vicesimo et quarto die, Romani porticum inflammavere :  et usque ad quartumdecimum cubitum igne progresso, Judæi similiter culmen abjiciunt, neque omnino recedentes ab operibus, et Antoniæ continentia dirimentes, quum liceret eis ac deberent incendium prohibere. Two days later, on the twenty-fourth day of the aforesaid month {(A.D. 70 August 12)}, the Romans set fire to the colonnade and, with the fire spreading over twenty-one feet {(fourteen cubits)}, the Jews similarly tore down the roof, by no means desisting from their operations, and destroying the sections adjacent to the Antonia when they had the ability and obligation to stop the conflagration. Itaque immisso igne, cursum ejus otiose pro sua utilitate metiebantur.  Circa templum autem nunquam prœlia cessavere :  sed frequens erat paulatim contra se excurrentium pugna. So with the fire having been started, in a leisurely manner they measured its progress by their own expedience.  Meanwhile, around the Temple, the battles never ceased;  instead, in a piecemeal way, there was constant fighting among those attacking one another. 10 Eisdem autem diebus, quidam ex Judæis, vir et corpore brevis, et vultu despicabilis, tamque genere quam rebus aliis vilissimus, Jonathas nomine, progressus ad Joannis pontificis monumentum, quum alia multa superbe ad Romanos prolocutus est, tum quem fortissimum haberent ad singulare prœlium provocavit. During those same days, a certain one of the Jews, a man short of stature and ugly of face, quite worthless both in family and in other respects, by the name of Jonathas, having gone out to the tomb of John the pontiff, besides loudly saying many other things arrogantly to the Romans, challenged the bravest man they had to a duel. At qui contra stetere, multi quidem dedignabantur ;  erant autem inter eos (ut assolet) etiam, qui timerent :  quosdam vero non inconsulta movebat ratio, cum mortis cupido non debere confligere. But many of those standing opposite him, to be sure, disdained it;  among them, of course, were (as is common) also those who were in fear;  indeed, the not thoughtless reason motivated some that one should not fight with a man desirous of death. Nam qui de salute desperassent, eos neque cautos impetus habere, neque Deum vereri :  et cum his in discrimen venire, quos neque vincere magnum sit, et vinci cum dehonestamento periculosum, non fortitudinis, sed ferocitatis videri. For those who have despaired of surviving neither had planned-out attacks nor feared God;  and to come together into a contest with those whom to defeat was nothing major and to be defeated was, along with disgrace, dangerous, seemed to be not bravery but rashness. Quum autem diu nemo procederet, multaque Judæus eorum timiditati illuderet, homo arrogans et superbus, Romanus ex ala equitum nomine Pudens, insolentiam ejus exosus, fortasse autem etiam corporis brevitate sublatus, inconsulte prosiliit :  et ceteris commissa cum eo pugna, risum præbuit, a fortuna proditus. But after no one came forward for a long time, and the Jew, an arrogant and haughty man, made fun of their timidity, a Roman by the name of Pudens from a wing of the cavalry, exasperated at his insolence, but perhaps also contemptuous at his shortness of stature, leapt thoughtlessly forward;  and, having joined battle with him, he in other respects made a joke of him — being then betrayed by fortune. Lapsum enim Jonathas interfecit :  deinde pede supra mortuum posito, læva scutum, dextraque cruentum gladium coruscabat :  armisque cum fremitu concussis, exercitui et jacenti insultans, spectantes Romanos increpabat :  donec eum tripudiantem et vana jactantem, Priscus centurio sagitta transfixit :  eoque facto, et Judæorum et Romanorum clamor varius excitatus est.  Ille autem dolore in vertiginem tortus, supra corpus hostis incubuit :  bellique felicitatem ratione carentem quam velox ultio sequeretur, ostendit. For after he had slipped, Jonathas killed him;  then, placing his foot on the dead man, with his left arm he shook his shield, and with his right, his bloody sword.  And noisily striking his weapons, insulting the army and the one lying there, he reviled the onlooking Romans until, as he was dancing and making vain boasts, the centurion, Priscus, pierced him with an arrow;  with that, an opposed clamor of the Jews and Romans was stirred up.  But in pain he, twisting around in a spiral, fell down upon the body of his enemy and showed how quickly vengeance follows the senseless success of war. ⇑ § III De dolo a Judæis excogitato, quo Romanorum multos exusserunt. Altera famis gravissimæ descriptio. Concerning a Stratagem That Was Devised by the Jews, by Which They Burnt Many of the Romans ;  With Another Description of the Terrible Famine That Was in the City. 1 — Caput G-6 — Romani flammis pereunt dolo Judaico, et de Artorio quodam. SEDITIOSI vero templum tenentes aperte quidem et quotidie militibus in aggeribus positis repugnabant.  Vicesimo autem septimo die prædicti mensis, hujusmodi dolum excogitant.  Occidentalis porticus spatium, quod inter culmen et trabes erat vacuum, silvis aridis, itemque sulfure ac bitumine replevere.  Deinde velut oppressi cedebant. Now the insurgents holding the Temple openly and daily fought off the soldiers stationed on the bulwarks.  But on the twenty-seventh day of the aforesaid month {(A.D. 70 August 15)}, they devised the following ruse:  they filled the western colonnade’s space that was between the roof and the rafters with dry brushwood and likewsie with sulfur and bitumen.  Then they retreated as though being hard pressed. Quare multi quidem temerarii fugientibus instabant, et in porticum ascendere positis scalis nitebantur.  Qui vero prudentiores erant, nullam fugæ causam Judæis fuisse cogitantes, locis suis manebant.  Verum porticu repleta his qui ascenderant, ignem immittunt Judæi. As a result, many reckless men pursued the fleeing Jews and, putting up ladders, put all their energies into climbing up onto the colonnade.  Those who were more prudent, however, realizing there had been no reason for the flight of the Jews, remained in their places.  But with the colonnade full of those who had climbed up, the Jews set fire to it. Excitataque undique subito flamma Romanos et qui extra periculum steterunt ingens stupor invasit, et desperatio quos incendium ceperat occupavit.  Flammis enim cincti semetipsos retrorsum in oppidum, alii vero in hostes præcipitabant :  multi spe salutis desilientes in puteos, ilico debilitabantur :  alios, dum conantur, præveniebat incendium :  alii ferro flammam antevertebant. With the flames suddenly blazing up on all sides, a huge shock struck the Romans and those who stood outside the danger, and desperation overcame those the conflagration had entrapped.  For those surrounded by the flames hurled themselves backward into the City, others into the enemy;  many, in their hope of survival jumping into cisterns, were maimed on the spot;  the fire overtook others, while they were making some effort;  others headed the flames off by {(suicide with)} their swords. Statim vero et alios fugientes ignis comprehendebat, plurimum pervagatus.  Cæsarem vero licet morientibus indignaretur, quod injussi porticum ascenderant, misericordia tamen eorum tetigit.  Quumque nemo prohibere posset incendium, hoc erat tamen solacio pereuntibus, quia videbant ejus dolorem, pro quo ipsi animam perderent. Indeed, the fire, spreading massively, instantly seized the others fleeing it too.  Although Cæsar was angry at the dying men for having climbed the colonnade without being ordered to, he was nonetheless struck by pity for them.  And since no one could stop the conflagration, it was nevertheless a consolation to the dying that they saw the pain of him for whom they themselves were losing their lives. Vociferans enim, et ante alios prosiliens, et comites suos quam possent auxilium ferre obsecrans, cernebatur.  Ejusque voces et affectiones quisque, velut aliquam præclarissimam sepulturam, secum auferens moriebatur.  Nonnulli tamen recepti in partem porticus latiorem, flammarum quidem periculum evasere.  Obsessi autem a Judæis, quum diu saucii restitissent, postremo universi cecidere. For he was seen shouting and leaping in front of the others and calling on his comrades to help as much as they could.  And they all died taking away with themselves his calls and emotions as a sort of most glorious obsequies.  All the same, some, having gotten into the wider part of the colonnade, indeed escaped the danger of the flames.  But, set upon by the Jews, after having long resisted, wounded, they at last all fell. 2 Post omnes autem quidam juvenis, nomine Longus, toti huic ornamento fuit calamitati, et, quamvis singillatim digni sint memoria, qui periere, omnium tamen fortissimus demonstratus.  Quem Judæi quidem, et quia fortis erat, et quia interficere eum cupiebant, ad se descendere promissa fide hortabantur. After all of them, however, a certain young man by the name of Longus was the glory of the entire calamity and, although those who perished all are worthy of being remembered individually, nonetheless he showed himself to be the strongest of all.  Because he was powerful and the Jews wanted to kill him, with a promise of amnesty they urged him to climb down. Frater vero ejus Cornelius, qui ex altera parte stabat, ne gloriam suam Romanamque militiam dehonestaret orabat :  cui magis obtemperavit, sublatoque altius gladio, ut ab utrisque partibus cerneretur, semetipsum occidit. But his brother Cornelius who stood on the other side besought him not to dishonor his own glory and Roman arms.  He gave greater acquiescence to him and, raising his sword aloft so that it could be seen by both sides, he killed himself. Eorum autem quos ignis obsederat, Artorius quidam, calliditate servatus est.  Appellato enim clara voce Lucio quodam, commilitone et contubernali suo :  « Hæredem te », inquit, « relinquo totius patrimonii mei, si me exceperis. »  Quum autem ille prompto animo accurrisset, ipse quidem, qui se in eum projecerat, vixit :  Lucius vero pondere oppressus, constratoque lapidibus solo allisus, continuo moritur. But of those whom the fire surrounded, a certain Artorius was saved through his cunning.  For calling a certain Lucio in a loud voice, his comrade in arms and tent-mate, he said, “I leave you as the heir of all my belongings, if you catch me.”  But when that man had run up with eager expectancy, he himself, who jumped down onto him, lived;  but Lucius, crushed by the weight and smashed onto the ground covered with flagstones, died instantly. Ea calamitas paulisper quidem Romanis tristitiam comparavit, in posterum tamen cautiores effecit, et adversus Judæorum insidias juvit, quibus plerumque loca moresque hominum nescientes lædebantur.  Exusta est vero porticus ad turrim usque Joannis, quam ille belli tempore quod cum Simone gerebat, supra portas quæ in Xystum ducerent ædificaverat. For a while that disaster made the Romans sad, but thereafter more cautious, and helped against the Jew’s ruses, by which those ignorant of the places and the natives’ customs were mostly injured.  Moreover the colonnade was burnt down as far as John’s tower which, during the time of the war that man had waged with Simon, he had built above the gateways which led out to the Plaza. Reliquum vero Judæi, postquam consumpti fuerant, qui ascenderant, absciderunt.  Postero autem die Romani quoque, porticum quæ in Boreæ parte fuit, ad Orientalem usque totam incendunt :  continentem angulos ejus, quæ appellatur Cedrōnos, super vallem ædificata :  unde etiam profunda erat et horribilis ejus altitudo.  Circa templum quidem ita se res habebant. Moreover after those who had climbed up had been killed, the Jews cut down the rest of it.  On the next day {(A.D. 70 August 16)} the Romans too set fire to the whole colonnade that was on the north side, all the way to the east end, connecting to the corners of the one which was built over the valley which is called the “Kidron”;  from where there was also a deep and vertiginous drop.  Thus indeed was the situation around the Temple. 3 — Caput G-7 — De fame Judæorum Eorum vero qui per civitatem fame corrumpebantur, infinita multitudo moriebatur.  Inenarrabiles autem clades eveniebant.  Per singulas namque domos sicubi aliqua vestigia cibi apparuissent, bellum ilico gerebatur :  et amicissimi inter se ad manus veniebant, miseris deripientes animis viaticum. In contrast, of those who were being overtaken by hunger throughout the City, a numberless multitude was dying.  Moreover, unspeakable tragedies were happening.  For in the individual houses, if perchance any trace of food had appeared, war was waged on the spot, and the best of friends would come to blows between one another, tearing away the last sustenance from their wretched beings. Fides autem penuriæ nec morientibus habebatur :  sed etiam quos viderent exspirare, scrutabantur latrones, ne quem forte cibum sinu occultans quispiam, moreretur. Belief in their destitution was not credited even to the dying;  instead, the brigands searched even those whom they saw expiring, lest someone should die while possibly hiding food in his clothing. Ipsos autem spes egestate vīctūs hiantes, veluti canes rabidos decipiebat :  et impingentes in ostia, tanquam ebrii ferebantur, easdemque domos bis ac ter eodem momento desperatione inquietabant.  Omniaque dentibus necessitas subigebat :  et ea colligentes, quæ nullum, quamvis sordidissimum, mutorum animalium, non horreret, comedere patiebantur. But their hope deluded them as, gaping like rabid dogs through want of nourishment, they went on breaking into doorways like drunks and out of desperation disrupted houses two and three times in the same period of time.  And necessity submitted everything to their teeth;  indeed, gathering everything which none of the dumb animals, no matter how filthy, would not abhor, they put up with eating it. Denique nec cingulis nec calceamentis abstinuere, coriaque scutis detracta mandebant.  Quin etiam feni veteris laceramenta vīctui habebantur :  cujus nonnulli exiguum pondus quattuor Atticis venundabant. In the end they did not stay away from belts and shoes, and they chewed the leather pulled off of shields.  Even torn-off bunches of old hay were considered as nourishment, a small weight of which some were selling for four Attics {(≈ four days’ of a laborer’s wages)}. Et quid opus est famis improbitatem ex rebus anima carentibus demonstrare ?  Factum enim relaturus sum, neque apud Græcos, neque apud Barbaros cognitum, et dictu quidem horrendum, auditu vero incredibile.  Itaque libenter hanc calamitatem intermitterem, ne mentiri me posteri æstimarent, nisi testes multos haberem, et fortasse patriæ frigidam referrem gratiam, parcius ea disserens, quorum fata perpessa est. But what need is there for me to show the evils of famine using things lacking life?  I am about to relate a deed known neither among the Greeks nor the barbarians, and indeed horrendus to speak of, unbelievable to hear about.  Hence, I would gladly leave out this disaster lest posterity should think I am lying, if I did not have many witnesses, and perhaps, in inadequately describing those things whose fate it has suffered, I would be giving poor thanks to my fatherland. 4 — Caput G-8 — De muliere quæ per famem filium coxerat. Mulier quædam ex numero trans Jordanem habitantium incolarum, Maria nomine, Eleazari filia de vico Vetezobra, quod significat domus hyssopi, genere ac divitiis nobilis, cum alia multitudine refugiens in Hierosolymam recepta, cum ceteris obsidebatur.  Hujus alia quidem bona tyranni diripuerunt, quæ ex transamnanis locis in oppidum comportaverat. Of the number of the inhabitants dwelling across the Jordan, a certain woman by the name of Mary, the daughter of Eleazar of the village of Vetezobra (which means “House of Hyssop”), a noblewoman of family and wealth, having been received together with the rest of the multitude as a refugee into Jerusalem, was besieged along with the rest.  Naturally, the tyrants robbed her of the other possessions — those she had brought into town from the trans-river region. Reliquias vero conditorum, et si alimenta reperisset, irrumpentes domum ejus satellites, quotidie auferebant.  Graviter autem mulier indignabatur :  proptereaque sæpissime raptoribus maledicens, et imprecans, eos contra se vehementius irritabat :  quum neque iratus, neque miserans eam quisquam vellet interficere. Meanwhile the remains of her hidden wealth and whatever nourishment she had found, the tyrant’s guards, breaking into her home, took away on a daily basis.  The woman became highly enraged, and on that account frequently cursing the robbers and calling oaths down on them, vehemently provoked them against herself, though no one, either angered or compassionate, was willing to kill her. Sed vīctum quidem parando aliis parabat :  undique autem adempta jam erat ei etiam rapiendi facultas, famesque visceribus et medullis irrepserat.  Plus vero quam fames iracundia succendebat. But in preparing food, she was in fact preparing it for others;  moreover, everywhere the ability to snatch it had already been taken even from her, and the famine had crept into her vitals and her marrow.  Indeed, her rage inflamed her more than her hunger did. Igitur vi animi ac necessitate impulsa, rebus adversis contra naturam excitatur :  raptoque filio, quem lactentem habebat :  « Miserum te, » ait « infans, in bello et fame et seditione cui te servavero ?  Apud Romanos etiam si vixeris, serviturus es :  fames autem prævenit servitutem :  his vero seditiosi sæviores sunt.  Esto igitur mihi cibus, et seditiosis furia, et humanæ vitæ fabula, quæ sola deest calamitatibus Judæorum. » Therefore, driven by the force of her passion and by necessity, she was whipped up to acts against nature and, snatching her son whom she had nursing at her breast, she said, “You poor baby, for what am I preserving you, in war and starvation and insurrection?  Among the Romans, even if you lived, you would be a slave;  but starvation heads off your enslavement, while the insurgents are more brutal than these things.  Become, thus, food for me and rage for the insurgents, and to human life a story which is the only one lacking in the tragedies of the Jews.” Et hoc simul dicens, occidit filium, coctumque medium comedit, adopertum vero reliquum servavit.  Ecce autem aderant seditiosi, et contaminatissimi nidoris odore capti, mortem ei statim, nisi quod parasset, ostenderet, minabantur.  Illa vero bonam partem se reservasse respondens, aperit filii reliquias. And at the same time she was saying this, she killed her son and ate half of the cooked baby, and covering it, saved the rest.  But behold, the insurgents arrived and, taken in by the utterly polluted vapors of the smell, threatened her with death on the spot if she did not show them what she had prepared.  She, answering that she had saved a good portion for them, uncovered the remains of her son. Illos autem confestim horror cepit atque dementia, visuque ipso deriguerunt.  At mulier :  « Et hĭc, inquit, est vere filius et facinus meum.  Comedite :  nam et ego comedi.  Nolo ut sitis aut femina molliores, aut matre misericordiores.  Quod si vos pietatem colitis, et mea sacrificia repudiatis, ego quidem comedi, reliquum ejus me manebit. » The horror and madness of it immediately seized them, and they froze at the sight itself.  But the woman said, “And this indeed is my son and my deed.  Eat.  For I myself have also eaten.  I do not want you to be softer than a woman or more compassionate than a mother.  But {<even>} if you are devoted to piety and reject my sacrifices, I myself have certainly eaten;  the rest of him will remain for me.” Post hoc illi quidem trementes exierunt, ad hoc solum timidi, vixque hoc cibi matri cessere.  Mox autem repleta est eo scelere tota civitas :  et unusquisque ante oculos sibi cladem illam proponens, tanquam hoc ipse admisisset, horrebat.  Ab omnibus autem quos fames urgebat, properabatur ad mortem :  et beati appellabantur, qui priusquam id paterentur interiissent. After this, in anxiety because of it only, they went out trembling;  and they barely yielded this item of food to its mother.  Soon, however, the entire City was filled with such an atrocity, and everyone, picturing that tragedy before his eyes as though he himself had committed it, shuddered at it.  But there was a rush to death by everyone whom the famine was crushing, and those who had died before they suffered it were called fortunate. 5 Cito autem Romanis etiam nuntiata est illa calamitas.  Eorumque alii non credebant, alii miserabantur, multos autem vehementius ejus gentis odium cepit.  Cæsar autem super hoc Deum placabat :  siquidem Judæis pacem obtulisset, eisque liberam proposuisset omnium oblivionem, quæ commiserant. That tragedy was quickly reported to the Romans.  Of them, some did not believe it, others felt pity, but many developed a more fierce hatred of that people.  On the other hand, Cæsar undertook to appease God about it:  for indeed, he had offered the Jews peace and had proposed to them an unenslaved amnesty for everything that they had committed. Illos autem pro concordia seditionem, bellum pro pace, pro satietate atque opulentia famem optasse :  et qui propriis manibus templum, quod ipse eis servasset, incendere cœperant, hujusmodi alimentis eos esse dignissimos.  Verumtamen scelus hujus nefandi vīctūs ruinā sese patriæ operturum, neque relicturum in orbe terræ, ut sol inspiciat civitatem, in qua matres sic vescerentur. But they had chosen insurgency for concord, war for peace, starvation for satiety and wealth;  and they, who with their own hands had begun to burn down the Temple which he himself was trying to save for them, were quite worthy of food of this kind.  But he himself would bury the crime of this unspeakable feeding with the destruction of their fatherland, and would not, on earth, allow the sun to look on a City in which mothers ate in this way. Ante matres autem, patribus hujusmodi alimenta deberi qui nec post ejusmodi clades arma deponerent.  Simul hæc dicens, desperationem hostium reputabat, nec eos sanam mentem recepturos existimabat, qui cuncta jam pertulissent, quibus antequam ea paterentur, mutare sententiam sperabantur. But before the mothers, food of this kind was owed to fathers who would not put down their weapons after such disasters.  At the same time as he said this, he was thinking of the desperation of the enemy, and did not think that a sane mind would be listened to by those who had now suffered all those things through which, before they suffered them, they had been hoped to change their minds. ⇑ § IV Postquam perfectis aggeribus adducti erant arietes inani conatu, Titus portis jussit admoveri ignem :  et non longe post templum incensum est, etiam ipso invito. When the Banks Were Completed and the Battering Rams Brought, and Could Do Nothing, Titus Gave Orders to Set Fire to the Gates of the Temple ;  in No Long Time After Which, the Holy House Itself Was Burnt Down, Even against His Consent. 1 — Caput G-9 — De expugnatione muri et incendio templi. OCTAVO autem die mensis Augusti, quum duæ legiones aggeres perfecissent, ad exedram Occidentalem templi exterioris admoveri arietes jussit :  quum diebus ante sex, qui firmissimus erat aries, parietem sine intermissione pulsando, nihil omnino profecisset.  Verum et hujus et ceterorum magnitudinem structura lapidum superabat. However, on the eighth of August {(actually, A.D 70 August 27)}, after two legions had completed their bulwarks, he ordered the rams moved up against the western bay of the outer Temple, since for six days previously the ram which was strongest, pounding the wall without intermission, had achieved absolutely nothing.  Indeed, the massiveness of the stones exceeded the size of this and the other rams. Septentrionalis autem portæ alii fundamenta suffodiebant :  multumque fatigati, exteriores tantum lapides evellere potuere, ab interioribus autem portæ sustinebantur.  Tamque diu mansere, donec instrumentorum et vectium conatibus desperatis, Romani scalas porticibus applicuere. Others dug under the foundations of the northern gate and, quite exhausted, were able to extract only the outer stones;  but the gates were held in place by the inner ones.  And they continued so long until, the attempts with machines and crowbars having been despaired of, the Romans placed ladders agains the colonnades. Judæi vero præventi, ne eas subire prohiberent, cum his congressi dimicabant.  Et alios quidem retro depellentes præcipitabant, accedentes alios subsidio trucidabant.  Multos de scalis egredientes, prius quam se scutis obtegerent, ferientes gladiis præveniebant, nonnullas autem scalas armatorum plenas in latus declinantes, dejiciebant. The Jews, heading them off to stop them from getting up, coming to grips with them, engaged in battle.  And pushing them off, they threw some down backwards, killing others coming up to help.  They outpaced many coming off the ladders before they could cover themselves with their shields, striking them with their swords;  in addition, they threw some ladders filled with armed men down sideways. Unde Romanorum quoque non parva cædes sequebatur.  Alii signis ablatis pro his decertabant, rapinam eorum gravissimæ fore turpitudini ducentes.  Postremo tamen Judæi et signis potiuntur :  et eos qui una ascenderant interficiunt, ceteri vero, clade intereuntium perterriti, descendunt. From this a not insignificant slaughter of the Romans resulted.  When their standards were torn away, others fought for them, considering their seizure to be the worst disgrace.  Nonetheless, in the end the Jews got possession of the standards too, and they killed those who had climbed up along with them;  the others, terrified by the slaughter of the dying, climbed back down. Romanorum quidem nemo non aliquo facto opere procubuit.  Seditiosorum autem, qui prioribus prœliis etiam tunc fortiter pugnaverunt, et præterea Eleazarus fratris Simonis tyranni filius.  Titus autem, quum videret se alieno templo cum damno et nece militum parcere, ignem portis subjici jussit. To be sure, of the Romans, no one died without having accomplished some achievment.  Also, of the insurgents, those who had fought in previous battles also did so then, and besides there was Eleazar, the son of the brother of the tyrant Simon.  But Titus, when he saw that he was sparing a foreign temple to the injury and death of his soldiers, ordered fire to be laid to the gates. 2 Inter hæc autem ad eum profugi veniunt, Ananus ex Ammaus, Simonis satelles crudelissimus, et Archelaus filius Magadati, idcirco sperantes veniam, quod Judæos victores reliquerant.  Titus autem, quum hanc eorum in Judæos crudelitatem audivit, utrunque obtruncare decrevit. But during this, Ananus of Emmaus, the cruelest of Simon’s bodyguards, and Archelaus, the son of Magadatus, came to him as refugees hoping for pardon because they had deserted the victors, the Jews.  But Titus, when he heard about that cruelty of theirs toward the Jews, was resolved to execute both. Dicebat enim necessitate, non voluntate venisse :  nec salute dignos esse, incensam ipsorum causa patriam deserentes.  Verumtamen cohibuit iracundiam fides, eosque dimisit, sed non eo loco habendos, quo etiam alios credidit.  Jam vero portis milites ignem admoverant, liquefactoque argento, cito lignum flammæ absumpserant, quum, subito auctæ, proximas inde porticūs corripuere. For he said that they had come out of necessity, not of their own free will, and, deserting their fatherland in flames because of them, were not worthy of preservation.  Nevertheless his pledge restrained his anger, and he dismissed them, although he believed they ought not to be held as of the same rank as the others also were.  Indeed, the soldiers had by now set fire to the gates and, with the silver melting, the flames had quickly consumed the wood when suddenly, increasing, they seized the adjacent colonnades. Judæis vero ignem circum se videntibus, corpora simul animæque cecĭderunt :  et stupore attoniti, adjuvare quidem vel exstinguere nemo conatus est :  stantes vero aspiciebant, nec tamen his quæ absumerentur dolentes, saltem ut quod reliquum esset, salvum haberent, animum colligebant.  Illo quidem die, quæ secuta est nocte, crescebat incendium :  paulatim enim, nec simul, undique inflammari porticūs potuerunt. But as the Jews saw the fire around them, their bodies and spirits sank simultaneously and, thunderstruck with stupor, certainly no one tried to help or extinguish it;  instead, standing there, they just looked on;  nor did they, grieving over the things that were being consumed, nonetheless at least gather the courage to save what was left.  On that day, and the night following it {(i.e., A.D 70 August 27-28)}, the conflagration grew;  for the colonnades on all sides could be torched only gradually, not all at once. 3 Postero autem die Titus partem militum jussit incendium restinguere, perque proxima portis loca viam sternere, ut facilior agminibus esset ascensus. Then on the day after {(i.e., A.D 70 August 28)}, Titus ordered a part of the soldiers to extinguish the fire and to build a road through the areas adjacent to the gateways, so that there would be an easier upramp for the troops. Rectores ad se convocat :  sexque collectis, qui erant proceres, Tiberio Alexandro totius militiæ præfecto, et Sexto Cereali quintæ legionis præposito, et Largio Lepido decimæ, et Titto Frugio quintædecimæ, cum quibus erat etiam Fronto Heterius, magister duarum Alexandrinarum legionum, et Marcus Antonius Julianus procurator Judææ, congregatisque præterea chiliarchis et procuratoribus, consilium de templo proposuit. He called the chiefs together.  And gathering six who were the generals — Tiberius Alexander, the prefect of the entire force;  and Sextus Cerealis, the head of the Fifth Legion;  and Largius Lepidus of the Tenth;  And Tittus Frugi of the Fifteenth;  along with them Fronto Heterius, the master of the two Alexandrian legions;  and Marcus Antonius Julianus, the procurator of Judæa —, plus also including the tribunes and procurators, he set up a planning council regarding the Temple. Aliis quidem videbatur lege belli utendum esse :  nunquam enim Judæos a novis rebus posse desinere, templo manente, quo omnes, ubicunque essent, colligerentur.  Nonnulli monebant, ut si templum reliquissent Judæi, neque armis pro eo quisquam certaret, conservandum esse suadebunt. To some it seemed best to employ the law of war, since the Jews would never be able to refrain from revolts while there remained a Temple at which, wherever they might be, they would gather.  Some advised that, if the Jews were to leave the Temple and no one were to fight for it using weaponry, they would argue for preserving it. Si vero id pugna obtinuissent, ignibus consumendum :  quoniam castellum jam videretur esse, non templum :  et piaculum non ipse id, verum illi, qui id fieri coëgere, committerent. But if they held onto it by fighting, it should be destroyed with fire, because then it would be seen to be a fortress, not a Temple;  and not he himself, but those who forced it to happen, would be committing the crime. Tito autem, nec si super stantes dimicarent Judæi, pro hominibus animā carentia ulciscendum esse dicente, neque se unquam tantum opus incensurum :  jam enim Romanorum fore hoc damnum, sicut ornamentum quoque fore imperii, si maneret :  jam certi quid vellet, ad ejus accedunt sententiam, Fronto, Alexander et Cerealis. On the other hand, Titus, saying that even if the Jews stood on it, vengeance should not be exacted against lifeless things for men, nor should such a work ever be set afire.  For then this would be a loss for the Romans as it would be a glory to the empire if it remained.  Now sure of what he wanted, Fronto, Alexander and Cerealis joined in his opinion. Tunc quidem consilium dimisit :  jussisque militibus requiescere, itemque ducibus, ut his in procinctu validioribus uteretur, viam sternere per ruinas lectis ex cohortibus imperat, ignemque restinguere. He then dismissed the council and, ordering his soldiers and likewise the officers to rest so he could employ them in stronger condition on the battlefield, he ordered picked men from the cohorts to make a path through the ruins and extinguish the fire. 4 Illo quidem die Judæos labor itemque timor ab impetu continuit.  Postero autem, collectis viribus, et recepta fiducia, per Orientalem portam contra templi exterioris custodes, secunda hora diei procurrunt. On that day to be sure, fatigue and likewise fear kept the Jews from attacking.  On the following one {(i.e., A.D 70 August 29)}, however, having gathered their strength and revived their confidence, on the second hour of the day {(ca. 7:30 A.M.)} they sallied out through the eastern gate against the guards of the outer Temple. Illi autem primam quidem coitionem fortiter excepere :  sæptique scutis, a fronte murum condensa acie imitantur :  certum tamen erat eos non diu duraturos, quod et multitudine infestantium et animis vincerentur. The latter, on the other hand, met the first impact valiantly, and covered by their shields, with their compact line in front, they resembled a wall ;  but it was known that they would not hold out for a longer period, because they were outdone by the numbers of the attackers and their impetuosity. Cæsar autem priusquam verteretur acies (nam pugnam ex Antonia prospectabat) cum equitibus lectis venit auxilio ;  impetum vero ejus non sustinuere Judæi :  sed primis interfectis, plerique fugam petunt :  et cedentibus quidem Romanis, revertentes instabant :  quum autem illi retorsissent, iterum refugiebant, donec circa horam quintam, Judæi vi coacti templum introire conclusi sunt. But before his battle line was turned back, Cæsar (for he was watching the fight from the Antonia) came to their aid with picked cavalrymen;  on their side, the Jews did not withstand his attack;  instead, after the first ones were killed, the majority took flight ;  and turning back as the Romans of course retreated, they pressed them.  But when the latter turned around, they again fled until, around the fifth hour {(ca. 10:00 A.M.)}, the Jews, compelled by force to enter the Temple, were confined in it. 5 Titus autem discessit in Antoniam, decreto postridie mane cum omni exercitu aggredi, templumque oppugnare.  Sed id plane Dei sententia jamdudum igne damnaverat :  evolutisque temporibus aderat fatalis dies, qui erat decimus mensis Augusti, quo etiam prius a rege Babyloniorum fuerat concrematum. Titus, on the other hand, left for the Antonia, having decided to attack with his entire army on the following morning and take the Temple.  But the decision of God had long since clearly condemned it with fire and, with the unrolling of time, the fatal day had arrived, which was the tenth of the month of August {(actually, A.D 70 August 29)}, on which previously it had also been burnt down by the king of the Babylonians. A domesticis autem causam principiumque sumpsit id incendium.  Nam quum paulisper Titi discessu seditiosi quievissent, Romanos rursus aggrediuntur, custodumque templi cum ignem exterioris fani restinguentibus pugna committitur. Hique, Judæis in fugam versis, usque ad templum accesserunt. But that fire took its cause and origin from the natives.  For when, after Titus’s departure, the insurgents had rested a bit, they attacked the Romans again, and a battle of the Temple guards was begun with the men putting out the fire in the outer Temple.  The latter, with the Jews turning in flight, got all the way to the Temple. — Caput G-10 — Quemadmodum templum incensum est, invito Tito. Hic itaque tunc militum quidam, non exspectato cujusquam edicto, neque tantum facinus veritus, sed divino quodam motus impetu, a contubernali suo sustollitur, et ex ardente materia raptum ignem in fenestram inserit auream, unde ad membra circum templum ædificata de Septentrionali regione aditus erat. At this point then, one of the soldiers, neither waiting for anyone’s command nor in fear of such an act, but by a kind of divine impulse of passion, was lifted up by his tent-comrade and thrust a firebrand snatched from the burning wood into the golden window, whence there was access from the northern area to the compartments built around the Temple. Flamma vero excitata, Judæorum quidem calamitate dignus clamor exoritur, et ad subveniendum properabant :  neque jam vitæ parcendum rati, neque viribus temperandum, amisso eo cujus gratia cautissimi videbantur. As the flames now blazed up, a cry matching the disaster arose from the Jews, and they rushed to take care of it, neither thinking of sparing their own lives nor economizing their strength, having now lost that for the sake of which they used to appear extremely vigilant. 6 Mature autem hoc Tito quidam nuntiat.  Et ille (namque casu in tabernaculo quiescebat sicut a prœlio redierat) exsiliit, templumque curriculo petit, prohibiturus incendium, omnesque post eum duces, et hos agmina perterrita sequebantur.  Clamor autem ac tumultus erat tanto exercitu sine ordine concitato. Someone quickly alerted Titus about this.  And he jumped up (for by chance he was resting in his tent, as he had returned from the battle) and made for the Temple on the run to stop the fire, and after him all the officers;  and the troops, terrified, followed them.  But there was clamor and uproar, with such a large army disorganizedly stirred up. Cæsar autem voce simul ac dextera pugnantibus signo dato, ignem jubebat exstingui.  Sed neque vox ejus audiebatur, quod aures eorum major clamor obstrueret, nutumque dexteræ non attendebant, quum alios bellum, alios ira distraheret.  Introcurrentium vero agminum impetum non præcepta neque interminationes continebant :  sed quo furor eos duceret, sequebantur. Moreover Cæsar, simultaneously by voice and hand giving a sign to those fighting, ordered them to exstinguish the fire.  But neither was his voice heard, because the greater clamor blocked their ears, nor did they pay attention to the waving of his hand, since the battle was distracting some, and rage, others.  Neither his orders nor his threats held back the impetus of the inrushing troops;  rather, where their furor led them, they followed. Ad ipsos autem introitus conferti, multi quidem sese invicem conculcabant :  multi vero ardentibus adhuc et fumantibus porticuum incidentes ruinis, eadem quæ victi patiebantur.  Quum vero ad templum accessissent, edicta quidem Cæsaris non audire simulantes, præcedentem quisque ut ignem immitteret hortabatur :  seditiosis autem jam subveniendi quidem spes nulla erat, sed fuga et cædes omnia possidebat. Jammed together at the gateways themselves, many men trampled on one another, while many, falling into the still burning and smoking ruins of the colonnades, suffered the same fates as the conquered.  And pretending not to hear Cæsar’s orders, when they had reached the Temple everyone urged the man ahead of him to throw fire into it.  For the insurgents, there was now no hope of going to save anything;  instead, flight and slaughter dominated everything. Magna vero populi multitudo invalida et inermis, ubicunque occupati fuerant, interficiebantur.  Et circum aram quidem ingens mortuorum numerus congerebatur :  per gradus vero templi, et sanguis multus profluebat, et eorum corpora, qui supra ceciderant delabebantur. Moreover, a large weak and unarmed mass of people, wherever they had been seized, was massacred.  And a huge number of the dead were heaped around the altar;  a great deal of blood flowed over the steps of the Temple and the bodies of those who had fallen above slid down them. 7 Cæsar autem, ubi neque impetum insanientium militum continere poterat, et flamma dominabatur, intro cum rectoribus ingressus, et sanctum templi, et quæcunque illic erant aspexit, ea quidem quæ apud alienigenas erant famā meliora, jactatione vero et opinione domestica non minora. But Cæsar, when he could not restrain the charge of his raging soldiers, and the fire was overcoming everything, having entered inside with his officers, also viewed everything that was there — things, that is, that were greater than their reputation among foreigners while no less than their glory and reputation in their homeland. Quum autem flamma nondum ex ulla parte ad interiora penetrasset, nec membra quæ circum templum erant depasceretur — quod erat verum, existimans adhuc illud posse servari —, et ipse prosiluit, militesque rogare ut ignem restinguerent conabatur :  et Liberalem centurionem de stipatoribus suis, fuste mulctatos, qui non obœdirent, jussit arcere. But since the flames had not yet penetrated from any side into the interior and were not eating at the compartments which were around the Temple, he himself, thinking it still possible to be saved — which was true —, both leapt out and tried to ask the soldiers to extinguish the fire, and ordered Liberalis, the centurion among his guards, to ward the disobedient off by punishing them with a club. Illorum autem furor bellique impetus quidam vehementior, Judæorumque odia, et Cæsaris reverentiam et prohibentis metum superabant :  plerosque autem prædarum spes incitabat, suspicantes intus omnia pecuniā referta esse :  quoniam fores auro factas conspicerent. But their fury and a certain momentum of war, hatred of the Jews overcame both their respect for Cæsar and their fear of the man restraining them;  and the hope of booty incited the majority, suspecting that everything inside was full of money, because they saw the gates made of gold. Præterea quidam miles ex his qui intraverant, quum Cæsar ad inhibendum incendium cucurrisset, ignem jam cardinibus portæ subjecerat.  Tumque subito, postquam flamma intus apparuit, et duces cum Cæsare discedebant, et stantes extra succendere nemo prohibebat.  Templum quidem hoc modo, invito Tito, exuritur. On top of that, some soldier of those who had entered when Cæsar had run to stop the conflagration, had already thrown a firebrand under the gate hinges.  Then suddenly, after the flames appeared inside, the officers left with Cæsar and no one stopped those standing outside from setting the fire.  In this way, thus, against Titus’s will, the Temple was burned down. 8 Sed quamvis hoc multum quis deflendum putet, ut opus omnium quæ audivimus, aut vidimus maxime admirabile, tam exstructionis genere, quam magnitudinis, itemque munificentiæ in singulis rebus, et gloriæ quæ de sanctis habebatur, maximum tamen ex fato capiet solacium :  quod ut animalibus, ita operibus locisque fatum sit ineluctabile. But although one may think it to be greatly lamentable that the most admirable work of all the ones we have heard of or seen, both in its manner of construction as well as its size and also of its abundance in detail, and of the renown which was held of its holy places, nonetheless one will take great solace from Fate, that is — just as for living beings, so for structures and places — inescapable. Mirabitur autem in eo etiam circumacti temporis rationem et fidem.  Nam et mensem, ut dictum est, eumque diem servavit, quo primum a Babyloniis templum erat incensum. But one is also amazed at the calculation and fulfillment of recurrent time therein.  For as was said, it kept to that day when the first Temple was burnt down by the Babylonians. Et a prima quidem structione templi, quam Solomon rex incohaverat, usque ad hoc excidium, quod evenit secundo anno principis Vespasiani, mille centum triginta colliguntur anni, et septem menses, ac dies quindecim.  A posteriore vero, quam secundo anno Cyri regis Aggæus fecerat, usque ad excidium quod Vespasiano imperante sustinuit civitas, anni sexcenti trigintanovem, et dies quadragintaquinque. And from the first construction of the Temple which King Solomon had begun until this destruction, which occurred in the second year of Emperor Vespasian, a thousand one hundred thirty years and seven months and fifteen days {(in modern calculations, probably ~1,020 years)} are counted.  But from the next one which Haggai undertook in the second year of King Cyrus, until the destruction which the City sustained during the reign of Vespasian, there were six hundred thirty-nine years and forty-five days {(in modern calculations, ~585 years)}. ⇑ § V Miserias quas pertulerunt Judæi ex templo ardente. De Pseudo-propheta, et signis excidium præcedentibus. The Great Distress the Jews Were in upon the Conflagration of the Holy House.  Concerning a False Prophet, and the Signs That Preceded This Destruction. 1 — Caput G-11 — De sacerdotibus, Gazophylacioque et porticu. QUUM templum autem incenderetur, etiam quicquid in manus forte venisset rapiebatur, et cædes erat infinita deprehensorum. But while the Temple was burning, whatever had perchance fallen into their hands was also pillaged, and there was an endless slaughter of those caught. Nec actæ fuit ætatis miseratio, aut reverentia castitatis :  sed et pueri et senes et sacri et profani similiter interficiebantur, atque omne genus hominum belli calamitas persequebatur, unaque supplices cum repugnantibus necabantur :  flammaque ulterius progrediens, cum gemitu occumbentium concrepabat. And there was no pity for the aged or respect for purity, but children and old people and the sacred and the profane were slaughtered alike, and the tragedy of war pursued every sort of person;  and those who were pleading were killed together with those resisting;  and the fire, advancing further, crackled together with the groans of the dying. Et pro altitudine quidem collis, ardentisque operis magnitudine, totam quis ardere crederet civitatem.  Illo autem clamore nihil majus aut horribilius excogitare potest. Plus, due as well to the height of the hill and the size of the burning edifice, one would have believed that the entire City was ablaze.  Indeed, nothing greater or more horrible can be imagined than that DIN. Nam et Romanarum legionum fremitus erat, et seditiosorum ferro ignique clausorum clamor ingens, et populi sursum deprehensi ad hostes fuga cum stupore, ac calamitatis conquestio :  in colle autem constitutis, etiam multitudo oppidi consonabat. For there was the roar of the Roman divisions and an enormous yelling of the insurgents trapped by swords and fire, and the flight, with shock, of the people caught upslope into the enemy, plus their bewailing of the disaster;  moreover the masses of the City, standing on the hill, were also joined in the outcry. Jam vero multi fame marcidi, in mortem pæne luminibus clausis, postquam ignem templi videre, in questus interim vires clamoremque receperunt.  Resonabat autem et trans fluvium regio, et montes circumpositi graviorem sonitum reddebant :  et tamen erant clades acerbiores tumultu. Indeed, many already limp with hunger, their eyes almost closed in death, after seeing the fire of the Temple, thereupon gathered the strength for lamentation and outcries.  Moreover, the region across the river echoed back, and the surrounding mountains returned a dull sound;  and nonetheless the catastrophe was harsher than the noise. Nam collem quidem in quo templum erat exuri radicitus quis putaret, ita undique flamma plenum :  videbatur autem sanguis igne largior esse, pluresque interfectoribus interfecti :  omnisque terra cadaveribus tegebatur, et supra corpora mortuorum gradientes milites cursum fugientium sequebantur. For indeed, one would think that the hill in which the Temple was, was being burned down to its roots, it was so full of flames everywhere;  but it seemed that blood was more abundant than the fire, and that the killed were more numerous than the killers;  and the whole ground was covered by bodies;  and the soldiers, treading over the bodies of the dead, would follow the flight of those fleeing. Latrocinalis quidem multitudo, tandem pulsis Romanis, in exterius templum, deinde in civitatem invadit.  Populi autem quod fuit reliquum, in exteriorem porticum confugerat. Then the mass of brigands, finally pushing back the Romans, drove into the outer Temple, then into the City.  But those of the people that were left had fled to the outer colonnade. Sacerdotum autem nonnulli primum vĕrubus, itemque sedibus suis, quæ ex plumbo factæ erant, avulsis, in Romanos pro missilibus utebantur :  deinde quum nihil proficerent, ignisque in eos evomeretur, in parietem secedentes octo cubitis latum ibi manebant. Moreover some of the priests, first tearing out the pikes and likewise their sockets, which had been made of lead, employed them as missiles against the Romans;  then, since they were accomplishing nothing and the fire was shooting up against them, they drew back onto the wall twelve feet {(Latin:  8 cubits)} wide and stayed there. Duo tamen ex nobilibus, quum ad Romanos transeundo servari possent, aut communem cum ceteris durare fortunam, semetipsos in ignem injecere, et cum templo concremati sunt, Meirus filius Belgæ, et Josephus Dalæi. Nevertheless two of the eminent men, while they could have been saved by going over to the Romans or undergoing the common fortune with others, threw themselves into the fire and were burnt up with the Temple:  Meir, son of Belgas, and Joseph, of Dalæus. 2 Romani autem, quod frustra se circum templum ædificiis parcere judicabant, quum ipsum templum arderet, omnia simul incendunt, et quicquid ex porticibus reliquum erat, et portas :  præter unam ex parte Orientali, alteram ex Meridiana, quamvis eas quoque postea funditus everterint. The Romans, on the other hand, because they adjudged saving the buildings around the Temple to be in vain since the Temple itself was burning, set fire to everything at the same time:  both whatever was left of the colonnades, as well as the gates — except one on the east side, another on the south side, although later they completely overthrew those too. Quinetiam arculas, quæ gazophylacia vocantur, incendunt, in quibus magna vis erat pecuniæ, ac plurimum vestium, aliaque bona, et (ut breviter dicam) omnes Judæorum congestæ divitiæ, quod opulentissimus quisque illuc totas domos exhauserant.  Venerunt autem etiam in eam quæ restabat unam porticum, extra templum quo confugerant, ex populo mulierculæ, itemque pueri et promiscua multitudo, prope ad sex hominum milia. Further, they set fire to the chests which are called « gazophylacia » {(“treasure chambers”)} in which there was an enormous amount of money as well as a great amount of clothing, and other goods and (to put it briefly) all of the collected riches of the Jews which all the rich people had emptied their houses of there.  Of the people, women and likewise children, and a mixed mass — approaching six thousand people —, also came into that one remaining colonnade, whither they had fled outside of the Temple. Sed priusquam de his Cæsar quicquam decerneret, vel ducibus imperaret, ira flagrantes milites incendunt porticum.  Hinc contigit, ut alii, quum se ex flamma pracipitarent morerentur, alios ipsa corrumperet.  Ex tanto autem numero nemo servatus est. But before Cæsar could decide anything about them or give an order to his officers, soldiers burning with rage set fire to the colonnade.  Thus it came about that some died when they jumped from the flames which themselves killed the others.  No one of such a great number was saved. His causa interitus quidem pseudopropheta fuerat, qui eo die prædicaverat in civitate, quod eos in templum Deus ascendere signa salutis accepturos juberet.  Multi enim a tyrannis tunc subornati prophetæ, populo denuntiabant, ut exspectarent Dei auxilium, quo propterea minus profugerent, et eos qui supra timorem et custodiam fierent, spes retineret. The cause of their destruction, in fact, was a false prophet who on that day had preached in the City that God was ordering them to go up to the Temple to receive the signs of salvation.  For many prophets, at that time hired secretly by the tyrants, announced to the people that they should await God’s assistance, so that they would therefore flee less, and hope would restrain those who had risen above fear and emprisonment. Cito autem in adversis homini persuadetur.  Quod si etiam malorum instantium liberationem polliceatur qui fallit, necessario, qui ea patitur, spei totus efficitur. As it is, in crisis situations man is quickly persuaded.  But if a liar promises freedom from pressing evils, the sufferer perforce becomes wholly a creature of hope. 3 — Caput G-12 — De prodigiis excidium Hierosolymæ præcedentibus et præsagiis. Denique miserabilis populus, illis quidem fallacibus Deumque calumniantibus, credulus erat.  Certis vero prodigiis et futuram solitudinem prænuntiantibus, neque attendebant animo, neque credebant :  sed velut attoniti, nec aut oculos habentes, aut animas, edicta Dei dissimulavere :  modo quum supra civitatem sidus stetit, simile gladio, et per annum perseveravit, cometes modo quum, ante defectionem, primique belli motus, ad diem festum Azymorum populo conveniente (octavus autem dies erat Aprilis mensis) nona hora nocturna, circum aram itemque templum tantum lumen effulsit, ut clarissimus dies putaretur :  et hoc usque ad mediam permansit horam :  quod imperitis quidem bonum augurium esse videbatur, sacrorum vero peritis, prius quam eveniret, statim dijudicatum est. In the end, the pitiable people were credulous vis-à-vis those men deceiving and misrepresenting God.  In contrast, they neither paid attention mentally to prodigies which were clear and predicting desolation, nor did they believe them, but as people thunderstruck and having neither eyes nor understanding, they ignored the decrees of God;  thus it was when a star stood over the City, similar to a sword, and continued for a year;  thus it was a comet when, before the revolution and the upheavals of the first war, with the people convening for the feastday of Unleavened Bread (as it happened, it was the eighth day of the month of April {(actually, A.D. 66 April 25)}), at 3:00 A.M. {(Latin:  the ninth nocturnal hour)}, such a great light shone around the altar and also the Temple, that it would be thought to be the brightest day;  and this continued for half an hour;  indeed, this seemed to laymen to be a good augury;  but to those learned in the sacred texts, it was immediately interpreted as an augury {(of what was to come)} before it happened. Eodemque festo die etiam bos, quum ad hostiam duceretur, agnum in medio fani peperit.  Orientalis autem porta interioris templi, quum esset aënea atque gravissima, et sub vesperam vix a viginti viris clauderetur, serisque ferro vinctis obseraretur, pessulosque altos haberet in saxeum limen demissos, uno perpetuo lapide fabricatum, visa est noctis hora sexta sponte patescere. Also on the same feastday, a cow, as she was being led to sacrifice, gave birth to a lamb in the middle of the sanctuary.  Moreover the eastern gate of the inner Temple, while it was bronze and extremely heavy, and near nightfall would be closed with difficulty by twenty men, and was secured with ironbound bars, and had deep bolts sunk into a rock threshhold made of a continuous stone, was seen to open of itself at midnight {(Latin:  in the sixth hour of the night)}. His autem curriculo per custodes templi magistratui nuntiatis, ascendit ille, vixque eam potuit claudere.  Verum et hoc iterum ignaris quidem signum optimum videbatur.  Deum namque bonorum portam sibi aperuisse dicebant.  Prudentiores vero templi tutamen sponte sua dissolutum iri cogitabant :  et hostium donum esse, portas aperiri :  solitudinemque illo ostento signari inter se pronuntiabant. When this was reported on the run by the Temple guards to the captain, he went up and could barely close it.  Indeed, this too seemed to the ignorant to be a wonderful sign.  For they said that God had opened the gate of benefits to themselves.  On the other hand, the more intelligent were of the view that the security of the Temple was going to be dissolved of its own accord, and that the gates being opened was a gift to the enemy;  and they declared to one another that desolation was being signaled by that omen. Post dies autem festos diebus paucis, vicesimoprimo die mensis Maji visio quædam apparuit fidem excedens.  Pro fabula autem fortasse quod dicturus sum haberetur, nisi qui viderunt superessent, et clades dignæ præsagiis secutæ fuissent.  Namque ante solis occasum visi sunt per inane ferri currus totis regionibus, et armatæ acies tranantes nubila, et civitati circumfusæ. But a few days after the feastdays, on the twenty-first day of the month of May {(A.D. 66 June 8)}, a certain vision exceeding belief appeared.  Indeed, what I am about to say might be taken for a fable if those who saw it were not still alive, and disasters corresponding to the omens had not followed.  For before sundown in thin air chariots were seen coursing all over the regions, and armed phalanxes flying through the clouds and surrounding the City. Festo autem die, quem Pentecosten vocant, nocte sacerdotes intimum templum more suo ad divinas res celebrandas ingressi, primum quidem motum quendamque strepitum senserunt, postea vero subitam vocem audiere, quæ diceret, « Migremus hinc. » Moreover, on the feastday they call Pentecost, the priests, at night going in their customary way into the inner Temple to celebrate the sacred rites, first perceived a quaking and a certain roar, but then heard a sudden voice which said, “Let us leave here!” Quod autem his horribilius fuit, Jesus quidam, filius Anani, plebejus et rusticus, quadriennio prius quam bellum gereretur, in summa civitatis pace atque opulentia, quum ad festum diem venisset, quo attegias in honorem Dei componi in templo ab hominibus mos est, repente exclamare cœpit :  « Vox ab Oriente :  Vox ab Occidente :  Vox a quattuor ventis :  Vox in Hierosolymam et templum :  Vox in maritos novos novasque nuptas :  Vox in omnem hunc populum ! » What was, however, more horrible than these things:  a certain Jesus, the son of Ananus, a commoner and rustic, four years before the war was waged {(i.e., Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkoth, October, A.D. 62)}, at the height of the City’s peace and prosperity, when he had come to the feastday on which in honor of God it is the custom for huts to be built in the Temple, he suddenly began to shout, “A voice from the east;  a voice from the west;  a voice from the four winds:  a voice against Jerusalem and the Temple;  a voice against bridegrooms and brides;  a voice against this entire people!” Atque hæc inter diu noctuque clamitans omnes civitatis vicos circuibat.  Nonnulli autem virorum insignium, adversum omen indigne ferentes, corripiunt hominem, multisque verberibus afficiunt.  Ille autem neque pro se, nec ad eos qui se mulctabant, secreto quicquam locutus, eadem quæ prius vociferans perseverabat. And shouting this all day and night, he kept going around through all the city lanes.  Some of the eminent men, however, indignant at this ominous portent, seized the man and flogged him with many lashes.  Yet, saying nothing either on his own behalf or under his breath against those who were beating him, he continued shouting out the same things as before. Magistratus autem rati — quod erat verum — magis divinum esse hominis motum, ducunt eum ad Romanorum præfectum :  ubi plāgis usque ad ossa laceratus, neque supplex cuiquam fuit, neque lacrimavit :  sed ut poterat inclinans maxime flebiliter vocem, ad singulos ictus respondebat :  « Væ, væ Hierosolymis ! » So the leaders, thinking that he was driven rather by some otherworldly power — which was true —, led him before the Roman prefect.  Here he was scourged to the bone, yet he neither begged anyone for mercy nor cried, but, inflecting his voice as plaintively as possible, at each blow he responded, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” Albino autem interroganti (is namque judex erat) quis esset, vel unde ortus, aut cur ista diceret, nihil rettulit.  Non prius autem cessavit a luctu miseræ civitatis, donec eum Albinus furere judicatum dimisit.  Ille autem ad belli usque tempus neque adibat quenquam civium, neque loqui visus est :  sed quotidie velut orationem quandam meditatus, « Væ, væ Hierosolymis querebatur. When Albinus (for he was the judge) asked him who he was and whence he came, or why he was saying such things, he answered nothing.  Nor did he leave off from his bewailing of the pitiable city until Albinus, having judged him insane, dismissed him.  The man, however, all the while up to the war, neither approached any of the citizens nor was seen to speak;  instead, every day, as though rehearsing some prayer, he moaned, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” Sed neque imprecatus est cuiquam, quum in dies singulos mulctaretur, nec vīctum offerentibus benedicebat.  Sola vero ejus responsio ad omnes erat, triste præsagium.  Maxime autem diebus festis vociferabatur :  idque per annos septem et quinque menses continuos faciens, neque voce raucior fuit, neque delassatus est, donec obsidionis tempore, ipsa re perspectis auguriis, ipse quievit. And he also did not curse anyone when, on a daily basis, he was beaten, nor did he bless anyone offering him food. Rather, his only response to everyone was that mournful prophecy.  And he would cry out especially loudly on feastdays and, doing this for a straight seven years and five months, neither did his voice become more hoarse nor did he become fatigued until, at the time of the siege, with his predictions manifested by the fact itself, he ceased. Supra murum enim circumiens iterum, « Væ, væ civitati ac fano ac populo », voce maxima clamitabat.  Quum autem ad extremum addidit, « Væ etiam mihi », lapis tormento missus eum statim peremit, animamque adhuc illa omnia lugentem dimisit. For again going around the City wall, he was crying out in his loudest voice, “Woe, woe to the City and the Temple and the people!”  But as at the very end he added, “Woe to me, too,” a rock shot by a catapult killed him instantly and, still bewailing all those things, he gave up the ghost. 4 Hac si quis reputet, profecto inveniet, Deum quidem hominibus consulere modisque omnibus præmonstrare quæ sint eorum generi salutaria :  ipsos autem ob dementiam suam malis voluntariis interire :  quandoquidem et Judæi post Antoniam captam quadratum fanum fecerant, quum in sacris libris scriptum haberent, capiendam civitatem ac templum, si fanum quattuor angulis esset effectum. If one thinks about these things, he will unquestionably discover that God cares for human beings and in every way foreshows them what things are safe for their species, but because of their own dementia they themselves perish out of voluntary evils, in particular seeing that the Jews made the Temple foursquare after the capture of the Antonia, when they had it written in their holy books that the City and Temple would be captured if the Temple was reduced to four corners. Sed quod maxime eos ad bellum excitaverat, responsum erat ambiguum, itidem in sacris libris inventum, quod eo tempore quidam esset ex eorum finibus orbis terræ habiturus imperium.  Id enim illi quidem quasi proprium acceperunt, multique sapientes interpretatione decepti sunt. But what had especially incited them to war was an ambiguous oracle, likewise found in their holy books, that at that time someone from their territory was to gain control over the earth.  Indeed, they took that as their own, and many experts were deceived by this interpretation. Hoc autem plane responso, Vespasiani designabatur imperium, qui apud Judæam creatus est imperator.  Sed enim homines fatum vitare non possunt, etiam si præviderint.  At vero hi signorum quædam pro sua libidine interpretati sunt, alia contempsere :  donec patriæ excidio suaque pernicie eorum iniquitas confutata est. But through this oracle it was clearly the reign of Vespasian, who was made emperor in Judæa, that was designated.  Moreover men cannot avoid fate even if they foresee it.  And indeed, these men interpreted some of the signs according to their likes and spurned others, until their wickedness was confuted by the destruction of their fatherland and their own annihilation. ⇑ § VI Qualiter Romani, signis in templum illatis, Titum acclamationibus honorarunt.  Quibus verbis usus est Titus ad Judæos, ut sibi parcerentur supplicantes ; illorumque ad Titum responsum, quod ei indignationem movebat. How the Romans Carried Their Ensigns to the Temple, and Made Joyful Acclamations to Titus.  The Speech that Titus Made to the Jews When They Made Supplication for Mercy.  What Reply They Made Thereto ;  And How That Reply Moved Titus’s Indignation against Them. — Caput G-13 — De imperio Titi et sacerdotum interfectione. 1 ROMANI quidem, postquam seditiosi ad civitatem confugere, templo itemque omnibus circum locis ardentibus, signa in fano reposuere contra portam Orientalem :  hique ibi sacrificio celebrato, maximis cum clamoribus declarabant Titum Imperatorem.  Usque adeo vero præda satiati sunt milites universi, ut in Syria dimidio quam pridem fuerat pretio pondus auri vēniret. After the insurgents fled to the City, the Romans, with the Temple and all the spaces around it likewise burning, next placed their standards on the Temple opposite the east gate;  and after celebrating a sacrifice there, with tremendous shouts declared Titus Imperator.  Moreover all the soldiers were so glutted with booty that in Syria a pound of gold sold for half the price that it had formerly been. Ex his autem sacerdotibus, qui in templi pariete perduraverant, puer sitiens a Romanis custodibus pacem petebat, sitimque fatebatur.  Sed ubi illi tam ætatis quam necessitatis miserti, dedere ei dexteram, et ipse bibit, et quam secum attulerat lagœna repleta, sursum refugiens abiit ad suos :  nec eum quisquam custodum assequi valuit, sed ejus perfidiæ maledicebant. Moreover, from among those priests who had stayed on the Temple wall, a thirsty boy requested a truce from the Romans, and explained his thirst.  They, on the other hand, since they had pity for his age as well as his need, gave him their pledge of safe conduct and he drank;  and having filled the bottle he had brought with him, he went off fleeing up to his own people;  as it was, none of the guards was able to catch him, but they did curse his perfidy. Ille autem nihil se præter placita fecisse dicebat.  Dexteram enim sibi datam, non ut apud ipsos remaneret, sed ut tantum descenderet, atque ut aquam acciperet :  quæ quum fecerit, in fide mansisse.  Astutiam quidem propter ætatem maxime pueri, qui decepti fuerant, mirabantur. But he said that he had done nothing except the agreement.  The pledge had been given to him not so that he would remain with them, but only so that he would descend and accept the water.  Having done that, he remained true to his pledge.  Those who had been deceived were indeed amazed at the cunning of the boy, especially because of his age. Quinta vero die sacerdotes oppressi fame descendunt, et a custodibus ad Titum perducti, ut salutem sibi concederet orabant.  Ille autem veniæ quidem tempus illis præterisse fatus, perisse vero id cujus eos gratia merito conservasset, decere autem sacerdotes interire cum templo, duci homines ad supplicium jubet. Then on the fifth day the priests, overcome with hunger, came down and, led to Titus by the guards, pled for him to grant them safety.  But he, stating that the time for pardon had passed for them, given that that for the sake of which he might have deservedly preserved them had ceased to exist, while it was fitting for priests to die with their Temple, he ordered the men led to execution. 2 Sed tyranni cum sociis, quoniam bello undique tenebantur, circundatis autem nusquam erat fugæ copia, Titum ad colloquia provocant.  Ille autem pro humanitate naturali semper oppidum servare cupiens, et amicis præterea suadentibus (latrones enim jam moderatiores factos esse arbitrabantur) in parte occidua templi exterioris consistit. But the tyrants with their comrades, because they were penned in on all sides by war while, for those surrounded, there was no opportunity of escape anywhere, called Titus to a conference.  Out of his natural humanity always desiring to preserve the City, and with his friends urging him as well (for they thought the brigands had now become more moderate), he took a position on western side of the inner Temple. Hīc enim super Xystum erant portæ, ac pons qui civitatem superiorem templo jungebat, isque tunc inter tyrannos ac Titum interveniebat.  Multi autem militum utrinque densi astabant, Judæi quidem circum Simonem ac Joannem suspensi spe veniæ, Romani vero ad Cæsarem speculandi studio, qualiter eos reciperet. For here there were gates over the Plaza and a bridge which joined the Upper City with the Temple, and it then separated the tyrants and Titus.  Moreover many closely-packed soldiers stood by on both sides:  the Jews around Simon and John, in suspense out of hope for pardon;  the Romans with the eagerness of watching Cæsar as to how he would receive them. Edicto autem dato militibus, Titus, ut et iracundiam et sagittas continerent, adhibitoque interprete, quo argumento superior ostendebatur, prior alloqui cœpit.  « Etiamne saturati estis patriæ malis, O viri ? Then, having given an order to his soldiers to restrain their anger and their arrows, Titus, using an interpreter — by which action he was shown to be superior —, began to speak first.  “Are you now, O men, sated with the miseries of your fatherland? Quibus neque virtutis nostræ, neque infirmitatis propriæ venit in mentem :  sed inconsulto impetu ac furore perditis populum et civitatem simul ac templum, ipsi quoque juste perituri :  qui primum quidem, postquam vos Pompejus fortiter debellaverat, novas res affectare non destitistis, deinde etiam bellum apertum contra Romanum populum extulistis :  utrumne multitudine freti ? — You, to whose minds neither anything of our strength or your own weakness has occurred, but through thoughtless onslaughts and rage are destroying the people and City at the same time as the Temple, with you yourselves deservingly being about to perish;  who indeed from the start, after Pompey had powerfully subjugated you, have not stopped attempting revolution, then even stirred up open war against the Roman people.  Are you perhaps depending on the masses? Atqui parva manus vobis Romani exercitus satis restitit.  Auxiliatorum fide ?  Et quæ gens imperio nostro libera, Judæos præ Romanis optaret ?  Sed viribus corporum ?  Atqui satin nobis servire Germanos.  Firmitate murorum ?  Et qui major Oceano murus atque obstaculum ?  Quo sæpti Britanni, adorant arma Romanorum.  Animorum obstinatione, vel astutia ducum ?  Atqui Carthaginenses captos esse noveratis. Yet a small portion of the Roman army sufficiently withstood you.  On the loyalty of allies?  And what people free of our rule would choose the Jews over the Romans?  But on physical strength?  Yet it should be enough that the Germans serve us as slaves.  On the solidity of your walls?  And what wall and obstacle is greater than the ocean?  Surrounded by it, the Britons pay homage to Roman arms.  On your firmness of will or the cunning of your leaders?  But then you know that the Carthaginians were captured. Itaque vos contra Romanos ipsorum excitavit humanitas, qui primum vobis et terram dedimus possidendam, et gentiles imposuimus reges, deinde leges servavimus patrias, et vivere vos non solum discretos, sed cum aliis etiam vestra voluntate concessimus :  quodque maximum est, tributum capere Dei nomine, ac donaria colligere permisimus :  eaque offerentes neque monuimus, neque prohibuimus, ut hostes nobis efficeremini ditiores, nostraque pecunia vos contra nos instrueretis. So it was our graciousness that stirred you up against us Romans who in the beginning gave you land and placed over you kings of your own race;  then we preserved your national laws and allowed you to live according to your own preferences not only apart from, but with, others;  and, what is most of all, we permitted you to take in taxes in the name of God and to collect donations;  and we neither admonished those offering them against it, or stopped them — so that you would become richer enemies to us, and you yourselves employed our money against us. Ergo tantis bonis affecti, satietatem in eos qui hæc vobis præstiterant, extulistis, et immitium exemplo serpentium virus blandientibus infudistis.  Esto, Neronis neglegentiam contempsistis, et veluti ruptum aliquod membrum, sive contractum alias, male quieti in majore vitio detecti estis, et ad spes improbas, etiam cupiditates immodicas explicastis. Thus, endowed with such great benefits, you turned that overabundance against those who granted these things to you and, following the example of cruel serpents, spewed your poison at those coddling you.  Admitted, you despised Nero’s negligence and, badly quiet like some broken or otherwise herniated limb, in a greater crisis you were exposed, and proceeded to your wicked hopes and even immoderate desires. Venit pater meus ad patriam vestram non ut pœnas a vobis ob ea quæ in Cestium commiseratis, exigeret, sed monitis emendaret.  Denique quum deberet, si depopulandæ nationis causa venisset, stirpem vestram petere, atque hanc delere civitatem, Galilæam et circa eam loca vastare maluit, ut pænitendi vobis præberet indutias. My father came to your fatherland, not to punish you for the things you had committed against Cestius, but to correct you with warnings.  Finally, while, if he had come for the sake of annihilating your nation, he ought to have made for your root and wiped out this City, he preferred to lay waste to Galilee and the area around it to give you time for repenting. Sed hæc ejus humanitas infirmitas videbatur, nostraque lenitate aluistis audaciam.  Et Nerone mortuo, fecistis quod nequissimi solent, et ex intestinis nostris dissensionibus fiduciam præsumpsistis :  meque ac patre meo digressis ad Ægyptum ad struendum bellum tempus illud utile putavistis.  Neque vos puduit perturbare principes declaratos, quos etiam duces humanissimos fueratis experti. But this mildness of his was seen as weakness, and you nourished your audacity with our leniency.  And with the death of Nero, you did what the most evil people do and developed overconfidence from our internal divisions;  and while I and my father were gone to Egypt, you thought that time was good for preparing for war.  You were not ashamed of antagonizing us as elected emperors whom you had experienced as extremely humane generals. Denique ubi ad nos confugit imperium, et omnibus in eo quiescentibus, per legatos autem gratulantibus exteris nationibus, ecce iterum hostes Judæi :  et legationes quidem a vobis trans Euphraten usque, novarum rerum gratia missæ, murorum autem novi ambitus :  seditio etiam, tyrannorumque contentio, et bellum intestinum, quæ sola hujuscemodi nequissimos decent. When finally the empire took refuge in us and everything was quiet in it — moreover with foreign nations congratulating us through their ambassadors —, behold, again the Jews were our enemies;  and indeed emissaries were sent by you all the way across the Euphrates for the sake of revolution;  there were new wall perimeters — and even rebellion, a contest of tyrants and civil war, things that alone suit utterly evil men of this type. Jussus ego ab invito patre cum mandatis tristibus ad civitatem venire, lætabar, cognito populum de pace sentire.  Ante bellum rogabam vos desistere, pugnantibus aliquandiu parcebam, sponte ad me venientibus dexteram dedi, fidem servavi confugientibus, multos captivos miseratus, verberibus urgentes bellum coërcui, muris vestris machinas invitus admovi, semper cædis vestræ cupidos milites continui. I myself, having been commanded by a reluctant father to come to this City with sad orders, rejoiced on learning the people were yearning for peace.  Before the war I asked you to cease;  for some time I spared you fighters;  I gave safe conduct to those coming to me of their own accord;  I kept my promise to the refugees, having pity on many captives;  with beatings I restrained men who were pressing for war;  reluctantly I moved my machines up to your walls;  I always held back my soldiers who were eager for your slaughter. Quoties vici, toties vos ad pacem tanquam victus provocavi.  Quum prope ad templum accessissem, consulto iterum legis belli oblitus parcere vos propriis sanctis orabam, templumque servare, data vobis exeundi copia et fide salutis :  vel etiam pugnare alio tempore si velletis, in alio loco facultatem præbui.  Ista omnia sprevistis :  et templum manibus vestris incendistis. Whenever I won a victory, I, as though conquered, called you to peace.  After I had gotten near to the Temple, intentionally disregarding the law of war I pled with you to spare your own holy places and preserve the Temple, giving you the chance to leave and a promise of safe conduct;  or if you wanted even to fight at another time, I offered the opportunity in another place.  You spurned all these things and set fire to the Temple with your own hands. Deinde sceleratissimi nunc me ad colloquium provocatis, ut quid tale conservetis quale periit ?  Qua vosmetipsos salute dignos esse post templi excidium judicatis ?  Quinetiam nunc armati statis, et nec in extremis supplices assimulatis.  O miseri, qua fiducia ?  Nonne populus vester exanimatus ? Finally, you utterly criminal men now call me to a conference — so that you might preserve something the likes of which has already perished?  Of what salvation do you think yourselves worthy after the destruction of the Temple?  Indeed, even now you stand there armed, and pretend you are not suppliants in final straits.  O wretches, with reliance on what?  Is not your people dead? Templum vero periit, mihique subdita est civitas :  in manibus autem meis habetis animas vestras.  Et tamen fortitudinis esse gloriam mortem arbitramini.  Non contendam cum pertinacia vestra.  Projectis autem armis, traditisque corporibus, vitam vobis indulgeo, et sicut in privata domo, dominus mitis ultus graviora, cetera mihi servo. » Indeed, the Temple has perished, the City is subject to me;  moreover you have your lives in my hands.  And still you think death is the height of valor.  I will not compete with your obstinacy.  But with your having thrown down your weapons and surrendered your bodies, I will grant you your lives and, as in a private house, be a lenient lord avenging the graver wrongs;  I reserve the rest to myself.” 3 Ad hæc illi responderunt, fidem quidem se ab eo minime posse accipere :  nam jurasse nunquam id facturos :  exeundi vero per munitiones, qua murum sæpserat, cum conjugibus ac liberis facultatem petebant.  Ituros enim se in solitudinem ipsique oppidum relicturos. To this the others responded that they could by no means accept such terms from him, for they had sworn never to do it;  but they asked him permission to leave with their wives and children through the armed perimeter by which he had surrounded their wall.  For they would go into the desert and they themselves would leave the City. Ob hoc Titus vehementer iratus, quod in sorte captorum constituti, victorum sibi condiciones ponerent, declarari quidem his jussit voce præconis, ne ulterius ad se profugerent, neve fidem sperarent :  nulli enim esse parcendum :  cunctis autem viribus dimicarent, et quantum possent, saluti suæ consulerent :  jam enim se omnia jure belli gesturum. Titus, vehemently angered over this because those placed in the situation of captives should impose the conditions of victors on him, ordered it announced to them through the voice of a herald that henceforth they could neither flee to him nor hope for terms;  no one would be spared;  they should fight with all their might and, as much as they could, see to their own safety.  For henceforth he would deal with everything according to the laws of war. Militibus autem diripere civitatem atque inflammare permisit.  Illi autem ipso quidem die nihil egerunt.  Postero autem die Archivum, Acram, et curium, et qui vocatur Ophla, succendere :  et progrediebatur ignis usque ad Helenæ regiam, quæ in media erat Acra :  nec minus civitatis mortuis plenæ vici domusque ardebant. Moreover he permitted the soldiers to ravage and set fire to the City.  On that same day, to be sure, they did nothing.  But on the next day they set fire to the Archives, the Hilltop and the sanhedrin assembly house, and the district called Ophlas;  and the fire progressed all the way to Helen’s Palace, which was in the middle of the Hilltop;  likewise the streets and houses full of the City’s dead were burned down. 4 Eodem die Izatæ regis filii, et fratres, cumque his multi nobiles ex populo congregati, ut fidem sibi daret, Cæsari supplicarunt.  Ille autem, quanquam ceteris omnibus iratus erat, mores tamen non mutavit, sed eos suscepit.  Et tunc quidem omnes in custodia habebat :  regis autem filios ac propinquos postea vinctos Romam perduxit, fidem obsidum præstaturos. On that same day, the sons and brothers of King Izates, and with them many eminent men gathered from the people, besought Cæsar to give them his pledge of security.  Moreover he, although he was angry at all the rest, did not change his character, but accepted them.  And at that time, to be sure, he held them all in captivity.  But he later sent the sons of the king and their relatives in bonds to Rome to become surety as a pledge of hostages. ⇑ § VII Quænam deinceps acciderunt seditiosis, mala multa facientibus et patientibus :  et quomodo urbem superiorem occupat Cæsar. What Afterward Befell the Seditious When They Had Done a Great Deal of Mischief, and Suffered Many Misfortunes ;  as Also How Cæsar Became Master of the Upper City. 1 — Caput G-14 — De præda seditiosorum et succensione interioris civitatis. SEDITIOSI autem ad domum regiam profecti, ubi (quia tuta erat) multi facultates suas deposuerant, et Romanos hinc pellunt, et omnibus popularibus qui eo convenerant, prope ad octo milia et quadringentos occisis, pecuniam etiam diripuere.  Vivos autem duos milites Romanos cepere, unum equitem, alterum peditem. The insurgents, proceding now to the Royal House {(i.e., the palace recently abandoned by the family of King Izates)} where (because it was safe) many had deposited their possessions, they both drove the Romans out of it and, killing all (nearly 8,400) of the ordinary citizens who had gathered there, also plundered the money.  In addition they captured two Roman soldiers — one a cavalryman, the other an infantryman. Et peditem quidem interfectum per omnem traxere civitatem, velut uno corpore omnes Romanos ulciscerentur, eques vero quidem his quod saluti foret, suadere pollicitus, deducitur ad Simonem ;  quumque ibi quæ diceret non haberet, Ardalæ cuidam ex numero ducum traditur puniendus. And as far as the infantryman was concerned, they dragged him slaughtered through the entire City, as though with a single body they were taking vengeance on all Romans;  but the cavalryman, having promised to advise them something that would be for their safety, was led to Simon and, when there he had nothing to say, he was handed over to a certain Ardalas of the body of officers to be punished. Is autem eum revinctis post terga manibus oculisque fascia obstrictis, in conspectum Romanorum, veluti capite cæsurus, produxit.  Verum ille, dum gladium Judæus educeret, ad Romanos refugit.  Hunc Titus quoniam ab hostibus esset elapsus, non est passus quidem occidi, indignum vero esse Romanorum militem judicavit, quia vivus fuerat captus :  et armis ablatis eum agmine pepulit, quæ res pudenti viro gravior esse morte videbatur. He then led him, with his hands tied behind his back and his eyes bound with a blindfold, into view of the Romans as though to be beheaded.  But he, while the Jew was drawing out his sword, fled to the Romans.  Because he had escaped from the enemy, Titus did not allow him to be executed, but judged him unworthy of being a soldier of the Romans because he had been captured alive and, stripping him of his weapons, drove him out of the corps, an experience which seemed worse than death to any man with a sense of shame. 2 Golgotha Garden Tomb Antonia Fortress Pool of Bethesda Temple Solomon’s Porch Beautiful (Nikanor) Gate Pinnacle of the Temple Holy Mount (unspecified locations) Garden of Gethsemane Mount of Olives Gihon Spring Water Gate Hinnom Valley House of Caiaphas Upper Room (Cenaculum) Herod’s Palace Jerusalem (unspecified locations) Postero autem die Romani, versis in fugam ex inferiori civitate latronibus, omnia Siloam usque igni tradidere et oppidum quidem gaudebant absumi, rapinis vero carebant :  quoniam latrones, exinanitis prius omnibus, in superiorem civitatem recedebant.  Erat namque illis malorum quidem nulla pænitudo — arrogantia autem tanquam in rebus secundis. But on the next day the Romans, having driven the brigands out of the Lower City, set fire to everything as far as the Pool of Siloam and rejoiced that the City was destroyed, but lacked the plunder, because the brigands, after emptying out everything beforehand, had withdrawn to the Upper City.  For among them there was indeed no remorse for their crimes — just arrogance as though in success. Denique ardere civitatem lætis vultibus aspicientes, alacri voto mortem se exspectare dicebant, quod perempto populo, incenso templo, et flagrante oppido, nihil essent hostibus relicturi.  Sed tamen Josephus in extremis eorum rebus, pro reliquiis civitatis obsecrando laborabat. At the end, with happy faces watching the City burning, they said they were awaiting death with eager longing;  because with the people dead, the Temple burnt down and the City in flames, they would be leaving nothing to the enemy.  Nevertheless Josephus, by beseeching them in their extreme straits, continued to work for the remainder of the City. Sed multa quidem in eorum crudelitatem atque impietatem locutus, multa vero pro salute adhortatus, nihil amplius quam elusus est :  quia neque se tradere propter jusjurandum patiebantur, neque pugnare cum Romanis ex æquo jam poterant, veluti custodia circumvallati :  cædisque insuper consuetudo dexteras commovebat. But saying much against their cruelty and impiety, exhorting them a great deal on the other hand for their safety, he was no more than ridiculed, because they would neither allow themselves to surrender on account of their oaths nor, as though surrounded by guards, could they any longer fight with the Romans on an equal basis;  and in addition the habit of slaughter animated their right arms. Dispersi autem per civitatem, per ruinas latitabant, profugere paratis insidiantes.  Multi autem capiebantur, omnesque interficiebantur :  nam propter inediam fugere non valebant :  mortuos autem canibus projiciebant. Then, dispersed throughout the City, they lay hid amongst the ruins, lying in ambush for those ready to flee.  Many indeed were captured and all were murdered, for on account of their hunger they did not have the strength to flee.  The dead they threw to the dogs. Omne autem pereundi genus fame levius videbatur :  adeo ut ad Romanos quoque sine licentia, etiam desperata misericordia, tamen fugerent :  atque in seditiosos a cæde non cessantes, sponte inciderent.  Nullusque in civitate locus vacuus erat :  sed cuncta mortuos habebant, quos fames aut latrones confecerant, et cadaveribus eorum plena erant, qui alimentorum penuria vel seditione perierant. But every form of death seemed easier than starvation — to the extent that, even despairing of mercy, they nonetheless also fled to the Romans without permission, and of their own accord ran into insurgents unceasing in their slaughter.  And no spot in the City was empty, but all contained the dead whom starvation or the criminals had killed, and were full of the corpses of those who had perished through lack of food or the insurgency. 3 Tyrannos autem fovebat, factionemque latronum, spes ultima sita in cloacis :  quo si fugissent, minime inveniri posse arbitrabantur :  sed peracto excidio, post Romanorum digressum prodire ac fugere cogitabant.  Id autem plane illis erat somnium.  Nec enim vel Deum, vel Romanos fuerant latitaturi. Their final hope, placed on the sewers, kept the tyrants and the faction of the brigands going;  they thought that if they fled there, they could by no means be found;  they planned rather, with the destruction over, after the departure of the Romans, to come forth and flee.  That was clearly a hallucination of theirs.  For they were not about to hide either from God or the Romans. Tunc quidem subterraneis freti, plura quam Romani concremabant, et qui ex incendiis fugientes in cuniculos descendissent, eos improbe necabant, itemque spoliabant.  Quinetiam cibum sicubi reperissent concretum sanguine rapientes, devorabant.  Erat autem inter se illis jam rapinarum causa bellum, eosque putaverim, nisi excidio præventi essent, nimia crudelitate mortuorum quoque corpora degustaturos fuisse. Then, relying on subterranean lairs, they burned down more than the Romans did, and if any people fleeing the fires had climbed down into the tunnels, they evilly slew them and robbed them as well.  Indeed, if the plunderers found any food stuck together with blood, they devoured even it.  Moreover among them there was a war for the sake of the plunder, and I could believe that unless they had been prevented by the annihilation, in their excessive cruelty they would have tasted even the bodies of the dead. ⇑ § VIII Quomodo Cæsar contra urbem superiorem aggeres erigit :  quibus perfectis machinas adduci jubet, et totam urbem cepit. How Cæsar Raised Banks round about the Upper City [Mount Zion].  And When They Were Completed, Gave Orders That the Machines Should Be Brought.  He Then Possessed Himself of the Whole City. 1 — Caput G-15 — Superior pars civitatis adoritur, et confugiunt aliqui Judæorum ad Titum. CÆSAR autem, fieri non posse prospiciens ut sine aggeribus superiorem caperet civitatem in prærupto undique loco sitam, distribuit operibus militem vicesimo die mensis Augusti.  Erat autem transvectio materiæ difficilis :  omnibus, ut dictum est, circum civitatem usque ad centesimum stadium in priorum aggerum exstructionem detonsis. However Cæsar, foreseeing that without bulwarks it was not possible to accomplish capturing the Upper City located on a position precipitous on all sides, portioned out his soldiers to the work on the twentieth day of August {(A.D. 70 September 8)}.  But the transportation of wood was difficult, given that, has has been said, everything around the City up to eleven miles {(Latin:  to the hundredth stade)} had been cut down for the building of the prior bulwarks. Quattuor quidem legionum opus in Occidentali parte civitatis contra aulam regiam erigitur :  auxiliarium vero manus, et cetera multitudo xystum versus, ac pontem, et Simonis turrim, quam cum Joanne bellum gerens, pro castello sibi ædificaverat. The work of the four legions was then erected in the western part of the City against the Royal Hall, while the body of the auxiliaries and the rest of the multitude were opposite the Plaza and the bridge and Simon’s tower which he had built as a fortress for himself while waging war with John. 2 His autem diebus, Idumæorum duces clam congregati, consilium de sui traditione cepere :  missisque ad Titum quinque, ut dexteram sibi daret, precabantur.  Ille vero tyrannos sperans esse cessuros Idumæis abstractis, quoniam belli pars videbantur, sero quidem, verumtamen vitam his pollicitus legatos remisit. During these days, the leaders of the Idumæans, convening secretly, made a plan for their own surrender and, sending five men to Titus, they besought him to give them safe conduct.  He, on the other hand, hoping that the tyrants would give in, with the Idumæans removed, because they were seen as part of the war, certainly belatedly, but nonetheless having promised them their lives, he sent the emissaries back. Discessum autem parantibus Simon præsensit, et eos quidem, qui ad Titum perrexerant, quinque viros statim occidit :  duces vero, quorum nobilissimus erat Sosæ filius Jacobus, correptos in custodiam conjicit.  Nec multitudinem Idumæorum, abductis rectoribus, quid ageret nescientem, sine custodia habebat :  sed diligentioribus eam custodiis amplectebatur :  et tamen custodes profugientibus obstare non poterant. But Simon anticipated the ones preparing their departure and immediately killed the five men who had gone to Titus — while seizing their leaders, of whom the most eminent was James the son of Sosas, he threw them into custody.  He also did not leave the bulk of the Idumæans — with their officers taken away not knowing what to do — unguarded, but surrounded them with more diligent guards;  and yet the guards could not block those fleeing. Quamvis enim multi necarentur, plures tamen erant qui fugerent.  Omnes autem suscipiebantur a Romanis, quod Titus nimia lenitate priora præcepta neglexerat :  ipsique milites jam et spe lucri, et satietate, cædibus temperabant.  Sola enim relicta plebe, aliud vulgus cum conjugibus ac liberis, parvo quemque pretio vēnundabant, quum multi autem distraherentur, et emptores pauci essent. For although many were killed, nonetheless there were more who fled.  On the other hand, all were accepted by the Romans, because Titus had, with his overabundant mildness, neglected his earlier orders;  and now the soldiers themselves abstained from slaughter out of satedness and the hope of profit.  Leaving the citizenry alone, they sold the other mob with its wives and children — each one at a low price, since many were put up for auction and the buyers were few. Quanquam voce præconis edixerat, ne quis solus transfugeret, ut eo modo familias suas educerent, tamen hos quoque recipiebat :  appositis qui ab his secernerent, si quis dignus supplicio videretur.  Et infinita quidem multitudo vēniit.  Ex populo vero servati sunt plusquam quadraginta milia, quos imperator quomodo cuique gratum erat, dimisit. Although he had decreed through the voice of a herald that no one should flee over alone, so that in that way they would bring along their families, nonetheless he accepted those too, appointing men who would separate from them anyone who seemed worthy of execution.  And an innumerable multitude was sold.  But of the populace, there were more than forty thousand whom the general let go wherever it pleased each one. 3 Eisdem autem diebus etiam sacerdotum unus, filius Thebuthi, nomine Jesus, accepta fide salutis a Cæsare, ut de sacris donariis quædam traderet, egreditur, ac tradit ex fani pariete candelabra duo, his quæ in templo erant posita, similia :  mensasque et crateras, et pateras, omnia ex aura solido et gravissimo facta. Moreover in those same days also one of the priests, a son of Thebuthi, named Jesus, having received a promise of safe conduct from Cæsar to hand over some of the sacred donations, went out and handed over from the Sanctuary wall two candlesticks similar to those which were placed in the Temple, and tables and bowls and saucers, all made of solid and extremely heavy gold. Tradit etiam vela, pontificum indumenta, cum gemmis, et vasa multa sacrificio comparata.  Quinetiam custos sacræ pecuniæ comprehensus, Phineas nomine, vestes et cingula sacerdotum ostendit, multamque purpuram et coccum, quæ ad usum reposita catapetasmatis servabantur. He also delivered veils, garments of the pontiffs, along with gems and many vessels designed for sacrifices.  Indeed even the captured custodian of the sacred treasury, named Phineas, revealed the clothing and sashes of the priests and much crimson and scarlet which was kept put away for the use of the curtain. Cum quibus aliquantum cinnamumi erat, casiæ, pigmentorumque aliorum multitudo, quibus commixtis Deo in dies singulos adolebant.  Tradita sunt autem ab eo et ex aliis opibus multa, et sacra ornamenta non pauca :  quorum gratia, licet vi capto, ut transfugæ tamen data est venia. With those things was some cinnamon, cassia and a profusion of other pigments, with the mixture of which they offered incense to God every day.  Many of the other valuables were delivered by him, and not a few sacred ornaments, for the sake of which pardon was granted him, even though captured by force, nonetheless as a fugitive. 4 — Caput G-16 — De potita reliqua parte civitatis. Jam vero perfectis aggeribus, Septembris mensis die septimo, qui erat a cœpto opere octavus et decimus dies, Romani quidem machinas admovebant.  Seditiosorum autem alii qui civitatem desperaverant, muris relictis in Acram recedebant, alii se in cloacas demittebant :  multi dispositi prohibebant eos qui arietes applicarent. But with the bulwarks now finished, on the seventh day of the month of September {(A.D. 70 September 25)}, which was the eighteenth day from the beginning of the operation, the Romans moved up their machines.  In response, some insurgents, who despaired of the City, leaving the walls, withdrew to the Palace;  others went down into the sewers;  many of the stationed men continued staving off those who were bringing the rams to bear. Hos autem superabant multitudine ac virtute Romani :  quodque maximum est, læti mæstos atque jam debiles.  Quum autem pars esset aliqua muri subruta, nonnullæque turres arietibus pulsatæ cessissent, statim quidem propugnatores earum diffugiunt :  timor autem etiam tyrannos necessitate major invadit. But the Romans outdid them in numbers and valor, and what is most important, high-spirited men outdoing depressed and already enfeebled ones.  When then some part of the wall had been undermined and some of the towers pounded by the rams had given way, their defenders fled instantly;  moreover, a fear greater than necessary gripped even the tyrants. Nam et priusquam transgrederentur hostes, torpore tenebantur, et ad fugiendum suspensi erant.  Videres autem paulo ante superbos, et factis impiis arrogantes, ita tunc humiles esse ac tremere, ut miseranda esset, quanquam in nequissimis, tanta mutatio.  Conati sunt quidem ambitu et muro quo mœnia cingebantur, invaso atque perrupto, custodes pellere, atque egredi :  quum vero, quos antea fideles habuerant, nusquam viderent, fugiebant quo quemque necessitas impulisset. For even before the enemy crossed over they were immobilized in paralysis, and in suspense about fleeing.  You could see those who a little before had been haughty and arrogant in their sacrilegious deeds now being so humble and trembling, that such a change, even in utterly evil men, was pitiable.  They tried, by attacking and breaking through the perimeter and the wall with which the ramparts were surrounded, to drive away the guards and get out;  when, however, they could nowhere see those whom they had formerly had as loyalists, they fled wherever urgency drove each of them. Adeuntes autem alii quum totum ab Occidente murum subversum esse nuntiarent, alii subiisse Romanos, ac etiam propinquare se quærentes, alii etiam videre hostes in turribus affirmarent, metu fallente conspectum, in ora prostrati, pro sua dementia querebantur :  ac veluti succisi nervos, qua fugerent hæsitabant. Moreover when some, arriving, announced that the entire wall on the west had been overthrown, others that the Romans had come up and were even in the vicinity looking for them, yet others — with fear deceiving their sight — affirmed that they saw the enemy in the towers {(i.e., of Herod’s Palace)}, then falling on their faces, they lamented their own madness and, as though men cut in their tendons, wavered over where to flee. Unde et maxime quis, et virtutem Dei perspexerit contra injustos, et fortunam Romanorum.  Tyranni siquidem semetipsos tuitione privavere, ac sponte de turribus descendere :  unde vi nunquam, sola vero fame capi poterant.  Romani vero qui tantum in muris infirmioribus laboraverant, eos quos instrumentis non potuissent, nunc fortuna cepere.  Omnibus enim machinis tres turres validiores erant, de quibus supra memoravimus. From this above all one might see both the power of God against the unjust and the good luck of the Romans.  For in fact the tyrants deprived themselves of protection, and of their own accord descended from the towers from which they could never have been captured by force, but only by starvation.  Indeed the Romans, who had struggled so much on the weaker walls — those which they could not get with their machines — now made the capture through luck.  For the three towers of which we made mention above were stronger than all the machines. 5 Relictis itaque his, vel (quod est verius) Dei nutu ab his depulsi, confestim quidem ad vallem Siloam confugere.  Rursum autem ubi a metu paululum respiraverunt, munitionem qua murus erat accinctus ex ea parte petiere.  Usi autem infirmiori audacia quam necessitate (jam enim vires eorum labor, metus et calamitas fregerat) a custodibus retruduntur, et per deversa disjecti, in cloacis delitescunt. And so, having left these walls, or (what is truer) having been driven from them by the will of God, they swiftly fled to the valley of Siloam.  But then again, when they had recovered a little from their fear, from that sector they made for the cordon by which the wall had been blockaded.  But after employing a more feeble audacity than necessary (for strain, fear and disaster had already broken their strength), they were thrust back by the guards and, dispersed asunder, they hid in the sewers. Romani vero muris potiti, signa in turribus posuere :  et plausu atque lætitia victoriam et cantu celebrabant, quod principio finem belli multo senserant leviorem.  Denique sine sanguine murum nacti, novissimum non esse credebant, quumque nullum reluctantem viderent, pro incerto mirabantur. The Romans, on the other hand, having taken over the walls, placed their standards on the towers and celebrated their victory with applause and rejoicing, because they felt the end of the war far easier than its beginning.  Finally, having bloodlessly acquired the wall, they did not think it was the last one;  and since they saw no one fighting back, they were in wonder because of the uncertainty. In angustias autem viarum strictis gladiis fusi, et quos cepissent interficiebant nullo discrimine, domosque totas, cum omnibus qui eo confugerant, igni tradebant.  Multas vero vastantes quas prædæ causa penetrassent, integras mortuorum familias, et plena mortuis tecta quos fames confecerat, offendebant. But pouring into the narrow lanes of the streets with drawn swords, they both killed indiscriminately those whom they might capture and set fire to entire houses with all who had fled there.  Moreover in laying waste to many houses which they entered for the sake of booty, they encountered whole families of the dead and houses full of the dead whom starvation had killed. Ipsum deinde horrentes aspectum, vacuis manibus egrediebantur.  Nec tamen eo modo peremptos miserantes idem etiam circa vivos patiebantur :  sed unumquenque obvium transfigendo, et angusta viarum cadaveribus obstruendo, totam civitatem sanguine diluere, ut pleraque incensorum cædes exstinguerent. At the end, shuddering at the sight itself, they would leave with empty hands.  But pitying the dead in that way, they nevertheless did not also suffer the same around the living;  but, running every single one they encountered through, and strewing the narrow lanes of the streets with corpses, they drenched the entire City with blood, so that the slaughters extinguished most of the fires. Et occidentes quidem vespere cessabant, nocte vero crescebat incendium.  Ardentibus autem Hierosolymis, illuxit dies Septembris mensis octavus civitati, tot clades quum obsideretur expertæ, quot bonis si usa esset ex quo fuerat condita, invidenda fuisset :  nullā tamen aliā re tantis infelicitatibus digna, nisi quod talem progeniem qua subversa est, edidit. And to be sure, the killers stopped in the evening, but at night the fire grew.  Moreover with Jerusalem burning, the eighth day of September {(i.e., A.D. 70 September 26)} dawned over a City having experienced so many disasters when it was besieged that it would have been envied if it had enjoyed that many good things from the time it had been founded;  but through no other thing was it deserving of such miseries than the fact that it had produced such a generation as the one by which it was overthrown. ⇑ § IX Quænam Cæsar intro ingressus fieri imperavit.  Numerus eorum, qui capti erant et perierunt, deque eis, qui in cuniculos confugerunt : in quibus Simon et Joannis tyranni. What Injunctions Cæsar Gave When He Was Come within the City.  The Number of the Captives and of Those That Perished in the Siege ;  as Also Concerning Those That Had Escaped into the Subterranean Caverns, among Whom Were the Tyrants Simon and John Themselves. 1 INTRO autem Titus ingressus, et alia, et civitatis munitiones ac turrium cautes miratus est, quas tyranni per dementiam deseruerant.  Conspecta quidem earum solida altitudine, itemque magnitudine, subtilique lapidum compagine singulorum, quantumque paterent vel quantum erigerentur, « Deo », inquit, « plane adjuvante pugnavimus :  et Deus erat, qui detraxit ab istis munimentis Judæos. But entering inside, Titus marveled at — besides other things — the City’s fortifications and the stone of the towers which the tyrants in their madness had abandoned.  Looking at their solid height as well as their size, and the fine seams between the individual blocks, and how broad they were or how high they went up, he said, “Clearly, it was with God’s help that we fought, and it was God who pulled the Jews away from these fortifications. Nam quæ hominum manus, aut quæ machinæ ad istas valerent ? »  Tunc quidem multa ejusmodi cum amicis collocutus est.  Quos vero a tyrannis vinctos in castellis repperit, relaxavit.  Quum autem alia civitatis deleret, murosque subverteret, eas turres fortunæ suæ monumentum reliquit — qua commilitante, his potitus fuisset, quæ capi non potuissent. “For what hands of men, or what machines would avail against these?”  During that time he discussed many things of this kind with his friends.  On the other hand, he released those whom he found bound in the fortresses by the tyrants.  Moreover, while he destroyed other things of the City and demolished the walls, he left those towers as a monument to his luck — luck through whose comradship-in-arms he had taken over the things that could not have been captured. 2 Quia ergo milites interficiendo defatigabantur, magnaque adhuc exstabat superstitum multitudo, solos quidem armatos Cæsar, et qui manum opponerent, jubet interfici, reliquam vero multitudinem salvam esse.  Illi autem cum his quos occidi mandatum fuerat, etiam senes ac debiles trucidabant :  vegetos autem atque utiliores coactos in templum, in destinatum mulieribus ambitum concluserunt. So because the soldiers in their massacring were getting tired and a large number of survivors still remained, Cæsar ordered that only armed individuals and those who put up resistance be killed, but that the rest of the multitude should be safe.  But they, along with those whom it was ordered to be killed, also killed the aged and infirm, while they caged the healthy and usable ones, forced into the Temple, in the precinct destined for women. Custodem autem his Cæsar apposuit unum ex libertis, et amicum suum Frontonem, qui fortunam quam quisque meritus esset, decerneret.  Ille autem latrones quidem omnes, atque seditiosos, quum alius ab alio indicaretur, occidit :  juvenes autem lectos, qui procēro atque formoso essent corpore, triumpho servabat :  ex residua multitudine septem et decem majores annis, vinctos mittit ad Ægyptum, operibus deputandos. Next, Cæsar appointed one of his freedmen as supervisor over them, and his friend, Fronto, who was to determine the fate which each one had deserved.  He in turn executed all of the brigands and the insurgents, according as one was pointed out by another.  But selected youths who were of tall and handsome build, he kept for the triumph;  those of the remaining multitude more than seventeen years old, he sent bound to Egypt, to be assigned to the works. Plurimos autem per provincias Titus distribuit, in spectaculis ferro et bestiis consumendos.  Qui vero infra decimum et septimum annum ætatis agerent, venditi sunt.  Eisdem autem diebus, quibus secernebantur a Frontone, mortui sunt fame duodecim milia, quibus partim odio custodum non præbebatur cibus, partim ipsi vīctūs fastidio tenebantur.  Erat autem præ multitudine hominum frumenti penuria. But Titus distributed most throughout the provinces to be killed by the sword and beasts in shows, although those below seventeen years of age were sold.  Moreover in those same days in which Fronto was making the determinations, twelve thousand died of hunger, to whom, in part, food was not provided out of the guards’ hatred of them, and in part they themselves were restrained by their revulsion over the food.  Moreover there was insufficiency of grain for the large number of people. 3 — Caput G-17 — De numero captivorum et peremptorum. Et captivorum quidem omnium qui toto bello comprehensi sunt, nonaginta et septem milium comprehensus est numerus, mortuorum vero per omne tempus obsidionis undecies centum milia.  Horum plerique gentiles fuere, sed non indigenæ :  ab omnibus enim regionibus ad azymorum diem festum congregati, bello subito circumfusi sunt :  ubi primo quidem illis pestifera lues ex loci angustia nasceretur, deinde citius fames. Now of the number of captives which were caught in the entire war, the total number is ninety-seven thousand, while of the dead throughout the entire time of the siege it was a million one hundred thousand {(Latin:  eleven hundred thousands [in fact, greatly exaggerated])}.  Of these, most were Jews, but not Jerusalemites;  for, having gathered from all regions to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they were suddenly enveloped by the war;  hence first a disease-bearing plague broke out due to the narrowness of the place, then, more rapidly, famine. Quod autem caperet tantam hominum multitudinem civitas, certum erat ex his, qui sub Cestio fuerant enumerati.  Is enim tunc vires civitatis ac florem Neroni significare cupiens, contemnenti nationem, a pontificibus petiit, ut si quo modo possent multitudinem numerarent. Now the fact that the City would hold such a multitude of people was clear from those who had been counted under Cestius.  For he, wishing at that time to show to Nero, who despised the nation, the power and magnificence of the City, asked of the pontiffs whether they could somehow count the population. Illi autem, quum dies festus adesset, qui Pascha vocatur, quando a nona quidem hora usque ad undecimam hostias cædunt, per singulas vero contubernia non pauciorum quam decem virorum fiunt (solum enim epulari non licet, multi etiam viceni conveniunt) hostiarum quidem ducenta et quinquaginta sex milia et quingentas numeravere. Thus, when the feastday arrived which is called the Pascha, on which they sacrifice victims from 3 to 5 p.m. {(Latin:  the ninth hour to the eleventh)}, for each one a group of no fewer than ten men was formed (for it was impermissible to eat alone;  many groups of even twenty apiece assembled), they in fact counted two hundred and fifty six thousand and five hundred {(sacrificial)} victims. Fiunt autem, ut denos epulatores per singulas imputemus, vicies centena ac septingenta milia, sancti omnes ac puri :  nec enim leprosis sive vitilīginosis, aut semine fluentibus, quos gonorrhœicos vocant, neque mulieribus menstruo cruore pollutis, neque aliis inquinatis participare sacrificia permittebatur :  sed nec alienigenis quidem, nisi qui religionis causa venissent. Accordingly, they make, counting ten diners for every victim, 2,700,000 {(Latin:  twenty times a hundred [thousand] plus seven hundred thousand [(20 × 100 × 1,000 = 2,000,000) + (700 × 1,000 = 700,000) = 2,700,000])}, all holy and pure;  for it was not permitted for lepers or people with psoriasis or those flowing with semen, whom they call gonorrheans, or women polluted with menstrual blood, or other unclean people to participate in the sacrifices;  nor even for foreigners unless they had come for the sake of religion. 4 Magna vero hæc multitudo ab extraneis congregabatur.  Tunc tamen velut in carcerem tota gens fato conclusa est, et farta hominibus civitas bello obsidebatur.  Itaque superat omnem humanam, et divinitus emissam pestem numerus peremptorum, quos partim palam occidere, partim cepere Romani.  Rimantes enim cloacas, et sepulcra eruentes, quos offendissent jugulabant. So a huge multitude gathered from afar.  The entire people was nevertheless then trapped by fate as in a prison, and a city packed with people was besieged by war.  And hence the number of the slain whom the Romans partly killed openly and partly captured exceeds every human and supernaturally sent plague.  For cracking open the sewers and digging up the tombs, they killed those whom they met. Inventi autem sunt ibi quoque plusquam duo milia, quorum alii manu sua, plures autem mutuis se vulneribus interfecerant, quum alios fames corrupisset.  Fœdus autem corporum odor introeuntibus occurrebat, adeo ut statim multi recederent, alii plura habendi cupidine, congesta cadavera calcantes, se immergerent :  multæ namque opes in cuniculis inveniebantur, nefasque omnem viam lucri faciebat. Moreover over two thousand were found there, of whom some killed themselves by their own hand, more, though, by mutual wounds, while starvation finished off others.  The fetid odor of corpses met those who entered, to the extent that many immediately withdrew, while others, due to their desire of possessing more, kicking aside the piled cadavers, went down in;  for many riches were being found in the tunnels, and the abominable opened up every path of gain. Subducebantur autem multi, quos tyranni vinxerant :  nec enim in extremis a crudelitate cessaverant.  Ultus est autem Deus utrunque merito.  Et Joannes quidem, oppressus fame cum fratribus in cloacis, quam sæpe despexit a Romanis dexteram sibi dari precatus est.  Simon vero multa vi cum necessitate luctatus sicut infra designabimus, semet tradidit.  Servatus est autem alter triumpho :  Joannes autem vinculis sempiternis.  Romani vero extremas urbis partes incendunt, murosque subvertunt. Many whom the tyrants had bound were brought up, for they had not ceased in their cruelty even at the end.  But God deservedly took vengeance on both.  John with his comrades in the sewers, it turned out, overcome by hunger, begged the Romans that the clemency he had often despised be given him.  Simon, on the other hand, struggling with great effort against the inexorable, as we will explain below, turned himself in.  He was another one reserved for the triumphal procession, but John for perpetual chains.  The Romans, on the other hand, set fire to the outermost parts of the City and demolished the walls. ⇑ § X Quod urbs Hierosolymorum, quinquies prius capta, tunc iterum vastata erat. Concisa ejus historia. That Whereas the City of Jerusalem Had Been Five Times Taken Formerly, This Was the Second Time of its Desolation.  A Brief Account of its History. 1 — Caput G-18 — Hierosolymæ urbis historia brevis. ITA quidem Hierosolyma capta est, secundo anno principatus Vespasiani, Septembris mensis octavo die.  Quinquies autem prius capta, tunc iterum vastata est.  Ægyptiorum quidem rex Asochæus, et post eum Antiochus, deinde Pompejus, et post hos cum Herode Sosius captam urbem servavere. Thus indeed was Jerusalem captured in the second year of the principate of Vespasian, the eighth day of the month of September {(i.e., A.D. 70 September 26)}.  Having been captured five times previously, it was now laid waste for the second time.  The king of the Egyptians, Shoshenq {(~922 B.C.)}, and after him Antiochus {(168 B.C.)}, then Pompey {(63 B.C.)}, and after them Sosius along with Herod {(37 B.C.)}, left the City intact. Antea vero rex Babyloniorum ea potitus excidit, post annos ex quo ædificata est, mille trecentos sexaginta, et menses octo, et dies sex.  Primus autem conditor ejus fuerat Chananæorum dynastes, qui patria lingua justus appellatus est rex.  Erat quippe talis.  Ideoque sacerdotium Deo primus exhibuit, et fano primum ædificato, « Hierosolymam » civitatem vocavit, quum ante « Solyma » vocaretur. Before that, however, the king of the Babylonians, having conquered it, destroyed it {(Nebuchadnezzar, 586 B.C)} one thousand three hundred sixty years and eight months and six days {(The Greek original has 1,468 years, 6 months)} after it was built.  Its first founder, however, was the ruler of the Canaanites, who in their national language is called the “just king.”  He was indeed such.  And thus he was the first of the priests for God and, with the Temple built the first time, called the City “Jerusalem,” while before it had been called “Salem.” Chananæorum quidem populo rex Judæorum David pulso, colendam suo populo tradidit :  et quadringentesimo sexagesimoquarto anno post, ac mensibus tribus, a Babyloniis eversa est.  A rege autem Davide, qui primus Judæus in ea regnavit, usque ad id quod Titus fecit excidium, anni mille centum septuagintanovem. Having expelled the people of the Canaanites, David, the king of the Jews, gave it to his own people to be dwelt in, and on the four hundredth sixty-fourth year and three months {(Greek:  477 years, 6 months)} afterward, it was overthrown by the Babylonians.  But from King David, who was the first Jew to reign in it, until the annihilation that Titus brought about, it was a thousand one hundred seventy-nine years. Ex quo primum autem condita est, usque ad excidium, anni duo milia centum septuagintaseptem.  Sed enim neque antiquitas, neque ingentes divitiæ, neque per totum orbem terræ diffusa fama, nec magna religionis gloria quicquam juvit quominus periret.  Talis quidem finis Hierosolymorum obsidionis fuit. From the time when it was first founded until its annihilation, there were two thousand one hundred seventy-seven years.  But neither its antiquity, nor its fame spread throughout the entire world, nor its great glory of its religion helped at all so that it would not perish.  Such indeed was the end of the siege of Jerusalem.

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